#fanfic culture

[vanroades-iswriting]

A lot of digital ink has been spilled on the topic—some accusatory, some defensive, all annoyed at how everyone else is missing the point. I’m continuing the tradition. However, I propose this modest, chickenshit theory: none of the reasonings for M/M’s (and M in general’s) reign are 100% wrong, nor are they 100% right. I want this to be thorough, debating each reasoning on its own merits, so…hey! Don’t look at the scrollbar! Don’t! Stop it!!

Here it is, finally! All 11k words of it!

Of course, this wouldn't have been possible without @centrumlumina's decade-worth of data and other folks' articles and posts that I cited throughout this monster.

While this is thorough, I also wanted it to be easy to read, personal, and snarky--prepare to be lightly teased by a fellow fic writer. Digressions include Kpop RPF, Thranduil slashfic, and Yae Miko's boobs. I hope you enjoy. :)

In the rare chance that this leaves my inner circle, feel free to chat amongst yourselves in the reblogs or Substack comments or send me anecdotes, but I have no interest in debating this topic with strangers. I'm tired.

dividers by cafekitsune ; header by me.

[staregrace]

"English is my mother/second tongue"

"I learned English in school"

"I learned English over music"

okay? I learned English reading and writing wolfstar fanfiction at age 13, fight me

[stinky-bus]

Sometimes when your ship has been through so much pain all you do is read purely fluffy fics of them simply existing in normal non-life threatening situations and learning to heal from their trauma together, which is honestly so beautiful to me.

[caffeinsanity]

After months of staying silent on literary discourse here on Tumblr, I finally have something to contribute.

Fanfiction is not the problem. Fanfic is a free, communal and valid form of writing which, although not always high quality, has yielded some genuinely great stories. The real problem, the reason for ‘booktok books’ and the flaws in modern literature, is fanfic being hijacked by corporations. The minute people try to make money off of it, the minute fanfic and fanfic-style stories lose their meaning. Fanfiction is written on the notes app at 3am for you and 5 friends who share your taste. It is self-indulgent, chaotic, often told through a queer and/or neurodivergent lens, and free from any pressure to be commercially palatable. The minute a few stereotypical fanfiction tropes and ideas are stolen by commercial publishers and twisted into patriarchal, heteronormative versions of themselves with no character depth beyond the romance (a problem that for obvious reasons doesn’t apply to fanfic), that is where the real problem begins.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk

[aveimperator40k]

A heads-up for ao3 writers.

The current rash of long and weird troll comments are bots.

This is from where I archive commissioned *art* of my fics and ships. There is no story or dialogue.

Don't feel bad when you get these. It's just a bot.

[farenmaddox]

Unposted Fanfiction Poll

Just because I'm currently doing this very thing, I gotta know how common it is. Do you write fanfiction that isn't meant to be shared?

Understand, I am not asking how often you start fics/drafts that you just don't get around to finishing and therefore don't get posted. I mean something you sit down and fully write, but it's just for you?

This poll is intended for fic writers that currently write and post fanfiction or have done so in the past. If you don't write fanfic, try to restrain yourself.

[irrepressible-domovoy]

If you use AO3, you have to remember that any kind of asking for money on that website is against policies. It could get them shut down.

The reason is none of us own the IP that we are posting about. They (the people who run the archive) don't own anything on that site either. If you don't own something, you can't get money off of it and can be shut down and sued by the people who actually own it.

Another thing is you cannot ask for art commissions by the authors on the fic itself. This still counts as making money off of the product under their Terms of Service.

What you can do is do commissions for art or prompts on somewhere like here, because it's not on AO3 itself.

For the love of all that has kept me sane over the years, do not get the archive shut down because you can't follow the terms of service.

(Also, don't claim you read an entire multi-thousand word fic and offer commissioned art on the first chapter. We know you're lying, especially if you can't actually name a specific thing you liked in the praise)

[teekl-darling]

This is how it feels to be in the Invincible fandom

[sundropcass]

i love how so many fandoms have a specific niche fanfic plotline that everyone is collectively obsessed with at some point and so there are literally 30 million iterations of it. my favorite genre.

[bobaheadshark]

the feminine urge to post a wip even though it’s not edited it’s not complete it’s nothing like you envisioned, and yet — u want your three mutual blorbos to pls pat u on the head, to pls validate u, to tell u ur words are something and that you aren’t alone and that the words on the screen are worth the endeavour. and sometimes it’s about the one to one understanding of the words on the page. sometimes it’s about the story making it from head to paper. sometimes it’s just about being deranged in your DMs and making the idea happen just for your own sake, or the two of you. the snake eats itself but it sustains and sustains, and i just think that’s beautiful.

[mydearzero]

Ain’t no way someone just dmd me on TIKTOK to ask when I’m updating like this….. fanfic and fandom culture is DEAD 😭

[ultraviolet-psyche]

So recently I've noticed a lot of discussion in fandom spaces regarding how readers discuss fics in private Discord servers without the author present, and as a fanfic writer myself, I'm... kind of conflicted.

On one hand, I believe that readers have the right to a space away from the author where they can freely share their thoughts on the fic with one another, especially when those thoughts are not 100% positive nor otherwise appropriate to share with the author directly. Discussing a fic with your friends is a very different social situation to leaving a comment directly on the fic where you'd expect the author to see it, so I can understand why some readers choose to do one but not the other, especially since many authors don't want any constructive criticism nor anything perceived as negative in their fic comments. I will admit, I do sometimes wonder if, or how often, people talk about my writing in private spaces, but it's only an idle curiosity, not a thought that keeps me up at night.

On the other hand, if a bunch of people talk about a particular fanfic in a private server, but none of them comment on the fic directly, or worse, leave kudos, then that's kind of weird, IMO. I've read anecdotes from fellow writers detailing how they got little to no feedback on their fic and thought nobody was reading it, only to discover that a bunch of people were reading it, but only sharing their thoughts in a private space the author wasn't privy to. That's fucked up. Fanfiction authors should not be seen as above their readers, even if their fics are on Heat Waves levels of notoriety. We're fans just like you, and we'd love to have the opportunity to discuss our work with fellow fans. If our work means so much to you that you stay up all night reading it, that you can't stop thinking about it, that you're driven to gush about it with your friends �� we want to hear about it! If you're going to talk about a fic in a private space, the very least you could do is leave kudos, just to let the author know that yes, someone is out there reading and enjoying their stuff. Again, readers have the right to that private space, and to be honest I personally don't mind if they don't also comment directly on my fics; that's absolutely fine, I consider comments to be a lovely bonus rather than an expectation. But I know how hurtful and isolating it can be to think that nobody even cares enough to say "thank you, I liked this!" in response to a piece of writing you've poured your heart and soul into.

Idk, that's just my two cents on the matter.

[someone-else-reading13]

i think that fanfic just goes to show that even if you had the same exact idea, two people can’t write the same story.

like i get obsessed with certain combinations of tags in a fandom and i swear none of the fics are the same. sometimes they can start similar, but as the story progresses you come to the realization that you have never read this particular version. the way they see other characters, the inner monologue of the narrator, the descriptions and dialogues, THE DELIVERY of the plot, it’s all specific to that writer at that moment in their life.

you can’t tell me that this is part of the reason why i and (to my understanding) many other people will read multiple fics with practically the same premise

[lizaelbhrt]

hey.

things have been kind of heavy lately. i’m not really okay, but i’m trying. writing helps. ao3 helps. it gives me a reason to get through the day — a thread to hold when everything else feels too much.

i’m not posting this for pity. i just… could use some human connection right now. a message, a comment, a reminder that someone’s out there. if you’ve read my stuff or just want to talk, my inbox is open.

thanks for being here. really.

[chaoticquill]

Why Are We STILL Doing This?

I'm just going to straight up say the worst thing you can do as a reader is praise a writer in one breath, then backhandedly bash their ships in the next.

Let me explain.

I'm not talking about the "I don't normally ship x, but I gave this a chance since you wrote it" comments. Because that's fine. It's totally within your right to ship and not ship whatever.

I'm talking about, "Wow, this person's x ship work is so good! But ew, they ship y. Gross."

Y'all, I write fanfic because I want to. No one's paying me to do this. I love the community I've found in doing it, but then, I see people behaving badly, and I get a lot of feelings (hint: none of them are good ones. Mostly angry, a little sad).

I've been targeted and harassed for my ships on AO3. And because I am who I am, I have embraced the petty urge to write that ship I've been told not to EVEN HARDER.

Not everyone is like that. Talking shit about a person because of the ships they like can be really bad for that person's mental health. I know people who have stopped writing popular ships because of the hate they get for their less popular ones despite clear tagging, and it's even more infuriating when I see the same people talking shit get all sad because the writer quit writing the ship they (the reader) likes.

Sometimes, I ask myself, "Why can't we all just try to make this weird wonky fandom space we share in such a way that people's mental health doesn't crumble and they get all the joy out of their fan works they seek?" Then I remember people are people.

Hard ask, but if you don't like a ship, maybe instead of speaking in ways that damage other people, you can just say, "I don't personally like that ship" and not read the thing. Hell, there are ships I don't like, and I can just avoid them because tags. (Yes, I know it's not that easy, but hell, I'm trying anyway).

TL;DR: I saw people being assholes, I have feelings, and I want those people to stop being assholes.