print this page

Fanfiction

Submit Your Story

Introduction

You can submit your fanfiction story or poem to MSCL.com by using the form at the bottom of this page. If this is the first time you're submitting a fanfiction contribution, please read on.

Where to start?

If you haven't enough time to write a complete fanfiction story, then consider participating in the so-called interactive story. It's like a never-ending book where every reader can add a new page - it can be as long or as short as you want.

If you want to write a complete fanfiction story with someone else, then you can search for a co-author at the MSCL.com FanFictionForum. Perhaps you're lucky and you'll find someone who's also on the search for a co-author. The forum can also be a great help if you're looking for story ideas or want to test some scenes before officially submitting them to the fanfiction section.

Writing Tips

W. Loraine Kelley and Kyrie Daniels have written a faboulus article about writing FanFictionStories, but unfortunately it's no longer available on the 'net.

I'll post here a few excerpts which should help you avoiding some common mistakes. Alternatively you can also search with Google for "Tips for fanfiction autors".

I. Always run your spell-check before posting.  Misspelled 
words are one of the biggest things that will cause a reader to
delete the story before finishing it.  Then, read it over once
again to check for typos that a spell-checker would miss.  Every
word in the sentence "too bee ore knot too bee" is spelled
correctly, yet is incorrect in the context.  Also make sure that
proper names, such as the names of characters are spelled
correctly.


i.   Frequently misused homonyms:

     a) they're/their/there
		*"they're" is the contraction of "they are"
         They're going now.
         They are going now.
        *"their" is the possessive form of "they"
          Their dog was barking all last night.
        *"there" is used to indicate a place
         The soup is over there.

     b) too/to/two
        *"too" has the same basic meaning as "also" 
         I want to do that too.
        *"too" is also used in descriptive comparisons.
         The wait was too long.
        *"to" is the preposition
         We should go to the store.
        *"two" is the number
         He has two cats.

     c) hear/here
        *"hear" is the verb that relates to sound
         I hear you.
        *"here" is another word used to indicate place
         The cereal is here.

     d) it's/its
		*"it's" is the contraction of "it is"
         It's your turn to pay.
        *"its" is the possessive form of "it"
         The dog had finished its bone.

     e) you're/your
		*"you're" is the contraction of "you are"
         You're doing what tonight?
         You are doing what tonight?
        *"your" is the possessive form of "you"
         That's your car, right?

		f) weather/whether
		*"weather" is a noun referring to climate.
		The weather's been awfully cold lately.
        *"whether" is an adverb referring to time.
          I'd like to know whether we're going out.

     g) accept/except
         *"accept" is a verb.
           I will accept your excuse just this once.
         *"except" is an adjective.
           Except for one 'B', I got straight 'A's in school.

     h) affect/effect
          *"affect" is a verb.
             I hoped that hitting him over the head would affect his behavior.
           *"effect" is a noun.
             The effect was not what I anticipated.

ii.   Frequently misspelled/misused words

     a) lose/loose
       *"lose" is the one with the "z" sound in it.
         He will lose the argument.
        *"loose" is the one with the "s" sound in it.
         The ropes came loose.

     b) alot/allright
        *Neither "alot" or "allright" are words.  They
         are both two word phrases "a lot" and "all right".

     c) fewer/less
        *"fewer" is used with count nouns.
         On Saturdays fewer cars line the street.
        *"less" is used with mass nouns.
         There is less pollution now.

         (hint: if the word becomes plural by adding as
         "s" to the end, use the word "fewer".)

     d) than/then
        *"than" is used in comparisons
         We go out more than we used to.
         Her eyes are bluer than before.
        *"then" is used as an indicator of time.
         We went to dinner then to a movie.


iii.  There is such a thing as too much punctuation.
      Punctuation should be used to accent a point, not to make
      the point.

     a) Exclamation Points
        *Try to avoid the use of exclamation points all
         together, but if you must use them, limit yourself to
         one per sentence.  Even better, limit yourself to one
         per every five pages of story.

     b) Ellipses
        *Three dots are used to indicate a sentence trailing
         off, like a person interrupted in speech.
        *Four dots is a sentence trailing off and ending.

     c) Quotation Marks
        *Dialogue should be enclosed within quotation marks,
         either single or double.
        *Punctuation for the sentence goes inside the marks.
         "What did you do yesterday?"
        *A comma is used to indicate that dialogue is starting
         or ending, unless other punctuation is used.
         -- She said, "We have to talk."
         -- "We have to talk," she said.
         -- He looked over her shoulder.  "No."

There is a common, and often neglected, grammar rule that says to
start a new paragraph each time a new person speaks.  Thus the
following example is both incorrect and hard to understand:

"We have to talk," she said.  He looked over her shoulder. "No." 
"But there's something I need to tell you." "I don't care."

It should be:

     "We have to talk," she said.
     He looked over her shoulder.  "No."
     "But there's something I need to tell you."
     "I don't care."


iv.  Pluralization and Possessive both are marked similarly,
     but there is one major difference.

     a) Plural (more than one) is marked usually by putting an
        's' at the end of the word.
        The dogs  --->  more than one dog.

     b) Possessive (ownership) is marked with an apostrophe and
        's' at the end of the possessor.
        *The 's' comes after the apostrophe when it's
		only one item doing the possessing.
		The dog's bone ---> the bone that belongs to the dog.
        *The 's' comes before the apostrophe when it's
		more than one item doing the possessing.
		The dogs' bone ---> the bone that belongs to many dogs.
        *Pronouns do not follow these rules. Note the example
         of "it's" vs "its" in the section on commonly misused
         homonyms.

         Note: the placement of the apostrophe before or after the
         's' isn't really the correct explanation. It is an easy to
         remember shortcut, though.  There is another process going
         on.  The real plural possessive for "dog" would be
         "dogs's".  However, because "dogses" is cumbersome, the
         second "s" (the one that is really marking possessive) is
         historically dropped, producing the form "dogs'".

[...]


iv. Additional suggestions

     Keep copies of your own work.  If you don't deem it
     worth hanging on to, why should anyone else?  On a more
     practical note, many people don't decide to read a story
     until half of it has been posted.  Then they want to track
     down back parts, so they go to the author.  If you don't
     have it, they can't read it.

     Finish your story before posting it.  Or, at least, get
     the entire story plotted out.  Then, if you hit a plotting
     snag you can just go back and fix it without anyone being
     the wiser.  This also saves you the embarrassment of
     deciding you don't want to continue a story being posted,
     for whatever reason.

     If you ask for feedback, be prepared to accept it.  Not
     everyone is going to like everything you write.  Some may
     even tell you so.  If someone takes the time to gives you
     honest criticism, even if it's harsh, then they have
     obviously seen something worth improving.  Disagreement
     does not equal flame.

     Likewise, if you enjoy something by another author, write
     and tell them so.  If you don't like something, write, tell
     them so, then offer suggestions for improvement.  Flaming
     does not equal criticism.  Authors can not be expected to
     know what they're doing wrong until they are told.  They
     also can not be expected to know what they're doing right
     until they are told.

And now some special hints for writing "My So-Called Life" FanFic:

Most authors write their "My So-Called Life" fanfiction in form of a screenplay. This is NOT a requirement, it has mostly historical reasons. Anyway, screenplays look in most cases like this:

ANGELA: I, I don't know what to say. (she steps a bit closer)
BRIAN: Me too.
They both hug.
Useful abbreviations & terminology for screenplays:
VO - Voice over
OS - Off Screen
POV - Point of view
FADE OUT, FADE IN, BLACK SCREEN, CLOSE UP, ...

Spelling of Character Names

According to the original shooting scripts scripts and the MSCL books by Catherine Clark, the correct spellings of the names of the MSCL characters are:
Angela Chase
Danielle Chase
Patty (Patricia) Chase (Wood)
Graham Chase
Rayanne Marie Graff
Hallie Lowenthal
Brian Krakow
Rickie (Enrique) Vasquez
Mr. Katimski
(Katimski's boyfriend was never called by name in the original series. Catherine Clark used the name "Ted" in her second book )

Submit Your Story

And finally, here's the form.
Important Note: Submitting your story will NOT result in an automatic immediate publication on MSCL.com. We will first read your story, and add it to our site if it complies to some basic writing standards (see above). This can take a few weeks!. So please be patient, we maintain this website in our spare time. You'll be notified per e-mail as soon as we add your story to our site. If you have any questions, you can contact us in the forum.

Your name (or nickname):

Your email address: (will not be published)

Title of your story:

Type of your story:
Rating of your story:
Short abstract: (What happens in your story?)

Any comments for the admins? (optional)

Upload your file (any of these types: TXT, Word DOC, RTF, ODF or HTML):

Anti-Spam: (required, please enter "MSCL" (without the quotes) into this field.)



“Lately, I can't even look at my mother without wanting to stab her repeatedly.”

Angela Chase, Episode 1: "My So-Called Life (Pilot)"