#in defense of fanworks

[s2pdoktopus]

Gintoki is here as Takasugi's vertical support, Zura is here as Gintoki's moral support!

Anyway, to answer Gintoki's question:

Takasugi used Pay Day!

It's super effective!

[sirmacintosh]

"The Horror will grow mild, this Darkness, light."

Idk I really love Sinner Adam, but also how Luci almost certainly has some complicated feelings towards him

Also I dont make comics or render like this I kind of enjoyed the challenge

[lokiinmediasideblog]

There's a certain kind of cutesiness and wholesomeness that will piss me off. I have to tell myself not to be a bitch. It's harmless.

[somerunner]

[Image ID: An online news headline, which reads as follows:

The Internet Archive Loses Its Appeal of a Major Copyright Case

Hachette v. Internet Archive was brought by book publishers objecting to the archive's digital lending library.

/End ID]

I'd also add that fanworks are possibly a big part of how a fandom maintains interest in an IP between new releases, how they get other people to become interested in the IP, and overall are a massive driving force behind the demand for an ongoing (or completed) IP. I think it's pretty rare that fanworks have ever reduced demand of an IP; even piracy can be very beneficial for an IP (only when the IP is mostly or entirely unreachable without it, though).

That's all my own opinion and completely unsourced. Take what I said here with a big grain of salt until you see a real study backing it up, and even then retain some doubt.

i am pro-copyright infringement. anybody who does fanfiction or fanart or anything should be pro-copyright infringement and obviously we are on the Fanart Website. why this is not a more popular stance among people who spend all their time doing transformative works is beyond me

[nighthaunting]

This deserves a more in-depth post but I’ve been thinking about Morgott again and just off the cuff it IS very funny in terms of symmetry that Marika imprisoned Morgott in the Shunning Grounds to the point that he was shackled to keep him there and now Morgott is doing such a good job defending the Erdtree to keep the Tarnished from burning his city down that he’s incidentally keeping Marika imprisoned in her Elden Ring Breaker’s Time Out Crucifixion Evergaol

How the turn tables type situation honestly

Morgott’s devotion to the Erdtree is continually framed as him being overly invested in the Golden Order’s dogma by fandom which is I think a misread of his situation, as I’ve said before, but Morgott’s devotion to defending the Erdtree has also kept Marika imprisoned for ???? years so he’s also honestly doing more than any other demigod to directly pay her back for his terrible childhood, and its entirely unwitting which is the funniest part

I have seen a lot of fanworks belaboring Morgott’s imagined mommy issues and religious issues but I think we need to lean in more on the fact that Morgott was also directly keeping anyone from breaking the Erdtree open like a piñata to find out what happened to Marika for the length of An Age

The Veiled Monarch running Leyndell like its the fucking Navy and whenever anyone asks him what happened to the God Queen he’s like ‘its fine don’t worry about it also under no circumstances should anyone approach the Erdtree Sanctuary no reason she just needs her privacy’

Did he occasionally hear muffled clanging coming from inside as Radagon tried to fix the Elden Ring and ignore it because it’s none of his business?

IDK I just think this is very funny Morgott successfully jailed his Godly parent for like a thousand years by accident by being extremely good at siege defense strategy and also hunting Tarnished for sport

[beesmygod]

i found the era of fanwork lionization to be extremely annoying to navigate as a young artist. almost all art work has at least some intrinsic value, whether its valuable to all of society or just for an individual for reasons as vast and varied as the sea, but the argument that all art work is inherently equal by virtue of simply coming into being feels like an extremely reductive and inauthentic way of interfacing with something built on a foundation of thousands of years of critique and arguments/defenses of the merit of individual pieces. i yearn for authenticity in people's reactions, not glib reassurances that everything is good and nothing is bad

[stereopticons]

On This Day in Schitt's Creek...

Well, hello, you! Were you wondering what fanworks were posted on this day in the Ao3 Schitt's Creek tag? Were you looking to read some older fics you missed or perhaps re-read an old favorite? Well, look no further! Each day, I will post all the fics that were posted Ao3 on that date from 2017 to 2024! Give some of them a read and show the authors some love! At the end of each month, I also plan to post some stats about the fics posted in that month.

Multi-chaptered works or unfinished WIPs will be posted on the date they were last updated. All fanworks included in the tag for that date will be included in the post.

2020

Designated Grape [david/patrick, M, 1,097] by bellalafrella

This is my idea of what went down on that car ride back to the motel after Patrick came to get his drunk fiancé from Herb's fruit winery.

Filling in the Blanks [stevie & patrick, M, 4,493] by Aelia_Gioia

A series of random text conversations that fill in some blank spaces.

In Moira Rosé Veritas [david/patrick, T, 2,283] by Aelia_Gioia

After David and Moira sample all the fruit wine, after Johnny and Patrick have a heart to heart, it all culminates in Room 6.

More under the cut!

Morning Rosé [david/patrick, T, 532] by whetherwoman

Somewhere Near [david/patrick, T, 20,777] by alldaydream

Patrick Brewer suffers from amnesia that has erased six months of his life, forcing him to move back home with his parents. No one knows about the life he spent in Elmdale, so he goes chasing after his lost memories there only to end up in Schitt's Creek instead, taken by the handsome owner of the general store he's supposedly never met before. Before 4x07 The Barbecue

sustineo [david/patrick, E, 10,056] by @rockinhamburger

The bad thing about being a world-famous contemporary artist is… actually, there are many bad things. The clout-chasers and users. The frenzied hoards of tabloid “reporters” and paparazzi vultures. The pressure from interviewers, curators, collectors, and art critics to pigeon-hole himself, or, at the very least, be consistent enough for them to do it for him. The neverending demands that he ascribe an approved meaning to his art. The elitist club at the very top of the art world pyramid, which David has never been a member of, what with his postmodern, mixed-media, performance piece style of art that in equal parts seems to shock and disgust and enthrall. Or, an alternate universe where David is a famous, reclusive modern contemporary artist and Patrick is the art critic who is interviewing him about his new exhibition.

Synchronicity [david/patrick, T, 2,966] by @landofsonlali

david and patrick have a conversation after leaving jake's apartment.

2021

[art] The Roses Reunited [david/patrick, NR, art] by @frizzlenox

The Rose family poses for a portrait at the Emmys when Moira is nominated for Sunrise Bay.

Assistant Direction [stevie & moira, T, 2,378] by bigficenergy

Stevie's lazy morning with Ruth is interrupted by repeated phone calls from Moira, who is nervous about her first day of filming the Sunrise Bay reboot and simply must talk to Stevie.

China [gen, G, 300] by Rosey_Peach

Come Away with Me [david/patrick, M, 6,034] by @flowerfan2

There’s a beauty to David that’s hard to define in words. Patrick prefers to tell him with long, slow kisses and the kind of gentle, drawn-out love-making that gets David to drop his defenses. He had sort of hoped that this weekend would lend itself to a night like that, alone in a fancy hotel in the L.A. he had imagined. It’s a lot less likely to happen in their subpar Airbnb. David and Patrick take a trip to L.A. for the Sunrise Bay premiere. It isn’t exactly what Patrick expected.

Free Marcy Hugs [david/patrick, G, 803] by @goodiecornbread

Marcy Brewer is a hugger. So she puts her mom hugs to good use. TW for implied homophobia/transphobia, but no phobic or harmful language is used.

kiss away the pain [david/patrick, T, 1,008] by @lastchancecafe13

“I can’t say that was something I would have ever wanted to see. I know you’ve told me stories but hearing and having it laid out in front of me like that. And he stood there with that smirk on his face--” Patrick's voice trailed off as he pressed a kiss to David’s lips. Patrick's thumbs traced the tear tracks down David's cheeks. He wiped them away before continuing, "I can’t believe after all that that you’re here and you’re so good David. After all that that you were willing to open your heart to me--" Tumblr kiss prompt #39 kissing the tears from someone else's face

Leaning on Somebody Isn't Easy [david/patrick, G, 2,976] by lucianowriter

A Continuation of “Hate To Say That I Miss You.” It’s been three weeks since the phone call and David finds himself single and at a bar where Patrick is. A conversation happens. Will they get back together or is there too much baggage? Based off Ben Platt’s Temporary Love

The Diamond and the Duke [david/patrick, E, 4,005] by asoftplacetoland

Patrick plans a very special roleplay for David for Valentine's Day based on his latest television obsession.

Mine Own Weak Moments [stevie & moira, 6, 3,644] by @treepyful

When her phone buzzed with a silent call for the third time in eight minutes, Stevie debated throwing it out her open window.

The Moira Rose Story [johnny/moira, G, art] by WrathoftheStag

It's the poster for the upcoming, and highly anticipated, Interflix movie The Moira Rose Story.

this is my confession [david/patrick, T, 791] by @blackandwhiteandrose

Patrick finds a way to tell David the things he wants to say before David is ready to hear them.

2022

About a Boy [david/patrick, T, 13,507, CW: MCD] by the_same_but_different

"How about mac and cheese?” “I’m very uninterested in that option.” “RJ.” “Patrick, I’m sorry, but these lunch selections you’re offering me are just…” “Incorrect?” “You said it, not me.” Patrick’s relationship with Roland Moira Schitt Jr over the years. (With bonus audio commentary from David Rose.)

Make a Wish [david/patrick, T, 1,330] by @goodiecornbread

After having a birthday lunch with Stevie, David planned on sitting alone at the motel, smoking weed and eating cake. Then Patrick offers to join him.

2023

Itty Bitty Living Space [david & alexis, NR, 100] by mallpretzles

David is at his wit’s end with sharing 300 sq feet with Alexis.

Wallpaper Whispers [david/patrick, G, 100] by @legalgal421

Patrick takes one last look at his room at Ray’s.

2024

Easy [david/patrick, G, 1,154] by obsessedwithdavrick

David loves his husband and enjoys his Sunday sleep-in. Patrick loves to spoil David. They both are taking time to enjoy their slow time together.

Making Everything Okay [david/patrick, T, 1,064] by obsessedwithdavrick

After many years of marriage, Patrick could pretend to be okay as much as he wanted. But David knew when his husband wasn't okay, and sometimes he just had to be the one to take charge.

oh honey, you can have me when you want me [david/patrick, E, 2,990] by stereopticons

“Such a good little slut.” He gives Patrick's ass a light slap. “So here's what I'm thinking. I think that you put on that dirty little sweatshirt because you wanted me to bend you over this table and fuck you, isn't that right?” David accidentally buys Patrick a joke hoodie. Patrick wears it, to great effect.

Rosewood [david/patrick, M, 40,050] by @beaiola

Inspired by Jane Austen's Mansfield Park. Patrick and David have been friends for years, their bond deep and undeniable, and there's no one whose opinion David values more. So when a new family moves into the neighbourhood, it's only natural that David should turn to his oldest friend for his advice and support as he tries to work out what this could mean for him and his future. Patrick, on the other hand, isn't as instantly taken with Sebastien and Klair Raine but David's sure when they all get to know each other things will be different. But there's no way he could forsee the impact the Raine siblings will have on the residents of Rosewood.

Stats:

No fanworks for 2017, 2018, or 2019 2020: 7 fics/39,238 words 2021: 11 fanworks (9 fics, 2 fanart)/22,254 words 2022: 2 fics/14,837 words 2023: 2 fics/200 words 2024: 4 fics/45,258 words Total: 26 fanworks (24 fics, 2 fanart)/121,787 words

[destinationtoast]

I know this is the least of our problems right now but do you think the US election results will impact ao3?

I am not a lawyer, nor a founder of AO3, nor a volunteer there, nor a fandom journalist or historian, so I'm pretty far from the best person to ask. I encourage any and all of the above to please chime in with more knowledgeable answers.

That said, I don't think the next few years will probably directly limit AO3 or its umbrella org, the OTW.* But that depends in part on members voting for board members who will uphold the organization's current principles. (Vote! Become a member if you're not already, and vote! Vote in ALL the elections you are eligible for and will be affected by!) And that doesn't mean a bunch of works won't become private, orphaned, or deleted.**

*A couple reasons for my cautious optimism: The OTW was formed with the preservation and maximalist defense of fanworks in mind. So the shifting US cultural norms and increasing purity culture can't easily change the OTW from within (as we've already been seeing in past years when some fans have disliked some content). And in spite of everything scary happening externally (and there is a whole fucking lot), the US still has far more constitutionally enshrined freedom of speech protections than most places in the world. It will take a long time to tear all that down. Some states and locales are doing a lot to try to challenge free speech, especially queer content and sexual content, and there will be more challenges. But many of those challenges will be defeated because of the First Amendment, and it'll take a lot of time and effort to push through any constitutional changes. You can donate to organizations like the ACLU and the EFF to help protect against the erosions of rights, in addition to supporting the OTW and the Internet Archive who work to preserve free speech rights and online rights. (Other suggestions of where to donate or volunteer are welcome in the notes!) Also, perhaps best of all, the OTW is a non-profit who owns their own servers, which makes it MUCH harder to change what they choose to host than if they relied on any external hosting services and/or had advertisers.

**The archive already has had a whole lot of fanworks shift from public to private due to external events, including the AO3 ban in China, and recent AI scraping of web content. I'm sure more AO3 users will choose to make their content private over the next few years out of a fear of potential personal risks of them being found, and/or due to new attempts to ban content. (Some users will also delete their works for similar reasons, though I urge people to consider orphaning them instead!) Downloading for personal use any fanworks you love is always a good idea, and even moreso at a time of great heartbreak and panic, like now.

*hugs* Hang in there, all, and continue to take comfort from AO3 & OTW as you survive the upcoming hard times.

[toytle]

it effing sucks you had to turn off the comments on that jayce post bc i distinctly remember back in 2022 your art turned me into a jayce-truther

the greatest compliment i can get as a fanartist is when ppl tell me that my art converted them to the character/fandom i’ve drawn T__T

this goes double, TRIPLE for jayce, bc there was absolutely no reason for the fandom to unanimously single him out. to this day, it’s the most undeserved hate i’ve ever seen a character receive. and for what!

but ever since s2 dropped, i’ve been seeing a surge of jayce love,,, back in my day, most ppl would only bring him up to talk shit. i used to get told that liking him was a “red flag.” even ppl that enjoyed my art would leave backhanded compliments abt how my talent was being wasted on him (mind you, my comments were already restricted before this! this is what slipped thru!)

now look at us. fanworks and pfps and defenders galore. ppl are leaving the sweetest comments on my 3 year old posts, coming back to reminisce or to share how they’ve had a change of heart. i’ve gotten such a demand for my jayce prints that i’ve since revived and even restocked one of them! friends and strangers alike have said that they cite me in jayce’s defense!! hell, the fact that there’s discourse now where there used to be the single general consensus is more than i could’ve hoped for. all this other stuff is borderline fantasy 😭

i used to bargain for crumbs. never in my LIFE did i expect to be the one feasting. we did it, jayce enjoyers, we lost the battle but we won the war \o/

[amyoffline]

In Defense of the Phandom (Mostly): Dan, Phil, and Our Parasocial Social Club

Refer to my previous pinned post for an explanation of and outline for this project. Now that I'm done going through my old reblogs (god, it took forever), it's time to actually research and write this script! This will be my pinned post for the foreseeable future, so you can come back to it by clicking on my blog for the current status of this part of the process. (Note from February 15 - everything is on hold for now while I wrap up my dissertation!)

Script word count: 2,350 | Last updated: January 9, 2025

Research

Peer-reviewed or published literature: ⚫︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎ Social media, forum archives, and fanwork: ⚫︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎ The great rewatch: ⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎ Discussions with other phannies (hey! that could be you, if you want!): ⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎

Writing

Introduction, background, and conclusion sections: ⚫︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎ 2009-2013: ⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎ 2014-2018: ⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎ 2019-2025: ⚫︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎ Long tangents (fandom, RPF, and PSIs/PSRs): ⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎ Editing: ⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎⚪︎

More details below the cut!

Research → peer reviewed or published literature:

I read a few things (like Haidt's The Anxious Generation) while I was in the process of searching academic databases, but most of the 403 works I have saved to Zotero for this are currently unread. They're not all the same length or will take the same amount of time to read, so the completion proportion is just getting updated based on vibes. I'm absolutely not referencing all 403 of these things in the script - I just cast a wide net for materials I thought might be relevant. Furthermore, there are some things I didn't save that I know I'll be referencing, like some of the Pew Research Center's work in the early to mid 2010s on teenagers and technology, or the journalistic coverage of what got my school district in huge trouble in 2011.

Research → Social media and forum archives:

The collection of posts, art, and fic (other than mine) to reference in the video. For regular posts and art, especially by people who have long since abandoned their accounts or whose content went pretty viral, I feel comfortable just showing things in the video with credit as examples. For fic, I intend to just discuss trends more broadly and vaguely since, as a fic writer myself, I know we tend to get more flack and less acclaim for our work and therefore prefer to stay out of the spotlight. Let me know if you think I should handle this differently - the academic impulse is to credit sources and reproducible searches for every single thing you do, but that's definitely not best practice for phandom history since we have so much "forbidden" lore. I'll also be reading the IDB forum front-to-back, listening to things like the phandom podcast, reading the current generation of phanzines, and looking at recent (and historical, if anyone has any) surveys done of phannies within the community. I'm assuming those folks would appreciate credit and/or a shoutout.

Research → The great rewatch:

Rewatching everything DNP-related so I can talk about it from more recent memory (and read what's left of the original comments for DNP videos that are still up at their original locations). I know there's a playlist for this but I also know it's incomplete, so I have been doing some poking around myself and will probably continue to.

Research → Discussions with other phannies:

I read a few things (like Haidt's The Anxious Generation) while I was in the process of searching academic databases, but most of the 403 works I have saved to Zotero for this are currently unread. They're not all the same length or will take the same amount of time to read, so the completion proportion is just getting updated based on vibes. I'm absolutely not referencing all 403 of these things in the script - I just cast a wide net for materials I thought might be relevant. Furthermore, there are some things I didn't save that I know I'll be referencing, like some of the Pew Research Center's work in the early to mid 2010s on teenagers and technology, or the journalistic coverage of what got my school district in huge trouble in 2011. The first task is to sort that whole Zotero collection into more manageable sub-collections (on PSR on PSIs, on mental health, on YouTube platform history, etc), which is what I'm currently working on.

Writing → Introduction, background, and conclusion sections

See old pinned post for the outline. Will expand details here once research is mostly done (I plan to read and watch everything in the research section aside from talking to other phannies, then complete the script's rough draft, then talk to others on call, then integrate that with and finalize the script).

Writing → 2009-2013

See above.

Writing → 2014-2018

See above.

Writing → 2019-2025

See above.

Writing → Long tangents (fandom, RPF, and PSRs/PSIs)

See above. These tangents are kind of mini video essays in and olf themselves, so I may write them while I'm reading through my saved stuff in Zotero and before I rewatch all the DNP videos.

[thebroccolination]

STOLAS AND BLITZ'S CURRENT RELATIONSHIP IS A TREASURE TROVE

Helluva Boss is the ideal source material for fanworks in so many ways. Especially because of where Blitz and Stolas's relationship is right now.

One of the show's more obvious issues is the pacing, and while I don't know a ton about animated productions, it's always seemed to me like they're creating an enormously ambitious production on a pretty limited budget, so they kind of have to power through these episodes at a hundred miles an hour without the luxury of going at the slower, more nuanced pace they deserve. But that's where fanfiction and fanart can really elevate what canon gives us, because the show is creating so much potential to explore, and we have time in between episodes to play!

Basically: I love it here and this episode was a buffet of goodness.

Following Mastermind, Stolas and Blitz are discovering that despite their physically intimate relationship and their feelings for each other, they don't actually know each other.

In Sinsmas, we see Stolas and Blitz discovering so many new things about each other, to the point where you wonder what they ever talked about until you remember: sex. When they reunited as adults, they never re-learned who each other is now. Instead, they jumped past personal intimacy to physical intimacy.

And now that they're working on their personal intimacy, I love that Blitz has flipped completely from acting cold to Stolas out of uncertainty and self-defense to committing to him, unrelentingly loyal and affectionate. The way he is with Loona.

So we have them learning each other in doses:

• Blitz's horse thing

• Stolas's secret medication

• What Stolas eats

• Social norms Stolas didn't have to know when he was part of the wealthy ruling class

• Hellborn culture

• Blitz's genuine love for the company he built, not just pride

• Just how different Blitz's way of life is from the one Stolas is accustomed to

• And the real Blitz as opposed to the idealized version Stolas invented in his fantasies

In Mastermind, Stolas has that line, "Why am I throwing my freedom away for this idiot?" in part because he was still mad at Blitz, but also because Blitz has been knocked off his pedestal, and Stolas has to relearn him from nothing.

But the thing is: this idiot loves Stolas.

He's not ashamed to eat with Stolas in public, not ashamed to protect him from the other Hellborn who hate Stolas because of the trial.

He's genuinely delighted spending his time with Stolas.

He'll hunt rats in an alley just to make sure Stolas is eating what he likes.

And he champions Stolas's very first secretarial attempt in very characteristically giddy flavor.

He risks his life to save Stolas's, a flip from Mastermind.

He wraps Stolas in his own jacket to keep him warm, even though Blitz just complained about Earth's winter topside.

And he wraps Stolas in a blanket, then eats hot coals/brimstone(/whatever those rocks were) to become a hot water bottle for Stolas.

Because ultimately, what Blitz wants and perhaps realizes he wants in this episode is that he wants to be a complete family with Stolas and their daughters.

And they'll get there in part by talking to each other about what matters.

Not fighting, not yelling, not walking away, just talking to each other. About their vulnerabilities and their fears and what hurts. About their past hurts and their worries for the future.

And they've never done that at length before.

The trial gave Blitz the wakeup call he needed, and now the season is ending with Blitz completing another curve of his character arc. Does he believe he deserves Stolas? No. Does he have the family he wants? Nope! But to get there he has to make things right with Stolas, and he's (mostly) done that.

What comes next for them in season three will be up to Stolas.

Blitz has embraced Stolas, but it's not quite reciprocal yet.

So I look forward to aaaaaaalllllllllI the fic and fanart along the way. :>

[ofstormsandfire]

this is a PSA because I am getting real tired of stumbling across works on AO3 that say they were commissioned in the summary.

mentioning commercial activities of any kind (including but not limited to fanzine preorders if money is involved, patreon/ko-fi, or - y'know - writing commissions) is NOT PERMITTED ON AO3. they are fine with you linking to a different site that then links to something with real money involved, like for instance linking to your tumblr that has a patreon or info about commissions in the pinned post, but you cannot link directly to anything with real money involved.

"but that's unfair!" I know. I know, I get it, as a writer it pisses me off all the damn time, but that's the state copyright law is in and that's pretty unlikely to change anytime soon. the reason AO3 is so strict about this is so that they can claim, accurately, that the fanworks hosted there are noncommercial activity, which to my understanding makes for a stronger legal defense against people who would rather you not write fanfic at all.

please. for the love of god. if you're going to tempt fate/copyright law by taking writing commissions (which is, unfortunately, in significantly more of a legal gray area than art commissions, I desperately wish this wasn't the case but it is).

DON'T SAY THAT YOU ARE/HAVE IN THE PAST/WILL IN THE FUTURE ON ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN DOT ORG.

this is for YOUR protection, this is for OTHERS' protection, this is for the protection of the WHOLE DANG ARCHIVE.

signed, a very tired writer who doesn't want you to ruin it for everyone, thank you very much.

[tippenfunkaport]

FYI, I have also locked all my fanfics down to registered users only because of the AI scraping on AO3. I'm one of many fan creators doing this right now and I know it stinks for users without an AO3 account, but it's the only option writers have available to us at the moment to stop our work from being scraped and stolen.

If this makes you mad, the Federal Register is currently open to comments on AI accountability until June 12th, 2023.

It only takes a second to leave a comment to ask for legislation that works used in AI creations or training MUST secure the express consent of the original creator before they can be used. If we can get protections for artists, writers, musicians and everyone who creates that their work cannot be used in AI without their permission, we can go back to making fanworks freely available without fear of them being misused. Until then, we're stuck playing defense until the courts catch up.

(If you're a fan creator looking to do this as well, AO3 has a tool to let you do all your fics at the same time in seconds. On your dashboard, go to Edit Works and you'll be able to change the status on everything at once.)

If you missed the context, AO3 recently found that the archive was scraped for use in AI services like ChatGPT and Sudowrite. While they put in protections in December 2022 to try to stop it from happening in the future, it's not foolproof and there is nothing they can do about works already swiped prior to that date. The archive is recommending fan creators restrict their works to registered users only to prevent against additional large scale scraping in the future.

[beatleskinkmeme]

Summer of Love Fanworks-a-thon Master Post

Please check out these fanworks and leave a comment!

Grateful for him by @johangeorghohman

5 + 1 things, 5 times George wished that Paul never met John (because George has a big fat schoolboy crush on Paul) + 1 time he was grateful that they did met

everything to be discovered by @backbenttulips

John and Paul exploring a romantic relationship with each other during the 2000s-2010s, and navigating life as famous old people and grandparents.

the size of a loneliness by @backbenttulips

Brian survives his overdose in 1967. John and Paul come stay to make sure he gets better, taking care of him in their own emotionally inept way.

Knocking at Your Door by @eveepe

5+1 fic. When they’re kids George learns that an easy way to calm Paul down when he’s getting the horrors is to give him a quick little kiss on the mouth. It becomes his go to method to soothe Paul when he needs to.

I Fancy Me Chances With You by @hootiepgh

Paul participates in a charity auction during the 70s. “Bid on a date with Paul McCartney” John pays an absurd amount of money to win. Paul is shocked. They go on the date and they’re both very awkward, neither are sure why John paid so much and what it entails.

I'll Never Do You No Harm by @hootiepgh

Aftermath of the "I want a divorce meeting," when Mal drives Paul home. Paul is broken and crying. Mal calls John and tells him how upset Paul is. John comes over. All the angst please!

But as the words are leaving his lips, a noise comes from behind by @hootiepgh

Mid-1969, Allen Klein and the Beatles are having a private meeting with Allen still trying to convince them to have him be their manager. He gets really frustrated and lashes out at one or all of them, and in an act of self defense Paul, Ringo, George, and John end up accidentally killing him. Afraid of what might happen if anyone finds out, they all agree to cover up their involvement in the crime. Their personal lives/ marriages start to crumble as they're forced to rely on each other as the only people they trust. Would like the inclusion of McLennon and George X Ringo

If I Needed Someone by @hootiepgh

Paul gets shot during the 1966 Memphis concert. John (doesn't) deals with the angst and the guilt.

Taking Trophies by @m1ssunderstanding

AU where John and Paul see each other sooner, forced into confrontation around 1971 when things were at their worst with John spewing his anger to the public and Paul taken aback by it. Of course this leads to some post-breakup, angsty, possessive sex.

Everybody Loves Somebody by @bewareofdarkness

Soulmark AU, the four of them are soulmates

invisible string by @scurator

McHarrison boat vibes on the Queen Mary for the Venus and Mars release party. Um, bonus points for George showing off that he won Bob Dylan in the divorce

deeper than oceans you run by @timrothencrantz

AU where they went through with doing Beatle island and establish their commune (?) or whatever the plan was. Polyamory ensues. This either fixes everything or makes everything worse (or somehow both)

yellow, orange, and blue, i love you by @menlove

Soulmates au where one sees colour for the first time when you touch your soulmate. I believe it would be fun to see how this would play out. This one could be a fic, a comic page or even an illustration where the boys realise what happened when they introduce themselves, whatever the artist prefers!

take it away by @monkberryfields

Younger John meets an older Paul at a record shop. Paul offers to teach John how to tune his guitar and play a few chords but at a price...

Posy by @ohjohnnysblog

Mclennon does a roleplay where they pretend John is a shy virgin groupie. Bottom! John

Banana Milkshakes and Armpit Hair by @crepesuzette2023

Will someone finally come on Paul's eyelashes?

I ain't no fool, and I don't take what I don't want by @crepesuzette2023

Mal and Paul make love al fresco during one of their trips. Paul wears nothing but the flimsy scarf he's seen wearing here.

all by design by @forthlin

the classic “john and paul do increasingly sexual things with each other while coming up with increasingly elaborate justifications for why it’s not gay” scenario, except they both DO know that it’s gay, they just each think they’re pulling a fast one by convincing the other one that this is normal guys-being-dudes behavior.

I've Just Seen a Face by @javelinbk

when John met Paul

Meeting on the Turret Stairs by @sleeper9

a John/Paul moment backstage (Hamburg/touring years/rooftop/artist's choice) based on the piece, Hellelil and Hildebrand, the Meeting on the Turret Stairs by Frederic William Burton.

Oh no, he's beautiful by @sleeper9

The first time John wears his glasses around Paul he finally gets to actually see Paul's face and oh no, he's beautiful

Run For Your Life by @pie-of-flames

A recut of any footage into some kind of Beatles horror movie trailer (maybe Paul is dead?)

**This will be updated as we get more fanworks!!

[ghost-husbands]

In Defense of Charles Rowland

Under the cut because this is gonna be a long one, folks.

I'm going to begin this by saying that I have recently joined this fandom and to be fair, don't have as much experience with writing meta and all that. However, I love reading and given that meta is

discussion of fanworks of all kinds, fan work in relation to the source text, fanfiction characters and their motivation and psychology, fan behavior, or fandom itself.

I have always thoroughly enjoyed reading and attempting to write it. Now I have finished watching all the episodes of the season we currently have, and when I finished watching 1x04, I had some pretty strong emotions about what happened in there.

What happened exactly?

Well before we get into that, I want to say that I was inspired to write this because of the original writing of @pippin-katz on the same subject.

So as we know, in 1x04, the ghost husbands have a confrontation with the Night Nurse--an immortal (I think she's immortal, no?) being in charge of the Afterlife's Lost and Found Department. Why is she after them? Because Charles and Edwin are two unaccounted for spirits who are wandering the world and not where they belong. They're both technically special cases. Edwin was dragged to hell by pure accident, the victim of a demon summoning. It says something that even the demon itself apologizes to him for the technicality before he's taken down to the inferno | Charles died after an attack, of hypothermia and his own injuries. He discovers he's dead when he sees his own body and once it hits him that Edwin's going to leave, he doesn't want to stay behind to wait for Death. Frankly, he isn't ready for Death, so he says. So he decides to flee Death, just as Edwin has been since his escape from Hell.

Aside from staying with Edwin for their foreseeable eternity, Charles' motivation for staying is, according to him, the purpose he still serves...the face that he is a Dead Boy Detective who's dedicated himself to helping spirits who still have unfinished business. He's doing good here with Edwin. They are helping people. Ah, let's not forget, I almost missed the fact that when the Night Nurse arrives, Charles almost immediately puts himself between the Night Nurse and Edwin.

He's protecting Edwin as he always has and always will. He's almost bristling with fury and you can see the strength of his will in the way he's standing there, refusing to go quietly. He will fight for his purpose here, he will fight for Edwin, and he will fight for his newly found friends (Niko and Crystal watching from the sidelines now).

The Night Nurse has her job, and she's convinced that it shouldn't be a problem to simply apprehend the boys and pop off. Perhaps if she had only just, then truly, there wouldn't have been a problem. The show would have ended there and that would have been a pretty fucking pathetic end, I'd say. But she resorted to force, and I here want to begin to make my point. The exact kind of force she used and how she used it was cruel, a low blow and makes her, to a certain degree at fault for what befalls her.

What did the Night Nurse do?

Put simply, as pippin-katz points out, she made Charles relive some of his worst memories.

That's being beaten by his father.

That's being stoned by his friends and pushed into the lake where he caught hypothermia.

That's dying freezing and miserable in the attic until Edwin shows up.

If you want a thorough analysis of her actions, go look at what pippin-katz wrote, I'm going to focus on Charles here.

She twisted the knife (and we know that it is a very, very deep wound in Charles, the anger and abuse of his father--he's emotional enough over it to get caught in the murder loop at the Devlin House and it's one of the points of his breakdown in 1x04) when she showed him these moments and basically asks him, "What's the point of staying here, this is what happened to you. That's what people here do to you. You wanted to stay for this? You can't make things better (this was during his father's beating)..It didn't get better, you died. That's the point."

Please, let's not forget how much this affects Charles, the fact that his father beat him and so we might suppose, was always disappointed in him. With Crystal, Charles admits that he looks in on his parents every now and then because yes, he misses them (this coming from a 16 year old boy who despite suffering at his own father's hand obviously had, at least before he died, still the desire to please that man, and perhaps some degree of love for him) but also to be sure that his father will not hurt his mother the way the old man hurt him. He wants to protect his mother. So all of that, reliving that, is going to be very painful.

What did Charles do in this moment?

He's angry. We know that he's very physical, and we can see the way that he puts himself between Edwin and the NN as he refuses to 'come quietly' to the Afterlife. He's visibly shaken by the ordeal and rattled after he recovers from whatever the NN did to him when she made him relive his memories. She flicks her hand and basically does something that makes him collapse, and he's trying to pull himself to his feet after that.

He's so very angry, hurt.

"If you wanted me crushed, devastated, I am. I'm also bloody angry."

Looking around a bit, I asked around to get an idea of how exactly what he did could be taken in a shocking, jarring way. I'm not here to disprove anything or knock other's opinions, I just wanted to compare both sides of it. That being said, two points.

He hit a woman with that big metal device.

It's not like him to be so violent.

Those, in a nutshell, are a very brief, concise idea of why people might look at what Charles did and think, "Hm that was a bit too much. Maybe he shouldn't have done that, not in that way."

I answer with the fact that, as pippin-katz also pointed out, the Night Nurse looks like a small, older woman, otherwise defenseless (Granted, she didn't have anything to defend herself when Charles attacked). Apparently in Doom Patrol (I've never seen it and don't plan to) she looks a little less like a woman and a little more monstrous. So she's not entirely innocent here. I personally disapprove of what she chose to use against Charles (and Edwin, given that she threatened to bring up the same painful memories in Edwin's mind). I don't condone the idea of violence against a woman, that's not okay, and it was a little jarring to see. I guess I'm trying to say....I believe that Charles was right to defend against the attack initiated by the Night Nurse.

Was it laudable that he reacted so violently to her? Perhaps not, I don't think so.

Was he to blame for choosing to fight? I certainly think not.

To the second point, I can't say very much because I haven't read the comics nor do I know extensively his personality and what he would or wouldn't do. But I've gathered that, from seeing the series, he's never quite been the one to attack first, or to strike just for the hell of it. I've only ever seen him react, not initiate. I think it's understandable that he would react strongly to what has happened, and I hold that he isn't to blame for wanting to protect Edwin and their loved ones.

How did his friends react to all of this?

Edwin

Charles reels from what happened, and you can hear that he's shaken by it. You can hear it in his voice when he asks Edwin and the girls, "Why are you all looking at me like that?" Edwin steps forward and tells him it was extreme. That kind of tipped it for Charles, then, I think.

"Was it too extreme, Edwin? So was me dying at 16, mate! I don't wanna be dead. I hate it. Yet every day I'm fucking smiling 'cause who else is going to be the one holding it together, keeping spirits up? You? Are you gonna do that, huh? And for what? What good am I even doing? I couldn't stop Devlin from murdering his family over and over. I can't stop Crystal from hurting. I can't stop whatever it is that's going on with you. I can't stop anything. I sure as hell couldn't stop my dad from beating the shit out of me. No matter how good I was."

Honestly, this part broke my heart. Because Charles, earlier, said that he did this for them, to protect them. He's admitting here that he IS the one trying to hold everyone together but that (wake up call everyone) he's actually hurting too underneath all of it. But as someone pointed out to me, Charles never brought that up to Edwin because he might have considered that Edwin has spent 70 years in hell and would not have wanted to burden his friend with his own problems.

We see that Charles is falling apart here. He's questioning the good that he does, because in his eyes he sees only how he's failed "to stop" all those things, and you can note how his voice rises and breaks towards the end.

Niko and Crystal say nothing in this moment, but either later that episode or in the next one, Crystal snaps at Charles.

"You’re a sweet guy with a rage problem. You walk around acting like the sun always shines, and then you lost your shit while beating the Night Nurse. Edwin and I are walking on eggshells around you instead of just saying 'what the actual fuck?'”

That was definitely something that caught my attention because didn't she hear what Charles said up above? It just popped out at me because Charles explained why he's the one acting like the sun always shines (he needs to try and keep everyone's spirits up because if he breaks down, and Edwin were to break down because of all the shit he's been through, that coupled with Crystal's own problems with David and her personal struggles...there would be no one to pull everyone out of their darkness)

Anyway, I'm not here to bash anyone either. Back to Charles.

So in the end, he breaks down and we can see that the catalyst here (probably) is not only reliving those memories and dragging up the pain he's been carrying from all of that but also the reaction of his friends. In his mind, he did it for them. He immediately steps between the NN and Edwin, to defend Edwin. He's left questioning the good that he's doing here, the point of all of that.

To the final question of was it wrong for Charles to do what he did?

I believe he wasn't wrong. He was defending against an attack. He might have responded with too much violence but he's reacting to something that wounded him just as deeply.

So this ended up being more of an exposition of Charles and his emotional state, but I tried to make a defense of his actions. It's not perfect, and I'm not out to prove any sort of point, just expressing thoughts because I too had a strong reaction to that episode.

Nonetheless Charles remains my favorite.

[tozettastone]

🔥 topic: …… ao3

For the "Send me a “ 🔥 “ for an unpopular opinion" ask meme.

--

OHO. This is definitely an unpopular one... Not least because on average I hang out with people who are very appreciative and defensive of AO3.

I think AO3's V1.0 release goal of, "A robust feature set for posting, managing, and browsing different kinds of fanworks: text (such as fic or essays), images (such as fanart, graphics, or crafts), audio (such as podfic, audio fic, fannish songs, or filk), and video (such as AMVs and vids)," is more or less unobtainable for the vast majority of fans without having some way of enabling fan-owned file hosting support for other types of fanworks.

And hosting services may once have been the goal? But ... Obviously the sheer size of the archive and the relative mainstreaming of fandom couldn't have been predicted back in 2007 (or 2013, roadmap year). There are heaps of reasons this might seem untenable now in the 2020s (ranging from file size, more complex IP scenarios, potential abuse of file hosting, etc., etc).

My controversial AO3 opinion is therefore that I think AO3 needs to either:

formally accept it's a text-first archive, or

clarify what its multimedia aspirations ACTUALLY are in the context of the 2020s and on what timeline it hopes to achieve them.

It needs an updated and realistic archive roadmap, basically.

I say this not out of any sense of wanting to exclude non-text formats, but because it is simply disingenuous to put forward the idea that AO3 makes any effort to support all fanworks. It's like... You can post any fanworks there...! but it will only host text, so go find alternative permanent archival hosting for your McShep fanvid or Sindarin filk or, like, your tasteful art of Gojo Satoru fucking your reader OC, IDK. If this is going to be the vibe for fifteen odd years of open beta, it's disingenuous to represent the archive as a space equally welcoming to all fanworks.