bailout
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Okay. Since The Saga of Tuck, and all the characters within, are mine by copyright, this makes anything you do with those characters a 'derivative work' according to copyright law. And, according to US law, any derivative work is still covered by the original's copyright, which (in this case) I own and control.

However!
I'll let you write and distribute derivative works based on Tucker, if AND ONLY IF you do the following:

  1. You must conform to my license and you especially may not charge (or allow someone else to charge) for access.
    If Tuck is free (and it will be, always), then yours has to be free also.
  2. Credit me, Ellen Hayes, and my copyright in your own work.
  3. Give me a copy of the final, for-distribution, version of your work.
Knowingly violate these rules and you will be persecuted. I'll find out, and if you don't fix it when you're told, you will be very sorry.

Not hard, is it?
No, the hard part is writing...

As for guidelines:
Someone else and I had a discussion of the ethics of using another writer's characters. (The legality of such is discussed above) I fell on the side of, "If you're not getting money, what the hell difference does it make, and you can't stop it anyway."

So, writing-wise, do whatever you want. Because you will anyway. =)

HOWEVER, I'm not going to post them on MY page, unless they conform at least to some close approximation of English grammar and spelling - I don't mind if it gives an English teacher a mild headache; cerebral hemorrhage or projectile vomiting is unacceptable - and unless the story plausibly fits both the characters and somewhere in the storyline. You'll notice the existing examples all go elsewhere than the main series does, in their little plot-twists-and-turns, and that's fine; but you can tell where/when they 'would have happened', and you can recognize the characters involved.

If you have questions about past events that haven't been described, ask me. If you have questions about future events, I shan't tell you, as my storyline is SEEKRET. Make up your own. That's what I'm doing...

I'd also discourage people from writing out graphic descriptions of 'gross' things. I don't really want to think too hard about the videotape-level details of Debbie's rape, f'rinstance, and I don't think the audience for this series does either. Or various beatings. Leading-up-to and the aftereffects are 'fine and good'. Let's keep it to an MPAA rating of 'R' or 'NC-17' or thereabouts...

And stories that are nothing more than sexual combination stories will be laughed at, and abused in public. Have a plot, folks...