#for every community there are the “absolutely not” words (like the r slur) and then there are words with context

[cyanide-sippy-cup]

For disability pride month, start amplifying disabled voices (you should be doing that anyway but especially this month)! There are a lot of people who try to be allies but end up speaking over us in quite harmful ways.

Like one of the things I've seen much of in the last couple days has been a lot of push for person-first language, that being language that centers the individual instead of the disability (ex: person who uses a wheelchair instead of wheelchair-bound). And I'm all for person-first language but keep in mind, that's an individual preference! Disability-focused language is actually preferable to a lot of people, myself included. The problem allies have with it is that it emphasizes the "problem" over the person, therefore it is "dehumanizing". However, for some, it is the opposite. Our disabilities are a big part of our lives, even to the point of practically controlling them. The focus on it helps push against the "it's not disabilities, it's different abilities!" mentality that is super harmful.

All in all, it's personal preference. If you want to use "person who uses a wheelchair" or "accessibility parking" instead of "handicap parking", that's up to you. Just be respectful of someone else's preferences, and if a disabled peer wants you to use certain language around them, do that. And remember to spread minority voices!

Oh and if I catch any of you spreading "it's not disabilities, it's different abilities!" I will tie you to a chair and force you to watch a sideshow until you learn the difference.

[eds6ngel]

hiiiii omg can u do one where robin and afab reader are happily seeing each other. one day, reader overhears some people talking badly about same-sex relationships and saying what they'd do to a same-sex couple if they saw one in public. scared, reader tries to break up with robin without explaining why. it's an emotional and tense moment, but robin won't let reader leave until she explains. finally, reader tells robin her fears, leading to a gentle, comforting conversation and moment that brings them closer

one day, we’ll be free ᰔᩚ

robin buckley x fem!reader

summary: you and robin had been seeing each other for two months in private, praying for the day that you could move to a more liberal area, but how would you react when jason carver makes his violent opinions known about lesbians?

pre warning !! this is a very heavy chapter, so make sure to read the tags carefully. if you find anything that triggers you, please go ahead and skip this fic. please do let me know if i have missed anything!!

warnings: ANGST!! fem!reader. lesbian!reader. closeted/hidden relationship. heavy 80s accurate homophobia. use of d slur in a derogatory way. rape & pedophilia accusation against a lesbian. gun mention. threat of hurting/killing lesbians. robin’s parents are homophobic. r tries to run away. allusion to self harm. break-up attempt. lots of crying. death mention. pet names (my love, baby, honey.) food mentions. slight fluff. [2.7k].

a/n: thank you for requesting, lovely! i did make this chapter very heavy and accurate to the time period (at least i hope close enough!) so i hope that this is suitable to what you can read and enjoy the fic ♡

You had met Robin in your French class in your junior year. You had found her to be the most stunning girl in the entirety of Hawkins High, and in an ideal world, you would’ve been asking her out in the middle of the damn hallway.

But… it was 1985, and you could’ve been ostracised, hurt, or even killed by another student or teacher if you even attempted to do so.

However, luckily for you, privacy was something that could be maintained. You successfully asked Robin out in a secluded area of Lover’s Lake extremely late at night, and to your delight, she said yes.

And for the past two months, you and Robin had been happily seeing each other in your own time. Whereas you would’ve loved to have publicly showed off your girlfriend like any of the other couples around Hawkins did, some a little too much, you still found comfort in the dates you organised in your bedroom or a nice, private spot during early hours of the morning.

However, your ultimate dream was to escape to the city. New York, LA, San Francisco, anywhere where you could go to a gay bar and just find like-minded people. Maybe there were more gay people in Hawkins, but how would you ever come to find out?

You loved this town, you grew up in this town and made so many memories here, but it just wasn’t safe for your future. Nowhere was really, but at least the cities had a community. Here? It was just you and Robin against everyone else. Against every other likely homophobic asshole that graced these streets.

You were sat at one of the lunch tables, patiently waiting for your girlfriend to join you from her Biology class. Unfortunately for you, it seems as if Robin’s class had been let out later than usual, so you had to grab a table before they were all taken, and that table just so happened to be to the right of Jason Carver’s designated spot. It wasn’t even designated, but everyone in the school was too goddamn scared, or simply agreed that that space was now his.

And just like always, he was being an absolute nightmare.

The daily Eddie Munson vs. Jason Carver shenanigans had already taken place, and since Jason’s table was obnoxiously loud about their talking points, you were subject to every word they would utter throughout the rest of the lunch period.

You spotted your girlfriend entering the cafeteria, giving her a huge grin and a wave, to which she returned, grabbing a tray and lining up in the lunch queue.

Your worries had settled for a few moments, glad that Robin was safe and healthy, but, that’s when Jason’s conversation definitely caught your ear.

“Dude, apparently one of the local dykes around here raped a teenage girl a few weeks ago.”

The whole table erupted into a roar of laughter at one of the other jock’s words, you purposefully holding back your tears. Not only were they being extremely homophobic, but they were laughing about a girl in her age category getting hurt. Gay or not, how could you even joke about that kind of thing? It’s so vile.

“Not even shocking, man. You know, if I saw one of them lesbians around here, I would be the first person to take them out. My dad owns a few guns, I could easily shoot them down from a mile away.”

That level of violence from Jason made you instantly terrified for your life. You were lucky you presented feminine, so everybody assumed you were into men, but what if he caught you and Robin in your safe space at Lover’s Lake? You could be shot dead and he could justify it with some horrible accusation of pedophilia.

And you couldn’t out Robin like that, no way. Her parents already spouted the same-old religious, homophobic talking points. She was already considered a ‘band geek,’ you couldn’t outcast her more than that and put her life in danger.

You had to go. You couldn’t do this to her. No way in hell.

Retrieving your bag from under the table, you step out, leaving your half-eaten lunch tray on the table as you quickly walked out of the cafeteria and to the parking lot.

Tears were blurring your vision as you drove through the misty rain, unsure of which was blocking your line of sight at what point, the two fading into one. The melancholy of the atmosphere continued as you parked in your driveway, throwing off your seatbelt, and bolting into your bedroom.

Your parents were fortunately at work, the loud clamoring of clothes being tossed around your bedroom echoing through the four corners of your house, your body frantically searching for everything you may need.

You need to get out. You couldn’t stay here any longer.

You were about to throw your journal in with your unorganised, messy clothes, when a sudden thought struck your mind. No matter how much you wanted to escape the world you lived in, you couldn’t leave your love like this. Robin deserved some form of closure.

So, ripping a page scruffily from your notebook, the edges uneven and jagged, you collected the closest pen from your bedside table and ripped the cap off with your teeth.

Your handwriting was scruffy, almost unintelligible as you poured your heart and soul onto the page. Small droplets were staining the page, smudging the ink and creating little tears in the thin material. It was chaotic and tangled, but it needed to be done.

Once finished, the journal itself, along with a few of your stationery items, were shoved into the suitcase, the letter folded in half as it was placed at the top of your rucksack, just above the cassettes and books.

Towing your suitcase behind you, rucksack hanging off one shoulder, you made your way back out into the torturous heavy rain. Luckily for you, Robin only lived a ten-minute walk away from your house, and since it was only 1:30pm, assuming she hadn’t rushed home out of worry for your wellbeing, you could open her bedroom window and slip the note onto her bed.

You felt bad for leaving her like this, but it was the best thing for both of you. You would never live a peaceful life if you willingly put your girlfriend in danger. Even worse if she got physically hurt.

This wasn’t just exclusive to Jason’s group of hooligans. They were terrifying enough, but what about the rednecks and rich, snobby business owners who would shoot you on sight? Who you definitely couldn’t put up a fight with?

If you wanted to live a sapphic life, you needed to do that in a somewhat safer place. And that place was definitely not Hawkins.

Robin’s worries had been flying high ever since she saw that lonely half-eaten lunch tray reminiscing in the absence of you. She had to eat lunch alone for the first time in forever, and it was honestly torture without your presence around her.

As soon as that last bell rung signalling the end of the school day, she was out in a flash, shoving all of her books in her bag, not even bothering to switch anything out in her locker. She could organise that tomorrow. She needed to find you. And she needed to do it quickly.

The moment she noticed your car had disappeared, she was hopping right onto the school bus, praying that the journey would be fast, at least fast in her mind. She couldn’t let her concerns invade her brain much longer.

She practically sprinted into her bedroom, only saying a quick “Hi!” to her mom as she burst into the room.

Her plan was to head to the phone, immediately dialing your home phone number and impatiently waiting for you to answer on the other end.

But, the note was impossible not to spot. She knew it wasn’t hers. She keeps everything in her journal nice and neat.

She was nervous as hell, carefully picking up the piece of paper between her dampened fingertips and lifting up the top, revealing your disordered handwriting.

“Hi, my love.

These last few months have truly been amazing with you, but I really can’t be with you any longer.

This has nothing to do with you, and everything to do with me. I just need some time to myself to clear my thoughts, and I don’t think having this many burdens on my shoulder is helping our relationship in any way.

I’m sorry for putting all of this on you like this, and I’m sorry for being so much of a fucking coward not to say this to your face. I hate to have to end things like this.

I’m sorry, and I hope you find someone who is good for you one day.

Your Y/N.”

Robin couldn’t believe what she had just read. Did you really think that your problems were causing harm to her? She would listen to you talk and ramble for hours on end about anything from a life-changing major event, to a minor thing that ticked you off at school. In no way were you causing her life harm. If anything, she would happily sacrifice her own problems for yours. You were the most important thing in the world to her.

She couldn’t end the relationship like this. She didn’t want to end the relationship at all.

She needed to find you. She would search to the ends of the Earth to find you.

Shoving the note in her back pocket, she left the room she only entered a few minutes ago. It was her mission to find you. With a quick, panicked yell of “I’m heading to Y/N’s!” to her mom, Robin was dashing back out the front door with her bike helmet and riding off down the street.

She was not letting you go. She was gonna talk about this with you. She was going to find out what was truly wrong.

Robin felt as if she checked everywhere. She tried your house, Lover’s Lake, even the goddamn mall, yet you weren’t there.

Her worries were increasing, and she needed to find you fast, making sure you weren’t hurting yourself in any way.

The main roads in Hawkins seemed to be getting busier and busier as the end of the work day came ahead, so she decided to use one of the quieter routes to get back to her house. It was a dumb thought process, but she was just going to keep calling and calling when she got back home in hopes that even by the 100th ring, you would pick up and speak to her with that gorgeous voice of yours.

She was carefully riding down the road, trying not to let any of her emotions visibly show. She wasn’t that great of a rider, she couldn’t risk falling off her bike and scraping up her knees again.

But, that is when she saw you. You were cuddled up in a ball on the bus stop bench, the lack of shelter meaning your rain jacket was soaked through, your body practically shivering in the cold February rain. Beside you was your purple suitcase, seemingly packed to the brim, and your rucksack sat perched on your lap, desperately attempting to protect you from the harsh weather.

Robin basically fell off her bike, letting it crash to the ground, the wheels still spinning as she yelled, “Baby! Oh my God, are you okay?”

She tried to reach out for you, but your body immediately flinched away from her, your wrinkled fingers hugging your knees closer to your chest. It was now that Robin could see the stains of your teardrops creating violent patterns through your foundation, making themselves known to anyone who had access.

“Why are you crying, honey? What’s the matter?”

You remained silent, a few echoes of cries escaping your lungs, many sniffles seeking to recover from the intense emotion.

Robin felt as if she had no choice, reaching for the piece of paper that was in her back jean pocket, now a soaked mess from where the downpour had attacked her clothing.

“What is this?” she questioned, holding it in your line of sight, knowing that you could see it in your peripheral, “Why are you trying to escape me, baby?”

A few moments of silence pass, before a low whisper states: “I just can’t be with you anymore.”

Robin feels her mouth become instantly dry. What does that mean? Were you telling the truth in the letter? You couldn’t be… No way…

“Why not?” she delves deeper, “Because what you said in the letter doesn’t bother me at all, baby. I would listen to every worry on your mind. Don’t think you’re ever a burden to me, my love—”

“I just can’t be with you, okay?!”

The sudden outburst makes Robin’s heart break, but not more than the sound of the bus approaching, and you seemingly gathering up your things to flag it down.

Not even thinking, Robin grabs your jacket sleeve, almost touching her fingers to your palm, “Honey, wait a second.”

“Let go!” you yell in total fear. There were likely people on that bus, and obviously the driver. Why was she being so risky? You were gonna get her killed.

Robin’s eyes begin to well up, your sudden emotion really striking her off guard, “Talk to me, baby. Please! I can’t lose you!”

“I’m gonna get you killed!”

Robin’s stunned, lost for words. As if subconsciously, she waves her hand for the bus driver to continue on, not stopping for you. She doesn’t care if that was your plan, you obviously weren’t thinking logically and you were both emotionally and physically overwhelmed.

“What do you mean?” she says softly, almost at a whisper.

You sigh, using your sleeve to wipe away the tears before Robin could reach her own hands out to catch them herself, “A-At lunch today… Jason’s table were talking about a lesbian around here raping a minor. A-And of course that’s wrong if it’s true, but it’s what he said he would do to people like us which scared me…”

Robin shows a slight nod, encouraging you lovingly to continue, “H-He said he would hurt us. Attack us with his dad’s gun. K-Kill us. And I just thought about him or another person around here finding us at Lover’s Lake at night and me having no way to protect you, a-and I just couldn’t handle that, so I wanted to run away…”

Robin was about to reply, but you interrupted her once more, “Sorry, I just— I don’t think I can do that to you. I can’t put you in danger any more. I can’t change the fact that I am a lesbian and neither can you, but I can actively decide our fates. And I want you to live a happy and fulfilling life in the future.”

“But honey… I’m living that happy and fulfilling life right now,” Robin admits, taking a deep breath, “I love you.”

You shake your head, “You can’t! I’m gonna end up getting you hurt! You deserve to be safe!”

“I feel safe when I’m with you! Before I met you, I was scared more than ever!” Robin begins to raise her voice in pain and anguish, “And now, you make me feel so much safer, because you give me hope that everything is going to be okay someday. Yes, we may need to hide now, but in two years, I promise you we will be in a safer place, baby.”

“But what about Jason and the other homophobes around here? What if they hurt us?” you question in distress.

“Baby, I’d rather die tomorrow with you in my arms than die alone at ninety knowing that I let you go as a goddamn teenager.”

You slowly start coming to your senses, nodding as the tears continue to fall. You close your eyes as Robin checks her surroundings, before she cups your face and leans her forehead against yours.

“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry, my love.”

“It’s okay, baby,” Robin whispers softly, “I love you. Two more years, okay? Just two more years of completely hiding.”

You nod, smiling weakly, “I love you too. Two years…”

taglist: @agxxb @robinsno1lesbian @agenderrat (no pressure for you to engage if this fic is too triggering for you <3)

[vorecommunitywoes]

anyway hi pine

Something they said about someone labeling them a groomer aka turning someone into red paste is no excuse to make a callout." absolutely no one called them a groomer, and that was also not the only reason why there was a callout post. they were just fantasizing about being violent towards a hypothetical person calling them a groomer

again expressing graphic violence against other ppl is generally seen as bad and weird

the sfw community is playing this down because they want to be able to interact with porn blogs without consequence, srry to say. the rules only apply when THEY feel hurt, not if they hurt other ppl

"If someone is caling your actioms stupid thats not ableist." calling someone an idiot is not calling their actions stupid, it is imposing ur view of them as someone who is disabled. words mean things. tinysuzy literally said she was "mentally concerned for my mental comprehension", seeing me as someone lower than her, that is NOT criticizing my actions, thats, again, the same as saying u think someone is mentally disabled. if u can explain why comparing someones negative actions to disabilities isnt ableism aside from "everyone does it" that would be an interesting read. using disabilities in negative language affects how u see disabled people, making those connected of disabled people as being something undignified and being OK to use for insults. it is entirely about demeaning someone u dont like or who made a mistake and comparing them to someone mentally disabled. this is wrong, dont u think? why or why not?

"If your disability made you sct poorly, its not an excuse its an explanation." i mean yeah obviously. no one is arguing this! ppl who act poorly as a result of their disabilities can still b talked to, or if it is severely life affecting they should seek support when possible!

",no one is targeting your disability they are targtting your actions" saying ur worried about someones "mental comprehension" is NOT targeting their actions! neither is calling them mentally lesser by saying they arent "the sharpest tool in the shed". that is just calling them mentally handicapped

turn anons off for a while. the threats i dont ever condone but u can easily prevent them and control how ppl interact with u. this seems to generally be a big issue with the community with ppl claiming they cant control who they interact with

"The nsfw blogs we interavted with as a result of us interacting eit rebloged posts can now use amo against this community. Its already happened." CHECK PPLS DNIS BEFORE INTERACTING WITH THEM EVEN IF ITS A REBLOG? this is not a community u can just interact with whoever u see whenever. u have to have basic respect for ppl especially adults. why wouldnt ppl with nsfw blogs be upset about this?

"Adults of this community, you may not like it but you need to look out for the younger memebers especially ones who follow and interact eit you. Its the same for every content creator with a young fanbase. You are no different." but u dont feel the same way about ppl who have nonsexual interests in other topics that ppl usually see as "fetishes" like feet/BDSM. y is that different here?

also again start talking to disability activists about using mental handicaps as insults. are u only saying it bcuz it feels right to you? and not talking 2 other ppl who have different perspectives on this? are u only relying on ur pov or in ur friend group for this or have u been researching? srsly connect with ppl ab this stuff. my pov on this comes from irl groups and friends and personal experiences

"If they use the r slur to you and know youre disabled, , invisble or visible - THAT IS ABLEISM!!" .........is it ok to use it if they arent disabled? what? or is it only ableism, but still not socially acceptable, if they use it on someone who isnt disabled? what is the implication there

anyway an archival of what im replying to cuz i figure its good to keep track of whos saying what in these convos

[genderqueerdykes]

I really like the term(s) fagdyke/dykefag, but I'm sort of worried about using them because I feel like if I've never been called those slurs I can't exactly, reclaim the term if that makes sense? Like, it definitely does something for me and I think it's an accurate representation of how I've been feeling gender wise but yeah.... (I'm guessing it's also sort of a thing where it's not used outside of certain social circles).

i get what you're saying, i understand the fear. there's this extreme pressure rn in online circles, generally speaking due to t/erfisms and r/adfem rhetoric, sometimes t/ransmed rhetoric that make people feel like they need to jump through hoops or literally directly experience every microaggression or aggression possible to be able to reclaim your identity. also there's this big push to try to erase reclaiming historical queer terms, like the word queer itself. people are trying to erase queer history and im not here for it

you don't have to win the oppression olympics in order to be able to reclaim these terms, they have historical meaning and lesbians and gays have been proudly wearing the dyke and fag labels for decades. "dyke marches" "dykes on bikes" "leather dykes", the reclaiming of the term dyke in the lesbian community is so vital and huge that no one can take that from us. same for taking back the word fag/faggot. the historical proud usage of these terms can never be erased

have i been called a dyke? yes. have i been called a fag/faggot? yes. is that the only thing that qualifies me to call myself those things? absolutely not. once you identify yourself as a lesbian and embrace lesbianism, you're a dyke. once you identify yourself as a gay man/person and embrace gayness, you're a fag. you're a dyke because you said you're a dyke, you're a fag because you said you're a fag.

we're in a wave right now of queer liberation where we are taking these labels back with such vigor and pride that it doesn't matter whether or not someone else views you that way. it doesn't matter what slurs a cishet person would actually call you, it's about loudly and proudly telling the world who you are, and forcing them to accept it.

it's okay to call yourself that, even if you haven't been personally called one of those slurs. don't worry about that discourse it's very recent, very online, and very ignorant. if you feel like that fits you, use it. you don't have to call yourself a gaybian or velaurian or anything else if you want to say dykefag. those terms are great, but it's okay to take those words back for yourself. you got this, take care, you're rad as hell. we appreciate you!!! <3

[cookie-waffle]

Some things ya’ll gotta stop being so chronically online about:

- Assuming everyone on earth knows who JK Rowling is and what she’s done

- Thinking that ace discourse is actually a real controversial issue in the wider LGBT community

- Being so comfortable with incest and pedo fandom content that you think it’s generally accepted as normal by people outside of fandom culture.

- Assuming that everyone you meet should be super knowledgeable about proper lgbt terminology

- Assuming that absolutely everyone knows about every derogetory slur to ever exist and why they shouldn’t use them

- Assuming that everyone knows about every single company that is donating to Israel.

- Calling words like “weird” and “stupid” slurs as if they’re just as offensive and impactful as the R-slur (I assure you that the VAST majority of disabled people do not give a single solitary fuck if someone uses those words)

- Thinking that people who use neopronouns or who don’t identify as a “normal” lgbt label are causing transphobia

-Assuming every LGBT person on earth thinks the word “queer” is offensive

- Thinking that white people can’t have thick curly hair and accusing white people with naturally frizzy hair of “cultural appropriation”

Tumblr and Twitter are not the entirety of human society, guys…

[kdramacrybaby]

Falling Into Your Smile (2021)

Genre: Romance, Comedy

Synopsis: Tong Yao is one of the best casual players of OPL in China. When a position opens up on the professional E-sporst team ZDGX, she takes a chance and takes the leap into the spotlight as the first pro female player. But earning her spot on a team who never wanted a new member in the first place is tough, and she has to work hard to prove that she is just as good as any of the boys.

Episode info: 31 episodes / Runtime around 45 minutes

Lead cast: Chen Xiao (Tong Yao), Xu Kai /Lu Sicheng), Merxat Yalkun (Yu Ming), Xiao Kaizhong (Lao Mao), Gao Han (Lao K), Sun Kai (Xiao Pang), Yao Chi (Lu Yue), Cui Shaoyang (Xiao Rui)

Link to watch: You can watch on Netflix and Dramacool

Drama rec masterlist | Drama rant thread (beware of spoilers)

So, I watched this without doing any rants, as it was a drama where I just wanted to turn off my head and not think too much about what was happening. I have actually tried watching it once before and gave up on it, but then it started showing up all over my YouTube shorts, so I decided to give it another chance.

I've seen both a lot of good and a lot of bad things about this drama - it seems you either absolutely love it or hate it. I'm somewhere in the middle, I guess.

It's cute and fluffy overall. Gives some decent commentary about being a girl in a male dominated sports, and also some pretty good comments on the relationship between fans and idols - and the boundaries that often end up being broken. There is a line that should never be crossed, and they do a good job showing how it can affect the idols when they are crossed anyway. Nothing groundbreaking, but not every drama has to be.

The graphics for the game scenes are really cool, and I liked watching that a lot. Wish they had done that just a tiny bit more, but I bet it was expensive.

I do have to say - I don't know if it's the actual lines or the Netflix subtitles, but a lot of the drama felt stiff and impersonal. Zero emotion at all, and sometimes it didn't even make sense. The subtitles also used the word r*tard a lot... which, is that not a slur? It felt very iffy to me.

The couples don't really seem to communicate that much, and I have to admit that the chemistry wasn't really all there for any of them. They had their cute moments, sure, but it's not the kind of relationship I would want.

So yeah, I don't hate this at all - I was certainly entertained and once I got started again, I did watch it all pretty fast. But it's not a fave drama of mine either, and I probably won't rewatch.

[0alanasworld0]

wow ksi and the sidemen reminding us why they're no better than team 10 and logan paul?? shocker (!)

lmao i remember when people called me a prude and boring for not liking them yet here they are exposing themselves for how sh!tty they truly are. a bunch of childish, racist pigs. the lot of them.

these absolute neeks r pushing thirty but don't realise that having a giggle at the casual use of a slur isn't okay? not while filming the video, not while editting and not while releasing.

if a bunch of middle-aged british roadmen r using that word at any point, its not about ignorance. they all would have known. raised in the shitty part of london with a considerably large brown community and you don't know that word is a slur?? it's carelessness. careless that they have displayed time and time again whether it be the way they talk to/about women, the LGBTQIA+ community or literally any other marginalised groups. they have ALWAYS been like this.

yh i applaud my younger self for hating these weirdos so strongly and in turn making fun of everyone that idolised them.

this sounds horrible but i truly mean it when i say that i wish every single one of them the very worst in their careers. crude, unfunny and obnoxious. ruined a whole generation of teenagers and to put the cherry on the cake, revived a slur that had largely been buried. great job, boys (!) ur absolutely nothing like team 10 (!)

[pashterlengkap]

Florida business posts hateful slur in sign denouncing Pride Month

A hateful sign in front of an auto repair shop near Tallahassee was called out by a Democratic political operative and has earned nearly a million views on Twitter. “Veterans get a day, f*gs and child molesters get a month, why,” the sign reads. May is National Military Appreciation Month in the U.S., and November is National Veterans and Military Families Month. --- Related Stories Some Pride organizers in Florida remain defiant this year as others cancel events One group is worried DeSantis will send in his “Gestapo” while another is asking people to come in from all over the world to defy DeSantis’s laws. --- The words appeared on a roadside sign in front of Rick’s Auto Repair shop in a rural part of Leon County near Tallahassee, the Florida state capital. Get the Daily Brief The news you care about, reported on by the people who care about you. The repair shop’s owner, Rick Hughes, is known for displaying sometimes controversial messages. A banner in support of former President Donald Trump can be seen in the distance hanging on the repair shop building. This kind of bigotry should have no place in our Tallahassee community. It is an embarrassment and the people at Rick’s Repair Shop should be ashamed of their foolish, hurtful, and wrong words. pic.twitter.com/vTPg1Md2A8— Jackson Peel (@JaxPeel) May 29, 2023 “This kind of bigotry should have no place in our Tallahassee community,” posted Jackson Peel, communications director for Florida House of Representatives Democrats, along with a photo he snapped of the offending sign. “It is an embarrassment and the people at Rick’s Repair Shop should be ashamed of their foolish, hurtful, and wrong words.” The comms guy says a friend alerted him to sign’s foul language on Sunday. As of Tuesday, Peel’s tweet had over 880,000 views, and several thousand comments debating the sign’s message. Hughes’ hateful words come two weeks after an electronic traffic sign near Orlando was hacked to read “Kill All Gays.” “Sounds like you’re trying to doxx someone for the purposes of violent retaliation for their political views,” read one of thousands of comments to Peel’s post. “Absolutely not,” Peel replied. “I haven’t even called for a boycott or negative reviews. Their sign is public facing, and they have no expectation of privacy regarding it. I have not disclosed the names or other info of anyone involved. Not doxxing, but thanks for trying.” “Looks like freedom of speech,” read another comment. “Yes,” Peel replied, “but not freedom from consequence or commentary.” Multiple replies applauded Hughes’ message, describing it as “based.” “Incredibly based, Rick can have my business anytime!” ZenComplex wrote. Peel kept up with the misinformation as best he could.   “Equating the LGBTQ community with child molesters is 1. Incorrect 2. Historically used to justify persecuting them,” Peel wrote multiple times in myriad ways. “Pedophilia and homosexuality are not the same thing. It’s not a hard concept to grasp, unless you’re a Sheeple who’s been duped by manipulative forces like RW media.” “This is hideous,” wrote Jared R. “I pass that place a bunch. I would’ve never gone there to begin with. Now I hope they lose any garbage business they had.” But for every Twitter used alerted to the danger of Hughes’ sentiments, there seemed to be another throwing the auto mechanic their support. Wrote Grandpa Midnight: “Thanks for showing us there are still legends out there unafraid to exercise their 1A rights that highlight the homo Jewish subversion that is rotting our nation from the inside out.” “Cry more,” one poster advised Peel. “I’m too busy coping and seething,” he replied. http://dlvr.it/SptGX1

[onewingednatu]

Vent in the tags don't mind me

[eiirisworkshop]

The Fanfic Author's Guide to Metatext

(As Used on Ao3) by Eiiri

Also available as a PDF here. This thing is 13,000 words.  The PDF is recommended.

Intro: What is Metatext?

Metatext is everything we fanfic authors post along with our story that is not the story itself: title, tags, summary, author's notes, even the rating.

It is how we communicate to potential readers what they're signing themselves up for if they choose to read our story, how we let them make informed decisions regarding which fics they want to read, how we get their interest and, frequently, how they find our story in the first place. A lot of metatext acts as a consent mechanism for readers, it's the informed part of informed consent.

Since most of us who write fanfic also read it, we understand how important this is! But, for the most part, no one ever teaches us how to use metatext; we have to pick it up by osmosis. That makes it hard to learn how to use it well, we all suck at it when we first start out, and some of us may go years without learning particular conventions that seem obvious to others in our community. This creates frustration for everybody.

Enter this guide!

This is meant to be a sort of handbook for fic writers, particularly those of us who post on Archive of Our Own, laying out and explaining the established metatext conventions already in use in our community so we (and our readers!) are all on the same page. It will also provide some best-practices tips.

The point is to give all of us the tools to communicate with our audience as clearly and effectively as possible, so the people who want to read a story like ours can find it and recognize it as what they're looking for, those who don't want to read a story like ours can easily tell it's not their cup of tea and avoid it, nobody gets hurt, and everybody has fun—including us!

Now that we know what we're talking about, let's get on with the guide! The following content sections appear in the order one is expected to provide each kind of metatext when posting a fic on Ao3, but first….

Warning!

This is a guide for all authors on Ao3. As such, it mentions subject matter and kinds of fic that you personally might hate or find disgusting, but which are allowed under the Archive's terms of use. There are no graphic descriptions or harsh language in the guide itself, but it does acknowledge the existence of fic you may find distasteful and explains how to approach metatext for such fics.

Some sexual terminology is used in an academic context.

A note from the author:

This guide reflects the conventions of the English-language fanfiction community circa 2021. Conventions may differ in other language communities, and although many of our conventions have been in place for decades (praise be to our Star Trek loving foremothers) fanfiction now exists primarily in the realm of internet fandom where things tend to change rather quickly, so some conventions in this guide may die out while other new conventions, not covered in this guide, arise.

This is not official or in any way produced by the Archive of Our Own (Ao3), and though some actual site rules are mentioned, it is not a rulebook. Primarily, it is a descriptivist take on how the userbase uses metatext to communicate amongst ourselves, provided in the interest of making that communication easier and more transparent for everyone, especially newer users.

Contents

How To Use This Guide Ratings Archive Warnings Fandom Tags Category Relationship Tags Character Tags Additional Tags Titles Summaries Author's Notes Series and Chapters Parting Thoughts

How To Use This Guide

Well, read it.  Or have it read to you.

This isn't a glossary, it's a handbook, and it's structured more like an academic paper or report, but there's lots and lots of examples in it!

Many of these examples are titles of real media and the names of characters from published media, or tags quoted directly from Ao3 complete with punctuation and formatting.

Some examples are more generic and use the names Alex, Max, Sam, Chris, Jamie, and Tori for demonstration purposes. In other generic examples, part of an example tag or phrase may be sectioned off with square brackets to show where in that tag or phrase you would put the appropriate information to complete it.  This will look something like “Top [Character A]” where you would fill in a character's name.

This guide presumes that you know the basics of how to use Ao3, at least from the perspective of reading fic. If you don't, much of this guide may be difficult to understand and will be much less helpful to you, though not entirely useless.

Ratings

Most fanfic hosting sites provide ratings systems that work a lot like the ratings on movies and videogames.

Ao3's system has four ratings:

General

Teen

Mature

Explicit

These seem like they should be pretty self-explanatory, and the site's own official info pop-up (accessible by clicking the question mark next to the section prompt) gives brief, straightforward descriptions for each of them.

Even so, many writers have found ourselves staring at that dropdown list, thinking about what we've written, and wondering what's the right freaking rating for this?  How do I know if it's appropriate for “general audiences” or if it needs to be teen and up? What's the difference between Mature and Explicit?

The best way to figure it out is often to think about your fic in comparison to mainstream media.

General is your average Disney or Dreamworks movie, Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon shows, video games like Mario, Kirby, and Pokemon.

There may be romance, but no sexual content or discussion. Scary things might happen and people might get hurt, but violence is non-graphic and usually mild. Adults may be shown drinking alcohol or smoking tobacco, and some degree of intoxication may be shown (usually played for laughs and not focused on), but hard drug use is generally not shown or discussed.  There is little to no foul language written out and what language there may be is mild, though harsher swears may be implied by narration. There are no explicit F-bombs or slurs.

Teen is more like a Marvel movie, most network television shows (things like The Office, Supernatural, or Grey's Anatomy), video games like Final Fantasy, Five Nights at Freddie's, and The Sims.

There might be some sex and sexual discussion, but nothing explicit is shown—things usually fade to black or are leftimplied. More intense danger, more severe injuries described in greater detail, and a higher level of violence may be present.  Substance use may be discussed and intoxication shown, but main characters are unlikely to be shown doing hard drugs. Some swearing and other harsh language may be present, possibly including an F-bomb or two.  In longer works, that might mean an F-bomb every few chapters.

Mature is, in American terms, an R-rated movie* like Deadpool, Fifty Shades of Grey, The Exorcist, and Schindler's List; certain shows from premium cable networks or streaming services like Game of Thrones, Shameless, Breaking Bad, and Black Sails; videogames like Bioshock, Assassin's Creed, Grand Theft Auto, and The Witcher.

Sex may be shown and it might be fairly explicit, but it's not as detailed or graphic or as much the focus of the work as it would be if it were porn. Violence, danger, and bodily harm may be significant and fairly graphic. Most drug use is fair game. Swearing and harsh language may be extensive.

Explicit is, well, extremely explicit. This is full on porn, the hardcore horror movies, and snuff films.

Sex is highly detailed and graphic. Violence and injury is highly detailed and graphic. Drug use and its effects may be highly detailed and graphic. Swearing and harsh language may be extreme, including extensive use of violent slurs.

Please note that both Mature and Explicit fics are intended for adult audiences only, but that does not mean a teenaged writer isn't going to produce fics that should be rated M or E.  Ratings should reflect the content of the fic, not the age of the author.

Strictly speaking, you don't have to choose any of these ratings; Ao3 has a “Not Rated” option, but for purposes of search results and some other functions, Not Rated fics are treated by the site as Explicit, just in case, which means they end up hidden from a significant portion of potential readers. It really is in your best interest as a writer who presumably wants people to see their stories, to select a rating. It helps readers judge if yours is the kind of story they want right now, too.

Rating a fic is a subjective decision, there is some grey area in between each level. If you're not quite sure where your fic falls, best practice is to go with the more restrictive rating.

*(Equivalent to an Australian M15+ or R18+, Canadian 14A, 18A or 18+, UK 15 or 18, German FSK 16 or FSK 18.)

Warnings

Ao3 uses a set of standard site-wide Archive Warnings to indicate that a work contains subject matter that falls into one or more of a few categories that some readers are likely to want to avoid.  Even when posting elsewhere, it's courteous to include warnings of this sort.

These warnings are:

Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Major Character Death

Rape/Non-Con

Underage

Just like with the ratings, the site provides an info-pop up that explains what each warning is for. They're really exactly what it says on the tin: detailed descriptions of violence, injury, and gore; the death of a character central to canon or tothe story being told; non-consensual sex i.e. rape; and depictions of underage sex, which the site defines as under the age of 18 for humans—Ao3 doesn't care if your local age of consent or majority is lower than that.

In addition to the four standard warnings above, the warnings section has two other choices:

No Archive Warnings Apply

Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings

These do not mean the same thing and cannot be used interchangeably. “No Archive Warnings Apply” means that absolutely nothing in your fic falls into any of the four standard warning categories. “Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings” means that you the author are opting out of the warning system; your fic could potentially contain things that fall into any and all of the four standard warning categories.

There's nothing wrong with selecting Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings! It may mean that some readers will avoid your fic because they're not sure it's safe for them, and you might need to use more courtesy tags than you otherwise would (we'll talk about courtesy tags later), but that's okay! Opting out of the warning system can be a way to avoid spoilers,* and is also good for when you're just not sure if what you've written deserves one of the Archive warnings. In that case, the best practice is to select either the warning it might deserve or Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings, then provide additional information in other tags, the summary, or an initial author's note.

Unless you're opting out of using the warning system, select all the warnings that apply to your fic, if any of them do. So if a sixteen year old main character has consensual sex then gets killed in an accident that you've written out in excruciating detail, that fic gets three out of the four standard warnings: Underage, Major Character Death, and Graphic Depictions Of Violence.

*(Fandom etiquette generally favors thorough tagging and warning over avoiding spoilers. It doesn't ruin the experience of a story to have a general sense of what's going to happen. If it did, we wouldn't all keep reading so many “there was only one bed” fics.)

Fandom Tags

What fandom or fandoms is your fic for?  You definitely know what you wrote it for, but that doesn't mean it's obvious what to tag it as.

Sometimes, it is obvious! You watched a movie that isn't based on anything, isn't part of a series, and doesn't have any spinoffs, tie-ins or anything else based on it. You wrote a fic set entirely within the world of this movie. You put this movie as the fandom for your fic. Or maybe you read a book and wrote a fic for it, and there is a movie based on the book, but the movie is really different and you definitely didn't use anything that's only in the movie. You put the book as the fandom for your fic.

All too often, though, it's not that clear.

What if you wrote a fic for something where there's a movie based on a book, but the movie's really different, and you've used both things that are only in the movie and things that are only in the book?  In that case you either tag your fic as both the movie and the book, or see if the fandom has an “all media types” tag and use that instead of the separate tags.  If the fandom doesn't have an “all media types” tag yet, you can make one! Just type it in.

“All media types” fandom tags are also useful for cases where there are lots of inter-related series, like Star Wars; there are several tellings of the story in different media but they're interchangeable or overlap significantly, like The Witcher; or the fandom has about a zillion different versions so it's very hard, even impossible, to say which ones your fic does and doesn't fit, like Batman. Use your best judgement as to whether you need to include a more specific fandom tag such as “Batman (Movies 1989-1997)” alongside the “all media types” fandom tag, but try to avoid including very many. The point of the “all media types” tag is to let you leave off the specific tags for every version.

In a situation where one piece of media has a spinoff, maybe several spinoffs, and you wrote a fic that includes things from more than one of them, you might want use the central work's “& related fandoms” tag. For example, the “Doctor Who & Related Fandoms” tag gets used for fics that include things from a combination of any era of Doctor Who, Torchwood, and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

And don't worry, from the reader-side of the site the broadest fandom tags are prioritized. The results page for an “all media types” or “& related fandoms” search includes works tagged with the more specific sub-tags for that fandom, the browse-by-fandom pages show the broadest tag for each fandom included, and putting a fandom into the search bar presumes the broadest tag for that fandom.  A search for “Star Wars - All Media Types” will pull up work that only has a subtag for that fandom, like “The Mandalorian (TV).” You don't have to put every specific fandom subtag for people to find your fic.

If you wrote a fic for something that's an adaptation of an older work—especially an older work that's been adapted a lot, like Sherlock Holmes or The Three Musketeers—it can be hard to know how you should tag it. The best choice is to put the adaptation as the fandom, for instance “Sherlock (TV),” then, if you're also using aspects of the older source work that aren't in the adaptation, also put a broad fandom tag such as “Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms.” Do not tag it as being fic for the source work—in our Sherlock example that would be tagging it “Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle”—unless you are crossing over the source work and the adaptation. Otherwise, the specific fandom subtag for the source work ends up clogged with fic for the adaptation, which really is a different thing.

By the same token, fic for the source work shouldn't be tagged as being for the adaptation, or the adaptation's subtag will get clogged.

The same principle applies to fandoms that have been rebooted. Don't tag fic for the reboot as being for the original, or fic for the original as being for the reboot. Don't tag a fic as being for both unless the reboot and original are actually interacting. Use an “& related fandoms” tag for the original if your fic for the reboot includes some aspects of the original that weren't carried over but you haven't quite written a crossover between the two. Good examples of these situations can be seen with “Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)” vs. “Star Trek: The Original Series,” and “She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)” vs. “She-Ra: Princess Of Power (1985).”

Usually, this kind of mistagging as a related fandom happens when someone writes a fic for something that is or has a reboot, spinoff, or adaptation, but they're only familiar with one of the related pieces of media, and they mistakenly presume the fandoms are the same or interchangeable because they just don't know the difference.  It's an honest mistake and it doesn't make you a bad or fake fan to not know, but it can be frustrating for readers who want fic for one thing and find the fandom tag full of fic for something else.

In order to avoid those kinds of issues, best practice is to assume fandoms are not interchangeable no matter how closely related they are, and to default to using a tag pair of the most-specific-possible sub-fandom tag + the broadest possible fandom tag when posting a fic you're not entirely sure about, for instance “Star Trek” and “Star Trek: Enterprise.”

The Marvel megafandom has its own particular tagging hell going on. Really digging into and trying to make sense of that entire situation would require its own guide, but we can go through some general tips.

There is a general “Marvel” fandom tag and tags for both “The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom” and “The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types.” Most of us who write Marvel fic are working with a cherry picked combination of canons from the MCU, various comics runs, both timelines of X-Men movies, and possibly several decades worth of cartoons. That's what these tags are for.

If your cherry picked Marvel fic is more X-Men than Avengers, go for the “X-Men - All Media Types” tag.

If you are primarily working with MCU canon, use the MCU specific tags rather than “all media types” and add specific tags for individual comics runs—like Earth 616 or the Fraction Hawkeye comics—if you know you're lifting particular details from the comics.  If you're just filling in gaps in MCU canon with things that are nebulously “from the comics” don't worry about tagging for that, it's accepted standard practice in the fandom at this point, use a broader tag along with your MCU-specific tag if you want to.

Same general idea for primarily movie-verse X-Men fics. Use the movie-specific tags.

If your fic mostly draws from the comics, use the comics tags. If you're focusing on an individual run, show, or movie series rather than an ensemble or large swath of the megafranchise, tag for that and leave off the broader fandom tags.

Try your best to minimize the number of fandom tags on your Marvel work. Ideally, you can get it down to two or three. Even paring it down as much as you can you might still end up with about five.  If you're in the double digits, take another look to see if all the fandom tags you've included are really necessary, or if some of them are redundant or only there to represent characters who are in the fic but that the fic doesn't focus on. Many readers tend to search Marvel fics by character or pairing tags, it's more important that you're thorough there. For the fandom tags it's more important that you're clear.

If you write real person fiction, you need to tag it as an RPF fandom. Fic about actors who are in a show together does not belong on the fandom tag for that show. There are separate RPF fandom tags for most shows and film franchises. Much like the adaptation/source and reboot/original situations discussed earlier, a fic should really only be tagged with both a franchise's RPF tag and its main tag if something happens like the actors—or director or writer!—falling into the fictional world or meeting their characters.

Of course, not all RPF is about actors. Most sports have RPF tags, there are RPF tags for politics from around the world and for various historical settings, the fandom tags for bands are generally presumed to be RPF tags, and there is a general Real Person Fiction tag.

In order to simplify things for readers, it's best practice to use the general Real Person Fiction tag in addition to your fandom-specific tag. You may even want to put “RPF” as a courtesy tag in the Additional Tags section, too. This is because Ao3 isn't currently set up to recognize RPF as the special flavor of fic that it is in the same way that the site recognizes crossovers as special, so it can be very difficult to either seek out or avoid RPF since it's scattered across hundreds of different fandom tags.

On the subject of crossovers—they can make fandom tagging even more daunting. Even for a crossover with lots of fandoms involved, though, you just have to follow the same guidelines as to tag a single-fandom work for each fandom in the crossover. The tricky part is figuring out if what you wrote is really a crossover, or just an AU informed by another fandom—we'll talk about that later.

There are some cases where it's really hard to figure out what fandom something belongs to, like if you wrote a fanfic of someone else's fanfic, theirs is an AU and yours is about their OC, not any of the characters from canon. What do you do?! Well, you do not tag it as being a fanfic for the same thing theirs was. Put the title of their fic (or name of their series) as the fandom for your fic, attributed to their Ao3 handle just like any other fandom is attributed to its author. Explain the situation in either the summary or the initial author's note. Also, ask the author's permission before posting something like this.

What if you wrote a story about your totally original D&D character? The fandom is still D&D, you want the “Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)” tag.

What if there's not a fandom tag on the Archive yet for what you wrote? Not a problem! You can type in a new one if you're the first person to post something for a particular fandom. Do make sure, though, that the fandom isn't just listed by a different name than you expect. Many works that aren't originally in English—including anime—are listed by their original language title or a direct translation first, and sometimes a franchise or series's official name might not be what you personally call it, for instance many people think of Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials series as The Golden Compass series, so it's best to double check.

What if you wrote an entirely new original story that's not based on anything?  Excellent job, that takes a lot of work, but that probably doesn't belong on Ao3!  The Archive is primarily meant as a repository for fannish content, but in a few particular circumstances things we'd consider Original Work may be appropriate content for the Archive as well. Double check the Archive's Terms of Service FAQ and gauge if what you wrote falls under the scope of what is allowed. If what you wrote really doesn't fit here, post it somewhere else or try to get it published if you feel like giving it a shot.

Category

What Ao3 means by category is “does this fic focus on sex or romance, and if so what combination of genders are involved in that sex or romance?”

The category options are:

F/F

F/M

Gen

M/M

Multi

Other

The F/F, F/M, and M/M categories are for stories focused on pairings of two women, a woman and a man, and two men, respectively.  These refer to sexual and/or romantic pairings.

The Other category is for stories focused on (sexual and/or romantic) pairings where one or both partners are not strictly male or female, such as nonbinary individuals, people from cultures with gender systems that don't match to the Western man-woman system, and nonhuman characters for whom biological sex works differently or is nonexistent, including aliens, robots, and inanimate objects or abstract concepts. There are some problems with treating nonbinary humans, eldritch tentacle monsters, sexless androids, and wayward container ships as all the same category, but it's the system we currently have to work with. Use Additional Tags to clarify the situation.

Multi is for stories in which several (sexual and/or romantic) relationships are focused on or which focus on relationships with multiple partners, including cases of polyamory, serial monogamy, strings of hookups with different people, and orgies.  A fic will also show as “Multi” if you, the author, have selected more than one category for the fic, even if none of those are the Multi category. Realistically, the Archive needs separate “Multiple Categories” and “Poly” options, but for now we have to work with this system in which the two are combined.  Use Additional Tags to clarify the situation.

Gen is for stories that do not contain or are not focused on sex or romance. Romance may be present in a gen fic but it's going to be in the background.  While rare, there is such a thing as a sexually explicit gen fic—solo masturbation which does not feature fantasizing about another character is explicit gen fic; a doctor character seeing a series of patients with sex-related medical needs following an orgy may qualify if the orgy is not shown and the doctor is being strictly professional—but such fic needs to be rated, otherwise tagged, and explained carefully in the summary and/or author's note.

Much like the warnings section, category is a “select all that apply” situation. Use your best judgement. For a fic about a polyamorous relationship among a group of women, it's entirely appropriate to tag it as both F/F and Multi.  A poly fic with a combination of men and women in the relationship could be shown as both M/M and F/M, Multi, or all three. A fic that focuses equally on one brother and his husband and the other brother and his wife should be tagged both M/M and F/M, and could be tagged as Multi but you might decided not to just to be clear that there's no polyamory going on. If you wrote a fic about two characters who are both men in canon, but you wrote one of them as nonbinary, you could tag it M/M, Other, or both depending on what you feel is representative and respectful.

When dealing with trans characters, whether they're trans in canon or you're writing them as such, the category selection should match the character's gender.  If there's a character who is a cis woman in canon, but who you're writing as a trans man, you categorize the fic based on his being a man. If there's a character who is a cis man in canon, but whom you're writing as a trans man, he is still a man and the fic should be categorized accordingly. When dealing with nonbinary characters the fic should really be classed as Other though, by convention, fics about characters who are not nonbinary in canon may be classed based on the character's canon gender as well or instead. When dealing with gender swapped characters—i.e. a canonically cis male superhero who you're writing as a cis woman—class the fic using the gender you wrote her with, not the gender he is in canon.

Most of the time, gen fics should not be categorized jointly with anything else because a fic should only be categorized based on the ships it focuses on, and a gen fic should not be focusing on a ship in the first place.*

*(One of the few circumstances in which it might make sense to class a fic as both gen and something else is when writing about Queerplatonic Relationships, but that is a judgement call and depends on the fic.)

Relationship Tags

The thing about relationship tagging that people most frequently misunderstand or just don't know is the difference between “Character A/Character B” and “Character A & Character B.”

Use a “/” for romantic or sexual relationships, such as spouses, people who are dating, hookups, and friends with benefits. Use “&” for platonic or familial relationships, such as friends, siblings, parents with their kids, coworkers, and deeply connected mortal enemies who are not tragically in love.

This is where we get the phrase “slash fic.” Originally, that meant any fic focused on a romantic paring, but since so much of the romantic fic being produced was about pairs of men, “slash fic” came to mean same-sex pairings, especially male same-sex pairings. Back in earlier days of fandom, pre-Ao3 and even pre-internet, there was a convention that when writing out a different-sex pairing, you did so in man/woman order, while same-sex pairings were done top/bottom. Some authors, especially those who have been in the fic community a long time, may still do this, but the convention has not been in consistent, active use for many years, so you don't have to worry about putting the names in the “correct” order. Part of why that died out is we, as a community, have gotten less strict and more nuanced in our understandings of sex and relationships, we're writing non-penetrative sex more than we used to, and we're writing multi-partner relationships and sex more than we used to, so strictly delineating “tops” and “bottoms” has gotten less important and less useful.

The convention currently in use on Ao3 is that the names go in alphabetical order for both “/” and “&” relationships. In most cases, the Archive uses the character's full name instead of a nickname or just a given name, like James "Bucky" Barnes instead of just Bucky or James. We'll talk more about conventions for how to input character names in the Characters section. The Archive will give you suggestions as you type—if one of them fits what you mean but is slightly different from how you were typing it, for instance it's in a different order, please use the tag suggested! Consistency in tags across users helps the site work more smoothly for everybody.

This is really not the place for ship nicknames like Puckleberry, Wolfstar, or Ineffable Wives. Use the characters' names.

Now that you know how to format the relationship tag to say what you mean, you have to figure out what relationships in your fic to tag for.

The answer is you tag the relationships that are important to the story you're telling, the ones you spend time and attention following, building up, and maybe even breaking down. Tagging for a ship is not a promise of a happy ending for that pair; you don't have to limit yourself to tagging only the end-game ships if you're telling a story that's more complicated than “they get together and live happily ever after.” That said, you should generally list the main ship—the one you focus on the most—first on the list, and that will usually be the end-game ship. You should also use Additional Tags, the summary, and author's notes to make it clear to readers if your fic does not end happily for a ship you've tagged. Otherwise readers will assume that a fic tagged as being about a ship will end well for that ship, because that's what usually happens, and they'll end up disappointed and hurt, possibly feeling tricked or lied to, when your fic doesn't end well for that ship

You don't have to, and honestly shouldn't, tag for every single relationship that shows up in your fic at all. A character's brief side fling mentioned in passing, or a relationship between two background characters should not be listed under the Relationship tag section. You can list them in the format “minor Character A/Character C” or “Character C/Character D – mentions of” in the Additional Tags section if you want to, or just tag “Minor or Background Relationship(s)” under either the Relationship tag section or in the Additional Tags section.

There are two main reasons to not tag all those minor relationships. The first is to streamline your tags, which makes them clearer and more readable, and therefore more useful. The second reason is because certain ships are far more common as minor or background relationships than as the focus of a work, so tagging all your non-focus focus ships leads to the tags for these less popular ships getting clogged with stories they appear in, but that are not about them. That is, of course, very frustrating for readers who really want to read stories that focus on these ships.

If your fic contains a major relationship between a canon character and an OC, reader-insert, or self-insert, tag it as such. The archive already has /Original Character, /Reader, /You, and /Me tags for most characters in most fandoms. If such a relationship tag isn't already in use, type it in yourself. There are OC/OC tags, too, some of which specify gender, some of which do not.  All the relationship tags that include OCs stack the gender-specific versions of the tags under the nongendered ones. Use these tags as appropriate.

For group relationships, both polycules and multi-person friendships, you “/” or “&” all the names involved in alphabetical order, so Alex/Max/Sam are dating while Chris & Jamie & Tori are best friends. For a poly situation where not everyone is dating each other you should tag it something like “Alex/Max, Alex/Sam” because Alex is dating both Max and Sam, but Max and Sam are not romantically or sexually involved with each other. Use your judgement as to whether you still want to include the Alex/Max/Sam trio tag, and whether you should also use a “Sam & Max” friendship tag.

Generally, romantic “/” type relationships are emphasized over “&” type relationships in fic. It is more important that you tag your “/”s thoroughly and accurately than that you tag your “&”s at all. This is because readers are far more likely to either be looking for or be squicked by particular “/” relationships than they are “&” relationships. You can tag the same pair of characters as both / and & if both their romance and their friendship is important to the story, but a lot of people see this as redundant. If you're writing incest fic, use the / tag for the pair not the & tag and put a courtesy tag for “incest” in the Additional Tags section; this is how readers who do not want to see incestuous relationships avoid that material.

Queerplatonic Relationships, Ambiguous Relationships, Pre-Slash, and “Slash If You Squint” are all frequently listed with both the “/” and “&” forms of the pairing; use your best judgement as to whether one or the other or both is most appropriate for what you've written and clarify the nature of the relationship in your Additional Tags.

Overall, list your “/” tags first, then your “&” tags.

Character Tags

Tagging your characters is a lot like tagging your relationships. Who is your fic about? That's who you put in your character tags.

You don't have to and really should not tag every single background character who shows up for just a moment in the story, for pretty much the same reasons you shouldn't tag background relationships.  We don't want to clog less commonly focused on characters' tags with stories they don't feature prominently in.

You do need to tag the characters included in your Relationship tags.

A character study type of fic might only have one character you need to tag for. Romantic one shots frequently only have two. Longfics and fics with big ensemble casts can easily end up with a dozen characters or more who really do deserve to be tagged for.

Put them in order of importance. This doesn't have to be strict hierarchal ranking, you can just arrange them into groups of “main characters,” “major supporting characters,” and “minor supporting characters.” Nobody less than a minor supporting character should be tagged. Even minor supporting characters show up for more than one line.

If everyone in the fic is genuinely at the same level of importance (which does happen, especially with small cast fics), then order doesn't really matter. You can arrange them by order of appearance or alphabetically by name if you want to be particularly neat about it.

Do tag your OCs! Some people love reading about OCs and want to be able to find them; some people can't stand OCs and want to avoid them at all costs; most people are fine with OCs sometimes, but might have to be in the mood for an OC-centric story or only be comfortable with OCs in certain contexts. Regardless, though, Character tags are here to tell readers who the story is about, and that includes new faces. Original Characters are characters and if they're important to the story, they deserve to be tagged for just like canon characters do.

There are tags for “Original Character(s),” “Original Male Character(s),” and “Original Female Character(s).” Use these tags!  If you have OCs you're going to be using frequently in different stories, type up a character tag in the form “[OC's Name] – Original Character” and use that in addition to the generic OC tags.

Also tag “Reader,” “You,” or “Me” as a character if you've written a reader- or self-insert.

You can use the “Minor Characters” tag to wrap up everybody, both OC and canon, who doesn't warrant their own character tag. Remember, though, that this tag is also used to refer to minor canon characters who may not have their own official names.

Just like when tagging for relationships, the convention when tagging for characters is to use their full name. The suggestions the Archive gives you as you type will help you use the established way of referring to a given character.

Characters who go by more than one name usually have their two most used names listed together as one tag with the two names separated by a vertical bar like “Andy | Andromache of Scythia.” This also gets used sometimes for characters who have different names in an adaptation than in the source text, or a different name in the English-language localization of a work than in the original language. For character names from both real-world and fictional languages and cultures that put family or surname before the given name—like the real Japanese name Takeuchi Naoko or the made up Bajoran name Kira Nerys—that order is used when tagging, even if you wrote your fic putting the given name first.

Some characters' tags include the fandom they're from in parentheses after their name like “Connor (Detroit: Become Human).” This is mostly characters with ordinary given names like Connor and no canon surname, characters who have the same full name as a character in another fandom, such as Billy Flynn the lawyer from the musical Chicago and Billy Flynn the serial killer played by Tim Curry in Criminal Minds, and characters based on mythological, religious, or historical figures or named for common concepts such as Lucifer, Loki, Amethyst, Death, and Zero that make appearances in multiple fandoms.

Additional Tags

Additional Tags is one of the most complicated, and often the longest, section of metatext we find ourselves providing when we post fic. It's also the one that gives our readers the greatest volume of information.

That, of course, is what makes it so hard for us to do well.

It can help to break down Additional Tags into three main functions of tag: courtesy tags, descriptive tags, and personal tags.

Courtesy tags serve as extensions of the rating and warning systems. They can help clarify the rating, provide more information about the Archive Warnings you've used or chosen not to use, and give additional warnings to tell readers there are things in this fic that may be distasteful, upsetting, or triggering but that the Archive doesn't have a standard warning for.

Descriptive tags give the reader information about who's in this fic, what kind of things happen, what tropes are in play, and what the vibe is, as well as practical information about things like format and tense.

Personal tags tell the readers things about us, the author, our process, our relationship to our fic, and our thoughts at the time of posting.

It doesn't really matter what order you put these tags in, but it is best practice to try to clump them: courtesy tags all together so it's harder for a reader to miss an important one, ship-related info tags together, character-related info tags together, etc.

There are tons and tons of established tags on Ao3, and while it's totally fine, fun, and often necessary to make up your own tags, it's also important to use established tags that fit your fic.  For one thing, using established tags makes life easier for the tag wranglers behind the scenes. Using a new tag you just made up that means the same thing as an established tag makes more work for the tag wranglers. We like the tag wranglers, they're all volunteers, and they're largely responsible for the search and sorting features being functional. Be kind to the tag wranglers.

For basically the same reasons, using established tags makes it easier for readers to find your fic. If a reader either searches by a tag or uses filters on another search to “Include” that tag, and you didn't use that tag, your fic will not show up for them even if what you wrote is exactly what they're looking for.  Established tags can be searched by exactly the same way as you search by fandom or pairing, your off the cuff tags cannot.

Let's talk about some well-known established tags and common tag types, divvied up by main function.

Courtesy

A lot of courtesy tags are specific warnings like “Dubious Consent,” “Incest,” “Drug Use,” “Extremely Underage,” “Toxic Relationship,” and “Abuse.” Many of these have even more specific versions such as “Recreational Drug Use” and “Nonconsensual Drug Use,” or “Mildly Dubious Consent” and “Extremely Dubious Consent.”

Giving details about what, if any, drugs are used or mentioned, specifying what kinds of violence or bodily harm are discussed or depicted, details about age differences or power-imbalanced relationships between characters who date or have sex, discussion or depictions of suicide, severe or terminal illness, or mental health struggles is useful. It helps give readers a clear sense of what they'll encounter in your fic and decide if they're up for it.

One the most useful courtesy warning tags is “Dead Dove: Do Not Eat” which basically means “there are things in this fic which are really screwed up and may be disturbing, read at your own risk, steer clear if you're not sure.” This tag—like all courtesy warnings, really—is a show of good faith, by using it you are being a responsible, and thoughtful member of the fanfic community by giving readers the power and necessary information to make their own informed decisions about what they are and are not comfortable reading.

Saying to “Heed the tags” is quite self-explanatory and, if used, should be the last or second to last tag so it's easy to spot.  Remember, though, that “Heed the tags” isn't useful if your tags aren't thorough and clear.

“Additional Warnings In Author's Note” is one of only things that should ever go after “Heed the tags.”  If you use this, your additional warnings need to go in the author's note at the very beginning of the fic, not the one at the end of the first chapter.  If your additional warnings write up is going to be very long because it's highly detailed, then it can go at the bottom of the chapter with a note at the beginning indicating that the warnings are at the bottom. Some authors give an abbreviated or vague set of warnings in the initial note, then longer, highly detailed, spoilery warnings in the end note. It's best to make it as simple and straightforward as possible for readers to access warnings.

Tagging with “Dead Dove: Do Not Eat,” “Heed the tags,” or “Additional Warnings In Author's Note” is not a substitute for thorough and appropriate courtesy tagging. These are extra reminders to readers to look closely at the other warnings you've given.

While most courtesy tags are warnings, some are assurances like “No Lesbians Die” or “It's Not As Bad As It Sounds.”  A fic tagged for rape or dub-con may get a tag assuring that the consent issues are not between the characters in the main ship; or a fic with a premise that sounds likely to involve lack of consent but actually doesn't may get a tag that it's “NOT rape/non-con.” A tag like “Animal Death” may be immediately followed by a freeform tag assuring that the animal that dies is not the protagonist's beloved horse.

Descriptive

There are a few general kinds of descriptive tags including character-related, ship-related, temporal, relation-to-canon, trope-related, smut details, and technical specifications.

Many character- and ship-related tags simply expand on the Character and Relationship tags we've already talked about.  This is usually the place to specify details about OCs and inserts, such as how a reader-insert is gendered.

When it comes to character-related tags, one of the most common types in use on Ao3 and in fandom at large is the bang-path. This is things like werewolf!Alex, trans!Max, top!Sam, kid!Jamie, and captain!Tori. Basically, a bang-path is a way of specifying a version of a character. We've been using this format for decades; it comes from the very first email systems used by universities in the earliest days of internet before the World Wide Web existed. It's especially useful for quickly and concisely explaining the roles of characters in an AU. Nowadays this is also one of the primary conventions for indicating who's top and who's bottom in a ship if that's information you feel the need to establish.  The other current convention for indicating top/bottom is as non-bang-path character-related tags in the form “Top [Character A], Bottom [Character B].”

Other common sorts of character tags are things like “[Character A] Needs a Hug,” “Emotionally Constipated [Character B],” and “[Character C] is a Good Dad.”

Some character-related tags don't refer to a particular character by name, but tell readers something about what kinds of characters are in the fic. Usually, this indicates the minority status of characters and may indicate whether or not that minority status is canon, as in “Nonbinary Character,” “Canon Muslim Character,” “Deaf Character,” and “Canon Disabled Character.”

Down here in the tags is the place to put ship nicknames!  This is also where to say things like “They're idiots your honor” or indicate that they're “Idiots in Love,” maybe both since “Idiots in Love” is an established searchable tag but “They're idiots your honor” isn't yet. If your fandom has catchphrases related to your ship, put that here if you want to.

If relevant, specify some things about the nature of relationships in your fic such as “Ambiguous Relationship,” “Queerplatonic Relationships,” “Polyamory,” “Friends With Benefits,” “Teacher-Student Relationship,” and so on. Not all fics need tags like these. Use your best judgement whether your current fic does.

Temporal tags indicate when your fic takes place. That can be things like “Pre-Canon” and “Post-Canon,” “Pre-War,” “Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “1996-1997 NHL season,” “Future Fic,” and so on.  These tags may be in reference to temporal landmarks in canon, in the real world, or both depending on what's appropriate.

Some temporal tags do double duty by also being tags about the fic's relationship to canon. The Pre- and Post-Canon tags are like that.

Other relation-to-canon type tags are “Canon Compliant” for fics that fit completely inside the framework of canon without changing or contradicting anything, “Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence” for fics that are compliant up to a certain point in canon, then veer off (maybe because you started writing the fic when the show was on season two but now it's at season four and you're not incorporating everything from the newer seasons, maybe a character died and you refuse to acknowledge that, maybe you just want to explore what might have happened if a particular scene had gone differently), and the various other Alternate Universe tags for everything from coffee shop AUs and updates to modern settings, to realities where everyone is a dragon or no one has their canon superpowers.

The established format for these tags is “Alternate Universe – [type],” but a few have irregular names as well, such as “Wingfic” for AUs in which characters who don't ordinarily have wings are written as having wings.

If you have written an AU, please tag clearly what it is! Make things easy on both the readers who are in the mood to read twenty royalty AUs in a row, the readers who are in the middle of finals week and the thought of their favorite characters suffering through exams in a college AU would destroy the last shred of their sanity but would enjoy watching those characters teach high school, and the readers who really just want to stick to the world of canon right now.

Admittedly, it can get a little confusing what AU tag or tags you need to describe what you've written since most of us have never had a fandom elder sit us down and explain what the AU tags mean. One common mix up is tagging things “Alternate Universe - Modern Setting” when what's meant is “Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence.”  The misunderstanding here is usually reading “Alternate Universe - Modern Setting” and thinking it means an alternate version of the canon universe that is set at the same time as the canon universe, but is different in some way. That's not how the tag is meant to be used, though.

The Modern Setting AU tag is specifically for fic set now (at approximately the same time period it was written), for media that's canonically set somewhere that is very much not the present of the real world. This can mean things set in the past (like Jane Austen), the future (like Star Trek), or a fantasy world entirely different from our own (like Lord of the Rings or Avatar: the Last Airbender). Fic for a canon that's set more or less “now” doesn't need the Modern Setting AU tag, even if the world of canon is different from our own. If you're removing those differences by putting fantasy or superhero characters in a world without magic or supersoldier serum, you might want the “Alternate Universe - No Powers” tag instead.

Some of the most fun descriptive tags are trope tags. This includes things like “Mutual Pining,” “Bed Sharing” for when your OTP gets to their hotel room to find There Was Only One Bed, “Fake Dating,” “Angst,” Fluff,” “Hurt/Comfort” and all its variants.  Readers love tropes at least as much as we love writing them and want to be able to find their favorites. Everyone also has tropes they don't like and would rather avoid. Tagging them allows your fic to be filtered in and out by what major tropes you've used.

Explicit fics, and sometimes fics with less restrictive ratings, that contain sex usually have tags indicating details about the nature of the sexual encounter(s) portrayed and what sex acts are depicted. These are descriptive tags, but they also do double duty as courtesy tags. This is very much a situation in which tags are a consent mechanism; by thoroughly and clearly tagging your smut you are giving readers the chance to knowingly opt in or out of the experience you've written.

Most of the time, it's pretty easy to do basic tagging for sex acts—you know whether what you wrote shows Vaginal Sex, Anal Sex, or Non-penetrative Sex.  You probably know the names for different kinds of Oral Sex you may have included. You might not know what to call Frottage or Intercrural Sex, though, even if you understand the concept and included the act in your fic. Sometimes there are tags with rectangle-square type relationships (all Blow Jobs are Oral Sex, but not all Oral Sex is a Blow Job) and you're not sure if you should tag for both—you probably should. Sometimes there are tags for overlapping, closely related, or very similar acts or kinks and you're not sure which to tag—that one's more of judgement call; do your best to use the tags that most closely describe what you wrote.

Tag for the kinks at play, if any, so readers can find what they're into and avoid what they're not. Tag for what genitalia characters have if it's nonobvious, including if there's Non-Human Genitalia involved. Tag your A/B/O, your Pon Farr, and your Tentacles, including whether it's Consentacles or Tentacle Rape.

Technical specification tags give information about aspects of the fic other than its narrative content.  Most things on Ao3 are prose fiction so that's assumed to be the default, so anything else needs to be specified in tags. That includes Poetry, Podfics, things in Script Format, and Art. If it is a podfic, you should tag with the approximate length in minutes (or hours). If a fic is Illustrated (it has both words and visual art) tag for that.

Tag if your fic is a crossover or fusion.  The difference, if you're not sure, is that in a crossover, two (or more) entire worlds from different media meet, whereas in a fusion, some aspects of one world, like the cast of characters, are combined with aspects of another, like the setting or magic system.

If the team of paranormal investigators from one show get in contact with the cast of aliens from another show, that's a crossover and you need to have all the media you're drawing from up in the Fandom tags. If you've given the cast of Hamlet physical manifestations of their souls in the form of animal companions like the daemons from His Dark Materials but nothing else from His Dark Materials shows up, that's a fusion, the Fandom tag should be “Hamlet - Shakespeare,” and you need the “Alternate Universe - Daemons” tag. If you've given the members of a boy band elemental magic powers like in Avatar: the Last Airbender, that can be more of a judgement call depending how much from Avatar you've incorporated into your story. If absolutely no characters or specific settings from Avatar show up, it's probably a fusion.  Either way, if the boyband exists in real life, it needs to be tagged as RPF.

Tag if your fic is a Reader-Insert or Self-Insert.

You might want to tag for whether your fic is written with POV First, Second, or Third Person, and if it's Past Tense or Present Tense (or Future Tense, though that's extremely uncommon).  For POV First Person fics that are not self-inserts, or POV Third Person fics that are written in third person limited, you may want to tag which character's POV is being shown. Almost all POV Second Person fics are reader-insert, so if you've written one that isn't, you should tag for who the “you” is.

A fic is “POV Outsider” if the character through whom the story is being conveyed is outside the situation or not familiar with the characters and context a reader would generally know from canon. The waitress who doesn't know the guy who just sat down in her diner is a monster hunter, and the guy stuck in spaceport because some hotshot captain accidentally locked down the entire space station, are both potential narrators for POV Outsider stories.

Other technical specifications can be tags for things like OCtober and Kinktober or fic bingo games.  Tagging something as a Ficlet, One Shot, or Drabble is a technical specification (we're not going to argue right now over what counts as a drabble). Tagging for genre, like Horror or Fantasy, is too.

It's also good to tag accessibility considerations like “Sreenreader Friendly,” but make sure your fic definitely meets the needs of a given kind of accessibility before tagging it.

Personal

Even among personal tags there are established tags!  Things like “I'm Sorry,” “The Author Regrets Nothing,” “The Author Regrets Everything,” and “I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping” are common ones.  Tags about us and our relationship to the fic, such as “My First Work In This Fandom,” “Author is Not Religious,” and “Trans Porn By A Trans Author,” can help readers gauge what to expect from our fic. Of course, you are not at all obligated to disclose any personal information for any reason when posting your fic.

The “I'm Bad At Tagging” tag is common, but probably overused. Tagging is hard; very few of us have a natural feel for it even with lots of practice.  It's not a completely useless tag because it can indicate to readers that you've probably missed some things you should have tagged for, so they should be extra careful; but it can also turn into a crutch, an excuse to not try, and therefore a sign to readers they can't trust your tagging job. Just do your best, and leave off the self depreciation. If you're really concerned about the quality of your tagging, consider putting in an author's note asking readers to let you know if there are any tags you should add.

You might want to let readers know your fic is “Not Beta Read” or, if you're feeling a little cheekier than that, say “No Beta We Die Like Men” or its many fandom-specific variants like the “No Beta We Die Like Robins” frequently found among Batman fics and “No beta we die like Sunset Curve” among Julie and The Phantoms fic. Don't worry, the Archive recognizes all of these as meaning “Not Beta Read.”

The Archive can be inconsistent about whether it stacks specific variants of Additional Tags under the broadest version of the tag like it does with Fandom tags, so best practice is usually to use both.  You can double check by trying to search by a variant tag (or clicking on someone else's use of the variant); if the results page says the broader or more common form of the tag, those stack.

There's no such thing as the right number of tags. Some people prefer more tags and more detail, while other people prefer fewer more streamlined tags, and different fics have different things that need to be tagged for.  There is, however, such a thing as too many tags.  A tagblock that takes up the entire screen, or more, can be unreadable, at which point they are no longer useful. Focus on the main points and don't try to tag for absolutely everything.  Use the “Additional Warnings In Author's Note” strategy if your courtesy tags are what's getting out of hand.

Tag for as much as you feel is necessary for readers to find your fic and understand what they're getting into if they decide to open it up.

A little bit of redundancy in tags is not a sin.  In fact, slight redundancy is usually preferable to vagueness. Clear communication in tags is a cardinal virtue. Remember that tags serve a purpose, they're primarily a tool for sorting and filtering, and (unlike on some other sites like tumblr) they work, so it's best to keep them informative and try to limit rambling in the tags. Ramble at length in your author's notes instead!

Titles

Picking a title can be one of the most daunting and frustrating parts of posting a fic. Sometimes we just know what to call our fics and it's a beautiful moment. Other times we stare at that little input box for what feels like an eternity.

The good news is there's really no wrong way to select a title. Titles can be long or short, poetic or straight to the point. Song lyrics, idioms, quotes from literature or from the fic itself can be good ways to go.

Single words or phrases with meanings that are representative of the fic can be great. A lot of times these are well known terms or are easy enough to figure out like Midnight or Morning Glow, but if you find yourself using something that not a lot of people know what it means, like Chiaroscuro (an art style that uses heavy shadow and strong contrast between light and dark), Kintsukuroi (the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold), or Clusivity (the grammatical term for differences in who is or isn't included in a group pronoun), you should define the term in either a subtitle, i.e. “Chiaroscuro: A Study In Contrast,” or at the beginning of the summary.

As a courtesy to other writers, especially in small fandoms, you may want to check to make sure there's not already another fic with the same title in the same fandom, but this is not required. In large fandoms, there's no point in even trying. After all, there are only so many puns to be made about the full moon and only so many verses to Hallelujah.

It may be common practice on other platforms to include information such as fandom or ship in the title of a fic, but on Ao3 nothing that is specified by tags belongs in the title unless your title happens to be the same as a tag because, for instance, you've straightforwardly titled your character study of Dean Winchester “Dean Winchester Character Study” and also responsibly tagged it as such.

Summaries

Yes, you really do need to put something down for the summary. It might only need to be a single sentence, but give the readers something to go off of.

The summary is there to serve two purposes: one, to catch the interest of potential readers, give them a taste of what's inside, and make them want to know more; and two, to give you a space to provide information or make comments that don't really fit in the tags but that you want readers to see before they open the fic.

We've already talked some about that second function. When you put an explanation of the title or clarification about tags in the summary, that's the purpose it's serving. You can also put notes to “Heed the tags” or instruct readers that there are additional warnings in the author's note here in the summary, rather than doing so in the tags.

The first function, the actual summarizing, can be very hard for some of us.  It's basically the movie trailer for your fic, butwhat are you even supposed to say?

There are two main strategies as to how to approach this: the blurb, and the excerpt. Blurbs are like the synopses you at least used to see on the backs of published books, or the “Storyline” section on an IMDb page. Writing one is a matter of telling your readers who does what, under what circumstances.

Depending on the fic, one sentence can capture the whole thing: “Sam and Alex have sex on a train.” “Tori tries to rob a bank.” “If anybody had mentioned Max's new house was haunted, Jamie wouldn't have agreed to help with the move.”

Sometimes a blurb can be a question! “What happens when you lock a nuclear engineer in a closet with a sewing kit, a tennis ball, and half a bottle of Sprite?”

Of course, plenty of blurbs are more than one sentence. Their length can vary pretty significantly depending on the type and length of fic you're working with and how much detail you're trying to convey, but it shouldn't get to be more than a few short paragraphs. You're not retelling the entire fic here.

An excerpt is a portion of the fic copied out to serve as the summary. This, too, can vary in length from a line or two to several paragraphs, but shouldn't get too long. It should not be an entire scene unless that scene happens to be uncommonly short. It's important to select a portion of the fic that both indicates the who, what, and under what circumstances of the fic and is representative of the overall tone. Excerpts that are nothing but dialogue with no indication of who's talking are almost never a good choice. Portions that are sexually explicit or extremely violent are never ever a good choice—if it deserves content warnings, it belongs inside the fic, not on the results page.

Counterintuitively, some of the best excerpts won't even look like an excerpt to the reader if they don't contain dialogue. They seem like particularly literary blurbs until the reader reaches that part in the fic and realizes they recognize a section of narration.

Some of us have very strong preferences as to whether we write blurbs or use excerpts for our summaries. Some readers have very strong preferences as to which they find useful. Ultimately, there's no accounting for taste, but there are things we can do to limit the frustration for readers who prefer summaries of the opposite kind than we prefer to write, without increasing our own frustration or work load very much. Part of that is understanding what readers dislike about each type so we know what to mitigate.

Blurbs can seem dry, academic, and overly simplified. They don't automatically give the reader a sense of your writing style the way an excerpt does. They can also seem redundant, like they're just rehashing information already given in the tags, so the reader feels like they're being denied any more information without opening the fic.

Excerpts can seem lazy, like you, the author, don't care enough to bother writing a blurb, or pushy like you're telling the reader “just read the fic; I'm not going to give you the information you need to decide if you want to read or not, I'm shoving it in front of you and you just have to read it.” That effect gets worse if your tags aren't very informative or clear about what the plot is, if the excerpt is obviously just the first few lines or paragraphs of the fic, if the except is particularly long, or, worst of all, if all three are true at once.

A lot of the potential problems with blurbs can be minimized by having fun writing them! Make it punchy, give it some character, treat it like part of the story, not just a book report. A fic for a serialized show or podcast, for instance, could have a blurb written in the style of the show's “previously on” or the podcast's intro.  Make sure the blurb gives the reader something they can't just get from the tags—like the personality of your writing, important context or characterization, or a sense of the shape of the story—but don't try to skimp on the tags to do it!

Really, the only way to minimize the potential problems with excerpts is to be very mindful in selecting them. Make sure the portion you've chosen conveys the who, what, and under what circumstances and isn't too long.  You know the story; what seems clear and obvious from the excerpt to you might not be apparent to someone who doesn't already know what happens, so you might need to ask a friend to double check you.

The absolute best way to provide a summary that works for everybody is to combine both methods. It really isn't that hard to stick a brief excerpt before your blurb, or tack a couple lines of blurb after your excerpt, but it can make a world of difference for how useful and inviting your summary is to a particular reader. The convention for summaries that use both is excerpt first, then blurb.

If you're struggling to figure out a summary, or have been in the habit of not providing one, try not to stress over it. Anything is better than nothing.  As long as you've written something for a summary, you've given the reader a little more to help them make their decision. What really isn't helpful, though, is saying “I'm bad at summaries” in your summary. It's a lot like the “I'm Bad At Tagging” tag in that it's unnecessarily self depreciating, frequently comes across as an excuse not to try, and sometimes really is just an excuse. Unlike the “I'm Bad At Tagging” tag, which has the tiny saving grace of warning readers you've probably missed something, saying you're bad at summaries has no utility at all, and may drive away a reader who thought your summary was quite good, but is uncomfortable with the negative attitude reflected by that statement. Summaries are hard. It's okay if you don't like your summary, but it's important for it to be there, and it's important to be kind to yourself about it. You're trying, that's what matters.

Author's Notes

Author's notes are the one place where we, the writers, directly address and initiate contact with our readers. We may also talk to them in the comments section, but that's different because they initiate that interaction while we reply, and comments are mostly one-on-one while in author's notes we're addressing everyone who ever reads our fic.

The very first note on a fic should contain any information, such as warnings or explanations, that a reader needs to see before they get to the body of the story, as well as anything like thanks to your beta, birthday wishes to a character, or general hellos and announcements you want readers to see before they get to the body of the story. On multi-chapter fics, notes at the beginning of chapters serve the same function for that chapter as the initial note on the fic does for the whole story, so you can do things like warn for Self-Harm on the two chapters out of thirty where it comes up, let everyone know your update schedule will be changing, or wish your readers a merry Christmas, if they celebrate it, on the chapter you posted on December 23rd but is set in mid-March.

Notes at the end of a fic or chapter are for things that don't need to be said or are not useful to a reader until after they've read the preceding content, such as translations for that handful of dialogue that's in Vulcan or Portuguese, or any parting greetings or announcements you want to give, like a thanks for reading or a reminder school is starting back so you won't be able to write as much. End notes are the best place to plug your social media to readers if you're inclined to do so, but remember that cannot include payment platforms like Patreon or Ko-fi.

As previously mentioned, warnings can go in end notes but that really should only be done when the warnings are particularly long, such that the length might cause a problem for readers who are already confident in their comfort level and would just want to scroll past the warning description. In that case, the additional warnings need to go in the note at the end of the first chapter, rather than at the end of the fic, if it's a multi-chapter fic; and you need to include an initial note telling readers that warnings/explanations of tags are at the bottom so they know to follow where the Archive tells them to see the end of the chapter/work for “more notes.”

When posting a new work, where the Preface section gives you the option to add notes “at the beginning” or “at the end” or both, if you check both boxes, it means notes at the beginning and end of the entire fic, not the beginning and end of the first chapter. For single-chapter fics this difference doesn't really matter, but for multi-chapter fics it matters a lot. In order to add notes to the beginning or end of the first chapter of a multi-chapter fic you have to first go through the entire process to post the new fic, then go in to Edit, Edit Chapter, and add the notes there.

Series and Chapters

Dealing with Series and Chapters is actually two different issues, but they're closely related and cause some of us mixups, especially when we're new to the site and its systems, so we're going to cover them together.

Series on Ao3 are for collecting up different stories that you've written that are associated with each other in some way. Chapters are for dividing up one story into parts, usually for pacing and to give yourself and your readers a chance to take breaks and breathe, rather than trying to get through the entire thing in a single marathon sitting (not that we won't still do that voluntarily, but it's nice to have rest points built in if we need them).

If your story would be one book if it was officially published, then it should be posted as a single fic—with multiple chapters if it's long or has more than one distinct part, like separate vignettes that all go together. If you later write a sequel to that fic, post it as a new fic and put them together in a series. It's exactly like chapters in a book and books in a series. Another way to think of this structure is like a TV show: different fics in the series are like different seasons of the show, with individual chapters being like episodes.

If you have several fics that all take place in the same AU but really aren't the same story those should go together as a series.  If you wrote a story about a superhero team re-cast as school teachers, then wrote another story about different characters in the same school, that's this situation.

Series are also the best way to handle things like prompt games, bingos, or Kinktober, or collect up one shots and drabbles especially if your various fills, entries, and drabbles are for more than one fandom. If you put everything for a prompt game or bingo, or all your drabbles, together as one fic with a different chapter for each story, what ends up happening is that fic gets recognized by the Archive as a crossover when it isn't, so it gets excluded from the results pages for everyone who told the filters to Exclude Crossovers even though one of the stories you wrote is exactly what they're looking for; and that fic ends up with tons and tons of wildly varying and self-contradictory tags because it's actually carrying the tags for several entirely different, possibly unrelated stories, which also means it ends up getting excluded from results pages because, for instance, one out of your thirty-one Kinktober entries is about someone's NoTP.

Dividing these kinds of things up into multiple fic in a series makes it so much easier for readers to find what of your work they actually want to read.

If you've previously posted such things as a single fic, don't worry, it's a really common misunderstanding and there is absolutely nothing stopping you from reposting them separately. You may see traffic on them go up if you do!

Parting Thoughts

Metatext is ultimately all about communication, and in this context effective communication is a matter of responsibility and balance.

Ao3 is our archive. It's designed for us, the writers, to have the freedom to write and share whatever stories we want without having to worry that we'll wake up one day and find our writing has been deleted overnight without warning.  That has happened too many times to so many in our community as other fanfic sites have died, been shut down, or caved to threats of legal action. Ao3 is dedicated to defending our legal right to create and share our stories. Part of the deal is that, in exchange for that freedom and protection, we take up the responsibility to communicate to readers what we're writing and who it's appropriate for.

We are each other's readers, and readers who don't write are still part of our community. We have a responsibility as members of this community to be respectful of others in our shared spaces.  Ao3 is a shared space. The best way we have to show each other respect is to give one another the information needed to decide if a given fic is something we want to engage with or not, and then, in turn, to not engage with fic that isn't our cup of tea. As long as our fellow writer has been clear about what their fic is, they've done their part of the job. If we decided to look at the fic despite the information given and didn't like what we found, then that's on us.

Because metatext is how we put that vital information about our fics out in the community, it's important that our metatext is clear and easy to parse. The key to that is balance. Striking the balance between putting enough tags to give a complete picture and not putting too many tags that become an unreadable wall; the balance between the urge to be thorough and tag every character and the need to be restrained so those looking for fics actually about a certain character can find them; the balance between using established tags for clarity and ease and making up our own tags for specificity and fun.

Do your best, act in good faith, remember you're communicating with other people behind those usernames and kudos, and, most importantly, have fun with your writing!

[alexglitches]

TWST Boys English Voice HCs : Savanaclaw and Octavinelle Edition

I decided to put these two together because I got so many ideas and I have to share them :3

Leona Kingscholar : I imagine the Afterglow Savannah being based off of Africa because of the setting of The Lion King (makes things easy for me :D). So I can see Leona with a deep, developed voice with a slight african accent. He speaks lazily and sometimes, his words mesh together. He’s sometimes almost inaudible, but that’s pretty rare. He speaks with pride and sly confidence most of the time. And when sleepy, his voice gets really r e a l l y deep.

Ruggie Bucchi : He kinda sounds like Izuku/Ryota, except it sounds less squeaky and more raspy, and he too has a small bit of accent, but not too noticeable. He sounds like he acts, sneaky and mischievous. His laugh is actually an important part of him, he knows he doesn’t sound like every other hyena in his pack, but hey, he doesn’t care, he’ll laugh how he laughs anyways.

Jack Howl : Unlike the other two, he’s also from Pyroxene like Cater. I can imagine him with an american accent the whole way, but due to his many family trips up north, he sometimes picks up a canadian accent while there. His voice is deep, but not too deep, and very gruff. He sounds intimidating, even though he’s pretty nice. He speaks politely and confidently. He sometimes slips into his canadian accent when frustrated/angry.

~~~

Azul Ashengrotto : I had trouble with these three, I imagined him and the tweels having some type of australian accent, but then I remembered how they were from more northern up so I had to scratch that. For accents on land, I can see him trying to hide his accent, but you can kinda hear it, and it sounds kinda german. In his mer form, his accent is still German, but he has that watery sound to his voice, it's deeper and it’s kinda got a spooky echo to it. He sounds like a businessman through and through and it carries through all his forms and voices.

Jade Leech : I imagine him having a deep voice like Sebastian from Black Butler, but toss out the British accent in favour of a German one. He anunciantes well enough for people to understand him and communicates without problem, especially with his accent. In his mer form, his voice doesn’t sound as watery as Azuls, but it definitely had a threatening echo sound. He speaks clearly and concisely, very politely.

Floyd Leech : Unlike the two before him, Floyd lets his accent shine through. His voice is light and raspy, yet intimidating, and he drops his accent and tone when threatening someone, his voice lowering a couple of octaves slightly as an intimidation tactic. He slurs his words together, sometimes making what he says make absolutely no sense, and just gets him even more frustrated. An angry Floyd is not good, so it's better to just understand him with the accent.

~~~

I got the german accent idea for octavinelle from the little mermaid, since the setting is germany.

Afterglow Savannah - Africa (more specifically the african savannah)

Coral Sea - Germany

I am super excited for pomefiore!!! not so much for diasomnia, thay're gonna be hard-

[literaphobe]

George not found said the b and r slurs too and he just called them "insensitive things" and Dream has literally said the n word

ok this is the last time i’m gonna say anything about this. first of all, i am in no way excusing or defending anything dream or george have ever said. i have no intentions of doing so. if you hate dream and george that literally doesn’t matter to me and you have every right to do so. but the way you say these things sound very much like a ‘gotcha’ and it makes me think you haven’t been listening to the communities involved NOR have u been doing actual research about what happened aside from reading random posts or tweets about various situations

ur asking me why i’m calling out k*ceytron and telling people to focus on the racist, ableist, n homophobic things she did/said rather than shifting focus to this situation, because according to you dream and george essentially did the same thing. but the whole issue here is that k*cey never apologized, took accountability, nor did she try to do better. she in fact proceeded to antagonize the communities that she harmed because she wants attention and is a bad person who doesn’t care. we honestly shouldn’t even be giving her any attention because she’s literally 30 years old and has been doing this spiel since 2013

george and dream on the other hand have on multiple occasions taken responsibility when affected communities hold them accountable. this includes apologies and assurance that they care and want to do better, and then they don’t do/say things they promised to stop doing/saying. if you are in any community that’s been affected by anything they’ve said/done, you are not obliged to forgive them. this is something dream has told his followers. very valid criticism has been raised against them and if people affected still hate/don’t like them for it, that’s fine, and no one should be attacking them for it

but... accountability matters. the willingness to take responsibility and to change actually matters. “unproblematic ccs” don’t exist the same way that “unproblematic people” don’t exist. some of you put people on these high ass pedestals and then kick them down the second they do/say something wrong and this mentality actually hurts communities fighting against oppression, fighting for progress. it is a little uncomfortable how many people who weaponize cancel culture tend to have... so much privilege. i’m not talking about you personally anon, but if you are part of many privileged communities by chance i highly suggest you examine this mindset

ok re what u said about george. here’s the full apology he made, ur inferring inaccurately from the first sentence he said and it just doesn’t sit right with me! the instances u brought up are also from a video that’s almost a decade old, and while that’s not an excuse and george was and should have been held accountable for it like he has been, context matters. u can absolutely choose not to forgive him (if ur in the affected communities. if ur not, these apologies aren’t yours to accept nor reject), but you can’t tell me ccs that apologize and take responsibility are “just as bad” as ccs who repeatedly say/do horrible things and CONSISTENTLY refuse to take responsibility and continuously ignore communities that want, at the very least, an apology. that’s all i have to say on the matter. if you were unaware of most of this before, no hard feelings, i just wanted to educate. but also please don’t send me asks of this nature anymore

[hnychn]

𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐀 𝐅𝐔𝐒𝐄

pairing: mina x fem! reader

summary: no one every thought you were capable of exploding, but they also didn't know they were only lighting your fuse. and it was slowly getting shorter.

note🐝: warning: homophobia!! i love this girl too much not to write a headcanon about her. also! i know i said i would be working on a hawks fic, but it's a lot harder than i thought it would be lol. so instead, i'll be working on smaller headcanon fics while i work on it! i have a little angsty one coming up next with class a's big three :) as always, lmk what you thought! 🤍 -honey

𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

so to begin with, your relationship with mina is very much ✨yes✨

like bro, she's so hype and energetic and ready to do just about anything

and you're so calm and down to earth and ready to do just about anything

you just go along with her ideas, no matter how crazy they can be

because you're 🥰whipped🥰

but i mean who wouldn't?

anyways, so as much as I'd like to believe this world is 100% a utopia, it isn't

so when you and mina came out with your relationship,

obviously all of your friends supported you guys,

but there were some people who would give the two of you disgusted looks in the halls

and they would talk shit behind your back,

but never to your face, assholes 😤

but y'all two are some ✨bad bitches✨

so you don't fucking care 🤪🤪

like talk yo shit bitch

but we all know you're just scared 🥰🥰

but recently you notice mina has been a bit reserved with her love for you in public

like, normally she's all over you and kissing your cheeks and shit 24/7 🥰🥰

ugh i love her

and she's a confident girl and you know she doesn't pay much attention to all the nasty words people throw your way

so you don't really worth much

but she has been reserved like i said

and you start to worry 😔✋🏼

in your dorms during cuddle time, you ask her

"is everything okay, amor?"

please i'm spanish let me have this 😩

and she just nods, "of course, babe."

so you leave it at that

because the two of you are so communicative in your relationship

you think she'll tell you when she's ready

but she doesn't

so you get even more worried.

and you go ask jirou about it

and she looks at you a bit weird because

"bitch you don't know?"

you shake your head.

jirou sighs, "some people have been cornering her after school and calling her some. . .not so pretty names for being lesbian.."

and you just-

I SEE REDDD,

REDD

you have never been one for confrontation,

and actively avoided it

but being friends with bakusquad only riased your chances of being in arguments or fights

you were the passive one of the group

the one hat kept bakugo in line

but everyone had their limits

and yours was just pushed 🥰🥰

completely disregarding the fact that first class was about to start,

you for their names and class number from jirou

and off you were 😌

the rest of bakusquad, who weren't too far off and heard jirou spill the beans to you, were hot on your trail

kiri was trying to rationalise with you, they all were,

🦈 "c'mon, y/n, classis gonna start soon, this isn't worth it."

💥 "be smart about this, dumbass! you'll get suspended!"

⚡️ "maybe you should calm down a bit y/n!"

mina and sero weren't there

the two went off to get some drinks before class started

and were chilling in class thinking y'all just went off to the bathroom or whatever

now, when you get to their class you just-

bURST IN

your hands curled into fists by your side and a calm look on your face

but your eyes were bringing with pure rage

their teacher wasn't there yet either

and you-

"where the fuck is nishida and akame?"

your voice was chilly calm and it sent shivers down everyone's spine

kirishima had a grip on the back of your shirt to make sure you shouldn't do anything stupid

bakugo and kaminari were just standing at the door

a boy and a girl then stood up, a condescending look on their faces

"what's it to you, bitch?"

i'm sorry i just can't write a homophobic slur it physically hurts me 😭✋🏼

"is this about us cornering that pink bitch?"

"you concerned about your lover, freak?"

"the pair of you are nothing but disgusting."

you didn't really take any of their comments to heart

but obviously mina did if she started to be more reserved

and your heart begins to race from all the r a g e burning in your body

because you start to imahinehow mina must have felt

have to face such harsh words alone

and bottling it all up

and how harsh they must have been to have her, a girl so confident and optimistic, become reserved

and in the blink of an eye, you

fUCKING LUNGE AT THEM

and begin to bEAT THE SHIT OUTTA THEM

kiri, baku, and kami are low-key cheering you on

but also ready to jump in if you start losing

which you don't 🥰

because you're a bad bitch 🥰

and you know how to fight 🥰

but you also don't realise that some people begin to record

oops-

i won't go into detail about the fight, you can imagine it however you want

plus i'm terrible at writing fight scenes 😭✋🏼

but eventually the teacher shows up

and goes to get aizawa because she recognises the four of you as 1-a students

so he comes, ahaha 😅

and he sees you going at these two students

(highkey proud you're winning).

now, aizawa isn't stupid

he's heard the whispers

and he hates that two of his students are being bashed for just loving

dadzawa

but he's a teacher first and foremost,

so he binds you up and pulls you away from the students

some students groan from the entertainment being over

aizawa glares at them

he gives you a little glare when you struggle a bit in his binds

"kirishima, bakugo, kaminari," aizawa's voice booms through the silence that settled over the class, "detention for not stopping this when i know you three could have very well prevented it."

but i know why you didn't - words unspoken on aizawa's tongue.

"you're coming with me, l/n"

so he unbinds you and the two of you walk to his office

it's silent when you get there and he gestures for you to take a seat

"do you know why what you did was wrong?"

you nod.

"you you regret it?"

your answer came almost instantly, "no. and i would do it again in a heartbeat."

aizawa nodded, "good."

and you-

HUH???? 😀

"i understand why you did it and i don't blame you for wanting to confront the people who hurt mina, but you also understand why i have to suspend you, right?"

you nod.

he nods.

it's a mutual understanding he wouldn't suspend you if he had the choice,

but he has to

so you're suspended .

and the videos the other students took blow up

and it gets back to mina

so she watches it obviously

and 😳😳😳

she was bLUSHINGGG

like bro-

tHATS YOU??

her calm bundle of joy??

absolutely hammering those two students??

she has a hard time believing it

but lo and behold, there's the charm bracelet the two of you add to every anniversary on your wrist

the one you're punching the boy with 💀💀

and -

she has never in her life been more turned on like-

hOLY FUCK THATS HOT 😫😫

"CAN YOU BEAT ME LIKE THAT PLEASE??"

like queen, what? 😀

she bursts into your dorm after school

and throws herself onto you

and

"baby the was both the scariest and hottest thing i've ever seen.."

while peppering kisses to your neck

and her hand slithers its way up your shirt

c h i l l s

"yeah?" you smirk

she hums and sucks hickies onto your neck-

😌😌😌 yeah. . .

shit gets a little steamy after that 😌😌

after,

the two of you are just chilling in the after glow,

the sweat sticking you two together a bit, but neither of you minded

mina traces over the hickies she left on your chest and neck, "you should get angry more often."

"if it'll lead to more of this, then you know damn straight i will."

after that no one cares to even look in either of your directions 😌

[sonnetthebard]

You know that headcanon about Crispin getting into fights by accident? And his worst one being with Vern at a wedding? Could you maybe please write a fic about that? And maybe throw some Crispin x Odie in there if possible? Thank you!

Oh lord, here we go-

Genre: Fluff/ Angst/ Comedy/ Romance Words: 2283 TL;DR: Crispin really, REALLY should start talking when people want to fight him. TW: Fighting, swearing, drunkeness

__________________________________________________

Crispin bit his lip, sitting silently during the wedding reception. He didn't like weddings. He actually didn't like big events at all. Too many people. It made him anxious. But... this was Vern's sister and Mary Jo's brother's wedding. Not that he was friends of either of those people (he didn't even know their names, and that should say a lot considering the size of the town they were in). But he was Ellis' cousin and Vern was his friend, so he had to be there. Plus Odie loved weddings, and he would walk to the ends of the earth for that man. so... here he was. At a wedding reception. The last place in the world he'd want to be on a Wednesday evening. Vern had even done him a 'favour'. He'd made a little 'boys' table with all the people he knew Crispin considered to be friends. It was him, Vern, Ellis, Donny, Odie, Desmond, Aubrey and Sybilus. Apparently Ellis had insisted Vern talk to his sister about it because he 'didn't want his little cousin getting lonely'. Little did Ellis know that Crispin would really rather be alone right now.

It was a good party. And the food was good- especially since he didn't have to pay for it. Vern had made sure they had the best cuts of meat for the dinner, and god was it delicious. Like, the beef option was this melt-in-your-mouth prime rib and it was perfectly cooked. It was almost enough to make Crispin not regret that he'd come to the wedding. But on the downside... everything was so, so loud. Everyone was talking, which meant that naturally everyone was talking over each other. And everything just got louder and louder. It gave Crispin a headache. There was a reason Crispin didn't speak, and it was because he liked the quiet. He liked to be able to hear the voices in his head and think clearly. And words... they complicated things. Especially love. Crispin had seen love go wrong so many times because of words that hadn't been thought out properly. At least with signing you really had to think out what you were going to say. Odie and Crispin did just fine without verbal communication, thank you very much. He wished the rest of the world give it a try.

Crispin had sort of zoned out of the conversation. After all, with so many voices coming at him from every direction... it was hard to follow one set. He just looked around the room, taking everything in. he had to admit, the little tent they'd set up for the reception was lovely. It was pristine white. And inside, Ellis and Mary Jo had decorated it with some gorgeous flower arrangements. Nothing too overwhelming in scent though. And the music... their DJ was good. The whole ambience of the wedding was lovely, save for the voices. Now, if you could just funnel all that noise out and get Crispin a book... things would be great. Yeah. He could go for a book. And another one of those prime ribs. That was good. He hoped the cake was that good. So many wedding cakes just tasted like soap. He was abruptly snapped out of his thoughts by a rather sharp nudge from someone. Crispin blinked, snapping his head to see who it was. It was Odie.

"What're you giving me that look for?" Vern glared at Crispin. Crispin blinked in shock again. Was his face doing that thing again?

"I'm sure he didn't mean to give you any look, Vern... Right, Crispin?" Odie prompted. Crispin nodded, genuinely confused and a little scared. What had he missed?

"No, he did this sassy little eye-roll thing!" Vern insisted. Oh shit, had he? He knew he did that when he was thinking sometimes. "You didn't think my little sister looked good, did you?"

"N-n-n-now Vern... let's not be r-rash..." Sybilus tried to soothe him.

"What was wrong with how my sister looked on her wedding day, Crispin?" Vern asked. He took a look at Vern's place. Ah. He'd gotten some beer. How much had Vern had to drink already? Because depending on how drunnk he was... this could be very bad for Crispin. He frantically signed at Odie, Donny and Ellis.

'I wasn't even listening! I zoned out thinking about how nice this place would be to read in!' Crispin signed.

"You should really stop doing that." Odie advised him. "It never ends well."

'I know...' Crispin signed. 'Just... the whole ambience is great in here except for the voices. I can't help it that I just want to curl up with a book.'

"Well thank god." Ellis sighed in relief, relishing in the drama of it all. "Vern, he-"

"No. No, I want to hear him fucking say it." Vern almost growled. Crispin went pale. No, he didn't want to speak.

"Language!" Desmond chided.

"Vern, you know he doesn't do that!" Donny rolled his eyes.

"I want to fucking hear it from him!" Vern demanded, standing up. He grabbed Crispin by the collar of his shirt. Crispin gulped nervously. God, Vern was so much bigger than him. "What the fuck was wrong with my sister, you little shit?"

"Vern... I think it would be best if you set him down..." Aubrey attempted to soothe. Crispin gave a pleading look to Ellis, knowing that as a relative of the groom maybe he'd be able to talk Vern down.

"Vern, Crispin doesn't speak. And I know he didn't mean to insult your little sister." Ellis stated. "He was lost in his thoughts."

"Fucking creep... were you thinking about the bride on her fucking wedding day?" Vern spat, his words just a little slurred. Shit. Oh, he was drunk. Crispin was fucked.

"Vern... Vern, what's going on?" The bride asked, scared.

"This little shit wants to get in your pants!" Vern glared at Crispin.

"No... no, Vern, he wasn't thinking of her!" Ellis cut in. He liked drama, but he wasn't going to ruin any marriages. "He was thinking about how nice it would be to read in here."

"You fucking expect me to believe that?" Vern rolled his eyes.

"Vern, it's true." Odie insisted.

"Maybe it's what he's saying to you, but that doesn't make it the truth!" Vern growled. No, no one was going to talk Vern down at this poin.

"Vern, think about who we're talking about for a minute. This is Crispin. He doesn't have it in him to insult anyone." Odie pointed out.

"Well..." Donny countered. Odie mouthed a 'not helping' to him.

"Not to their face." Vern grumbled, eyes trained on Crispin. Crispin hated this. But... he couldn't find his voice. At this point, if he could he would.

"Listen, Vern, there's like... literally nothing to insult." Donny shrugged. "I mean, sure, the whole look was a little... old."

"Is that what you called my little sister with your fancy little hand dancing? Did you call her old?" Vern glared at Crispin. Crispin shook his head.

"Old can be beautiful." Aubrey tried. "That's why we study history. There's a lot of beauty in the past."

"Vernie, I was going for a historic wedding." The bride told him. "That was a compliment!"

"Stop trying to fucking vouch for him!" Vern snapped at everyone.

"Vern, enough!" Desmond demanded. "Put Crispin down!"

"No!" Vern shook his head. He focused on Crispin again. "You little shit... no one gets to insult my little sister."

And with that, Vern threw the first punch. It his square in the jaw. Crispin yelped, and everyone gasped. Ellis looked absolutely scandalized- which was a fact Crispin wasn't entirely sure why he'd noticed but he was a bit out of it. His brain was focusing on a lot of weird things. Like how weird Dr. Edwards' laugh was. He was snapped back again when Vern threw another punch. Crispin tried to block it... to no avail. He dodged a third punch. Then Crispin was slammed onto the table... and that was all that Crispin could really remember clearly. He remembered he'd started fighting back in self defense. he hated to, and it hadn't done much good, but... he had to do something. He remembered everyone- including the bride- begging Vern to stop. But... Vern was pissed. Like, drunk and very angry. He was an angry drunk to begin with. It was just Crispin who had gotten his anger that night. He should've known better than to drink at his sister's wedding.

Anyways, they fought until he literally knocked Crispin out. Crispin remembered waking up very briefly in Dr. Edwards' office, but it was late and he was tired so he just went back to sleep. The next day when he woke (still in Dr. Edwards' office) Odie was sitting on the bed beside him and dabbing at something on his face. Or maybe he was cleaning it. God, his face was so tender. Were those stitches? Shit, how bad had things gotten? Crispin groaned quietly. He didn't like this. He had a massive headache- and he hadn't even had a drop of alcohol. It seemed Vern had had enough for the both of them. He'd kind of hoped that the night before had been a nightmare. But here he was. His jaw was killing him... which meant Dr. Edwards probably hadn't given him any pain meds. Odie smiled softly, being a bit gentler.

"Hey, Cris." Odie sighed. "Sorry about last night... we tried. But... I guess the groom got Vern's favourite beer in for the wedding. We didn't really think anything of it until... well, you know what happened."

'Did I win?' Crispin tried to sign. But his right arm was really sore.

"No... no you did not." Odie chuckled softly. "Hey, don't sign if you don't need to. You bent your wrist back trying to punch Vern last night."

'O-H G-O-D (Oh God)' Crispin fingerspelled, before starting to laugh. 'I A-M S-U-C-H A W-I-M-P (I am such a wimp)'

"No, Crispy... you're just a bit smaller than Vern." Odie chuckled along with him. He cupped Crispin's face gently, dabbing a few final tiems above Crispin's eyebrow. "You just lay back and relax. I'm going to take care of you."

"Is he in here?" A voice called in. Crispin tried to sit up and found that he was very sore. That made sense. Vern had kicked the shit out of him. He laid back down. Now he understood what Odie had meant when he said he should lay back and relax. Odie turned his head, sighing before letting go of Crispin and standing up.

"Yeah, he's here." Odie sighed. "Cris, it's Vern."

"Hey..." Vern bit his lip. he came and sat on the bed. Crispin immediately tensed, still a bit scared. "Hey... I am so sorry for this."

'It's okay.' Crispin tried to sign.

"He says it's okay." Odie translated.

"I took it way too far... man, I was so drunk... and my hangover is terrible." Vern sighed. "But like... I'm guessing it's nothing compared to what you're going through. God, I am so sorry..."

"It's fine." Crispin sighed. "Really."

"Hey, you don't have to do that." Vern told him. "I was so out of line, asking you to talk... and assuming that you thought my sister was ugly... man, I was a total idiot."

"Well, that's what too much alcohol will do." Odie chided.

"Yeah..." Vern agreed. "Listen, I just wanted to be sure you're okay... I know I can get really intense when I'm fighting."

"It'll take him time to recover, but... he'll be fine." Dr. Edwards slurred from where he was slumped over in the corner.

"Good." Vern sighed in relief, looking over Crispin again. "When you're feeling better, you come by the butcher shop. I'll give you anything you want."

'You don't need to.' Crispin signed.

"He says you don't need to." Odie translated.

"Yeah I do." Vern chuckled. "Just take it, okay bud?"

'Fine.' Crispin signed.

"He gave in." Odie told Vern.

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask... last night got me thinking... would one of you mind teaching me how to talk with the hand thing?" Vern asked.

"I can show you how to sign." Odie nodded. "Ellis, Donny, Rita and Sybilus also sign if you ever need help."

‘S-Y-B-I-L-U-S signs?’ Crispin blinked. 

“Yeah! He went nonverbal for a while when he was younger, remember?” Odie smirked. He looked back at Vern. “Anyways... any of us would be happy to teach you. Just ask, any time.”

"Thanks." Vern smiled softly. He got up, heading for the door. "Well, I'll leave you two to it. Feel better soon, Crispin. I am so sorry."

'It's okay.' Crispin chuckled.

"He says it's okay." Odie smiled.

"Okay, bud, you're coming with me." Vern sighed, scooping up a somehow already drunk Dr. Edwards.

"But I'm gonna miss the good part!" Dr. Edwards whined. "Wanna stay until they kiss!"

"Not happening." Vern rolled his eyes, smirking. he called back to Odie and Crispin as he left. "Bye guys!"

Crispin waved.

"Well that was nice of him." Odie smirked. climbing to lay next to . "I like Vern."

'M-E T-O-O W-H-E-N H-E-S S-O-B-E-R (Me too when he's sober).' Crispin teased, fingerspelling so he could rest his arm.

"Which is most of the time." Odie chided teasingly.

'Y-E-A-H. (Yeah)' Crispin chuckled. He sighed. "Thanks for doing this."

"Well... you're a lot of trouble, but you're cute... which kind of makes up for it." Odie teased. "So I guess I don't mind so much."

'Y-O-U K-N-O-W Y-O-U L-O-V-E M-E (You know you love me)' Crispin rolled his eyes, grinning like an idiot.

"Yeah. I do." Odie shrugged, equally as teasing. He leaned in and gently kissed Crispin, who blushed. "Maybe it's a good thing that we're teaching him how to sign so that this doesn't happen again."

Crispin couldn't have said it better himself.

[mooooooosicals]

Why is it that I just learned what neurodiversity was when quarantine started? Why did I not learn about it when I was younger? I'm just... It answers so many questions that I've been asking about myself for years.

Learning that everything I've felt actually falls under certain categories that go against the stereotypes I was taught... it both relaxes me and angers me. I just wish I were taught right from the start how it actually works.

I realize I've been being too vague so lemme give y'all some examples:

As a kid, I was always taught "person first language is more polite." And I thought I was being inclusive when I used it. Or when people say "go easy on them, they don't know any better," literally infantilizing them, and I just accepted it as "yeah, that's what I should do."

Believe me, if I could take back all the ableist actions I did before educating myself, I would do it in a heartbeat. I regret it deeply, and nothing I can do will ever cancel that out. Learning what I did during quarantine, a large amount of guilt took over me thinking back to everything I've done in the past. I hope I've changed for the better, but I cannot deny that I was in the wrong before learning.

Another thing that just absolutely tears me apart is that a lot, like a LOT of my traits are considered neurodivergent, but I was never taken seriously. I faced a lot of "oh, she's gonna grow out of that," "you're being a baby," "she's an only child, they're all like that," "what are you, [insert r slur here]?", "weirdo," and the one that hurts the most, "suck it up."

I always felt distant from other people, never being able to figure out why I couldn't connect with other people in the same way, say, my parents could. I understood that there was something... different about me, about the way I thought about the world, the way I communicated, but I couldn't put my finger on it. For 16 years of my life, I couldn't figure out why, why I was mocked so often, called a "crazy cat book girl," being the butt of every joke the Boys™ would make. I couldn't figure out why I couldn't function under triggering situations, like sudden loud noises, where I would literally go nonverbal. I couldn't understand why what I said was considered "rude" or how I was "talking too loud." I couldn't understand why tapping my foot or twirling my hair was bad and needed to be stopped. I didn't know why I got weird looks whenever I started talking about something I was enthusiastic about in class. I could go on and on and on and on and on for ages but this ramble is long enough as it is so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Just. For so long. I couldn't understand myself.

Enter quarantine.

I turned to the internet to indulge on one of my new "intense obsessions" as I called it (another thing I always questioned, since when I was obsessed with something, I went all in, annoying everyone around me hehe). I met a bunch of people who happened to be neurodivergent, and when talking about their own experiences and realizing how much I related to them, I went into a panic.

For so long I was taught "you [neurotypicals] are above [neurodivergent people]" (which is wrong, on so many levels, we need to do better on education about this kinda stuff). Then, I find out just how much I have in common, and suddenly everything I thought I knew is put into question. Who even am I?

Ever since them, I've just considered myself a "spicy neurotypical" because I don't wanna offend anybody by labelling myself as neurodivergent and then being wrong, but recently I feel like that's changed.

I finally got through to my parents when they realized that I could not just "suck it up," I have traits that actually need to be addressed, and urgently. I honestly think it broke them, my mom in particular, because she always wants to be the best mom she can and to not have anything hold back her relationship with her daughter. I'm glad she finally is starting to see through my lens, but it's still gonna take a while. Still, I'm relieved in that aspect.

Ever since then, we've been pursuing a diagnosis of some kind, more specifically sensory processing disorder, so that when I go to college I can get accomadations. I won't have an official examination until August 4, just a few weeks before entering college on August 30, just a few weeks before I become a legal adult on August 26.

I had a meet up with one of the people who works with the psychologist the other day, to kind of get a sense of my situation. It was odd because they didn't just ask me about sensory stuff, but also about how I act. The more questions I answered about my behavior, the more I came to realize this wasn't just a sensory issue, but a behavioral situation as well.

My mom was on the phone with them the other day and-

They theorize I'm autistic.

You don't realize how emotional of a realization that is for me.

No dude, like I'm actually tearing up writing this.

If only someone could have told me this when I was younger.

If only someone could have told me this when I was at a Wiggles concert, having a meltdown because of the confetti canons.

If only someone could have told me this when I was overwhelmed by the flahsing lights and the loud pyrotechnics when watching Phantom Of The Opera.

If only someone could have told me this when I couldn't connect with my band section and I couldn't figure out why they were treating me as a kid when I'm older than some of them.

If only someone could have told me that it's okay. That I'm not a lost cause. I'm not immature. I'm not a weirdo, I'm not [words I can't repeat], I'm just. I'm just me. Just imagine how much trauma I could have avoided.

(disclaimer: these traits can be found in neurotypical people too. it's the fact that I have so many of these traits that gives me and others the reason to believe I could possibly be neurodivergent. However it's a whole spectrum of stuff, it's different for everyone. Don't use me as a resource. These are just my experiences.)

TLDR: As someone who is afab, we aren't taken seriously until it's too late. And it's extremely damaging.

We need to do better. Actually. We need to better.

(sorry this was really long, I'm just very emotional rn. might delete this later. I may not even be autistic or have sensory processing disorder or adhd or any of that. I may just turn out to be "spicy neurotypical." But who knows. I'm just,,, I'm just praying that I'll get my answers in time. The right answers.)

[mydisasteracademia]

SFW Alphabet: Hizashi Yamada

Ah, my favorite loudmouth. He’s so comical, I love watching his appearances in the anime.

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

Hizashi is all over you. Resting his arm on your shoulder, on your head, giving you headpats, holding your hand, you name it. He just loves touching you.

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

He’s the loud, fun bestie. Shows up at your place with a bottle of alcohol just to chill and gossip about UA staff. He would definitely take you out to get ice cream at the corner store to celebrate special little occasions. Probably went to a mixer and met you, though you were kinda cute, and the two of you exchanged numbers and became fast friends.

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

Fairly cuddly. In public usually he’ll just have an arm around your shoulder. In private, he loves to have you in his lap so that he can hug on you.

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

He can cook and clean for himself well, considering he lives alone. He has considered settling down before, but never really got down to it. He wants to find someone who can stand his exuberant persona and his workload first.

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

What, did you think I’d say he does something dramatic? Nah. He’s the type to do something dramatic for a confession, not for a breakup. He sits you down and explains that he wants to break up. It hurts him to do so, but in the end it’s for the best.

F = Fiancé(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

He feels pretty positively about it most of the time, but he would definitely need a lot of time before he actually considers marriage. He really needs to feel out the other person to make absolutely sure that he’s making the right decision. That, and he doesn’t want to end up with someone his friends utterly despise.

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

He can be fairly gentle sometimes. Usually when you’re alone and the persona drops, he looks and speaks to you tenderly. When he touches you, it’s usually light, as if you’ll break if he puts pressure on you.

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

He loves hugs. Loves them so much. He’s the kind of teacher who never turns down a hug and is always friendly. When he hugs you, it’s tight and passionate (and depending on his mood, he might pick you up).

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

Pretty quick, all things considered. Sometime during your relationship, you’ve gotten super close and are out drinking together, and he turns to you and says “Y’know somethin’, (Name)? I really love ya.”

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

He can get fairly jealous. Not with his friends, of course, but it really shows when you’re around certain people. He has the tendency to go up to you and activate his radio persona in hopes that it scares them off.

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

He loves kissing you atop your head. When he kisses your lips, it’s usually a sweet little peck, and often leads to him kissing along your cheek. When you kiss his nose, he melts.

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

He’s pretty good with kids. They seem to like his extroverted persona and he thinks they’re cute.

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

He gets up early -- like, really early -- in order to make his radio job. By the time you really wake up, he’s gone.

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

Once he gets back after classes and other gigs are done, he likes to collapse onto the couch with you in his lap and tell you about the day’s events. Loves to gush about his students and how bright they are. By the time you’ve had dinner, cleaned up, and are in bed, he conks out, holding you close.

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

He’s fairly open about anything you want to know once you become friends. Of course he has things he’s not proud of, but if you just listen, he’ll tell you.

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)

He can be patient. He kinda has to be. But start being rude to his friends or trash-talking his students and he can get a little heated.

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

He remembers what you tell him. He’s busy pretty much all the time, but he makes it a point to listen when you speak. He can forget passing conversation.

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

His favorite moment was the time he first realized he was in love with you. The two of you were at a karaoke place with your own private room, a few of his coworkers present, and you got absolutely hammered. You dragged him up to sing one of his favorite pop songs, and although you were drunkenly slurring the words, you sounded fairly good compared to some of the others. He recalls just staring at you (in Nemuri’s later words, totally lovesick), thinking about how amazing you were, until you bumped his side and told him to join in.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

He’s protective, but he’s not going to hunt down every single person who wrongs you. Definitely the type to get in front of you during an attack. Doesn’t mind if you get protective over him, actually thinks it’s super adorable.

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

He puts considerable effort in. He tries to make time for dates, sometimes gets you little gifts he knows you’ll like, and he remembers anniversaries he marks down on his calendar. Since he’s used to living alone, don’t be surprised if he does most of the chores around the house.

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

His extroverted persona can be a little annoying if you’re not used to it, and he often has a hard time not taking it too far. In private, sometimes he can be really insecure about himself and he can be pretty self-depreciating.

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

He can be pretty attentive to how he looks, considering he’s a teacher and he doesn’t want to look totally scruffy. Luckily he’s not like All Might, who constantly had to be aware of his own looks, but he does pay extra attention to his hair. That shit takes so much hair gel, you don’t even know.

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

Eventually, yes. If he had to break things off, he’d be real depressed for a while, but eventually through his own personality he would get to a point where he would be confident without you again.

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

HC that he teaches students sign language as an extra informal class to better communicate with deaf and hard-of-hearing students. I know a ton of people have this headcanon, but it’s just really cute and I love it to bits.

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

A total buzzkill. He can stand Aizawa being a grumpy grumbus because he knows Aizawa well -- he can bring out that man’s inner child in ways you can’t even comprehend. He hates judgmental people just as much - he can already be insecure about being too loud and annoying, and he doesn’t want to hear about it from his s/o too.

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habits of theirs?)

Generally well-rested! He often goes to bed early because he has to wake up early for his radio show and for Yuuei. A true role model for his students.