ADMIN: FAQ is back
Jeff McCoskey~
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THE FAQ-IN-PROGRESS FOR REC.ARTS.COMICS.CREATIVE
VERSION 0
Created by: Jeff McCoskey (jmcc...@sedona.intel.com)
Russ Allbery (r...@leland.stanford.edu)
Jerry Stratton (je...@teetot.acusd.edu)
and feedback o' plenty from the RACCers
Last Modified: 8/10/94
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Contents:
1. What the hey is this anyway?
2. How do I get involved?
3. What is RACC for?
4. What _isn't_ RACC for?
5. Format! I'm nothing without format!
6. How 'bout them imprints? What's up with that?
7. So now I've got an imprint to call my own. What good is it?
8. Isn't nettiquette just another form of repression?
9. Ditto Copyright laws?
10. You've been no help. Where do I go from here?
11. Look, all this Fanfic is ok, but I want to write/draw
_real_ comics.
12. Fanfic is fun! What if I have interests other than comics?
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1. What the hey is this anyway?
Rec.Arts.Comics.Creative was a bus of collective dreams that Martin
Phipps drove into reality. It was conceived of as a fanfiction newsgroup
catering to prospective and hobbyist comic book authors. With just a little
extension it could be a forum for _all_ aspects of fan-related comic creativity.
The first such experiment on Internet was the Superguy mailing list.
Then came alt.comics.lnh (which itself sprung from a thread on RACM). Then the
Net.Trenchcoat.Brigade. All of these organizations, in parallel, gathered
together authors in shared-superhero-worlds. At least initially, RACC will be
heavily influenced by these groups' experiences.
First and foremost, RACC is a site for people to post comic-related
fiction. Stories about long-underwear vigilantes, anthropomorphic animals,
sci-fi, westerns, even Kleen Teens if anyone is so moved. As long as it
relates to comics its OK.
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2. How do I get involved?
Write a story. Post it. You're involved.
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3. What is RACC for?
Comic fan fiction, discussion of comic fan fiction, coordination for
comic fan fiction and reviews of comic fan fiction. Eventually, artists may
start hanging out here also, so be prepared for some 'how about we do your
story'/'what pencil should I use?' posts. Nothing wrong with that.
There is no restriction on types of fiction. (That'd kinda take the
creative out of RACC, wouldn't it?) You'll see stories run the gamut from
slapstick comedy to grim'n'gritty Real Life Supers (TM). As long as it's about
comics, set your pen free.
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4. What _isn't_ RACC for?
A lot of things. We're not for wars of attrition, Third World
starvation, 45 mph speed limits, and brussel sprout toothpaste. Closer to home,
RACC is not for any of the following:
o discussion of existing, 'professional' books (except as they relate
to our fiction)
o marketplace-type I-wanna-buy/I-wanna-sell postings
o Flames. Critiques, maybe. Flames no.
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5. Format! I'm nothing without format!
Formatting is pretty loose. Since this is a comics newsgroup, you will
hear people refer to their stories as 'issues.' Postings tend to run in
numerical order just like comic books, and many people write continuing series.
For example there are over 30 'issues' in Dave Van Domelen's _Constellation_
series. (and counting)
Stories don't have to be series though. One-shots, mini-series,
maxi-series, crossovers, all of these have been done before and will be done
again.
Postings should follow the convention of naming the imprint (see 6.),
the title and the number. For example:
LNH: System Corruptors #15
imprint --^ ^ ^
title --------------| |
number --------------------------|
Occasionally, instead of (or in addition to) a number you will see
'TEB'. This stands for 'Trade EtherBack.' It means the posting is actually a
collection of previously posted issues -- usually cleaned up and relating to a
single story arc.
Inside your story do what you will. Some folks run fake ads, others use
cheesey ASCII graphics, some just use text. A word of advice: On older/more
primitive newsreaders your text is MUCH easier to read if you space between
paragraphs. On the other hand, some newer newsreader readers find the spaces
jarring. The moral? You can't please all the people all the time. In general
spaces seem to be more preferred.
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6. How 'bout them imprints? What's up with that?
In order to accomodate a near-infinite number of different potential
universes, RACC is adopting the reasonable convention of flagging fiction.
This allows uninterested parties to killfile some genres, and others to quickly
find their niches of interest. The flag goes before the title of story issues,
related FAQs or universe-specific discussions. Many flags refer to existing
shared-universes. New ones will come up all the time. The current list:
ADMIN: -- Administrative matters affecting everyone on racc
LNH: -- Legion of Net.Heroes, "The Friendliest Shared Universe Going!(TM)"
A mostly parody universe, though it does have its serious side.
PATROL: -- The Patrol Universe Mike Montoure/Dave Van Domelen's proprietary
universe. Very serious. Email 'em for more details.
SG: -- SuperGuy. From Space Moose to the Bomb. Also parody with
different background than LNH. Note that only a small slice of
SuperGuy stuff appears here. Ask Rob Furr about the mailing
list to get in deeper.
ELSEWHIRLS: -- LNH stories that do not fit into LNH continuity. Think DC's
Elseworlds.
ACRAPHOBE: -- Mature stories that may or may not fit into other universes'
continuity. Using this flag in conjunction with another is not
unheard of. (For example, Scav's _501 Blues_ is LNH/ACRAPHOBE)
Think a meta-Vertigo.
NTB: -- Net.Trenchcoat.Brigade A bunch of Vertigo-like characters that
own stock in London Fog. Not tremendously active, but they
do have a considerable history. Implied Acraphobe.
PULP: -- Stories patterned after the 30's-40's pulp heroes. (Shadow, Doc
Savage, et al)
YH: -- The Young Heroes universe. Most stories center around WildCard,
a hero from another dimension/timeline, but not all of them
will. This universe is done "seriously" (unlike the LNH),
although there are a few exceptions.
PNC: -- Palomino Net Comics. Another in a series of serious imprints.
This one with a cyber/sci-fi flair.
SILVERSTREAK: -- Vertigo-type magic oriented comic. No long underwear so far.
ASH: -- Academy of Super-Heroes. Dave Van Domelen's RPG-based future-
history stories.
OMEGA: -- A brand new, 'serious' shared super-world under the tutelage of
Matt Rossi.
IPverse -- Infinity Press -- Brian Molix' serious-yet-traditional comics
universe.
MISC: -- Stories not in the above categories or in their own
universes (authors are encouraged to make up their own
headers as well). To limit the number of imprints, and to keep
this FAQ to reasonable lengths, let's adopt this convention:
One-shot stories or series should use the MISC flag. Series that
set up shared universes should create their own, new imprint.
Regardless of Flags all SEXUALLY EXPLICIT or PROFANITY-RICH stories
should have huge warning labels at the beginning of text. Last thing we need is
a Florida DA bringing us all up on charges. ;] Besides, it's only common
courtesy. Note that if a story could reasonably be posted on alt.sex.stories,
you've probably strayed a bit far from this group's interests.
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7. So now I've got an imprint to call my own. What good is it?
The main use for an imprint is for people scanning their inbox to
quickly zero in on fiction of interest. An alternate use is to automate the
filtering of mail through the killifle mechanism. In a nutshell, by creating a
killfile you decide you NEVER want to read fiction of a certain genre, or by a
certain writer, or whatever. It makes wading through net.traffic a whole lot
easier.
The general syntax of killfiles is as follows:
/{imprint}/:j to kill all stories from a certain genre and
/{email address}/h:j to kill al postings from a certain author
(note that .'s must be preceded by the control character \ in email addresses)
For example, if you don't want to read LNH stories, add:
/LNH/:j
to the killfile. Killfile formats are different with different
newsreaders, so YMMV. Note that many newsreaders allow you to automatically
killfile subjects and headers at the stroke of a key (most commonly 'k'). Check
your newsreader for help to see if you have this feature.
You will almost certainly want to add the lines:
/remo@ritz\.mordor\.com/h:j
/jah10@ra\.msstate\.edu/h:j
to your killfile, at least until these two reach their twelfth birthday.
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8. Isn't nettiquette just another form of repression?
Sure. But mankind has a tradition of trading freedom for security.
Here on RACC we're no different. To prevent flamewars and other mildly
unpleasant things from mucking up the flow of stories, we expect folks to
respect good nettiquette (things like smileys after jokes ;], ignoring
MAKE.MONEY.FAST posts, etc)
Here that extends to story reviews. If you don't like a story, confine
the review to the story and not the writer. This could become a very sensitive
issue. Keep in mind as you write "that SUCKS" that someone worked long and hard
on the text. He might want to know what worked and what didn't in his narrative
but it's doubtful he wants to hear how clever you can be in ripping him up.
As a rule of thumb, remember we're trying to run a creatively free
environment, something a chorus of cranky critics can squelch in a real big
hurry. Email is an excellent way to deal with things you find truly offensive.
Just remember, no one is forcing you to read any of this.
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9. Ditto Copyright laws?
I don't even play a lawyer on TV, but there are some things you should
know about Copyright laws.
-- Anything you write is copyrighted immediately, whether you flag it
with a copyright notice or not.
-- If you label your text as copyrighted, it takes away a possible
'unintentional infringement' defense from plagarizers. The copyright notice is
considered legal notice that you intend to retain that right. The legal
format for such a notice requires three things: Your name, the year, and one or
more of the following: 'Copyright', 'Copr.', and/or the c-in-circle symbol.
Note that there is no firm legal precedence for (C) or (c) as having any special
copyright meaning. Example notice:
Copyright 1994 Jeff J McCoskey
-- The only way to get full legal protection is to register your work
with the government (forms are free, filing fees apply). This _guarantees_ an
archived, dated copy should future legal action be necessary. Other forms of
dating, like mailing yourself a copy or archiving (to get a date stamp) etc are
of dubious and unproven legal value.
-- It is really unlikely this will ever be a problem here. More likely
to be a problem is character use questions. Characters created here (and their
distinct text-likenesses) are the full and exclusive property of their creators.
We're pretty flexible. Cameos and references are usually ok, but definitely
email a character's creator if you want to use him/her in a speaking role.
In the RACC charter it explicitly prohibits the use of existing,
trademarked characters. If you must write about DC/MARVEL/whoever characters,
at least change their names to something obvious like Alan Moore does ;]
Violate this guideline at your own risk.
An excellent resource for Copyright information is misc.legal, where a
FAQ is posted monthly.
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10. You've been no help. Where do I go from here?
Where indeed. Depends what your interests are. The major header
contacts are listed below, who will be glad to answer email question. Also
keep your eyes peeled for the Superguy FAQ, the LNH FAQ (and multitutde of
supporting documents), PATROL FAQ, OMEGA FAQ and other administrivia that
gets posted periodically.
subject contact email
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LNH Drizzt bar...@wkuvx1.wku.ed
LNH Rosters Martin Phipps cx...@musica.mcgill.ca
SuperGuy Rob Furr r.f...@genie.geis.com
PATROL Michael Mendoza user...@um.cc.umich.ed
NTB Chris Gumprich umgu...@cc.umanitoba.ca
PULP Jeff McCoskey jmcc...@sedona.intel.com
YH Wayne Garmil gar...@woods.uml.edu
PNC Scott Dreyer palo...@interaccess.co
SILVERSTREAK Michael Silver stud...@bmerha8d.bnr.ca
ASH Dave Van Domelen dva...@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
OMEGA Matt Rossi III MR....@acc.rwu.edu
IPverse Byron Molix c59...@monad.missouri.edu
BACK ISSUES Russ Allbery r...@cs.stanford.edu
THE ARCHIVE Jon Halden jo...@gyda.dhhalden.no
COMIC GROUND Jerry Stratton je...@teetot.acusd.edu
A note on the archive from Russ:
"The archives of all comics-related fiction, including the LNH, Superguy,
Patrol, and NTB archives, are at ftp.dhhalden.no. They are available via
anonymous ftp from that machine in the directory /pub/Comics/Fanfiction.
They are also available via gopher from gopher.dhhalden.no under the
Anonymous FTP selection. All stories in the archive are compressed with
standard .Z Unix compression; you will need to uncompress them with the
uncompress command in Unix (or a similar utility for a different operating
system) before reading them.
All LNH stories posted to alt.comics.lnh or rec.arts.comics.creative will
be archived by me [...]. Right now I can't commit to archiving stories from any
other group, so other groups need to work out their own arrangements or each
author needs to upload their stories themselves if they want them archived.
[Coordinate with Jon if excessively large.] I have my own copy of the LNH
archives and am willing to mail out copies of LNH stories, provided that there
aren't too many requests."
If none of the above people help, or your questions are too general or
specific, just email anyone you see posting here that seems to know what they're
doing. (WARNING: This is rarely the case.)
Beyond that, just start writing. Enjoy.
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11. Look, all this Fanfic is ok, but I want to write/draw _real_ comics.
Good luck. You'll need to practice _alot_, amass a portfolio and be
prepared to be massively underpaid and abused by netters who don't like your
work. RACInfo has a FAQ on addresses, submission policies and other trivia
for the various comic book companies. If you're still perfecting your skills,
the World Wide Web has a workshop forum you might check out called _COMIC GROUND_.
WHAT IS THE COMIC GROUND?
The *Comic Ground* is a place for comic book artists to show off their
talent to other comic book artists. It is meant as a way for artists
(pencilers, inkers, writers, colorists, letterers, heck, even editors)
to meet.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Artists can place files on the Comic Ground ftp/gopher site. Writers can
put sample scripts in the 'Writers' directory. Letterers can put samples
of their lettering in the 'Letterers' directory, etc.. You can put anything
from requests for collaboraters, to work fragments, to full works of
art. (I am not responsible for copyright infringements! I suggest using
sample fragments.)
If you're looking for a collaborater, put a sample of your stuff in the
correct folder, and then look at the samples other people have put in
the other folders.
HOW DO I USE IT?
To *view* the stuff on the Comic Ground, you should use gopher or a
World Wide Web client (such as NCSA Mosaic). The gopher site is
cerebus.acusd.edu, and it's in the 'Comics' folder, and then the 'Comic
Ground' folder. If you're familiar with this stuff, you can use the
following gopher info:
Type=1
Name=Comic Ground
Path=1ftp:pub:Comics:Comic Ground:
Host=cerebus.acusd.edu
Port=70
Using a World Wide Web client, use the URL
gopher://cerebus.acusd.edu:70/11ftp:pub:Comics:Comic Ground:
To *put* stuff on the Comic Ground, you'll need to use FTP. FTP to
cerebus.acusd.edu.
cd Comics
cd "Comic Ground" <--- if you can't handle spaces, use 'cd Comic*'
cd artist <--- replace 'artist' with the name of the
folder that corresponds to the type of art
you're putting here: 'Writer', 'Penciler', etc.
put filename <--- replace 'filename' with the name of the
file you want to put here.
If you can't FTP, you can e-mail me the file. Make sure you give me
enough information to know why you're sending me the file, and where you
want me to put it! E-mail to me at je...@teetot.acusd.edu.
Finger he...@cerebus.acusd.edu for more information.
If you have suggestions for the Comic Ground, send them!
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12. Fanfic is fun! What if I have interests other than comics?
Then you need to go to those metric 100hr days to read them all.
(Ask Matt Rossi, with all his writings, he seems to have made the switch.)
A partial list of newsgoups and their fanfic affiliation follows:
alt.callahans science fiction shared-universe
alt.comics.lnh Net.madness in the superhero Genre
alt.cyberpunk.chatsubo cyberpunk shared-world
alt.drwho.creative Dr. Who (TM) characters/spinoffs
alt.dragons-inn some unholy half-brother to...
alt.pub.dragons-inn fantasy shared-world
alt.prose noisy version of rec.arts.prose
alt.sex.stories seedier version of rec.arts.erotica
alt.startrek.creative Star Trek (TM) fiction
alt.toys.transformers Transformers (TM) characters/spinoffs
bit.listserv.superguy Superguy universes **moderated**
rec.arts.anime.stories anime characters/spinoffs
rec.arts.erotica erotica for ALL interests **moderated**
rec.arts.prose (pseudo) Literary prose + noise
None of these groups work the same as RACC, so lurking (and
FAQ reading) is reccommended before jumping in.
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