#I usually leave a kudos and bookmark it tbh

[cloakedstarlight]

How to assess if a fic is worth reading:

1. Summary/Tags

- Helps you anticipate what to expect from the story, or if the storyline interests you

2. Sample read/chapter skim

- Helps you see if you like the authors writing style and story writing

people are really looking at stats to determine if a fic is worth reading? no wonder fics that never got popular at the first drop never had a chance 💀

[jonny-b-meowborn]

yippee today I finally got my ao3 account

[inrainprose]

Hey!! Just saw your post about comments and I wanted to say that I often forget to comment, but I wanted to show my appreciation for what you are doing!!

I started following you for your flip your coin series and I was so happy to see you writing for PotBabe (and that for Kenta and Kim)! Kenta is hands-down my fave character in the series (Jeff is in 2nd place), just bcs I love how complex he is! And I get to let go of my frustration with how the show handles him with your fanfictions! I can‘t wait to read more from you (regardless in which fandom you write) and I realised just hitting on kudos is not going to show my love for your work. I will work harder!! Thank you for your hard work!

Always amazing to see people following from fandom to fandom haha. I don't know why we latched on to this pairing and to Kenta like this, sometimes there is no sensible explanation. I'm so frustrated they didn't make it true in the series but well, that's why we have fanfics.

Thank you very much for this. I don't want to look demanding or rude but comments truly are the heart of all this. Bookmarks and kudos are nice for sure, but what we (I at least) need as fanfic writers is engagement!

And tbh I also write a lot when I'm feeling a bit down, because comments and feedback are a true source of joy for me. Things are kinda hard and draining these days, and so I post fanfics hoping for this little rush of people interacting back. That's why I've been more whining than usual haha, Pit Babe is a super active fandom right now and the kudos-hit ratio is above usual, but the comments are way down (not just on my works, yeah I track that kind of things I like stats). And I understand not leaving comments every time, I don't do it either, I don't mean to shame or guilt trip, but when the kudos and bookmarks keep getting up but you don't get proper words of people actually interacting, it's kinda frustrating. Please give me the love lmao.

Anyway sorry for the rant, I truly appreciate you coming here to say this, it means a lot. I'll keep writing for Pit Babe for a while because it has a hold on my soul for now (and I'm sorry for everyone waiting for an FtC update. I'll be back to it soon I swear, but I'm riding the Pit Babe wave for now). Thanks again!

[lunanoc]

Fic Stats Game

Rules: Give us the links to your fics with the most hits, second most kudos, third most bookmarks, fourth most comments, fifth most words, and your fic with the least amount of words.

tagged by both @spinecorset and @tat-ch sorry it's taken me this long to actually do this, thank you for tagging! ironically i have less published fics than there are slots for this game and all of these entries are dmbj, specifically pingxie fics (shocking i know)

first most hits and fourth most comments : in a landscape of having to repeat i have mixed feelings about this one mostly because it's the first thing i wrote after over a decade of not writing anything (and i was a teenager then) and is also the first piece of personal writing i ever finished period. so a lot of it was experimental and trying to get a feel for writing again in general. i tend to view it as the weaker fic of the ones i've written so far because of that among other things (like it being written at a time i was still largely unfamiliar with the books and i feel it shows in some details), but on the flipside, it's also probably one of if not my most self-indulgent one since it's a timeloop fic and i love that trope a lot. i also wrote it for a good friend (you know who you are <3) so for that it's also special

second most kudos: alight and tempered coincidentally also written for aforementioned good friend (<3). i'm tentative to say this mostly because i tend to be hypercritical of anything i make more often than not (i guess that comes with being your own beta), but i think this one might be my favorite of the things i've written so far. it's got iron triangle shenanigans, xiaoge pov, wu xie pov, and i like to think it has a nice amount of variety going on from comic beats to more serious parts and is overall fluff because i'm a sap. idk i just like exploring the unspoken elements of pingxie's relationship since so much of what they say to each other is in subtext between them anyway so this is just one attempt at it

third most bookmarks: and there will be time this one is 100% self-indulgent, case in point i impulse wrote it for wu xie's birthday week since i saw practically no one doing anything for it so i took matters into my own hands lol. i tagged it "gonna give him all the things" "xiaoge is too" and tbh that's it that's the fic. it's pingxie spending a quiet day together with no fanfare, not much else.

fifth most words and least words: my hand was the one you reached for another one also written for another good friend (you know who you are too <3) i swear practically everything i write ends up as prompted or unprompted gifts for other people lol. the entire premise of this was "hey wu xie studied architecture and in the books is mentioned as sketching a fair amount, what if instead of journaling during the sha hai period as he usually does because it was so harrowing he had a sketchbook of xiaoge doodles he carried around" followed by "what if xiaoge found the sketchbook later though" and that's it that's the fic. i'm not 100% sure about the characterization for this one to be completely honest but like everything else i'm just gonna leave it there because it's there anyway

bonus because considering i only have one other fic i get to shamelessly plug for once ok: the cruelest month and again written for another good friend (this is a pattern and yes you also know who you are <3) this one is very different from the other ones and was definitely the hardest to write for a number of reasons. the pingxie is mostly background in that xiaoge isn't there for a majority of the fic because this is essentially a detailed character study of wu xie throughout the entirety of sha hai and what leads up to it. which is very daunting. and i'm not convinced i did the complexity it deserves justice. so it tries to be an exploration of his mindset, of how that plays into his relationships with other characters, and how that ultimately plays into his gradual realization of his feelings for xiaoge while xiaoge is behind the gate. with a "what if the snake pheromones gave him the latent ability to perceive intent and emotion from the people around him too" twist. it's about 8 different things in a trenchcoat but well

tagging @shaish, @kelly42fox, @child-of-the-fairy-folk, @difeisheng, and anyone else who feels up to it!

[swimmingwolf59]

✨2022 Writing Year In Review✨

I was tagged by @lenievi​! Thanks for the tag, I love doing stuff like this! 🥰

1. Number of stories posted to AO3: 17

2. Word count posted for the year: 122,912 (pretty sure this is close to my yearly average which is just like ?????? how tf do I write that much 😭)

3. Fandoms I wrote for: star trek (tos, aos), khr, and pokemon technically

4. Pairings: spones, sarek&spock, mccoy&amanda, 1859, 8018, and platonic 5933

5. Story with the most:

- Kudos: Reciprocal Averaging (373) (thanks so much y’all!! 😭😭🙏)

- Bookmarks: Reciprocal Averaging again lol (110)

- Comments: And, who could’ve guessed! Reciprocal Averaging (24)

6. Work I’m most proud of (and why):

Out of the light, my mirrorverse spones fic. I’m really proud of the worldbuilding I did for that fic, especially in terms of adapting tos episodes into their mirrorverse versions. I’m also pretty proud of the emotional journey spones have, I feel like it actually progressed well and I feel like I’m usually terrible at that kind of thing lol. Also figuring out how to fit in the rest of the crew, what their mirrorverse selves are like (including bones, who was SO FUN TO FIGURE OUT!!) was a great time!!

7. Work I’m least proud of (and why):

Uhhh I’m not sure actually? I feel like the ones I’m “not proud of” are because I remember how much it sucked to edit them lol, and I feel like editing always makes me hate my work. So I try not to actually think that way about anything I’ve published 😅

8. Share or describe a favorite review you received:

A lot of people leave sweet reviews, and I’m really thankful for all of them!! It makes me so happy to hear that people are enjoying my stories 🥺 A few of my favorites were by fellow transmasc people telling me how much they appreciated my fluffy trans!spock fic, but those felt too personal to share here so I thought I’d share this one instead:

I adore how this opens with Jim's POV, and with so many little asides and details that make my heart sing. From Jim's teasing, to 'arguing', to McCoy being too mad to even notice Jim entering the room, to the PDA discussion to... well, you get the idea. It makes the fic feel so deep and layered and an incredible addition to the BW series. And then the whole litany of failed first dates, lol. I don't think I could pick a favorite no matter how many times I reread this. But I love Spock being so determined to make this happen for Leonard's sake (even to inadvertently sabotaging one of the dates), and Leonard's ever-underlying insecurities rearing their ugly heads. Love how they work through it all, and the wonderfully romantic "final first date" at the end - even Kirk's determination that they will have a great one, and that's an order, dammit! Heart-warming and made me laugh out loud several times. I adore the relationship you've crafted between Spock and Leonard and always look forward to the next story in the series. Thank you for continuing to share these delightful interludes with us!

This person leaves a lot of kind reviews, but this one especially was SO nice to receive because I rewrote next time for sure SO MANY TIMES to figure out the failed date attempts and make the story feel fleshed out and real, so it was really nice to hear my efforts paid off~

9. A time when writing was really, really hard:

Honestly the last few weeks of 2022 were really tough, especially in terms of writing for 12dos and my 100th fic on ao3 celebration. Tbh I think I put too much on myself LOL right around holidays when I was really busy and had a few covid scares so I was just super stressed out and hating everything I was writing. But I’m getting back into some wips this year and things have calmed down so I’m feeling a lot better about things!

10. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you:

Tbh I was NOT expecting to get back into writing khr again LMAO and somehow I wrote like 4 fics this year??? XDD I think Customization especially was surprising because I had the vague idea for it and then sat down and wrote it in like an hour lol, it was a lot of fun tho!

11. A favorite excerpt of your writing:

I wanted to share something from out of the light but all of my favorite scenes are a little too steamy to just post on here I feel LOL so have this excerpt from Held Together:

“Do you even know where you are going, Leonard?” Spock asks, somewhat amused. It would entertain him to no end to watch McCoy try, and probably fail, to navigate the mountains Spock knows so well, but it would be more amusing if it wasn’t nearing midnight.

“Sure.” McCoy stops and points up at the night sky. “That’s Sehlat Kan-bu, over there is the Scholar.”

Spock stops just behind him. “…You are aware of our ancient constellations?”

“Constellations have always been an interest of mine,” McCoy says with a shy smile. “I’ve always thought that what people see in the night sky says a lot about their culture. Once I finished learning all of Earth’s, I started to learn those of alien cultures, too. It’s surprisingly common throughout the galaxy, though of course on Vulcan most constellations were devised before the time of Surak. I’d have a hard time imagining T’Pau pointing up at the sky and claiming that a certain star cluster looks like a sehlat.”

A small smile tugs at Spock’s lips. “Certainly not in public, anyway.”

McCoy laughs and turns to keep hiking. “It shouldn’t be much further.”

Spock’s curiosity is piqued now as he follows McCoy across the rocks. He has to admit he hadn’t been expecting much, particularly once he realized that McCoy was taking him into the mountains. Spock has quite literally seen everything on these mountains many times, so he had wondered what McCoy could possibly show him that he hadn’t seen before.

But now that McCoy seems to actually possess an intimate knowledge of the area, Spock is much more curious to find out what it is.

They walk for 10.6 more minutes before McCoy comes to a stop, staring up at the sky. He is standing in the middle of a clearing that Spock had once named Sehlat’s Bed, due to the unusual amount of times he had stumbled upon a wild sleeping sehlat in the area. Fortunately, there doesn’t seem to be one here now, but Spock stays on alert as he comes to a stop beside McCoy.

“A-ha! There it is.” McCoy points upwards. “That’s K’diwa.”

“Roughly translates to lovers,” Spock comments, staring up at it. “I too enjoyed learning the constellations when I was younger, and this is one of the only ones that I thought actually looked like its name. You can see the line of stars where the two beings become entwined, one being—”

He turns, only to find McCoy now holding out two of his fingers. Before Spock can even raise an eyebrow, he murmurs in Vulcan, “Spock, will you be parted from me and never parted? Never and always touching and touched?”

Spock’s breath catches. He had not expected this, and it probably shows on his face. Even though he should have known it was coming, it turns out that McCoy managed to surprise him after all.

12. How did you grow as a writer this year:

God these kinds of questions are so hard lol because I feel like I have no perception of how to judge my writing????I feel like I’ve improved in crafting stories with like actual plots in them lol, which I think was always a weakness of mine. I’ve also tried writing a lot of different kinds of stories this year, so that was cool!

13. How do you hope to grow next year:

I wanna get better at writing shorter things, since I think it takes a lot of skill to fit a fully fledged story into just a few thousand words. I also wanna continue improving at plot building and descriptions lol

14. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc):

well tbqh the answer seems to be sarek LOL. 1859 and spones ofc are also always my muses 😄

15. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year:

hmm other than my obsession with nature and wildlife LOL I don’t think so

16. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers:

Something I’ve been doing this year is editing fics on my phone (and by that I mean reading them on gdocs on my phone and doing the actual editing on my computer document), but the main thing that’s important about this I think is that it tricks my brain into thinking I’m reading something “new” because it LOOKS different. Like I think part of the reason editing is so hard for me is because I know what it’s SUPPOSED to say, so that’s how I read it even if there are typos/grammatical errors/better ways to phrase/etc. So I think it’s really helpful during editing to read your story on a different document, or with a different font, cause at least for me I’m a lot more likely to catch mistakes that way!

17. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year:

I am SO excited to work on the next fic in my pokemon spones series because I’m introducing sarek and amanda LOL. I also got newfound direction for my sarek & mccoy 5+1 meetings fic so I’m looking forward to working on that more! (I told you my muse was Sarek lololol). Otherwise I’m looking forward to working on new spones and 1859 stories, finishing this spock/scotty fic I have, and working on my original story idea as well! OH also my QPR fics that I’ve been working on and am excited to share hopefully this year!!

18. Tag some writers whose answers you’d like to read.

Idk who to tag, so if you want to do this, consider yourself tagged!

[beafocal]

i don't sort by kudos at all tbh, that way inexorable gravity lies

I narrow my search by fandom/language/usually a pairing or a tag i want to read, then start scrolling until a summary + tag combo grabs me. originally i leave this in newest-first order, but sometimes i'll click a random number of pages through to randomize it up. i make liberal use of exclusion filters as i find the common fandom tags and figure out how to avoid what i dislike.

when i find a work that really sauces my apples, i'll go to that author's page, read through their other works for that fandom (probably), and then check their bookmarks to see what they're into. i can go a very long time like this, and it helps avoid like, just getting stuck in the end of 'what has the most kudos' or 'what was most recent.'

Alright, so this is legitimately something that I have wondered about for a long time, so I figured that I would finally make a poll about it to hopefully satiate my curiosity

If y'all could reblog, I'd appreciate it! I almost always look for the fics with the most kudos, but I'm curious what everyone else does when looking for fanfics! Sorry if your way is not listed, I ran out of options, ha. Feel free to elaborate in the tags too! As a fic writer, It's interesting to me to see how people choose the fics they read.

Also, this is mostly based on the tag system that AO3 has since that's what I'm interested in. If you choose mostly based on the summary or something else, please mention that in tags!

[kairoswouldnever]

i have been more liberal with my DNF policies of fics specifically. i used to force myself through fics i hated just because i actually had no boundary set for respecting my own time and thought that i must read everything i put on my marked for later coz "i liked the tags/summary" or "the author/fic is very popular in the fandom". well, joke's on me coz i have been disappointed in one fic author i used to near worship and enjoy their fics lots, and most of the most popular fics in the fandoms have turned out to be OOC/have the characters act with immense disrespect towards each other that just would trigger the shit out of me for the sole reason of not fitting canon/my fanon lol. and that's totally okay to quit those fics, especially since i absolutely am not going to go into the authors comments with unsolicited critique like some other dumbass readers might do. or worse yet, leave the unflattering comment in the bookmarks. like, my typical way of interacting with a fic i have read is usually kudos + leave a comment, only kudos if i read the fic but didn't enjoy it and my DNFs are getting nothing but a mark in my bullet journal that i had it DNF'ed. and tbh i have quit a lot of long af fics lately and like, a year ago i used to beat myself up for it. "what if the fic is better later?" no it's not gonna get better later hun. click out and forget and go read something more enjoyable.

little rant brought to you by me rage quitting a fic today coz it kept insisting that keith would act like a piece of shit towards shiro lol

[rocksalt-and-pie]

oh my god I'm gonna cry, someone left a comment on my fic (and a really really sweet one at that!!!)

[watcher0033]

@flanaganfilm Hi Mike!! You might want to check out our biggest digital library to date! The Archive of Our Own or most commonly known as ao3 in fandom circles.

I won’t claim it to be perfect but GD their tagging and filtering system is one of the GREATEST. Ever. I’ve been thoroughly spoiled tbh 🤣

You can sort it by the latest updated fics, to the most hits (have the most viewership), the most kudos (most Likes basically), most wordcount (lmfao be prepared to see some lengthy novellas there),to most comments, to have the most Bookmarks (my preference tbh since that usually means it’s so good readers keep coming back to read it again!), etc etc.

Then you can filter it further by what category or tags you want to Include and/or Exclude!

You find smutty works especially with Non-Consensual content— icky or triggering, you can filter it out! You want to see Crossovers between certain show/book/movie together just type it in the little search bar there! You’re afraid to find a particularly good read leaving you in a cliffhanger because it hasn’t been updated is in 5 years? Filter them out by reading Completed works only. (*mutters* Cowards. (Jkjk ✌🏼🤣))

Anyways, have fun exploring!!

As a treat, here is a filtered newbie-friendly works from yours truly of the Star Wars Fanfiction Archived. Arranged by Most Bookmarked coz This Is The Way. 😌

do u read fanfics of ur works or just in general

Okay I've heard a lot about these fanfics but I haven't really explored them yet - where is the best place to go? I heard some of them can get a little... um... well let's just say I've heard some things lol

I am honestly very curious. Recommendations welcome!

[areyougonnabe]

Fic Writer Questions!

tagged by @palamedessextus !!! thank u i love to procrastinate on writing by writing about writing

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

110 on my main account (+ 4 on my sneaky sock for Crimes™ lol)

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

614,551 on my main account which is. hm. a lot

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

obvi the main ones are the terror (50 fics) and good omens (35 fics). beyond that: TMA, the OA, doctor who, LOST, red dwarf, what we do in the shadows, the aubreyad, legends of tomorrow, banished, MCU, bbc ghosts, jeeves & wooster, russian doll, true detective, twin peaks, fleabag, & it's always sunny.

so technically 19, but wow a LOT of those are because i am a fiend for crossovers. (true detective x red dwarf... twin peaks x hannibal... the OA x lost.... russian doll x doctor who...) and many of the others were one-offs for yuletide. i'm pretty monofannish when it comes to writing!

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

lol they're all going to be for good omens... let's see

1. "it's a new craze" - the podcast fic. imho this fic is the definition of "The Claw," a.k.a. the phenomenon that sees some fics plucked out from the fray to become super popular. i'm not denying that it's good! i still think it's pretty clever! but its popularity was probably as much a function of timing as of quality

2. "what a way to make a living" - the uber driver fic. honestly still pretty proud of this one, it flows well and is structurally interesting and genuinely very funny and the perfect length. i had a blast in good omens fandom writing comedic fic, this one

3. "dearly departed" - another one i'm still very happy with. my first ever finished multi-chapter fic & the story that proved to me i could sustain a plot and original characters and also that people would actually enjoy it. so a pretty big deal!

4. "blame it on my juice, baby!" - the fake love potion one. i wrote this fic while delirious with horrible fever cooped up in a tiny council flat airbnb bedroom in london. i think it's still pretty strong although since writing it i've developed a severe aversion to the "meddling friend engineers a get-together" trope in fic & so cringe a bit when i read it back, lmao

5. "greatest hits" - the one with the original songs! the songs are still good.... the fic is ehhhhhhh i guess.

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

i don't respond to comments on most of my gomens fic anymore because 🤷‍♀️ but i do try to reply to everything i get on my terror fic/smaller fandom stories! my replies are usually very lame but i do like to take the time to thank people for reading.

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

i usually don't write angsty endings because i'm a weenie BUT the one exception is probably my terror/TMA crossover which cannot be said to end well by any means lol

7) What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

dearly departed has a very lovely ending... i will also plug my OA fic heat rises which is GREAT and has a GREAT ending and nobody read it because nobody watched the OA. i'm fine it's fine

8) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

as mentioned above, yes, compulsively... award for craziest simply has to go to It's Always Sunny In Another Dimension which is, yes, an IASIP x OA crossover. i apologize for nothing

9) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

not that i can recall, [bubbe voice] tenks gad!!!

10) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

i do i do.... when i first picked up fic writing again after college i thought smut would forever totally beyond me but after some very kind encouragement from friends i tried my hand at it & was off to the races.

i would not say i am an expert at it by any means but i have a lot of fun with it, & people seem to generally appreciate it, so i will keep going!

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

also no, phew

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

yes, a bunch of my gomens fics have been translated into chinese and russian, which is so so super cool!

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

yuh, i had a few legendary cowrites in GO! the slow show metafic with cherry @fremulon and the shitscript crossover extravaganza with hallie @kalelraejepsen !!! both tremendously fun experiences

14) What’s your all time favorite ship?

that is a very tough one. if you go by my ao3 bookmarks it's aziraphale/crowley, which might be true still tbh... but i dunno. maybe ten/rose because that shit never leaves you.

15) What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

in terms of fic i already started posting, there's my one terror WIP with amnesiac tozer that i swear i WILL finish one day... and same goes for my good omens music & lyrics AU, which i fully expect to pick back up and finish off when i inevitably return to the fandom for series 2.

as far as stuff that never made it out of drafts, i started a hodgson-centric fic a few weeks ago that i got like 4k into before realizing i need to seriously refine my approach. so hopefully after exe fest i will get around to that!

16) What are your writing strengths?

well i am funny. so i've got that going for me. other than that ummmm i don't know. i don't think of myself as a particularly good or strong writer bc i really am just here for a laff. i think i can turn a phrase well and get the most out of imagery; i'm good at coming up with compelling story concepts and weird gimmicks, i guess?

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

i fundamentally don't know or understand how People Actually Act And Feel so i have a hard time getting realistic or interesting reactions and conflicts out of characters. my plots (when my stories have them at all) are very powered by external events, i wouldn't call myself a character-driven writer by any means. for the same reasons i struggle with voice and dialogue beyond superficial signposting via vocabulary/syntax. also, sustaining a long story/finding enough Stuff To Happen to fill it up/having the patience to keep writing... is something i need to work on for sure.

18) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

i'm a lame american who only speaks english so honestly i don't really have thoughts!

19) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

i distinctly remember hand-writing in my notebook two or three pages worth of a story about what happened to the main precog in "minority report" after watching the movie when i was like seven. the first fandom i actually wrote fic for and posted it online was probably doctor who circa 2010 ish? but my warrior cats RP career predates that by a few years and i did a LOT of writing there. oh warriorsforest39 dot proboards dot com you are missed....

20) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

SEX GHOST AU! SEX GHOST AU!

tagging folks :))) @laissezferre @titleleaf @theburialofstrawberries @girdedheraround @flanneryoconnorfanfiction @wreathedwith if u want!!

[mondscheinprinzessin]

1, 3, 4, 11, 16, 29, 31 and 40 bitte! 💖 /Snake

1. What font do you write in? Do you actually care or is that just the default setting?

It's always Calibri because I use that for uni too, I don't know when the font changed from Arial to that tbh, but I like how it looks and I wouldn't want another because once I'm used to something it's hell for me to change it to something different.

3. What is your writing ritual and why is it cursed?

I don't think I have any writing rituals. Writing for me is whenever, however.There’s nothing around it I do, so also nothing cursed.

4. What’s a word that makes you go absolutely feral?

Already answered here. But words I also like: Fairly, sincerely, gasping. If anyone sees a pattern let me know.^^

11. Do you believe in the old advice to “kill your darlings?” Are you a ruthless darling assassin? What happens to the darlings you murder? Do you have a darling graveyard? Do you grieve?

Okay I’m not sure if this refers to literally killing your darlings like characters or what I’ve learned from google that it means scratching passages you love? Why the hell would I do that??

Maybe it’s because I’m writing fanfiction and not actual books and I don’t feel like I have to be perfect and so leave stuff just because I have written it like why the hell not. I rarely delete stuff from my documents, only when something significant to the plot has changed but then yes, I keep all those snippets in an extra doc. Like maybe others won’t like it as much as I do but that’s my story so whatever.

16. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever used as a bookmark? 

As I have not read any books lately I have to think back here, phew. Oh yeah I think a lollipop😂 But it was still in it’s wrapper!

29. Where do you draw your inspiration? What do you do when the inspiration well runs dry?

Unfortunately my inspiration well has not run dry at all. Unfortunately I say because I still get ideas while 14 or so remain unfinishied. And I get those from my own experiences/life/feelings, shows I’ve seen, fics and books I’ve read, other people like everything there is.

31. Write a short love letter to your readers. 

I’ve never written a love letter and I’m bad with stuff like that, so forgive me for whatever I’m about to write😅

Dear readers,

different to what my usual life looks like I can always count on you, which means a lot. You’re always there when I publish a story be it in small numbers or more, but that doesn’t matter because even a handful of people reading what I’ve written on for hours tells me that what I deem interesting to write is not only for my own pleasure, but also brings joy to others and that is something I can’t get anywhere else.

You click the kudos button, some bash it (some try to hack AO3 to give more), and I appreciate all the effort you bring up to give me something back. A mail from AO3 means I’ve got a new comment. It means someone took their time to read my story, think about it, and wrote me back. To everyone who gives me the unbelievable happiness I feel when I receive such a mail: Thank you.

Maybe you don’t feel like being important, after all you just read tags, thought the fic sounded interesting, read it and left again be it with leaving a kudos and/or a comment or not. But you’ve been there. I can see that someone read my words and while being seen can also be very terrifying, it also gives me comfort, excitement, satisfaction, all the positive feelings just because you clicked on my story.

So to everyone who ever read a fic of mine and hopefully comes back for more: a very big thank you, I love each and everyone of you🖤

40. Please share a poem with me, I need it. 

I’m sorry that I have to disappoint you but I don’t read poems at all :( I bet my last one was in school, I just can’t get into them.

Okay I quickly googled german poems and Hesse rings a bell, so you’re getting one from him:

Do you know this, too?

Do you know this, too when sometimes in the midst of loud fun at a party or in a cheerful hall you suddenly quiet down and need to go?

Then you lay down although you cannot sleep as if you feel a sudden heartsore Fun and Laughing vanished like smoke, You cry and cry – Do you know this, too?

[elizabeth-mitchells]

Writer asks: 6, 12, 26 / J, Y, % ♥️

Thank youuu  ♥️ ♥️

6. Without checking - which tags do you think you've used most? - not very fair bc I checked recently-ish so I know it’s fluff and post-canon. other than I that I think humor and found family are also up there

12.  One-shots or multichapters? - oohh well tbh all my favorites i’ve written are the multichapters fics! tho there’s a one shot that somehow stands out from the rest. and I appreciate how much quicker and easier is to write one shots. but I put So Much love into multichapters that just <3!!!

26.  Last sentence you've written - lol it’s literally an unfinished sentence “Hey, step away from her!” Fran

J.  Shippy fics or character studies? - shippy fics! i’m just.... desperate? yearning? yeah...

Y.  Any peeves that immediately make you click back out of a fic? - I know I have many hgjdhg i can’t remember all of them. no space between paragraphs. and I usually avoid writing in second person. there’s been time when I can’t stand a nickname used for a character lol

%.  A feature you wish ao3 had - again. so many that I can’t think of any. or things that probably already exist but I don’t know lmao like can you tell if you’ve already read a fic? or if you’ve left kudos without actually having to try leaving them again? also I know bookmarks are a thing but also i’m lazy. i need an easier way to find fics i’ve read and loved lol

[bar-les-coucougnes]

I usually don't.

I think it's partly because, although I've been using ao3 since 2014-2015, I've never really understood when I'm supposed to leave kudos or what they mean for me or the author or even for the work, until fairly recently? And I'm still not 100% sure tbh

Comments are easy: you're leaving something for the author to read. Sometimes they'll respond, sometimes not. If the author responds it can "inflate" the number but to be honest, I don't personally mind if it's 10 comments or 5 comments and 5 replies to comments, ultimately, to me, it just means people have things to talk about.

Bookmarks are easy too: you liked or loved reading this fic and might want to find it again in the future, so you bookmark it.

Kudos are more complicated, to me. You can't find works you've left kudos on before, so it doesn't work as a bookmark. You're not actually saying what you like about the work, so it's not really useful to interact with the author in some way. I've seen people online say it's like a mark that they've read the fic and liked it? The only time I think I kind of get it, is when I read a fic in a small fandom / ship and I see familiar authors' (or familiar readers') names in the kudos. It's like "oh, these people have read it too! :D"

But yeah, as a result, it's not usually the first thing I think of when I want to look for popular/well-received fics. I usually go by comments or bookmarks, and then adjust the last update date if I always find the same fics and want something new. If I'm looking for pwp though, I usually blacklist everything I don't want to see then I sort by hits

do you sort by kudos? why/why not?

[aces-to-apples]

Tagged by @sl-walker!

How many works do you have on AO3? 92?? Christ how did that happen???

What's your total AO3 word count? 207,007, apparently. Buckwild.

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they? Sticking with AO3 (and specifically this AO3 account) and discounting fusions/AUs: Star Wars, Red vs. Blue, The Magnificent Seven, The Umbrella Academy, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Stargate SG-1, Game of Thrones, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, iirc.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? The Fallacy of Freedom: 2035 Pretension Is Key: 1614 poor reception: 566 Renegade: 473 two can keep a secret: 436

Do you respond to comments, why or why not? Not usually tbqh. When I first started writing I tried to be the sort of person who replies to each comment but honestly it’s pretty exhausting spoon-wise and I rarely have anything to say to most comments that don’t have, like, specific questions/comment to respond to. Plus it artifically inflates the comment count and honestly I get few enough comments that that’s just depressing to me.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? Ah. Hm. I don’t view myself as much of an angst writer, and honestly angst doesn’t interest me much, but like maybe? philter of the phantom? since it’s got kind of an ambiguous ending?

Do you write crossovers? If so what’s the craziest one you’ve written? I tend to do AUs more than crossovers because crossovers tend to involve, like, actual plot and shit? So I think the only crossover I’ve actually written is Starvb/Haat Verd?

Have you ever received hate on a fic? Not....really? I mean mostly I just get Fucking Stupid comments, or That One Asshole Who Pretty Much Always Leaves Bitchy Tags On Bookmarks. I think there was that one twit fairly recently who bitched that the second chapter of poor reception “should have a noncon tag since cody isn’t in the right mind to consent” as if it didn’t already have a fairly explanatory “Dubiously Consensual Blow Jobs” and “Identity Issues” tags.

Do you write smut? If so what kind? Yes! When it doesn’t drive me fucking crazy! *looks over my pornographic portfolio* It looks like I tend to favor consent issues, mild to moderate kink, possessiveness, and wonky power dynamics. And if it’s tagged “Dead Dove: Do Not Eat” I’m probably extremely fond of it lol.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge? I think that tends to happen to more plotty writers tbh.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Breaking my “only on this AO3 account” rule because yes! One of my older, on-a-different-account fics, was translated a few years ago! I think it’s in Mandarin...?

What’s your all time favorite ship? Ah. Ahaha. Not really something I can definitively answer, sorry, I’m a multishipper at heart and also have debilitating ADHD.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? Ooh, yikes, again with the debilitating ADHD. Um. Probably that Gravebone fic, the Fright Night fusion with vampire!Graves? Idk maybe one day I’ll get bitten by the Fantastic Beasts bug again but idk I kinda doubt it.

What are your writing strengths? *blinks* Um. Funny rarepairs, maybe?

What are your writing weaknesses? *blinks harder* I definitely can’t do plot to save my life, I know that. And also I assume “the writing part” isn’t an acceptable answer.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? I think it’s fun! But also my first real fandom was RvB so like! I have an extremely lax viewpoint on making sure that the other language is actually accurate! Like I actually tend to try with Mando’a but that’s literally because it’s like a fun little puzzle, trying to make something make some kind of sense in a fake language! Actual languages I tend to just Google Translate because, again, Red vs. Blue was a formative fandom.

What was the first fandom you wrote for? ...........Yu-Gi-Oh, next question.

What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written? Uhhhhhh, that’s a really hard question? “bells sometimes ring for weddings” and “darkness hides and always lies” and “trouble in mind” are things that I wrote purely out of spite that I ended up really really liking, and “peace is a lie” has indirectly made me a shocking number of friends, and “got me all beguiled” was the first thing I wrote for a fandom exchange, and “she wore it wonderfully well” came out pretty decently even if only about three people have read it, and “The Sun, The Moon, And All The Stars” is The Worst AU In The World (affectionate), and “where there’s poison, there’s a remedy” chews on my brain nonstop. So like. It really depends on how you’re measuring that.

Tagging: whoever wants to play because I’m shit at tagging rn

[anghraine]

fic meme!

Grabbed from shadaras on Dreamwidth:

Name:

Anghraine / Elizabeth

Fandoms:

Tolkien, mainly LOTR; Austen, mainly Darcy/Elizabeth; Star Wars, mainly Skywalkers and Jyn/Cassian

Where you post:

Wherever I happen to be active, but also at AO3 under anghraine.

Most popular multi-chapter fic:

Season of Courtship, the Darcy/Elizabeth engagement fic I wrote 15 years ago (but revised ... maybe 7-8 years ago?). It was surpassed for a long time by some other fics, but picked up a ton of kudos/bookmarks this year for some reason, so now it's well ahead of the rest in both bookmarks and kudos.

Favourite story you've written so far:

That's hard to say ... I've written a lot. In some ways, my short P&P sequel The Letters of Elizabeth Darcy, 1796-1798 will always be a fave because it came out so closely to what I wanted it to be. But the dearest to my heart are probably always going to be my Lucy Skywalker series starring f!Luke, and my f!Darcy/m!Elizabeth fic, First Impressions.

Fic you were nervous to post:

Hmm. Perhaps Better Choice, my very flawed Faramir-goes-to-Rivendell fic, which is the first fic I posted anywhere. I thought of we get dark, only to shine because of its many taboos, but Borgias fandom was so nice that I don't think I much worried about it, beyond hoping people would read it. IDK ... I'm a very nervous person, and I definitely am on the edge of my seat after I post a fic, but I don't think I'm nervous about posting fics in this sense.

How you choose your titles

They're usually general statements of what the fic is about ("Redemption," "Anomaly," The Jedi and the Sith Lord), references to a quote from the canon (Season of Courtship, tolerably well acquainted), or excerpts from songs ("But Thou Didst Not Leave His Soul In Hell," "like a storm in the desert").

Do you outline?

Sometimes—I have some things that just start with an idea, others where it's pretty clear in my head, but I ultimately work best when I have the structure and some details all sketched out.

Complete fics:

169, says AO3. Mostly one-shots, of course.

In progress:

Posted WIPs that I have active plans to continue at this time: once I'm writing fic again—Lucy Skywalker, tolerably well acquainted, and Fíriel (f!Faramir) are at the top of my list!

Posted WIPs that I have given up on: I'm terrible at really giving up on things, tbh. I always have scraps that I poke at and things like that. Such Terms of Cordiality is vanishingly unlikely, though.

Exchange fics due soon/unrevealed: none. I had the sense (speaking for myself) not to do exchanges this year.

WIPs that live in my fanfic folder and are incomplete and who knows when they'll be finished: not a whole lot, actually, in the sense of things that haven't been posted. I mostly do post my WIPs. I've got the companion fic to my Darcy-Fitzwilliam headcanons in the folder—we'll see how that goes.

Coming soon/not yet started: hahahaha, nothing. I've got quite enough to be going with.

Do you accept prompts: not exactly, these days. I don't mind them, and if they inspire me, I'm glad to write when I can spare the time, but at this point they don't usually kickstart me and I just feel vaguely guilty when they do but I don’t have the time/energy, so I don't actively invite them.

Upcoming story you are most excited to write:

It's not a story, but there's a scene in the Fíriel-Éowyn-Merry fic that I'm reallyyyyy looking forward to (though it only has Fíriel and Éowyn in it).

Tagging, if you want to do it: @ladytharen, @incognitajones, @irresistible-revolution, @kazaera, @ncfan-1

[sohotthateveryonedied]

how do you know if your fanfics are popoular?? (on archive, that is) I judge by hits but am usually disappointed :( and I cant tell how many people subscribe like you can on youtube

i don’t really know what counts as popular tbh? i assume it’s different depending on which fandom you write for, but i usually judge mine by how many bookmarks i get. hits can just be the same few people going to one fic over and over, and a lot of people leave kudos whether the fic itself is good or not. bookmarks, however, mean that someone loved your fic so much that they wanted to keep it somewhere so they can return to it in the future. that, i think, is what truly determines the worth of a fic, so that’s how i usually judge mine when trying to see if it’s popular or not compared to my other works