#also the format is weird because i copied this in from a google doc oof

[feedthefandomfest]

Hiya!

I love this blog and just wanted to ask- do you know any advice on formatting and tagging for AO3?

Or just general etiquette!!

I'm not new to AO3 (reading or writing) but I haven't interacted with the actual community much and would love to know more :)

oof, I still feel like a newbie posting stuff on ao3, and tagging is something i've always struggled with. and actually formatting is also on ongoing issue 😅 so with that in mind, here's what i try to consider:

TAGGING

relationships -> tagging the main is obvious, but i'm sometimes torn about tagging side relationships that feature in the fic, especially since it's annoying to be searching for that pairing and get a bunch of results where they're not the main focus; unless the other pairing is a prominent feature, i leave it out of the relationship tags and at most add it to the additional tags

characters -> i remember updating the character tags on my early fics every time another character popped up in the story, but now i'm of the same mind as the side pairing issue; unless the character is prominently featured, i leave them out of the tags

content warning/advertising -> if i know the fic features an element that some people might wish to avoid, i always tag it and also always fret that i've forgotten to tag something in that regard. when it's more about advertising what's in the fic, especially sexual content, i sometimes feel silly listing every flavor of physical encounter unless the fic is pwp/smut (in which case i gleefully list all the depravity); i sometimes worry that over-emphasizing the sexual content in the tags is misleading? like of this 100k fic, if 15k is spent fucking, how do i get the tags to reflect that while also tag cw appropriately? is there an established tag for that?

sometimes i see fics with TONS of tags, like an exhausting amount, and sometimes i see fics with very minimal tags... sometimes frustratingly few. i also know some writers add chapter-specific warnings in the author's notes. in the end, so long as you're making it possible for people to find or avoid your fic as needed, then you're good. Here are some good posts that dive into it more!

(i remember when people on tumblr would scold writers for monologuing in the tags on ao3 like we do on here, claiming it was a strain on the system, but i believe that's been debunked?)

FORMATTING

i've noticed some MEGA annoying quirks with copy & pasting over from Google Docs and Word, and I know there are some tricks to get around them, but i tend to just slog through the Rich Text window fixing everything manually 🙃 OKAY I FOUND SOLUTIONS LINKED BELOW.

spacing problem #1 -> pet peeve of mine, but i dislike it when the paragraphs have massive spaces between them (ditto for indented paragraphs). idk why, but it's tiring for my eyes to constantly leap the chasm between paragraphs. so whenever i copy and paste from Word, which for some reason ALWAYS appears with double spacing between line breaks, i go in and manually fix it. SOLUTION

spacing problem #2 -> when copying over from Google Doc, whenever there's a punctuation mark following an italicized word, a random space appears between them. and yep, i have to go in and fix every one because typos make me twitch. (this might not be an issue for everyone; i overuse italics and dashes like it's my job) SOLUTION

spacing problem #3 -> again probably a me issue, but i tend to include song lyrics a lot, and it's always a headache to format because when pasting from the doc, ao3 embeds these spaces between the lines that i can't remove by backspacing. only fix i've found is to copy and paste lyrics directly from a website, and then it formats fine. random and annoying and weird. (no solution 😔)

since this section has just been me whining about finding SOLUTIONS for formatting issues, i'll offer one tip that's more about general editing: i try to proofread best i can in Word/GDocs, but it's always easier to spot errors when i'm reading the draft on my phone. the typos always jump out at me from a phone screen. it's now my favorite way to edit!

every writer has their own preferences on formatting, and every reader has their own level of tolerance for formatting quirks. in the end, so long as the formatting doesn't interfere with the reading experience, you're all good.

[princekirijo]

Pspspspsp some Riku and Ann being bros headcanons???

OH FUCK YES THANKS BRO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG BUT Riku Ann friendship my beloved… This got super long so under a read more it goes 💀

OK so these two are literally chaos incarnate.

They have about two braincells between them. And they never use them.

Honestly apart? They're very intelligent (Riku has his mom's brains and Ann is intelligent in her own right) but whenever they're together it just cancels out.

Their number one favorite activity to do together? Annoy Makoto. At first it was unintentional because they just got up to their normal bullshit but it pissed Makoto off so much and they found it funny and now they do it deliberately.

Don't get me wrong they love Makoto and Ann really has no beef with her but Riku gets very annoyed at how "know it all" she is (he's exaggerating but she does it a lot you know? At least that's how I felt). But really it's harmless and they do back off it starts to upset her.

They also love to go shopping together! Ann will drag Riku to all the best boutiques in Tokyo and he just comes along for the fun of it. He also let's Ann pick out his outfits and buys her some clothes in return (he insists he's too lazy to pick out his own clothes but it's actually because he can see how happy Ann gets doing it and that makes him happy :] - not that he'd admit it)

They also sing a lot. They'll just randomly burst out into song in mementos and the only reason as to why no one has killed them yet is because they're both surprisingly good singers.

This is also accompanied by a lot of dancing. Riku had dance lessons as a kid and is actually super passionate about it and Ann loves watching him dance and rocking with him ofc. Makoto just wishes they wouldn't do it in the middle of a mini boss fight 😞

They constantly make stupid bets/dares with each other. Like Ann will be like "I bet that shadow is weak to magna" and Riku is like "buy me crepes and I'll find out" and before Ann can say deal Riku has already launched himself at it (and most likely gotten his ass yeeted across the field)

On a more serious note they're really supportive with one another when it comes to their trauma. Ann was the first person Riku properly opened up to about Hatanaka. She is very sympathetic with him and really helps him through his rough patches. In turn Riku is super supportive about Ann's own trauma and her feelings of guilt around what happened to Shiho

If either of them is having a bad day the other will show up on their doorstep with the cheesiest movies, 10000% packets of sweets and blankets just in case. They don't even talk sometimes, they just sit together in comfortable silence.

Riku will always come to Ann's modeling shoots if he can. He intimidates anyone who makes Ann (or any of the other models) feel uncomfortable and has the time of his life bullying Mika <3 (also because I hc Yukari as having her own modeling agency - don't ask I don't remember where that came from - he also gets to see his mom occasionally)

Ann has also offered to come to any fancy business party and bully old rich men for Riku if he needs it. She tends to come to any meetings he has and waits outside for him to get food after if he doesn't have plans (if he does Mitsuru will ask Ann if she wants to come to and ofc she'd agree).

The only time they ever butt heads (and even then it lasts like 10 seconds before it's all forgotten) is whenever Ann calls Yukari and Mitsuru milfs. Riku gets very annoyed and Ann thinks it's hilarious. Yukari thinks it's funny too and just laughs it off and Mitsuru has no idea what milf means. No one's gonna tell her either that it's not Mother I'd Like to be Friends with 💀💀💀💀

All in all they are very close and great buddies and I live for their dynamic. Also their dynamic with Yusuke. That's my phantom thief brot3 😌