Community Profile

Community moderator and maintainer: biorhythm
Contact: biorhythm @ livejournal . com

Shortandhard is a fanfiction community, specifically for drabbles in the hockey fandom. In case this isn't clear, here are a few definitions:

fanfiction - fiction written by fans. Pretty self-explanatory, no? In other words, it is fiction about real people or established fictional characters, written by fans of those people/characters. For more information, see the disclaimer below.

drabble - a work of fiction that is limited to 100 words.

hockey fandom - encompasses the game of hockey as a whole. Often it means professional hockey (the National Hockey League or NHL) or minor-league hockey, but it may include any people, real or created, who play the game of hockey.


Okay, is that cleared up? This community is a place to post drabbles written in the hockey fandom; a place to share your not-quite ficlets with the world. There are only a few things you must do to maintain your membership when you post your drabbles, and are as follows.

1. This community is for drabbles only. This is NOT the place for random posts or even random posts about hockey. The only exception is short posts relating to the workings of the community itself, though if there are ANY questions, please feel free to email me at the address above. Anyone posting excessively off-topic will be asked politely to stop the first time, not so politely to stop the second time, and banned the third time.

2. It is required that you indicate what your drabble is rated, OUTSIDE of any lj-cuts. Any rating is permissable, from G to NC-17. This is the second-most popular rule to be broken, so remember your rating!

3. The drabble MUST be a drabble. That is, don't expand on your literary talent here. The strict definition of a drabble is 100 words exactly, no more, no less. However, to make things more writer-friendly, I'm making the limits 90-100 words. No more than 100 words, no less than 90 words.

This is the most popular rule to be broken, because it's very easy to do! I run each and every drabble that is posted through MS Word's word count tool, and if the total is not 90-100, I will comment and ask you to change your word count. If you do not change your drabble or reply to me, I will delete your drabble. After a generous time-period, don't worry! I believe I have only deleted one drabble in the history of this community, and I gave the author upwards of six months to fix her word count.

I don't like being the word nazi and I don't want to make people feel they must edit their work to suit me, but adhering to a difficult word count is the sole point of writing a drabble - you get to show how talented a writer you are by expressing an idea, or scene, or relationship, using only a few well-chosen words. To disregard the word count not only makes you fail at this mission, it is also a slap in the face to everyone who ever sat there agonizing over which ONE word to take out of their drabble before posting it. PLEASE COUNT CAREFULLY, we all appreciate your effort!

4. Not included in the 100 word-limit are: title, author information, rating, character/summary/POV information, word count, dedications, author's notes, and any other notes/information you need to explain your drabble. And while not all of these are necessary (only rating and content warnings are required), extra information is appreciated; readers like to know who they're reading about. However, please keep the info to a minimum!

5. The drabbles may be any genre of fanfiction. Het, slash, or gen; angst, comedy, romance, mary sue, whatever you wish. We like all kinds of hockey goodness here! The only restriction is that your drabble MUST be hockey-related in some form.

6. It is not necessary, but highly encouraged, that drabbles be placed behind a lj-cut. It's a handy tool to use if your drabble requires a few warnings about rating and/or content. If you don't know how to use the lj-cut, check it out here.

7. Use your best judgement. If you think your drabble should probably be put behind a cut, go with that feeling. Give clear warnings about any content you think might be offensive to others, OUTSIDE any lj-cuts. Don't assume every member is into what you're into.

8. If you like what you read, comment! We fanfiction writers are all great big huge feedback whores, and those who say differently are only pretending to be humble. On the other side of that coin, respect should be given freely to all members. Please note that there is a distinction between constructive criticism and insult, and that not everyone who posts is interested in improving as a writer. If you read something that confuses you, feel free to ask, but remember that this is for fun, first and foremost. A good rule of thumb is the old "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."



And now, for the ever-popular disclaimer:

We as fanfiction writers neither know nor claim to know anything about the personal lives of the real people featured in our stories. We use them for characters only. None of this is real, it's just fiction. We intend no insult of any kind; we do not consider being gay insulting or degrading or shameful. If you do, that is your problem and not ours. We also intend no slander, libel, or copyright infringement, and no money is being made from any of this, not a penny. These stories are for entertainment purposes only and have nothing to do with real life or the real lives of the people whose names we use.

If you join this community, please be prepared for possible NC-17 material, and more than likely slash NC-17 material. This means boy/boy and/or girl/girl sex.

If any of this offends you, please do not join the community. If you flame us, you will be either ignored or mocked, and probably both. And in any case, it won't change anything. We'll keep writing and you'll keep being offended.


I think that does it. This community has closed membership, so if you're still interested in writing short ficlets in the hockey fandom, go back to the top of the page and click to join, and I will mostly likely add you. If you'd like to know how I decide whether or not to add someone, I consult the following criteria, one at a time. If the first doesn't satisfy me, I go onto the second, and the third only if necessary.

Interests: If you say flat-out in your userinfo that you are into hockey, writing, fanfic, drabbles, slash, or the like, I add you right up.
Communities: Membership in communities like 2mins4slashing and ihf are big marks in your favor as a fanfic-friendly person!
Friends: If you have friends listed that I know personally to be authors/friends of authors, that tells me you are cool with the fanfic idea, and probably pretty cool with slash, too.

If you meet none of the above, I will still probably add you, but remember, all I know about you is what your journal tells me. It is very rare that I decline someone's request, and I only have a few times in the past. Reasons include the journal in question being deleted, or the journal having no entries, no friends listed, and no interests.

If you are still interested (after reading my novel here) in joining the community, go join!! As a member, you'll not only get to read the friends-locked drabbles, BUT you will also gain access to the drabble archive, links to 600+ hockey drabbles and counting! Again, please free to email me, Rebecca, at biorhythm @ livejournal . com (no spaces of course), with any questions or comments you may have. Have fun, happy writing!