#I'm sorry your author is a rareship

[niziye]

Henlo (•-•)💦💦

I saw an image on Pinterest and couldn't stop thinking about how much I wanted to draw a pairing with this it was so difficult to choose

So... Honestly, these two are so pure it's ridiculous 🥺🥺

There were other things I wanted to draw (angles and extras), but my time is a little tight and I don't have energy anymore (⁠╯⁠︵⁠╰⁠,⁠)

Some random sh□t about the whole thing

- I kept thinking about some weird kind of UA where they were in the same school but in separate classes, so Max visits him along with the others

- I thought I could swap the two's positions, but playing with Kai's feelings is more fun ❀

And as I spent almost six hours sketching and coloring, I created almost an entire fanfic, like:

- Kai and Hilary are class leaders (and that's why the whole school thinks they're dating or something)

- Instead of beyblading there is some other sport like soccer or basketball

Bonus with little marks because I like it

And manga page (kind fail)

Also, reference for anyone interested:

[weirdass-shiptournament]

(The "popular-rareship" anon from a while back who never saw your response despite following you. Not sure how that happened?)

Notable rarepairs is probably my favourite suggestion for a new name, I'll think about it! :D

Also, ironically the soap opera I used as an example in my last ask would probably not get in after all! Did a few more google searches and it turns out that it actually has a pretty active fic community, it just wasn't on ao3.

The main reason I haven't made the tournament yet (besides being busy) is I can't decide how many fics a fandom should have before it's "disqualified"... Due to personal experience* I'm tempted to put the limit at 25 available fics in total, but maybe 50 would be more fair to submitters in other countries with a larger population? Of course I'd care less about the exact numbers if it turns out that the same person wrote every single fic.

*relatively small population in my home country + many other youngsters here suffering from a bit of "cultural cringe" (<- that's the actual academic term!) + ??? = even the most popular works from here only get 15 fics by 5 authors at most :')

( Tumblr notifications is a fuck, for example: I didn’t get this ask until just now. I’m so so sorry )

It feels hard to quantify how much fics a ship needs to count (the fic limit I mentioned wasn’t a hard rule, more than just a general basis to go off of.) it’s one of those case-by-case things to me, considering a notable ship could have 20 fics, but they could all be by one dedicated shipper. 25 sounds pretty good to be honest, but if use it as a guideline rather than a hard rule. If worst comes to worst you can always put ships you aren’t sure abt into a pre-bracket poll!

[questinwitchface]

I'm sorry that happened, dear. People can be so shitty for no good reason, and it sucks that one bad comment feels like it can drown out ten good ones. If you want to chat about it, feel free to dm me, I'm happy to listen and support.

As for my answer to your questions: I was about halfway through The Pirate Fic (which is my favorite fic I've ever written) when I got a two hateful anon messages in my askbox about that fic as well as a critical comment on the fic itself. I think if it was just the anon hate I could've ignored it - I'm not sure if it was one or two different people who sent those asks, but either way, one of the messages took a very john walker stan approach, so like yeah. But the reason I couldn't ignore it was because of the critical comment, from someone who is generally supportive and had previously been commenting positively about the fic. They criticized the ships I'd picked to write about, characters I'd chosen to write about, and my worldbuilding, and it was just super disheartening to get that comment at the same time as the hateful asks, especially since I never have ever specifically asked for criticism on the work that I post on the internet for free as a hobby.

So I stopped writing SamBucky for a while, focused on rareships that make me happy (I write for a few different rarepairs that have less than 5 fics in the tag on AO3 as well as a rarethrouple for which I am the only author writing in that tag), and I honestly considered never finishing The Pirate Fic or writing SamBucky ever again, because if even the people who claimed to like the fic hated it that much, what was even the point of trying?

The way I kind of got myself out of it was by writing those rareships that get very little attention - because they get so little attention, I feel more like I'm writing for myself first, which is honestly a much healthier way to approach writing, I think, and I was able to rediscover what makes the writing fun for me: taking characters and ships I like and adding worldbuilding and details that I like and plots and tropes that I like etc. together to create something that I PERSONALLY LIKE.

And it occurred to me then, that I don't actually owe anyone else a fic that they enjoy. That's why the back button exists. I owe myself a fic that I like, that I will reread and find joy in. And it kinda shifted my viewpoint on comments in general? Because now, I don't take positive comments as validation or proof that I did well. I already know I did well because I got to the end of writing the fic, reread it and enjoyed myself. Positive comments just mean that other, kind people enjoyed it, too, enough to tell me about it, and that's kind of like making tea and cake and getting to share it with friends. And negative comments are just uncouth people who come into your house and complain that they don't like chocolate cake after you've told them you'll be serving chocolate cake.

So yeah, sorry this is long and ramble-y, but hopefully it makes sense. And if there's anything I can do to show my love for you and offer support, I'm here. And I love your work. And I hope you don't quit writing for SamBucky, though if you need a break, I support that 100%. You're a gift to this fandom, and I'm glad you're here.

I think I have finally come across the comment (posted anonymously, of course) on my work that makes me want to stop writing SamBucky fanfic -- or at least makes me want to restrict who can comment on my stuff. Fellow writers, I have a question for you: What was the comment that made you want to stop writing for Sam and Bucky? Also, what made you keep writing?

[longlivefeedback]

i write a lot of fic for a rarepair virtually only i ship. i max out at 3-5 kudos if i'm lucky, and it's very rare that i get comments-- less than one a month, more if i'm writing gen or more popular chars. i changed the visibility on all my works due to people sharing my stuff around to mock it... i really appreciate the few interactions i do get on ao3, fandom's isolating otherwise & the majority of the harassment i get is on discord&tumblr. is there a way to adapt these tools to my situation?

Hi Anon,

First of, I’m sorry you’re dealing with harassment and people making fun of your work 😢 That’s not ok and I think you’re very brave for continuing to put yourself and your work out out there.

About some ways to adapt the tools at hand to your situation, the few suggestions that I have for you are:

On ao3:

If you are being harassed on ao3, that is violation of the Archive’s Terms of Service and you can report it. Harassment is, unfortunately, a common enough phenomenon on ao3 that they have an FAQ about it, and they have provided a guideline of what to do in the situation, the first of which is to refer to the Archive’s Terms of Service. 

Turn on comment moderation. Unfortunately, this won’t prevent you from seeing the comments themselves, but it at least prevents comments that you don’t want on your work from being posted without your approval.

If it is a problem, you can also disable anonymous comments on your work. Again, it’s not a perfect solution, but hopefully it increases the barriers for unwanted attention.

On tumblr and discord:

Block them. Curate your fandom experience and put your own mental health first.

I’m sorry you’ve had a tough time with fandom, and you may have done this already, but if it’s possible, here are maybe some ways you can find fellow fans who will share your love for your ship:

Look up fics with that same tag. I know you mentioned it being a rarepair, but even if you find a story that has that ship as a sideship or one of many, chances are that the authors shares your love for that ship to some degree. So, comment and let them know! You never know, they may be thirsting to have a conversation about said ship :)

Reply to your commenters. (Obviously only attains to the normal, non-harassing comments on your work) If you don’t already, I would encourage you to respond to the users who leave a comment on your work. You may be able to strike up a conversation with them and make fandom friends that way.

Join events, especially rarepair events. Hopefully your fandom has bangs, reverse bangs, secret santas, gift exchanges, and other events that are free to join and enjoyed by all. Joining an event that is specifically made for rareships would be great as even though it’s not specifically for your ship, there’s probably at least one other person who is also writing for a rareship and understand where you’re coming from.

Talk to multi-shippers. Even if they’re not a self-declared fan of your ship, what you’re really looking for is people with ship-and-let-ship views on fandom. Anyone who laughs at you and mocks you for loving a rarepair and expressing it through writing fanfic is not worth your time or emotional energy. Cut them out and move on. There’s someone who will support you and your ship out there. Keep sailng.