The Fanfiction Section (March - June)

The past few months have seen a tidy up of the fanfiction section. All announcements can now be found in this thread and all the instructions, rules etc can be easily found in one post, here.

There was becoming too many pinned topics at the top of the forum so we've unpinned them all and will take a different thread each month, using the magazine to explain the thread and pinning it for the publication month. Our featured thread for this month is the Writer's Assistance Thread. This is a really useful thread, a place to go if you're stuck with something. If you have any questions about the forum, need any help with writer's block, any inspiration, grammatical help etc, this is the thread for you. Post your questions in here and have them answered by staff and other members.

As this is the first focus on the fanfiction section it seems an ideal place to explain how our fanfiction forum works.

Firstly we have the main forum, this is the place to post all your fanfictions, whether they be one shots, medium length or long fics, following the rules which can be found here. The only stories that shouldn't be posted in the main forum are fanfictions that contain content that would be too adult to be seen on an episode of Home and Away. These stories should be posted in the Adult forum and more details on excatly what should be classed as adult can be found here. The password for the adult forum is adultbooks.

We also have two more forums in the fanfiction section. The Northern Districts Library or NDE is the place to find all completed fanfictions. Completed stories will be moved here by the libraians and the comments are separated from the story in order to make stories easier to read. If you find a stoy that is complete on the main forum, you should PM a librarian.

Our other forum is The Vault, the place for fanfictions that have been abandoned. stories that haven't been updated in a certain length of time will be moved in here but if your story has been moved and you want to restart it, simply PM a librarian and it can be moved back out for you.

Want a story to read?

It's never been easier to find a story you're looking for.

In the NDE we have an extensive catalogue of all stories listed by title, author, category, main characters, rating and summary so it's incredibly easy to find a story that kmight interest you.

Stories in The Vault are indexed here.

In the main forum we have the Fanfiction Index which lists stories in the fanfiction section by author, title, character/pairing and genre amongst other things. If you still can't find a story you want to read with all those threads at your disposal you can always request one in the Fanfic Request Thread.

Staff picks

With each feature our staff members will pick out a story from The Main Forum, The Northern District Library and The adult Forum that they think are well worth a read.

This issue bttb-rox! picks out her favourite story at the moment from The NDL.

Story chosen: The Fall (by Miranda)

I was drawn to this fic by who was in the list of Main Characters - Roman, Irene and Rachel. And then I saw the summary - "Roman has a secret admirer". 'It's a unique threesome, that's for sure!' was my first reaction.

I felt the dialogue was very realistic throughout and that you explored everyone really well. Reading through this fic, I think you've got a talent for 'getting into' Irene's mind especially, and that is a really important part of scriptwriting and fan-fic writing. Being able to get into how a character feels and reacts is a big part of story telling and I felt you conveyed that well.

An excellent read! Well done, Miranda!

Emmasi picks out her favourite story at the moment from The Adult Forum -

Story Chosen: Mistake? (by Perryadams)

This short but sweet oneshot about two boys, Aden and Geoff, having to hide their romance from people who'd rather not know about it is a clever commentary on Home and Away's reluctance to show a meaningful gay relationship on our screens. It was written quite some time ago, but is still very relevant, considering the "Gaden" fan base has been growing steadily ever since. This fic illustrates with passion and sensitivity why this possible pairing has such a strong following.

Jen picks out her favourite ongoing story from the main forum -

Story Chosen: Before I Die (by pamy).

Matilda does not have long to live, but the memory of her brother Henry persists through a list of things she wishes to do before she reaches the age of thirty. A beautifully written romance between two of the Bay's teens Mattie and Lucas who have to deal with all the usual awkwardness of their first love. Told from multiple view points, the author writes about the traumas of the Hunter family but also vividly describes what it is like to have loved and lost.

It is a simple story idea, and one that many readers would already be familiar with. It is written with some wonderful descriptions and inner monologues to increase your attachment and empathy to the characters. A captivating story.

This story is still in the process of being written, so it is not too late to join the journey of crossing off the goals of Mattie's list.  

 

The past month has also seen the re-introduction of one of our past most popular features with the rebirth of the fanfiction challenge contests. In the past the contests have been a great place for writers to enter their work and really get detailed, structured and critiqued reviews of their work. The challenges are a great chance to improve your writing and open to anyone. The latest installment was hosted by our impartial moderator Dean and it was a simple, open challenge simply asking for up to 2000 words on any event that had been mentioned on screen but not necessarily explored. With eight entries, an equal to our record, it's safe to call the competition a success.

All the entries for the current competition including the winner can be viewed in this thread.

The next competition is being hosted by I love music and the details can be found in this post.