#shading with black it's not recommended usually but in this case it worked out

[caliosi]

I have- a lot of feelings about color symbolism in character design, especially how it interacts with other characters in that media.

So anyway, here are my thoughts in relation to two pieces of obscure media that I can’t stop thinking about, The Glass Scientists and Ghost Trick. Major spoilers for Ghost Trick! This game has a fantastic story with a really good twist so I recommend if you have any interest in it at all, go check it out before you read this!

So, in TGS Jekyll has a very obvious red motif and Hyde a green one

These are two complimentary colors, which in and of themselves have some fun ideas to discuss. Complementary colors are two complete opposites on the color wheel. But as the name suggests, these two colors also go really well together. To make something beautiful a good choice would be to have both these colors. But you also can’t have equal amounts of both with the same vibrancy or shade throughout the whole thing or there will be no harmony. These two will always go together like this, opposites but work together to make the full depth and beauty that a person has to be a person. To avoid making things messy, you choose moments when green gets to be the main color and red gets to shine through to make each other pop and the other way around.

There is also something to be said about the fact that Jekyll is red and Hyde is green. Red most commonly is associated with things like anger, hatred or just evil and green is usually considered good. Now this isn’t always the case though, there are times green is associated with things like poison and red is associated with passion. The only thing that I am stuck on is the descriptor of passionate more suites Hyde’s public persona. If anyone has any ideas as to why Jekyll is represented by red I would love to hear it.

Now in Ghost Trick (spoilers) the two characters I am going to talk about is Cabanela and Yomiel. These two have the same color palette for their clothing, red white and black, the only difference is with Yomiel his main color is red with a white accent and Cabenela’s main color is white with an accent of red.

It is already pointed out in the game that Cabanela’s white coat represents his ‘spotless record’ or the fact that he does good, but he always has that scarf weighting down on his neck, the time he was responsible for Yomiel’s death. With Yomiel he is covered in the red, all the bad things he has done, but there is a sliver of white, he wants to be a good person that is his humanity. They are opposites but at the same time, they are the exact same. Now, this may be a real stretch but... at the very end of the game, when we see Yomiel in prison he has on a pink frock. The red and white combined. He is still going to forever have that red on him, he always did what he did, but he lightened it, he will be better and he, unlike Cabanela who separates the bad thing he did from his good, has excepted that part of himself into who he is and he won’t run away from it.

Anyway, go read The Glass Scientists and play Ghost Trick (or at least watch a play through) if you haven’t! They are both wonderful pieces of media about humanity and identity and highly recommend them especially if you like to over analyze things!

[retro-with-a-twist]

¡WARNING!: VERY long post ahead!

I was recently asked to do a tutorial for two friends, and I figured I’d share it here! It’s on how I personally use markers and colored pencils for portraits, so if that’s something you’re interested in then this is for you!

I must preface by saying this is my first tutorial/guide thingy and I’m no professional, but hopefully it helps some! This is only one way of going about it, don’t worry if it’s not your way!

Without further ado, let’s do this! And remember: Trust the process!!!

First, the angelic (😏) reference:

Now, we all see tones differently. I also am using the Art Alternatives Portrait Set, which is limited in tones. So, this won’t be completely picture accurate- which is okay! Essence over accuracy!

Alright! Here we go!

Step One: the sketch!

Typically I do the sketch in the person’s undertone, usually pinks or purples. However, for whatever reason I was compelled to try blue on this one, and hey- what is art if not random attempts at creating beauty?

And just like the color scheme, the sketch isn’t 100% accurate. But again, it’s all good!

But anyways, the reason I do my sketches in colored pencil is because it doesn’t smudge like graphite does, and it actually blends into the marker. I feel it’s smoother, and it provides some undertones as you start layering with marker.

Step Two: base tones

This is where you wonder if you just destroyed the entire drawing. I promise you that you didn’t! Basically what I do here is I put pinks down wherever I see pinks in the reference and lay down where the skin is the darkest. I find that it blends better when it’s underneath the base layer.

Step Three: the base layer

Here, all you do is throw down the skintone over the entirety of where it goes, in this case the face. I typically try to leave out highlights, but sometimes the marker bleeds and covers things I didn’t ask it to. In this case, that was the eyes. Oh well!

One thing to notice here is how you can still see the colored pencil beneath the sketch. That’s a very useful guide for when you begin detailing.

Step 3.5: uh

This isn’t necessarily a marker step, it’s just me letting the ink dry and working on other spots with pen and colored pencil. Also, I do like to go over the pink areas a few times to make them less stark.

Step Four: beginning detailing

Now, black is a tricky color on the face, because it can either smudge on everything and turn it gray, or work really well. I used a colored pencil here, and began going over the blue colored pencil spots and lines that were visible under the marked, which started to bring out his face. I also covered the highlight on the nose that had been left alone thus far.

Step Five: THE™️ details

If there’s anything I’ve learned in my five years of drawing, it’s that the highlights and darkest points are what really make the piece. Pure white, bright highlights (like the ones in the eyes) are awesome, but lately I like smudging them out a little bit so that they’re gentler.

If there’s anything you want to hit, it’s the whites of the eyes with the white gel pen, and the pupils + nostrils with the black fineliner.

I have shaky hands, but I use them to my advantage in stippling the darkest part of the eyebrows and in the line of the lips with the fineliner- it just adds a little bit more depth :)

Hair is its own thing, I just sort of wing it. Black hair especially is not the easiest for me, just because I find it difficult to bring out the shades in it. It’s not done at this step as I was trying to figure out how I was going to finish it.

I will also blend things out with both the skintone marker and a pink colored pencil just to get stuff to be smoother. If you’re going for semi realism/realism like me, I highly recommend taking a reddish brown to do some freckles/skin texture with. You can’t see it too much in this picture, and I didn’t want to overdo it since Cas/Misha doesn’t have that many freckles as far as I can see, but it does make a difference.

Step Six: everything else

I did the jacket in colored pencil as well as the fake id!

If you have any questions let me know, I’m happy to help!

Hope this is a decent guide :)

[upsidedownsmore]

Hi!! I was wondering if its okay to ask what brushes u normally use in krita? I love your art!!

Thank you so much!!! I only use the ones available in Krita by default and I tend to jump around based on what I think will work best for each piece, but I can give a little rundown on which ones I use the most and what I use them for :)

Here's an image guide with each of the brushes I've used and that I recommend checking out:

I'll highlight my favorites as well with some examples where they were predominantly used! (though in some cases multiple or even all of these brushes were used)

Marker Details:

Varying opacity and size makes this one my favorites for sketching, especially since it can easily be nearly transparent or fully opaque which helps with value range.

I also like using it for silhouette sketches!

It can also be used for final linework, but it takes more work to get to a full opaque and its lack of texture makes it a little less interesting than Ink-7 Brush Rough imo.

Ink-7 Brush Rough:

Really good for linework, especially for comic styled drawings with it's slight texture, varying weight, and opaqueness.

Also good for just filling in entire areas with a single color as well as non-smoothed shading!

Wet Bristles Rough:

Actually just an amazing brush, its pressure sensitivity is crazy.

Blends strokes like paint and can vary in size and opacity.

Also has a nice subtle texture!

Amazing for smoother coloring and shading, especially if you want a more painterly style.

Watercolor Texture:

(hard to show examples of this, just assume that I've used it in any piece that has smooth shading lol)

Not the best for painting/drawing on its own, however I've found it to be really useful when set to white or black on an overlay layer for adding extra shading and/or highlighting on top of the shading I've already done.

I usually shade individual figures, objects, and parts separately, but using an overlay layer with Watercolor Texture (or even Shapes Square) on top of everything helps make the entire piece feel more cohesive.

Also adds a hint more texture!

Another thing to note is the importance of layer modes!

I know that you asked about brushes specifically, but many of these brushes (particularly those to do with effects and textures) work best when experimenting with different layer modes other than Normal. Overlay is generally a safe bet and most of the best for, well, overlaying multiple layers for interesting effects. But please try out all of them at any given opportunity, sometimes things like Burn, Color Dodge, Soft Light, etc can have more interesting effects!

In addition, mess with filter masks! You can even edit where they apply by drawing on the mask directly! HSV/HSL Adjustment (also accessible with ctrl+u) in particular is INSANELY useful for fiddling with the colors and balance of a piece, from individual layers to whole groups and drawings. I also really like blur filters, often times I'll duplicate a layer and make the bottom one blurred to add a glow affect to something without losing its definition.

While this latter stuff isn't about brushes specifically, its generally very important to how I use and experiment with all these different brushes!

Anyways I hope this helps!! I kinda went overboard with this post, but I had a lot of fun writing it! Thank you again for the wonderful ask!! :)

[downwiththeficness]

A Need Unleashed Ch. 7

Summary: Horacio Carrillo was a man of control...until he wasn’t. His  carefully regimented life begins to change the second he scents Eva Moore, an unobtrusive omega whose secrets lead the two of them into dangerous territory. Horacio must protect her at all costs while battling a fierce need that threatens to bring him to his knees.  

Word Count: ~4800

Warnings: Alcohol, graphic sex

Taglist:  @littleone65     @supersanelyromantic      @sistasarah-sallysaidso    

A/N: It is recommended that you read A Need So Great prior to reading this story. There is context and additional information in that fic that influences how this fic is understood. This fic is explicit for canon-compliant blood, gore, violence, and sex. As such, it is intended for an adult audience, only. A/B/O dynamics come with their own warning. Anyone under the age of 18 should not interact with this work. I do not consent to reposting this work to other platforms. Reblog only to Tumblr.

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Start at the beginning

He was late.

He hadn’t intended to be late, but a file came across his desk that Horacio couldn’t put down. A security camera caught what they thought was a prime suspect for the string of murders in the city. Trujillo got it from a gas station, which meant it was far too grainy for his liking, but it was the first piece of hard evidence for the case and he was going to make sure he knew every inch of it.

Horacio spent an hour staring at the picture tacked to bulletin board in his office, trying to figure out how an icy blond man wearing a black suit fit into the puzzle of seemingly unconnected murders. The man certainly stuck out with the locals—enough one of their witnesses had described someone very similar in their statement.

But, only once.

He’d only been seen once.

The problem was so engrossing that Horacio looked up and found that he’d stayed half an hour past the time he was scheduled to leave. He hustled to change into the swim trunks he brought with him and fairly sprinted to his truck. Throwing what was left of his paperwork into the floorboard, he gunned the engine and sped from the parking lot.

The complex Steve and Connie lived in was nicer than most government housing, but it was still government housing. All the units looked so identical that the first time he visited for dinner, he had to check the number beside the door twice before he knocked.

Sounds of voices drifted from the pool nestled in the courtyard. He ducked through the fencing and circled around to the back of the building. The smell of charcoal and chlorine hit him before he turned the corner. Steve and Javier were sitting on the side of the pool with their legs in the water. Connie and Eva were lounging on pool chairs in the partial shade of an umbrella.

His gaze caught on Eva’s legs as they stretched out in front of her. Sun-drenched and shining, her skin was the embodiment of temptation. The cherry red bathing suit did nothing to conceal the curves and valleys of her body—curves and valleys that he’d spent many, many hours worshiping in the last few weeks. In her hand was a bottle of beer, the condensation dripping slowly to the concrete below. His mouth went dry as he watched her bring the bottle to her lips to take a sip.

Sitting down on the lounge next to her, Horacio tried not to stare at the little mole on her thigh. He’d laid many kisses on that spot, usually on his way to a more intimate type of kiss. The image of going down on her blazed through his mind with dizzying intensity.

He could feel the tremble of her thighs over his shoulders, hear the way she called his name. As much as he was looking forward to a day by the pool, Horacio began to craft an excuse to get her back to her apartment as soon as possible. The time for the pool closure was posted on a nearby sign. He didn’t know how he was going to make it through the next few hours.

Eva opened her eyes, “Hey.”

Horacio gave himself a mental shake.

“Hey.”

“You get anything done at work?” she asked as she sat up.

He wished he hadn’t. Horacio wished that he’d never looked at that stupid file. He wished he’d left work early so that he could spend more time with his half naked girlfriend by the pool—even with the knowledge that he could look, but couldn’t touch her.

“Got some paperwork in the truck I need to finish. I parked at your place, I hope you don’t mind.”

Eva made a dismissive motion with her hand, “That’s no problem, you park there most of the time, anyways.” Then, “Did you eat?”

He nodded, “Since its a Saturday, we order take out for the guys.”

She reached out to touch him and he flinched, “There are a lot of eyes here.”

Her mouth opened and then shut around her disappointment. As bad as he felt about enforcing certain rules in their relationship, Horacio had to keep doing it. She was right when she proclaimed that he was minor celebrity. Horacio had the unwanted distinction of a bounty on his head and he would never forgive himself if Eva became collateral damage in his pursuit of the cartel.

“Did you go home to change or did you wear this to the office?”

Glad for the change in subject, he gave her a sardonic look, “What do you think?”

Another dismissive gesture, “I know, I know. God forbid you show up anything less than immaculate.” She pointed at the cooler, “Go get yourself a beer. Relax for two seconds.”

Horacio got a beer. Horacio relaxed.

They talked for a while, carefully avoiding the subject of work. It was a bright, sunny day. And, in the little bubble of the courtyard, the stress of the office could be momentarily forgotten. They were just people enjoying each other’s company.

The cooler quickly emptied and Eva got up to retrieve the reserves. He stood with her, knowing that it would take an extra pair of hands to carry everything back. It was a bonus that helping Eva get the alcohol from the fridge back to the patio chairs would give him a moment alone with her.

Eva’s hair was still damp from the pool. It swung in counterpoint to her swaying hips. He watched a drop of water fall over her shoulder, biting down on the urge to follow it with his fingertips. All this self control couldn’t keep him from staring as she moved or breathing deeper to get a little more of a scent that was touched with chlorine and sun block.

Eva stepped inside and headed for the fridge, “You know, there’s going to come a time when I’ll be able to out drink Connie, but today is not going to be that day.”

Even though she wasn’t looking at him, he could hear the smile in her voice. It was the same smile she flashed at him when they were sharing a joke that was only between the two of them. There were more and more of those smiles lately. He coveted every single one.

Unable to resist, Horacio moved close enough that she bumped right into him as she turned around. Without a word, he took the bottle from her hand and set it next to the orange juice and beer. Then, he gave in to the urge that had been riding him all day.

Her mouth was soft and yielding to a kiss that was a touch too hard. Horacio expected that being able to kiss her for a few seconds might unwind the coil want that had been twisting inside him. If anything, the kiss only tightened it further. His hands wandered greedily over exposed skin, soaking in the heat of her body.

He pulled away, saying, “I’ve been meaning to do that since I got here.”

Eva wrapped her arms around his shoulders, “I think we’ve discussed that you’re free to kiss me whenever you want.”

They had discussed it. In an alley. Against the wall of a building.

He shook those thoughts away, “Not always.”

Her chin dipped, “Still, offer’s on the table.”

“Noted,” he replied as he kissed her again, running his tongue over the pillowy flesh of her lower lip, “Have I told you how much I like kissing you?”

She smiled, her fingers ruffling his hair, “The feeling is mutual.”

Horacio would be grateful for that fact every moment it was true. He certainly didn’t deserve her, but he was far too selfish to let her go. Eva was his now and that was all there was to it.

In the back of his mind, Horacio wondered when he became so possessive. It certainly hadn’t been a conscious decision. Like most things where Eva was concerned, the feeling sat near enough to be felt, but so still that it went unnoticed unless he was looking at it directly.

“Have I told you how much I like this suit?” he asked as his hands flexed on her body. Then, to himself, “So much skin.”

Eva loosed a kind of embarrassed laugh, “You’ve seen me in less.”

He had. He definitely had. Still…

“Usually, I can touch you.”

With a bit of a sly grin, she pointed out, “You’re touching me now, Big Guy.”

Eva had stopped using his last name whenever she was shy or trying to distance herself from him. She’d picked up this moniker, instead. ‘Big Guy’ was just as unacceptable as ‘Carrillo’. He wanted to hear her say his name, preferably while coming.

Crowding her, Horacio trailed kisses up her neck and jaw until he reached her mouth. He kept his kiss soft and lazy, uncaring that there might be people waiting on them. It had been hours since he’d kissed her and it would be hours before he could do so again.

She lifted up on her toes to deepen the kiss and her hips tilted towards him. Eva might try to hide behind flippant jokes and sarcasm, but her body never lied. She molded herself to him, cleaved to him. Knowing that she wanted him as much as he wanted her was a heady feeling that often left him breathless.

Pushing a knee between her legs, Horacio trapped her against the counter. His fingers dug into her hair, pulling her head back to expose the long column of her throat. He breathed deeply. The scent of her called to him, taunted him, begged him to stoke the fire between them to an inferno.

Horacio couldn’t do this here. But later…

“As soon as we get back to your apartment.”

He stared at her intently, until he knew she grasped his meaning. Then, he grabbed the orange juice and six pack before he did something stupid like drag her into the nearby pantry—he wouldn’t have to drag. Horacio could turn around right now and Eva would let him—

Physically shaking his head, Horacio made himself focus on the concrete, on the all too bright sunshine. He could barely see the next step in front of him, his mind awash with images of Eva’s body rising and falling over his.

Horacio couldn’t concentrate on the conversation. With Eva next to him, it took all his effort to pay attention. He was inundated with her scent, could feel her body heat. His hand kept moving to reach for her, to pull her closer, and he resented the moment when Eva urged Connie to standing and they tumbled into the pool.

She teased him from the water, which only made it worse. He dove in, was halfway to picking her up and throwing her across the pool just to hear her excited scream before he remembered that he was in public. Dropping beneath the surface, he ran his hands over his face in a failed attempt to calm down.

Eva remained near the wall, but her eyes kept straying to him. He could feel the weight of her gaze, but couldn’t meet it. The more he looked at her, the more he wanted her. For the first time in his life, Horacio wished he chose another career. He wished he worked at a grocery store or a bank or something equally as innocuous. He wished he could be leaning against the side of the pool next to her, his arm around her waist, her laugh in his ear.

Her hands on his skin.

Their time at the pool was interrupted by the security for the building. The pool was closing. Finally. Swimming to the edge, Horacio pushed himself out of the pool and stood. He leaned down to take Eva’s hands to help her up in an easy lift. She stumbled as her feet hit the concrete and wrapping an arm around her waist was more a reflex than a conscious action.

Eva leaned into him, a challenge flashing in her eyes.

Horacio’s hands tightened into fists, “Don’t.”

The single word was low and firm. If she pushed him, he would break. Horacio was almost through this. He just had to make it back to her apartment and then he could tug aside the material of her bathing suit and sink deep.

Letting Eva go, Horacio followed the group inside. Steve was just hanging up the phone and Horacio felt a wave of disappointment fall over him as he realized that he would have to go into the office the next morning. There would be no sleeping in next to Eva, no coffee on the couch, no lazy kisses that would lead to an afternoon spent in bed.

He was seriously reconsidering his choice of employment.

Eva walked ahead of him as they headed down the street. Her gait was uneven and her eyes were looking towards the stars. Her scent trailed along behind her, inviting him to follow. The material of her cover up was sheer enough that he could see the red outline of her suit beneath.

“That was really fun,” she breathed as she looked back at him. Then, “When was the last time you actually spent an afternoon not attached to your desk doing paperwork?”

He caught up with her, “Its been a long time.”

She eyes drifted forward, “You should do things for fun more often.”

Like go down on you in the bed of my truck?

The thought whizzed past him, tugging along an image so clear and heart pounding that Horacio was already reaching for his keys so that he could unlock the tailgate.

He swallowed hard, “I assume you have ideas.”

“I might,” came her coy voice. Eva spun and face him, walking backwards, “There’s apparently some beautiful scenery, here. We could go hiking.”

They could be alone. In a tent. With no one for miles to interrupt them.

His mouth lifted a fraction, “We could do that.”

Eva nodded once, “Alright. Its decided, then. We’ll go hiking when you get some time off.”

When he got some time off…

So never, then.

Horacio’s desk was growing more and more cluttered with files—murders, drugs, trafficking, and every other terrible thing that happened in his jurisdiction. No matter what he did, no matter how hard he trained his unit, no matter what protocols he put in place, nothing seemed to stem the flow.

Not even Eva.

They keyed into her apartment.

As soon as the door was closed behind him, Horacio was grasping Eva’s arm and pulling her in so that he could kiss her the way he’d been wanting to all day. He took advantage of her surprised gasp, licking into her mouth and groaning at the taste. His hands rucked up the thin fabric that kept him from caressing soft, heated skin.

He was going to fuck her in the living room. There was no way he was going to make it to the bed. He had to get inside her as soon as possible. It felt like he might die if he didn’t. Horacio was already calculating the height of the back of the couch when Eva pulled away.

“I have to get this chlorine out of my hair. You want to join me?”

New plan.

He was going to fuck her in the bathroom. Counter. Couch. It didn’t matter. As long as he got inside her. Impatient, he maneuvered her into the bathroom, planting kisses along the way.

With the spray of the shower warming, he stripped the damp suit from Eva’s body. His fingers barely brushed her folds when she pulled away a second time. He went along with it only because she was tugging off his clothes and less clothes meant more skin.

His mouth ran over her shoulders as his hands kneaded her breasts. He plucked at her nipples, sucking one into his mouth. Eva’s moan echoed off the tile, the sound going straight to his cock. He closed his eyes, wishing that their stash of condoms wasn’t in the nightstand by the bed.

New plan.

Shower. Bed. Sex.

Later, he would relocate a box of condoms to the drawer where he kept his razor.

With perfunctory movements, Horacio washed her hair and body. As soap and water sluiced down towards the drain, he focused on regaining his bearings. He might want her more than he wanted his next breath, but Horacio could still make sure he saw to her needs.

Sort of.

The hard on between his legs was so insistent that Horacio didn’t think he would be able to last more than a few seconds once he was seated in her heat. Every errant brush of skin, even the water running down his body, felt like too much stimulation.

It set him back on his heels when Eva returned the favor. Her hands cleaned the day’s sun and salt from his body with soft, careful caresses. They worked their way down until she knelt at his feet and, for one white hot moment, he thought she might take him in her mouth.

He couldn’t let her.

Eva deserved better than that. Alphas didn’t put omegas on their knees.

She stood, reaching for the shampoo, and then her hands were in his hair again, scratching lightly at his scalp. It felt so good that he had to kiss her. As she’d done before, Eva rolled her hips into his. Between them, his cock slid against her stomach. He felt like he’d been hard for hours, felt like any little touch would set him off. And then her fingers brushed the tip and her thumb hooked beneath it, squeezing gently.

Fucking yes, please...

She pumped him steadily and he had to give his instincts a full body tackle so that he didn’t push her against the wall and fuck her against the tile. When he went to cup her mound, Eva stopped him with a hand on his wrist. Horacio grunted in disappointment and tried to pull free. To his frustration, Eva held tight.

Her other hand kept moving. Stroking.

Horacio had just enough brain cells to grab her ass and slot his thigh between her legs. Her name oozed from his lips as Eva widened her stance, put pressure on her folds. She was burning against his thigh. It was a heat that he matched, his body moving against his will. He couldn’t get close enough, couldn’t push through the tight circle of her fist hard enough to assuage the need burning low in his gut.

The water turned cold.

He hissed loudly, spinning so that he could turn off the taps. The laughter on her lips died when he turned back to her. Horacio could feel the intensity in his expression, knew that he looked two inches away from feral. He couldn’t find it in himself to care. He helped her out of the tub and, because she wasn’t moving as quickly as he wanted, tossed her over his shoulder so that he could take the five steps to the bed and throw her down.

He was on her in the next instant, taking deep, intense kisses as he arranged her how he wanted. Then, he got to his knees and leaned over to open the bedside table. His fingers ran eagerly over the rough interior of the drawer as his mind slowly figured out why it was empty.

“What’s wrong?”

Horacio’s eyes closed in defeat, “We’re out.”

She squinted at him in confusion, “Out?”

“Of condoms,” he clarified, “We’re out.”

Why hadn’t he gone to the drug store on the way over? Because he was running late. Because he had no idea they would be out of condoms. Because he’d been too caught up in how God damn amazing it felt to fall into Eva’s bed to pay attention to how many they had left.

Below him, Eva giggled.

“I’m glad you’re amused,” he drawled through half a smile.

She pulled him down with a soft, “C’mere.”

He should get up. Horacio didn’t have to leave, but he couldn’t lay naked with her, not with the way his body was trembling with restraint as he caged her in. Between one breath and the next, he knew that he wasn’t going to get up. He wasn’t going to put on some clothes, and he certainly wasn’t going to deny Eva what she so clearly wanted.

Her name was a warning as he rolled to lay beside her.

She shut him up with a kiss, her hands stroking over his chest and arms. He smiled into it, lulled by the taste of her and the way their scents mingled in the sheets. His arms enfolded her as he eased onto his back, hauling one of her legs of his.

New plan.

Hands on her hips, he encouraged her to move as he had in the shower. Eva’s head tilted back with a low moan as she ground her pussy against him. Horacio watched her with hooded eyes as she bit down on her lower lip. Her brows furrowed first in concentration and then in frustration.

Without warning, she was rising up to straddle him. His cock slotted into the cradle between her thighs with dizzying friction. And, fuck, she was soaking. He couldn’t stop rubbing her thighs, her sides, couldn’t stop pushing her to move faster.

Body bowing up, he planted kiss after kiss everywhere he could reach. His muscles began to burn. Sweat beaded at his temples and where her knees were pressed against his sides. Eva leaned her weight into him, legs spreading further.

He was going to come. It was too good, the feeling of her riding him, the sight of her body above. The way his cock kept catching at her opening. And, the way she gasped when it did.

Leveraging his greater weight, Horacio rolled her to her back. Moving quickly, he grabbed her ass and hauled her up and so that he could rut against her. He hoped it would be enough, hoped he could make her come before he did. Close. He was so close. But, his body wasn’t letting him get there. Horacio remained frustratingly on the edge of it despite every effort.

The wet sound of skin sliding against skin was loud in his ears. He made the mistake of looking down, of watching his cock slide through her folds. The bulbous head was shining with slick, peeking out from wet, hot, skin. She met him thrust for thrust, hands pulling at his hips and sides. Her thighs spread wide in a clear invitation that he had him fighting against his own need.

Dropping to an elbow, he ground out, “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you have to stop trying to fuck me, Eva.”

His fingers found her chin as he tried to put as much meaning into the words so that she would stop pressing the tip of his erection against her opening. He bit down on a moan, searching desperately for every ounce of control. She was right fucking there.

And then she started begging.

Horacio wasn’t immune to the occasional plea from his lovers, could sometimes be inclined to demand it. But this...hearing her tell him how much she loved fucking him. Hearing her tell him how much she wanted it.

Who was he to deny her?

New plan.

Horacio gave her a plea of his own, “I’m gonna… you need to listen. When I tell you, you need to let me pull out.”

He was insane.

It was the only explanation Horacio had for why he was considering fucking her without a condom. For risking emptying himself inside her without thought or care for the consequences. On the best days, he struggled with holding back his orgasm long enough to get her off. Now, with an entire day of keeping his hands to himself amidst the tease of a body he couldn’t touch, he had absolutely no chance.

Horacio was insane, but fuck fuck fuck he didn’t care.

He lined himself up and tilted his hips forward. By now, he knew that she would need a couple thrusts before he could bottom out, but this… Her cunt was squeezing him so tight—tighter than it ever had. His eyes fell to the place where they were connected, a frisson of something dark and possessive walking up his spine as he took in the way her lips were stretched around him.

And, he was only an inch or so in.

“Fuck, Eva,” he breathed harshly against her neck, “You have to let me in.”

“I’m trying,” came her whining response.

“Try harder,” Horacio demanded, pulling back for another slow push.

“Maybe if you,” she panted, “if I...if you let me on top.”

Absolutely not.

He was already at his limit and watching her sink down on him would be the end of it. Full stop.

“No. No—feels too good when you ride me,” he admitted mindlessly.

She cupped his jaw with a giggle, “Its supposed to feel good.”

Mouth open, breathing hard, Horacio replied, “Too good. Come too fast.” Then, “How are you still so fucking tight?”

He had to stop for a second. Just for a second. Horacio hadn’t even bottomed out and he had the tendrils of his willpower in a stranglehold. Every muscle in his body shook as he relentlessly pushed back a bone deep instinct.

Her little hands curled around his sides, using him to hold her steady while she rotated her hips in a circle. Even that small touch was too much. Horacio grasped her by the wrists and held them down on the bed.

Eva kept moving despite Horacio’s warnings. She kept arching up against him, kept taking him deeper and deeper. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. Was mesmerized by every inch of soft, sweat-laden skin.

“There you go. Take what you need. Take it from me.”

Having reached the end of his restraint, Horacio snapped his hips against her. A sharp, high pitched gasp came from her throat, but no sound of pain. He did it again, and words began to fall from her lips that told him he was giving her exactly what she needed.

He would never get used to the way it felt for her to come around him. He would never get used to the way her body desperately clutched at his cock, as if to keep him right where she wanted him for as long as possible.

Riding her through as much of it as he could, Horacio pulled out swiftly and fisted his cock hard. She watched him with wide eyes until he spilled across her stomach. The bottom dropped out of him. Blinding pleasure.

Chest heaving, Horacio’s jaw clenched as he realized that it hadn’t been enough. He wanted more. His body was demanding more. Knowing that he didn’t have the strength to pull out a second time, he shimmied down between her legs. Mouth encircling her clit, Horacio licked another orgasm from her while his hips rolled against the mattress until he was coming along with her.

It took a long time for him to come back to himself. Horacio laid his head on her thigh as the black spots in his vision faded away. Then, unsteady, he rose and warmed a cloth in the sink so that he could clean his spend from her skin.

Uncaring that it was still damp, he threw the cloth in the direction of the bathroom and laid down next to her. Despite the fact that he’d just come twice. Despite the fact that Eva was clearly worn out, Horacio began to argue with himself about turning her over and sinking back into her heat.

His dick was making a hell of a case for it.

Though he should be exhausted, Horacio’s body was restless. He could get up, go for a run, but the early meeting loomed with a sunrise that was going to be there soon. He settled into the mattress and kissed Eva’s shoulder, running his hand up her side and briefly cupping her breast. She snuggled into him, barely awake.

Horacio stared at the ceiling, intermittently dozing, until the gray of the morning seeped into the room. Next to him, Eva breathed slowly. As he rose and headed for the shower, he vowed to get through the meeting as fast as possible and then come back to her after he stopped by the drug store.

[askroahmmythril]

A Worms Armageddon Map Tutorial, by Neo

So since it’s been asked about and there are apparently many a picky detail that can cause custom maps in Worms Armageddon to not show up (and even then, they can be tricky to find), Neo has put together a tutorial on how to make them work.  I thus turn you over to our guest lecturer.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello there, Neo speaking, I'm the one that actually made the maps used in Roahm's videos, so I'll be the one guiding you to get your new map working for the game

I presume you have the map already made, but I have to assume all possible reasons as to why the map may not work, so forgive me for writing it down as a tutorial.

Now then, first up, making the map. I won't tell you how to make it, as I'm sure you can figure out the drawing/image editting process to do so, but I do need to address a few things about the maps.

1) Map size is important: the game allows for ludicrous sizes of .png images to be used for maps and although there is a min and a max for sizes you usually wouldn't run into problems here since the size isn't usually an issue. But there is a caveat: the pixel count on either horizontal or vertical axis must be divisible by 8. This means that if your map is, say, 803 pixels wide, it won't work, it needs to be a number divisible by 8.

2) Transparency: when working on a map, I recommend using transparency to figure out where your worms will be walking on, and if you're gonna have a lot of worms in one match (6 teams of 8 worms each, for example) you need a lot of space to work with, so the fields should be pretty open.

For instance, whatever falls into the checkered background (which indicates transparency) is something your worm will be able to walk, jump or jump rope across. Whatever is the solid color will be used as part of the ground or walls that make up your map.

As a result, be careful with stray pixels, as those can be an annoyance for players to find a sudden unseeable thing that impedes their progress. 

The alternative to transparency is having the background colored in pure black (RGB 0, 0, 0) and have the color black be a different shade of color (RGB 1, 1, 1) if you need it, but honestly that seems a bit too complicated, so I just let transparency do the work.

3) Anti-aliasing: Worms can't do anti-aliasing. In case you don't know, its how the outline of an object is smoothed out for the sake of the picture on a PNG. When the game runs anti-aliasing, its interpreted as a bunch of random stray pixels.

Make sure the outline of the map is jagged and pixelated before you load it up. 

4) Color: A reason of why the map may not load is that it has too much color, as Worms has an upper limit of how many different colors are on the palette This doesn't mean you need to count the pixels, just that you need to run it through an automatic filter. 

A program like Gimp will run your png through a color limiting filter automatically. 

just hit Image > Mode > Index... 

And just set the color palette to something similar to this, color max that Worms has is 112 colors. 

Assuming you save the map and its ready to use (or that you downloaded one from the net) then to load up the map you do the following.

This is the steps that I presume you've already done, but no harm in going over where to put them at. Basically, just go to where your folder files of Worms Armaggeddon are located, you can do so (assuming you're using steam) through the client itself or by following a similar URL to the one I have on my folder

Go to the User folder and inside of that you'll find "SavedLevels", that's where they should be in to be able to load in the game. Presuming that the criteria of color, transparency and size are met, anyway. 

To load up the map in-game, simply start up a match and this is the devious bit, the maps won't load on this drop down menu since these are the default ones to the game, they cannot be changed. 

Instead, left click on the map so that it auto-generates one at random and then right click it to bring up the custom map menus. 

Once you do, this menu will pop up, and in this dropdown menu you will find your custom map files. 

Bada-bing-bada-boom 

Just click exit and the game will be ready to go.

Just keep in mind: if you're making a custom map the requirements of color, size and transparency must be met, otherwise the map will not work.

I apologize for making it long winded, but this should more or less help guarantee you can use it.

Oh by the way, if you're playing online with friends only the host needs the map. Since its a png file the game can simply share it with every other player every time its loaded up. Voice packs and fanfares however need to be in every player's computer, but that's besides the point here

[xe-company]

TAKE A PEEK: BASIC OVERVIEW OF HER PERSONAL PHONE  |  CHOI YOOBIN [SF9]

LOCKSCREEN + BACKGROUND TEMPLATE CREDITS: All credit goes to @/hosiieok on DeviantArt !!

THE PHONE:

TYPE + MODEL: iPHONE 14

COLOR: Olive Green

CASE: She goes through a few different types of cases. Usually she’ll go for a solid color case but will sometimes mix it up with a patterned picture. It is often in shades of greens or browns.

EXTRA: She originally ordered the phone in black but was sent the olive green color instead and decided to keep it. 

HER LOCKSCREEN + BACKGROUND:

LOVES her bestie Tia !!

They may have a secret project in the works.

The photo was taken when she was MCing for MCOUNTDOWN and her group was guests to perform!

There was a few blurry pictures of her lockscreen that was spreading around and many fans speculated a few idols who it could be.

Eventually she showed her lockscreen on a VLIVE after everyone kept asking her about it. 

---

Its a cute beach couple photo of her and former boyfriend CHAN from SOUR CANDY. 

The two got together March 2022 but separated due to some hate and the companies choice on August 2022.

The photo was taken around July 2022 when she was spending a holiday with him and his family. 

She changed it one other time after they seperated but it didn’t feel right so she changed it back to them. 

TOP 10 APP USAGE STATISTICS:

INSTAGRAM - Instagram is usually where she likes to update FANTASYS so she often posts her the most out of all her social media accounts. She also enjoys looking through fan accounts her for, the boys, and her idol friends !!

MESSAGES - She texts people so much lmao. Loves to bother her friends when they all have the same gaps in their respective schedules. Also loves to keep up with her parents and siblings since she isn’t able to see them as much before she became an idol. 

CAMERA - The third member who takes the most selfies. She loves taking pictures of scenery and of her friends. Equally takes selfies as well. 

SPOTIFY - She is constantly trying to find new music. Whenever she can she likes to listen to English recommendations to learn English better. 

YOUTUBE - She usually uses YOUTUBE to watch MVs and dance practice videos to learn choreography. 

WEVERSE - Probably the fourth member that goes live the most. Doesn’t go live as much as she used to when they first debuted due to threatening comments. 

TRANSLATE - Absolutely tries her best to speak with foreign FANTASYS so she uses the Translate app to try and talk with them in their native language. 

DISCORD - Whenever her and certain friends have free time they’ll all hop on Discord to chat to each other and play games. 

GOOGLE MAPS - Bless her but she has no sense of direction. Has to have the address searched up to figure out where she needs to go. Youngbin often drives her places if she asks or they need to be somewhere by a certain time. 

NOTES APP - Likes to write down little thoughts in the moment. Ranges from lyrics to poems to items of clothing she wants to buy to songs she likes after hearing it for the first time.

[briosomakeup]

How to do Makeup for Formal Events

Your go-to glam look does not have to be messy or difficult. Simple, basic, and defined event styles are often the most beautiful and easiest to achieve.

Do you have a formal event coming up and are not sure what fashionable trends are trendy right now?

The difficulty is that achieving the ideal cosmetics look can be challenging. There are several alternatives available, ranging from natural skin to spectacular eyes, with some requiring specific expertise.

At Brioso, our experienced Makeup Artists in Pune have compiled this guide to all of the most popular beauty looks for formal occasions, as well as recommendations on how to achieve them with your own makeup.

Whatever function you’re attending, cosmetics is ultimately about making you feel comfortable and confident. It’s more about your style than subscribing to a specific look.

However, we understand that formal events are instances when many of us want to go the additional mile and experiment with our makeup.

Popular Makeup Looks for Special Events

So, we created this routine for individuals who wish to step outside of their comfort zone while remaining basic and cool.

There are numerous popular makeup styles to pick from depending on whether you’re going out to dinner, attending a party, or going to a particularly special occasion. If you want to look your best and feel confident in the process, you need to understand what works best for you.

The Natural Appearance

Embracing your natural traits is quite hot right now. So, if you prefer a more natural beauty look, this is one of the simplest ways to achieve a stunning, glowing appearance.

To get flawless skin without seeming cakey, use a light makeup base and concealer, then a cream blush, bronzer, and light brown eyeshadow. Cream creams produce a skin-like texture, making you appear healthy and fresh.

This type of makeup is suitable for any occasion. It’s also ideal if you’re unsure how much makeup to wear because you’ll still look lovely and glowy without it.

Vibrant Colors

Color is an excellent method to express oneself at a formal event. However, bright eyeshadows, blushers, and lipsticks might highlight the wrong characteristics, giving you a clownish appearance.

When experimenting with color, start with a light pallet and gradually build up your style. Because it is so versatile, a smokey eye is always a safe bet, regardless of color.

If you are interested in sporting colorful eye makeup, choose a more neutral attire to avoid color clashing.

Use Your Outfit as Inspiration

When it comes to selecting an outfit for a big occasion, formal attire is usually the major focus. So, while deciding on a beauty look, it makes sense to draw inspiration from your clothes.

If you’re wearing a black dress, keep your eyes dark and smokey, and add a pop of color with a bold lip. If you’re wearing a lot of different colors, keep your makeup neutral and let the ensemble speak for itself. If you’re wearing a pastel dress, go for pastel eye makeup.

Maybe you’re wearing a purple and burgundy dress, in which case a smokey eye is your best option. Finally, if you’re wearing a white and cream dress, try applying colored eyeliner to the lash line.

Bold Eye Shadow

Eyeshadow can be used to add some fun and colorful colors to your cosmetic look for a particular occasion. Eye shadows come in a variety of hues, finishes, and textures, making it easy to choose the perfect shade for you.

Just remember that the darker the tint, the more dramatic the effect. Black and dark grey eyeshadows can highlight the blue in a person’s eyes, whereas oranges and gold appear better on persons with brown and hazel eyes.

Dress Colour

The color of your dress has an impact on your makeup. Black gowns allow for more color experimentation, whilst colorful dresses may require more neutral makeup.

Strong Lips

Bold lip colors are trending, so rejoice if you want firm lips. Make sure your look is balanced by using little eye makeup and a bold lip.

Strong Contouring

Contouring is an excellent makeup technique that can help to highlight your best facial features. However, if you do not know the proper tactics, things might go horribly wrong!

A contour is just the highlight or darkening of specific facial features to make them stand out. Most people contour their forehead, chin, nose, and cheekbones to achieve a more defined, model-like image.

Contouring should always be done with the intention of emphasising your best feature. If you want to attract attention away from one region of your face, highlight another instead. For example, if you want to make your chin look smaller, apply a lighter foundation to highlight your jawline.

How Brioso Helps:

Sonal is one of the most outstanding and desired wedding hair and makeup professionals in Pune. Sonal is a famous wedding hair and makeup artist based in Pune. She provides luxury, bespoke on-site makeup and hair for weddings, as well as professional mobile beauty services for all events.

The service provided is not only time-saving, but it also protects your privacy and comfort while producing an excellent outcome. The beauty sector in Pune is thriving, and for good reason! Everyone wants to appear their best, whether at a glitzy event or on a daily basis.

We’ll look at the evolution of the beauty business in Pune, why hiring a professional makeup artist is important, how to choose the best artist for your needs, highlight common types of cosmetic services available here, and introduce some top-tier artists known for their expertise. So, prepare to glam up as we take you on an amazing adventure into the world of Makeup Artist Services in Pune.

A professional makeup artist also has access to high-quality products and tools that the general public may not have. This means they may utilize products that are better suited to your skin type and tone, resulting in a perfect finish that lasts throughout the day or night.

Hiring a corporate makeup artist in Pune would help you save time and effort. Instead of spending hours experimenting with different procedures and products or watching multiple internet videos, you can rely on their knowledge to achieve great results quickly.

Conclusion:

The best appearance is one that makes you feel wonderful. Makeup enhances confidence, attractiveness, and comfort in the Events. Formal dresses, including plus sizes, complement your makeup at the Brioso.

Makeup and clothes are the only tools to enhance your natural beauty!

Staying up to date on make-up trends will help you feel confident and look your best for any occasion. Whether you prefer the splendor of a fearsome appearance, the subtlety of a no-makeup look, or the glimmer of glitter makeup, there is a style for everyone in 2024.

At Brioso, we concentrate on this type of make-up and more. Based in Pune, we offer our expert makeup services in Pune, Mumbai, Nashik, and Nagpur. Allow Brioso to fulfill your excellent search for every occasion.

[victorckk]

I have a stomach bug so no art until I start feeling better. But for now, here’s some more art tips as a sequel to my first post.

I’m not a professional and these tips may not work for everyone, but I wanna share them in case other people might wanna try them out.

My favorite piece of art advice: DRAW IN PEN!!!! Literally, I will always recommend this tip. I LOVE drawing in pen so I’m a bit biased, but it teaches you how to make things without going back and perfecting everything. You learn to accept the mistakes you make. It’s even better when it’s colored ink (red, purple, etc.) instead of the usual blue and black.

Use highlighters to your advantage. You can use that shit for shading and coloring. It makes your art pop.

I know the first page of a sketchbook is usually pretty scary, so skip to the second or even third page. Or, you could make a collage on the first page instead of actually drawing anything. It’s a trick I learned from my art class in high school where we made a collage using various photos in magazines and books that caught our attention. I might be able to find the sketchbook that has the page, if I still have it.

For the last few pages, try out various art supplies and label them. That way you can tell how they look without having to tear out any pages at the beginning.

I personally use part of a plastic ziploc bag that I cut, but always put something under the page you’re working on when using alcohol markers (if your paper isn’t thick enough). While some people use a piece of other paper underneath, I found that plastic sheets work better

You don’t have to actually draw everyday to get better. I noticed that it’s a trend to do so, but trust me. It’ll only lead to art block and burn out, especially if you’re the type to get exhausted easily. If you have the motivation and energy, then go ahead. But don’t forget to TAKE BREAKS.

If you have the supplies, paint the cover of your sketchbook. I’ve seen a lot of people with crazy beautiful sketchbook covers that they’ve painted and ngl, it’s really inspiring (I have no idea how to paint though)

Always keep the art supplies you use the most on hand. Any pencil case will do, unless you have a whole stash that you use the most. I think large pencil cases exist, but you’d have to find the size that works best for you.

Last but not least, no. The art supplies you use ≠ talent and skill. I used to think this way when I first started out, but now I just use my finger and ibisPaint (occasionally a dollar store stylus if my wrist is cramping or locking up). You have to put in the time and effort to actually get the results you need, and even the professionals that have the most expensive equipment are STILL always improving as they go.

[in-design-studio]

The Role of Interior Designers: Shaping Homes for Comfort and Aesthetics

Furnishing your space is a task riddled with complexity, but it remains quite entertaining, especially when considering future ambitions. When it comes to your home, it should be an oasis of calm and balance, providing you with a true sense of comfort. Organizing spaces in an orderly manner, with a nod to pleasant and functional aesthetics, allows you to have an impeccably furnished home, a vision often shared by urban planning firms in Hyderabad for creating harmonious living environments.

Who Is An Interior Designer, And How Can He Transform Your Space?

A very widespread professional figure, more commonly called an “interior architect.” He designs the interior spaces of homes, offices, shops, or accommodation facilities. He follows very specific criteria in his work, the most important being functionality and aesthetics. The commercial building interior designer creates environments capable of excitement and is usually able to anticipate people’s needs.

Crafting Spaces to Your Unique Vision

An expert designer can assist you in creating tailor-made and personalized designs of an interior or for optimizing a space that is too narrow or unused. Calling on a Customized Interior designer in Hyderabad can help you carry out a development project that suits you while respecting the standards and regulations in force and guaranteeing the quality and efficient management of the project. He will be able to supervise the implementation of the work, ensuring that it is completed within the stipulated deadlines.

Attention to furnishings down to the smallest details

Ensuring a harmonious and inviting atmosphere in your home requires meticulous attention to all the intricate elements, including lighting, color schemes, design lines, and models. Achieving a seamless balance among these aspects is crucial for crafting a warm and welcoming ambiance. Generally, architects and interior designers Hyderabad take care of this aspect. It prefers complementary shades and not sharp contrasts, very bright environments, and particular and refined furnishing elements.

Naturally, before choosing the type of furniture, you need to carefully evaluate the style: those who prefer a contemporary and modern style will have to opt for clean and geometric lines. As well as for neutral and rather sober nuances such as black, beige, or white. On the contrary, those who prefer a classic style will have to focus on more refined and elegant details, with finishes that stand out, a consideration that experienced Luxury interior designers in Hyderabad always take into account.

However, the play of color should not be taken lightly: according to some studies, in fact, it would seem that the color white is not ideal for giving a sense of tranquility to a home. Experienced home interior designers in hyderabad often recommend incorporating pastel tones into the color palette of a home to create a calming and relaxing atmosphere.

Get rid of everything you don’t need

Improving harmony and general well-being in your space involves getting rid of unneeded items. According to prominent interior design firms in Hyderabad, housing items like wedding souvenirs and excessive decorations that serve no practical purpose is counterproductive. This process, known as decluttering, not only opens up your living space, making it more inviting and spacious, but also has a positive impact on your mental well-being, boosting both productivity and overall happiness.

Connected to this is another very important operation that interior designers in hyderabad india recommend to their clients. Arrange the wardrobe in your home and all the objects that are part of it to make space not only in the rooms but also in your mind. In this way, the spaces can be more functional and livable and provide greater comfort.

Also, in this case, the Famous interior designers in Hyderabad can play a very useful role for those who want to furnish their home, helping them to understand which objects will have to be eliminated and which ones can be kept.

[starswordartblog]

Finally. Sheela’s og design is so so important to me, it has been an inspiration to me for cool female warrior design for over a decade, and in particular it was a big influence on Verona’s design. That’s right fellas, even before i was on this full-on shining force obsession it was already haunting my art in some way. Anyway i have always been disappointed that in game art didn’t reflect the actual design, but no more. I win.

[eiirisworkshop]

The Fanfic Author's Guide to Metatext

(As Used on Ao3) by Eiiri

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

Intro: What is Metatext?

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

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

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

Enter this guide!

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

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

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

Warning!

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

Some sexual terminology is used in an academic context.

A note from the author:

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

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

Contents

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

How To Use This Guide

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

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

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

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

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

Ratings

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

Ao3's system has four ratings:

General

Teen

Mature

Explicit

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Warnings

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

These warnings are:

Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Major Character Death

Rape/Non-Con

Underage

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

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

No Archive Warnings Apply

Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings

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

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

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

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

Fandom Tags

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Category

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

The category options are:

F/F

F/M

Gen

M/M

Multi

Other

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Relationship Tags

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Character Tags

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Additional Tags

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Courtesy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Descriptive

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Personal

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Titles

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

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

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

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

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

Summaries

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Author's Notes

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

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

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

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

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

Series and Chapters

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Parting Thoughts

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

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

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

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

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

[jyndor]

so a friend asked me if I could give some tips on how I blend gifs like these:

and LOL let me tell you I mainly recommend following tutorials like these (one, two, three) and honestly I owe so much of what little I know to @anya-chalotra​ especially the text lol I learned how to do that text line thingy from her. but I just wanted to give some pointers and maybe help explain why some scenes work and some don’t. it’s all trial and error.

setting a layer to screen in photoshop makes dark spots in the layer see through so I try to line up the parts of a scene that I want to highlight with those darker spots. I found a scene that had jyn backlit so that I could just turn up the contrast and make her silhouette darker (after I had finished the basic coloring I do for gifs). then I took the scene with cassian and put a gradient map over it, but I made sure to brighten the shit out of the scene so that it wasn’t just a dark blue blob, that there was a decent amount of contrast in his face.

now if you imagine the gif as having four quadrants, and I’m sorry I’m lazy so you’ll just have to imagine it for yourself, look at the top right quadrant. what I could have done was put a clipping mask on a new layer above the scene with cassian and drawn a bit of black with a big, diffuse brush (set to normal) in order to erase the bit of blue from cassian’s scene that is near jyn’s nose (I actually did that underneath but idk I guess I liked the look of it lol) and that is a good way to hide parts of a scene that you don’t want showing through the other scene. why black? because with a clipping mask layer it will only show up for the layer that is it is clipped to, and since black/dark shades are more transparent with a screen layer, it will allow the other scene to show more clearly.

this works best with scenes like these where the subjects aren’t moving too much.

but with this gif, the movement is the point:

it was completely unintentional, I just lined up the two scenes are noticed when the people with the helmets walked past cassian, you could see the other scene of him walking away more clearly - and the theme of the gifset was spy, so it just ~~fit the theme to me. that his face would be hidden and you’d see him in the background, walking away, in flashes.

in this case I think I literally just put the two scenes on top of each other, set the scene with the gradient map to screen, brightened that layer up significantly and called it a day. it helps that they are both from the same scene in the film, so there is a uniformity to the mess of these individual scenes that are cohesive. but usually all this movement can obscure the subjects and that’s generally not what people are looking for when making gifs. in this case, it works because of the theme.

it also helps that there is a contrast between the lighting of these scenes - the background scene has cassian silhouetted and backlit. so there are more dark spots to show the foreground scene, which has cassian’s face highlighted and bright.

conversely, when using two light scenes like in this gif

I actually darkened/added more contrast to the scene with jyn and cassian and sloppily did that clipping mask with the black brush onto the scene with the gradient map (and you can actually see it a bit lolll it was late I was very tired) in order to create more contrast between the overlapping subjects. if I felt like redoing this, which I don’t, I would make that black brush a bit more diffuse in order to blend more nicely.

I hope this helped and sorry for the laziness.

[hoonhrt]

MUSIC SHOP 

: pairing — idol! heeseung x music store worker! reader 

: genre — fluff 

: album recc. — case study 01 by daniel caesar and any of the albums i mentioned throughout the story! 

: a/n — this is a little more on the lengthier side so please know that before reading! (i couldn’t help myself i luv hee too much) 

it was a slow day at the shop. the dim fairy lights hung around lowly, making the atmosphere feel even slower. you walked around the store pushing a small grey cart that held all the albums, records, and cassette tapes one could ever imagine of, placing everything in their correct spots for future consumers to find. 

the sound of a faint bell was heard from the back of the store. where you were, indicating that someone had came in. you flatten out the front of your sweater and rush to greet the costumer. you are met with a tall man dressed in all black from head to toe, water droplets fell off the shoulder of his jacket and you make a mental note to mop the floor later. 

“hello! welcome to moonshines music. please let me know if you need help with anything, i’ll be happy to assist!” you cheerfully exclaim. you welcome costumers with a joyful energy that even cheers them up, it was your thing. the costumer pulled down the black mask from his face and waited for you to react. he was a slightly astonished when a reaction never came. no gasps, no eyes widening, no realization of who he was. just you with a firm smile on your face waiting for him to walk away and start shopping. he eyes you for a little before nodding his head and makes his way to the direction of the CD albums.

he pondered this feeling for a little. he wasn’t used to not being recognized. i mean, everyone knows him. he was on ever magazine cover and topped all the charts with his music. his face was plastered on every product poster that covered the walls of the busy city. so how could you not? he thinks that maybe you didn’t want to scare him off or bother him with pictures and autographs,  inflating his ego a little bit. but still, why did you not say anything? 

“excuse me! do you mind helping me out?” you could hear his voice from across the store as he shouted for you. jogging from your previous to his still figure. 

“how can i help you?” continuing on your energetic personality. he didn’t have a real reason to ask for help, he was just too intrigued by you and needed a reason to converse with you. he looks around the store frantically for a minuet before looking back behind him to the CD’s he initially walked towards. “can you choose an album for me?” he blurts in your face loudly. 

this wasn’t the first time someone asked for music recommendations but he walked in with confidence so you assumed he was a man who knew his music. “uhh yes um— do you perhaps have favourite genre that you maybe like?” you question him. he just stares at you, his lips folded in with a blank expression on his face. he shakes his head no. you politely nod again, now even more conflicted with what to recommend. you trail your eyes around the store till you see through the window next to the door. the sky is crying, whilst gray clouds surround it. the streetlight emitting an orange hue that reflect the fallen rain drops on the glass and you suddenly remember the small drops of water that trickled down his jacket sleeve when he first entered the store. 

walking behind him you scan for the letter D section and begin to search for the album. letting out a soft ‘hmm’ before pulling out the album and handing it to him. “Case Study 01 by Daniel Caesar. perfect for rainy days when you aren’t lost in your thoughts.” you end with a smile on your face. ‘so they really have no idea to who I am, huh’ he thinks to himself. he looks down at the album in his hands than looking back up at you. a gentle smile reaching his lips. he follows you to the cashier register and pushes the album towards you. “that’ll be $10.15! card or cash?” he whips out his wallet and takes out a credit card. you can’t help but notice it was a black card, a card only the richest of people have. you wonder how this man can be so rich and why he is buying from a tiny music store in the middle of a unknown area. 

you’re pulled away from your thoughts when the sound of the machine goes off,  indicating the purchase has gone through. you delicately place the album into a tiny bag and hand it over to him with glee. “enjoy the album sir! if you ever do comeback, let me know what you thought about it!” you say in a courteous manner. the young man now looks at you with a toothy grin on display for you to awe at. he nods in affirmation before exiting. the atmosphere becoming quiet again. you hoped to see that man again. 

another week has rolled around. you hum under your breath a silly little tune from a song on one of your many playlists, sending another customer off a new record they seemed to be extremely excited about. your job wasn’t much but seeing people share the same love for music as you was something that never failed to make you love life. wiping down the cashier, you hear the door chime and see the same handsome man from last week. you catch a glimpse of the clear sky and the natural light of the sun from out the door as he enters. 

“i LOVED that album! you described it literally perfectly, it fit the vibes of the weather sooo much but didn’t leave me agonizing about life like how the rain usually makes me feel.” it made you so happy and almost accomplished to have someone come back and praise you for your music choice. you were about to start telling him it was no big deal before he proposes, again, to choose another album for him. you look at him a little unsure, you honestly didn’t know what to give him this time and you were scared he wouldn’t like it this time. he can see the anxiety flush over your face but lets you know he is looking for something this time. “give me your childhood favourite album. like, you know every single lyric for every song on this album.” your eyes go wide as you practically jump towards the shelf. he giggles quietly, thinking how cute you looked. 

you prance towards the shelf knowing exactly where it was. in your hands was the Up All Night by One Direction, you shove the album into his hands with a passionate smile. he looks at you and tries to hide his judgment from you, which doesn’t work as you can see his eyebrow arch up and study the album in slight disgust. “hey! i danced to this album every night before i went to sleep for 3 years as a kid okay? it’s my favourite album!” your bottom lip pushes out, gazing at him with eyes the resemble a cute puppy. he throws his head back lets out a laugh that you think you could listen to for hours on end. 

just as the prior week, he passes you the album to scan through and pulls out his card to pay. he was about to make his way out before you stop him. “can I have your name?” you requested. you took a liking to the kind guy, he had a pretty face and laugh that you particularly enjoyed. he checks his phone and swiftly swipes through the millions of notifications he has, then gazing back up at you. a genuine look plastered on your face. a look that feigned innocence, kept promises, and truly enjoyed life for what it was. “heeseung. my name is heeseung.” 

you tug the key out of the door lock with a little force. the moon created a source of light and comfort as you made your way away from the shop and towards the subway station. you worked longer than usual and fatigue was the only thing felt within your weak bones. a car pulled up next to you, the window rolled down and revealed the person that has been occupying your thoughts recently, heeseung. 

“on your way home?” you nod. “hop in, i’ll drive you home, we can listen to some music while we’re at it.” now you usually don’t just get into random peoples car, but you trusted him. who else would listen One Direction because someone asked them to? 

his car was black from top to bottom, mirroring his outfits that he always wore. the windows were tinted and it looked intimidating from the outside, but on the inside sat a doe-eyed boy with the prettiest smile to exist. heeseung’s hand reaches out to turn up the volume of the car sound system. the sound of Frank Ocean’s voice fills up the empty sound within his car. it was song you were unfamiliar with. you ask what song this was and he lets out a dramatic gasp, almost looking offended. “you DON’T know this song? I guess pretty people can have flaws huh,” he turns his head to watch you flush a pink shade that can still be seen despite the darkness. a sight he thinks is quiet lovable. 

the car ride to your home lasted much shorter than you wished it did. you two talked about everything under the moon. favourite songs, old childhood friends, past lovers. heeseung enjoyed the fact that you didn’t know his career identity. to the world he was Lee Heeseung, world renowned singer and model, but to you he was just, heeseung. a young boy who loved music and loved the world involved around it. you made him feel like a regular person again. 

as you open the car door to make way into the glass doors of your apartment complex, heeseung grabs your wrist and pulls you back into the car. “how about... i lend you my favourite album this time, and next week on—” he checks the schedule his manager sent him, “saturday at 6 pm, i pick you up and we can talk more about it hm?” he holds his phone towards you with a cheeky smile on his face. you shake your head in disbelief as you bit back a smile of your own that is creeping on to your face. “I’ll see you then, hee.” your heart skipping beats as you walk away from the running vehicle. 

unbeknownst to you, an excited heeseung punches the air rapidly with excitement. he silently screams into the night like a kid. feeling as if he was on cloud 9 to have scored a date with someone who’s a) the most beautiful person he’s ever seen and b) someone who likes him for his truest self. 

[korra-of-the-watertribe]

Hi! Your gifs are always so vibrant and pretty. What's your giffing process if you don't mind me asking?

Thank you for this sweet message!

I don't mind at all anon! This is going to be a pretty basic coloring tutorial, for more advanced stuff I would recommend looking at @clubgif or other photoshop resource blogs.

I do want to say that I am by no means an expert in photoshop, and that there are many different ways to make and edit gifs/photosets. This is the method I've found works best for me :)

Putting this under the cut because it's long:

Here is an explanation of how I make gifs using "import frames to layers." I've tried doing the screencap method but the screencapping programs always give me viruses so I prefer video frames to layers. I use clipconverter.cc to download videos from youtube. And always try to use 1080 videos (720 can work for smaller gifs).

So after I've made my basic gif, the first thing I do is crop. I set the crop ratio to 5:3, but you can play around with the dimensions all you like.

After I've cropped, I recently started using @grimreaper 's hd sharpening action. I've tried a lot of different sharpening methods, but this is the one I've found to be the easiest and highest quality.

Then I use the curves layer to brighten up the gif. I click the white eyedropper and then click the part I want to be brightest, in this case the white sea foam:

Then I make a second curves layer, select the black eyedropper, and click the part I want to be the darkest (the folds of her dress) to give it contrast:

Then I add a levels layer to balance things out: (Usually I just click auto, but if that doesn't look good I'll play around with the arrows until I like the way it looks)

Then I add a brightness/contrast layer, same steps as above:

Then color balance. You don't need to go too crazy with this layer, since most of the coloring happens with selective coloring, CB can help balance out a strong tint. I just adjust until I'm happy with how it looks:

Now for the fun part! This gif has four main colors: Red, yellow, cyan, and blue. It's already got some good base color, so I don't use neutral, white, or black selective color. For murkier scenes (like anything from Vikings), I'll use those three to add some color and dimension. I start with red selective color, and just play around with the settings until I like how it looks:

And repeat for yellow:

For both red and yellow, I decrease the cyan, and increase magenta and yellow to make the warm colors pop.

Repeat for cyan:

and for blue:

I increase cyan and black, and adjust magenta and yellow until I find the shade I like.

After all of this, I resize the image to width of 540 if it's a single gif, or 268 if it's two side-by-side gifs. Personally I like to sharpen and color before resizing, but it's up to you what order you do things. Then save for web and I'm done!

I also highly recommend @inejz-ghafa 's coloring tutorial. It's actually the method I used to color my pride set.

I've also shared some of my psds, so feel free to use them! You'll probably have to adjust the curves and levels layers, but you can try playing around with the other layers as well! I actually got started by using other psds, and then adjusting the layers to fit my style.

That being said, some shows/movies are just easier to color than others! I really enjoy giffing Reign, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Aquaman, Pacific Rim, The Good Place. I struggle with coloring Vikings, Black Panther, and a lot of Bollywood movies. This is my general giffing process, I make adjustments depending on what scene I'm workign with. Hope this helps!