#so I’ve written like 30k + words of smut fanfics in the last month or so

[prozach27]

Unnaturally excited for my transition to writing slow burn tragic gay romance. I wrote the first chapter today and tbh I think it’s a gem. There could be literally zero people on earth who care about this couple but I will stan them for eternity. That being said, I pray people actually read and like it lmao

[procrastinatorproject]

Fic writer review, thank you to @thelaithlyworm  for the tag <3

how many works do you have on AO3?

Ten? Oh no, it’s actualy 12 now!

what’s your total AO3 word count?

86,468

how many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Grand total of 1: Star Trek: Picard - although my latest offering might branch a bit into other Trek as well.

what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

“Passengers”

“And a Barrel of Gagh”

“CMO’s Log”

“Preparations”

“Game Night”

Which is actually kinda interesting. I wrote Passengers, Preparations, and Game Night while the fandom was still a lot more active (especially in the Aramis in Space corner), so that makes sense. The CMO’s log has had chapters added every few months, giving it probably the most exposure of any of my fics. Barrel of Gagh, though? I think I’m gonna attribute that to Thimblerig turning it into a truly, TRULY brilliant piece of podfic. Also the fact that it’s whump involving a character played by Santiago Cabrera. ‘tis A Thing..... :D

do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I really try to! I love talking with people in the comments and just... thanking the people who found the time and energy to leave comments. But especially in the last few months I have gotten very bad at keeping up with the comments and now there’s about two dozen that I have neglected to reply to for a painfully long time 🙈

But I will get there! Because I love that kind of interaction!

what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

So far, none of them have had angsty endings. Angsty middles, yes, but not endings. I’m just a sucker for everyone being happy in the end. Or at least on the way to being better, and supported and cared for on that way.

do you write crossovers? if so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I haven’t yet, but I’m definitely not opposed. One of the threads of my 200k unpublishable whump scenes takes place in a continuity that has existed in my daydreams for... I wanna say six years at the very least, probably longer. It’s mostly straight-up Star Trek, but with the twist that it involves the Wraith, the telepathic, hive-minded alien race from Stargate: Atlantis that suck the life force out of you with their hands? Or, well, at least a variation thereof.

I once typed up the world building for that particular setting and it took me three hours to try and make it all make sense. So it’s... involved. But not necessarily “crazy”. And I’m not sure I’m ever actually going to publish any of the stories I have set in it (not least because that would envolve finishing any of them and bringing them into a form that is interesting to read for anyone but me...)

have you ever received hate on a fic?

Nope.

do you write smut? if so what kind?

Hm, not yet. I do enjoy reading smut, but only under very specific circumstances. I think I may eventually try my hand at smut, but the inner prude is still very strong. Writing about Rios and Xyr making out (which, honestly, was really tame, all things considered) made me melt in a puddle of blushing embarrassment, so full-on smut is probably beyond me at the moment. One day!

have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of. Though litigating that in a fandom like ours would be... tricky. ST:Pic is way too small to steal stories outright. But similar or the same ideas pop up all the time. And it’s a complete coincidence. Reading the book that recently came out and that has a kinda similar setting to a lot of my stories (pre-season 1, early in Rios’s history as captain of Sirena, dealing with original characters, holo shenanigans, friendship with Raffi, etc.), I was struck by just how many elements, both scenes or story beats and little details, were similar to things that have cropped up in my writing. And it is entirely coincidental, because I am beyond certain that the author doesn’t read fanfic. Just... for legal reasons. Not to mention I wrote a bunch of the things I saw parallels to while the book was already in production, and some of them are only in my drafts.

So there is a ton of convergent evolution going on in this particular section of the fandom, and trying to litigate who came up with certain plot ideas or character beats when would be a sysiphean disaster. Some things are clear and whenever I use any of them I give credit where I can, but people will have very similar ideas. It just happens. So no, I haven’t had either a full-on story or “an idea” stolen, and I might change my tune if it ever does happen, but so far, I’m trying to practice equanimity, so I’ll be better at it should I ever need it.

have you ever had a fic translated?

Sadly no. My dad keeps complaining that all my fic is in English so he can’t read any of it, but honestly? I’m kinda glad for this very convenient excuse. Maybe if I ever feel like I want to practice my interpreting skills, I will give translating the stories into German a shot. We’ll see. Otherwise, if anyone feels inspired: Have at it! Just let me know, okay?

have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not quite. I have a draft of off-the-cuff worldbuilding that I wrote on Discord with @curator-on-ao3 and that I would love to turn into an actual short fic (letters from a conference on holo-ethics), but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.

what’s your all time favorite ship?

I don’t really do shipping.

what’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I WILL NEVER ACCEPT DEFEAT!!!! One day, I will write the next installment of Star Trek: La Sirena! I have so many ideas for that continuity and those characters. I’m not going to abandon them!

what are your writing strengths?

Hmmmmm. Probably detailed worldbuilding? Ask me something about, say, a technological or cultural aspect of Star Trek and chances are, I have thought about it in the past or will come up with three different sets of intricate lore within half an hour. (Things like... the architecture of San Francisco, or Will there still be taxi drivers? or the treaty between IKEA Intergalactic and the Borg Collective, or the Universal Translator, or Emergency Services or Why There Are Very Few Ambulances On Earth Anymore etceterah etceterah...)

I’m also good at slapping together off-the-cuff plot ideas (if, say, you need an explanation for how Seven and Agnes ended up stranded on a desert island, I could probably give you three different scenarios pretty quickly. Just don’t ask me to make them poignant or actually write them.

I’m also very, very good at beginnings.

what are your writing weaknesses?

Everything that isn’t a beginning. Especially endings, or rather: finishing something, but also just... keeping momentum.

I think my dialogue is somewhat samey and not distinct enough between characters. (Also my witty banter is... let’s just say it doesn’t come to me naturally...)

And I also struggle with keeping things brief and to the point. I can write you 30k of whump covering a span of three hours, but fitting a whole story in the same space? Much more difficult!

I have also avoided writing full-on action so far, but where it has crept in it has always been a struggle and been workshopped a lot with the indefatigable beta.

Otherwise, I don’t know. My self-perception is always a little warped, so I’m not sure what other people would say my weaknesses are.

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Oof. Well. I have used Spanish sentences in my fic and done the thing where they’re translated in the end note, but I’ve mostly done it sparingly. I’ve also done the ‘“What do you want?” he said in Spanish.’ It’s tricky. But I will likely keep doing it in some instances, even if it’s a bit annoying.

(It also really helps to have a native speaker of Spanish as a beta, even if it’s Spanish from a different region than you’re character.)

Speaking of regional: I’m also torn about the whole “phonetically writing out accents” issue. Some people love it, some people hate it, I’m really unsure because I’m not a native speaker of English, so I’m not even sure I’m consistent in my narrative voice’s regional quirks. So far, I’ve mostly gone with describing that an accent is happening, and only writing out when phrasing actually differs from standard English. Like Ian (Scottish) saying “dinnae” but not writing “I” as “ah” as you’d see on, say, Scottish twitter.

Though it can be a very useful tool if, for instance, you want to indicate a characters accent getting stronger as they get tired or upset. 🧐

Anyway, I don’t think there is one right or wrong answer here and everyones milage will vary.

what was the first fandom you wrote for?

Published? ST:PIC

Actually first? Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Pretty much simultaneously, though I did write more for LotR. On graph paper, mind, with my fountain pen turned upside down so I could write smaller. I still have folders worth of those stories that I urgently need to digitize before they fade and I lose them forever...

what’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I’m going to quote @thelaithlyworm here: I Love All My Children Equally! I honestly couldn’t say. They are different and I love them for different reasons but I love them all.

Thank you for the tag! ❤ I’ve kinda lost track of who all has done this already or has already been tagged, so feel free to ignore me! But I tink I’m tagging @curator-on-ao3, @aini-nufire, @29-pieces, @flowers-creativity, @highfunctioningflailgirl, @cristobalrios and @the-goofball. And anyone else whom I forgot or who feels inspired to do this!

[ixalit]

1, 15 & 23 for the fanfic end of year asks? <3

(From this list)

1. favorite fic you wrote this year

I answered this here, but I’ll take this opportunity to link a couple more of my favorites 😘

Evanstan RR - Last week, I wrote chapter 17 of the Evanstan Round Robin, and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out! It was brainstorming, outlining, writing, and editing 7k in three days, and I did it! I haven’t had to meet a creative deadline in a while, and it’s nice to know I can crank something out when I need to 😊 I’m also relatively new to writing smut, which was a good portion of this chapter. Tbh, probably not something I would have written without the RR, but I’m glad I did it (even though it was definitely a push lol)

it’s not like a tree (where the roots have to end) - this was fun to write (ok, maybe fun is the wrong word, but it was fun to stretch my writing muscles and do something with a logos more angst and whump than normal. I also feel like skill-wise, my writing was pretty good in this one, especially for a genre I wasn’t that confident in 🥰

vows - Ok so this one is a poem, not a fic, but it’s Stucky and I wrote it, so it still counts right? I really liked the process of writing this (and formatting it to fit the words/mood tbh). I think I wrote the first draft of it when I was sick in bed and a little high on pain meds. Then I forgot about it, and found it some days later. Cleaned it up, changed some words, and.... am I kidding myself or is it actually kinda ok?

15. something you learned this year

So. Much. I only just jumped into writing fic this past summer after 4-5 years of doing hardly any creative writing that wasn’t related to school. The last time I wrote anytning for a fandom was when I was around 15, and I feel like I’ve learned so much in the past few months about fandom in general, this fandom, and myself as a writer, not to mention the writing tips and skills.

23. fics you wanted to write but didn’t

Numerous one shots. Many of which are in my WIP folder, half-written, waiting to be picked up again in the coming year.

Other than that, I’ve been working on a longer (25-30k) shrunkyclunks au that I’d hoped to finish by now, but alas, it’s still not done.

Also, @howdoyousleep3 and I had sort of planned out a rough idea for a fic right before we both got busy with fic deadlines and our personal lives. I hope (?) we can pick it up again and collab in 2021 because the idea is still.... very much in my mind lol

[raeofalbion]

Writing Pet Peeves

Someone asked about this a while back—the ask is gone but I think I’m ready to give my opinion on this. I wasn’t sure if they meant writing pet peeves as a writer or writing pet peeves as a reader, so I’m going to separate this into two sections and try to answer to the best of my ability. If you‘re easily angered by people bitching about things that annoy them, you might not want to read this. Also, as a disclaimer, I will not be calling anyone out by name. Just because that’s not how I do things. I might curse a bit, though. It’s also really long, so look under the cut.

Writing Pet Peeves As A Writer (in no particular order)

- When The Words Won’t Do The Thing

I’m pretty sure every writer has dealt with this. You’ve got this beautiful, perfect scene in your head and everything down to the last detail is perfect and you can picture it and you know it’s within your ability to write…and the words suddenly don’t come out right. They just…aren’t correct. The feeling’s gone and the details are off and nothing is coming out like it’s supposed to. You still have this perfect picture of the scene in your head, but it won’t come out into your paper. Why won’t you do the thing, words? What is your problem? Why have you forsaken me? WOOOOOOOOOOORDDDS?!?!?!

- Asshole Readers (Most Of Which You’re Not Allowed To Call Assholes Without Losing A Reader)

I feel like asshole readers fall into two categories and both are a pain for different reasons and I’ve got stories to go along with both.

So, first category: the outright asshole. I don’t mean the trolls who get off on being a dick, I mean the ones come at you, spouting venom, and acting like all their hateful words are supposed to, somehow, “help” you. For instance, waaaaay back (like 6 years ago) when I posted the first, not very good, draft of MoI I got a PM from a guy who had read through chapter 14 (about 60,000 words) and said “I’ve read through what you have posted and I feel like I wasted my time because you’re not putting any sex in. This is really bad. If you don’t have any sex in the story, it’s not a good story. Your writing would be so much better with sex in it. You should write a story with me because I write great sex scenes and you’ll learn something.” -very deep sigh- I could rant for hours about this guy, and how his response to my “thanks but no thanks” was even worse, but I will spare all of you from it. This, paraphrased as it is, speaks for itself I think. Please keep in mind that that draft was only on FFN…which doesn’t allow explicit smut and will delete fics with detailed making out. Now allow the soul crushing “you’ve gotta be fucking kidding me” feeling to grow. Please.

Second category: the “I’m not sure if you are purposefully being an asshole or not” asshole. This reader approaches as a fan, seems delighted to be in touch with you, and then…something happens. And you’re not certain if it’s a calculated thing or if they were just careless with their words and you’re over invested in your work, but it fucks you up nonetheless and, every time you think about it, it upsets you again. Usually, this seems to happen with readers being like “have you considered writing -insert thing here-? I think you’d be really good at it” and you consider it and decide “yeah, this would be fun to write”. So you write the fic, you post it, you tell the person “hey, I wrote the thing you suggested” and they just…never get back to you? Ever? And, if the fic is pretty niche and not something a lot of people are interested in, that kinda makes it even worse? Because, now, you’ve got this fic hanging around that no one likes and was written for a ghost that might exist but maybe you dreamed the entire fucking convo and now what the hell do you do with it? Was it intentional? Was it not? This is like conspiracy theory level paranoia-inducing stuff.

Continuing on from the second one, just…watch your words when you’re talking about a writer’s work. You might not have meant to insult my work, but I cannot read your thoughts through a computer screen. A while back I was approached about MoI (that fic has so many crazy stories attached to it) and, as anyone who has read it knows: the pair is a bi dude and a bi chick and they are bad at emotions. So this reader and I are chatting and they’re really nice and we end up chatting on and off for over a week…and then I bring up that I’m really proud of myself for recently getting better at writing romance and displaying it physically, which will be really useful in the fic’s sequels…to which they replied “well, I’m gay so I don’t care about stuff like that LOL” and changed the subject. Maybe it was a joke? Maybe it was a “I’m just reading for the story and not the romance”? But it really bothered me. This is gonna sound dumb, but I think about it almost every day and it’s been about a year since then. And every time someone reads without commenting or without liking it or I post something for someone that gets ignored, all I can think of is “I don’t care”. I’m not saying this to make you feel sorry for me or to be dramatic, just to warn you: never tell a writer—or anyone with a very specific interest that means a lot to them—that you don’t care. Even as a joke. It’s cruel and that’s the one thing that will stick with them even if they meet other people who love their writing or the thing they’re interested in. Anytime they’re snubbed or someone reacts unenthusiastically, all they will think is that it’s another person saying “I don’t care”. And, if they already have a hard time trusting people, this is going to fuck up relationships with other people, too. Just…think before you say something. You don’t know what harm you could do by being careless.

- Lying About Fic Trades

Usually, when you think of a fic trade, you think of two writers writing something for each other, but there is another kind, as well. This is when two writers like each other’s work and really need an outside opinion on their work and so they swap fics with the purpose of the other looking for errors and things to fix to help each other out. And this is what I’m referring to. When people are honest about wanting to do them, it’s really nice. You both get interesting opinions and thoughts you might not usually get if you only have one usual beta reader (like me). What pisses me off is when people claim to want to do this, but really have no intention of reading your work and are just using you as a beta reader. What’s funny is, I love beta reading and will totally help you out if you’re up front about what you want and I have time. You don’t have to lie to me and make me no longer want to be your friend just because you didn’t feel comfortable asking for editing help.

- Review/Like Karma

I just…really don’t like when people come up to me and are like “I reviewed and faved your fic five seconds ago so why haven’t you done the same for me yet?” Chances are, if you give me a fave/kudos and/or a review, I will immediately check out your profile to both see what fics you have and if you have anything interesting in your favourites. If one of your fics catches my eye, I’ll read it and react as I feel is appropriate. You don’t need to harass me into reading your story. If I’ve read it and am not responding, it’s because I’m not into it and I don’t want to be rude OR I don’t have the spoons for interaction today. If you harass me, 90% chance I will not read your fics unless by accident. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Don’t be a dick.

- “Do You Have A Book Done Yet? One Of You Own Ideas?  When Are You Going To Get Published And Be Like JK Rowling?”

Okay, I lied, I am calling someone out by name: I’m calling out my entire immediate family (with the exception of one person, who’s on Tumblr, and doesn’t do this). That up there are direct quotes. I get these at least once a month, mostly from my immediate family and it is one of the worst feelings? I always have a lot of projects going on because I can’t stand to be not working on something. So the constant “are you finished with something? Are you gonna get published soon?” is really stressful. Like…how am I supposed to keep a level head and put out a good product if I’m sitting here, feeling like a failure and like I’m disappointing people for not getting published? My relationship with my original stories are really rocky. I can’t just work on them if I’m not in the right headspace…how the fuck am I supposed to get there if I’m sitting there stressed about not just being published but being successfully published? First off, JK Rowling’s dividends are an outlier, not the norm. Most writers live below the poverty line because 1) you get very little from being published unless you are very, very lucky and 2) people seem to think it’s okay to pirate books instead of buying them which is literally killing well established series. Yes, folks, it’s not publishers killing long-standing series, it’s dicks who think “stealing is acceptable because I can’t afford this luxury item at this second and I declare that I should have it so fuck the creator getting the money they need to live”. Secondly, “one of your own ideas” is quite possibly the worst way to describe original fiction. You think I didn’t sit here, plotting out every fucking chapter of this novel-length fanfic? You think this isn’t my story, my baby, my writing, my ideas? GTFO. Get out of my house. Unfollow me now. I work on this fanfic more than most writers work on their originals in one day. This is my story as much as any original story is. You do not get to disrespect my work just because someone else wrote the original world first. I am done with this bullshit.

Anyway. Moving on before I start challenging people to fights….

Writing Pet Peeves As A Reader (in order from least to worst)

- Sloppiness

I’m sure someone’s going to read that and be like “Rae, wtf? That’s rude” but I don’t mean “you’ve worked on this fic for months and have 1 (one) typo in 30k words and now I will never read your work again”. I mean, like,  “you worked on this chapter for an hour, didn’t spell check it, the paragraphs are all smooshed together so no one can read a damn thing, and there isn’t a single consistent detail in this entire fic”. Usually, I’m very forgiving when it comes to errors (unless I’m editing them), but…like…please run this through spell checker? Check to make sure your paragraphs are spaced apart? Do not post 5 minutes after you finished writing the chapter? Seriously, the best thing you can do for a story after finishing it is to set it aside for a while and not touch it. You’ll pick up all the stuff you learned from writing the later bits and be able to make the earlier chapters look lovely will make the readers happy.

(Note: I’m only aiming this at people for whom English is their first language.)

- “This Thing Is Bad But I’m Gonna Write It Like It’s Good And No One Will Notice It’s Bad, Right?”

This happens so often and I just…ugh. It seems like the main theme people use in this is the “person A raped person B and person B got off so it wasn’t really rape” or “person A and person B barely know each other, person A tries to seduce person B and person B resists. Person A rapes them. Somehow this turns into a romance and they live happily ever after”. And the writer never addresses that this is not right. Never. This sends such a bad message to people. It’s telling people that “it’s okay if you’re raped, your rapist loves you and this wasn’t a traumatic experience at all because they did it because they love you so much”. This isn’t true. Writing about a terrible thing and not addressing how terrible it is doesn’t somehow make it a good thing. Nor does it take away the fact that someone was suffering and you ignored it.

- The Writer Is So Meek How Are They Posting This??? (Someone Get A Blankie And Something Nice To Drink And Give Them A Hug.)

This isn’t something that makes me mad at the writer, it makes me mad at their readers. I have met so many good writers who have been so badly bullied and cut down by their so-called fans that they are just…how do they have the willpower to post? Writers who are so talented, but are so afraid of going against a single thing their fans say that they never can reach their full potential because their readers won’t let them. How do you do that to a person? How can you act so abusive and not realise that your behaviour is toxic and oppressive? You’re hurting someone who just wants to make you happy and…for what? To have say over what they post? It’s disgusting. If you do this, you should be ashamed of yourself.

- That Point Where Greed And Lack Of Care For The Material Meet And Somehow Coalesced Into A Single Shitty Book

And now we reach the point where I will drop your story in a fuckin’ heart beat if you do this. This one is more common in published work based on other media (ie books for video games/movies). I hate, hate, buying a novel and realising, not even a chapter in, that the writer isn’t interested in their characters or the world or anything. The novel has the consistency problems I would usually be okay with forgiving in an online fic, but is presenting it snobbishly and makes it clearly known this is just a cheap grab for money they don’t even seem to want. No love for the writing, no interest in their work, and all I can think is: why are you writing this? You don’t want to be writing this any more than I want to be reading it. And the book is never good. Never. It’s just…bad all around.

- Pretentiousness And Assholery

Have you ever gone onto a fic that was really hyped and well-received and you were excited to read, only to realise the writer’s an elitist prick that is using the space intended for sharing their work to scream incoherently for pages about how much of a better writer they are than the canon writers and how they’re going to fix the canon writers’ fuck ups and “look at how great I am” that, by the time you got to the end of their pages of bitching and the beginning of their fic, you want to just throw your computer/phone/tablet out a window? And then you realise, at the bottom of the chapter, they have another author’s note of equal length? Better yet, have you ever looked up reviews for a novel only to see the writer screaming at fans in response to every negative review like a small child not getting the toy they wanted? Do yourselves a favour: don’t bother with these people. They are the absolute worst and don’t give a fuck about anything but their ego and how much you can boost it. They aren’t worth it. I have dropped so many writers for this, it’s not even funny. It’s one of the few things I just...can’t separate the writer and their work over.

Bonus: Censorship From The Fans

I’m going to preface this by, once again, stating that censorship does not include wanting things to be tagged correctly. Censorship is someone with power saying “I don’t like this thing and no one else should, either”. Censorship of literature is anyone with any kind of power (and, if you have followers on social media you are in this group) saying “I don’t like this book because I: a) don’t agree with its message, b) don’t like the writer, or c) didn’t read it but thought the summary sounded sketchy and am deciding I know more than the writer. And, any one of you that reads this or enjoys this is to be shamed and humiliated and abused along with the writer for the rest of time.” Which, maybe you’re not saying word for word, but that’s essentially what you’re promoting. If you have a following, you have a large group of people that is looking to you. How you act influences them. If you sit here, shaming people for their books, then you are an asshole. If you projecting to your followers that they should shame everyone who likes that book, you are even worse. What you post, what you write, what you encourage others to do, that is on your hands. You are responsible for any harm that comes from that. And censoring media to the point where people are receiving death threats over it is disgusting. And if that shit’s being started because you started it, you need to stop and take a look at yourself. No one should be getting death threats over a fucking book. (If you’re interested in seeing a video relating to this topic, you might want to look here: Link )

Thank you for listening to me ramble, to anyone who has made it this far. If you have any thoughts, anything you want to add or debate, feel free to respond. Thanks for your time.