Forum rule changes

[archonix]

Up to now it's been the policy on the forum that all fanfics and large documents must be attached to a message post rather than posted in the message body. This works for large fics that you want to read elsewhere, but it is not suitable in every case. So, with immediate effect, the following changes to the rules have been made.

[*]You may post fics in the post body if you are serialising, posting your fic chapter by chapter, but the forum topic must include the phrase "[SERIAL]" or "[SERIES]" at the start so that readers know what they're getting.

[*]Alternatively you may post your chapters as attachments in separate posts, as long as you include a description of the chapter in the post body.

[*]Once you have completed posting your fic it would be a good idea to post the entire story as an attachment to the first post in the thread. You can do this by editing the post. This is for people who want to read the story or print it out without having to trawl the entire thread to do so.

By their nature serialised fics are harder for forum members to crit and beta-read. This site has always focused on helping writers improve their work, which generally requires access to the entire story. Serialising offers the "easy" option of getting your story out there without having to put it through the gauntlet of some of the very determined professional-level writers and editors that hang around here, but that won't stop them entirely. These services are, of course, available to anyone who wants them; you can post your entire fic in the Writing Help forum before you start serialising.

Alternatively you can make use of the Athena archive to serialise your fic by creating a "collection" and uploading your individual chapters to that. This archive is a separate system to the forums and requires a separate login but it offers a few more options, such as more accurate formatting and a rating system, with more options turning up all the time.