UPDATED: 11/29/11 || Rules for Creative Writing and Plays

[MissGnomie]

UPDATE: 11/29/11 - We have updated and clarified our Creative Writing rules. They have not changed, this is simply so we can further the understanding of members participating in this section. We have continued to see threads that break these rules, and we want to make them as clear as possible to follow.

As a reminder: It is always a good idea to keep more than one copy of your story! This will prevent you from loosing your only copy of your work; remember, if you do not follow the rules the story may be removed.

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RULES OF THIS SECTION:

1. This area is not for role playing. Role playing is letting each person determine the actions of a character in your story. We have a special section and rules put in place for that area, please feel free to check it out.

2. One Author per thread. This also includes "variety" threads featuring multiple authors, and no "joint stories" where you pass the story back and forth between authors.

3. If the rules say it's not allowed, then you MUST flag the thread. Just because one story has romance (for example), does not make it OK to for you to use, instead you need to report it. We do not want to have to go back to approving threads.

4. No Graphic Violence. No blood, no dying/killing, no death, no weapons, no characters killing themselves, no murder, and no gore. Mild disagreements happen, and so do arguments. But they do not have to be graphic or violent.

5. No Romance. This includes Crushes, dating, relationships, and "soul mates." This has been abused too much in the past, and nothing of this nature is allowed in the stories. The only exception to this rules is mates in animal stories.

6.) No Kissing, hugging, hand holding, or anything considered physical romance.

7. Mates in Animal Stories ARE allowed, but only if nothing physical happens between them. You cannot describe how puppies arrive, but you may say "A and B had puppies the next winter." Anything that goes past Nuzzling is NOT allowed.

8. Nothing Dark/Scary. This includes Zombies, Vampire, Ghosts, horror stories, etc. We have seen an increase in these sorts of stories and we want to make sure it is clear they are NOT allowed.

9. War stories are not appropriate for WI. This is often too violent and graphic for many of our users, it makes many people uncomfortable, let's respect that please.

10. No Adult Language or Content. This includes trying to bypass our filters already on WI.

11. No Smoking, Drugs, or Alcohol.

12. Keep your comments polite. If a member is asking for criticism keep it honest, but polite. No saying "Your story is awful! I hate it" that is just not nice to do.

13. Your stories should be your own. Do not "take" someone's story and claim for it to be your own. This is not allowed. This goes for both books that are published, and found here on WI, or other places on the internet. Plagiary is a serious issue!

14. Kidnapping and other crimes are not appropriate for WI stories. This includes stalkers. Please keep them off your threads. Nothing about torture or abuse (mental or physical) is allowed either.

15. PMing a user a version of a story, which breaks our writing/forum rules, is NOT allowed. All of the content submitted on our forums and through PMs must follow the same rules. Sending someone another version with content that is not allowed on our forms risks your WI account.

16. Statements like: "I'll post the new chapter after ___ number of posts/pages!" is not allowed. You may not encourage post climbing by telling viewers you will not post until you have reached a post/page number. This encourages off topic chatter and spam.

17. VM lists are allowed, but not required. You can also not make statements like: "I will only VM you if you comment" this breaks rule 16.

18. No off topic chatting These threads are for stories, not for chatting. You may post comments about the story posted or questions, but off topic chatter needs to be taken to the DCT or profiles.

19. When adding graphics, do not hot-link the images. For more information on what Hot-linking is please check out this thread: http://www.webkinzinsider.com/forum/...es-not-411887/ Please do not "Hot Link" your images.

20. Please do not post links for stories off site. All stories should be posted directly in the thread itself. Linking to another site is not allowed.

21. This section is not for contests or "rate my writing" threads Any contests prizes or not will be deleted.

22. Please do not post if a story is autobiographical. If you write a story about starting high school and say "This is all what happened to me when I started high school this year," then you have just given our your age/school level.

23. "Bumping" threads is not allowed.

24. If another member breaks a rule on your story, it is your responsibility to report it to a mod. If you are aware of the problem, but do nothing about it, your story may still be deleted.

[MissGnomie]

Application has been removed and the rules have been updated, please take a moment to review them before posting.

[MissGnomie]

We have updated our rules to further clarify them, and to hopefully promote a better understanding of what is acceptable for this section. We continue to see stories posted that do not follow these rules, and are not flagged for review. Please respect these rules & follow them, as we really do not want to go back to approving stories, but will if it has to be done.

Thanks