Year-End Fanfic Meme

This is just a little fan fic meme you can fill out at your leisure - either in your own blog or reply in the comments here.

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Tags: fan fiction, meme, quiz, survey, writing
Current Mood: content

This is an updated list of some of my favourite Outsiders fan fic (in alphabetical order, including articles like "the" "a" etc) from fanfiction.net:

One-shots (Completed)

01. A Date at the Dingo (Artemis Rex) - Steve isn't too happy to see his girlfriend Evie hanging around one of Shepard's gang.
02. All In The Line of Duty (Beth Smith) - A one-shot from a cop's POV regarding Dally.
03. Anger Management (Artemis Rex) - After getting caught by the cops, Dally is put in an anger management class.
04. Breakfast With Shepard (Sanskrit) - The story of what happened when Pony found Tim reading the paper in their armchair one morning.
05. Doesn't Cut It (LikeWoahhh) - A look into Steve's home life.
06. Flypaper Boys (Aiko-chan) - A unique one-shot regarding a death.
07. Fragments (Queen Jane Approximately) - Soda is deep in thought as he prepares to write home.
08. Happy New Year (MisoSoop) - Cherry and Dally have an encounter.
09. Hauled In...Again (Beth Smith) - A one-shot from Dally's POV about what happened when the cops hauled him in after Johnny killed Bob.
10. Joker's Wild (Artemis Rex) - The cops haul in a young prankster for questioning. Cop POV.
11. Just Look at the Stars (kaz456) - A first person POV from Cherry. One-shot.
12. Mercury Knew (Aiko-chan) - A one-shot from Ponyboy's POV.
13. Misstep (zevie) - Darry receives some help when he's injured at work. OC POV.
14. On Distant Ground (Queen Jane Approximately) - A Soda POV Vietnam era one-shot. Soda arrives in-country as the seasoned vets are leaving.
15. Pride & Prejudice (suzanami) - Cherry looks back at the past before leaving for college.
16. Rematch (Lost But Found) - A one-shot missing scene from Triangle, Lost But Found borrowed Ruby and the horses. Dallas and Ruby have a rematch racing.
17. Retribution (NittanyLizard) - Darry and Soda take care of business.
18. Silent Reverie (So Confusingly Amusing) - A friend comforts Ponyboy after the loss of his parents.
19. Singing in the Rain (zevie) - A look at Tim's homelife.
20. Soldier in Paradise (Queen Jane Approximately) - Vietnam is slowly eating away at Steve.
21. The Cooler Kings (tensleep) - A young Dally and Tim get arrested.
22. The Rich One (Nittany Lizard) - A view from a different character. OC POV.
23. Tim Woke Up (fosterchild) - Tim finds out Dally was killed.
24. Too Much Crime For Innocence (Marauder and The Q) - Johnny wakes up in Windrixville.
25. What Comes Around (NittanyLizard) - A judge has to decide whether to keep the Curtises together or not. OC POV.
26. White Wedding (Artemis Rex) - Tim Shepard isn't too happy to discover his sister is pregnant and sets out to make the situation right.

Finished

01. Blindfolded - A Companion To Running In The Dark (MisoSoop) - Alice's daughter visits Tulsa to find out about her mother's past. OFC and Dally POV.
02. Epiphany (Emiline Harris) - Dallas gets to see what would have happened had he never come to Tulsa.
03. Family Ties (printandpolish) - Soda discovers that Sandy's baby was really his...and it's 30 years later and she's come to meet him.
04. If The Sun Comes Up Tomorrow (Artemis Rex) - A companion piece to the above, it follows Laura and Dally after an incident in "Wrong Side..." OFC and Dally POV.
05. Loved and Lost (desert-girl) - Darry has a scholarship to college and his girl on his arm and everything is about to change.
06. Not Today (desert-girl) - Darry meets a woman that changes his outlook on life. First person Darry POV.
07. Running in the Dark (MisoSoop) - Dallas discovers that death is not the end, as he is made guardian angel to a troubled girl. OFC and Dally POV.
08. Saving Grace (Artemis Rex) - Two-Bit's sister Grace struggles as she watches her brother try and deal with the deaths of his friends, while she deals with her feelings for Darry.
09. So You're Leaving (Scarlett7) - Johnny leaves Tulsa and his absense causes Dallas to take inventory of his life, especially when he visits Johnny's new family.
10. Ten Years Later (NittanyLizard) - A great "in the future" story. Ponyboy's career puts him in the path of a troubled youth who needs him.
11. The Other Side (st.elmo lover) - A girl deals with Dally after Johnny has died and finds he isn't the same person she once knew. OFC POV.
12. The Unfound (Artemis Rex) - Dallas is long-dead, and his son has come to learn about the father he just learned he had. OMC POV and gang POV.
13. Unplanned Journey (Hahukum Konn) - A time travel story with a twist - the narrator is a guy. Even if you don't like or believe time travel stories, this one is really well written. OMC POV.
14. Welcome to the Wrong Side of the Tracks (Artemis Rex) - Ponyboy meets the new girl on the block and struggles to understand her and her complicated relationship with Dallas. Ponyboy 1st person POV.

In-Progress

01. Annabelle Mathews (IAmOnlyMe) - Two-Bit's younger sister is in a world of trouble with boys and drugs.
02. Back Home Again (IAmOnlyMe) - Ponyboy has been estranged from his brother and Tulsa for twenty years...and now it's time he went back and faced his past.
03. Beyond Sunsets (Philippa)) - Pony gets taken away from his family thanks to a shady lawyer. Ponyboy 1st person POV.
04. Cogs in the Machine (Marauder and The Q) - Steve Randle returns from war, bringing ghosts with him.
05. Come Down From Your Fences (Maxiekat) - An alternate ending to the book. Johnny and Dallas survived the fire in the church and it's a struggle going on. Johnny and Dally POV.
06. Falling Down (Holger Dansk) - A great fic about the Shepard's (mainly Curly and Tim) from the viewpoint of Curly's girlfriend, who develops an interest in Tim. OFC POV.
07. Long Time Running (Artemis Rex and MisoSoop) - Features characters from Running in The Dark, Blindfolded & The Unfound. Dallas's son and his former charge's daughter meet. OMC, OFC, Dally POV.
08. My Canadian Cousin (Tensleep) - Steve's cousin comes to visit from Canada. A great look at Steve and the gang from a girl's POV.
09. Other Worlds Than This (Artemis Rex) - Dallas Winston awakens in a world more dangerous than the one he left. Cross over story with Stephen King's 'Dark Tower' series. OFC and Dally POV.
10. Running on Empty (Emiline Harris) - Steve Randle's life has never been easy...
11. She Who Is Golden (Coca-Cola3012) - East Indian Sonali Ganguli has to adjust to moving to Tulsa, getting acquainted with her father and meeting her soon-to-be stepfamily. OFC POV.
12. Tender Is The Night (A Sideways Smile) - As a girl growing up with the guys, Ellie had to be tough. Now she's going through things that may crack that resolve. OFC POV.
13. The Boys Are Back In Town (Artemis Rex) - A series of pre-book snapshots featuring everyone from Tim Shepard, to Steve and Evie, to Dallas.
14. The Good Shepard (MisoSoop) - A parody story in which Tim Shepard's perfect twin Ted comes to town.
15. The River King (Tensleep) - The Shepard's have to deal with a new step-brother who is a member of a rival gang. OMC POV.
16. The Unforgiven (Fairlane) - A great Shepard fic, Tim gets out of jail and has to take control of his gang and his brother.


I would be remiss if I didn't mention my own fics, huh?

01. Fight or Flight (mars on fire) - Johnny POV one shot - the stabbing from Johnny's point of view. Completed
02. Middle Ground (mars on fire) - Two-Bit meets a new girl at school and unwittingly puts her in the middle of the Soc/greaser war, not to mention in the path of his girlfriend. Two-Bit 1st person and OFC 3rd person POVs. Completed
03. One Shot (mars on fire) - A missing one-shot scene from 'Triangle', chapter 31. Bill Pearce muses about his situation during a robbery gone bad. OMC POV. Completed
04. Return of the King (mars on fire) - A missing one-shot scene from 'Triangle', chapter 15. Tim Shepard checks on his gang the day after getting slashed by Dallas. Tim POV. Completed
05. Triangle (mars on fire) - Tim Shepard has to deal with Dallas Winston, a new business opportunity and the new girl behind the bar at Buck's. Tim and OFC POV. In Progress

All of my stories but Fight or Flight cross over with Artemis Rex's stories, as well as each other. Artemis's stories all cross over amongst themselves as well. Miso Soop and Artemis Rex have also crossed over their stories (although only some of Miso's fics).

My character from Triangle, Ruby, was borrowed by Lost But Found for her story Rematch, with my permission. It's a one-shot missing scene from Triangle, after chapter 41 (which hasn't even been posted yet lol).

Updated June 20 2007

Tags: fan fiction, favourite stories, good fic
Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: Gladys Knight and The Pips - Midnight Train to Georgia

C2 communities allow you to join an alert list for different categories of Outsiders stories. There are C2 communities for every category - from only Curtis sister fics to only Dallas fics. When you join, you'll get an email every time a new fic that matches the description of the C2 community is added - they're also useful for finding certain types of stories quickly. These are a couple of my favourites:

Shepard Fics - You so knew I was going to run this one, right? =) I created this C2, and it only contains fan fiction that have Tim Shepard, Curly Shepard or Angela Shepard as characters (at least minor characters that appear for a good chunk of time). There are fics of ALL ratings and all subjects, from the very good to the not-so-great. There are currently 37 fics in this archive and it is updated as frequently as new Shepard based stories are added. Make sure you look at the box on the right for the Ratings and change it to Ratings: All, or you'll miss the stories rated M (this goes for all C2 communities as well as the main Outsiders category - the default at ff.net is to show only K to T ratings).

Good Outsiders Fic - An archive of over 130 stories that are well written, well researched, with good characterization of canon characters and decent original characters. Updated as often as good new fiction is added from what I can tell (it's pretty up-to-date).

Dallas Lovers Unite - A collection of stories that feature Dallas Winston. There are 42 fics listed.

There are tons of other lists out there, so check out The C2 Outsiders section for more.

Tags: c2 communities, fan fiction, fanfiction.net, good fic
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Grateful Dead - All Along the Watchtower 10-18-89

At fanfiction.net they use fictionratings.com for their fic ratings, since the MPAA didn't want them using movie ratings.

The fiction ratings are:

K - Suitable for most ages (5 and up). Content should be free of any coarse language, violence, and adult themes.
K+ - Some content may not be suitable for young children (9 and up). Minor action violence without serious injury. May contain mild coarse language. Should not contain any adult themes.
T - Contains content not suitable for children (13 and up). Some violence, minor coarse language, and minor suggestive adult themes.
M - Contains content suitable for mature teens and older (16 and up). Possible strong but non-explicit adult themes, references to violence, and strong coarse language.
MA - Contains explicit content for adults only (18 and up). May contain explicit language and adult themes.

Fanfiction.net doesn't allow fic rated MA and fic rated M is not listed in the category by default. For instance, if you go to the fanfiction.net main page, then click Book and Outsiders, you'll see it only shows stories rated K through T. If you want to see any stories rated M, you need to choose Fiction Rating: All from the drop down menu at the upper right. I bookmark the page once I do that, so I always get all ratings, but I don't know how many people know they aren't seeing all the stories when they go to the site.

Because of this, I have rated all my stories at the T level so they always show up.

The fiction ratings don't have any guidelines on what is appropriate at each level. What one person thinks is a T rating may be someone else's M rating. Technically I'd have to say that Middle Ground falls into a T rating - there's not too much coarse language, violence and the adult themed stuff is suggestive rather than descriptive. But I wonder about Triangle, as it seems to be on its way to M lol. There aren't any solid guidelines though, so I can't say for sure.

The MPAA movie rating system (G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17) at least has guidelines. For instance, (thank you wikipedia):

* A film can use "one of the harsher sexually derived words" (such as fuck) 1-3 times, and get a PG-13 rating, as long as the word is used as an expletive and not with a sexual meaning.
* A reference to drugs will get a PG-13.
* A graphic of explicit scene of drug use will get a PG-13, but more often an R rating if it is hard drugs.
* Strong sexual content will garner an R rating. Even not so strong can get an R rating, depending on context.
* Male rear nudity will usually get a lower rating and female rear nudity, since female nudity is more often considered sexual.
* Bloodless violence will get a PG-13, bloodshed an R.

(Interesting aside - in Canada we have different ratings - G, PG, 14A (akin to PG-13), 18A (akin to R), R (like NC-17) and A (aka porn lol) and they can vary between provinces. For example Blade: Trinity was an American R rating, in BC is was 14A and in Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario it was 18A. Quebec has its own rating system and other smaller provinces will use ratings set by (usually) the closest province to them. Our ratings can be less harsh than US ratings - One Night at McCool's got a 14A here and was rated R in the States. The Outsiders was a PG-13 (originally a PG) release, and here it was misrated 18A and never corrected).

It's difficult to rate a story in general, since much of the impact of a story comes from what you as a reader can imagine from what is written.

So how do you choose which rating to give your story, especially in Outsiders fic?

Tags: fan fiction, fanfiction.net, fiction ratings
Current Music: Bon Jovi - Lay Your Hands On Me

Back Home Again - IAmOnlyMe's story, set in the future. Ponyboy is all grown up and married...and he's been estranged from his brother and Tulsa for years...and now it's time for him to go home and face up to his past.

Other Worlds Than This - Artemis' Dark Tower/Outsiders cross over, even if you haven't read Stephen King's The Dark Tower series (like me), you don't have to to enjoy this story. Dallas ends up in a world far different from his own when he dies. His confusion at being in this place is brilliant to read...not to mention all the tasty crossovers with Artemis' other fics. Read and review people, it deserves it! And read through all the chapters, even if you don't get it...because not getting it actually makes it better lol...you're just like Dally!

The alert system at ff.net isn't working AGAIN, so check out The Fan Fiction Outsiders Main Page for updated stories of all ratings.

And for fan fic writers, please consider also posting your stories up at Ficwad.com. Their rating system is a bit different, but it could be a great archive if more stories were added. Ficwad also accepts NC-17 rating (which would be equal to rating 'MA' in fictionratings.com) which ff.net doesn't allow.

Tags: fan fiction, favourite stories, ficwad.com, good fic
Current Music: Skid Row - Youth Gone Wild

I tend to use a lot of fan fiction terms here, and if there's any new fan fic authors around, I'm sure it's confusing. So I've created a little fan fic terminology dictionary. Some of them are more common to other fandoms, but I included them anyway. There is a huge list of terms here, and they include all fandoms and tons of terms that don't apply to The Outsiders fandom, but it's fun to know them anyway.

( Click here for Fan Fic Dictionary )

Here's a brief guide to fiction length, so you know what you're reading.

Micro Fiction - less than 100 words
Drabble - A story that is exactly 100 words
Flash Fiction - 100 - 1000 words (also called a one-shot, it's one chapter only)
Short Short - 1000 to 2500 (3-9 pages)
Short Story - 2500 - 7500 words (10 - 22 pages)
Novelette - 7500 - 20,000 words (22 - 61 pages)
Novella - 20,000 - 50,000 words (66 - 175 pages)
Novel - 50,000 - 100,000 words (over 175 pages) average novel is 80,000 words
Epic Novel - Over 100,000

Fiction under 500 words is sometimes called a Vignette. Chapters in a novel are usually at least 2000 words each.

And some lengths for different genres of original fic:

Picture Books - Up to 3,000 words (ages 6 and under)
Chapter books - 5,000 to 20,000 words (ages 6 to 8)
Juvenile books - 25,000 to 50,000 words (ages 9 to 12)
Young Adult books - 30,000 to 80,000 words (13 and above)
Detective novel - 70,000 to 85,000 words
Thrillers - 70,000 to 100,000 words

More and more often, mainstream paperback fiction, thrillers, suspense, horror, romance etc are breaking the 100,000 word mark easily. Book sizes have increased a lot over the last 10 years alone and books are now longer than they used to be - so if you're aiming for a certain genre, length-wise - go for the higher end now.

Tags: dictionary, fan fiction, fan fiction terms
Current Music: Michael Jackson - Thriller

Fanfiction.net seems to be down right now so I can't update Middle Ground.

I will share with you a site Artemis mentioned - FicWad.com. There's an Outsiders section, only 5 stories so far. It's got a different rating system (NC-17 even) and you can review a story as well as rate them with either a positive or negative adjective, which in turns gives the stories points. It's useful because you can cull the stories you want to read based on points - mary Sue stories and generally bad ones have lower ratings, while better stories have higher ratings. It's a cool system and a bit less restrictive about content in the sex area.

If anyone knows of other places to post fic (big "clearing house" style places) then let me know.

Tags: fan fiction, ficwad.com
Current Music: Handel - St. Petersburg RSO - Water Music: Suite #2 in D Major, #4 Lentement