Spotlights and Recommendations are two sections that I have wanted to get up and running for two years now. I wrote drafts for these sections a long time ago and now I'm finally getting all of this going! I want to thank Rayne, Lynne and Ariella for all their help with this. They put up with me two years ago when I was rambling and going nuts over this and other things with the archive.
I would also like to give a huge thanks to Adele for reviewing these guidelines and rules before I made them public. Her encouragement and suggestions meant so much. Thank you, Adele!
If you have concerns or complaints about these guidelines and rules, please contact me.
Spotlight Guidelines
To make a suggestion, please use the form on the Suggestions page.
Spotlights will be once a month story reviews giving a spotlight on a particularly wonderful piece of writing by a KAEX author. Anyone can recommend a story for the spotlight and if you wish, you can do the review for it as well.
Rules:
1. Only one story a month will be Spotlighted.
2. All spotlight stories will be accompanied by a review of said story.
3. The new spotlight story will be revealed on the first of each month if possible. This is, of course, not accounting for real life demands that may get in the way.
4. Any story by a KAEX author can be recommended for the spotlight so long as it is Voltron related. It does not have to be a story housed at the archive.
5. A story can only be spotlighted once.
6. The reviews do not have to be written by me, Ryka. If you wish to write the review, simply tell me when you contact me with your suggestion.
7. An author cannot review or suggest their own story.
8. THIS IS IMPORTANT: A story will ONLY be Spotlighted with author permission. If I am reviewing the story, I will get the permission. If YOU wish to review the story, it is YOUR responsibility to contact the author of the story you wish to review and get their permission. I ask that you forward me the e-mail that gives you permission. If you're hellbent on remaining anonymous though, I will contact the author for you.
9. The author reserves the right to read the review before it is posted publicly and raise any concerns with myself and the person who wrote the review.
10. If the reviewer wishes, they may use a pseudonym instead of their public/well-known name in the review.
11. If you submit a spotlight and/or review, it will be put in the queue. This is assuming I will have a backlog of suggestions and/or reviews. Although I reserve the right to organize the queue at will.
12. I reserve the right to refuse a suggestion and/or review. I will try to give my reasons for doing so. It's unlikely that I'll ever do this, but I'm covering my bases here.
13. I reserve the right to edit a review for grammar, spelling, etc. I won't edit the content itself though.
14. I reserve the right to change and add to these guidelines and rules at will.
Guidelines:
1. Try to choose stories carefully. While your instinct might be to choose an extremely popular story, the great thing about the Spotlight is it gives a chance for perhaps an overlooked story to shine. Or maybe there's an older story out there that you feel no one is reading because people are only concentrating on the latest. Find that great story let the world know about it!
2. I would suggest trying to find stories with good spelling and grammar, engaging plotline, originality/creativity. But remember, the point of the spotlight is to highlight what YOU feel is an exceptional story that everyone should try to read.
3. If you write a review, put some thought and detail into it. Why do you like the story? What makes it stand out? Is there a particular part that touched you? Think of it as a literary review. Make it indepth!
4. Try to choose a story from an author who hasn't had a story spotlighted yet. Although you certainly don't have to.
5. This is not meant to be a competition or to discourage anyone. It is meant to be fun, enlightening, encouraging and positive.
6. The Spotlight is an opinion-based section of the archive. No offense is intended to anyone.
7. Don't let these guidelines rule your decision! In the end it is YOUR opinion that I want. If you want to spotlight an extremely well-known story, do it! If you want to spotlight an unpopular story, do it! In the end, it's about what you think
To make a recommendation, please use the form on the Suggestions page.
Sort of like the spotlight stories, but quite less rigorous. Basically, there are genres and YOU, the audience, recommend stories for that genre. This is meant as a guide to KAEX fanfiction so that people looking for a specific type of story can find it. Recommendations are stories that are exceptional for particular genre or genres. The hope is that this section will be a good guide to stories of particular genres.
NOTE: According to Webster a genre is defined as following -
A category of artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a particular style, form, or content.
Rules:
1. It must be a Voltron story written by a KAEX author. It does not have to be housed here at the KAEX Archive.
2. When you give me your recommendations, tell me what stories, what genres you're recommending each story for and, if possible, why. The why isn't really necessary, but it's nice and I do require it. It can be just a sentence or two long.
3. Recommendations can be made at any time. I will add your recommendations at the next update.
4. Recommendations do not have to be limited to the present genres listed. You can recommend a story for another genre and I will add the story and genre to the recommendations page.
5. A story can be recommended for multiple genres. But I reserve the right to choose to only include it in one genre at my discretion.
6. If you give reasons for your recommendations, I reserve the right to post your reason with the story listing. Think of it as a mini-review. If you don't want me to post it, make that clear when you contact me. I won't post names with these mini-reviews. They will all be anonymous.
7. Authors cannot recommend their own stories.
8. I reserve the right to refuse a recommendation at will.
9. I reserve the right to change and add to these guidelines and rules at will.
Guidelines:
1. Try to choose stories with good spelling and grammar, engaging plotline, originality/creativity. Although none of these are requirements. This is, afterall, a section based on YOUR opinions.
2. This is an opinion based section. No offense is intended.
3. This is NOT a competition. This is supposed to be fun and helpful.
4. Don't let these guidelines rule your decision! In the end it is YOUR opinion that I want.