FanFic Guidelines

[part-time poet]

FanFic Guidelines
(For detailed information, please see next post.)

• No real-person fiction. You cannot use Johnny Depp as a character in your story. Only stories about Johnny’s existing movie characters are permitted.

• Use only one thread for your story. When adding new chapters to a work in progress, post them as replies to your original post.

• Post only your own work.

• R-rated stories are acceptable if and when the story arc and character development call for it. Please include a warning in the subject line if your story will be of an adult nature.

• Respect the characters as originally written. Please stay true to the character.

• No slash, rape fics or sex scenes involving children.

• No “Here’s a character we’d like to see Johnny play” stories.

• No “Let's write a story” chain stories or role-playing games.

• The Zone does not publish fan-created poetry on the site.

• Please proofread your work before posting, and don't forget to keep a copy of your work when you post it.

• Don’t forget to start a feedback thread for comments and compliments on the Fan Creations forum when you post your work.

• Writer-to-writer discussion is permitted on the Fan Creations forum.

• The Completed Stories forum is for finished fanfic stories.

Part-Time Poet
Johnny Depp Zone Webmaster/Publisher

Guidelines Update: Jan 1, 2012

[part-time poet]

Out of respect for Johnny Depp, please do not post real-person fan fiction.

(That is, works featuring Johnny Depp himself, or his family and friends). Only stories about his existing movie characters are permitted.

Please note, the ban on "real people" in Zone fanfic also includes you, the author. No author-insert fanfics are permitted on the Zone. This means that the confessional style of writing ("I went here; this happened to me; I felt this way") is not suitable for fanfic posted on the Zone.

The point of character-based fanfic is to enter the world of the movie and extend the characters' stories within that world; to take them on new but plausible adventures and/or reveal more about their characters. The entire fanfic story should be in the realm of the Johnny Depp film, beginning to end, and the reader should know from the first words which Johnny Depp film the story inhabits. Stories which begin outside the world of the film are not appropriate for the Zone's fanfic forums and will be deleted at the moderator's discretion.

The narrator, if one is used, must also be an actual or invented character who belongs to that movie world; it cannot be you-the-author or an obvious surrogate for you. Since authors are often too close to their work to tell if a narrator's voice is too thinly disguised, the FanFic moderator's judgment will prevail.

Use only one thread for your story.

When you are adding new chapters to a work in progress, post them as replies to your original post. This benefits you in two ways. It will keep all the chapters of your story together, making it easy for readers to find and follow your work; and it will prevent older chapters of your story from “falling off the board” as an abandoned project. Stories which are not updated within 30 days will automatically vanish from the Fan Creations board. Please note that an update must be at least one new chapter of writing which furthers the story. A memo to your readers saying “Watch for a new chapter next week” or “I’m holding my place on the board” is not an update, and those messages will be deleted from the forum.

Post only your own original work.

If you didn’t write it all yourself, don’t post it here. Posted stories remain the property of the individual writer, who retains all rights to the work under existing U.S. and international copyright laws. Stories and feedback appear by consent of the site ownership; the administration may remove any story or post at their discretion.

R-rated writing is acceptable if and when the story arc and character development call for that expression.

(No gratuitous sex, violence, or cursing, please). If your story would require a rating higher than PG-13 in any of these areas, please make sure to include a warning in the subject line. No story should exceed an R rating in any area (sex, violence, or language). The Zone is not an NC-17 site.

Respect the characters as originally created.

You are borrowing at least one character created by another writer; please stay true to the character as it was established by the person who invented him (or her). Don’t make your Gene Watson a disinterested, indifferent father, for example, who doesn’t care about his daughter’s kidnapping. That would violate the character.

No slash, rape fics, or sex scenes involving children.

These don’t belong on the Zone. No exceptions. The stories will be deleted. References to past traumatic events may be acceptable if they are mentioned as part of characterization but not dramatized; check with a moderator before posting.

No "Here's a character we'd like to see Johnny play" stories.

The Zone will only be publishing stories which add to an existing character’s mythology.

No "Let's write a story" chain stories or role-playing games.

The Zone's FanFic forum is for members to post their own stories.

The Zone does not publish fan-created poetry on the site.

Policy effective January 1, 2012.

Proofread your work before you post it.

Proofread, run spellcheck, and make sure all sentences are in standard English (except dialogue, of course). You are publishing to readers all over the world. Make your presentation as professional as possible.

Be sure to keep a copy of your work when you post it. Accidents happen, threads are deleted, sites can be hacked, servers can have “disruptions.” Most importantly, stories will fall off the Fan Creations forum in 30 days if they are not updated with a new post on the same thread. Threads may be pruned at any time at the discretion of the Zone staff; due to bandwidth considerations, we cannot carry all Fan Creations permanently, and older pieces will be removed periodically to make space for newer work and its feedback.

Fanfic writers should create a Feedback thread for their story.

They should put their thread on the Fan Creations forum when they post their work. Readers wishing to comment or compliment the story, or ask a question of the author (and all are appreciated by the story authors) should post in the story Feedback thread.

Writer-to-writer discussion is permitted on the Fan Creations Forum.

Feel free to start a thread discussing a specific aspect of fanfic writing or asking for advice from other writers. One caveat: do not use a writer-to-writer discussion thread to lodge complaints about Zone policies. Instead, post your questions, problems, or suggestions for improvement on the Questions and Suggestions forum, or send a private message to the fanfic moderator. Writer-to-writer threads should focus on the writing process, and are intended to help Zone writers support each other, since writing is such a lonely art.

The Completed Stories forum is for finished fanfic stories.

That forum is also for Drabble Challenge compilations. When a FanFic work is complete, the writer should PM the FanFic moderator or an administrator to have the story moved to the Completed Stories forum. This procedure should be followed even if the story is complete at the time of the first posting; all fanfics begin on the Fan Creations board.

Part-Time Poet
Johnny Depp Zone Webmaster/Publisher