ao3-anonymous

[ao3-anonymous]

Okay so this is anecdotal because I didn't bother to do any actual analysis, but as someone who looks at these stats pretty much every week, I'm pretty sure Kpop Demon Hunters is having the most meteoric fandom rise I've ever seen.

It's already in the 4k range?? I'm pretty sure it was only a few weeks ago that it was just starting out. The movie itself came out less than a month ago!

I don't know what all the fuss is about (should I watch it??) but either way, good for you Kpop Demon Hunters fandom. I hope you know you've stumbled upon a rare time in fandom culture.

Fastest Growing Fandoms on AO3 This Week (07/29/2025)

Every week I pull data on how many fics are in each fandom and compare to the previous week, then calculate the percentage increase to determine fastest growing fandoms.  Since this naturally skews towards smaller fandoms, I have included the same data filtered to Over 1k, 5k, & 10k fics.

Overall:

Over 1,000 Fics:

Over 5,000 Fics:

Over 10,000 Fics:

Source: AO3 Fandom Dashboard

[ao3-anonymous]

[ao3-anonymous]

[ao3-anonymous]

Fastest Growing Fandoms on AO3 This Week (07/29/2025)

Every week I pull data on how many fics are in each fandom and compare to the previous week, then calculate the percentage increase to determine fastest growing fandoms.  Since this naturally skews towards smaller fandoms, I have included the same data filtered to Over 1k, 5k, & 10k fics.

Overall:

Over 1,000 Fics:

Over 5,000 Fics:

Over 10,000 Fics:

Source: AO3 Fandom Dashboard

[ao3-anonymous]

i found a ship tag on ao3 with 77 fics and 76 of them were by one person 

be the change you want to see in the world

[ao3-anonymous]

I'm so glad to see AO3 making it absolutely clear that none of these things are allowed to even be HINTED at.

Here's some of the language from the new post about AO3's police on commercial promotion:

-

There is a wide variety of things that are not allowed under AO3's non-commercialization rules.

Any other language which one might interpret as requesting or having requested financial contributions, whether for yourself or others. This covers indirect references, euphemisms, or other language intended to get around the TOS. Some examples of this include:

Thanks for the coffee!

My ☕ username is the same as my username here

This chapter is brought to you by my patrons

You know where to find me if you want early or bonus chapters

Check out my Twitter to learn how you can donate to me since I'm not allowed to discuss it here

If you want to hear more about my ideas, talk about fandom, or find more of my stuff for a coin, visit my Tumblr

Solicitation is not allowed, whether it's for yourself or on behalf of someone else.

[ao3-anonymous]

How would you grade Magical Realism?

Magical realism is an interesting one for me, because I love fantasy novels with magical elements, so you'd think I'd like magical realism more than I do.

But part of the delineation between magical realism and fantasy is that in MR the magic is unexplained or treated as ordinary. So like everything else will be exactly as it is in canon, but trees can talk and nobody acts like it's a big deal and it's never explained why/how.

But the way my brain works, I always want explanations for everything haha, so magical realism sometimes leaves me with an itch that didn't quite get scratched.

Final Grade:

A: Love it. Spend my time combing AO3 for it.

B: Like it. Not one of my bigger cravings, but it can scratch a certain itch if I’m in the right mood.

C: Neutral. A good author might be able to sell it, but a bad one will kill it deader than dead.

D: Not my favorite. I avoid it if I can, but it won’t necessarily put me off reading something.

F: Hate it. Will immediately make me nope out of a fic.

I considered going D, but I wouldn't say I actively avoid it either. Basically for MR, the summary is the make or break point. It has to have a killer and intriguing summary to catch my interest, otherwise I'll probably skip over it.

[ao3-anonymous]

fanfic trope ask meme: original character

Hmm this one was tough to rate for me, because so much depends on the situation.

First off, I'm gonna assume you mean in the context of a fandom associated work. (Yours truly has been known to read PWP Original Works on AO3 occasionally if I have a hankering for a specific kink and don't want to be distracted by characterization....so obviously don't have a problem with those OCs).

Secondly, it really depends on what role the OC plays. An OC side character can often be great, if they fill a gap in canon (e.g. Character B doesn't have a close confidante in canon and it doesn't make sense to slot an existing character in there). Also a pet peeve of mine is when a fic introduces a character -- who is a villain in canon -- as normal but later they turn out to be the Big Bad of the fic in a "surprise" twist (that we all saw coming). In that case I'd rather they use an OC so it could actually be a surprise -- although that only really works if they have other OCs, otherwise it still feels obvious.

So OCs as side/villain characters, I'd probably give it a C (Neutral. A good author might be able to sell it, but a bad one will kill it deader than dead.). Not anything I'd ever really search out, but doesn't detract from a fic for me as long as it's done well.

Now for OCs as main character (like part of the main ship).....my initial reaction was F (had an immediate flashback to ~Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way~) but then I remembered the Fanfic Golden Rule:

A really good author can make you read almost anything and like it

which is to say, I remembered one of my favorite fics of all time was Canon Character / OC. It made sense because the canon character wasn't a main character and so there wasn't a lot of info about their current life (but the history was rich) so having them paired with an OC didn't bother me.

So I guess we'll go with D (Not my favorite. I avoid it if I can, but it won’t necessarily put me off reading something) for OCs as a main character.

Now I'm sitting here trying to think of what tropes would fall into the F category for me! There are definitely some heavy kinks that are not my cup of tea, but I wouldn't consider those tropes.....will have to keep thinking!

[ao3-anonymous]

for the ask game: coffee shop AU

Whoops fell a bit behind on these!

Coffee shop AUs are a great recipe for a meetcute followed by mutual pining, because its one of the rare believable scenarios where you could meet a complete stranger and then continue to see said stranger again and again. And I've definitely read some great ones!

With that said, it doesn't get an A rating from me just because I personally like longer fics but mutual pining gets frustrating for me after a little bit. I just want to shake the characters and say "just tell them you like them!!". Yes obviously if one of them is working there, the other character could feasibly be hesitant about hitting on someone who is working and the worker could be concerned about hitting on a customer. But even so! There are non-creepy ways to do it (e.g. pass them a note saying "here's my number just in case, won't be offended if you don't use it" and then put the ball in their court).

So I'm giving it a B I guess. Thanks for asking!!

(Bonus points if anyone can figure out what classic AU I would give an A rating to... ;)

[ao3-anonymous]

fan fiction trope: kid fic (like they become parents in some way)

Ooh kid fic is tough. I like it when it’s done well, but I’ve read way too many fics where people have no concept of how kids act at various ages and it really pull me out of the story.

So I guess C, although I do love the concept

[ao3-anonymous]

Fanfic trope ask meme: There was only one bed....

Ooh I’d say this one is a B - always down for a little bed sharing. But I’ve never like searched it out specifically

[ao3-anonymous]

Give me a fanfiction trope and I’ll grade it:

A: Love it. Spend my time combing AO3 for it.

B: Like it. Not one of my bigger cravings, but it can scratch a certain itch if I’m in the right mood.

C: Neutral. A good author might be able to sell it, but a bad one will kill it deader than dead.

D: Not my favorite. I avoid it if I can, but it won’t necessarily put me off reading something.

F: Hate it. Will immediately make me nope out of a fic.

[ao3-anonymous]

Toastystats: Open Doors and FictionAlley

The OTW recently announced the import of FictionAlley to AO3 through the Open Doors project. Open Doors helps preserve fanworks by (among other things) importing external fanwork archives as collections on AO3. I was interested in the newsletter statement, “With approximately 29,000 works imported so far, it is Open Doors' largest import yet”—it made me curious about all of the work Open Doors has done over the years.

Click through to AO3 for more data and discussion.

[ao3-anonymous]

the only censorship we need is the block, mute and filter option because giving others the power to dictate what can and cannot exist in fandom will eventually lead to banning all nsfw works or even slightly but nuanced ‘problematic’ topics. ​I block and move on because I don’t want to see certain things but to erase them completely is a dangerous slope to having things you like be banned eventually.

[ao3-anonymous]

Fastest Growing Fandoms on AO3 This Week (07/22/2025)

Every week I pull data on how many fics are in each fandom and compare to the previous week, then calculate the percentage increase to determine fastest growing fandoms.  Since this naturally skews towards smaller fandoms, I have included the same data filtered to Over 1k, 5k, & 10k fics.

Overall:

Over 1,000 Fics:

Over 5,000 Fics:

Over 10,000 Fics:

Source: AO3 Fandom Dashboard

[ao3-anonymous]

Fastest Growing Fandoms on AO3 This Week (07/16/2025)

Every week I pull data on how many fics are in each fandom and compare to the previous week, then calculate the percentage increase to determine fastest growing fandoms.  Since this naturally skews towards smaller fandoms, I have included the same data filtered to Over 1k, 5k, & 10k fics.

Overall:

Over 1,000 Fics:

Over 5,000 Fics:

Over 10,000 Fics:

Source: AO3 Fandom Dashboard

[ao3-anonymous]

it is honestly amazing how much of writing and editing is just. logistics. like... do i use a name here or a pronoun? if i move this dialogue tag to the middle of this line and break it in half, does the end of the line hit harder that way? what if i move the tag to the front? what if i remove it entirely? ...wait, whose point of view am i in; can i reasonably say this character is appalled, or must i say they look or seem or sound appalled? is this a deliberate action or a step-removed one; is her hand closing on his shoulder, or is she closing her hand on his shoulder? environment environment environment, we need to break all this dialogue up with some narration, the scene is coming untethered. what! are! they doing! with! the rest of their bodies that are not hands! fuck fuck fuck FUCK i forgot we covered this two chapters ago and now i either need to cut this whole chunk or find a reason to reprise the conversation from earlier. name or pronoun? name or pronoun? name or pronoun? move this clause around in this sentence? oh i'll add this phrase-- nope, never mind, past!me added the same phrase two lines down. okay, if i add too much environmental narration it's going to take away from this bit, but not enough and it won't feel grounded. what if i move this to its own line? where the FUCK are their hands?