#is this also why I end up getting weird spaces between my italics & punctuation?

[raccoonfallsharder]

Heyyy! I just noticed you had a large spacing between your paragraphs in ao3 and I have something to help you fix that.

Here I linked a doc that can process your fic thru html coding so you don’t have to switch to rich text on ao3 and get the double spacings.

There’s instructions in the doc already but dm me if you need any help with this, and don’t forget to check that your works are on html when you copy and paste the script into ao3.

This is also for anyone else who’s getting weird double spacings on their ao3 fics!! <3

(btw, I’m reading through sweatshirt girl and I love your work <3)

thank you for this! Hoping to post a new chapter of Blackmail Material Monday or Tuesday (if I can refine the chapter’s end) so I will definitely try this. ♡♡♡ thanks for looking out darlin!

[feedthefandomfest]

Hiya!

I love this blog and just wanted to ask- do you know any advice on formatting and tagging for AO3?

Or just general etiquette!!

I'm not new to AO3 (reading or writing) but I haven't interacted with the actual community much and would love to know more :)

oof, I still feel like a newbie posting stuff on ao3, and tagging is something i've always struggled with. and actually formatting is also on ongoing issue 😅 so with that in mind, here's what i try to consider:

TAGGING

relationships -> tagging the main is obvious, but i'm sometimes torn about tagging side relationships that feature in the fic, especially since it's annoying to be searching for that pairing and get a bunch of results where they're not the main focus; unless the other pairing is a prominent feature, i leave it out of the relationship tags and at most add it to the additional tags

characters -> i remember updating the character tags on my early fics every time another character popped up in the story, but now i'm of the same mind as the side pairing issue; unless the character is prominently featured, i leave them out of the tags

content warning/advertising -> if i know the fic features an element that some people might wish to avoid, i always tag it and also always fret that i've forgotten to tag something in that regard. when it's more about advertising what's in the fic, especially sexual content, i sometimes feel silly listing every flavor of physical encounter unless the fic is pwp/smut (in which case i gleefully list all the depravity); i sometimes worry that over-emphasizing the sexual content in the tags is misleading? like of this 100k fic, if 15k is spent fucking, how do i get the tags to reflect that while also tag cw appropriately? is there an established tag for that?

sometimes i see fics with TONS of tags, like an exhausting amount, and sometimes i see fics with very minimal tags... sometimes frustratingly few. i also know some writers add chapter-specific warnings in the author's notes. in the end, so long as you're making it possible for people to find or avoid your fic as needed, then you're good. Here are some good posts that dive into it more!

(i remember when people on tumblr would scold writers for monologuing in the tags on ao3 like we do on here, claiming it was a strain on the system, but i believe that's been debunked?)

FORMATTING

i've noticed some MEGA annoying quirks with copy & pasting over from Google Docs and Word, and I know there are some tricks to get around them, but i tend to just slog through the Rich Text window fixing everything manually 🙃 OKAY I FOUND SOLUTIONS LINKED BELOW.

spacing problem #1 -> pet peeve of mine, but i dislike it when the paragraphs have massive spaces between them (ditto for indented paragraphs). idk why, but it's tiring for my eyes to constantly leap the chasm between paragraphs. so whenever i copy and paste from Word, which for some reason ALWAYS appears with double spacing between line breaks, i go in and manually fix it. SOLUTION

spacing problem #2 -> when copying over from Google Doc, whenever there's a punctuation mark following an italicized word, a random space appears between them. and yep, i have to go in and fix every one because typos make me twitch. (this might not be an issue for everyone; i overuse italics and dashes like it's my job) SOLUTION

spacing problem #3 -> again probably a me issue, but i tend to include song lyrics a lot, and it's always a headache to format because when pasting from the doc, ao3 embeds these spaces between the lines that i can't remove by backspacing. only fix i've found is to copy and paste lyrics directly from a website, and then it formats fine. random and annoying and weird. (no solution 😔)

since this section has just been me whining about finding SOLUTIONS for formatting issues, i'll offer one tip that's more about general editing: i try to proofread best i can in Word/GDocs, but it's always easier to spot errors when i'm reading the draft on my phone. the typos always jump out at me from a phone screen. it's now my favorite way to edit!

every writer has their own preferences on formatting, and every reader has their own level of tolerance for formatting quirks. in the end, so long as the formatting doesn't interfere with the reading experience, you're all good.

[fivewrites]

5557 Reviews Your Fanfic #2: In Space, No One Can Hear You Have a Breakdown by paladont

Hello, friends, I am 5557 on Ao3 and I review your fanfiction if you want me to.

In Space, No One Can Hear You Have a Breakdown by paladont

@cranberrycurator​

Rating: T

Warnings: None

Tags: Anxiety Attacks, fluff

Summary: Lance wakes up in the middle of the night with a panic attack, and ends up connecting with the last person he ever expected.

Optional info:

Is English your first language? Yes

How long have you been writing for? 10 years

Are you 18+? Yes

Do you want publish / write professionally one day? Maybe

Technical Style / Formatting: Paragraphs are of good size and consistent double-spacing. Easy to look at. Italics are used sparingly but effectively to indicate thoughts. Single quotes are used for thoughts as well as italics. This is not necessary, as italics or single quotes alone are fine, but it’s also not bad. Just a stylistic choice.

There is a tense error in the very first paragraph. It switches from present tense in the first sentence, to past tense in the second. It’s very important to be consistent and clean in the first few paragraphs so that readers won’t be confused about the present moment, and will also want to keep reading. Readers are fickle and can abandon a fic that has too many errors in search of a more polished one!

Throughout the story there are some errors that a spell check won’t pick up, so I recommend doing a final pass over your fic, or getting a beta reader to go over it. Again, these aren’t huge, breaking errors, but for a clean, polished fic, things like “Each second he spends going from the bed to the door, he desperately trying to rationalize trying to” can be fixed easily.

“Oh, heyyy.”

Another personal opinion, I don’t think stretching a word out onomatopoeically is necessary. I prefer to see the dialogue accented with action. ‘“Oh, hey,” he says through a clenched grin.’ Again, not wrong, just personal style.

“Keith is blindsided by the thanks, looking surprised.  “Yeah, sure.” He bites his lip, looking for something good to say.”

I think this is more of an error than a choice, but this sentence sounds like we’re flipping to Keith POV suddenly, rather than all Lance as we’ve had so far. It just needs editing.

Pace: The prose pace is fast and solid. Although I ask for more detail about Lance’s nightmares, I’m never hugely lost about where Lance is or what time it is.

I appreciate how we don’t linger too long on one moment, and the story moves past an idea that has fully completed.

However, the plot pace has some issues which I cover in the flow and story section.

Dialogue: Excellent dialogue. It sounds natural and smooth. It’s really a strong suit of you writing. I don’t have too much to say here because it’s really, really good. Try experimenting with punctuation to get breaths and pauses in. Use semicolons, dashes and commas and see which ones are needed where. It can change the flow and read naturally. But really, it’s good. Give yourself a pat on the back.

Characterization: Aside from the tense issues, the imagery is quite good, and it reveals Lance as nervous and out of sorts. I like that motion and sensory images are used to give us his state, rather than just telling us a summary of how he feels.

Lance’s reflection on his family is a little simplified, but it’s not out of character. It’s just, as I said, not especially new when it comes to fic. Every langst fic has Lance reflecting on his family, so it can become repetitive if it’s all the same. However, what’s written here is good, and it makes sense character-wise for Lance.

I really like how Keith is portrayed as neutral. He’s not an asshole, just someone who’s a little guarded.

Although I feel like Lance’s breakdown is well-written, and transitions naturally from hiding, to spilling, then to shame, I think I’d want a bit more detail about why Lance feels so much shame being emotionally vulnerable in front of Keith. Right now he’s really embarrassed and ashamed, but Lance was shown to be vulnerable in front of both Hunk and Coran. So why specifically Keith that bothers him?

‘"I mean, you know...if you're not one hundred percent...you could stay in my room.  In case you need someone to talk to.  Or you just like someone just.  Being there."  It sounds really stupid once he suggests it.  Lance mentally slaps himself.’

This part seems like the smallest bit of a stretch. I get that this is a brain fart on Lance’s part, but as said above, he is really ashamed of being seen as vulnerable by Keith, and then he does a very quick 180 and invites Keith to his room? Is Lance aware of his feeling for Keith and the reader doesn’t know? It’s just… a very fast development.

“It feels weird having Keith in his bedroom.  Has Lance ever invited him in before?  He doubts it.  It felt like an oddly intimate gesture, especially given their sometimes tedious relationship.”

At least the fic is kinda self-aware that this is odd?

Nothing feel necessarily out of character, it just feels like a few chunks of time are missing that would fill the reader in a bit better as to what goes on. I believe that lance would eventually invite Keith to his room, just not, like, immediately.

Flow / Prose Style: The first few sentences give very nice vivid imagery and action. I can really sense the shock and discomfort Lance is feeling right from the get-go. However, as we progress, some of the longer sentences become overly complex and confusing. They use a lot of filler and modifier words and become unclear in their imagery.

‘Lance’s mind supplies a dozen different things that he could have been dreaming about instead, not even remotely elevating any of his sudden worries.’

The first part is vague on several levels, one being the “different things” (what things?) and two that he may or may not be thinking about them (why mention this if he is not thinking about them?) The last section, I’m not sure what you’re trying to get across. “Not even remotely” goes into more vague territory and “elevating his sudden worries” (again, what worries?) leaves me wondering what this whole sentence is trying to tell me. The next sentence switches tense again, so as a reader I am left wondering what is happening in the present, and what is going on with Lance.

On the upside, your short, snappy paragraphs are effective at creating tension, and holding interest. This writing doesn’t need to be the long, drawn out paragraphs of Jane Austen or Herman Melville. It’s more quick and dense, like Hemingway or Chuck Palahniuk

I am also a big fan of an effectively placed one-sentence paragraph.

My biggest piece of advice, and one that I struggle to follow myself, is once you have finished a full chapter, leave it for 24 hours, and then go back and re-read it as an editor. You will catch your own mistakes, and you will find areas of chunky prose that can easily be fixed by moving the sentence structure around a bit. If you practice switching between creative writing and editing, your writing will improve very quickly.

When we get to the interaction with Keith, there’s a lot more filler-modifier words, “almost, somehow, tries to, as if that were” re-read these and see if they are necessary.

Story: Right off the top, the summary tells me that this is a story that’s been done before. Which, is not necessarily a bad thing, but now because a question of, how can we separate this story from others like it, and make it unique?

When we get to the point where Lance is searching his brain for a person to talk to, I really want to know in more detail what exactly is bothering him. If he has a specific nightmare, it would help him choose which person to seek out, even if the person he eventually ends up around is Keith. Say, if Lance has a nightmare about the ship falling apart, he could seek out Coran or Hunk for reassurance.

So we go into the section where Lance reminisces about his family and home life, and get a feel for how he’s homesick. The difficult thing with going into deep memories for more than a couple paragraphs is that the reader might get lost and forget where we are right now. I think we’re in the hallway? It’s good to yank us back to the present every so often to re-establish and anchor where we actually are.

“His body is so worn from stress and hurt, he can feel himself giving in.”

Was Lance fighting a major battle recently? This is the first we’ve really heard of it. More detail would give us more connection.

“Lance much prefers imagining this goofy scenario in his head, as opposed to all the awful things he was thinking about just minutes ago.”

I really want to know the awful things.

The story starts off well, but when Lance considers who to talk to about his nightmares, the plot / characterization fall into what I call the “Klance Funnel” That is, stretches are made here and there to force Keith and Lance together when normally they wouldn’t want to or need to interact.

The klance funnel isn’t entirely unbelievable, and it certainly lets the reader know where the story is headed, but that can also be where a story sags a bit. There isn’t much mystery or coincidence in their meeting. It’s not… organic. When we finally do have the characters meet, it feels more like the hand of God has shoved them together like barbie dolls rather than a situation where two real people come together incidentally.

This is my personal opinion. Some people really like stories that are “set up” and you know what’s going to happen and how it all plays out. I, personally, like a bit of will-they-won’t-they rather than a “yeah, they definitely will, and here it is”.

Another thing about the klance funnel is that is has the effect of reducing the other characters to one-notes, or even writes them out completely. I liked that Pidge was Lance’s first choice, but we never really got to meet her or have her interact.

Overall: The story is likable, and definitely readable. I didn’t have any huge cringe moments, nor did I feel bored or have my attention wander away. I do wish for more details of Lance’s nightmares, why he’s embarrassed to be vulnerable in front of keith and then… maybe some development before they start sleeping together right away to reduce the big leap?

Other than that, it’s a nice, easy read and something a Klance fan would enjoy.

[actuallylorelaigilmore]

first lines meme

rules: list the first lines of your last 20 stories. see if there are any patterns. then tag your favorite authors. i was tagged by @greatestheights. (thanks! if you hadn’t already done this, you’d be on my list for your perfect j/d fic alone.)

(don’t follow a ton of fic writers tbh but) tagging these talented people: @actuallylukedanes, @aerosmiley219, @comepraisetheinfanta, @confidxnteveryday, @andallthatmishigas, @etraytin and anybody else who wants to do this! 

following the example before me, cut for length/divided into WIPs and published fic.

ten WIPS (in order of when I started working on them):

lizzington au, where the fire never happened and she was raised by her birth parents so Red meets her for the first time as infamous KGB operative Masha Rostova: Raymond Reddington spotted her across the crowded room as he waited to be seated. Later, he wouldn’t be able to explain exactly why; her laugh was almost demure and her outfit was only as alluring as those worn by all the other women in the restaurant. He just knew there was a story there. An excellent one. One that hadn’t even begun yet–and he wanted to be a part of it. 

lizzington, post-s2 finale idea that was too sexy to be part of my slow burn chapter fic: “I’ve always been drawn to you,” she told him seriously, a confession no longer laced with shame. “Since the beginning, long before it made sense–even when it made me feel crazy. So I tried to blame you. For everything, really,” she added quietly. Here, there was shame.

josh x donna, the night of “20 Hours in America”: When Donna had finished writing all the letters to family members, she found Josh in the bar. Toby had gone up to his room, seeming preoccupied with something when he passed her on his way up, so she found Josh with a beer, sitting more than he was drinking, as was his way. She would have been shocked if he’d had anything stronger than his half a bottle, anyhow–he’d be nearly passed out, something he didn’t do in unfamiliar places. Sliding onto the seat next to his, she tossed her untidy hair back from her face and gave him her best cajoling look.

josh x donna, during “Inauguration: Over There”: It was all started by the snow. It made sense at the time, he thought, to throw snowballs. She wasn’t answering her phone, and at least snow wouldn’t break her window. The adrenaline rush when he hit the window first had to have addled his brain, made him more susceptible to things he never thought about. How her skin glowed, say, or how soft her mouth looked. He never would’ve told her how amazing she looked if he’d been in his right mind.

donna x amy, during “Commencement”: She doesn’t particularly like Amy. Truth be told, she doesn’t like Amy much at all. She’s pushy, and sees things in black and white, and Josh has an odd reaction to her, like an addict. But as long as Josh is chasing after Amy, she feels safe. Protected from herself. So she tries to encourage him, to help.

josh x donna, after “War Crimes”: They wait through what she thinks must be the longest hour of her life. Josh leans forward on the bench, in a position that looks horribly uncomfortable, his arm resting behind her back. It’s so far back it doesn’t touch her, and she figures it might if he’d sit like a normal person. Oh. Maybe that explains it, then.

josh x donna, for a smut request where donna is in charge: When she practically crashed through his door, Donna took him by surprise. She kept doing that. What was it Amy said once, that he needed to get hit on the head? Water balloon aside, there was something breathtaking about the way Donna didn’t hesitate. He couldn’t claim the same confidence; he hovered somewhere between awkward and anxious, and it was worse with her because she was everything. And it felt like he’d been waiting a lifetime to reach this point.

blaine x liv, post-s2 finale: Vivian Stoll, brain-eating leader of Fillmore-Graves Enterprises, left her with a business card and the ominously friendly, “Be seeing you.” Liv was too relieved to be alive–well, relatively speaking–to feel guilty for fleeing the scene at the first available opportunity.

ravi x major, post-s2 finale: Things can change so fast. Too fast, Ravi thinks, as he downs the shot of tequila and pretends it doesn’t remind him of Peyton. 

peyton x blaine, post-s2 finale: Major personally escorted Peyton to the safe house, despite her half-hearted protests. Since he was the closest thing she had to a big brother, deep down she had expected nothing less.

ten published fics (in chronological order, most recent first):

a very brief career at the hoover institute: By any unit of measurement, Ainsley’s first day at the Hoover Institute could not be called a success.

lost in the forest of this heart: Lizzie drops into sleep almost instantly, her weight pressed lightly against his side as the road rumbles beneath them.

for tonight: Her hands were trembling as she laced up the back of her dress, but she managed to tie it securely. Nerves, Liz thought. Silly, really. They had shared dinner dozens of times since going off the grid. Local dives, upscale hotel cafes, five-star landmarks.

leave us in pieces, scattered everywhere: “Why did you tell me?” CJ’s voice is broken glass across the satellites. He wants to be looking at her instead of talking over the phone; he wants to be able to touch her face, to apologize, to offer comfort. This is not that conversation, or she wouldn’t be calling.

if we only tried: Lorelai answered the door less than a minute after Luke knocked.

where the past comes back to life: Their flight is delayed in New York. Josh decides to steal a few moments of rest while he waits, grabbing a seat slightly apart from the other staffers. It’s not exactly peaceful, but he can mostly tune them out.

mine: “This is completely unprofessional,” Josh mutters. He can almost hear the murmur of conversations in the ballroom from the tiny space Donna tugged him into–but not quite. Hopefully the distance works both ways, because her mouth on his ear is making it hard to keep discretion in mind right now.

just give me something to hold onto: “She gave back the ring,” Sam says, head hanging so low that he’s talking more to the carpet than to Josh.

the deepest of needs: CJ goes to him; he’ll never come to her. Not while the pain is still an open wound…not while Toby keeps it that way in order to be a father.

what you’re running from: She didn’t have anywhere else to go. Free didn’t mean in the clear, not after the manhunt and the Post Office and the plea deal. So Red showing up when she was released–Red being the only person she could count on, again–was a welcome surprise.

WIP CONCLUSIONS: I cannot do brevity. Seriously, the difference between what my work looks like in progress and what sees the light of day is startling when you just compare opening lengths. 

I use just as much punctuation and italics, though, so clearly I think in the tones as I’m writing, rather than adding the emphasis later.

There’s almost no dialogue in my openings for WIPs, despite their length. I ramble about character’s internal monologues (and then thankfully clean that up later).

It’s possible to read a whole paragraph and be left with no idea whose perspective I’m talking about, in a WIP. Fun to know. 

PUBLISHED WORKS: Considering how much I love/am good at dialogue, I don’t open with it as much as I would’ve expected. I have little interest in setting/description as a reader but clearly, I make an effort to set the scene as a writer--even though I’m sure I don’t manage that until the late stages of editing. So it’s good to know that before I publish, I’ve remembered to keep my audience in mind. That’s comforting.

Compared to my WIPs, I’m incapable of having a first sentence without a character’s name in it, even when the fic is only about one character, and the reader would know who I was talking about. That’s sort of weird.

I don’t do succinct starter sentences, unless I’m starting the sequel to a previous story that had a cliffhanger ending, which is why two of my examples are actually from older stories whose sequels are in the recent ten list. It felt like cheating to use the sequel sentences when they didn’t make sense without the context of the first story, so I used the real beginnings.

Italics and interesting punctuation are essential to me. I think that’s because playing with mood and tone is necessary but I’m not as good at it using just words?

I’m kind of all over the place otherwise, which is fair and true to my personality...I vary up my style (as much as I can) depending on what I’m writing. For example, the shortest starter sentence was for Lorelai Gilmore, and the sentences that follow it are more staccato than usual for me, which makes sense when the world I’m writing in is rapid-fire dialogue and lots of back-and-forth.

This took waaaaay longer than I expected but I feel like it was also much more educational than I thought it would be. So yay. :)