#ao3 comment

[ao3-shenanigans]

Just wanted to share: I've recently commented on a fic from 2016, an AU that the author has not touched in years. It was the only comment on that fic at all. And I got a very sweet reply from the author and ngl, this made my day. 💜 Moral? Everyone should comment on fics, no matter, how old they are. 💜

Aw heck yeah!!!

Comments and replies are the best!!!

[dear-ao3]

[just-here-with-my-thoughts]

Do you know what I love? People who leave comments in their bookmarks on AO3

I mean, I know they do it for themselves to keep track of what they've bookmarked, but do they realise how magical it is for the author? No email, no notification, just one day you notice the bookmark counter has gone up and you check it and BAM, someone has not only bookmarked your fic but wrote a lovely little thing about it too :)

[toastedcatbread]

I'm sorry, but I don't really find "At the Altar" to be very sexy or cute at all. I've been thinking for weeks how to phrase that doesn't sound like outright bashing, so I'll do my best. First of all, Cloud becoming blessed without even realizing it (lacking CONSENT), can't remember if he was even a child, and then Sephiroth coming around to collect his 'due' in sexual favors is just coersive and cringy. And later, Sephiroth outright killing everyone in his village because reasons??? and Cloud's all like, "Oh ALL RiGHT but don't you do it again~" is just?? mindboggling? Cloud would do anything for his people, for the ones he cares about, and sparing just a few isn't doing Cloud any favors. He'd want to save everyone he could, even if they weren't his biggest fans. There's a huge imbalance of power here that doesn't jive with 'loving, consenting relationships'. Cloud is subjected to painful, unrealistic sex because he has no CHOICE; and therefore, Sephiroth can't just fuck the living bejesus out of Cloud and woops, that's how love happens. It's unbelievable, it's really kind of rapey, and it really isn't for me. For a reader, I approached this story "Porn Without Plot", and that's fine, but there is some semblance of plot here, though it's so poorly presented that it's painful to read and it rarely deviates from, 'Sephiroth does something bad, but it all goes away because Cloud just loves getting dicked until he can't see straight' and because he's such a subserviant individual - which, canonically, he isn't. He wants to live for himself, in the end, find his own identity. I really hope you consider wrapping up the story soon, because even as I can't stand it, I'm hoping that somehow, really hope, that Cloud realizes how much he's been manipulated and gets away from Seph, because this is not the basis of a healthy relationship, at all, and it frightens and upsets me to my very core.

Sefikura, as a whole, has never been healthy or cute or wholesome. In canon, it's presented as a manipulative, dark, gritty, and horrendously co-dependent in a way no one can call healthy.

Listen, anon, you're entitled to your opinion on At the Altar just as anyone else is. I didn't write the story to explore any deep plot or dynamic. It's not meant to be fun or cute. It's really just a fantasy theme that I'm writing to practice writing sex, which I personally find difficult.

However, you're bleeding "real world" into fantasy at this point. No one today would disagree that, should something like this happen in real life, it would be horrific. Of COURSE, Cloud isn't subservient in canon, especially not to Sephiroth. Of COURSE he's trying to find his own identity in canon. They don't have gods or blessings or offerings in the actual FF7 storyline. In this world where humans identify themselves as "followers", things are different. Cloud is different. It's an AU and, at some point, it will deviate from "normal" Cloud's actions.

Stop comparing fanfiction with canon or real life. AUs exist as a genre and people write them to explore outside the box of canon. You don't have to like it, nor do you have to read it. I understand that you may like some of my other works, or maybe you don't, but I'm not really writing for clout or popularity in the fandom. If it's not to your taste, I'm sure there's plenty of other works out there that can scratch that itch for you.

If I'm perfectly honest, there's thousands, maybe millions of people reading on AO3. How in the world is anyone supposed to write something that satisfies every single reader anyway? It's impossible. So I don't aim for that. It write for various reasons and At the Altar just happens to be me practicing porn. It's not meant to be realistic or true to canon.

[hermesserpent-stuff]

obsessed with this comment.

what if in the stolen heir au hiccup and dagur just straight up leave?? I can see two different really fun scenarios that occur.

they leave while they are both young when dagurs like 16 and feels old enough to beat the world Hiccup is 13 and a skilled blacksmith that is so so tired. They sail into Viggo's waters and travel from tribe to tribe in that area with their skills and act as helping hands for hire. some how hiccup falls in love with dragons, or maybe has a similar toothless incident. Viggo meets them both at some point,idk

Or~~

2. After hiccup gets toothless when hes like 14 (because i like him being younger than canon for the fun of it) Movie events happen except no astrid to stop him and he flies off. he goes to berserker island, not wanting to flee the archepelego without telling his only other friend. Dagur is just like, um no, I'm coming too. and so they take flight, kill the queen and take over that original nest or something. Again I am biting at the bit for viggo to meet them some how.

@windwalker-chrysalis

@lirabuswavi what do you think?

[ves--pertine]

You can find all the commented fics bookmarked in this ao3 collection.

@feedthefandomfest

[the-pen-pot]

Spam comment on AO3. If you get one of these, mark as spam and don't go to the discord link.

1. No mention if characters, fandom or anything.

2. Promoting "original content creators" on a fanfiction website (why??)

3. Dodgy non account keysmash name.

[feelingthedisaster]

two types of comments

[amiserableseriesofevents]

Everybody can go home I got the funniest comment on one of my fics ever:

Pekapon, whoever you are, I love you ♥️

[letsquestjess]

Going to put this under a read more because it's a bit of a rant, but I needed to get it off my chest.

You know, I really fought with the idea of uploading my stuff to AO3, and this is why. I used to post fics on there way in the past and this was the kind of shit I got. The fic has barely been up on there for a few hours. On here, I get lovely comments, and even if people did have a problem with anything I've written, they don't say it. I have only experienced kindness and encouragement, and it is something I am incredibly grateful for.

But this shit really annoys me. It seems like such an unnecessary comment to make.

For anyone who hasn't read it, In the Midst of the Storm is a super short fic I wrote way before season 3 came out, where Crosshair got away from the Empire, managed to snag some intel, and met with Cody to hand it over to him. At the end, Cross leaves. In my mind, he had stuff he wanted to do. I didn't want the fic to be a full-length novel; it was just a fun idea I had.

I get the feeling this person doesn't like Cody or some of his actions, but it just feels like they didn't need to make this comment. Sure, don't like stuff, there's plenty of stuff out there I don't like, but I don't feel the need to make backhanded comments. I just shrug and scroll on.

I could understand if they had commented something like 'omg, can't believe Cody let Crosshair leave'. It's the sarcastic 'what a good brother!' that basically drives the knife in.

And yeah, I probably comes across as a sensitive writer (which, I suppose in a way I am at times), but I'm resisting the urge to comment back just like 'yeah, he let him leave. AND?'

Thinking of holding off posting the rest of my stuff on there for now, possibly just deleting my account (even though I only set it up today) if this is the kind of comments I'm going to get. If all I'm going to get is people ripping into the silly fics I write for a bit of fun, it just isn't worth it.

[smokietaylor]

Getting a comment on AO3 is like getting mail as a kid... That is all

[ao3-shenanigans]

Every time I get a comment on a fic, I try SO HARD to play it cool in the reply when I'm literally over here giggling and kicking my feet like a madwoman 😂 someone just commented on the part I was worried wouldn't make sense and I actually cried

!!!! That’s the best!!

[mama-qwerty]

Couldn’t help myself.

The comment, left on Fall of the Status Quo:

“ I wanted to enjoy this, but seems like this is just another case of a writer who gave up. “

My response:

“Nope.

Another case of a bunch of real life stuff coming together to kick the writer out of this story's mindset for a while.

I'm about halfway through the next chapter.

But hey, thanks for your concern! It's that kind of passive aggressiveness that really spurs us writers to work even harder in our sometimes limited spare time to write these stories and post for free! Keep up that entitled attitude! It'll serve you well in life, I'm sure.“

[just-here-with-my-thoughts]

@theproblemwithstardust i think this means we're married now

[toastedcatbread]

Sorry, but "It's an AU" and "I can't please everyone" are two complete cop-out statements. They do not make a piece of fiction immune to criticism. It's not the reader's fault for trying to apply real life to writing at times because that's what we draw upon when we consume a piece of fiction. It's like asking someone to keep an open mind to rape, just because it isn't happening to someone real. We read because we care about what happens to the characters. The dynamic is dysfunctional and upsetting because it isn't that healthy, and maybe it's because I'm autistic but I can't understand where everyone comes from when they say 'Sephiroth is being so cute' when he takes an unwilling person (I went back, he was 9 YEARS OLD) who was a child, had no idea what he signed up for, or that he was signed up for anything at all, and made into a sex slave an adult. I'm willing to concede that Sephiroth is too powerful to resist him, but at some point Sephiroth even gives him the power to withstand the constant abuse so it's EASIER for him to abuse him. And he does so, once again, without Cloud's consent to his own bodily autonomy. Sephiroth isn't being a good person, therefore Cloud shouldn't be falling in love with him. Even Cloud tries to appease him with other gifts and offerings to mitigate some of the embarrassingly poorly, through sweet and endearing gestures that would be acceptable to a human being, but Sephiroth just continues to abuse him and taunt him while he does so. And people think it's sooo hot. It isn't. Sorry, not sorry.

Have you considered that dubcon and power dynamics might be a trigger for you? Anon, if you have that boundary, then you need to be responsible enough to avoid media that has that kind of material. Asking writers to curtail their writing to your wants and needs is unreasonable and unfair.

Sephiroth is a villain. He has manipulated Cloud multiple times in canon and appears to continue to do so in Rebirth. His whole shtick is to taunt and abuse Cloud whenever he shows up on screen (no matter what universe), and Sephiroth isn't sorry about it.

In the story, Sephiroth is a god. He doesn't care about humans and doesn't give a rat's ass that Cloud was 9 when he saved his life. All he cares about is that Cloud owes him and sex is how he wants Cloud to repay him. Saying "Cloud shouldn't be falling in love with him" is a moot point, since physical intimacy often creates a very strong emotional bond between humans, even if they don't want it to. Would it be abusive in real life? Sure. But that's applying human logic to a god in a fictional story. Sephiroth is a god and doesn't understand it the same way Cloud does.

At the Altar doesn't appear to be the piece of fiction you're looking for. It's fiction and people can decide how to interpret the character's actions however they want. If they think it's hot? Well, it's fiction. If they think it's abusive? Well, it's fiction.

Even without fanfiction, Sefikura already has a lot of dysfunctional and unhealthy themes. Bodily autonomy is basically non-existent, considering Sephiroth canonically mind-controls Cloud to bring him the Black Materia. Sephiroth is not a nice person in canon (after Crisis Core, anyway) and saying that he is or that he should be respecting Cloud's autonomy is outright laughable.

If people think it's cute or hot or sexy, that's on them to decide. If you don't, then that's on you to decide. But don't go around deciding for other people that "it shouldn't be cute (or hot)" and saying that you're hoping I "consider wrapping up the story soon" because it's not what you want to read. If you don't like it, then don't read it and move on.

[hermesserpent-stuff]

I know it's spam now. But when I first saw this notification my heart dropped.