On Writing Fan Fiction (Rules & Advice)

[Slackbot]

Thanks for the official word on the subject, Ed. Hopefully this will head off future issues of this kind.

My own thought on including songs in fics: it's nice to include acknowledgment of the source. I always do this in my copyright notices. Because another word for copying other people's words into your work without acknowledgment is plagiarism.

 

[WebMistressGina]

I also agree with this. I have, in my fan fic career, done one songfic, which was a series of different stories set to lyrics by Sugar Ray. In my case, there was more story than actual song and the songs used were done to highlight the disfunction that Season 4 of ReBoot (which I'm sure Slackbot can attest was the weirdest thing ever).

I have never liked song fics, as most writers just have a song or have a character singing a song, which is just out of place in shows in which characters do not sing. A simple, "X woke up that morning with a song in his heart and sang it" should surfice.

EDIT - My bad: I did have a songfic like chapter in a story of mine, which had a character tell his version of events, starting with him waking up with a song (several) in his heart. But again, in my defense, there was more story than song and at least for the first song, he was using his own lyrics. Said story was a comedy, so it was done in a comedic fashion. Back to original thought -

For a group like the Muppets, who sing and dance and everything under the sun, again there's no need to have the lyrics. I have to assume that anyone who can access this site and thus said story, can also access the Internet and thus the various song lyric websites or YouTube. As I've done with stories that feature Muppet covers, I just post the YouTube link and you're welcomed to check it out or not.

 

[The Count]

Hmm... I think the problem we're having is that the fics posted by a certain member are nothing more than just fluff pieces that feature the song's lyrics with very little—if any—story intro. Because of that, they're being treated like any other piece of spam.
Songs have been incorporated into fanfics in their entirety since the fanfic section got truly started back in 2004. Heck, I remember having to ask people for help with lyrics for particular fics of mine. So I don't want to discourage or chastize people for using song lyrics in their fics, just make sure there's an actual story to go with the song as the reason for using it in the first place.

 

[dwayne1115]

What about Muppets having babies? I just read a story about a young woman married to a Muppet, and her going into labor. Now from information I have gathered the lady in the story was a Muppet as well, but even so is this kind of story appropriate for a family friendly forum? Because I have also been informed that there are in fact several stories with Muppet's labor in them.
Now don't get me wrong, I think child birth is a wonderful and blessed event. However I don't think that going into the details of having a child should be on a family friendly forum. Now if I am wrong please tell me, and I will reconsider the things I have said.

 

[The Count]

Well, that depends. There are some stories I can think of that feature Muppet birthings, such as the following:
Book 5: The Next Step from Beth (redBoobergurl)'s Rowlf's Stories;
Book 7: A Grand Adventure In Life! of Sara (ReneeLouvier)'s Sadie's Stories; and
The Life Of A Frig by Wiseman.

It should be noted that all of these handled the different situations in differing manners, but all in a way that should at least be okay for the readers.

Then again, I kind of know why you're asking this Dwayne... And that certain person who refuses to stop fic spam has had and will keep having their threads deleted, even when they attempt to have it posted by another forum member.

 

[scooterfan360]

i have a question can your fan fic be written in book form ?

 

[dwayne1115]

If as you mean with chapters, and things like that of course! Quite a few of the fic, are even longer then some books.

 

[MikaelaMuppet]

Can fan fiction be non-Muppet?

 

[The Count]

Can fan fiction be non-Muppet?

Like how? Question unclear, ask again.

 

[MikaelaMuppet]

Like how? Question unclear, ask again.

I want to do a story about Noggin and Nickelodeon fighting against each other.