The Superman Movieverse FanFiction Archive FAQs

For Readers

What is fanfiction?

Fanfiction, or fanfic, is fan-generated fiction - stories, poems and scripts, but usually short stories - inspired by a movie or television show. For more on fanfiction in general: Fanfic Symposium, What is Fan-Fiction

This site is dedicated to the writing, reading, sharing, editing and enjoying of fan-generated fiction inspired by the Superman films of the 1970s & 80s and the newest: Superman Returns.

Recognizable characters in these stories are the property of Warner Bros. and DC Comics. No copyright infringement is intended by fanfic authors, who receive no monetary benefit from their work. The ideas expressed in the stories are original, however, and are copyrighted by their authors.

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How can I search for fanfic from this Archive?

Fanfic is listed in alphabetical order by story title, author's name, and by Series.

The most recent stories can be found on the What's New page.

From the What's New page, you can also browse the Archive by upload date.

We've have also added a site-search feature, that allows you to find stories by typing in keywords.

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What do the story ratings mean?

• Fiction Rated: K
  Intended for general audience 5 years and older. Content should be free of any coarse language, violence, and adult themes.
• Fiction Rated: K+
  Suitable for more mature children, 9 years and older, with minor action violence without serious injury. May contain mild coarse language. Should not contain any adult themes.
• Fiction Rated: T
  Suitable for teens, 13 years and older, with some violence, minor coarse language, and minor suggestive adult themes.
• Fiction Rated: S
  (Slash) Suitable for older teens, contains non-explicit homosexual themes
• Fiction Rated: M
  Not suitable for children or teens below the age of 16 with possible strong but non-explicit adult themes, references to violence, and strong coarse language.
• Fiction Rated: MA
  Content is only suitable for mature adults. May contain explicit language and adult themes.

In many countries, IT IS ILLEGAL to read M or MA rated, or sexually explicit, stories unless you are 18 years of age or older. The Archive does host fiction rated M and MA. A confirmation of age is required to read these stories.

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What should I do after I'm finished reading a story?

The Archive doesn't pay fanfic writers for the stories they give us, but we can all show our appreciation by sending them feedback. It's important to let authors know we value their efforts. How will they know unless we tell them? The Archive has made reviewing easy - just follow the link labeled Review This Story at the end of the story and fill out the form. This will publish your review and send an email to the author. It just might make their day - and help motivate them to write more stories. And we all love reading new stories.

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What are the Movieverse Awards?

The Movieverse Awards are the brainchild of htbthomas. The Lois & Clark fandom have the Kerth Awards, and other fandoms have their own awards. In June of 2007, htbthomas instituted the Movieverse Awards for the Superman Movieverse. Nominations generally open July 1 for stories written or added to during the previous twelve months (June to June).

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Where are other sources of Superman fanfic besides this Archive? **

Fanfiction.net is currently the largest source of Superman Movieverse fanfic. There is some fanfiction at Eyes Skyward Forum. LiveJournal also has some Superman Movieverse fanfiction collections, most notably at 12 days of Clois and at Movieverse Awards.

**The Archive is not responsible for the content or the existence of any of these sources. We have simply included the information so that you can find out about all the other great Superman online resources.

 For Writers

How do I get my story ready for the Archive?

Congratulations on writing and completing a fanfic! Here's what you can do to get it ready for submission:

1. Spell (and grammar) check! Please. We at the Big Apricot are trying to create a collection of high caliber, well polished works.

2. Have at least one editor look over the story (optional, but strongly recommended) before submission, then rework the story as you think necessary. Most experienced fanfic writers have their work reviewed by a minimum of one story editor or Beta Reader, so feel free to have a couple of people look at your story. If you don't have your own editor and you would like to have someone work with you on plot, characterization and so on, there are a couple of ways of going about this. Some writers use friends who are familiar with the films. If you are a member of the Big Apricot FanFiction Forum or one of the other Superman related Forums, you could post a message there and ask if anyone would volunteer to edit for you. If you're not a member and need help finding an editor, email the Head Librarian at , explaining what kind of help you're looking for, and we may be able to find someone willing to assist.

3. If English is not your first language, you may wish to ask someone who is a native English speaker to read the story over for you, looking for any language or translation problems. We at the Archive will be as helpful as we can, but we may not have the time to advise on any translation difficulties you may have had.

4. Include the appropriate headers. Stories in the Archive use a consistent header format to make inclusion into the databases easier. Include, at the very beginning of your story, the following information, in the following order:

Story title
Author's name
your email
copyright date
Rating
Disclaimer
Story

Or use the Story Submission Form to submit your story.

If you are not sure what rating your story should be given, you may leave that part blank. We will assign a rating for you. The same holds true for the description - if you have an idea for a summary, feel free to include it, but we will write one if it's left blank. If you leave out the disclaimer, a generic disclaimer will be used.

5. IMPORTANT: Save your story in Rich Text Format, HTML format, or MSWORD.

6. If not included by the submitter, the following items will be assigned before your story is posted to the Archive:

• a rating (K, K+ T, S, M, MA) for definitions of these, see our Ratings Definitions
• a story description (one- to two-line description, for inclusion on the story lists). Also let us know if the story is part of a series and which series. Also, some people like to know if a story contains the death of a character, has a lot of angst in it, or has a non-traditional pairing.

We will assign this information, but it's better if you do it for us.

7. US/UK/Australian English: Writers in this fandom come from all over the world, and we greatly enjoy this diversity. Authors should feel free to write their stories in whichever version of English they know best. Spellings do differ between countries, and we at the Archive try to be aware of these differences. Occasionally you may find vocabulary differences: words which mean something different in the US than they do in the UK, for example (cot vs. crib; in the United States a cot is a temporary or makeshift bed, whereas in the UK it's a baby's bed - crib in the United States). We would suggest that if you want your characters to seem realistic, then they should converse in U.S. English: in other words Lois, Clark, and the other Daily Planet staff would not use specifically Australian or British vocabulary unless you've established a specific character as using Australian or British vocabulary.

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Where can I review grammar, punctuation and other writing rules?

offers an excellent collection of articles. So does Ms. Nitpicker's Guide, and Charles Darling's Guide to Grammar and Writing.

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What is a copyright?

Simply put, a copyright means that a document, photo, music, or other creative 'copiable' item is known to belong to you as of the time it was created. The easiest way to do this is to document the time and date an item is created, irregardless of when it was published - ie. uploaded into a forum, archive, or outputted on a printer. Items in this Archive are assumed to be the intellectual property of the stated author and the country of first publication is assumed to be the United States. Under International Law, copyright rights are assumed to be valid on any creative work, including derivative ones (such as fanfiction). In the U.S. copyrights on commercial works should also be registered with the U.S. Copyright office. For more information: The Basics About Copyright Registration.

For those concerned as to the legality of fan-fiction: You as a writer own your original story ideas and characters. Warner Bros. and DC comics own Superman, Lois Lane, etc. As a fan-fiction author you are not permitted to claim ownership of any of their characters. Nor are you permitted to do anything that would hinder them from making a profit from their characters and situations. In other words, you are not permitted to copy and/or sell their work, thus depriving them of their right to make a profit. You are permitted, so long as you acknowledge their ownership, to create your own works based on their characters and fictional universe(s).

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Is there any type of content I should avoid?

This Archive accepts stories of all ratings. These ratings apply to violence, sexual situations and strong language. However, stories featuring explicit sexual situations with young children will not be accepted. Neither will stories featuring the actors or other real, living persons unless that real person is also a film character.

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How do I submit my story?

Email stories to the Archive in the format described above or use the Story Submission Form to submit your story. Within a couple of days, depending on how many stories are in the queue, you will be contacted to proof your story before it goes 'live'.

You must officially submit your story to us in order for it to be uploaded to the Archive site. Stories posted elsewhere, such as a fanfiction list or any of the various message boards, are not automatically uploaded.

New stories will be uploaded to the Archive approximately once a week. Our goal is to have stories uploaded soon after submission - ideally within a month, though it may take longer, depending on the number of stories in queue.

NOTE: Although the Archive Editors automatically proof each story before they are posted (we check for missing punctuation mostly), we at the Archive reserve the right to return a story to the writer if the story needs more proofing than we can be reasonably expected to do. We suggest that the story be spell checked and/or read over by another competent person - a friend or family member, perhaps - before resubmitting. This should be a rare occurrence as submitted stories should have been thoroughly checked before being sent to us.

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Will my story be eligible for the Movieverse Awards?

All stories included in the Movieverse Archive will eligible for nomination for the Movieverse Awards.

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Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Beta Readers

1. Beta Readers work with authors over weeks or months (or even years when it comes to the slowest of us).

2. They comment on all aspects of a story: plot, characterization, general typos, errors in grammar and punctuation. They make encouraging noises on what works, point out what doesn't, and sometimes spark off new ideas with their comments that the author may never have considered before.

3. To find a Beta, simply place an ad in the 'Fanfic Related Folder on the Big Apricot Forum or other fanfiction forum. Head your post 'Beta Wanted' or similar and set out what kind of story you intend to write and what kind of editing you require.

Most authors in this fandom have at least one Beta - some have more than one. Few would even consider letting putting a story out for public consumption before their Beta has gone over it.

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What if I want to make changes to my story after it's uploaded?

1. Find the name of the Archive file - both folder and file name or simply open the story in the Archive and copy the URL.

2. Make any changes you see necessary to the story - typos or clarifying a confusing line.

3. Using the subject line 'REPLACE', write a brief email explaining exactly what you have changed. Make sure you include the URL of your story. If you have made major changes to your story (say, a complete rewrite of a fanfic you wrote years ago), the story may need to be resubmitted. However, if all you changed was your email address, this can be handled fairly quickly.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism, if proven, is grounds for having all of an author's work removed from the Big Apricot Movieverse Archive.

While the vast majority of fanfic writers are honest and hard-working, experience tells us that there can be a small - very small - minority who are not so honest.

What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is the deliberate attempt to pass off someone else's work as one's own. Therefore, it is the intentional theft of words and/or ideas from a piece of work by someone else. We've said intentional here; it is possible to commit plagiarism accidentally, but this is extremely rare and in the vast majority of cases plagiarists know exactly what they're doing.

Examples of plagiarism in fan-fiction

Plagiarism, in the extreme form, has occurred when someone takes a book, or a fan-fiction written for a different fandom, and changes character names and some minor details, then presents it as his or her own work. So, if Author A were to take an X-Files fanfic written by Author B, alter the character and place-names and other identifying information, and then post it as a Lois and Clark fanfic by him/herself, that is plagiarism. Equally, to take a novel or short story and reproduce it as a fan-fiction is also plagiarism; the latter example would also put any site hosting the fan-fiction under threat of legal action by the copyright holders.

It is also plagiarism to 'lift' lines of dialog or text from a novel, a fanfic, a film or TV show, etc., without attribution, even where only a small number of lines are used. Even if only three paragraphs of a 200-page story are not original to you, the author, that is plagiarism.

Yet lots of authors use dialog from the show in their stories. Is that acceptable? Well, key to the definition of plagiarism is that the author is attempting to present work as their own. If an author writes 'Clark Kent is who I am; Superman is what I can do' in a fan-fiction, is anyone going to believe that this line is their own invention? Certainly not. However, it is still sensible to include a disclaimer at the beginning of your story stating that you have used some dialog from the show or movie.

It's also plagiarism if you take one of those 'funny emails' that come around on the Internet and turn it into a fan-fiction without acknowledging the source.

What about the borrowing of ideas? This is a trickier issue, since simultaneous invention is common throughout history. Additionally, there are many stories written on similar themes, even based on almost identical premises, and yet no one would even think that there is plagiarism involved.

If you were to rewrite Titanic with Lois and Superman instead of Rose and Jack, that is plagiarism. If, however, you wrote a story in which Lois Lane is on board the Titanic, but had few other similarities to the movie, that would not be plagiarism. However, it is generally recommended that authors include a disclaimer if their story, or a major element within it, is strongly influenced by something else: a novel, another fan-fiction, a TV series, etc.

Plagiarism is NOT:

• Writing a story with a premise similar to that written by someone else - there, if the earlier story helped to give you the idea, a note to say so would be thoughtful.
• Using a phrase in a story, even if it appears in someone else's story or novel, where that phrase is common parlance. Describing Superman as looking like 'a Greek god' isn't plagiarism even if it appears in someone else's story.
• Similarity in plot developments is also very unlikely to be plagiarism. This kind of similarity happens from time to time, and it's often the case that the writer of the later story hasn't even read the earlier one.

If you have any concerns as to whether you are coming close to the line in your own work, do feel free to ask the Head Librarian for advice or members of the Big Apricot Forum. But be reassured: plagiarism is rare.

What if you suspect a story is plagiarized?

Incidents of plagiarism are not pleasant. They sadden us all, not only because of the pain of feeling betrayed, but it's also sad for the plagiarizer her or himself.

In the light of experiences on other archives, we are suggesting some general principles which should be followed in the future if a reader should ever become suspicious about someone's work. We are recommending these for reasons of fairness to all concerned: the writer who may be under suspicion, the owner(s) of the site(s) where the work is housed, and fandom in general.

• First, every accused person deserves the right to be acquainted with the suspicions and any evidence which may exist, and to be given the opportunity to respond. If the author being (possibly) plagiarized is someone you are familiar with, contact them and let them know. It may be possible the suspect writer has permission to use the material and simply forgot to make proper attributions. Otherwise, the one who has suspicions should contact the writer in question and attempt to resolve the issue privately, rather than, for example, raising the suspicions first in a public forum.
• Where there is no response, or the response is unsatisfactory, there is obviously a difficulty, and what should happen next has to be dependent on the degree of evidence available. For example, without a copy of, or easy access to, the story or other item being plagiarized so that they may be compared, the 'accuser' has little option other than to stay quiet.
• Where there is clear evidence, for instance a copy of the plagiarized story, the book or whatever, then the 'accuser' can act - but we believe that the action taken should be confined to the site in question. In other words, the relevant site-owner is the one who should be contacted with the information. Let them have an opportunity to evaluate the evidence, investigate, and take effective action. It's up to them to decide what action to take. After all, it's their site.

It's important to remember that it could damage the Web site and cause far more problems for the site-owner if their first contact is from an 'outsider' - an archivist or author from another fandom, the author of a book, or even worse, from lawyers. For the protection of the various archives as a whole, it's far better to keep these matters within the fandom. One lesson learned from other archives, we can police ourselves. But in the event the issue cannot be easily resolved - the alleged culprit refuses to respond to the accusations - try Stopping Plagiarism.

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Who maintains this Archive?

Dandello (AKA the SHADO Librarian) is the Head Librarian. This site went online August 8, 2008.

In the interests of honesty and proper attribution - much of the material here was 'borrowed' from the FAQ at The Lois & Clark Fanfic Archive and is used with their permission.

Page updated: Aug 28, 2016