The Ruby Quill
| Archive | |
|---|---|
| Name: | The Ruby Quill |
| Date(s): | 2004 - 2020; last updated 2017 |
| Archivist: | Dream Howler (Karri) |
| Founder: | Dream Howler |
| Type: | fanfiction archive |
| Fandom: | Harry Potter |
| URL: | http://rqarchive.com/ |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Ruby Quill is a Harry Potter fanfiction archive. It is part of the Citadel of the Wolf Network, and is a "brother" site of the multifandom archive World of Slash.
The archive was established in 2004. In what appears to be the final news item, posted on 8 February 2018, Jayson remarks, "my works are the only ones that have been updated on this site for over a year now,"[1] and the last story on the Most Recent list was archived on 28 October 2017. The site went offline sometime between 8 January 2020 and 21 December 2021, based on Wayback captures. As of the last Wayback capture of the archive's index page (31 December 2019), the archive held 182 stories by 69 authors and 5,533 reviews by 992 reviewers.
History
The Ruby Quill was started by in Dream Howler in 2004 as part of the Erotic Dreams Story Archive. Archiving was originally done by hand, then soon switched to eFiction.[2]
Submission Restrictions
The Ruby Quill accepts slash, het, and gen stories, though historically has been predominately slash. Femslash is prohibited, the rules stating:
- "[Femslash] may be in the background, a few kisses, etc. However, please no on camera sex scenes. Thank you. This may change if we get someone that actually would be willing to read/edit the story, but for now, no."[3]
Additionally, the archive does not accept drabbles or "snuff", which it describes as "an underworld/black market movie that portrays a violent murder scene." Rapefic is also strongly discouraged, but stories depicting rape are allowed if it is "extremely important to [the] story" and is properly warned for.[3]
Ratings
All ratings are accepted, but explicit stories are password protected "per J.K. Rowling's 2004 request ... so that children do not have access to them."[4]
The archive has its own rating system that is roughly equivalent to film ratings. It the following abbreviations:[5]
- CS - "Child Safe themes" (G)
- PN - "Parents Needed" (PG)
- PN-13 - "Parents Needed" (PG-13)
- A - "Adult" (R)
- A-17 - "No One 17 and Under Admitted" (NC-17)
Warnings
The archive has over 140 different warnings used for stories. Many warnings do not necessary warn for triggers, but are used to indicate certain genres or tropes.
Each story must also have the correct and relevant warnings/genres attached. If the story contains rape, incest, or angst, dark themes SAY so, either in the warnings or in the authors notes (or both). Deception will not be tolerated. Add appropriate warnings as your fiction progresses as necessary.[3]
Available warnings included Ambiguous Consent, Genderfuck, Mary/Gary Stu, Plot What Plot, Slavery, Song Fiction, Threesome, Veela Fic, and Work In Progress.[6]
Fanfiction Categories
The Ruby Quill organizes archived fanfiction into the following categories:[4]
- Cross-Overs - Harry Potter and various fandoms. Buffy, Charmed, X-men, etc. Has to have at least one Harry Potter Character in order to be accepted.
- Dominus Heros - Stories Featuring the Paring of Severus Snape and Harry Potter. Including any time period.
- Hogwarts - This category is for stories that focus at Hogwarts. This could be teachers relationships, Harry/Gang's relationships, etc.
- Lupus Vinco - One of the Ruby Quill's favorite pairings, this is for stories where the main paring is Remus Lupin and Severus Snape.
- Post Hogwarts - This is for stories that take place after Hogwarts. I.E. After the War, After the Mauraders leave school etc.
- Preteritus Vices - Join us in the Past. This category features the Marauders Era, and any story based in the past.
- Total Alternate Reality - These stories are a total re-write of the books. I.E. Harry got sorted into Slytherin, etc.
- Wizarding World - Stories here have no central location or just generally focused on someone that isn't Harry Potter
References
- ^ The Ruby Quill, Wayback capture 31 December 2019
- ^ Fan History Wiki. Ruby Quill Archive. Archived 21 March 2009 by the Wayback Machine.
- ^ a b c The Ruby Quill. Rules. (Accessed 03 February 2012.)
- ^ a b Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedmain - ^ The Ruby Quill. Help. (Accessed 03 February 2012.)
- ^ The Ruby Quill. Warnings. (Accessed 03 February 2012.)