Team Story Writing Do's and Don'ts
From Virtualsoil
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Above All
Respect others and have fun and you should be a fine addition to the story team!
Do
- Take time to read the story and understand the plot so far
- Read Author Notes, References, Appendix if existing
- Write as you would like others to do so in your stories: with respect for the author's original intentions
- Have fun
Don't
- Hijack the story - i.e., don't take the story as your own without any regard for the author's original plans. This means:
- Keep existing characters the same - i.e. don't make pirates start wearing a tutu all of a sudden
- Do not put in major events without peer review - i.e., don't create an alien invasion out of thin air, w/o discussing it in the story talk page
- Do not kill a character unless it is one you created just recently, exactly for this purpose.
Usually don't
Unless the author and the rest of the team says otherwise you should abide by this rules:
- Don't change the rating, theme and Genre - If the author rated his story as PG you may not make it X rated, unless the change is agreed upon by all contributors and original author. Same goes for theme and genre.
- Don't make gods or devils - Your character may not be immortal, invincible, more good looking than Cindy Crawford or Brad Pitt, with the intellect of Stephen Hawking and the sense of humor of Steve Martin. The reverse is also true: Despicable invincible immortal evil geniuses are also a no-no. Usually that kind of character makes it very hard for other characters to compete and / or interact, so you may not make gods or demons unless their existence is agreed upon by all contributors and original author
- Don't take control of someone else's character - The character creator is the one who decides what that guy / gal / thing actually does or says. You can put in minor details such as John looked at the fire or John lost his balance but only John's creator can actually say what John did after looking at the fire or loosing his balance. This can bee changed if the character creator agrees to give you free reign over the guy /gal / thing for a period of time (lending) or for the rest of the story (putting it up for adoption).
All Do's and Don'ts here can be overridden or extended
By the story author and the story team, on a story by story basis.
