#fic things

[mooseyspooky]

Vampire Johnny is 60k right now. Like right this second. The chapter I've been rewriting for the past two eons while put it extremely close to this already, so 🥲

spin this wheel for a length of fic. you have to write a fic that length

[tartquez]

Casey arrives at Valentino and Marc’s third wedding alone, freshly divorced, and in dire need of a drink. An usher politely enquires as to which of the grooms Casey is a guest of, he just barely catches himself before making a face.

[inferno-ontherocks]

What it looks like: I've abandoned my fic

What's actually happening: It consumes my thoughts every single day. The urge to write gets stronger but my putty brain just. won't. let. it. happen.

[essayofthoughts]

Genuinely, I think one of the most fun and crunchy things about any character is

How far they will go for things they want

What they will do to get things they want

Things they won't do, no matter how much they want what they'd get in exchange

Because these things tell you some very important things about the character, namely their limits, their price, and their absolute No's. (And it lets you create some really REALLY crunchy conflict)

[the-rollerchloster]

fanfic: rearranging SUBTEXT into BUTTSEX

[candlewaxandp0lar0ids]

How to Leave Comments on Fanfiction

So, I recently made a poll to know if people might find it helpful to have a list of things they could talk about when leaving comments on fanfictions, be it on Ao3 or on here. A majority of people were interested in seeing the post so, well, I'm making it. I started writing and posting stuff online when I was a teenager, on a website where leaving constructive criticism was the norm. It's by far the place where I've gotten the most feedback and it was an incredibly formative experience for me as a young writer — and it taught me how to leave detailed comments.

Writing comments doesn't necessarily come easy. It's something that you may need to learn how to do, but the good news is that you can learn how to do it, so don't worry if you don't know what to say at first. Hopefully this list will give you some pointers on how to do that.

This is more or less the list I go through when I want to leave a detailed comment. Even if I don't have a specific idea at first, I'll go through the steps and I never come out empty-handed.

Comment etiquette:

What became apparent with the poll I made was that a lot of people worry about how they'll be perceived by the writers if they leave a comment. Now, obviously, writers aren't a monolith, but 99% of the time writers will be thrilled that you took the time to leave a comment to let them know what you enjoyed in their fic. I cannot stress this enough. We're not going to judge someone based on a positive comment they leave.

As it stands, on Tumblr and Ao3, it's seen as rude to leave negative feedback, unless the author has explicitly asked for it/agreed to it, so that's what I'll be going over here. Since quite a few writers did say on that post that they would like to get constructive comments as well, stay tuned, I'm trying to get something together to do that for authors. Other than that, you're good to go.

The main ways to let an author know your thoughts on a fic on Tumblr are:

reblogging a fic with your thoughts underneath it

reblogging with your thoughts in the tags, which is often less formal

leaving a comment as a 'reaction'

sending in an ask if they're activated on the blog (which means you can stay anonymous, if anon asks are allowed)

Reblogging means that your followers will see the post as well, and is therefore really appreciated on Tumblr.

As a note, you may find different systems work for different fics! Maybe leaving tag rambles works for you when commenting on drabbles, for example for me it's the system I use to leave comments on smut.

General advice:

Everything I'm saying in here is for people who want to be able to leave longer/more detailed comments and don't always know where to start. If, for whatever reason, you're not comfortable or you don't have time to do it at the moment, a simple "I love the fic, thank you for writing it" always goes a long way for an author.

The key thing to keep in mind if you're trying to find something else to say, I think, is to try making the comment specific to the fic you're leaving it on. It shows the writer what you took away from the fic and the fic's strong points, which is both meaningful and helpful to an author.

Comments don't have to be long to be meaningful. Don't stress about writing a ton; a one-sentence comment highlighting the fic's humor or how emotional it made you can be incredibly impactful.

With this out of the way, I'll go through things you can talk about in a comment, starting with what I think is the easiest and moving on to things that could require more thought. You don't have to do all of that. You may never use some of the things on that list. Leaving comments should not be a source of anxiety. So take what you want from the list, maybe come back to it if you need more inspiration, and don't worry too much about it :)

Favorite line(s) : pull from the fic to let the author know what your favorite line was. If you wish, you can expand on that by saying why it was your favorite: did it make you laugh? Did it make you feel something specific? Did the author nail the characterization with it? Was there some incredible metaphor? Did you find it beautiful or poetic even if you can't go into detail? Is there one line in particular at the beginning of the fic that hooked you in and made you want to keep reading?

All of that is very valuable for a writer to know. Some of my favorite comments I've gotten were a list of a reader's favorite lines from a fic with one or two sentences to explain why they liked them, so don't hesitate to do that more than once if you can!

Emotions:  if there’s one thing I know about writers, it’s that we’re thrilled when we’ve made you cry. So tell us: how did the writing make you feel? Did you laugh out loud? If you did, was it the dialogue, or the narrator? Did it make you cry? Which part? Could you relate to one of the characters? Did it make you feel seen? Did the fluff make you feel all fuzzy inside or did the angst twist knots in your stomach? This isn't an exhaustive list, and emotions are great to draw from when you're leaving a comment!

Favorite element of the writing: Is there one thing in the writing that struck you as being particularly good, or what was your favorite thing to read? Is the author a master at writing dialogue? Are their descriptions so good you could see the whole scene? Are they really good at getting in a character's head and describing their emotions? Were you hooked from the start and couldn't stop until you reached the end?

Characterization: Now, this might be less instinctive, but if you've been in a fandom for a while, you'll probably be able to identify these things fairly easily. You can tell the author if you think they've nailed one aspect of a character. Did you have a favorite character in the fic? What did you think of them? Did the author manage to capture their voice? Was the attitude spot-on? Which parts of the character, if you can name them? Were there aspects of the character you particularly enjoyed? Did the author shine a light on something you hadn't considered or on something you don't think is highlighted often enough? Is there one thing from the fic you can actually picture/hear a character doing/saying in your head?

Style: I'd argue this is the hardest part, and you shouldn't feel bad if it's not something you can really comment on. As someone whose first language isn't English, I know I struggle with it. Style can be perceived as the way the author's voice comes through in the text. It can come through in punctuation, in the way sentences are formed, in the choice of the words themselves. If, when you read, you feel something intangible that doesn't fit well in the other categories, it just might be the author's style.

Here are some things (non-exhaustive list, of course) you could say about an author's style: it can be direct, straight to the point. The author doesn't bother with ornaments. Every sentence feels impactful. Maybe the writing feels intense. You're overwhelmed by the characters and their feelings and you feel truly engulfed in the story. Maybe the style is light and airy. It's so easy to read you don't even notice you are reading. Maybe the writing is intricate. Going through it is like piecing a puzzle together, sentences are foreshadowing and metaphors reveal deep truths about the characters. Maybe the style is rich. While not always the easiest, it's a pleasure to read through it, the author has a wide vocabulary, and you might want to compare it to a well-written novel.

If you identify specific elements of that style (metaphors, interesting use of punctuation, etc.), don't hesitate to point them out and let the author know you enjoy them!

That is it for this post, hopefully it doesn't look too daunting — again, you absolutely do not need to do all that in any comment, but maybe going through this list can help you leave comments for authors you enjoy.

I like to end my comments with 'Thank you for writing and sharing this with us', so I'll tell you thank you for reading, I hope this was helpful, and please consider reblogging if you'd like to save this or if you think it could help someone else!

As a bonus, my friend @elidebrey and I (but mostly her) made a 'checklist' for commenting, to help remember all this if that's something you'd like, so use at will!

A big thank you to @elidebrey, @yoongihan and @antoniorhinothethird for their precious opinions on this ♥

[frownyalfred]

saw a post on the ao3 subreddit that made me remember…

your smut/NSFW fics don’t necessarily have bad ratios, they’re just content that people are much more likely to:

be nervous about attaching their username to by leaving kudos

visit multiple times

privately bookmark

privately share only with friends/closed discord channels

leave kudos as a guest (if at all)

(you shouldn’t put too much stock in hit to kudos ratios, but that’s another post)

[kcrabb88]

I was reading this fascinating longform article in the New Yorker about a current lawsuit going on in the Romantasy world and what constitutes a trope that can't be stolen vs. an original idea when a lot of the books in the genre end up being derivative, but what was most interesting were the bits about writers in the genre hardly being able to have their own cohesive idea for a book so much as editors and agents suggesting what they should write and not letting them finish a draft before sending revision notes and making changes. This kind of stuff is getting to be a major problem in trad publishing (and romance indie publishing has it's own issues with forcing writers to churn out books fast fast fast to stay relevant while sticking to a certain set of tropes, and arguably it isn't limited to romance). As a friend put it to me today, "the market controls writers now instead of the other way around."

Reading that article made me think of the Fansplaining article that came out a couple of weeks ago that talked a lot about more and more people reading fic but fic writers not really being able to see the fruits of that as much (because less engagement). It also talked about how a lot of "normie" types came into fandom during the height of the Covid years and they definitely have a different attitude toward fanwork than people who are in fandom generally. Which, true! I think fandoms, especially big popular ones have these kind of a sort of ... break and bake cookies concept of how you interact in fandom. There are pre-made silos where you ship certain characters and adopt certain fanon without coming to your own ideas naturally (and sometimes that fanon is VERY aggressive). Fic writers may feel a similar pressure to write what will be popular and trendy in fandom rather than what they might LIKE to write. They might feel they have to adopt certain popular fanon so people don't get mad. So, I dunno! Seems like the same problem in two not-unrelated spaces.

Not that we need to go back to the whole writers are suffering, tormented geniuses thing, but I do feel like writers of any stripe should be able to write something because they find it compelling and interesting rather than being pressured to, or feeling like they must, chase trends. You're going to get better writing that way! And readers will be happier for it, too.

[kame-writes]

Does everyone relate, or is this just a me problem?

[chaos-and-sparkles]

Watched Deadpool and Wolverine and it made me mentally ill so I had to go write (smut)fic about it. Bless this gay ass movie and that one comic fit ;]

[aspecbuddie]

thought I was noticing a trend while replying to ao3 comments and then it wasn't, so poll time

please reblog, I'm curious!

[tartquez]

Time travel au ☁️

Link to previous parts

Once Vale has given himself a moment to place where — when he is, he lets himself really look at Marc and there’s no other way to put it — he’s been crying. Vale could count on one hand how many times he’s seen Marc cry.

The Marc he left back home was still curled up in bed, Shira nestled in a fluffy mound at his feet while Alex was away that weekend on sponsor duties. Marc had insisted that he wouldn’t let the dogs sleep on the bed, one night was all it took for his resolve to crumble. Guilty smiles pressed sleepily into Vale’s collarbone, a mumbled, we can’t say no to her, can we? And if Vale was a crueler man, a little less in love, he might have corrected Marc then and informed him that the one Vale can’t say no to is not the dog.

Vale blinks slowly.

This Marc standing in front of him is noticeably older, a head of grey hair peppered with streaks of brown. There’s a heavy looking book open in his hands — a photo album, one he swiftly flips shut when he notices the direction of Vale’s gaze.

He offers Vale a watery smile before swiping the back of his hand under his eyes. As always, his smile erases a decade off his face.

“Vale,” Marc hiccups, smile broadening, his eyes are still wet.

Vale opens his mouth but doesn’t know what to say, the air is thick with something he can’t name, a wrongness. He closes his mouth. Every inhale and exhale is laboured, like something is caught in his windpipe and blocking the oxygen from reaching his lungs, he takes an instinctive step back.

And in spite of all of this, the pervasive wrongness, Marc beams like Vale’s unexpected presence is a precious gift. Vale feels sick to his stomach and doesn’t know why. The house is silent, no echo of footsteps or voice calling out faintly from another room, there isn’t even any background chatter from a television. Vale wants to ask where he is, his older self, but can’t find the words all of a sudden. The sick feeling rolls like a ball of clay in his stomach, changing shape but not nature.

“Am I out right now?” Vale swallows uneasily, throat suddenly dry. He glances around the room, searching, then clarifies, “your Vale, has he stepped outside?”

Something flashes across Marc’s face. For a split second, just before Marc wrestles his features under control, he looks unbearably young again.

“Yes.”

Marc runs a hand through his hair, a gold ring catches the light, Vale’s eyes zero in on it.

They’ve been talking a lot recently about the next few years, about Marc retiring one day, about what comes next. Vale takes in this Marc, silvery hair and tears tracking down his tanned cheeks, and the thought slams into him unbidden. Maybe this is what comes next.

A big empty house and Marc weeping over an old photo album.

Marc, his Marc, has only just started discovering the odd greys in his hair. Time moves in straight lines, even if he doesn’t, Vale knows this. Even if Vale has been hopping back and forth over time like a skipping rope that swings over his head one second before sweeping beneath his feet the next, the basic principle itself — before, now, after — remains immutable.

Each time he’s he’s jumped and that invisible skipping rope has flipped from beneath his feet to above his head, it’s always felt like that split second at the front of the pack when he turns his head to look over his shoulder, in one single glimpse, knowing what is behind him and what is coming.

Standing face to face with this Marc, for the first time in a long time, Vale doesn’t want to know what is coming.

He should ask but he’s too scared to, afraid of the answer he might get, because this is the moment to ask Marc if he regrets any of it. Marc has hated him before, Vale thinks he could survive it a second time if he had to, what he might not survive is being something Marc regretted.

Without any warning, Marc reaches out and cradles Vale’s cheeks in his weathered hands. “You have no idea how good it is to see you again,” Marc admits and Vale exhales shakily.

It’s selfish, Vale is under no illusions about that, he would take any future with Marc that he can get, but Vale is not the one who gets to make that call.

“I’m going to propose to you,” Vale says plainly.

It won’t be news to this Marc. Up until now, they’ve been taking turns moving chess pieces, swapping position at the front of the pack but now the music has stopped and Marc is the one at the front looking back over his shoulder, seeing what is behind him and knowing what is coming.

Before, now, after.

This exact moment in time, if Marc wants it — this is his out. Vale will honour and obey his choice even as reality sets in and bile rises in his throat.

But Marc is still grinning, is still crying a little but is still smiling too. His palms are still warm against Vale’s cheeks. There’s a gold band on Marc’s ring finger and it is pressing into Vale’s cheek. It might leave a mark.

“You better make it good,” Marc warns, mock-solemn, wipes the back of his hand under his eyes again, “I’ve been fantasising about it since I was eleven,” he jokes.

It’s easy then, with the sharp pressure easing in Vale’s chest, to promise, “of course.”

Marc inclines his head. His thumb sweeps featherlight under Vale’s eyes, Vale blinks in surprise at the wetness that Marc’s thumb comes away with.

Marc stares down at his hand, lips twisting in a faint smile, as if he hasn’t seen Vale’s tears in a long time either.

[inferno-ontherocks]

Absolute alphabet soup

[daughterofdrearburh]

“But it’s hard because there’s only anecdotal evidence about you,” Caitlyn blurts, and her heart is racing so fast she can’t feel anything underneath its hysterical thrum, not the embarrassment that threatens to encroach or the sudden, hot liquidity of her stomach. “I mean, nobody's actually ever spoken to you.”

Violet stills. She seems to be chewing on the inside of her cheek as she studies Caitlyn’s face, her eyes uncannily clear and sharp. After a long moment, she says, “Until now.”

-

Caitvi D.E.B.S au my beloved!!!!

[frownyalfred]

do u ever reread your own fic and realize you were actually kind of funny