Fanfic Rating Guidelines
-- G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17

Borrowing our Portkeymate Tawny Spitfire's research:






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The Motion Picture Association of America Rating Guidelines

G:"General Audiences-All Ages Admitted."

This is a film which contains nothing in theme, language, nudity and sex, violence, etc. which would, in the view of the Rating Board, be offensive to parents whose younger children view the film. The G rating is not a "certificate of approval," nor does it signify a children's film.

Some snippets of language may go beyond polite conversation but they are common everyday expressions. No stronger words are present in G-rated films. The violence is at a minimum. Nudity and sex scenes are not present; nor is there any drug use content.

PG:"Parental Guidance Suggested. Some Material May Not Be Suitable For Children."

The theme of a PG-rated film may itself call for parental guidance. There may be some profanity in these films. There may be some violence or brief nudity. But these elements are not deemed so intense as to require that parents be strongly cautioned beyond the suggestion of parental guidance. There is no drug use content in a PG-rated film. The PG rating, suggesting parental guidance, is thus an alert for examination of a film by parents before deciding on its viewing by their children.

PG-13:"Parents Strongly Cautioned. Some Material May Be Inappropriate For Children Under 13."

A PG-13 film is one which, in the view of the Rating Board, leaps beyond the boundaries of the PG rating in theme, violence, nudity, sensuality, language, or other contents, but does not quite fit within the restricted R category. Any drug use content will initially require at least a PG-13 rating. In effect, the PG-13 cautions parents with more stringency than usual to give special attention to this film before they allow their 12-year olds and younger to attend.

If nudity is sexually oriented, the film will generally not be found in the PG-13 category. If violence is too rough or persistent, the film goes into the R (restricted) rating. A film's single use of one of the harsher sexually-derived words, though only as an expletive, shall initially require the Rating Board to issue that film at least a PG-13 rating. More than one such expletive must lead the Rating Board to issue a film an R rating, as must even one of these words used in a sexual context. These films can be rated less severely, however, if by a special vote, the Rating Board feels that a lesser rating would more responsibly reflect the opinion of American parents.

R:"Restricted, Under 17 Requires Accompanying Parent Or Adult Guardian."

An R-rated film may include hard language, or tough violence, or nudity within sensual scenes, or drug abuse or other elements, or a combination of some of the above, so that parents are counseled, in advance, to take this advisory rating very seriously. Parents must find out more about an R-rated movie before they allow their teenagers to view it.

NC-17:"No One 17 And Under Admitted."

This rating declares that the Rating Board believes that this is a film that most parents will consider patently too adult for their youngsters under 17. No children will be admitted. NC-17 does not necessarily mean "obscene or pornographic" in the oft-accepted or legal meaning of those words. The Board does not and cannot mark films with those words. These are legal terms and for courts to decide. The reasons for the application of an NC-17 rating can be violence or sex or aberrational behavior or drug abuse or any other elements which, when present, most parents would consider too strong and therefore off-limits for viewing by their children.

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Can we upload fanfics that are partly about our ships, partly about our ships' kids?

I am writing a new fanfic, and I am wondering if it would be allowed here. The thing is it is H/Hr, but it is only about them half the time. The other half it is about their daughter and Ginny and Neville's son. Would that be allowed?


MOD NOTE: follow up answer here. - gal-texter, Mar 2009

Our Admin Heaven is the best person to answer this. I'll ask her her to enlighten us here. Thanks for asking before posting the story.

You're perfectly fine with posting that here. I wrote a story called It Was Bound to Happen that deals mostly with H/Hr's daughter and R/L's son, so if I can post it then you certainly can as well

Heaven

CLARIFICATION: For author applicants, it would be best for you to submit samples that focus on the ships themselves, not on their children. Star22 and Heaven had gotten their author accounts long before this question came up.

- gal-texter / Pen Jun 2008

Does PK accept crossover stories?


can you make a story that has harry potter and star wars combined? as long as it's a ship...like h/hr

Hmm... good question. *Thinks*

I'm not entirely 100% about this, but I'm pretty sure that if you do write a cross-over story then you probably won't be allowed to post it on the boards.
You are allowed to post it on the fanfiction side of the site though.
If you have an author account, then you can write them and post them up in the fic part of Portkey no problem.

~Bec

Note: OK, I've just had a quick look on the fic side and it's offical. I'm 100% about this: you can definately post cross-over fics on the fic side.

MOD NOTE: merging this into a related thread.
~gal-texter / Pen May2008

Why doesn't PK host fics about PK-neutral ships?


I noticed we had a general non-shipped reccomendation area for non-shipped fics. Well, I was just curious as to why we cannot actually post our general fics.

Like say, if I wanted to post a Regulus/OC, it wouldn't be contradicting any portkey ships, and poeple would still be able to read them.

If you ever thought of doing this, it would be pretty cool, I think.

There's two problems with that:
1. It would require changing the fanfiction software code

2. That's just the point we could never really agree on. Why not be more open minded and allow pairing X/Y or all ships or fics with rape scenes or student/teacher relationships or ...?
It's just because not all of us want that. No more, no less. Believe me, we discussed that before, but we never seemed to agree on anything. I guess you just have to live with it.

Can PK authors upload a "next-gen" (next generation) story?
Ie, it's about the offpsring of Harry and/or Hermione, Draco and/or Ginny, Ron and/or Luna?


H/H = Harry and Hermione; D/G = Draco and Ginny; R/Lu = Ron and Luna


Short answer:

Yes, for as long as our ships have sufficient presence in the fic and it doesn't break our other shipping rules.


Long answer:
(Substitute "H/H" mentions below with "D/G" or "R/Lu" for stories filed under those categories.)

To further clear up this question, there should be enough H/H foundation or presence in PK next-gen fics. By this, we mean:

-- the next-gen story is a sequel or ficlet (or collection of ficlets) based on a much longer H/H story or series; OR
-- for short stories, H/H is in plenty of scenes and in nearly every chapter; OR
-- for long next-gen stories, H/H show up in them pretty frequently.

It takes very good writing skills to convince readers that the story's characters are H/H's children. Luckily we do have fic writers who could do that.

This policy dates back to 2003 or earlier, as could be seen from NAPPA's messages copied below. To see the original posts, log in and click the quote boxes' arrows.






Here's a 2004 FAQ about this matter. Of course, all PK stories must meet our other rules. To borrow PK admin Heaven's words (when I consulted her and other admins this week for this policy's wording):

Now say... Harry has a kid with someone else and he and Hermione are just friends- obviously that would break site rules as they're not together.

Should your next-gen story lack the above elements, then best for you to put them in another site then tell your Pk readers about them by giving their non-PK URLs in your PK fics' author notes and in your PK author profile page.


I haven't read that many next-gen stories, but I can think of another PK-worthy example: the next-gen ficlets in AngieJ's Trouble in Paradise / Paradise Lost series. Those spin-offs do a fantastic job of characterizing their lead characters as H/H's children. They'd be very much welcome in Portkey if AngieJ ever wants to put them here.


<-- is one of many who miss AngieJ's presence in the fandom
<-- overjoyed to be reunited with AngieJ's Paradise ficlets