Site conduct

In order to provide a site that is supportive and functional, there are rules every member is required to follow. These rules cover requirements that we treat each narrative with respect by providing constructive criticism and refraining from insulting behaviour, that we properly reference prior work and always refrain from stealing other ideas and attempting to pass them off as our own.

Consistent failure to act in a responsible and supportive manner will result in banning from this site. There are many other outlets for expressing negativity, please use one of those if you cannot abide by our rules.

Referencing prior works | Plaigarism | Supportive criticism | Abusive statements | Getting banned

Referencing prior work
One important element of RT is that we identify the material (literature, film, television, audio, images, etc…) that helped seed our ideas.  The purpose of this is to help identify prior works that have stimulated our ideas in such a way that we are be able to build a visual connection of these ideas.  There are multiple ways other ideas can stimulate ours.  It might be that a single idea from a movie sticks with us and we develop it a step further.  At other times, it might be two different ideas we meld into something new.  Any of these are welcome additions to RT.

Examples might include:

  • Star Trek holodecks might be used to not only be able to provide a rich, immersive environment, but could also be adapted to change the character’s perception of themselves.  In a holodeck, they might be able to appear, function and perceive as a betazoid or even a gaseous life form. 
  • Using two ideas, we could take Star Trek holodecks and cross them with synthesized avatars, in which characters could go on away missions or attend diplomatic functions while standing in the holodeck to view the environment in which their avatars are operating from the human viewpoint.  Meanwhile, their avatars are on location, interacting with the unique species.  Their human movements are trained to translate into proper alien movements and their speech is translated on the fly.

Referencing work posted on our Regarding Tomorrow
Please provide a link to the story or stories on which you are building.  Use this format: “Metal Dragons by Samual Smith” and make it into a link to the actual page on which the story is housed.

Referencing prior work (stories, articles, existing technologies, audio, TV, film, art, etc...)
For external links, you should include the title, writer/director/creator, and year.  Use this format: “Avatar, James Cameron, 2009” or “Diamond Age, Neal Stephenson, 1995” and link to any major page supporting the work.  Great examples would include Wikipedia pages (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Age) or the official home page (www.avatarmovie.com).

Plagiarism
This site does not, in any way, allow plagiarism of someone else’s original work. Please be aware there are acceptable and unacceptable ways to use prior work within your own.

1. There is no allowance to post work other than your own.  This includes characters, fictional settings, the names of technologies or businesses, in any way that make it seem foundational to your story. 

Ways to avoid this include:

  • Refraining from common character names used in prior work (unless this is an open idea on our site).  Duncan Idaho, Hiro Protagnost and Leeloo are off limits.
  • Refraining from using ideas found in only a single piece of prior work.  Lightsabers and quantum torpedoes are great examples of the type of weapon names you wouldn't use in your story.  But, light swords and atomic torpedoes are used in other stories (Thundarr the Barbarian had a sun sword) and generic ideas can be reused.  Fine to use common ideas, but avoid fanboyisms.

What you can use:

My own examples (please feel free to send feedback or better examples):

  • Not okay: Data drew his phaser and told the computer to shut of life support.
  • Okay: He acted like Data, with the same jerky movemeent and strange monotone voice.

 

  • Not okay: Bob the Jedi drew his lightsaber and strode into battle.
  • Okay: Jerry drew his lightsaber and woke up (dream sequence).
  • Okay: We decided to go watch the latest Laura Skywalker movie, the 27th Star Wars film after Lucas' descendents sold the rights to the franchise.

Supportive criticism
Everyone starts writing at a level based on their prior experience, education and influences.  Experience and feedback are key to learning to become a better writer and to discover one’s own voice. Keep in mind some writers are very new to the process while others might be experienced and even trained or published. Criticism should always be presented clearly and respectfully to help the author continue to develop.

Examples:

  • I enjoyed the story, but found you switched from first person to third person at times. These changes of perspective often made me stop and think about who was the narrator, breaking my enjoyment of the story.
  • Too many run on sentences.
  • The writing was pretty good, but I wasn’t clear on the problem the protagonist was trying to overcome.

Poor examples (which will not be tolerated):

  • You suck.
  • I don’t know why you bothered.
  • Do you even speak English?

Criticism should help the author gain objectivity and develop a greater understanding of what it takes to tell a story well and to increase their knowledge of good writing techniques.

Abusive statements
Aside from focusing on supportive criticism, there is no call for abuse on this site. Bullying, cursing, threatening, any form of abuse, is not an appropriate response to a statement that might differ from yours, including political and religious differences. If you feel someone has posted objectionable material (racist, demeaning, etc…), please contact the site admin at regardingtomorrow@gmail.com. Do not argue with other members through comment or forum threads.

Banning
Any action, statement or otherwise which specifically puts this site or any of its members in harms way will result in banning from membership or access to the material contained within.