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From: owner-arfic-l-digest@lists.xmission.com (arfic-l-digest) To: arfic-l-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: arfic-l-digest V1 #33 Reply-To: arfic-l-digest Sender: owner-arfic-l-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-arfic-l-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk arfic-l-digest Tuesday, July 17 2001 Volume 01 : Number 033 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2001 18:19:55 -0400 From: "Michele R Bumbarger" <mbumbarger@neo.rr.com> Subject: (arfic-l) ADMIN: Leave of Absence I am going on vacation from Wednesday, July 4, 2001 to Sunday, July 8, 2001. I will be unavailable and incommunicado. In my absence, Wendy Perkins has agreed to hold down the fort and serve as list moderator. Thank you, Michele - - To unsubscribe to arfic-l, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe arfic-l" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Jul 2001 03:48:08 EDT From: Slayervick@aol.com Subject: Re: (arfic-l) ADMIN: Leave of Absence have fun on vacation michele! and hey to the rest of the list, let's try to get cracking on some new fiction, what do you say? i will be back from my vacation on the 14th, and when i return, i will start soliciting authors for some of their fic, i know some good floks, and i think we all should make an effort to update the site soon: it's in dire need of it. alright? well, my flight leaves in two hours, i must be off to logan. adios! ~Victoria - - To unsubscribe to arfic-l, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe arfic-l" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 04 Jul 2001 16:42:40 -0400 From: "Psycho Babble" <amethystmaiden@hotmail.com> Subject: (arfic-l) Fic-Walking Wounded 1/1 Hee hee. I've been meaning to send this for a few days now, so of course I pull it together as soon as our esteemed list Mom goes on vacation. It's a talent, I know. I apologize in advance if this is too large for some of your inboxes, I wasn't sure how much was too much, so I just left it whole. *g* TITLE: Walking Wounded 1/1 AUTHOR: Amethyst Maiden EMAIL: amethystmaiden@hotmail.com TV SERIES: The Tomorrow People, New Series RATING: IÆm thinking PGish SUMMARY: Kevin muses. SPOILERS: Minor ones for Origin Story and Culex, simply because we know the good guys win. LetÆs face it, if you havenÆt seen them by now, youÆre not going to. DISCLAIMER: The Tomorrow People and their universe belong to Tetra/Thames Television and their creator Roger Damon Price. IÆm just responsible for the excess baggage. Honestly though, this is all in fun, and I am not making any money. Dammit. DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT: Again, if you want it, party on, just email me so I can send you the copy with the italics that I love so well. (Which are unhappily simulated here with those little * star thigies.) AUTHORÆS NOTE: Look! IÆm doing things in the order I said I would! IÆve had this on my hands for a while now, and I think itÆs been tweaked as much as itÆll stand. I was a little frustrated with this fic, because it seems a bit muddled to me, but maybe thatÆs just because I was muddled while I was working on it. You be the judge. Also, I have to say that parts of this were born of my continuing issues with Ami. Yes I admit it, she was never my favorite Tomorrow Person. Before you lynch me, however, I want you to know that I am working on my Ami issues, hence her appearance here. Just keep in mind that a lot of what Kevin says about her is a siphoned version of my thoughts on the subject. The whole time zone thing was garnered from my roommateÆs description of the time difference between here (Boston) and home (the Philippines) which is twelve or thirteen hours, depending on daylight savings time. England is about five hours ahead of us, so I figured the time difference for a random island in the south pacific would be somewhere around eight hours. Cheers to creative math. Or something. THANK YOUS: To Ib, again, for Betaing, and otherwise putting up with my over-analyzation of, well, everything. To Nicole for the not-nagging, which worked surprisingly well as a motivational tool, and to Anne for the actual nagging. IÆm moving on to Out of Darkness, I swear. (And I havenÆt forgotten you Anne, IÆm just practicing my sloth with my hideously long reply to your last Email.) Ehemà donÆt hurt me. ^_^ AND FEEDBACK: Aw, c'mon, you know you wanna... :::smiles pitifully::: WALKING WOUNDED If we deny love that is given to us, if we refuse to give love because we fear pain or loss, then our lives will be empty, our loss greater. -Anonymous Kevin sighed and dipped his toes into the water, closing his eyes as a cool wind blew mist against his face. He didnÆt want to see his surroundings, this was a sensory experience, beside which he had the place more than memorized enough to imagine what it looked like. Rocks the color of red clay rose around him, worn with age and slicked green with moss. They culminated in a peak nearly ten meters up, water spilling from their heights to a clear blue pool beneath. Light undulated on the forest floor around him, filtering through the canopy in intricate patterns, a living latticework ever changing, ever moving in its frenzied dance. That was the wonderful thing about the island, it was always so vibrant, so alive, from the trees stretching towards the heavens to the animals he could faintly sense scurrying about in the underbrush. The water he eased himself into was no different. Dozens of species of plant life swayed with the water just below the surface, swishing around his legs while fish darted away as he passed. HeÆd watched Adam sit and stare for hours as marine life passed by the shipÆs windows, occasionally pressing a hand to the glass -- if it was glass - -- when a curious animal came close, content to simply watch life go on around him. That was AdamÆs way, he preferred to avoid entanglement by separating himself from those around him, the ever vigilant observer. Kevin himself had never been satisfied with watching, heÆd always needed to immerse himself in sensation, to feel life flutter and sway around him. He liked this particular spot on the island for that reason, sensing the excitement that flowed from the animals as they wondered at his strange presence, the pure energy emanating from the plants that spiraled up from the pool floor. He could even, if he concentrated hard enough, discern faint emotions in the air as thousands of birds called to one another in the canopy above. It was different here than it was among people, on a deserted island with the nearest person heavily shielded and more than a kilometer away. Here he could let down his shields and be perfectly at ease, wrap himself in sensation without worry. At home settling his defenses meant summarily drowning in a sea of thoughts that were not his own. æRealÆ life had always been like that, after his abilities had manifested with a vengeance in early childhood before heÆd known what to do with them, nearly driving him mad before heÆd stumbled quite unintentionally onto a way to shut out the voices. But shielding took energy, and focus, two things of which Kevin did not have an unlimited reserve. He wondered if the others understood how hard it was for him to keep people outà to keep them out. They all expected a certain amount of privacy from him, respect of each othersÆ minds was tantamount to their relationship to each other, but they seemed not to realize that it was even harder for him to block their thoughts than those of normal people. It had always amazed him how it never took anything out of them to shut each other out - but then none of them had ever been able to hear normal peopleÆs thoughts the way he had. His ægiftÆ, if he could call it that, was stronger, an affinity between his mind and others that made his powers moreàintense than theirs. And wasnÆt that just splendid? They had never talked about it, but as often as not what went unspoken was louder to him than that voiced in sonorous detail. He was different from even them somehow. A freak among freaks. Normal people were even more frightening. They were at a loss to explain what it was exactly, but they had always seemed to sense somewhere deep in their unconscious minds that there was something strange about him. He had been branded an outcast by his peers in his earliest days of schooling, the weird little bloke that was to be avoided at all costs. He hadnÆt really minded, it was actually quite the symbiotic relationship. He stayed away from them, they stayed away from him, and the headaches were a little less severe on the rare occasions that his control slipped. Whenever he became too tired and burnt out he felt everything in the people around him, their emotions becoming as clear as his own, a phenomenon that was both terrifying and enthralling. As unwelcome as the intrusion upon his own thoughts was, he had to admit that he was fascinated by them, by their lives, the mundane little details that probably bored them to tears that were a mystery to him in every sense of the word. He tried to imagine a life where handing in his homework late or forgetting to do his chores was his biggest concern, and laughed at the triviality of it all. Normal people were sheep, like those unsuspecting bystanders in MegabyteÆs favorite horror movies that were hacked to pieces in the first fifteen minutes simply because they didnÆt recognize the threat. He wondered often what some of his classmates would do if they knew that not two months earlier while they were off languishing on summer holiday, a madwoman extra from a very bad science fiction marathon had come close to letting loose a newer, deadlier killer bee. They thought there was something wrong with him, and maybe they were right. Maybe his mother was right, zealot that she was, maybe he was some sort of demon. After all, if God had intended for him to use his ægiftÆ, why then did it hurt so much to let go? How did the suffering of everyday living fit into the grand design? Was it too late to say yes to that exorcism? He smiled at the thought, pushing off a rock to float on his back, all too aware that not even Megabyte would find his self deprecation amusing. Lisa had insisted on teaching him to swim the instant General Damon and her mother had left the island that first day, claiming that she could not spend the rest of her life worrying that he would drown the next time he hit the water. They did make their home on an island, after all. HeÆd never have the grace of an Olympian, but after a few days under her less than patient tutelage he had learned enough to stay afloat on his own and considered it a great accomplishment that he had conquered his fear of water. He had since spent as much time as was humanly possible here at the waterfall, floating on his back, feeling the tickle of the weeds as they brushed against his skin. He remembered well finding this place, wandering into the underbrush with Megabyte soon after theyÆd broken out. The redhead had been ecstatic, the island was a place with no parents, no worries and no rules, their very own Eden in the face of their everyday world. He also remembered how furious Lisa had been that theyÆd wandered off, dragging Adam into the morass of plant life in their wake as moral support for her impending tirade. For his part when they were found, the Australian had waited patiently for her to come up for air, put a comforting arm around her shoulders and explained in that terribly rational way of his that they didnÆt know much about the wildlife in their new home and that they should be careful when they wandered, not to eat anything they found or goad any of the animals. He was also, ironically enough, worried about exotic insects. It was odd now, thinking of those early days, of LisaÆs tendency to mother-hen and AdamÆs patience whenever he and Megabyte wandered into trouble. Kevin often wondered if his friends had ever acknowledged their parental tendencies or simply gone about their business unaware of the familial atmosphere they provided. He was happy then, he thought, and terribly na∩ve, desperate for the sense of stability that his new family seemed so easily to provide and carelessly trusting in its permanence. It was amusing in a way to think of himself as happy, an openly ridiculous, simplistic emotion that seemed still somehow vague and unidentifiable. Happiness was quaint, a novelty, and in a sense real torture because it always ends. Back then he wasnÆt aware of the impending fallout, when Mum still called him a witch in jest and Lisa was still ordering Megabyte around and clinging to Adam for support when she was unsure of herself. Before the happiness he had finally found had been leveled in one fell swoop by the same girl he trusted implicitly. The girl who taught him how to swim, who nagged him to do his homework, who comforted him when he fell against a bulkhead in a particularly dodgy game of tag. One day she was an integral part of his life, and the next, she was justà gone. Dropped off the face of the Earth in one deft maneuver without any regard to the bond she shared with him or any of the others. He tried to rationalize her leaving, knowing that she was worried about her mum, but some small, wholly irrational part of him had always believed that there had been some more personal reason that sheÆd been so eager to leave, and that part more often than not was in control. Maybe that was unfair to Lisa, but he had never been very good at dealing with loss and blaming her was easier. Fundamentally wrong perhaps, but much easier than facing up to the fact that heÆd lost her to circumstances beyond both their controls. If heÆd allowed himself to accept it as an unforeseeable anomaly, heÆd be forced to accept the fact that nothing in his life was permanent, that he could lose any of the others at any time. It was a thought that had become a constant at the back of his mind since LisaÆs untimely departure, a sinking suspicion that separation from his two remaining friends was inevitable, which kept him at once reaching out for them and holding back on his emotions, spending as much time with the two boys as possible while becoming increasingly laconic. Their silently agreed upon reticence on the subject made it easy to keep things safely hidden away. And now there was a confounding variable thrown into the equation. Her name was Ami. For one unsettling instant in the hospital as he was hovering in that diaphanous place between sleep and consciousness, he had blearily looked at the faces of the people by his bedside and believed that Lisa had come home. HeÆd reached out to her in his semiconscious state, only to recoil at the unfamiliar presence that greeted him. Ami seemed nice enough, but there was something about the familiar way that she behaved around his friends that unnerved him. She seemed to fall into step with the two boys a little too easily, to speak a little too intimately, to expect a little more than he was willing to allow. She wanted to be one of them, and though he admitted that it was her right as a Tomorrow Person, he couldnÆt help but feel that they had betrayed Lisa somehow, that even though Ami really was nothing like his former friend, she was replacing her. It felt wrong, and despite how much he wanted to be able to assure the girl who looked to him for support when she was feeling alienated, he simply could not bring himself to do it. No matter what had happened between he and Lisa, he owed her at least enough to respect her memory. There was something in AmiÆs presence that he just couldnÆt reconcile with his idea of how to go about it. The soporific effects of floating kept him hovering on the surface of the water for well over an hour, paying little heed to the time as the sun climbed higher in the sky. It was something close to eight hours difference between the island and home, which meant, much to his continued amusement, that he was floating serenely into tomorrow afternoon. It made him smile as he recalled a vague account of AdamÆs first encounter with Colonel Masters, nearly a year ago. *ôWe call ourselves the Tomorrow People. But weÆre not time travelers from the future or anything.ö* They were time travelers in a way, flitting through different time zones in an instant, completely unaware of the changes unless it was noticeably darker in their destination. It made wearing a watch rather pointless, and was wreaking havoc on his circadian rhythms. The thought prompted a snicker, which in KevinÆs somnolent state was momentarily delayed in being attributed to another person. As realization dawned, he bolted upright from his comfortable position, sputtering water as he hastily attempted to rebuild his shielding for the intruder. ôYou donÆt have to do that Kevin, I kind of like it. Being able to sense your thoughts, I mean.ö He stopped his construction and swiveled to face Ami, or rather AmiÆs foot, as it was suspended at eye level by the rocky embankment on which she stood. Pushing his hair back out of his eyes, he stared at her in bemusement. She was barefoot, dressed in an obscenely bright bikini in a horrible orange hue that was only more jarring against the warm cocoa of her skin, fiddling with the tie of an equally obscene sarong as plaited hair fell into her eyes. She barely looked up as she continued to struggle with the garment, regarding him peripherally as he pulled a section of slimy green algae from a plant by his leg and began to dissect it. ôI wonder sometimes, why do we have these gifts if weÆre not going to use them? Why do we shut one another out?ö He stared at her foot, noting more of the obscenity painted across her toenails, and considered his answer. ôTheyÆre afraid.ö Her head snapped up, eyes wide, almost dropping the sarong into the pool. ôAre you afraid Kevin?ö ôTerrified.ö Even to his own ears his voice sounded terribly calm, looking into her eyes as he said it, wondering if she realized how many layers there were to that statement, on how many levels the fear pervaded his life. Wondering if she would care. She studied him for a moment, her lovely face unreadable as he felt his mind being dissected, suddenly all too aware of his vulnerability without his shielding. He wondered briefly if that was the real reason he maintained it, if all of his other excuses were simply that as he felt her ease herself into the water beside him. ôYouÆre not like the others, are you? The boys, they have this way about them, an eagerness, I suppose - like they can do anything when theyÆre together.ö She smiled at the thought. ôItÆs hard to explain exactly, but I donÆt get it from you.ö The boys. There was a possessive lilt to that, as if it would have been more appropriate to say her boys. And maybe they were, after everything theyÆd been through together in his absence. Adam and Megabyte had certainly been chipper of late, as if her arrival was a sudden sign that it was alright to move on and rebuild. Kevin wasnÆt sure how he felt about that. Nobody had asked him if he wanted to rebuild. He couldnÆt remember the last time someone had been here with him. Adam had recognized early on that this was where Kevin came to get away, and if there was one thing Adam was good at, it was giving space. Kevin understood, and after everything he appreciated the conscious effort not to smother him, but there were times when he wished he could have shared his haven with his friend. Megabyte had been slightly amused by the waterfall when theyÆd first come across it, but as with most things, he lost interest fairly quickly. Where Kevin saw a vibrant, colorful, emotional landscape just begging to be explored, Megabyte saw fish and plants, slightly slimy and æmajorly grossÆ. Give him a man made pool any day, heÆd said, something where the bottom doesnÆt walk out from under your feet. He wasnÆt sure why Ami was here, she was surprisingly difficult to read, only that she realized the place was important to him. Her ever escalating need to win his approval baffled him, but she went about it in such an innocent way that he couldnÆt bring himself to be cross with her. For some reason, and he was at a loss to explain why, she desperately wanted to be his friend. She wanted to learn what was important to him and hear about more than what he thought of the latest B-movie Megabyte dragged them all to. She had a genuine interest in his well being, as if she could sense something was wrong and couldnÆt rest until she had helped him somehow. ôI feel like I know you.ö He looked up to find her studying him again, dark eyes alight with mirth at his confusion as he attempted to follow her train of thought. ôFrom the first time I saw you, I had this feeling that I was meant to help you. Because you were my friend.ö An odd sinking feeling accompanied that, as Kevin remembered the bond heÆd felt so immediately with his fellow Tomorrow People. It was something special, there was no denying that, the instant cohesion that bound them together when they needed it most - but it made them complacent. The illusion of intimacy made it easy to forget that any friendship took work. The constant feeling of peace around one another masked whatever discord cropped up until it was too late to fix things. Unless they learned to pay more attention to one another he knew his worst fears would come true. They really would lose each other. Ami shook her head sagely and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. ôBut I donÆt really know you, itÆs just a feeling. We share a bond, but we donÆt really know anything about one another, not the way IÆd like.ö Hysterical relief washed over him as he looked into her eyes and saw something more than compassion stirring there. She understood. Amidst the confusion, denial, and fear, that simple fact was almost too much to believe. No one had ever simply understood him, clarity had always required lengthy explanations. He gaped at her in shock as she continued. ôAnd maybe we never will, but IÆd like to try.ö It was a simple gesture, an appeal for his trust given in such complete innocence that for the first time in a long time, Kevin allowed himself to hope. He couldnÆt accept Ami, not yet, but neither could he ignore her any longer. She was a part of him, like Adam or Megabyte. Like Lisa, even if she refused to acknowledge it. It wasnÆt everything, but it was a start. And there was always tomorrow. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com - - To unsubscribe to arfic-l, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe arfic-l" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2001 13:35:49 -0400 From: "Michele Bumbarger" <mbumbarger@hotmail.com> Subject: (arfic-l) ADMIN: Rules & Guidelines - Read & Keep! - -- Welcome to the arfic-l mailing list! Please save this message for future reference. Thank you. If you ever want to remove yourself from this mailing list, send the following command in email to <arfic-l-request@lists.xmission.com>: unsubscribe Or you can send mail to <majordomo@lists.xmission.com> with the following command in the body of your email message: unsubscribe arfic-l or from another account, besides mbumbarger@hotmail.com: unsubscribe arfic-l mbumbarger@hotmail.com If you ever need to get in contact with the owner of the list, (if you have trouble unsubscribing, or have questions about the list itself) send email to <owner-arfic-l@lists.xmission.com> . This is the general rule for most mailing lists when you need to contact a human. Here's the general information for the list you've subscribed to, in case you don't already have it: [Last updated on: Tue Jan 30 11:15:37 2001] ==== Please Read and Retain for Future Reference ===== ===== Updated and Modified January 29, 2001 ====== Welcome to the Alternate Realities Fan Fiction Mailing List <arfic-L@lists.xmission.com>. Please read this message carefully and keep it for future reference. It contains all of the information you will need to know regarding subscribing, unsubscribing, and posting to the list. (This message is duplicated at the ALTERNATE REALITIES Fan Fiction Archive, http://www.alternate-realities.net in the section "Mailing Lists.") *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* What is ARfic-L (The Alternate Realities Fan Fiction Mailing List)? The Alternate Realities Fan Fiction Mailing List (ARfic-L) is for the posting, reading, discussion and critiquing of fan fiction in the following fandoms: Highlander: The Series, Buffy: the Vampire Slayer, Angel: the Series, and the Tomorrow People. Crossovers with any of these television universes are also welcome. These universes are the backbone of the Alternate Realities Fan Fiction Archive and that is the reason that they are central and most important to this list. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* LIST PURPOSE AND DESCRIPTION The purpose of ARfic-L is to post original fan fiction for the enjoyment of others. The list may also be used to request critiques, issue challenges, request beta readers and discuss stories and/or ideas brought up in the stories. If you want to share fic or receive opinions on fic, this is the list for you. If you want to read fic, this is also the list for you. But please, keep in mind that as a reader, you do have a duty to comment on what you read. Feedback does wonderful things for authors. ARfic-L welcomes fan fiction in draft or finished form. However, if you are posting a draft or unfinished copy of a work for an opinion, please make that known up front (a good place to do this is your heading and author's notes). Also, if your work is unfinished and in draft form, please, please run at least a spell-check before posting. The list is NOT to promote your new 'zine, web page, or to discuss television shows. If you absolutely feel the need to announce something that is off- topic, you may do so in the form of an archive fic. (Archive fics are discussed later in this mailing). As an alternative, you may send your website, 'zine, or mailing list information to the List Administrator <mbumbarg@pair.com> and she will post it as an ADMIN (administrative) announcement. Simply stated, you may feel free to post: *Fan fiction (including crossovers, adult, and/or slash fiction) from any of the following fandoms: Highlander: The Series, Buffy: the Vampire Slayer, Angel: the Series, and the Tomorrow People, or any crossovers with any of those fandoms. *On-Topic requests for beta readers, help with content, etc. *Discussions of fan fiction, characters, etc. *Archive Fics (see the "Archive Fic" section for more information) You may not post: *Flames - We all have our own opinions - but they are opinions. If you disagree say so, but flaming is simply not, under any circumstances, acceptable, ever! You will be banned or unsubscribed immediately if you abuse another member of the list. NOTE: If you feel that someone on the list is being spiteful, abusive or nasty, don't flame them back. 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The header in your post MUST be labeled ADULT or SLASH if there is adult or slash content. This rule is in place for two reasons: 1. There just might be someone under the legal age subscribed to this list and reading these posts, and they should be warned so that they may delete them in advance. 2. Some subscribers have no interest in ADULT fiction; likewise some subscribers who are interested in ADULT fiction have no interest in SLASH fiction. With proper labeling, people may delete the posts without ever having to read them. No INCEST or CHILD ABUSE stories, PERIOD! (If you story requires hinting at Child Abuse, then it may be acceptable - - but do it tastefully.) *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* THE PIECES PARTS *WRITING THE SUBJECT LINE The Subject Line of your Message should include the following: TITLE PART NUMBER/PARTS IN STORY AUTHOR'S NAME/PSEUDONYM (Optional) EXAMPLE:"A Union of Souls" (3/9) by Michele Bumbarger *WRITING AN INTRODUCTION DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT: Every work of fan fic posted to the Alternate Realities Fan Fiction Mailing List (ARfic-L) may be archived at Alternate Realities Fan Fiction site. If you do not want this to happen, please state this in the introduction section of your fiction by writing 'DO NOT ARCHIVE' or add a note requesting that the archivist contact you for permission first. SPOILER WARNING: While it is a nice assumption to think that everyone is on the same page as you and has seen all the episodes of a show that you have, this is not necessarily true. As a courtesy to those who may not be current with the shows you are writing for, and as a courtesy to any international subscribers who might be behind on seasons, please include a spoiler warning. Some people do not like knowing what is going to happen on their favorite shows with their favorite characters *before* it happens. RATING: Although this list completely open and uncensored to *all* forms of fan fiction (EXCEPT stories involving sexual abuse w/ children involved and incest), it is important that you include a rating for your work. This helps prepare the reader for what is coming, and helps archivists when the time comes to archive your fiction. The community tends to use the American MPAA rating system for movies: G - appropriate for all ages. PG - nothing graphic, but not appropriate for young readers. R - contains sex, violence or language and is not appropriate for anyone under legal age. NC-17 - contains *graphic* sex, violence or language and is not appropriate for anyone under legal age and some adults. CONTENT WARNINGS: Please try to note in the introduction if your story is ADULT, SLASH, includes a romance between two characters (and please note which characters), includes rape, or if a main character dies, religious issues, etc. While some readers enjoy these kinds of stories, others might want to avoid them. SUMMARY: It is important that you include a short summary of your fan fic (no more than one or two sentences). This is just to give the reader an idea of what to expect. Think of it like the tag line for a movie, or the jacket of a book. DISCLAIMER: This is very important! A statement informing the reader that the characters in the story do not belong to you must be in EVERY story or part of story that you send to the list. This is because of copyright laws, and if it's not there you and I could get in trouble, and I would hate for that to happen, and I'm sure you would, too. Give credit where credit is due-- someone else created this world, and you're just playing with it. Do *not* write something like: "Standard disclaimer here." EXAMPLE: TITLE: "A Union of Souls" (5/9) AUTHOR: Michele Bumbarger EMAIL ADDRESS: mbumbarg@pair.com TV SERIES: Crossover with Angel: The Series and The Tomorrow People (New Series) DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT: Alternate Realities and TPFICT, anyone else, please ask me first! RATING: PG-13/TV-MA (If you can watch the show, it's safe for you to read this fic) SUMMARY: Doyle's vision leads Angel to the Tomorrow People DISCLAIMER: The characters here do not belong to me. Angel, Cordelia, Doyle and Whistler are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and Fox Productions. The Tomorrow People are the property of Roger Damon Price, Thames/Tetra Television, ITV and Nickelodeon. All are used here without permission, but no copyright infringement is intended. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Any problems or questions, please contact the List Admin, Michele Bumbarger (mbumbarg@pair.com). Thank you, and enjoy the fic! _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com - - To unsubscribe to arfic-l, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe arfic-l" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 10:54:06 -0400 From: "Michele Bumbarger" <mbumbarger@hotmail.com> Subject: (arfic-l) Fan Fiction Writing Aids I received this email from another list that I am subscribed to. I thought that it had some interesting information, suggestions and links to be applied to fan fiction and fan fiction authors. I didn't think it would to pass it along! (Be warned, many are slash oriented and use slash encounters and slash 'ships as examples, but many of the points being made really can be applied to many types of fan fiction.) Happy writings! ~Michele~ - ----Original Message Follows---- From: FictionAddict@aol.com Reply-To: fca-l@trickster.org To: fca-l@trickster.org Subject: Pet Peeve Rants & Essays (Was Re: [FCA-L] Last question...What are some tips Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 07:18:27 EDT In speaking of traps to avoid, there are several very good, wide ranging - and often hilarious - rants on pet peeves in fanfiction that are multi-fandom in scope. There are many more that are fandom specific, but the multi-fandom rants are more likely to be of general use. Of course, one person's pet peeve may be another's favorite kink. YMMV for any particular example, but the rants do offer a range of potential problems to avoid. These selected recommendations are from memory and in no particular order - so I'm sure I've missed a few favorites. Also, most essays/rants listed here are slash oriented and often contain sexually explicit examples. Sandy K. Herrold hosts a wonderful piece entitled "The Big List of Pet Peeves" that is multi-fandom in scope and multi-author, if I remember correctly. http://trickster.org/fannishbutterfly/10_peeves.html AnneZo has a very good series on advice for anyone writing fanfiction, entitled "Rules of the Road." See the "Road Rage" section near the bottom of the page for several pet peeve rants. http://trickster.org/radiofree/annezo/rules.html Miriam has an interesting essay entitled "Pet Peeves & Small Dogs" that focuses on those small but impossible to ignore distractions in slash. http://www.asan.com/users/pongo/PetPeeves.html Sigrid (aka anne h) Rants & Rambles section is worth reading in its entirety. She has a new URL, along with Resonant at Trickster but since Sigrid hasn't moved in yet, the essays are still at her old Geocities address. http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Taping/5963/rnr/rnr.htm Inspired by Miriam, Sigrid & Resonant compiled and edited a great pet peeve piece called "The Big List of Small Dogs." Also not to be missed are the following, both multi-authored. The Divine Adoratrice has a good essay page, which unfortunately hasn't been updated in over a year. Several essays deal with fanfiction writing conventions and cliches, while others deal with fandom in a broader sense. http://www.trickster.org/adoratrice/natter.htm And of course, FCA's list admin Lucy hosts the Fanfic Symposium which is always worth a look - and recently updated. Check out the message board and letters sections as well as the columns. http://trickster.org/symposium _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com - - To unsubscribe to arfic-l, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe arfic-l" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ End of arfic-l-digest V1 #33 **************************** - To unsubscribe to $LIST, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe $LIST" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message.