1: The story must contain one or more X-People, and the X-People must be in the starring role.
I know, this sounds obvious, but you'd be surprised what people have tried to send me in the past. This doesn't mean I can't/won't take stories that might cross over with something else (such as an X-Men meet X-Files story) However, if it is a crossover, I want to see the X-People in the main roles.
What's the rule for crossover stories? Does someone have to have watched the TV show or seen the movie, etc. to understand the story? Then it doesn't belong here.
However, stories that crossover with other comics (such as X-Men meet Batman, or Gambit meets Darkness) are happily considered. Crossing over between different comic books is neat and most readers of the X-men, I've found, have at least a working knowlege of most other comic books out there.
2: No Gen-X fanfiction (For new writers submitting after June 15, 1998 only)
Don't take this one wrong people, but there is a fine archive out there called Gen X Force Fanfiction Archive that accepts submissions of Gen-X work. I'm a little tired of seeing the game of, "Let's submit to everyone!" being played. Just about everyone I know who visits this site, also visits that one quite frequently, and I'm a little tired of putting up stuff only to see it on both sites all the time. Call me selfish, but I'm getting to the point where I just don't want to always see the same stories at the same places.
I would rather spend my time putting up stuff that revolves around characters that don't have a huge archive already set up for them. This means X-Men, Excalibur, most older members of X-Force, New Mutants, etc.
Remember, this rule only applies to people who were not on this archive as of June 15, 1998. If you were submitting Gen-X stuff before then, you are welcome to keep submitting it.
No, I did not set up this rule to snub the Gen X Force archive. I encourage people, especially fans of Gen-X characters to go there. I'm just trying to find ways to cut back on the amount of time I spend on this archive, while still being able to put up stuff I know people will want to read and keep this archive growing.
3: Nothing above an R rating.
No bending on this one. Also, stories that contain questionable material will be clearly marked to warn readers.
If your submitting a story with questionable material, please make sure to mark all sections containing the material accordingly and be sure to put it into the disclaimer somewhere.
4: Take the time to spell check and edit your work, or have someone do it for you! (For new writers submitting after June 15, 1998 although, I'd like to encourage everyone to do this)
Okay, I'm going to be a total bitch here and I don't care. I was getting way too much stuff submitted to me that was just... poor. Huge glaring typos and massive misspellings through out the entire story. (including things like character names, and story titles. No, I'm not joking) For a long time, I kept trying to find excuses, such as, "Maybe this person is young, maybe they don't have a spell checker on their Word Processor, maybe English isn't their native language." etc. etc. Well, I'm tired of making excuses. I have a help wanted, help needed area on my message board and CFAN also has an area set up to help people find Beta readers. So that takes away the excuse that, "I can't check my work, I don't know how." If you can't find your own mistakes (which I understand, it's almost impossible to proofread your own work) find someone who can.
My own spelling is absolutely awful at best and I can make typos with the best of them, so if I can find six spelling mistakes in the first paragraph, then there is something seriously wrong. I'm no longer going to put up stories that look like the writer had diarrhea of the fingers, wrote the story in twelve seconds and sent it off to me without even reading through it to make sure they spelled the main character's name as Scott, not Skot.
It all boils down to this... if you really care about what you're writing, you'll make it show and you'll take the effort. Otherwise, it just looks like you had the itch to see your name on this archive and wanted to do it with as little effort as possible. I take the extra effort to make sure this archive looks nice, you can take the extra effort to make sure your story reads well. I want this archive to have stories where the writers actually cared about what they were writing.
No, I'm not saying your work has to be absolutely perfect. I won't place standards on anyone that I can't even keep myself. I know people make the occational typo, I know that most spell checkers can't tell the difference between your and you're. I'm just saying take the extra effort. Show your potential readers that you really cared.
5: No sequels to other fanfiction stories unless that story is also on Shifting Sands
Sorry. I don't like the idea of people coming here, going to a story, then having to go here there, and everywhere trying to find all the peices to something. Now, if you've written a sequel that can stand on its own, (If you've managed to explain everything so someone who hasn't read the first story will understand what is going on) then that's all right.
This rule has not changed one bit since this archive has started. You cannot write a paragraph explaining what happened in another story, tack it to the top and that's enough. The only way I want to ever see a sequel to a work that is not on this archive is if the story can stand completely on it's own. If you need a summary of the other story, to explain your story, then I don't want it.
6: No MSTK's about other fanfiction.
No offense, I've found some that are very funny, but in general I think they are mean. About the only exception I will make to this is if I do find the story extremely funny and the writer of the story being poked fun of has given his/her full permission to do this. And if the story is submitted, I will as the person whos story is being poked fun of if they gave permission before I will put the story up. I know that people have written stories begging for people to MSTK them, and that's fine. I'm just worried about the people who didn't.
7: No more "Play" stories or "scripts styles" (For new writers submitting after June 15, 1998 only)
There are some very funny well written stories in this style. (Lori's The More The Merrier and Krista and Denise's Three Part Harmony series spring to mind) However, I've also seen a lot of really bad stories written in this style and the bad ones far outweigh the good.
This is a style that has a tendency to go something like this:
Scott: What did you say?Remy: I said you an idiot. Let's go party!"
Jean: Wheee! I just love being an X-Man!
(Everyone runs off to save the world. Then Bobby remembers he forgot to get clam dip.)
Bobby: I'm such a jerk, I forgot to get clam dip!
Everyone together: Bobby, you suck!
This is a style that is very easy to write, but almost impossible to write well. Many first time writers make the mistake of writing this way, thinking, then they don't have to worry about naration and everything they write will just make readers fall off their chairs laughing hysterically. I hate to burst your bubble folks, but 99% of the time, It doesn't work. I don't want to see first time writers submitting stories in this style. I won't take these type of stories anymore.
8: I reserve the right to reject any story for whatever reason I see fit with no explanations given.
Oh, quit worrying. I'm putting this in more as a safeguard. I've actually rejected very few stories and the ones I have rejected I have explained to the author why they were rejected. I only plan on using this in extreme circumstances, mostly in a case where it's obvious the person submitting didn't care to check out the guidelines. Why should I constantly have to write the same information to people when it's all here in white and black?