#I've been on Ao3 for longer than I've been on tumblr tbh

[zee-aka-pretty]

I understand that each person has their own different way to filter through Ao3, but as reader, this is why whenever I delve into a new fandom or a pairing or a tag etc, I tend to filter it through the number kudos and read through all tags and summaries of the first 40-60 fics and choose out of them. (At first.)

I understand that this means I might miss recently updated/created well-written fics, and as prev pointed out, a fic being popular doesn't necessarily mean I would like it.

However, this is why you read the tags and the summary of the fic before you delve into it. And, if I like the author's writing style, their interpretation of the characters, the world building, etc..,

I check other works by the same author in the same fandom.

(If by any chance they've written for another fandom which I'm in, but currently not in the mood to read? mark it for later.)

This might come off as stalking, but your bookmarks are usually public. I do not know if there's any way to make it private on Ao3. If there is, I've not come across it so far.

So usually if I like an author's works but they've only got like, 3-4 works in that fandom which I'm reading? I check their bookmarks in the same fandom.

Also, If an author has moved on from a fandom/ put a work on hiatus/ incomplete for awhile, for the love of all things fluffy. Do Not Go Into That Author's Most Recent Work and Comment On It! Especially If It's In A Different Fandom!

It doesn't Motivate authors when you go into their other works and ask why their previous work is still not updated. I subscribe or bookmark, leave kudos, then a comment saying I loved it, and move on like described above, hoping I would find equally quality content to what that author was creating.

Sorry for the derailed rambling.

Alright, to ao3's soon to be arriving Wattpad Refugees, a basic guide to general user culture:

1.) Unlike Wattpads vote system that let's you like each chapter, the ao3 equivalent kudos only allows one per work. Everyone is generally quietly annoyed about this. To engage with each chapter, you're heavily encouraged to comment. Trust me, it makes people's day.

2.) Ao3 has no algorithm. By default it's latest updated work first. You can find things to your taste through searches, filters and tags.

3.) 'No archive warnings apply' and 'user has chosen not to use archive warnings' mean two very different things. No archives warnings means the work is free from any content that could require a warning tag (character death, graphic depictions of violence, non-con, etc). User has chosen not to use archive warnings means it could contain any of the warning content, be it hasn't been explicitly tagged. Treat it like an allergen. No archive warnings apply is allergen free. User has chosen not to use archive warnings, may contain traces or whole chunks of the allergen. If you're likely to have a bad reaction, maybe don't take the risk.

4.) Speaking of warnings, ao3 has very few restrictions on the type of work that's allowed. Whatever your personal thoughts or feelings on that are, thats how the site is. You're likely to run across some dark subject matters and a lot of people are uncomfortable with reading that. You're well within your rights not like these works and have your opinion on whether they should be allowed, but harassing the authors of such works (or any works) is more likely to come back on you than them. Ao3 operates on a strong policy of 'don't like, don't read'. Use the tagging system to your full advantage to only engage with the kind of works you want to see.

We look forward to welcoming you all and seeing the fantastic works you create. Happy writing!

[fridayyy-13th]

various doodles of chapter 7 of the wonderful fic We Start With Small Talk by @three-magpies-in-a-trenchcoat that i did while trying not to be sad about chapters 10 and 11 (everyone go read it right now it's so so good)

[ids in alt]

(also, fun note about the skirts: the skirt with the clouds is what i initially pictured jon wearing, and the gray skirt is what magpie had planned! i couldn't decide which i liked more, so i figured why not draw both :D)

[isagi-fan-page]

HOLY SHIT THERE'S AN ISAGI FANPAGE??

..sorry lol. anyway, im a big big isagi fan, so i was wondering: what are (in your opinion) the best/worst takes or characterizations you've seen about our beloved striker isagi yoichi?

YES THERE IS AN ISAGI FAN PAGE!!! I love making fan pages <3 I have many

Uh quick note tho: most of the characterization of him I've seen has been via fanfics so I'm not 100% sure about how Tumblr views him, so when I say "the fandom" I mean the fandom I've seen from tag searching ao3

From what I've seen there's 3-4 main ways the fandom takes him and thats: 1 uwu soccer boi twying his best, 2 RAHHH SEX GOD, 3 [insert love interest] omg I live for you never leave meeee, 4 shy boy whos good at shit. Which isn't that bad tbh, other fandoms wouldn't even get close to his character, so while I kinda tear at those interpretations they aren't so far from the mark.

1 I think is mostly from anime onlys because at the start of the anime he's kinda like that and people tend to run w/ their first grasp on a character, also his low self esteem and repetitive losses throughout the season can very easily feed into that. However in the manga as the series carries on he gets more and more skills, he gets more egotistical and confident in his own abilities. So seeing this version annoys me because if anyone in this series is gonna be like that it's Igaguri I mean

Look at him, but even then that'd be a stretch.

2 is just frustrating to see everywhere like calm down

3 stems from wanting to ship characters but not knowing how to write individual ships, so the writer defaults back to a cookie cutter dynamic and sorta fits the characters. It happens in every fandom, with every ship. At least once. It's like rule 34 but the porn is optional.

Ah but it doesn't fit Isagi because he's more than capable of leaving people behind if that's what's best for him, it wouldn't be personal for example him and Bachira play against each other all the time and they play to win but they're both still close after the game. He's able to detach emotions from leaving someone behind which is why when they show up again later he's genuinely happy for them, he still likes them. So for Isagi to be like "nOoOooooo I neeeeeeeeeeedddd youuuuuu" it doesn't make sense. And in regards to the 3v3 game against Rin. He was upset about Bachira being taken I think if Bachira had chosen to be on a different team he wouldn't have been so pissed.

4 is just episode 1 and 2. He outgrows his "shyness" immediately, but it is the closest to canon imo. Because Isagi isn't shy per say but he is aware of his limitations (most of the time) which means he does change his plans to accommodate that, not exactly shy but I can see how one could read it that way.

As a bonus I don't mind the chatfics but I'd like if they gave them text accents. I think Isagi is a no punctuation but uses capitalization For Emphasis kinda guy.

Sorry if I didn't answer this how you wanted but I love yapping about characterization.

I was gonna say how I'd personally characterize Isagi but this is already several paragraphs longer than I'd planned so. another day.

[legend-of-voltron-rewrite]

(This is just a few random questions I think abt when i find an author i like-)

What other media/hobbies do you indulge in? What's some of your biggest interests? (Other than voltron ofc) Is there another Fandom you'd write for? Favorite childhood show(s)?

Big question, favorite volron paladin? Favorite character in voltron? (No limitations- you could answer bii-bob-bi tbh. hes a fantastic choice)

BIGGER QUESTION!! What inspired you to write this rewrite and how do you motivate yourself to continue?

That's all! Hope you're having a lovely day! :)

Hello!

-

I'm very big into anime - I started watching them when I was eleven and never stopped. I watch other animated shows (Western), which I'll list in a later segment.

I'm also into manga, though not comics, (never really knew why, just couldn't get into it). Games, too, mainly RPGs, though I have been into FPS co-op as of late.

Don't judge me: K-Pop. I only really interact/watch content for one group, (will come up later), but I used to juggle between many groups.

As for hobbies other than writing: I'm big into art. Took classes for them and everything. Though this may have been obvious from early chapters of book one.

I've tried to get into making animatics, but I ended up stopping half-way through everytime I started. I like voice acting, though I've only ever done it once for someone I'm no longer friends with haha.

I used to be big into baking, but was never good at it. I'm much better at cooking, though mainly Asian dishes, (due to heritage and such).

My biggest interests... I'll keep it limited to five, else this segment would be much longer.

One Piece, (generic but it's popular for a reason), is a favourite of mine. The writing, world building, characters, relationships, messages, themes - I love it all. Definitely a high reccomendation.

Gravity Falls, because it's just that good? Even the weakest episode would be considered top tier if it was in another series. Dipper and Mabel's relationship is everything to me, and Stan was the uncle I always wanted. Love him.

Fullmetal Alchemist, mostly MangaHood, but the 2003 anime adaptation is great too. It's honestly of the best written works I've ever interacted with, and it makes perfect sense that it's highly rated.

SHINee, the K-Pop group I mentioned before. I'd call them standards for the industry, but then nobody would be able to share the stage with them. I'm a Shawol for life baby!

Finally, Katekyou Hitman Reborn. This was the first fandom I wrote fics for, back on my WattPad days, and I still love it to this day. I wish for the fandom to be revived so I may read the trashy fanfics I once adored and now hide my face in shame to.

Other fandoms I write for: Fairy Tail, though I haven't touched the AU I started in months. My Hero Academia, though only through my Tumblr page @my-rewrite-academia. I've been working on a Persona 5 fanfiction behind the scenes for a while, though I haven't progressed past chapter three.

I have an alt AO3 account, where I've written for MHA, Kuroko No Basket, Persona 5, SuperM, and the Banana Bus Squad (Vanoss and Friends).

My old WattPad has mostly Katekyou Hitman Reborn, and a sprinkle of Fullmetal Alchemist.

Neither of the previous two shall be linked, as I honestly just want to leave behind those fixs behind, considering I wrote them when I was thirteen and nothing made sense.

My favourite childhood show(s): Spongebob, Mr. Maker (only British kids will understand), Pokemon, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Also Sonic Boom, though that was exclusive to my teen years than childhood. The How To Train Your Dragon shows were also a favourite of mine, including Riders and Defenders of Berk.

If movies count, then How To Train Your Dragon, Shrek, Megamind, and Scary Movie(s). Scary Movie(s) sound like a weird thing, and it was. I was in the room with my older siblings when they put it on and never bothered to leave.

-

Now the Voltron-related segment!

Favourite Paladin: Keith. I hope it's not entirely obvious in my writing, as I wish to treat every character equally, but he is my favourite. I relate to him a lot and he ticks a lot of my boxes.

Favourite character: Keith, again. Other than Keith, however, it's Coran, the Gorgeous Man. He's always so jolly despite the heartbreak he's been through, and the writers were able to balance his comedy so well.

(Apart from the Voltron Show where they were clearly running out of ideas and/or time and made him more annoying than funny.)

-

BIGGEST QUESTIONS:

"What inspired me to write this rewrite–" (first half)

I actually started writing it in 2021, where I went on a three-year break due to losing motivation and my interest dwindling, at the time anyway. I was initially inspired to write it when I grew more and more frustrated with how canon handled many things.

As with many teen shows, I began to wonder if it would be handled better had it been intended for a more mature audience. It didn't help that I read the fanfics before I watched the show, so I had a certain level of expectations that weren't quite met.

I won't blame the writers, as it's usually just two or three people higher-up who make all the decisions. I was disappointed in DreamWorks, not the team behind it who have no choice but to follow orders.

But, yeah. The turning point, what really pushed me into starting and publishing the rewrite, was when I started thinking about how I'd handle each character and each arc. How I'd write different relationships, how I'd write each theme.

From there, I decided to put my money where my mouth was, so to speak.

It was a terrible start, really. When I first started writing it, I only had a vague idea of how I'd go about it. When I came back to the rewrite, the first thing I did was create a proper plan, else it'd just end up like the show - disappointing and missing so much.

I can remember, when I started, I just wanted to write a better story, which is a terrible mindset. This idea that the only thing that mattered was being better than the show is a toxic one.

My mindset is a lot better, of course. I've grown up since then, and spite-writing is something of the past. Maybe there are things I'm displeased with in canon, but I don't allow that spite to control me.

Rather, I feel more enthused, viewing it as more like adding onto what canon missed - filling in scenes rather than being better.

So, consider this a PSA to authors who spitewrite - get out of your minds. It feels much better to write if done with good intentions rather than negative. Words come easier and it doesn't feel like a chore.

-

"–and how do you motivate yourself to continue?"

Keeping a schedule, first and foremost. It differs from person to person, but having a set schedule of every '—day' helps a lot. It urges me to write, and the pressure helps me more than debilitates.

Of course, others may disagree. For others, having a strict schedule may feel constricting and thus hinder creativity, but it's helpful to me. This idea of, 'I have to do this', 'if not now then when?', helps me a lot.

It's also my longest fic to date, so to stop now would feel like a large disservice to both me and to the people who read each new chapter.

Then there's you! I'm not kidding, either. Comments, now more than ever, are usually so rare.

I once saw a post about an author discovering a discord server where their fic, (which had very little comments), was being heavily dicussed, and people had nothing but praise for it. When they asked why they didn't comment, they said that they didn't feel the need to, or that it would be embarrassing. That they never knew what to comment, despite the praise they had for it.

The author then decided to abandon the work upon finding this out. Because we don't get anything from posting our works. All we ask for is some form of praise or acknowledgement, and comments are just that.

Even if it's [<33] or [This is good!] or even [please update], we appreciate it all. Honestly, the only time I refuse to comment, rather than simply forgetting, is when an author holds fics hostage. The whole, 'I want x-many comments or else I won't update'. At that point, I lose any respect they had.

Comments are our lifeline, yet the idea of asking for comments feels like tabboo. As if we're less for leaving even a small note of, 'comment please', feels like it's asking for too much.

So to have a repeat commenter, to have you, is everything to me! If all else fails, if I can't find the motivation, I often think about those people who subscribed, who have my fic bookmarked, who comment on each update, and I think about how there are people who get excited with each update, who want to know what's going to happen next, who want to see this fic to its end.

It may sound corny, but my biggest motivation really is my readers, and those repeat comments give me life. It helps in ways that I never realised could.

-

And that is the end of the AMA/Q&A segment!! Thank you for sending this, stay tuned for the next update, have a great day, and look both ways before crossing the road!

[reginalusus]

AHHHHH. Ok.

So I was just checking some reblogs through my blog - because sometimes Tumblr notifs are weird and I don't see everything (and, yes, I do read everything and appreciate all of it <3) - and I came across the fanfiction poll and noticed that, after the results were finished, some people still continued the discussion and made some good points for both sides.

But I've been swayed a little. So now I'm like.

Huh.

Maybe I SHOULD just continue my trend of posting chapter by chapter like I do with everything else. I mean, there's not much harm in it either way.

Originally, I was just gonna dump my entire Jason/Harvey on AO3 all as one. But it's becoming a tad longer than expected. So THEN I was considering, ok, perhaps I should just upload half of it? Kind of like a Part I?

But, again, I've been swayed.

So TBH I might just quietly throw the second chapter up today at some point, IDK. The first chapter has been private/unrevealed for 90% of its time on AO3, so. Then the third a little later down the line and properly advertise it here or whatever.

Anyway, yeah.

[usamamoweek]

Meet the Creators - Daikon

What username(s) and platform(s) can folx find you on? (Please include links!)

I write under the penname "Daikon", which was unfortunately already taken on Ao3 and Tumblr, so there I use @daikon1

I do also still technically have a FFN account, but it is no longer being maintained or updated.

(Fun Fact) What is your favorite kind of potato?

Oh gosh, I've spent like a week thinking about this and still don't have a good answer. It's probably either twice baked or french fries with some kind of condiment (ranch, BBQ, BBQ ranch, honey mustard, I could go on)

How long have you been creating works in fandom spaces? How long have you been active in the SM fandom?

I technically submitted my first fanfiction to a Buffy archive back in 2004 but MERCIFULLY they didn't end up sharing it on their site. I discovered FFN around 2007 but didn't start actually posting content (and then only sporadically) until 2009.

Regarding fandom spaces, I've come to and from the Sailor Moon fandom over the years; in 2005 I was OBSESSED with Alicia Blade and was dying every time she updated Love Potion #19. Over time, I wandered away and found other fandoms to invest in (shoutout to Kingdom Hearts) though I was much more of a lurker than anything. I didn't really find my way back to Sailor Moon until 2019 when I stumbled on @floraone (and started dying every time she updated The Unintentional Seduction of Chiba Mamoru). Ignoring one fluke-y and OOC piece from 2014, I've been writing for the SM fandom since mid-2020 and am hoping to stay here for a while :)

What type(s) of creative works do you usually make? (fanfics, digital art, cosplay)

I'm a strictly fanfic kind of girl.

What do you enjoy about creating for the SM fandom?

I love the characters and am low-key obsessed with the dynamic between Usagi and Mamoru. I started watching Sailor Moon when it was first airing in the US in 1995 and when I say that shit was formative for me, I am not exaggerating. My favorite relationship dynamic is definitely snarky, stupidly-in-love A seeks sunshine-y-but-perpetually-annoyed-with-them B.

Are you strictly UsaMamo or do you create for other pairings as well?

I don't mind having various sideships in my works, but I don't think I have the emotional investment in any other SM ships to actually write a piece centering them.

What inspires you to create works for Usagi and Mamoru?

TBH, I have been struggling a bit with inspiration of late (I had a bad bout of burnout early in the year that I'm still recovering from) so, you know, once I figure that out... XD

In general, I've noticed that music tends to be something I find very inspiring. The right lyric can shake up my thought processes and sometimes give me a whole piece of writing (see: then you showed up...) In the event that music isn't working, brainstorming with my beta, @floraone, can nearly always unstick me when I can't find any momentum.

If the question is supposed to be more of like, why UsaMamo, see above re: what I enjoy about creating for SM.

Do you tend to work on multiple projects (WIPs) simultaneously or try to finish one at a time?

I don't like to have multiple multichapters going at the same time if I can avoid it. I do tend to have a multichapter in the works, and will pause my active multichapter for a fandom event (such as a gift exchange or UsaMamo week) or if I have a plotbunny I can't shake. However, I tend to try to keep any side works short (ideally a one shot or a novella-length multichapter).

I also have a handful of ideas/story fragments that are basically paused in my drafts folder because I don't have the interest/bandwidth to tackle them at this time, but I might eventually come around to. In an ideal world, I would finish them one at a time

Do you prefer large projects (chaptered fics, webtoons/zines, highly detailed art) or small projects (one-shots or simple art)?

They both have their own challenges and rewards. I find it's much easier to hit a wall in a multichapter, whereas a oneshot you get to finish and push out and "check off", as it were. However, a multichapter tends to grow an audience and have folks invested in where it's going, which is both lovely and validating (and sometimes a lot of pressure!) Multichapters are a lot more of a commitment - I can get an idea for a oneshot and churn it out in a week when I'm feeling inspired, whereas a multichapter invariably takes more time and (at least for me) I don't feel like I can take on several at once in the same way I can tackle a oneshot plotbunny and keep moving. A oneshot is also more of a self-contained "complete thought" while a multichapter can be a bit more sprawling, which gives you more space to explore and innovate.

All that is to say, I'm not sure if I really have a strong preference one way or the other. I like both, for different reasons.

Are there any common themes, situations, tropes, or mediums in your work?

LOL so basically whatever I'm currently tackling in therapy tends to pop up in my writing. Grief and self-worth are big ones lately, which I think is part of the reason I'm feeling less inspired of late. While they are important things to process, I don't necessarily always want to be grappling with those heavy feelings during my fun creative times.

Also, you know. Idiots in love. Healthy and accurate portrayals of sexuality. Minako being a disaster queen. And when I can work it in, I love self-referencing my own works in a kind of multiversal invocation

Is there anything you haven’t explored artistically and would like to try?

Nothing's coming to mind! As mentioned, I'm a writer through-and-through, so I'm not interested in trying a new medium at this time. I think if I did come up with some form of experimental writing I wanted to play with, my beta would be delighted to support me, but right now I'm happy to stick to mostly traditional romantic comedies with a side of emotional processing.

[koinotame]

\o/

hi! it's me, nana / koinotame!

if you're wondering why i went inactive and then deleted, my mental health kind of (really) tanked... and i ended up deleting my blog in a fit.

it's getting better bit by bit though! and i've been wanting to get back into writing (and talking abt my unhinged/yan ideas i can't really talk to anyone else abt), so. here i am! for now, at least

as for my previously posted writing, there's some good news and some bad news: the bad news is that everything i wrote directly into tumblr (99% of snippets, a lot of ask answers, most exact content warnings, etc) is gone. the slightly less bad news is that iirc there were very very few posts of mine that weren't reblogged by anyone at all, so they're probably still out there? feel free to send them my way if you find any and i'll rb them. @/midnight-remembrance also has reblogged a couple of them! there's a couple snippets i have saved in some places, so i might repost those on my own as i find them, but there's very few of those. the good news is that anything longer (proper writing — oneshots, hcs, yan alphabet responses and so on, prompt responses, etc) is safely backed up where i originally wrote it! some of it is also on my ao3, which is the same username. feel free to send me asks about any you'd like to see again and i'll repost them! i might not post them if i feel too embarrassed about/wish i hadn't posted them, and i might rewrite/heavily edit some of them, but i think there's only a handful that fall into the former category and none of them were particularly popular. either way, no harm in asking!

as for some other updates: i'm a little divided on whether i want to keep posting explicit nsfw or not so we'll see. i might just keep it out of main tags. idk yet. regardless of what decision i make, this blog is still strictly 18+ and that will not be changing. since we can reply from sideblogs now, this is a sideblog and not my main now. why? sometimes i prefer to check up on a blog frequently instead of following them for a couple of reasons, but this felt very awkward when they were following me. so this being a sideblog relieves a bit of that stress. if this makes it sound like i have severe brain worms, it's because i do. to that effect though, if we interact every so often feel free to consider us mutuals regardless of whether or not i'm actually following you =w=b tbh i.............. am not really into genshin anymore. i might post about it here and there but i just Do Not (really) Care about it anymore. scara aside to some degree i also have no clue what's going on post inazuma lol whatever projects or commitments to writing or etc i had made beforehand. i forgot all of them so just pretend that never happened ok? ok i'll also probably be posting more sparsely, but we'll see! and (this is obviously the most important bit) i have no clue where i put the mika edit so we're back to my og classic pfp. the header scales terribly and is temporary, please ignore that too

all that aside, as a treat for anyone who sees this in time,

*roughly 6/22 done, but fairly quick to write. roughly one paragraph per character (sneak peek line: "it's not too hard to be discreet with his unique magic when someone really deserves to fall face down a flight of stairs. or three. oopsie. odd they don't remember it, huh? well, he had nothing to do with that.") **more realistic isn't quite the right word(s)... probably won't post this one to the main tags regardless. won't be doing all of the characters (only important/relevant ones) and won't be writing more about/expanding on, so this one is just like. a one off experiment sort of thing. overall less violent than most takes on the au + leans a bit (or lot, depending on how you look at it) more on the religious aspect of self aware aus. i wrote a couple paragraphs a while ago, then rewrote them, but i'll only finish/post them if there's interest for it (sneak peek line: "aether has deluded himself and cast You aside entirely on his own—and when You finally grace them with Your real presence, zhongli is certain aether will be the first to fall from Your grace.")

i have one other new thing immediately ready for posting that'll get posted in a couple of days but that one's pretty silly

[transmonstera]

In regards to your posts about ao3 and how vile it is in actuality, I wanna say thank you. I've not put much thought into the website I've been using but this has put things into perspective. I no longer want my work (work that I am proud of) on a website like that. Ao3 doesn't align with my values and I'm assuming many other people's who use the site.

Do you have any suggestions on a better site everyone can use?

(Side note: I absolutely adore your work!)

sure thing!

while there are no websites quite like ao3 in terms of filtering, curation, bookmarks, likes/comments etc there are a few alternatives out there!

Wattpad - I know people make fun of this one because it's where all the rpf for bands went back in the day but it is still operating and many people use it so you'll likely just switch viewers from ao3 to wattpad pretty seamlessly

Tumblr - you can always post directly on here! there is a character limit i believe of 4k so it's great for showing previews or even cutting up a small fic into parts 1, 2, 3, etc. a little clunky but it's an option if you only write short stuff! (Twitter threads can even be an option for this though again, a lil restrictive and works better for super short works!)

Google Docs + Linktree - if you have a linktree account you can always just link a view only (make sure people can't edit!) google doc of the fic! having the fics on a linktree still give people the ability to see all of your work in one place, and you can even see on linktree the click statistics for each fic! while it doesn't give the reader the ability to like/comment, you can always encourage those who do like it to leave a message on your tumblr!

Discord (or any groupchat tbh!) - similar to above you can always set up a discord server and post your fics view docs links there! it gives a curated experience and you can see the comments of people directly in the server

AO3 has seemingly made people believe that each and everyone one of their fan creations must be thrown out into the void where you hope everyone sees it and loves it. I think this has really stifled people's abilities to truly be creative in terms of making content of their favourite medias (and even with transitioning to making original work!) because you may subconsciously be adhering the current trends and whatnot of everyone else, even if you don't really like it yourself! I mean look at how common modern/high school aus still are today when I have yet to meet anyone who actually likes them. Look at how many books that have been published lately that painfully follow AO3 tag systems, where they don't even havea blurb anymore and instead just have "friends to lovers meet blah blah blah! read it now!". (Not to mention the quality of the books being published is fucking atrocious)

AO3 has ruined publishing and I am being entirely serious about that.

But back to where you wanna go with your fics now. Don't be afraid to restructure how you interact with your hobbies! It doesn't have to be so exposed and vulnerable to anyone and everyone having their say on it. I used to participate massively in fandom and I'll be honest, it made me miserable. I constantly felt like I couldn't keep up, that my ideas were wrong because another idea was more popular, and I really struggled. So I took about a hundred steps back and only interact with the media I like through my friends who also like it! And it's a lot better! You may not get hundreds and thousands of likes on fics from here on out if that's what you're used to, but I guarantee you'll have more meaningful interactions that you actually hold dear to you far more than any "a guest has left a kudos on your work" notification.

(Also just a pre-emptive thing of anyone who wants to defend AO3 on this post because "it's an integral part of fandom!" or "they need that much money because they run a site with no ads!", or you want to try and tell me that the fics on there are fine because it's fiction regardless of what the fics is (including literal fucking CSAM), just know you are completely unserious and I don't value a single thing you say. So don't even try it. How about you donate to a marginalised person's mutual aid for the first time in your life and you'll calm down.)

[bnuuywol]

hey. hi. hello. is phoenyx's journey. documented anywhere perhaps? i would read a thousand lotr sized novels about phoenyx.

HELLO!! sobbing and crying that you wanna hear about my boy :,)

So I have a couple different places where this is scattered forgive me, I've been meaning to rework his lore on AO3 to update/revamp the og stuff I have written and add the things I've written here on tumblr ask responses to ask memes

Right now the main places you can find his journey are here on AO3, these are majority things I wrote while in the midst of gameplay so they're incomplete and in need of some reworking but they do exist:

A Realm Reborn Heavensward Stormblood (this one admittedly is just a single chapter of smut at the moment, I didn't write much when I played through Stormblood) Shadowbringers (bonus: Shadowbringers Bad Ending AU)

(I haven't rewritten any of my Endwalker stuff yet but I'll post that too I swear)

Also fair warning, the AO3 stuff is locked for users only because I don't want AI scraping it. But I'll gladly rework and post those to tumblr too tbh.

There's also the tag "the unending journey" on my blog for writing pieces and gposes that are slices of his journey as a character

The tag "my writing" has a lot of overlap with the above but also includes a few things that aren't exactly relevant to his journey but sure did Happen namely: wolcred smut.

And finally, if you want headcanons and pictures and times I just ramble about things that happen with him without actually writing it, you can peruse through Phoenyx's tag lmao

This,,,,,, ended up being way longer than I anticipated but yeah. Enjoy reading the shit I put my poor tortured bunboy through 🥰💕

[elsiebrayisgay]

For the ask game: 3, 16 and 17 😊

um yeah! 3. Describe the creative process of writing a chapter/fic so this has changed a lot since i started writing prose, tbh, but there are some hallmarks of my process that have stayed the same. the absolute first thing that has always remained true whether it's been more academic, poetry (which is what i did for my degree,) TTRPG stuff, or now prose fanfic, is that no matter what no matter where no matter when if i have an idea i do my best to write it down. i have lost too many good ideas to not being sure what i had thought up and being certain i'd remember it. so often when i am laying in bed drifting off to sleep and thinking about my work, i will grumble and sit up and unlock my laptop to type out some notes.

another thing that was true for a while and still holds up somewhat today (with caveats) is that when i get inspired by something, i *write*. the first chapter of sourceless bruises was written in one evening after i got home from being out at dinner. i'd had vague concepts and ideas floating around for months before then but when it finally hit me i just sat down and wrote. this doesn't really happen as much anymore because even though i have the inspiration and the hyperfixation, i just don't have the energy to be up and in such high gear for so long, so i need to break it up more. this was true of my poetry and essays for school as well, though; i would just sit down start turning work out when i wanted or needed to.

16. How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Share one of them?

alright so i've been kind of trying to figure out what i want to write after sourceless bruises. i took kind of a long break between my first fic and my second fic (more of these queer feelings... it's probably nothing on ao3) because i was just sort of waiting to have an idea i felt really solid about working on and that's how long it took. partially because sourceless bruises is a bigger project and is taking longer, these days i have a lot more ideas for what to work on next kicking around. none of them are really formed into anything super cogent, because i pretty strictly keep myself to one involved/long-term creative project at a time. however, things i have been interested in developing once i have wrapped up sourceless bruises in no particular order:

i have a draft started for a sequel to more of these queer feelings. it's mostly outlined, but i hadn't really gotten far into the drafting process.

korrasami modern au. this kind of setting adaptation is my bread and butter, if you couldn't tell. i posted a joke about this sort of idea on tumblr a while back but it actually got a lot more traction than i was expecting and so honestly i'm thinking about putting some more work in on it.

cait/vi (vilyn?) has been really interesting to me recently. i dunno, something about those girls. so i've been thinking about early stages of what i might want to do with them, whether to give them my normal au treatment or try something else.

i have also been working a bit on a premise for some original fiction. i will only say at this point that it will be horror/mystery and probably be a fair bit bleaker than what i tend to write for ao3 (though honestly i have no idea how i would go about publishing original fiction.)

17. What do you do when writing becomes difficult? (maybe a lack of inspiration or writers block)

okay so at this point it's time to circle back to the first answer in this post because honestly the truth of how i go about writing chapters these days falls a lot more under this question than that more general one. the first thing i'm going to say is that in my opinion, writing is labor. there's an old interview with john darnielle and john k. samson (among others) where JD talks about how there's no such thing as convenience store clerk block, or coal miner's block, so writers shouldn't get blocked—they should just keep sitting down to write, and to some extent i believe in that idea, but i want to add nuance. i think there probably is such a thing as convenience store clerk block, and coal miner's block, it's just that society doesn't allow or expect them to take breaks, or go on sabbatical or whatever. so they end up working through, and maybe burning out. i think that labor is something that any person, in any field, needs to take at their own personal sustainable pace. it's really easy, as a writer, to compare yourself to others. word counts on ao3, stories published, etc. but i think it's very important to listen to your mind and body about what you need as a creative person and also just as a person. if you've got nothing right now, i think it is important to try allowing your mind to simply lie fallow. there's that post about mental crop rotation, and about letting your mind have time where it isn't expected to turn out anything that needs to get put on a page. i think respecting that need is pretty important. this philosophy is how i've been going about writing since i got out of school.

this ties into the actual difficulty i've mostly been having with sourceless bruises. around late 2022/early 2023 i had some life circumstances cause my chronic illness to get a lot more severe, from which i have never fully recovered. this has meant that my pain is a lot worse, and my energy levels are a lot lower. what i used to be able to do with turning out thousands of words a day when i was really inspired happens only very rarely now, when those moments line up with my good days. there's another post on here (somewhere in my reblogs) talking about what to do as a fic writer when your capabilities change, and a lot of the advice on that post has stuck with me. accepting my limits and working within them has definitely meant that my process is a lot slower, especially during flares (and once the weather warms up in the spring i am mostly stuck in one big flare until fall) but it also means that i get to maintain the quality of what i produce and my own quality of life. in these periods, i mostly just try to carve out a bit of time every day when i am able to sit up, usually only fifteen or twenty minutes or so, to peck away at my draft. i sit down, get a paragraph or two dealt with, maybe look at a bit of research, maybe not, and at the end of it i have maybe two hundred more words than i did before. some days, i don't even feel up to this. sometimes i go a week without doing it. but i try to just carve out some time when i can to peck away and eventually i end up with a finished chapter. that's really what my creative process looks like these days.

[galvanizedfriend]

Its probably not that important to u but you seem to have been in the fandom awhile so i thought id ask- do you think klaroline has gone down in popularity and klamille has seen a rise in recent years?

I've been around for five years, exactly! I joined fandom after The Originals ended, in August 2018, so it's easy to keep track lol

Not at all, nonnie. Out of all the ships in the TVD verse, Klaroline is by far the longer lasting one. Not even Delena seems to have had such a long lasting effect, and it was by far the most popular pairing on the show. It just fizzled out after TVD ended, while Klaroline has definitely been a more active fandom.

AO3 is a good thermometer for these things. Klaroline is top 1 relationship in both TVD and The Originals tags.

I'm not trying to talk down on Klamille or any other ships, this is just my observation. I tend to follow a lot of tags here on tumblr, and I haven't seen a rise in popularity for them. I actually think Klayley might be more popular than Klamille tbh. But I don't think anything compares to the Klaroline effect when it comes to the TVD verse. The fact they were *almost* endgame but not quite has made it survive long after the shows' finale.

There's something about pairings that have a lot of potential but nerver quite satisfy the audience that makes fandoms truly come alive with possibilities, and it has definitely worked for Klaroline.

[caplanbuckybarnes]

i hate how so many of your fics arent on here anymore, i hate how people's actions have affedcted you so much that you're no longer posting fics on here, only crappy ao3 links. you were one of my favorite writers on here, i've followed you for years. im sorry people don't like your works as much as i do. i will continue to support you where ever you go. im happy to be able to reblog the fics that i can while theyre still available as links from your masterlist, i just wish people werent so-

weren't so shitty about supporting writers at all. as ive stated, you were always one of my favorites. you brought ships and characters to my attention that i never thought i would read. you've brought AUs to my eyes that i thought werent my type. i love that you were once the mafia queen writer in the marvel fandom i don't see much mcu from you anymore but thats okay id read whatever you write. youre so so talented, caplan and id be lost if you deleted your blog entirely. (2/2)

-------

I wanted to keep this in my inbox for a long time, nonny, and i don't know who you are, but i wanted to thank oyu so much for the encouraging words. yeah, the drastic change t oao3 on my works has actually been a great turn for me, ngl. i've goten more engagement and commets on there than i've ever gotten on here, and it's where i'm at my happiest, tbh.

writers on tumblr have ALWAYS had to fight about getting their works reblogged and i've decided that i'm not fighitn about it anymore. it's not wirth my mental health stressing over who is reblogging my fics and who isn't.

[deepestbluesky]

i was tagged by @minnarr to list my 5 favorite fics i've written! it's actually very funny to me, because i saw one of these posts yesterday from a writer i like very much who i've followed for ages, and then i got tagged today, and i realized the connecting thread is literally just one person in between. anyway!

note: in case you haven't looked closely at my ao3 page (or. not closely tbh. to my eternal regret, it's still my top fandom), i used to write hockey rpf. i don't anymore, because i think hockey and especially the nhl is morally bankrupt and actively harmful, and i no longer feel comfortable writing about nhl players or sharing fic about them. this is all to say: 1, i actually don't think i've explicitly said that before and it's important to me, and 2, i will not mention any fics from this fandom.

LUCKILY, i've somehow???? written a lot????? since then????? this continues to baffle me. how did i get here. (🎶letting the days go by🎶) (if you think, gee, did sky have trouble picking 5 fics? it has been fully half an hour and i'm still at 11 fics. the lengths i go to for tumblr posts that don't matter.) (have now picked fics, didn't take much longer bc i decided to try and go for a wide spread of fandoms, and also to pick the ones in that 11-fic list that had the lowest kudos lol)

give thanks to the broken bones. this is a batfam fic in which bruce wayne gets kidnapped as a civilian and dick grayson comes to rescue him. i have some defensive feelings about this and about the way dick and bruce's relationship is written here, but i often feel like i'm not great at writing complicated relationships that aren't just fluffy, and i feel like i nailed it here. also: gen fics.

tired of waiting for tomorrow to come. another batfam fic! this one a character study of sorts about jason todd and also my love letter about bruce springsteen's music. it's one of the most self-indulgent fics i've ever written and i'm really satisfied with it, even tho there are definitely things i wish i'd done differently too. i wrote a dvd commentary companion too so if you want Even More Of My Thoughts about it, they are on ao3 :D

daydreamers please wake up. there are goddamn NINE fics for this fucking fandom and mine is the LONGEST??? this is a fic for another dc comic, Far Sector, written by nk jemisin and drawn by jamal campbell. i loved far sector, i think it's gorgeous and fun and a cool sci fi story with very fun characters, and so when i had a chance to write a fic for it for yuletide, i was DELIGHTED. and then i realized i had to figure out how to write horror for the first time. it was a lot of work and i think it turned out really well.

don't let the stars get you down. this is a fic for the untamed, and it's jiang yanli and jin zixuan. i have now written TWO platonic marriage fics for the untamed, and i'm personally thrilled about this fact. this one is shorter but also, in some ways, more interesting to me. i really love fics that dig into jyl and what she's doing and thinking and i haven't written as many as i'd like, but that is very much what this fic is. also i just have so much love and affection in my heart for the idea of two people being married and having a kid while not being In Love and in fact having sex with and falling in love with other people.

you're a curious one. this is a word of honor fic, and it is, of course, hanwenzhou. so, to be clear, if you count shl/tyk/qy together, it's CLEARLY my second most written fandom. and yet it ended up with only one representative on this list, partially because i have more kudos in this fandom lol. but that said, if i was only gonna pick one, it had to be REALLY on brand, and this fic is PEAK sky is on her bullshit. inspired by a critical role scene with sexy dangerous vampire attacks. the whole fic is building tension that never quite resolves bc building the tension is way more fun to me than writing sex scenes usually. spoiler: everything is actually fine and there's a happy resolution. this concept still lives in my head rent free.

idk who to tag, so AS USUAL, if you see this and want to play the game, do it and say i tagged you! i am very serious, you can tag me even if we've never interacted. you can also not tag me but say you got it from me! whatever works.

[idyllic-affections]

hello! i want to start this off by saying i have no negative intentions - i am not "calling you out" or anything, i just wanted to share something i've picked up from my 10+ years of being in fandom and fanfic spaces.

with that being said, i love your platonic reader pieces. they're something i cherish due to the fact that there aren't many writers and fics out there that focus on platonic relationships, and my ace heart sometimes just wants to read something fluffy and familial every once in a while.

one thing i did notice, most recently in your Pantalone fic, was the use of the "character × reader" descriptor at the very beginning. if i may, could i suggest the use of "&" instead of the "x" when writing the relationship? in fanfic, using both "character/character" and "character x character" means that the relationship is romantic, while using "character & character" is reserved for platonic and familial relationships. again, i'm not calling you out, i'm not even angry or annoyed, but it's a detail that may deter people from immediately dismissing your work, especially if that person doesn't bother to read your blog's description and sees that you only write platonic fics.

i hope this makes sense? again, not trying to force you to do anything or change anything, it's just food for thought.

hello dear! i understand. your tone does not come off as negative at all.

this is something i've been considering for a while, debating on whether or not i should change my wording when i describe my pairings. it hasn't caused any direct problems for me thus far, but that doesn't mean it never will, because it seems there are people who like to leap to inaccurate conclusions without doing any background research. it doesn't seem to be too big of an issue on tumblr (i think it would be a really big thing on ao3, though, since ao3 has a more clear divide between platonic and romantic content), however i am definitely considering changing my wording. i've been thinking about it for a while. and honestly, like... the idea that people might think i'm writing some weird breed of proship-y romantic fanfic makes my skin crawl.

i definitely will go ahead and change my wording because i do not enjoy the idea that i might come off as... weird in that way, you know?

but thank you for bringing this up! i'm always open to hearing this kind of thing (i don't really want to call it criticism, because it doesn't really feel that way tbh), especially coming from people who have been in fandom spaces longer than i have. i was always aware of this distinction between platonic and romantic pairings, but never really saw it being brought up on tumblr much.

[wooahaeruby]

Hiiiiiiii I hope you are having a great day after ruining mine ( joke )

I have been reading your stuffs for a very long time now, and since I am a very impatient person ever existed in this planet so I have been reading bsh and it was one of my best and worst decision ever that I have made.

Best : because the storyline is so good LIKE INSANELY GOODDDDD I ALWAYS READ IT MOST OF THE TIMEEEE

Worst : because the work that you released recently on the site is making me insane and idk how will I survive the next 20 days.... LIKE AT THIS POINT I AM GOING INSANEEEEEEEEE

I recently went on your twitter as well and I have to give it to you cause like OH MY GODD WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVE A TWO HANDWRITTEN ONES OF BSH???? I DONʼT KNOW HOW WILL I SURVIVE TILL THE VERY ENDDDD 😭😭😭😭💥💥💥💥💥💥

I have to give it to you, you are really the first one that I have seen someone so much dedicated to story and I love finding writers like that and no one I repeat, NO ONE I have seen would write this well and deeply. The emotions, the scene, the vibes I have to GIVE IT TO YOUUUUUU but seriously how will I survive the next 20 days I am seriously going insane, this is how much your story has me on chokehold and pls let everyone be together at the end because I will not be the same person if they don’t I am begging you 😭😭😭😭😭 I love how it is going and more so, I hope this would bring them much more closer. I am trying not to spoil it too much, and I hope I am doing a great job. Bit seriously, I have to give to your mind.

I hope you are having a great day today! thank you so much for writing bsh and to you! ☺️💗💗💗💗💗

I'm-....

Are you okay? Have I scarred you with BSH? If so I am sorry lmao.

The most reason Chapter up on Ao3 was....a lot, I know, I'm insane (just a little~). So much is happening in BSH and It's consuming my entire being. My groupchat has a joke of either "Rip Mouse" or "RIP [Editor's name]" (even when I've done nOtHiNg wrong!).

I'm so so sososos happy you are enjoying BSH, she has been a labor of love and pain (and torturing my editor). I've honestly caught up one myself with both To You last year and BSH has been getting longer and longer and more things keep happening so I'm struggling to write sometimes! I have so many ideas but so little time to think between adulting and work! I'm sorry!!!

I am....3/4 of the way through the second notebook tbh and I'm not even close to being done. Typically how to write is 'here is a basis I want' by hand, and when I type it all up, it gets more detail and I can go back more and think about what I'd like to be added into the story. Many of the chapters you see are actually like that. I have little notes in my boarders to help me add details or recon something I missed!

I sincerely thank you for all your kind words, they mean more to me than you think! Writing has always been a way for me to decompress (if you count...BSH hurting people decompressing as my editor says...)

If you ever did want to discuss BSH, I don't bite! My DMs on twitter and Tumblr are always open to chat about my stories. It makes me so happy that my writing can make others so emotionally invested. I never like writing bland characters or story lines. I honestly have about a million other story ideas written out for the soulmate AUs (and others outside of that!)

I hope your day and the rest of your week is well! Please reach out if you are comfortable and if you'd like of course!

[bookpersonmaryjon]

Fanfic Writer Interview

Thank you @you-have-to-use-your-imagination for tagging me!

I have to tag people now, but since I only have very few followers (for a reason, that reason is I get overwhelmed easily and need a bit of distance) I hope no one gets mad if I skip that part...

How many works do you have on ao3?

40 works on ao3, one other on a German fanfic site but it's uhh on a several-year hiatus so... not important!

What's your total ao3 word count?

it's 79.578 words holy shit... that's almost 80.000??? how???

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

I've posted works for four fandoms, three on ao3. Doctor Who (27 fics), The Umbrella Academy (2 fics) and Rusty Quill Gaming Podcast (10 fics).

I've technically got 2 Harry Potter fics, written before JK turned out to be a terf, but I removed them for the moment because I don't want to support her in any way until she gets over her bigotry, and if she never does that then I'll just leave them unpublished forever.

The other one not on ao3 is a Once Upon A Time fanfic that's really just a self-indulgent self-insert for my best friends and myself.

I've also written for far more fandoms, just most of those are only WIPs on my laptop that I'm not sure I'll ever finish and/or post.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Cheating (236 kudos, The Umbrella Academy fic)

Stormcage Wives (232 kudos, Doctor Who fic)

drunk on your love (and a whole lot of ginger) (119 kudos, Doctor Who fic)

tired of the lies (but afraid of what the truth will bring) (107 kudos, Doctor Who fic)

you're burning up and I'm burning out (or is it the other way around?) (101 kudos, Doctor Who fic)

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Yes, always. People tell me they like my writing, of course I'm gonna thank them for it! And if I get to ramble on about my fic for a bit, even better!

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

Oof, let me think...

I'm torn between three, I think.

Wait for me - TUA fic that is really just angst the whole time and especially the ending

Achilles Come Down - DW fic that I would call angsty, but it's kinda ambiguous? it's based on the song by Gang of Youth with the same name, and that song is definitely angsty, so it stands to reason the fic is also at least a bit angsty

I had a dream, which was not all a dream - DW fic that's also very angsty throughout and the last thoughts aren't very cheery, I'd say it's pretty darn angsty.

Do you write crossovers? If so, what's the craziest one you've written?

Yes, but only unpublished unfinished stuff so far.

The craziest of them would probably be the 'Hunger Games but fandoms for districts' one which I only started because of a tumblr post I shared with my friends and we hyped each other up so much that I wrote three chapters in a haze of euphoria before reality kicked me in the teeth and I stopped.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

No, and I really hope I won't receive any in the future...

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Every time I try it either turns into cuddles or the screen fades to black without my doing. I just can't write smut for my life.

(I might be greyace actually??? that might be a contributing factor...)

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I know, and again, I really hope it never happens.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Does it count if I started translating my own fanfic?

If not, no, but I wouldn't be opposed to it if someone were to ask!

What's your all time favorite ship?

Thoschei, I'd say.

Maaybe Zoscar, but tbh I've shipped Thoschei the longest so I gotta go with that one.

No, wait, I've been shipping SwanQueen far longer than Thoschei!

So either one of those...

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

Oof, that's a hard question... I've got so many WIPs I wanna finish but don't think I ever will.

There's a soulmate AU I've started, Doctor Who, Thoschei, rather angsty, and I've written myself into a corner and can't get out of it again.

I also started something that I call Override Paradox, which is really what it sounds like, in that it's 13 trying to create a paradox big enough to override the memory block in the matrix. I really wanna finish it, but it's really hard to write paradox fics, tbh...

Err, I've got several timetravel fix-it stories for various fandoms that I'd really like to finish, but not any one specifically, really.

I also really want to finish that Once Upon A Time fic, mostly just so I can have it finished, and because I did start it for my best friends and I'd really like to give them a nice thing, basically.

I also recently got back into The Umbrella Academy and really wanna finish a couple of those stories, just because they're rattling around in my brain and I would love to make something out of the ideas.

What are your writing strengths?

I'm... pretty good at angst? And fluff? Does that count as strength?

I'm good at imagining what a character is thinking, that's probably a neat thing. There are a lot of fics where I get fully immersed in the inner monologue of someone, and I'd say I'm pretty good at it?

I've also been told I'm good at plot twists, so. those?

(gosh I'm so bad at complimenting myself... definitely need to work on that.)

(also what the hell is a writing strength??? I don't really know what this means...)

What are your writing weaknesses?

I ramble a lot. Describe too much.

I also cannot for the life of me just write a story on the fly without having at least five paragraphs of backstory... It's really annoying, honestly.

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

If it makes sense story-wise and if it's done well, then I'm all for it!

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Once Upon A Time. I started it like, five years ago? It feels like an eternity tbh... hang on...

2017??? holy shit that's. yeah, that's six years... wow.

What's your favorite fic that you've written?

Gosh.

I'm gonna choose from the ones I've finished, because I will not be able to choose from the unfinished no matter how hard I'll try.

'Achilles Come Down' is really one of my favorites. I had a lot of fun writing it.

'confessions uttered in the (un)safety of your embrace' was incredibly nice to write. The level of double and triple thinking? Brilliant. The fact that I didn't even realize I was doing it in a triple way until it was pointed out to me (thank you @rearranging-deck-chairs)?! Effervescent.

So yeah.

That's it. You can stop reading now. Also, thank you ^_^

Bye!