House, who almost never expresses emotion through language. He is the most reticent of characters when it comes to his feeling or his deepest thoughts. He would not narrate his own story (if that makes any sense) Totally. I have the theory that House never says, he does. Wilson can, on the odd occaison, get him to reveal something, but that is not usually the norm. Which makes it tricky for a writer because how do you convey Hugh's mornful looks via a written medium and keep it in character-ish?

Haha, you can try typing: "House looked mournfully at Wilson."

This makes sense to me: G for general, PG for parental guidance, ie taking the kids to see Finding Nemo, PG 13 for here ten bucks Tarquin - go knock yourself out at the movies and don't bug me, R for Quentin Tarantino, and NC 17 for hot shagging action. It's interesting - I'd reverse those last two. Explicit violence like Kill Bill deserves an NC-17 IMHO, whereas hot shagging, well, that probably also deserves NC-17. However, if I'd have to rank them in terms of which I'd rather keep away from the kiddies, it's definitely the extreme violence. That is not to say I think it's fine for kids to watch porn. I guess I just find extreme violence more offensive than explicit sex. From my perusal of House slash, I think a lot of it is rated lower than I would personally rate it. I've read a lot of PG stories with heavy smooching and I guess the philosophy is that there's no sex, it's just kissing so it's safe for all ages. To me, descriptions of sexual feelings, even if there is no kissing involved at all, warrant a PG-13. I know you can easily argue that kids don't have to be 13 years old to be ready to comprehend sexuality. But the warnings aren't a universal umbrella, just a general guideline. Sexual content, even if it's mild, deserves a PG-13. PG is not for stories that contain emotional or physical aspects of relationships. I'd never give a House/Wilson romance story a PG rating. If House and Wilson went off on some sort of (non-sexual) adventure, that would be a PG or G story. A House/Wilson fan-fic would have to be extra-fluffy for me to consider it a G-rated story. That's just my personal rating scale. I have no doubt that it will seem extra-conservative to most readers. Hang on... I am just remembering I have a pair of Ugg Boots. If once an expression goes into general lexicon it cannot be trademarked as it is basically a word. Surprisingly, that's not entirely true. There is a writer's magazine - could be The Writer or maybe Writer's Digest - that used to run tons of advertisements from companies like Xerox and Kleenex to appeal to writers not to use trademarked words in lieu of generic ones like "photocopies" or "tissues." But it's a futile struggle. As you said, these words are in the general lexicon and the companies might be able to litigate to stop the words from appearing in published fiction, but there's no way to stop people from using them in everyday conversation. Even though I agree with zulu Re: the ratings of sex and violence, I'm not so sure about slash. I think a story about a relationship, regardless of sexual orientation, isn't a G-rated story. Unless we're talking about a Cinderella-type relationship which does not delve under the proverbial hood. I just think the emotional content of a relationship story is not truly "all ages." But I guess it depends on whether you see the ratings as guidelines for the audience interest, or only as warnings. In other words, being G-rated doesn't necessarily mean the kids would like it, although in the world of Hollywood movies, it nearly always does. As a reader, I like all POVs, although second-person sometimes reads awkwardly. As a writer, I prefer third-person because of the reasons cited above: more omniscient possibilities. Though you still have to write from a single characters point of view, to a certain extent. True omniscient narration can come across as distant and sterile. I guess the turnoff for me with House first-person fics is that House is a complex character and it's hard to get inside his head, and for some reason, mischaracterization in first-person is so much more appalling than mischaracterization in third-person. Maybe we should have a House festival - but everyone has to write in different formats and styles and genres - or pick an author and use their style. House a la ee cummings, Shakespeare, a haiku, etc What about Arthur Conan Doyle?! (I have been meaning to write a House-and-Wilson-in-the-Holmes-universe for ages).

Yet I hate the word... 'that one with the mourn in it' because like ff rating system - try as I might I can never ever remember how to spell it. I always think of 'that word' when I think of Hugh, but I think I'm switching to 'mindthumpingly depressed'.

I am so up for the House Festival, Sheep!

This week's writer profile at housefic meta is on Perspi, one of my favorite writers.

As this thread's slowed down a bit I want to ask a dumb newbie-fic writer question. :oops: How important are disclaimers? I mean - I've posted a few fics without a disclaimer - will I be sued by TPTB at some point while everyone with disclaimers escapes???

I wrote a whole long reply before, but I guess it got lost in the system somehow. Anyway, here's what I understand; please feel free to make any corrections. If TPTB for any book, movie, TV series, etc. decided to sue all fanfic writers for infringement (an extravagantly expensive undertaking to try to squeeze money out of a relatively penniless population), disclaimers would offer little legal protection. The most a disclaimer would show would be "ethical" intentions on the part of the fanfic author. However, most (U.S.-based) fanfic archives require disclaimers for EVERY CHAPTER posted. Why? Because in the U.S., any work of fiction is automatically covered by U.S. copyright law, even if it stays unpublished in the author's hard drive. So if a fanfic author publicly posts a fic without any disclaimers, he/she is in essence saying, "These characters are my original creations." This claim is in direct violation of the rights of the initial copyright (of the creators) and is probably much more likely to wind up pissing off TPTB. Also, "Me no own, no money, no sue" or any cute variation thererof, is NOT a legal disclaimer. The disclaimer should cite the actual copyright holders (e.g. David Shore, Heel and Toe Productions, Fox Television, etc.) and also assert that the fic was not created for monetary profit. For me, personally, it's no big deal to cut and paste the boring disclaimer to the beginning of each chapter in order to comply with the TOS of most fanfic archives. If anything, I think of it as a nod of respect to the creators of the show we love so much.

Wow. I had no idea. Thanks for the info. I must edit every chapter of every fan fic I ever wrote now. LOL

aenissesthai, great summary. Disclaimers are incredibly important legally - & btw, its why we have one on this site as well that says something similar, i.e. the copyrights are held by their respective owners & this is a non-for profit site.

Thanks, Ranee. Also, to clarify, the ones at greatest risk of being sued (ot at least served with a Cease and Desist order) are the fanfic archives, instead of individual authors. After all, any site that makes money from advertising is that much more of a juicy target for the lawyers. That's why the big archives require disclaimers--a kind of CYA for themselves. However, it's also in the best interest of the authors who use that archive to comply, because if a C&D order does show up at the archive, you bet that they are going to immediately eliminate any fic that doesn't have the requisite disclaimers. I would include LiveJournal firmly in the "must have disclaimer on fanfic" group. I don't know whether it's part of their Terms of Service, but LJ has certainly shown its willingness to shut down accounts without prior warning, should they even appear to straddle legal boundaries.

Thank-you very much indeed aenissesthai. People treat disclaimers with such varying degrees of seriousness, levity and creativity, that I had no idea if they were fulfilling any function at all. (/goes off to draft a disclaimer)

A few questions to the writers reading here: When you were new to writing fanfiction, how did you go about beginning? Did you start with an idea, or did you just want to write and then come up with an idea? Do you write in Word, or directly into your LJ, or longhand, or what? Those that use beta readers, how do you find one, or do you wait until one finds you? How do you keep characters "in character"? And finally, how do you overcome (if you have any) the fear and finally open what you have written for others to read? Not that I am actually thinking of writing anything :oops: but dear God, I think it would almost be as bad as filming yourself for others to watch. :cold: