#just orphan the fic if you don't like it anymore/don't want to be associated with it!!!!

[wangxianficfinder]

:/ Not feeling super great about you guys posting the wayback link in the text of the reply to the ask about the author that orphaned their fic. I get the intentions and wanting to answer a well-meaning question, but as an author myself (thankfully not that one) I'd hope people would respect that if I orphan a fic, I *do not want my name connected.* I get it's in a reply, but idk. It's bad form to make copies of deleted fic public, and similarly feel this should have been a dm/left in replies.

I completely understand, as an author myself, if I ever orphaned a fic, I wouldn't want it connected to me. So I understand if the author wants to stay anonymous, which is why I didn't post the author's name like I usually would when linking a fic.

But Wayback is a public source and the link is already in the comments (which is why I linked it instead of keeping the full comment with the link showing). If the author ever sends us a message asking to delete the post/doesn't allow fic sharing, we will 100% delete it.

I even added in the post asking if anyone knows if the author was okay with fic sharing, because there are a variety of reasons for someone to orphan a fic, not just because they don't want to be associated with it anymore.

I'd like to think the asker will be respectful and not bother the author, just go look at their other fics, if that turns out not to be the case, then I will take full responsibility for it.

Again, if the author ever publicly states/ed, or DM's us, that they don't allow fic sharing/are uncomfortable with people knowing who wrote the fic, we will delete that post.

I apologize if we made you feel like we are being insensitive or disrespectful in any way.

- Mod C

--

Update: The post has been deleted. - Mod C

[runespoor7]

Jiang Cheng brings back WWX to LP after his resurrection because LWJ wasn't around

Five Fun Facts About The Fic I Might Write About It, This Is A Slowburn(?) Version, For Other Versions Ask Again:

WWX insists that he's not himself far past the point of it being sensible. The thing is, it's not the first time JC decided some random demonic cultivator was WWX and dragged him home to demande apologies and play house? Last time was over half a decade ago, so not everyone in the sect knows, but those who remember are pretty wary about it, especially because of what it means about JC's mental state. Is Sect Leader getting worse again? They're also very wary of WWX, some of them openly contemptuous - WWX has the feeling that if it weren't for JC's protection he would be dead - and some of them almost pitying. I think he overhears them talk and that's how he pieces together the backstory, and also learns that the demonic cultivator whom JC is convinced are WWX and that he treats as such don't... end well. Sect Leader takes the "betrayal" badly.

WWX realizes that YMJ doesn't have a second in command. the sect has a person who performs the tasks associated with the job, but JC doesn't have a "second-in-command", never did. it just stuck that way. it sure doesn't mean anything. probably. how weird of JC though.

the Ghost General intrudes on Lotus Pier. There's a fight, JC tries to take down WN, WWX orders WN away from JC, JC freaks out. WWX keeps swearing up and down he's not WWX, honest!!! but... on the other hand... the Ghost General recognizes him as its his master... this is what breaks JC's hopes, finally, and also WWX's heart. You get JC crying as he asks WWX "are you really not him?" and WWX doing the equivalent of Cyrano's "No, my sweet love, I never loved you!" but for who he is, with less clear-cut emotional consequences than in the play (this is because WWX is not dying and thus more invested in keeping the lie up and JC is way less certain that WWX cares about him than Roxane did about Cyrano). They sort of compromise on the understanding that "MXY" is kinda-sorta WWX, but without most of WWX's memories. (WWX is telling himself that's not what he wanted but in fact he's much more comfortable/confident with himself and being in YMJ afterwards!) this is probably when WWX realizes that while his room may not exist anymore, his things are in JC's room.

JC struggles with this WWX being an innocent lamb who has no memory of doing anything wrong in his life ever. He should've expected it. How convenient. But, y'know, a WWX is a WWX, and this also extremely conveniently lets JC off the hook of this pesky "remember how he orphaned your nephew?" thing! It's mostly JC's own guilt now. Mostly. He's not going to do anything against WWX even if it wasn't anyway. Also it's. terrifying. Because WWX has no memory of him, but WWX is around, and also there isn't anyone to judge JC for wanting-- ANYWAY.

They end up having to leave Lotus Pier and catch up with the main plot when WWX gets a spider sense that WN is in trouble. There are no words to explain how little JC likes 1)that the Ghost General is still a thing, 2)that the Ghost General is still a thing when it comes to WWX, 3)that WWX is planning on leaving LP to help WN, so he comes with. WWX tries to convince him not to, but surprises himself by accepting JC's help when JC insists in a clipped tone. The trouble that WN got in also involves JL being in danger. This is my fic so it would turn out that WN tried to protect JL before WWX and JC caught up. Possibly JL and WN have been getting in plot-relevant shenanigans offscreen for a while now, and there's definitely a fic there, what with WN thinking A-Yuan is dead and projecting on JL and JL getting conflicted feelings about the person/thing that killed his father, but that's not the focus in this story. At some point - because by now he's pretty certain JC will not either kill him or reject him - WWX "admits" that his memory has been returning. Not all of it, but enough. If we're all very very lucky JL has been in sufficient danger that JC can lose his head a little and kiss WWX for saving JL's life, or something along these lines. If we're not lucky that part happens beyond the scope of these five things.

[beri-allen]

fic tag game

got tagged by @burntblueberrywaffles. thank you <333 doing this while i'm in a good mood lol.

How many works do you have on Ao3? 31 published ones (i have deleted at least 1 and orphaned 4 or something).

2. What's your Ao3 word count? 161,653 in total.

3. What fandoms do you write for? wednesday (the latest one), some kdramas, and i have also written for ouat and hannibal. back on lj, i used to write a lot for house md.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Slow, Long, and Excruciatingly Painful (Wednesday (TV 2022))

You Have Shrunk to the Size of My Thoughts (Wednesday (TV 2022)) 

I Predict a Riot (Wednesday (TV 2022)

Stop (Wednesday (TV 2022))

I Carried You for Aching (Crash Landing on You) 

5. Do you respond to comments? yes! comments always make me happy and i appreciate readers who take the time to drop comments, so i want to take the time to respond to them.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? maybe... Stop (wednesday)?

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? omg, i just realized most of my fics end happily, so idk what to pick lol. but maybe either I Carried You for Aching (crash landing on you) or Magic Hours (memories of the alhambra) because they're both fix-it fics where i resurrect a character from literal and figurative canon death lol.

8. Do you get hate on fics? i'm not sure i can call it a full-on hate, but someone got snippy under one of my "wednesday" fics once. i already deleted it because it made me upset but i still remember what it said and who it was from because i'm a libra and petty, lol.

9. Do you write smut? What kind? when i think smut is needed in a story, i will write it. not an expert, though, so i tend to write super vanilla smut scenes lol.

10. Do you write cross-overs? no, because i don't really read cross-overs, so i don't write it.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated? yes. my old house x cameron (house md) fic that was posted on lj got translated to italian.

12. Have you ever cowritten a fic before? no.

13. What WIP you would like to finish, but doubt you ever will? i talked about it before. the first line is still incomplete, and it goes like this:

"Three goddesses walked into a cave. The monster who lived in it asked,"

the monster is tyler galpin. i doubt i will ever write it because i don't have the motivation right now and i need a lot of motivation to write it, because the story is supposed to be kind of... filthy lol.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship? oh, oh, dear. umm. for now, i will choose philip x elizabeth from "the americans" because the show is already ending and it's a happy one, sort of.

15. What are your writing strengths? i'm basing this entirely on comments i got, lol. i think it's my prose? feel free to refute this, lol.

16. What are your writing weaknesses? i can't write long fics. so far, the longest one i've written "only" has 7 chapters.

17. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? why not?

18. First fandom you wrote for? ig the first one i religiously wrote for is house md (house x cameron). but the last time i checked on these fics, i completely, utterly forgot the plots etc lol. i don't think i want to associate myself with them anymore.

19. Favourite fic you've ever written? maybe i will choose my wednesday x tyler "practical magic" au, I Put a Spell on You, because it's my longest one so far and i'm proud to have finished it. and not sure it's my favorite, but Oh God, I Think I'm Falling (wednesday) has the longest smut scene i've done so far, and i had fun writing that part, so. 

20. What fic would you want to rewrite one day? none, i think.

i'd like to tag @badmoodbatflowers, @cosmic-lullaby @nouklea, @transitat, @therulerofallpotatos & of course anyone who wants to do this.

[shutkimaachmarka]

about Ludwig and JS each:

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about this character?

23. Favorite picture of this character?

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

Hi ! thank you for the question, i'll try answering it sticking to the characters but with minor references to the actual people cause we don't have enough material sighhh 5. I associate them both with a TON of songs but primarily "what was i made for" for ludwig, and "surface pressure" for johann ludwig: i could go on forever about him mainly because one depicts his internal turmoil and pain of coming to terms with his disability as well as his relationship with his passion for art and music in the process (for "what was i made for"). kind of reminiscing what he used to be like once when he wasn't... disabled? a mix of hurt, burned out numbness but there's always that light at the end of the tunnel yknow? like just a bit of hope, something that might make things a tiny bit more worthwhile, more bearable. johann: johann isn't just the leader of the group but he has always, and most often been in a role as the person with the biggest responsibilities, but he doesn't want it to SHOW, he doesn't want to allow anyone to think they can't rely on him, so while his fun-loving side comes out sometimes, with his persona and his work environment he often takes too much of the pressure until at one point he just... CAN'T function anymore, and kinda like luisa his ability to stand strong wanes. honorable mentions to "my love mine all mine" and "abbey" by mitski for ludwig and johann respectively 23. not entirely sure if you're referring to tsv canon beethann or irl beethann but i'll attach pictures below heh

25. my first impression of ludwig has remained largely unchanged, except i didn't know about him being deaf, sure he's pissed and harsh a lot of the times but being disabled is exhausting especially when you have added trauma pertaining to other stuff and you're in a place where you're expected to keep up constantly with able-bodied standards and even then it's never enough and it's a really isolating world, so I kind of get where his anger stems from, but it's nice that with the others he kind of is calmer and more free to express himself around people who won't hurt him or judge him and he reciprocates that love greatly my first impression of johann wasn't much other than serious, stern, possibly the only not traumatized person but HOOOO BOY WAS I WRONG apparently according to historical sources this man was an orphan raised by his two big brothers, has had a pretty wink wink nudge nudge homoerotic relationship with a prince, wrote gay cantatas about apollo and hyacinthus, knew swordfighting, died of the most agonizing surgical practice. we don't get to see him talk much as an active character in tsv canon either but he's a smart, bold pretty outspoken guy which makes him both a good leader and also an interesting character so i think we need more of johann's very kdrama-esque characterization in fics

[zannolin]

20 questions for fic writers

tagged by @beautyofsorrow, tagging @lordgrimwing @faebriel and anyone else who wants to do it!!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

publicly associated with my account, 45. in total, including a couple i orphaned before i knew you could put them on anon, 84 i believe. 85 if you count the two chapters of that leakira zine i wrote that are up there somewhere. i could be off. but i forgot how to get to where it shows me the total number and i can't be bothered lol.

2. What's your total A03 word count?

438,464 baby. maybe 500k in 2024? who knows.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

ones 90% of you have never heard of, at this point. it fluctuates depending on whatever i'm getting ideas for, but actively at the moment, the mullverse (mostly beyonders), resident evil, and lockwood & co, national treasure (might be done with that tho, i've exhausted my must-writes). i have other stuff knocking around, like life is strange, mona lisa smile, mlp, some more shazam, bendy and the ink machine, a tlou fic...but who knows.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

ugh. 1. in this fearful fallen place (i will be your home) 2. welcome home, theseus 3. sanctuary 4. i'll carry the weight of you, i swear 5. eat you alive. it says a lot that only one of those is still publicly listed on my profile. even then i'm tempted to put it on anon. they're only my top kudos'd by virtue of being from a big fandom. definitely not my best. at all. even within that fandom. free me and my stats page.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

not all of them, but i make an effort when comments are thoughtful or especially brighten my day. it's easier now because writing for smaller very niche fandoms you don't tend to get a lot so i don't feel overwhelmed or anything, but man responding is hard sometimes. i want people to know they made me happy, though, when they do. so i try.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

i mean there's that tododeku one where they both die brutally and were supposed to get married next week. there's also the batcat fic that i wrote solely for the purpose of killing bruce wayne (sorry). there's um. also the klance titanic (historical not titanic the movie) au i wrote ages ago. haha. yeah. anyway.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

all of them. hfdsjkhfs no i honestly couldn't tell you. i have a mike flanagan-ass idea of a happy ending these days. maybe three's a crowd? hell if i know.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

i've had a couple instances of people harassing me over them but never like. "your fic is so bad i hate it die". so maybe?? i'm too obscure to be getting hate at this point lol. who out here is gonna read beyonders fic just to comment mean things.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

i do not. i did try years ago. that notebook has since been put through the shredder and dumped into the recycling bin for good measure. (yes, it was that bad.)

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

technically no but i've thought about it sometimes. they've all promptly fled my head though so just trust me on this one.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

gee i hope not. there's been a lot of suspicious similarities in some old cases but like. that literally does not matter to me anymore idc. it's not straight up theft in any case so not to my knowledge ig?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

again not to my knowledge but i do have blanket permissions for that if anyone ever wanted to. it's cool.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

back in the 2010s my friend and i were writing a warriors fic together. she did one chapter, i did one, etc. i've had collaborative aus as well (cat's cradle and whatnot) but not a collaboratively written fic for any of them. me and tam were writing the coma au together but we're no longer in the fandom for that anymore, rest in peace coma au you were genuinely wonderful. i'm not opposed to the idea of collab fics but they always feel like a lot of work and i'm way way way too anxious to approach anyone about them.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

ah hell. i dunno. do i have to pick one?? like right in this moment i'd say locklyle and they've been here a hot minute (like. ten years almost) but i don't really have A Favorite I'd Choose Over Anyone Else.

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

mm. penumbra anastasia au haunts me. i want it out of my wips folder. also wild geese is probably never getting finished ever. i do think i'll get split ends done eventually but that one's taking forever. as for ones not posted, well, rip the gospel tent au. i might try to convert it to a short story but lord. i don't know. and don't get me started on the final girl au or the empty grave possession au. throwing myself out a window. they'll never be done i'll never be free.

16. What are your writing strengths?

uh. i honestly don't know anymore. knowing exceedingly tedious canon details to the point where i can make all sorts of metaphors and allusions relevant to said canon? i really couldn't say. introspection i guess.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

yes. next question

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

i have an overbearing anxiety that i will fuck it up somehow since i am a monolingual american loser. if i ever did need to i would definitely see if there's any native speakers willing to help translate or whatever bc i am not relying on google translate for that.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

like liv, lord of the rings. i still have my first fanfic btw. it's written on tinkerbell notebook paper.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

it changes. if i were to be completely objective (or as close as i can get), completely removing my emotions on fandom from the equation, prob without anesthetic. because i think i constructed it just right. being a dirty little subjective, right now i think it's three's a crowd or swallowing jupiter or the swing of things. they're all wonderfully unhinged.

[hua-fei-hua]

sometimes i see posts w/people begging ao3 authors to anon or orphan works instead of deleting them, and like, i get the sentiment, i really do, but i think that there's a bit of nuance to each of these three acts that should be considered a bit more.

all three are a method of disassociating a work to your name, obviously, but orphaning is the only method that permanently revokes an author's agency over the work. deleting is the only method that revokes the reader's right to public access. anonymity is the midway point between these, but i think i can understand why one might choose to delete or orphan instead.

a while back, i was poking around livejournal, and i saw a link to a fic rec on ffn, but when i followed the link, the work had been deleted. through the wayback machine, i found the author n read the explanation on their profile: essentially, while the work had been extremely popular, they felt that it no longer represented the kind of stories they wanted to tell, especially since looking back, a lot of their jokes were in poor taste, and the thought of leaving that up for other people to find was not one they liked. so they deleted it.

a lot of readers also seem to lean on the argument, "there will always be people to whom your work has meant the world; please don't delete it (as it hurts those people)." it seems to hang on the assumption that the author is deleting out of shame, external pressure, or just hatred for their own work, and that they should remember that art has value beyond their own perception. and also don't hurt the readers as collateral.

but sometimes, as dick of a move as it is, the point of taking a fic down is to send a "fuck you" to the readers, because it is a sign of the author's ultimate agency over a fic. one could theoretically place their work into an unrevealed collection and achieve the same effect, and i know that's a thing that happens too, but the point is that the author has control over their own work, and that includes taking it down on their own terms.

my impression of why we have orphaning is bc ao3 was made in a different time, when being in fandom and writing gay porn abt fictional characters could get people fired from jobs and everything, and sometimes, due to wank, people would receive threats on their job based off the fic they wrote. people used to delete out of fear, even though they didn't want to actually take their fic away from the fan community, so ao3 gave us orphaning to remove all association and link back to the author while keeping the work up for others to read or enjoy.

of course people use it for other purposes now, too. sometimes you change fandoms, and the old one was cringe, or problematic, or you just want to start over for other reasons, and you orphan all your prior works. sometimes you have a wip that lost its spark, or has served its purpose to you creatively despite never being finished. to the orphanage with it! basically, my impression of orphaning is that it's for letting go (or preventing your own real-life murder).

anonymity is offered as a solution to those who wish to remain in control of their works whilst also dissociating their name, and that is very much a good solution for people who want to leave up their things but are anxious about orphaning.

but more than that, anonymity offers protection for people with a history of being harassed, yet wish to continue publishing. it offers the ability to thank those who leave appreciation on your works. it lets you surprise people with gifts when you're shy. hell, it can even help with an obsession with hits and kudos, since you have to jump through a few extra hoops to see your stats instead of it being right on your author page.

i guess the point is, these things can broadly overlap when it comes to "what to do with this fic i wrote but don't want on my profile anymore", but there's nuance to each one, and if an author wants to delete a fic bc it best fits their situation, then we should accept that, mourn our losses, and move on.

[tokkias]

Do you have a fic you wish you had written differently? Or do you have fics you consider orphaning? Or just in general, fics you just don't really like but can't bother changing/orphaning?

ooooooohhh this is a fun question. yeah definitely because that's just what comes with having as many fics as i do.

i have definitely gone back and changed stuff in a few fics before, i think the most significant was when i overhauled there beneath the willow tree because the writing style was just atrocious. i had wanted to try doing present tense but i didn't stay consistent so it was constantly switching between past and present so looking back i knew i had to fix it or else i would be embarrassed about it forever.

in terms of fics i've considered orphaning, i have two--in your eyes i see the stars and adust. with adust there was just so much potential there and there's a lot of good stuff in it but i just felt like i could have gone so much harder with it but i didn't. it feels very surface level to me and i wish i had done something more with it. the reason it is the way it is was because a) it was written at a time where i had a lot less practice than i do now so it is just a product of lesser skilled work, and b) i was having a really hard time mentally when i wrote it and i thought "fuck i just need to get something out, that'll fix me". evidently it did not and i am still embarrassed that i put out a product that mediocre. for in your eyes i see the stars, i,,,,, i don't know. i don't know what i don't like about it but it's another one i just feel embarrassed by? i mean again it's from a time before my skills were developed like they are now, but i'm not embarrassed of all my old work, i'm really proud of pretty much all of my early work but nottt that one. it might be because i didn't get a lot of positive feedback on it when i posted, it has like the least amount of comments of all of my nalu works, so maybe that subconsciously made me think that it was bad? i don't know but i can't go back and read that one and i would like to forget about it sfgkhdfghf

the reason i haven't orphaned or deleted them is because of the sorta open secret that i am trying to get to the spot of most nalu works published on ao3, which started as a joke but people (hailey, jodi, kaleigh, probably a bunch of other people too) have enabled me to the point where it is no longer a joke. i'm not so embarrassed of those works that i don't want people reading them or associating them with me, i just have a very high standard for my work and i don't think those two are very representative of the good work that i can do. that being said i hope i don't publish anymore works that i feel that way about because i still want it to be quality over quantity--i never want to let my little personal goal get in the way of creating good work that i'm proud of

[hillerskalibrary]

Hiya I'm the Ludvig anon, thanks for everyone's help sadly the fic I'm looking for wasn't one of the 3 suggested. I'm beginning to wonder if it was perhaps deleted. I've been through my history and bookmarks and there's a few that have placeholders saying a fic has been deleted 😭

Aw I'm sorry :(. We tried... It would be sad if it indeed was deleted - and this just shows how much fics can be missed.

Btw, just as a general reminder for writers out there who may be thinking of deleting (one of) their works on AO3, for whatever reason: please consider orphaning them instead. The work will then no longer be associated with you or your account, but it can still be enjoyed by fandom - because even if you don't like the fic (anymore), as anon proves here: someone will want to (re)read it!

[throwaway-yandere]

(Nutjob anon)

YES. WHEN SHE SAID THE STREET PART, I WAS LIKE "LIKE CAPO???? BECAUSE THEY ARE AN ORPHAN"

And then the part of "Money and Power" made me also think about today's chapter with Dainsleif!

I'm going to suggest this one! (A small warning: it speaks of death and implies possible suicide) It's edgy more modern, but still has some vibe to it. I imagine this song can apply to a very devoted underling or obsessed interest of the Capo! Maybe Haitham? But it sounds a little too... smitten for him.

(Also, absinthe anon? This band "IDKHow" has a song as your nickname and I wanted to suggest it! Or maybe I just read your nickname wrong lmao)

IDIAOAOA OH MY GOD "I DON'T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME" DHAIOWOA I FRICKING LOVE THAT BAND–

From The Gallows feels like Diluc's theme for some reason. He's the most deranged actually lol, the least yandere LI is venti and he might not even show up anymore

I agree I think it's a bit too smitten for Alhaitham (he's not one the first person in mind when i think of "I'd die for you) but he'd definitely count all your teeth lmAO–

Another Dallon Weekes' related song I like associating with my weird fic ideas is his old band, The Brobecks - "Visitation of the Ghost", with Signora lmao. Dainsleif & Mafia!Reader friendship duo killing Rosalyne in her sleep, the theme song.

I've actually been meaning to ask Absinthe anon of that's where they got their name cause Absinthe is such a massive bop! I love listening to that song whenever I'm on a bus lmao

[philophobic-paracosm]

thinking about the time i found don't forget the sun (homestuck fanfic) and read it even though it was discontinued and then someone made a sequel and then discontinued the fan sequel and then they fuckin DELETED THE FAN SEQUEL BUT I LOVED IT

why cant i have good things

anyways if anyone ever managed to save the fanmade sequel of dfts or have it archived somewhere please please please can i have it i am begging rn its just so good i require

so basically stop deleting fics just orphan them if you dont want to be associated with them anymore cuz people like that shit 2022

[wangxianficfinder]

just my two€ but if fic writers have deleted their fics does that not mean that they do not want them to be read anymore? Wouldn’t it be disrespectful to dig them out against their will? :/

It could be read that way but this depends on the writer. It could also be read as someone loving a fic so much they'd like to read it over and over again. Some writers, of course, do not wish for their fics to be read any more and they let people know that afaik, but some simply do not want to be associated with those particular fics/fandoms for one reason or another but are fine with people sharing it among themselves.

For me, personally, if I had decided to delete certain fic I ended up orphaning instead it would have been ok to share and dig up if someone liked it as long as they didn't like try to talk to me about the fic.

Not 100% sure if this is coming out as intended but I hope you get the gist of it.

~Mod L

--

I agree. I think, as long as the author hasn't publicly stated they didn't want the fic shared/read, then it's fine. But if the author does say they don't want people sharing the fic around, then you should respect the author's wishes and leave the fic be.

I understand the feeling of loving a fic so much that you want other people to enjoy it too, but if in doing so, you are undermining the wishes of someone else, then is it really sharing the joy?

Authors have every right to ask people not to read their fic, just like, I believe, readers have every right to find deleted fics to read them again. It's the sharing publicly that I think is the most important part not to do if an author asks.

Does that make sense? As long as it's in private and you aren't going around yelling about this fic that an author has stated they didn't want anyone to share, then it's fine right? That's why I always ask people to DM each other if they want a copy of a downloaded fic. It's respecting the author's deletion of their fic while also giving readers a way to still enjoy it.

But if an author has publicly stated to not share around their deleted fic, then yeah, please respect their decision and do not spread it around.

- Mod C

[coockie8]

have you ever anoned a work of yours though?

No, because I've never been in a situation where I didn't want to be associated with a work of mine anymore, but if that situation ever arose, sure, I'd anon the work. But the fact is, I'm never ashamed of the things I write, I just sometimes no longer want random strangers to have access to the things I write, for a variety of reasons.

Like how I purged all my Storm Hawks fics off AO3 four years ago to avoid harassment.

Orphaning or Anoning those works wouldn't have stopped the harassment; one would've just made it so I could never do anything about it ever again, and the other would've just removed my name, which would've been pointless as everyone harassing me already knew I was who wrote them.

My most common reasons for deleting are 1: the fic is old and I plan to rewrite it with my updated style at some point in the future (I don't usually delete these until they've been rewritten, and if I do, it's 'cause whether or not I'll actually rewrite them is up in the air).

And 2: I no longer intend to ever finish the fic in question, and I refuse to leave unfinished works available, 'cause even if you do include "abandoned" or "indefinite hiatus" tags, you'll still get regular comments from people who don't read tags demanding you update. So I delete them, because I can only respond with some variation of "this has been abandoned, please actually read the tags" so many times before I start to lose my mind.

[oldfangirl81]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

@sugdenlovesdingle this seemed to fun to pass up.

And I'm procrastinating writing.

How many works do you have on AO3? 50

What's your total AO3 word count? 115,555 (lots of wips)

What Fandom do you write for? Marvel, 9-1-1, 9-1-1 LS, Teen Wolf, Top Gun, DC comics, RWRB, Prodigal Son, Doctor Who, BtVS, Eureka, Due South and some SPN.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? High Flying Adventures in LA (Top Gun/911), 5 Times Tony Stark Did Not Want The Evil Person To Flirt With Him and 1 Time He Did Not Mind (Marvel/SPN/Doctor Who/True Blue), Walk Me Home (911/Eureka), Buster The Gay Dog (911), In The City (Top Gun/911/SWAT)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I try but sometimes it does feel silly to just keep saying Thank you if there isn't anything else I can respond too.

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? If I Fall (BtVS/Doctor Who). Look I was reading a lot of a certain kind of BtVS fic so this one has Xander deciding to join The Master.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Maybe Buster the Gay Dog (911) or A Thousand Good Stories (Top Gun/911 Lone Star). The first Eddie & Buck get together at the end. And the second Bradley & Jake are engaged by the end.

Do you get hate on fics? Rarely. But the funniest one to me was on the 5 Times Tony Stark fic. I was called both a misogynist and homophobic.

Do you write smut? If so what kind? I very rarely write true smut. I do fade to black often. I did write a fic once where Starfire gave Jason a blowjob in an alley. And I swear it isn't exactly what it sounds like but it is at the same time. She was trying to make him stop risking his life by giving him something to live for. Look there is a reason I don't write much smut in over a decade.

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? Yes, I write crossovers. It's kinda my thing really. As for the craziest one? I honestly don't know because a bunch are probably considered odd. Maybe the Marvel crossover with Red White & Royal Blue. Or maybe 9-1-1 and Eureka. Or maybe 9-1-1 Lone Star & Marvel. Or 9-1-1 Lone Star & DC comics. Or maybe my recent Danny Phantom and 9-1-1.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Yup. It was copied word for word. But it was so long ago I couldn't actually tell which of my fics it was. It might even be one of the ones I orphaned in the years to follow because I don't touch that fandom anymore, nor do I want it associated with me.

Have you ever had a fic translated? I don't think so. I'm not against it.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Nope. The closest I've come was Tumblr RP over a decade ago now.

What's your all time favorite ship? I can't really pick. I rarely abandon ships for good. I still love Benton Fraser/Ray K, Blair Sandburg/Jim Ellison, Xander Harris/Spike, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, Stiles/Derek Hale, Steve McGarret/Danny Williams, Danny Messer/Mac Taylor, Danny Messer/Don Flack, Kaylee Fyre/Simon Tam and most of those have been off the air for years and years now.

What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Something About That Boy (Marvel/BtVS) or Where Me Demons Hide? (Marvel/BtVS)

What are your writing strengths? I'd like to say my dialogue. And ridiculous chaotic plots in a fun way.

What are your writing weaknesses? Finishing a story before starting ten more. The non dialogue parts.

Thoughts on writing dialouge in another language in a fic? Be careful there be dragons there. I know I've done it in some fics. And a sentence here or there isn't the worst if you aren't fluent. But be open if someone ever corrects you. And more than that maybe find a beta that is fluent in whatever language you are hoping to add to the fic. I know google translate can be rough.

First fandom you wrote in? Ugh, I don't want to answer but if googling my penname is accurate it would have been May '05 so it appears to have been a Harry Potter and BtVs crossover.

Favorite fic you've written? Toss up between Won't You Come See About Me (Top Gun/Marvel) or Wild Angels (9-1-1 Lone Star/DC Comics). Both are WIPs that are NOT abandoned in the slightest.

If you read all this thanks for supporting my procrastination. And feel free to answer these questions yourself.

[chaosandthe-deadblog]

I promise promise promise that someone is going to look for that fic and be sad to find that it was deleted. So I'd recommend orphaning any fics you don't want to be associated with anymore. Because, I can guarantee you, someone out there likes it.

oops, too late

to be honest, its not that i didnt want to be associated with it. i just didnt like it anymore. i felt that i could write it better

[intercoursefluids]

I'm sorry I'm not sure if you mentioned this or if someone else asked you about it, but the story you wrote called "believe me" is up on ao3 with a different user name then the one you have here on Tumblr... Did you give permission for this other fic writer to take over that fic and post it on ao3?

https://archiveofourown.org/works/41189640?view_full_work=true

First of all, never apologize for trying to do the right thing, which in this case it was telling me that you thought my work had been stolen

Second of all, you can rest assured that it wasn't stolen

The Orphan_Account is run by AO3 itself, not anyone person but by the website

If a writer no longer wants to have a certain fic associated with them or don't want to write it anymore for any reason they can 'Orphan' their work and someone else can choose to 'adopt' it

When a work is 'orphaned' the writer loses rights to that work, anyone else can pick it up and change it however they want to

Its an alternative to just deleting it so people can still enjoy it

I orphaned 'Believe Me' because I wasn't happy with how it was going and wanted to redo all of it but knew that many people would still like it as it was

I didn't want to write it anymore so I gave it away

"Believe Me' is turning into the fic 'Where Do I Belong' which already has a chapter out

You can rest assured that your concern was, while appreciated, not necessary in this case

Thank you and I hope this brought some piece of mind