#actually y'know what to anyone if you're reading these tags feel free to reply to this post with your artfight username

[dyed-indigo]

y'know i intended to draw a bunch of refs for some of my characters that i haven't posted a ton of art of for artfight this year but i think i'm literally just gonna make crunch and wesker's refs, re-do reverie's ref (it's been bugging me since last year), format and upload horatio's preexisting ref, and update some character descriptions. that might just be all i have the energy for regarding artfight prep, at least if i wanna have some energy going into artfight too

[aelaer]

Just saw your post about having to block the doctor strange x reader tag, and I must agree it's become the predominant DS fic that comes up as recommended on my feed as well. There are several authors I enjoy reading in that category (although lately the overall amount of fics is overwhelming), but I only started writing them myself as my stephen x ofc fics could never gain a bit of traction. I have a theory that if I went back and changed my ofc's to reader inserts, I'd probably gain a lot more readers--but I can never bring myself to doing that as I wouldn't be true to myself as an author.

I suppose that's just a writerly woe I'm sharing with someone who might understand.😏 But I'm curious; are you open to reading non-romance fics featuring original characters? I've found that tumblr can be quite snobbish towards that species of fic.

I wanted to reply to this ages ago but it requires my computer and some thinking, so I kept pushing it off again and again and again and whelp, here we are. My bad. ><

I'm the same way where being true to myself as an author is writing what I want, so I get you there. Doesn't get As Much Engagement as other tropes would, but y'know what, I can live with that. If anything, I've actually found that the fic I compromised most on (because it was for a themed exchange) is one I want to reread the least. So if anything, a lot of me writes for "do I want to reread this in the future" and that has helped me since.

It's funny since OFC romances used to be pretty popular way back when, but I guess "reader" took over that audience over the last decade because the majority of the people just wanted to insert themselves into the position instead of reading about a full-fleshed character? Honestly not sure.

Right, I keep delaying the reason I took so long to get back to you - non-romance fics with OCs. The answer, by the way, is yes. Great OCs are fantastic, but you don't tend to see many OCs outside of romance, or you only see them as side characters in another pairing's fic. They don't often have starring or co-starring roles. But I wanted to find examples with great OCs which would take time.

And now I'm taking that time. Here's some good OC-starring fics that I scoured through the tag. They're difficult to find. I had to smudge that requirement after a while. Then I gave up after I got to 2 years back in the tag.

Some of the stories that I know have very good OCs are also IronStrange, but I know that's not your cup of tea so I left it out. But I found a handful.

Keshwyn was the author that came to mind when you originally sent this ask, but I wanted to have more than one author when I wrote this. Read their series, highly recommend, top-tier OCs across the whole spectrum, with the main star being female.

This fic by LexLemon is technically PalmerStrange, but the OCs are her parents, so it's basically a delight in my eyes as Stephen's fish-out-of-water act is always funny to me.

Dragonnan writes good OCs, usually the mean sort though, the ones who hurt Stephen rather than befriend him (male and female lmao), but if you're in a whumpy mood at some point...

This isn't technically an OC, but I don't know the character from the comics, so she's an OC to me! This Stephen's new apprentice is Casey Kinmont fic by Stratagem. They just updated recently too, need to cheer them on at some point.

*sigh* Sorry love, I ran out of good OC fics that didn't have background/primary IronStrange that I could find/remember. But yeah. There's some fic/author recs.

(If anyone wants to add to the list, feel free to leave a comment or reblog. I was avoiding IronStrange for the asker in particular but I don't think the asker sees reblogs so go for it if you'd like).

Also, I love the OCs that I've come up with for my various stories in both LOTR and the MCU. I'll ramble all about them if you (or someone) wants me to, quite happily.

Hope that answers the question/reason for the ask, mostly.

[suga4mycoffee]

I was gonna only reblog this with tags, but then I apparently hit the limit. RUDE. So, here:

I'm gonna start reblogging my own shit (when I remember).

Because this is completely true.

Likes and kudos are wonderful. Amazing. Stupendous!

But, hear me out.

I'm talking from my perspective, and solely about fanfiction here, because that's the only thing I put out, but this is going to apply to all fanworks.

I'm a fanfic writer. I do it because I enjoy it, because there are things I like to fix, ideas I like to explore, and because I can't get enough of my chosen fandoms.

That being said, it takes me a huge amount of time, energy, and regular prodding (thank you, @theonlydayiknow) to actually write, edit, and post anything, for a variety of reasons. It can take so much mental and emotional energy to do write, too, depending on what I'm writing. You're putting your blood, sweat, and (many) tears into creating something. And then you're firing it out into the void, for free, for everyone to see and enjoy.

My most popular work on AO3 currently has 8,775 hits, and 888 kudos. That means that roughly 10% of those hits ended in someone hitting the kudos button. There are 23 comments on it (actually double that, because I reply to every single comment eventually). What percentage is that? 0.2% That means that not even 1% of the hits ended up resulting in a comment.

And I'm not even a hugely popular writer! There are plenty of people in various fandoms who are enormously popular, and (as far as I've seen) their percentages are about the same, just from much higher numbers.

(Note: Yes, there'll be some people who don't finish your fics, but I feel like most people will, even if they don't enjoy it enough to like/kudos/comment/share/whatever. And yes, some hits will be re-reads, but still. The math ain't mathing.)

And y'know what? It's so disheartening to pour your heart and soul into something, and you can see that people are consuming it and (mostly, presumably) enjoying it, but only care enough to give one quick click or tap of the like/kudos button.

Again, not dragging people who 'only' leave a like/kudos, it's still amazing! I see you're there, I see you enjoyed it, I see you left a token of your appreciation. Have my eternal affection in return!

But some people don't even leave a like/kudos, even if they really enjoyed the fic.

And I also know and 100% respect that not everyone is comfortable leaving a comment. (Although even dropping a single emoji in the comments makes me froth at the mouth with joy, so that could be an option if you wanted to leave a comment on anyone's work with no pressure.) But if you personally don't feel comfortable commenting, that's totally fine!

In my opinion, sharing/reblogging a fic you liked (even if it's just dropping a link in Discord, or sending it to a friend, or something) is potentially one of the best things you can do to show your appreciation for that fic/author, and here's why.

Even if you 'only' like/kudos, or don't feel comfortable leaving a comment, someone who sees a share/reblog might feel comfortable leaving a comment/emoji, or dropping another like/kudos, or sharing it themselves, where it can reach more people who might like to do any of the above.

Personally, I reply to every single comment I get, because I'm just so fucking grateful someone enjoyed something I wrote enough to comment on it. (I should say I eventually reply to every single comment, sometimes I'm late as hell, but that doesn't mean I appreciate them any less.)

Thing is, I write for me. I write things I want to read. So I could easily write fanfic and keep it to myself. Hell, it'd be easier, because I wouldn't have to edit it, title it, tag it, etc. I don't need to post it. But I post it because I want people to be able to read it, if it's also what they want to read.

But, like OP said, if it seems like there are so few people that actually give a shit about the work you put in to the things you create, eventually you'll wonder if there's a point to creating things at all, let alone posting them. And that can kill a fandom so fucking quickly.

Imagine it. Think of your all-time favourite fanwork creators. Writers, artists, video editors, whatever. Now think of them all leaving their fandom(s), because they feel like hardly anyone cares about the work they do.

As I mentioned, I'm not big and popular. I don't expect I ever will be, and that's fine. I don't even expect to ever have people who count me as one of their favourite authors, and that's also fine.

But when someone likes my efforts enough to leave a comment, I feel fucking giddy. I have genuinely, literally, ended up face down on my bed, squealing and kicking my feet over comments some people have given me. (Again, thank you @theonlydayiknow. I'd ask you to marry me if the world wouldn't end at such an alliance.)

And the people that come back and leave comments telling me they're re-reading, or using the comments to leave extra kudos? They have my eternal love and devotion, I actually tear up when that happens!

And maybe writers/artists/editors whose work you like would feel the same about getting comments too. I don't know. Just something to think about.

TLDR; as OP said, I'm reblogging my own shit from now on, because someone might as well.

Why do you reblog your own fics so much?

Because someone might as well!? And look at this. Look. At. This.

Does this look right to you??

These are just the last three fics I wrote. I appreciate the likes, believe me I do, but you have to understand. Likes do nothing for content creators. It’s the reblogs. Because that’s how you find shit on your dashboard. Through reblogs. Not likes. This isn’t twitter or tiktok or instagram. This is a website that’s run by the reblog system.

Reblogging helps content creators put their stuff out there. Why do you think so many people stopped writing fanfic and creating beautiful fanart and edits? It’s because they put in hours of work and don’t get nearly enough notes for their masterpieces. Yes we do this because we enjoy it but like...some validation won’t hurt. A boost of confidence here and there might be all someone needs to finish whatever thing they started and left.

Anyway, I’m still going to reblog my shit...