Fan fiction -- any rules?

[Eriflor]

This is probably a perennial question, but I've been a member of this site since Anne's Kitchen Table shut down, and ONLY JUST discovered the Exhibition Hall!, and I believe the rules for fan fiction have changed.

So --- are there any specific rules that must be followed if you send fan-fiction to the Exhibition Hall?

• Do you have to write within the canon Weyrs/Holds/Halls?
• Can you write stories about characters from the books?
• Can you change the facts as shown in the books?
• Can you do alternative timelines by changing one incident in the past?

Actually, most of that sounds reasonable enough. I suppose it makes more sense to ask if there's anything we're not allowed to do, like setting up a story in the past that would leave traces that couldn't be explained in the present, or inventing yet another capability of dragons/whers/firelizards.

The reason for my sudden curiosity is that I've just dropped out of the Arolos Weyr RPG (too much Weyr, too little Hold and Craft activity), and I want to keep writing about Pern.

BTW maybe this info about fan-fiction rules should be Sticky?

Thank you,
Eriflor.

[Kath]

No yes yes yes

As far as i'm aware, the only 'no' as far as MOM is concerned is to keep it a sensible rating: pg13 rather than r. Dragondays and some of my other stories have non-explicit sex scenes in them, for instance, but i did check the first one was okay before posting. Anything you'd rate k+/t should be fine, m-rated could do with a content warning, and e-for-explicit is best left to ao3, though there's nothing to say you can't offer a link to an e-rated fic...

[Eriflor]

Thanks, Kath.
Was that Exhibit Hall Rules sticky there before? I didn't notice it. It answers my query, and also a few questions I didn't even think of asking.

Eriflor.