Halo Fanon:Guide to Fanon and Fanfiction

Writing is more than just a means by which humans are able to communicate facts. It is an art, allowing us to not just communicate opinions, ideas and emotions, but to express them. When William Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, he was creating as piece of art every bit as sophisticated as Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, or Frédéric Chopin's Prelude No. 15 in D-flat - writing has the power to move us beyond mere words.

It is therefore important that a writer DOES IT RIGHT.

Fanon is the creation is supplementary canon separate from the official sources. This isn't the same as fanfiction - fan-written stories based on the canon. It is an attempt at adding to the world of Halo in ways that Bungie or 343 Industries cannot - it is our own ideas and creations, written by fans for fans. For some, it is a vent for creativity, allowing a writer to use a pre-existing universe and set of conventions, places, characters, and so on to set their stories in. But for the most part, much Fanon ends up as poorly written wastes of space on the server, with no creativity and skill put into it.

I intend to remedy that.

Interaction
Interaction with other members of HaloFanon is an almost unavoidable (some would say lamentably so) occurence. Others will offer constructive criticism or praise on article talk pages - others will try to correct what they percieve to be errors or anomalies. Sometimes, you may need advice on a subject, or want a second opinion on a matter - if so, then simply add a comment to the selected users talk page, and they will do likewise with yours. In all your interactions, please keep your conduct polite and courteous - treat others as you would wish to be treated.

Conduct
In sociology, manners are the unenforced standards of conduct which show the actor that you are proper, polite, and refined. They are like laws in that they codify or set a standard for human behavior, but they are unlike laws in that there is no formal system for punishing transgressions, other than social disapproval. They are a kind of norm. What is considered "mannerly" is highly susceptible to change with time, geographical location, social stratum, occasion, and other factors. That manners matter is evidenced by the fact that large books have been written on the subject, advice columns frequently deal with questions of mannerly behavior, and that schools have existed for the sole purpose of teaching manners. A lady is a term frequently used for a woman who follows proper manners; the term gentleman is used as a male counterpart; though these terms are also often used for members of a particular social class.

Now you may be asking yourself: "What does this have to do with me?"

Well, here are some important notes:


 * You DO NOT have to treat Administrators/Moderators with respect. Generally, though, this is a bad idea, given their use of rollback rights and the ability to ban people.
 * THEY do not have to treat YOU with respect. You are playing in their sandbox - if you can't play nice, why should they?
 * We SHOULD be respectful with one another, but that doesn't mean we WILL.
 * That doesn't mean you get to be TEH 1337 0V3RL0RD!!!1!1! We already have one of those, his name is Ajax, and we love him dearly.

Content
Exactly what type of article you create is up to you - this is HaloFanon, after all, and your creations are only bound by your imagination! The most important thing to remember is that it must be Halo-related. It doesn't matter if your article about a fictional CSI: Alaska is the most wonderful creation you've ever made, if it doesn't relate to Halo in any way it doesn't belong here. Normally, an Administrator will warn the creator of this, and give them a chance to make appropriate changes, or at least give the creator a chance to save it to put on a more appropriate site.

Infoboxes
HaloFanon maintains pre-set infoboxes, which can be found [[|here][, allowing article creators to input specific information that might be cumbersome to phrase in an article. If you wish to use one, simply copy the relevant text over to your article, then fill it in - doing it the other way around can lead to insertion of fanon material onto a template that a lot of people use, and will cause problems - not to mention the fact that it can be interpreted as an act of vandalism.

Property
Please respect other people's intellectual property. If you wish to edit a users article, or series of articles, seek their permission first by contacting them on their talk page. From their, your request can be approved or denied, but if the user denies you permission, you will respect their wishes. Likewise, other users do not have the right to edit your articles beyond placing appropriate templates on them.

Originality
HaloFanon isn't set in stone, and there is no single concept that MUST be adhered to. Originality is encouraged - if you have an idea for a weapon, ship, character, planet or faction, then by all means, create it and be proud of it! All we ask is that you remember to make it original.

Plagiarism
There is a fine line between inspiration and plagiarism, but new users seem to dance across that line with gleeful abandon. It is, for example, NOT acceptable to suddenly create an article about the Imperial-Class Star Destroyer on HaloFanon, with the exact same performance as it has in the Star Wars Canon - it is acceptable to use it as the profile image, serving as visual inspiration for your own class of ship, so long as it is not a direct copy-paste. The same rule applies for other series; Star Trek, StarCraft, Stargate, pretty much anything with "star" in the name. Make sure that what you create is original, and doesn't borrow too heavily from other series. If you can, attribute what you do take to where you got it from.

And, no, the irony of this section is not lost on me.

Property
Likewise, if you intend to use material created by another user, make sure to ask their permission first. The creator may grant or deny you permission, but you cannot simply decide that its part of your canon. Similarly, don't edit their articles without their permission, regardless of what reasons you have fr it - what may look like small errors may be intentional, and it is not for you to decide that it isn't.

Crossovers
Crossovers are defined as stories that use characters and events from two different series - say, for example, a Star Destroyer suddenly finds itself orbiting Halo; or a Covenant fleets attacks Coruscant. Theoretically, crossovers can be fun, non-canonical stories, exploring hypothetical situations - in practice, however, users create it simply because they want a Spartan to have a lightsaber, to pair up characters they think are "cool", or simply because they can't think of a story original enough, inserting a Halo character into the Star Wars movies or a Star Wars character into the games.

Please don't do this.

Please.

Thanks
Thank you to Another Poetic Spartan for allowing me to use the concept; thanks to Sgt.johnson, The All-knowing Sith'ari and Matt-256 for helping me in my own efforts, from which I have gleaned so much that is in this article; and thanks to the countless other HaloFanon users who have offered feedback, both criticism and praise, and other support.