#shout out to fandom stats

[dittobtch]

the wilds ao3 and tumblr stats - April 2024

last two graphs is the first graph separated

i ran out of things to do for these so here's the updated info for March and April 2024

notable observations regarding April 2024:

the wilds tag on tumblr had over 100 posts in April 2024 - something that hasn't occurred in literally a year

leatin had more fics posted than shoni in April 2024. this has only happened like twice before [x, Findings/ Observations - Ships].

The post count is only for new content. That is, new fics on ao3 and new posts on tumblr. The numbers do not account for reblogs, chapters updated, etc.

Data for March and April 2024 collected on May 16, 2024 - 10pm EDT.

See this post (tumblr) and this post (ao3) for relevant notes and other observations for previous months.

Other Fandom Stats

The Wilds AO3 March 2024

My Fandom Stats List

[vampylily]

woke up to new comments on the fic :D im about to squee!! like that girlie from dork diaries.

i know it takes me forever to reply to comments on ao3 (mostly bc i keep clicking on to read them and i take like a five minute break to kick my feet and giggle and twirl my hair and imagine what i'd write in response and then. forget to reply back) and usually it ends up a stale "thank you, i'm glad you enjoyed it!" but know that i appreciate every comment i get, it really makes my whole day and it's so encouraging as a fic writer <3

[the-polls]

For my fellow lovers of pushing buttons. I just wanted to have a post to shout out different poll blogs that I can link to and add to. If you want me to add your blog or shout one out, let me know.

EDIT: I've reached the tag limit and realized there is a link limit so I have a carrd I'm using as a poll directory so continue to let me know of poll blogs! I'll add blogs here as links but there's also a link limit, so the carrd will probably be most up-to-date.

I've crossed out the ones that seem to have been deleted/deactivated, but if it's still there and just changed urls let me know.

General Polls ● the-polls (this blog) ● incognitopolls ● apolladay ● anonymous-polling ● anon-polls-for-you ● justcuriouspolls ● oddpolls ● swarm-of-polls-in-a-trench-coat ● thisthat-ortheother ● yesornopolls ● parttimepolls ● reblogforsamplesize ● whatcha-thinkin ● i-reblog-every-poll-i-see ● augmentedpolls ● polls-drugs-etc ● lamp-polls ● pollforthesoul ● poll-boy ● curiositysavesthecat ● anonpolls ● just-a-blog-for-polls ● yayornaypolls ● pollsforpondering ● themostrandompolls ● poll-position ● anonym-polls ● pollsgalore

NSFW (18+) Polls ● spicypolls

Poll Adjacent ● poll-stats ● seeresultssweep

Identity Specific Polls ● aspecpolls - Aspec ● aro-polls - Aromantic ● asexualpolls - Asexual ● gaypolls - Gay/Lesbian ● lesbianpolls - Lesbian ● mspecpolls - MSpec (Bi, Pan, Omni, etc.) ● transgenderpolls - Transgender ● nonbinary-polls - Nonbinary ● gnc-polls - Gender Non-Conforming ● queer-questions-and-polls - Queer ● queer-polls - Queer ● plurality-polls - plurality / systems ● plurality-polls-2 - plurality / systems

Fandom Polls ● pollsnatural - Supernatural (TV) ● tmapolls - The Magnus Archives (Podcast) ● onepiece-polls - One Piece (Anime/Manga) ● anon-scp-polls - SCP ● middleearth-polls - LOTR, The Hobbit, Tolkien ● bts-polls - BTS (Kpop) ● swiftpolls - Taylor Swift (Singer) ● dragonagepolls - Dragon Age (Game) ● sdv-polls - Stardew Valley (Game) ● tally-polls - Tally Hall (Banad) ● loonathepoll - Loona (Kpop) ● dungeonmeshi-polls - Dungeon Meshi ● animalcrossingopinionpoll - Animal Crossing Character Opinions ● nether-have-i-ever - The game "never have i ever" but for Minecraft

"Do you know..." or "Have you seen/played/etc" Polls ● haveyouseenthismovie-poll - Movies ● haveyouseenthisqueerfilm - Queer Films ● haveyouseenthis90smovie - 90s Movies ● haveyouseenthishorrormovie - Horror Movies ● haveyouseenthisromcom - RomComs ● haveyouseenthismusical - Musicals ● doyouknowthischaracter - Characters ● haveyouheardthispodcast - Podcasts ● doyouknowthisanime - Anime ● do-you-know-this-youtuber - YouTubers ● haveyoureadthisbook-poll - Books ● haveyoureadthistransbook - Trans Books ● haveyoureadthispoem-poll - Poems ● haveyouplayedthisgame - Video Games ● haveyouplayedthisirlgame-poll - IRL Games ● doyouknowthistmntau - TMNT AUs ● doyouknowthisdisabledcharacter - Disabled Characters ● areyouthisidentity-polls - Gender/Sexuality ● haveyouplayedthisttrpg - Tabletop Role-playing Games ● doyouknowthisactor - Actors ● doyouknowa - Names ● fictionalfoodpolls - Would you eat [x] fictional food? ● watchlist-poll - Movie Watchlist

Tournaments ● whoishotteranimepolls ● chuunibyou-showdown ● hotvintagepoll ● vgtrackbracket ● mlmshipbracket ● spicymalepolls (18+) ● which-is-the-very-best ● does-it-like-women ● adaptations-polls

Other ● which-item-poll ● rate-a-spam-bot ● daily-oc-polls ● horrorpolls ● hypothetipolls ● trivia-polls-daily

[tea-cat-arts]

People are doom posting about Deyha and as a veteran Genshin player (AR 60, been playing since version 1.2, so I guess I qualify as that) I’d like to take this opportunity to remind this fandom of a couple things.

Y’all remember when Kokomi was released? People were throwing a fit over the crit rate thing and she was considered the worst character in the game. One update later, the Ocean Hued Clam artifact set was released and suddenly she became one of the best characters in the game. Shinobu was also considered one of the worst in the game when she was released. Her scaling was awkward and she was hard to place in any team comps. Then Dendro was released and what do you know- turns out her skills time out perfectly with dendro and elemental mastery gets a buff. Heck, dendro buffed electro in general and made pretty much all of them a lot more viable. The meta changes all the time, don’t worry about it.

Speaking of the meta, it’s made up. Any character is viable if you put the work in. Sure, it’s going to be a lot harder to build a dps Gorou and he’ll still probably do less damage than Itto, but if you’re having fun and still clearing the spiral abyss, who really gives a shit? A lot of it also has to do with dumb luck and how much money you’re spending. Like, my C0 Ganyu does a lot more damage than my C0 Ayaka even though Ayaka has higher base stats just because I got better artifacts for Ganyu. There’s also plenty of characters who’s damage is locked behind constellations and weapons, and that’s just straight up not going to be an option for a lot of players. Sure, you’re C6 Wanderer may do a ton of damage, but I don’t have him at C6. I do however have Heizou at C6 and he’s doing a lot more damage than my Scara. (Shout out to the mad lads soloing with Amber)

Lastly, mind you’re own damn business about what characters other people are playing. It’s not your game, you don’t get to dictate how other people play it (and you especially aren’t allowed to harass people over who they play)

[ghostradiodylan]

I subscribed to a Russian dataminer for cut content from The Quarry. You’re not supposed to share and I understand why and support paying people for their work! Buuuut I also understand why people might be hesitant to pay someone in Russia on a poorly translated website to access this stuff, so I’m gonna take my chances with potentially being banned because a couple of these things the Quarry fandom at large needs to see! Screenshots and discussion under the cut.

[you can subscribe or send tips here if you’re interested, they do have more SMG stuff including cut DPA content]

Thank you @insertlovelyperson for this!

These are somewhat Ryan and/or Dylan centric because I find them the most interesting, but they also had the most story-impacting cut content IMO.

RYAN WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO WARN DYLAN ABOUT THE WEREWOLF OUTSIDE THE RADIO HUT.

I know I’ve talked to a bunch of people about this. I know @andromaqves was one and I can’t remember who else but omfg, justice for Ryan!! I think they cut this because they made the werewolf more obvious than Justice's performance indicated but THAT MAKES IT WORSE. DO YOU NOT SEE HOW THAT MAKES IT WORSE YOU GUYS?!

Ryan also could have had the chance to actually get a shot off against Silas in the version of the radio hut scene where Dylan isn't bitten, and he'd think he had killed the werewolf.

Then as he's heading back to the radio hut, Dylan warns him that it's coming back and we get the rest of the scene as it plays out in the game.

I get why they cut this, because if they established for certain that regular bullets can't actually harm the werewolves, there's no stakes to Abi potentially shooting Nick, but it's a cool sequence, it's always good to see the boys work together, and it would have been AWESOME if Ryan could have been infected here instead of Dylan!

This exchange just made me laugh:

Kaitlyn to Ryan: you really look up to Mr. Hackett.

Ryan: Yeah, he’s always been nice to me.

Kaitlyn: Well, so have I!

Ryan: A few days ago I slipped on wet grass and ate shit and you laughed and shouted ‘Nice Walkin Christopher Walken' and everyone called me that for the rest of the day.

Kaitlyn: See, you get my best bits! 😂😂😂

Dylan reads Ryan the synopsis of a romance novel they find in Mr. H’s office that appears to be a thinly veiled reference to the bonfire love triangle. 😂

Ryan and Kaitlyn: actually showing care and concern for Dylan post-amputation instead of pretending it didn't happen.

Dylan, in shock but still an asshole: I'm fine, I’m doing better than Kaylee Hackett. 💀

Again, this is just funny and a great question from Emma.

Abi can not be into the kiss with Nick, presumably due to the no-longer-in-place relationship system. I'm betting if you didn't get their relationship stats up you would get this result.

Laura claims to Ryan that Chris Hackett drunkenly admitted that his family was KILLING PEOPLE who were investigating them, but there's nothing else to back that up in the datamine that I've found so far (not that I think she made it up lol, just that it would have been interesting if the Chris scene was cut to remove that too).

And the one my heart can't fucking take, Kaitlyn and Dylan on the way to the scrapyard variant where Ryan has kissed Kaitlyn at the bonfire and they actually talk about it because she asks Dylan if he's jealous of Laura getting to go off with Ryan. He says he's jealous but not of Laura...

"You're pretty awesome and I'm... just Dylan" 😭 😭 😭

And, "you guys seem like you've got a connection"?? Kaitlyn as Rylan shipper, confirmed. 💖

More details and discussion on the Discord @itscomingupaces made us: https://discord.com/invite/RHgdqBBXh7

[doiefy]

ateez discography stats?? (preview lmfao)

(freak in the spreadsheets that's what)

work has been chill lately so I've taken to developing an excessively large and detailed spreadsheet that analyzes ateez's discography and line distribution from debut until present... will be posting my full summary soon because as a STEM and spreadsheet nerd I think this is super fun and interesting LOL (if you hate math get off my page (just kidding pls stay))

yes I went through ateez's entire fucking discography to record their total line time for this, shout out to the four line distribution channels I ripped shit from (HEXA6ON, random_k, k_line distribution and others doing the most for this fandom)

my favourite finding so far:

this is a trend most kpop fans know about but I'm showing graphically here. we see a lot of groups start out with line distributions that rely on one or two vocal powerhouses to carry the rest of the group (debate all you fucking want about this, I'm not getting involved in that shit I'm just saying it as it is); then the distribution becomes more "fair" as time goes on and members all get more experience.

in the graph above, there's a lot of variance in 2018, but all the lines have converged recently, indicating a more equal line distribution. the distribution was most equal in 2023 and we've diverged a little bit since then, but 2024 isn't over yet!

some other nerd shit:

hongjoong starts the most songs out of all the members, with 17 songs in which he sang the first line. he's closely followed by yunho, seonghwa, and then san.

yeosang's share of lines has increased by a net 76% since debut, while jongho's has decreased by a net 77%.

13.7% of ateez's total songs are remixes and 12.3% are a Japanese/Korean/English version of an existing song.

on average, ateez songs run for 3 minutes and 12 seconds

whenever a future song is teased in a previous song, we typically wait 3 months for the full song to be released... with the exception of "Sector 1," which was teased in "Outro: Long Journey" back in January of 2020, and wasn't released in full until almost 3 years later.

and a peak at the spreadsheet madness behind all this:

will be posting the rest soon, stay tuned ✌🏻

[green-socks]

2024 fic reading stats / AO3 Wrapped - Reader Edition

Last April I got the idea that I wanted to, in some form, get a better understanding of how much and how often I read fic, and some other stats as well. Obviously I knew the answer was a lot and often. But you know the urge to make lists and sort things when you're stressed? Yeah, that hit, so I started up a spreadsheet starting May 1st. In my spreadsheet I logged the date I had read the fic, the fic's title, author, fandom, ship, rating, and word count. I also added the AO3 link to the fic which has proven handy in looking up recs and stuff like that!

I just wanted to share some of those stats now that I've made lil graphs to go with them and everything lol

Starting with the totals:

Last year, from 1 May to 31 Dec, I read about 3,928,191 words of fanfic. (Now, that's the logged amount, but it's not... perfect. I won't go into detail but let's just state that that amount is still very telling!)

Total of different fics I read during the logged time was 478. (There are 479 logged entries but one of them was a reread, so.)

The most amount of entries for a single day was 8, and it happened three times lol. Two of those I know I was sick but idk what that third day was, probably a wonderfully lazy sunday.

Authors:

I logged at least 141 different AO3 authors. (Some people using several pseuds may have confused my count a little but give or take a couple!)

Here I have to shout out @fuddlewuddle because if I read 478 fics, 93 of those were hers. I don't even know what to say except that I'm glad our freaks match each other <3

A fun thing to note was that I myself made it on my top 10 list of "favorite" writers based on the amount of fics logged because I reread my own stuff frequently enough! That's kind of uplifting to think about. If sorted by word count, however, I am farrr from the top, because I tend to write shorter fics :D But I'm happy to keep it that way!

Fandom:

Showing off some percentages based on the 478 logged fics. Ahem, as you can see, Top Gun continues as the ruling fandom in my life, but there were some new smaller fandoms coming in as well! And that strange, two movie fandom fusion is, of course, courtesy of Fuddle...

If I were to sort these by word count instead, the percentages would stay pretty much the same, except Other fandoms would give a tiny bit of its slice over to Ted Lasso.

Ship:

Again, this is based on the total of 478 logged fics. Quelle surprise, I'm a hangster girl and there's a lot of that on the market, so 183 out of those 478 were hangster fics. Other ships here entails multi-ship fics (where the ships are equal instead of clear main ship & background ship type of thing), poly ships with a number of varying character combinations, and ships that had less than 5 logged fics with it as the main ship.

(The tiny red dot says roykeeleyjamie and it had 6 logs in total. The purple dot with the name not fully showing is macheresin with 10 fics.)

Rating:

This is again based on the total of 478 fics.

My own writing stats:

I posted 18,687 words' worth of fic last year (though some thousands of words haven't made it to AO3 yet, but were still written last year). As you can see, I am still very much a reader rather than a writer, but it's the best of both worlds, getting to do both!

Overall, I thought this was a fun experiment, and I'm going to keep up with my spreadsheet for the new year – because what is life without spreadsheets, really.

Guess if I realized I had forgotten to log at least one longer fic after finishing up the last of those graphs!!!! Sighhh

[souliebird]

I wanted to make a post thanking everyone who has read, liked, commented, or shared the first chapter of 'and then I met you'.

It means so much that people are enjoying my story - I didn't think anyone would want to read my interpretation of Matt having a daughter and how that would affect his life. But the first chapter has reached 1,000 notes on Tumblr and the AO3 stats are amazing. This little community is truly amazing.

Some behind the scenes:

I live with my mother, taking care of her. She is in the process of actively dying - she can't really leave the house anymore and lost her job earlier this year. I'm the sole breadwinner in our house and it's been hard mentally and financially. I started writing again after making an amazing little group chat of ppl who were in this fandom and encouraged me to try again. My mental health has improved so much from talking and writing again. A huge shout out to them: @bellaxgiornata @loveroftoomanyfandoms @mattmurdocksscars @theradioactivespidergwen and @mattmurdocks6thscaleapartment

I did want to give a bit more details of what to expect moving forward with my story. I have said in my mind it is a 3 Season Story, so let's break those down. In my head, we are at the midway of season 1.

Season 1: Reader letting Matt know he has a daughter, their bonding, and the relationship building.

Season 2: The Sokovia Accords gain traction and pretty much my interpretation of how Matt reacts to what is basically the Mutant Registration Act and how it affects his new family and his city - in the sense of Daredevil and as a Lawyer.

Season 3: The fight to overturn the Accords and what fighting it will mean to Matt, Reader, and Minnie and the decisions Matt must make to protect his family.

That will be my story and I hope you all enjoy what is to come and help keep me motivated by showing it 💕

[beauty-beast-week]

Beauty and the Beast Week 2024 Master List and Event Round-up!

View the entire fic collection on AO3

We had so many submissions that we couldn't put them all on one master list—we broke Tumblr's link limit! Well done, friends! So here's the links to the individual day's master lists. Please click through them to the works and show the creators lots of love!

Day 1: Daffodil master list (fresh start, spring, celebration, self-love...)

Day 2: Venus Fly Trap master list (angst, deception, hunger, bondage...)

Day 3: Lavender master list (relaxation, sleep, bath, summer, scents...)

Day 4: Cactus master list (resilience, pain, irritation, heat, thirst...)

Day 5: Dandelion master list (fluff, wishes, children, play, stubbornness...)

Day 6: Bamboo master list (growth, luck, strength, speed, size difference...)

Day 7: Free Day master list

Belle is amazed by all your creations ☝️

THANK YOU to everyone who created such amazing fanworks for Beauty and the Beast Week 2024, and to those who supported the creators by reading, leaving kudos and comments, and liking and reblogging!

Together we added 103 fanworks to the BatB fandom! Here's some other stats:

Total number of creators: 38 (Special shout-out to these folks who created something for every single day of the week: @beastylittlething @twisting-echo @zoeloveconvers99 @annaofthenorthernlights @firawren)

Total # of fics: 34 (see them all here), with these ships:

Beast/Belle: 10

Adam/Belle: 5

Belle & Esmerelda: 2

Gaston/Snow White: 2

Beast/Elsa: 1

Beast & Belle: 1

Beast & Maurice: 1

Beast & Mike Wazowski: 1

Beast & Sulley: 1

Beetlejuice/Belle: 1

Belle/Gaston: 1

Belle/Maleficent: 1

Belle/Sulley: 1

Belle & Luigi: 1

Belle & Maurice: 1

Belle & Madame de Garderobe: 1

Cogsworth/Lumiere: 1

Cogsworth/Lumiere/Plumette: 1

Cogsworth/OC: 1

Enchantress & Queen of the Fairies: 1

Gaston/Lumiere: 1

Lumiere & Mrs. Potts: 1

Total # of art: 54 (see them all here), with these characters:

Belle: 20

Prince(ss) Adam: 17

Beast: 13

Lumiere: 12

Cogsworth: 8

Gaston: 7

Babette: 5

LeFou: 2

Mrs. Potts: 1

Chip: 1

Fife: 1

Sultan: 1

The Enchantress: 1

Wardrobe/Madame de Garderobe: 1

Original characters: 3

Total # of other fanworks: 15

Memes: 4

Moodboards: 8

Comics: 2

Photos: 1

Crossovers with:

Frozen

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

Monsters Inc.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Tarzan

Sleeping Beauty

Super Mario Bros

Beetlejuice

Now that we've seen how big and enthusiastic this fandom community is, let's keep in touch and keep supporting each other. Here's a list of Discord servers as one way we can do that.

Thanks again, everyone!

[n7punk]

2024 Writing Wrapped

Buckle your asses in because this is a long one (when has it ever been a short one)

Stats:

Fics posted this year: 32 (it honestly feels like way more)

AUs: 25 Canon: 7

Updates (chapters, one-shots, etc): 97 (damn I thought that was higher too lol but that's an average of posting every 3.14 days for the 10 months I wasn't on hiatus and and posting 1.87 times a week if you include my hiatus period, and my goal this year was to hopefully update 1.5-2x a week on average, so that goal was definitely met!)

Total word count: 600,179 (my goal was 600k and I got it in with only a few hours left)

AUs: 400,695 Canon: 41,235

Fandom events: 4! (Big Bang, Sapphic September, AU-ctober, Sheratober)

Novels: 1

Personal projects: 2 (misc)

Writing streak: 730* days

I haven't actually written every day in there, I have a couple of rest days thrown in that I only allow myself if there are extenuating circumstances (power outage, sick, etc) where I give myself a word count of 0 because my counter still picks that up as writing. Having this streak is extremely motivating to me so it's worth the "inaccuracies" to have it force me to write on the days I normally wouldn't because I don't want to break it. Removing the freebie days from this year, they're 6, and going back to 2023 it looks like I had 1 since the streak started, so the "real" count is 723. When I port over my streak to next year I'll use the reduced number so it will be more "accurate". I want to keep those freebies in the single digits every year and I'm happy with that.

Retrospective:

1% of Catradora fics!!

that's how I started the year, posting 'stardust, glitter, and love', which let 'freak occurrence: confluence' become my 117th Catradora fic that took me to 1% of the tag (as of writing this I'm 1.17% even after taking nearly two months off lmao). This was a huge goal of mine I was honestly hoping to hit at the end of last year, but kicking the new year off with it was great too.

In late January/February I was working on EtB(LtF), but I got a little ahead and as I was slowly posting the final chapters, I also joined my first fandom event EVER! and wrote Lightbeam for the Big Bang.

The Big Bang was so fun. I want to shout out karo-lynn again for the absolutely GORGEOUS art that went above and beyond with multiple illustrations. Kitten Catra is soooo cute and the way the glowing effects came out is just 🤩 Getting to do Lightbeam for the Big Bang was really great because it was a "milestone" event for the 4th anniversary and the fic I got to write for it was almost a follow-up to my "milestone" fic because they were the only couple in freak occurrence: confluence that hadn't had their "home universe" fic come out, and Lightbeam was the genesis of a long-standing idea (kinda headcanonish) about Adora being the goddess of Etheria that I had, so thank you so much to Tippenfunkaport for arranging it because the final fic and art means so much to me <3 (and also even if I'm still working my way through them, there were a lot of good other fics that came out of it I loved reading!)

To my memory, February/March was a little slower working on MMaM and SYE, but I went a little crazy with OLIG in April/May and had so much fun on that project. I really, really needed it. I'm not going to get into it, but with stuff that happened in my family... this was honestly one of the scariest years of my life. I was trying to figure out why I have vague negativity associated with the OLIG project and then I remembered what was happening around then and realized it had nothing to do with the project itself and in fact that was the only thing that kept me sane. That's probably why I was having one of my troughs in mid/late-May through July. Everything I picked up after OLIG/the Big Bang I just couldn't spark my interest the same and I was tired, but I eventually settled on Slipstream and slowly wrote that for... ages. But I don't want to make it sound like I was depressed that whole time. March-June were really hard, but the main reason I didn't write much in July was actually because I was having so much fun, because I got to meet up with a bunch of friends IRL for almost two weeks. It was so incredible and ugh, I'm committed to making a meetup happen again because I miss them so much.

I think I finally finished Slipstream in August, and that's when it happened. I saw the Sapphic September prompts. I already did individual retros on Sapphic September and Sheratober/AU-ctober, but needless to say: I went fucking insane. The unhinged era returned. And I had a fucking blast. I do want to do more fandom events in the future, but we'll get to that in the future plans section.

I will say, after those events, I honestly felt a little tapped for solid fic ideas. So like, I have a list of 7 ideas I'm interested in (and 1 WIP I'll try to finish and post in January), but I have no thoughts for an actual plot for those 7, it's literally just a tagline, like "Wedding Crashers AU" and that's it (using What a Beautiful Wedding as an example). So there's something there but plot calling to me. The Catradora whirlwind combined with future plans I'll get into later (I promise I'm not going to keep saying that) motivated me to finally pickup my novels again as my next project after the month was over.

I also did something new this year and wrote fanfics without the intention to publish them at any point. I talked about how I lied to myself I wouldn't do it with SB,WCFM to make me start it but lowkey knew the whole time I was going to. That wasn't the case with these other two. One I knew would be bad and had no interest in making good, and the other was for my OCs. For both I wrote 10k in one day. And it was bad. But it was also good. It felt good and the quality or missing scenes didn't matter since no one but me would ever read them. I'm not going to make this a "habit" but I'm definitely open to doing it again, especially for my OCs lol. And though one day I would love to turn them into published characters, I think there's some kind of conflict of interest issues or something with me posting fic of them on the internet, so they will probably continue to stay just for me, but hey, let's talk about novels!

Novels: Oh My God What The Fuck is NaNo Doing

Alright. So, if you don't know, NaNoWriMo used to be a huge thing for me. I won it 4 years straight 2012-2016, and picked it back up in 2020 when I got into writing again because of Catradora. In 2020 I just did a collection of fanfic for it (SLAS/OTOS/misc), and in 2021 I did my first original novel since 2016 in it. When 2022 came around I was burnt out from writing a whole novel that year already, revising the one from NaNo, and trying and failing to start a third novel that summer, so I didn't do NaNo. And, uh. Well. In 2023 there was no way I was finishing even a fanfic project at 50k with adjusting to my new job, so I ignored it.

And can I say, what the fuck. Shit went down. If you don't know, there are plenty of rundown posts and like a 2 hour video essay on it. It's fucking insane. A lot of people lost the motivation to participate, and thus the motivation to write at all for some of them. Not me. I got these emails throughout the year begging and pleading they've changed and it made me actually consider writing a novel on my own - outside of Nano - for the first time in 2 years. I hit my stride and was feeling really high during Sapphic September and was like you know what I can actually do this, and god knows NaNo is continuing to pull garbage every day to keep that motivation up. Once I knew I was doing the events for October I thought it was perfect to do those two theme months and then take a break for my novel on my own.

I now have a week to finish the last two chapters by the end of the year (my goal) and I swear to god I'm going to do it. I'm at almost 90k (I know, I'll trim it in revisions, y'all know how I am). My Novelember 2024 retro post has more details on how that has been going. I just hit a run of writers block over ONE SCENE, but I'm past it now and hopefully these last two chapters will be fast. That's like 3 days each I should be able to do that.

And then... let's talk about

Future Plans:

For the first part of January, I'm actually going to be working on outlining a second draft for that novel I wrote back in 2021. It's a sister book to this one so I want to get it to a stronger place. I do want to finish and post the one Catradora WIP I have tho (brace yourselves it's very stupid). Once the Femslash February prompts go up, I'll start working on those and posting throughout February. I miiiiiiiighht do the Big Bang again if I have an idea I think will be long enough and "cinematic" enough for art. I know I'm going to be super busy 2025-2026 (doing a training course for work 6 hours a week this spring, probably changing roles in the summer, hopefully going full-time in winter of 2025/2026, definitely moving in 2026 and maybe doing a smaller move in summer 2025, etc) so I'm trying to be realistic about what I have time for while also trying to set myself up to hit my big goals anyway because I'm honestly so scared to go full-time because I worry I won't have any motivation or time to write. After the last year and a half of letting my novels languish I'm really concerned I'll never write them if I'm fighting through the difficulty of a full-time job while disabled too, so I want to set myself up for success with being ready to query by then because if I had an actual agent/book deal I think it would keep me motivated (or at least force me to work on them lol) and I want to get these novel out there, the characters are super important to me and the thought of never trying is horrifying.

My big goals for next year are this:

Participate in Femslash February of course, hopefully for at least 20 prompts, though I'd love to do them all if they're good ones for me (After February, I'll either work on Big Bang fic - which means I won't be posting anything - or I'll go back to revising novels).

Participate in one more writing/fandom event (whether it ends of being the Big Bang or something else like Sheratober).

Update/post fic at least 32 times (usually my goal is 1-2x a week, but I'm probably going to be on hiatus working on novels for a few months, so I'm kind of halving 52 weeks and then adding a bit more to it for this goal, hopefully I actually still end up with a weekly "average" but I don't want to set up myself for disappointment).

Revise my novel from 2022 at least once.

Get one novel to the state where it's ready to query by the fall (probably requiring 2-3 revisions, unsure if it will by my current novel or the 2022 one yet).

That's all I can think of right now, but I do want to end as I always do with my thank you for reading because without y'all I don't think I ever would have gotten the confidence to actually pursue publishing but all your kind comments and messages have really changed my life and helped with my imposter syndrome so much <3 Ignoring the confidence thing, I would not have written as much as I do with the motivation I do without those comments, so thank you so much 💖

[perseidlion]

Whenever a fanfic writer laments about dropping engagement and says they wish people left comments like they used to, inevitably someone chimes in to say "just write for yourself!"

That advice has gotten twisted around. It is excellent advice when you're learning how to write because it helps you find your voice and expand your skills. Plus when you write from your heart, you'll tell stories worth telling.

That advice is NOT meant to tell writers they should write with no expectations of getting anything from readers, ever. It just means don't write trying to please someone else, because the story won't be as strong. It's also much harder to get the motivation and gain the discipline to write when you're not writing a story you love. If you don't care about the story, why should your readers?

That is craft advice, not fandom behaviour advice. They're very separate things. There would frankly, be no fanfic community if people didn't write for engagement. The stories would sit forever in documents and not shared if its only purpose was for the writer's own edification.

It isn't an either-or thing. When I choose what to write, I try to find the venn diagram overlap of what I want to write and what I think the fandom will enjoy. If I write something outside of that, then I don't expect the same kind of engagement. I never fully write for myself (then I wouldn't post it) and I never fully write for fandom (because it would probably be a bad story.) There's ground between those two things, and that's where the best stories can often be found.

Writing with an awareness of the audience is a skill worth developing if you are doing more than just chucking out stories for fun (which is also TOTALLY valid and fine.) It's also fair if you don't care about engagement. But it's also not wrong to care about it, either.

Social media and influencer culture has ruined the gift culture of fandom. On Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, etc...the big creators are part of a monetization program and/or they get brand deals. So you just consuming their content does in fact benefit them. Published writers get sales stats and royalties from people reading their work. That is NOT true for fanfic and for Ao3. The only "payment" we can hope to get is that if someone likes our story, they tell us.

When people say they wish readers dropped a comment, we're not necessarily saying we wished more people read our work (that is sort of a given, really. What writer doesn't want to be read more?) What we're saying is that we wish the people who we know are reading our work would take a moment to say thank you. I would never want someone to read my story out of a sense of charity. I want people to read it because they like the concept and my writing.

We're saying that IF you read and enjoyed the story, please tell us. That's all. It doesn't have to be long or involved (and for god's sake, don't leave unsolicited criticism.) Even a 'loved this!' or a string of emojis is welcome.

To put it bluntly, telling writers they should write for themselves when they ask for a thank you if someone read their work is very entitled. It's also a cop-out because it absolves the reader of a small amount of effort and allows them to just consume silently with no guilt. We're not asking for a novel of a comment (though those are very much appreciated!) just a sign that a real human liked it.

This is especially important on long multichapters where you can only leave kudos once. It can get very lonely as a writer when you're 2/3 of the way through and there are few new kudos and few comments. It leaves you wondering if anyone still cares, and it comes at the most challenging part of the fic. I would venture to guess this is when most longfics get abandoned. An easy way to prevent that is just to drop an occasional comment so we know we're not shouting into the void.

A fic is a present a writer gives the community. If you loved the present, it's polite to say thank you. It's 10 seconds of effort on your part for hours of effort on the writer's. That really isn't a lot to ask.

[eusuntgratie]

ao3 wrapped

tagged by @stnichols @thighzp & @onward--upward <3 thank you!

i posted 32 fics in 9 fandoms this year... i'm sitting at 96k words in 2024 so i'm definitely planning to post at least one more something before the end of the year and hit 100k! i'm also excited to hit 500k total words on ao3... hopefully early in 2025. i have a lot of words written i just need to finish and post some fics.

disaster was my most popular fic by hits and comments, which makes sense since it's a long multichap that i posted chapter by chapter. after hours (the mechanic alex fic) was actually my most kudos-ed fic. chapter 3 of that one coming... who knows. hopefully soon. disaster was probably my favorite fic too because it was so fun to write and watch people react to it over time, but i picked already over which was my alex/raf fic because i just love that one so so so much.

also special shout out to my least kudos-ed fics from this year, my two vlamburn/roswell new mexico rpf fics because i love them and they are very hot.

reminder that stats don't mean anything! it is fun to look at it, but stats don't reflect quality. quit stressing about your hits to kudos ratio. if i click on your fic 6 times meaning to read it before i finally have time to, that's 6 hits but i'm only kudos-ing once. two of my favorite fics i wrote this year have less than 50 hits (and half of those are probably me) and 5 kudos each. it doesn't mean they aren't good (they are!); i just wrote them for an rpf ship for a show that went off the air a couple of years ago.

write what you want! if looking at your stats is fun, then do it! if it's stressing you out or demotivating you, stop looking at them <3

open tag for anyone who would like to do it!! it was fun to look back and see what all i wrote this year. tag me if you do it!

blank template by @ spicedrobot under the cut

[amemipiacitu]

So I was mindlessly scrolling my sm after Christmas lunch (that lasted forever) and I stumbled into this

My first reaction was shock. Because I'm a one-ship only girl, and of course nothing else exists outside Destiel. WHO ARE ALL THOSE SHIPS ON TOP OF THEM??

But then my very sugar-fogged-very rational mind went into problem solving mode. I accepted (surprisingly fast) that Destiel didn't do very well this year on AO3, despite my best effort. So I started looking for a solution because in no way they're going to be that low or (God forbid!) even left out on next year's top 100 ships chart on AO3.

So here's me shouting out to artists, writers and hesitant, would-be artists and writers. Please. Please! Write, write, write and more important publish, publish, PUBLISH!! It does not matter how long your work is, or what language you write in. It doesn't have to be perfect, superior or amazing! It just need to be put out there.

A few tips:

Don't forget to fill the field relationship with Castiel /Dean Winchester when you upload your story, otherwise it won't count .

If you have multiple stories all tied together by a theme, like e.g. promptober, advent calendars etc, please publish them as single stories part of a series instead of different chapters of the same story. That will greatly help to increase the number of published stories.

Come on guys, let's bring the supreme ship back on the medal position it deserves!

[houseofbrat]

The wailers are going to need to text SHOUT after the news that Cathy isn’t banqueting! I’m sure Camilla is going to get dragged through the mud rather than the covert separation 😂

Did you see the engagement stats that came out over the weekend? Willy being so obviously outworked by the 31st person in line to the throne who is older than his father! Good grief…

I’m so intrigued to see the body language between the most in love loved up couple ever when this is what they looked like unposed during their last state visit together…

I think it's pretty clear that Kate isn't allowed to attend the banquet because she's not working. No tiaras for royals who won't do their job!

I suspect the only reason Kate is involved in the welcoming aspects is that William doesn't feel comfortable going solo and making conversation with two people on his own. Kate speaks a bit of Arabic, so she can greet them in their local language for a moment. Don't know what kind of negotiation the KP staff had to get her to do it, but they did.

But, hey, Kate has to prepare for her big concert next Friday! Just a few days ago, The Sun mentioned in their EXCLUSIVE! that Kate might be playing the piano again!

In 2021 she surprised guests with a solo piano recital and there are rumours she may be planning something special again this year.

Those are Kate's priorities. I don't know why any of the Wales fandom thinks serving her country by attending a state banquet ranks high on the list.

Can't wait to see which tiaras will make an appearance next week. Survey says Sophie will be wearing the Cambridge Lovers' Knot. Camilla will probably wear a completely different tiara again. Perhaps we'll even get Anne in a different tiara too!

In a notable development, Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, claimed third position with 126 royal engagements. The Duke's performance marked an impressive 11.5 per cent increase from his previous year's duties. Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, secured fourth place with 124 engagements, whilst his wife Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, ranked fifth with 108. Queen Camilla took sixth position with 95 engagements, followed by the Duchess of Gloucester with 72. Prince William placed eighth with 71 royal engagements, marking a quieter year with a 35.5 per cent decrease as he focused on supporting the Princess of Wales during her cancer treatment. The Duke of Kent completed 62 engagements, securing ninth position.

I think it's too early for engagement count lists. November hasn't even finished yet. Even still, William is barely outworking The Duke of Kent--a stroke survivor in his 80s! People will blame Kate's "cancer," yet William didn't pick up the pace of his workload after Kate released her music video announcing the end of her "treatment." No, instead William has undergone a weight loss program while simultaneously growing a beard!

Proof of life AND proof of marriage next week!

Remind me when the Waleses' Christmas card comes out again? After Kate's Christmas carol concert has been filmed? Either the weekend after the concert or the following week?

Asking for a friend...

[pinkgrapefloyd]

fic author q&a

tagged by @zannolin <3 tysm!

why do you write fanfic?

i love everything about it. i love how immediate it is. i can just click post and people can see it. i love when people tell me their favorite part in the comments. i love having 100% creative control. i love having no deadlines. i love shouting something i'm proud of into the void and then getting a reply from somewhere halfway across the world in a mutual second language. i love building community with strangers over things we both love. it's the best.

which of your posted stories do you think of the most even though the story is "finished"?

probably there's daggers in men's smiles because that one has the biggest piece of my soul in it. i also think of anti-hero a lot but i'm still working on the sequel so I don't count it as "finished".

if you could give yourself fic advice from when you first started writing fic, what would that advice be?

if it's a multi-chapter, get to the 90-95% mark before you start posting. not only does this increase the likelihood of you actually finishing it and ending up with a completed story you're proud of, you'll also end up with a better final product because you can go back and edit earlier chapters once the later chapters are taking form and make the themes more cohesive.

what's your relationship to fic stats?

i like em. i used to track them obsessively when I was younger but honestly i have neither the time nor the motivation for that anymore. but it's nice to see a number and picture actual people. 25 kudos is abstract to me, i don't care about that. but realizing that 25 people looked at a project and went "nice. thanks for letting me read it" is wild to me. makes me really happy.

is there a pairing or scenario or friendship that you miss writing? if so, why? if not, why not?

yes and no. i used to read so much fanfic and write almost none, and now it's pretty much the opposite. so there isn't really a lot of content i'm "no longer writing" because there wasn't much for me to abandon in the first place. steve/bucky was my bread and butter ten years ago (how is the winter soldier ten years old already? wtf?) and i don't really see myself returning there, but i keep finding similar vibes in my newer projects and i'm really happy about that.

what motivates you to write?

i don't know how to stop. it's how i deal with being a person. wish i had a smart inspirational answer but that's what it is. it just happens. if i'm bored or sad or happy or tired or nervous, i write.

why do you write for the fandom(s) you write for?

i haven't fully understood why i write for some of my fandoms but not others. there's a lot of media that i adore and have never written a single word for (hannibal, the x files, ofmd, discworld...). often it's specifically the idea of "this character trait / this dynamic feels underutilized, I want to explore it further". cobra kai is a yarn drawer of messy but compelling character arcs that often go nowhere, and i like untangling the potential of them. star trek is comforting and it's good soil for planting angst, hope and humor plus an ensemble cast.

if you're stuck writing a WIP, what do you do?

work on a different one. i have so many and i'm always obsessed with at least one of them. sooner or later i'll have an idea for one of the older ones and then that's back on the menu again. i never force myself to work on something specific.

what do you wish people knew about comments?

a long unhinged comment is the key to my heart (as @zannolin who tagged me in this knows all too well), but i love each and every one so much. i love comments that are just a chain of emojis, comments that say nothing except 'how dare you', comments that dive into themes and metaphors. i love comments that tell me my fic made them laugh out loud, made them stay up too late, made them tell a non-fandom friend about it. there are so many different types of comments that make up the tapestry of a fun community, so please don't assume that there's a right way to leave a comment and the author will be disappointed or upset if you do it "wrong". i'm always worried my comments are not as funny / intelligent / memorable / observant as other people's comments and i hope i can take that fear away from other readers!

(also i try my best to reply fast but sometimes it takes a bit and i'm sorry! it doesn't mean i don't love your comment!)

maybe there's a question you wish had been on here. what's that question (and answer)? -> what are some writing challenges you're personally looking forward to?

writing more funny miscommunication and seeing how far I can push it. scenes that are set in darkness so I don't rely too much on describing visuals. maybe a mystery one day when i feel up for doing something plot-heavy.

tagging @vimesbootstheory @dykesynthezoid @russolaw @ficusin and @blinkasaurus and anyone else who wants to participate <3

thank you @zannolin for tagging me! love that i can always count on you to be just as unhinged about tdims as i am

[try-set-me-on-fire]

Fic Writing Review 2023

Words and Fics

107,074 words published to ao3

1 fandom (9-1-1)

Most recent: I’m still standing in the same place where you left me standing

Longest fic: not counting the short fic collection it’s where all of the people dancing and clapping would great me with such warmth (15k)

Top 3 by Kudos

pick me, choose me, love me (trapped Buck and Chris)

all my life, there you go (collection of soft prompts)

maybe fall in love (first fic posted for the fandom! It’s a hot night in LA…)

Personal Favorite

I’m actually very fond of a lot of them but I’ll shout out All the work that needs to be done aka Bobby dies fic sorry Bobby I just think I did good work here…

Upcoming Projects for 2024

Oooobh I have so many wips…. I feel like I need to finish season 7 fight fic before the new season comes out and blows it out of the water (possibly literally with that promo…), but nurse Eddie my beloved… quilt shop au… proposal fic my languishing child…. Literally any of the other ones I’ve ever talked about….

That said I was thinking about how it’s weird I’ve never made either a Buddie adopt another kid or Buck obtains a child fic, I love making up children for characters…. Maybe that’ll get added to the slate…

And of course we’ll see what inspiration the new season brings…

Rules and Tags

Rules: Feel free to show whatever stats you have. Only want to show Ao3 stats? Rock on. Want to include some quantitative info instead of stats? Please do this. Want to change how yours is presented? Absolutely do that. Would rather eat glass than do this? Please don’t eat glass but don’t feel like you have to do this either.

Tagged by @daffi-990 and others but it’s so far back in my notifications and hard to find my deepest apologies

Tagging (if you already did this or tagged me I’m sorry) @burins @shortsighted-owl @shitouttabuck @rewritetheending @chronicowboy @homerforsure @eddiebabygirldiaz @malewifediaz @rogerzsteven @butchdiaz @thewolvesof1998 @wildlife4life @buckactuallys @lover-of-mine @jeeyuns @ anyone who’s tagged me in anything all year I have terrible memory for urls but know I’ve appreciated it every time!! You’ve all been so nice when I suddenly dropped from the sky and started yelling about these dumb firefighters alongside you, and I’m grateful for you all!