disclaimers and author's notes revised
Okay, per your comments here is a revised version of the text, edits in bold. If this is acceptable, then I will fix the footnotes, bold the headers, and it will be ready for archiving! Thanks for your very useful comments.
ETA: Fixed the footnotes and the bolding. This section is complete!
Author’s notes and disclaimers are often overlooked in fanfiction; that is, they are available for the reader but not much thought is put into them. Sometimes too much thought is put into them. Here are the official does and don’ts of author’s notes and disclaimers.
1. DO use author’s notes-if there is a need. I can’t stress that little clause enough. If you need to put a summary in the beginning of your story, use an author’s note. If you want to mention how cute you think Syaoran is at this point in your fanfic-don’t. People don’t want clever author’s notes. I used to write detailed author’s notes in script with my little muse and think that it was cute. When ff.n killed several of my fics for this offense, I began to rethink it. What do you really need author’s notes for? Not to “claim” a character, or to have them protest to your fic, or anything juvenile like that. Author’s notes should clarify something that you wrote. If you mentioned a character in a situation that wasn’t canon, and didn’t elaborate, you might want to mention in an author’s note that this fic can be seen in the continuity as another fic you wrote, where said character was in said situation, and provide a link for confused readers. If you provide information about a book or something that isn't common knowledge, it's a good idea to have an author's note with the source and the disclaimer.
A good use of author's notes can be referenced in my fanfic "Time Heals All Wounds."(1)
2. DON'T use author's notes for anything very important. A lot of people skip author's notes. Don't use your author's notes to explain important plot points, like where a character is right now or who they are dating or anything similar. Write that into the story! That doesn't mean you should make your author's notes big and obnoxious so people will read them. Just accept the fact that they want fic, not a summary of when you wrote your fic and why.
3. DON'T use author's notes in the middle of the story. This goes back to point two. If not reading an author's note will confuse the reader, then you're better off working it into the text. If the author's note is simply to explain why you came to this conclusion, or delve further into this point of the plot, that's okay. I use author's notes myself. The trick is to put these notes at the beginning or end of the story. For story points, I would recommend the end of the story, so that your reader doesn't spoiler themselves by dutifully reading your notes. Another point is: don't talk to your readers. If you deviate from canon, don't drop in an author's note saying that you missed this episode and you're going to paraphrase what someone said in your flashback,(2) or kill a character and say, "Man I'm so evill..." This again pulls people out of your story; it irritates many and distracts others. Why would you want someone distracted from your wonderful characterization and well-written prose?
4. DO use footnotes. Footnotes aren't just for term papers, you know. One of the easiest ways to indicate an author's note is to use a footnote. This document of reference is thoroughly footnoted, as is the fanfic I referenced in point one. (3) There are several ways to footnote that aren't obnoxious. Asterisks are the most popular. If you can use superscripts, those are perfect. Make sure that whatever you are using is obvious to the reader, so they don't think your punctuation threw up all over the keyboard.
4. DO use a disclaimer--they are mandatory. The definition of disclaimer: In the case of fanfiction, disclaimers are legal statements saying that the author of the fanfiction does not, in any way, profit from the story and that all creative rights to the characters belong to their original creator(s).(1) Don't be stupid, use a disclaimer. These aren't your characters! They were created by CLAMP and CLAMP is graciously not suing us when we borrow them and do horrible and crazy things with them. CLAMP started out drawing doujinshi--fan comics--and you can bet that they put disclaimers on their work. Just in case someone years down the road gets lawsuit-happy and copyright laws can be bent in the write way, make sure to cover your butt.
5. DON'T write stupid or lengthy disclaimers. No one reads your disclaimer. It's just something that has to be included in every fic. Good disclaimers are simple, like "Cardcaptor Sakura belongs to CLAMP."(4) The end. A bad disclaimer: "Let Cardcaptor Sakura=a; let CLAMP=b; let me=c. Therefore, a=b and a does not equal c. Please proceed to the story, which contains no algebra whatsoever, thank goodness!"(5) That was pointless. That took way too long to read. Sometimes people say that CCS is © 1996 CLAMP. This is also acceptable and probably even safer than saying that CLAMP owns the series.
6. DON'T write in a foreign language... ...And then use author's notes to define that entire paragraph of Japanese you had to have in your story. Unless you are writing to an audience with a thorough knowledge of the language, using foreign words will pull someone out of your story. The only words you can expect your fans to know are the honorifics, and many don't know those. Using Japanese song lyrics, another popular tactics, just makes the reader scratch their head and shrug. So a good rule of thumb is: use English or your target language, and then you don't have to write author's notes for everything.
Well, I think that wraps up our lecture on disclaimers and author's notes. If you have any questions, please contact the Cardcaptor Sakura livejournal community Reviewers Inc.
(1)Source: Time Heals All Wounds, at the livejournal community 30_lessons
(2) Example author's note: I Don't Remember, Chapter 3, at Shades of Grey Fanfiction Archive
(3)Source: Wikipedia entry: Disclaimers
(4) Source: The Cherry Blossom Tree, Chapter 1, at the Shades of Grey Fanfiction Archive
(5)Source: Blind Date, Chapter 1, at the Shades of Grey Fanfiction Archive