#thank you @ao3commentoftheday for all that you do

[sanfangirl-cynicalromantic]

@ao3commentoftheday I want to personally thank you for all your lovely site skins for AO3! I just saw your "Glowy Dark Mode" and screamed out loud in delight. I couldn't send you an ask or messsage, so here is me asking, do you know how to code work skins as well? I am not a coder and really want to add a work skin to filter my Marked for Later and History on AO3

Thank you so much!

[16woodsequ]

Hi! I’ve been following your Steve fics for a while and just wanted to say I really really love everything you’ve written, especially the Alternatively series.

Idk if you give writing advice and sorry if this comes out of the blue, but do you ever struggle comparing yourself to other writers on Ao3? I’ve been posting on and off lately but get so discouraged when I see fics with hundreds of thousands of hits and thousands of kudos and comments. I just don’t feel like I’ll ever compete with that, you know?

Hello! Thank you for your kind words! It always lifts me up to hear things like that :D

I've been thinking about this ask a lot to think of how I handle that feeling. Because it might surprise you considering how many people read my fics, but I also feel discouraged sometimes when fics don't get the engagement I'd love sometimes.

Here's some things I've done to help myself:

First, I added a skin to my AO3 to turn off numbers on fics. This blocks comment numbers, hit counts, kudos, that sort of thing. @ao3commentoftheday has good tutorials for ao3 skins. I made a google docs with the coding for the skins I use if you're interested.

I find hiding the numbers really helps me, because I found I was beginning to focus a lot on the numbers of my fics. These skins block the numbers on your fics and other people's. Doing this helps me not fixate on the numbers and take more happiness in the fics themselves.

When I first changed my ao3 skin I didn't turn it off for several weeks, to wean myself off of it, but now I turn it off on Sundays and give myself the day to enjoy looking at the bookmark numbers and stuff like that, because now it sparks joy more than discouragement, which is the goal.

Second, I try to treasure the good stuff. When creating things I find it very very important to remind yourself of the good things. Our brains are kind of wired to forget the positive reception we've gotten for things and we keep chasing more, which can leave us discouraged.

So find ways to treasure whatever happy things you've gotten from your fics or fandom experience online.

For example, I have a personal discord serve with just me where I save screenshots of amazing comments, touching notes, tags, bookmarks, asks etc that people have left on my fics and posts. This way I can go back and look at them anytime.

I also save my favourite comments in my ao3 inbox instead of deleting them.

And I've also started a scrapbook with my favourite comments so I can hopefully really remember them and imprint them into my brain.

Train yourself to truly appreciate the interactions you get. That's a whole person there! And that's pretty amazing.

Third, often what fandom people are truly looking for is community. That's why we want people to comment on our fics and art because we want to share this amazing idea we had and we want to talk about this thing we love!

So find a community that will listen to you. On tumblr or on discord or with a mutual. Find people who will be excited when you share a headcanon with them or a meme or an in depth analysis of a character.

I find that helps me feel appreciated and excited for what I'm working on and that really really helps.

Fourth, Don't compare your fics to someone's fics that have been posted for a year of more!! This is really easy to do, I do it with my own fics all the time.

But we forget that numbers accumulate over time! Of course your new fic doesn't have as many hits or kudos or whatever as a fic you posted three years ago!

Comparing the two is like getting to the party, putting your cake down and feeling bad because no one's taken a bite, while Brenda's cake, which has been here for two hours is mostly crumbs. These things take time sometimes!

Anyways, I hope this helps. Thanks for the ask!

[pained-expression]

5 & 20 for the ask thingie? <3

You know what @calamity-unlocked-main ? It’s like 3am and I have been thinking about this all day. I’m jet lagged as fuck, and I have to get up for work in a few hours, but I need to get this out. This feels like a confession lmao

5. Which WIP is first on your list to complete this year? Will you post a snippet?

God what a loaded question. Complete this year? I’ve had a ‘the boys go on a mission’ oneshot almost finished for over a year, I just need to finish the combat in the middle because I wrote how the fight ends and now I have to figure out the middle and I hate combat so much lol. So I’d like to tick that off the list. Snippet from just before the combat starts:

I may need help getting it finished tbh but we’ll see, but because it’s so old (summer 2022 I think) I feel like the dynamic i have for the two of them slaps harder than the stuff I’ve written more recently. I’m really proud of the characterisation for Lark in this one. There is also a turn for Nick’s character near the end that I want to explore more in future fics.

20. Any plans to work on original fiction this year?

I currently have a Nark long fic planned that is a complete au in a high fantasy setting and is incredibly ambitious with an estimated 100+ chapters that I’ve been working on since December 2022. The more I reread it the more I think this should be original fiction, the only fanfic aspect left is the names and some personality traits so I’ll keep that ticking over and see what happens.

I have a dystopian fiction idea that I came up with on a bus when I was like 16 I still think has legs so I might try and write that eventually, not sure it would happen this year. But I do want to do original fiction some day.

(Also I love you thank you for the ask)

Link to questions: https://www.tumblr.com/ao3commentoftheday/738288528629301248/fanfic-asks-for-the-new-year

[alyssalenko]

Why I Wrote It Bingo

Tagged by @hazelestelle. Thank you darling! I will tag @heroofshield @forlornmelody @foofyschmoofer @hunnybadgerv and @kittynomsdeplume (you can just do the bingo if you don't wanna do the shameless plugging XD)

Template by ao3commentoftheday and can be found here

Below are the links to the fics if you're interested :)

Fixing Canon: 'Twelve Years'. I wanted to fix the in-game romance of James Vega and Femshep, because the scene as it was, was just plain icky.

I just want them to kiss: In 'Hearts Laid Bare' I wanted a kiss after Blackwall's trial when he's reconciling his past and his future all with the inquisitor by his side. It doesn't get addressed outside a couple conversations but her support means the world to him.

This idea wouldn't shut up until I wrote it: How Harry Carlyle and Marlo Ryder got started on their secret relationship in A Dose of Vitamin Me. They literally took over my brain.

Found a prompt list: 30-day NSFW challenge--Mass Effect. I was trying to get out of my comfort zone and this was how I did it.

Everyone lives and nothing hurts: THANE DESERVED A HAPPY ENDING DAMMIT. so I wrote it myself in 'Unexpected'. He gets to reconcile with his son and have his Siha too.

Saw the plot and needed it for my OTP: The Miraculous Takes of Ladybug and Chat Noir and Superman inspired my Superhero AU: We Could be Heroes. I wanted the love square with themselves all while in the more adult world of journalism instead of school.

I was joking with my friend and it happened: I decided James game Kaidan the nickname 'Glowstick' and @forlornmelody was constantly giggling because she would think of disco stick and Lady Gaga's "Love Game" so I had to.

I woke up at 3am with an idea: 'Bound to You' gets credit for this one. I woke up thinking about how Solas put up the veil to seal the old Elves away because they killed Mythal. Then he makes us activate all those elven artifacts to “strengthen the veil” (either that’s not what they really did or he SERIOUSLY wanted to be stopped) and then he kills Mythal to get her soul and the old God soul to bring himself back up to full power so he can tear the veil down…But what if you had an Inquisitor that drank the Well of Sorrows, and was tied to Mythal? Would that mean that they were tied to Solas because he took her soul? Do you think they also felt Mythal's death? I feel like they must have and if they were in a relationship that he'd be easier to find in Trespasser due to the nature of the bond. And what if he killed Mythal BECAUSE the Inquisitor drank from the Well and was tied to her? In his own twisted way he thought he was helping and didn't realize how deep the bond went, considering Mythal controlled the Inquisitor and forced them to stop Morrigan. And then he felt guilty, because now that power is his, but he loves her and doesn't want to MAKE her do anything, and only then does he realize the gravitas of his actions.

This is going to be so HOT: I had toyed with the idea of a Joker/Femshep/Kaidan threesome for a very long time and was finally encouraged to pen 'By All Means' by my darling @naromoreau instead of just thinking about it. It even got a prequel 'On One Condition' and has another sequel in the works

Thought of a great line: In my oneshot 'Of Witchers and Succubi' Eskel has an aside I'm really proud of and it had to make it in. "Maybe it was her own scars, or how gentle and loving she was to him, or how she made a point to kiss every scar on his body telling him he was beautiful and replacing all the bad memories with something good. What was once just a scar from a blade in his side became the place she gripped as she rode him into oblivion, and a deep gash from a nekker claw became a trail of fiery kisses to his pulse point."

Gift fic: I write a lot of gift fics because I do a lot of exchanges. But I used to just knock one out for a birthday or something. I it's a toss up between 'Beautiful Christmas' that I wrote for @starsandskies or 'Until the Stars Crumble' for @briarfox13.

I want this universe and those characters: Underworld meets Mass Effect in 'Claimed'. I've always wanted a vampire and a werewolf as soulmates and had a blast with this one using Femshep and Kaidan as my muses.

It came to me in a dream: This one hasn't been posted anywhere yet. I'm still fleshing it out. But it's two spies who are partners falling in love and there are powers and AIs and car chases and weapon drops. It will be a sci-fi action fic when it's done. :)

I don't even know: This one has snippets out in the universe but hasn't been fully posted anywhere yet. I use it as an outlet to get comfortable with certain words during a sex scene or practice dirty talk and literally just letting whatever is in my head out no matter how filthy. XD eventually it will become a thing just not yet.

Fixing fanon: Everyone sees Conrad Verner as a Shepard obsessed idiot, when in fact he's very smart...just overly zealous. So @naromoreau and I thought, what if we approached it differently (and it also had the prompt something you don't ship but here we are XD)? And thus 'It's a Match' and it's sequel 'Once More with Feeling' were born.

But what happens AFTER canon: After dealing with the devil and stopping it, I wanted a soft moment between Asra and MC in 'Two Halves of a Whole'. I do want to go back and revisit these two with shared sensations because they share a heart.

If no one else will write it I will: Timothy Olmundson can sing and by extension so can Aric Jorgan. I always saw posts about it but no one ever followed through so I did in 'Love Song for No One'

Just to see if I could: i'm not a long-fic kind of person. I want the kisses and the smut, and I want them immediately. So my game spanning, full dialogue run-though of Mass Effect: Curious was to see if i could stick it out. It's been slow going, but I haven't quit yet because I wanted to expand on the little moments between Shepard and Kaidan.

[artificialqueens]

Here's a recommendation for all writers to participate in #Repostober – Kinktober, Inktober and Whumptober are all big challenges, especially for those doing one every single day.

For those of us who need that pressure off, Repostober is perfect. Just reblog an old fic or ficlet of yours/link to an old AO3 fic every single day (if you feel like it).

I for one would use it as a way to reread old fics, they deserve some love too (and COMMENTS)

https://www.tumblr.com/ao3commentoftheday/729841360993140736/image-1-a-background-gradient-of-darker-to

Link to the post I saw about it ⬆️

Thanks so much, darling! I'll reblog that link right away too!! XOXO

[moonflower-rose]

I was talking to my pal @shiftylinguini about our mutual love for Goldfrapp and how we’d both been inspired by their music to write fic. And of course Shifty’s fic was an incredible masterpiece and mine was my first ever Drarry written in 2004, and was only the second fic I’d ever written, and is so unbelievably eye-wateringly bad that I felt part of me shrivel up inside and immediately die.

And I said to Shifty, gee wouldn’t it be good if you could put some of your old and humiliating fic on AO3 just for you where nobody could see it but you, and then I googled to see if you could do that, and google gave me this post which was exactly what I needed!

And that’s the story of how I spent the evening putting my 39 chapter, 136K horrific train wreck of a fic back onto the internet and one day when I’m so old that I just don’t care anymore and maybe also am super high on something that’ll suppress my cringe gland, I might even read it without throwing up.

I thought I’d share all that nonsense with you guys in case you want to do something similar, thank you @ao3commentoftheday for your service!

how to post a work privately on ao3

So you want to archive your work but you don’t want all of it visible to everyone else. What you need to do is make a collection!

Collections have lots of uses, but this post is going to focus on using a collection to make some (or all!) of your works private so that only you can see them. 

1. If you’ve never made a collection before, start by going to your Dashboard and then choosing Collections from the sidebar (on desktop) or the top of the page (on mobile). Then click on the New Collection button and fill in the information.

2. In the Header Section you only need to worry about giving it a name and a display title. This is because you’re just making this collection for yourself. The other infoboxes are there for you to fill out if you’re creating a collection for a fandom event.

The name is what you’ll use to add works to your collection. Choose something unique so that you don’t accidentally try to add your work to someone else’s collection. 

The display title is the name that people will see if they go to your Works page. You can use any name you’d like here, but remember that it will be visible to others.

3. In the Preferences Section, you’ll want to set your collection as��moderated and unrevealed. 

Moderating your collection means that the owner (you) gets to choose which works get added. If anyone else tries to add works to your collection, you can refuse. Keeping it unrevealed means that no one can see the works that are inside of it. They can see the collection, but it will look like it’s empty.

You can leave the rest of the sections empty. Those are all for fandom events and informing other people of rules and other information. None of that is necessary in this case. 

4. After you have created your collection, you can edit your existing works to hide them. Edit the work and scroll down the posting form until you get to the section called Associations. The first text box in that section is Post to Collections/Challenges. Type the name of your collection into this box and press enter. Don’t worry if it doesn’t show up in the dropdown. As long as you provide the name (and not the display title!), you’ll be fine. 

5. Save your edit and congrats! You’ve successfully made that work private so that only you can see it.

When another user visits your profile, they’ll be able to see you have a collection. They’ll see the display name, and they’ll see the total number of fandoms and works that are in your collection. By clicking the number next to the word Fandom, they’ll be able to see the list of all of the fandoms you’ve written for in that collection. However, if they click the number next to the word Works, they’ll just see a message that says, “This is part of an ongoing challenge and will be revealed soon!”

If you want to see for yourself what it looks like to other users, visit my AO3 profile and see for yourself.

Oh, and I’ve tested it out and it seems that if you post a new work and add it into the collection immediately (while posting), subscribers won’t get notified about it! So that’s a bonus too :)

[chen-chen-chen-again-chen]

Big thanks to @bookish-bogwitch​​, @cutestkilla​​, and @fatalfangirl​ and anyone else who has tagged me on Six Sentence Sunday or WIP Wednesday! 

Right now, I'm working on a fic series called Rosethorn girl (more about that here) with the jokey summary "Lucy lives, fuck the Mage" and the real/tentative summary "Lucy Salisbury raises her rosebud boy, falls in love with a dragon, and starts a revolution." 

I don’t have many sentences in the draft proper that are fit to see the light of day, but sometimes I do take notes that make me laugh. Lest you think this series is all ow ow time and explorations of complicated victimhood, here’s a snippet from my notes: 

Lucy: I’m very sorry my dragon baby keeps being grabby with Basil’s hair, he’s usually better behaved

Mit: No he isn’t, his fucking wings demolished my Abbey Road mug yesterday

Natasha: Basil, stop trying to eat Simon’s face. Stop it 

(Yes, I’m writing SnowBaz as babies [my ovaries are killing me] and it’ll probably be the third or fourth fic in the series. Two more sentences with Natasha & Lucy under the cut.)

Natasha: Look, I’m not saying I passed educational reforms because my seven-year-old threatened to never speak to me again if his best friend couldn’t go to the same school as him, but I’m not not saying it either

Lucy: (discreetly slides a mint Aero bar across the table to her)  

Drafting has been very stop-start. I wrestled with outlining yesterday and after reading some excellent posts on @ao3commentoftheday​​, I decided to break up this beast of a longfic into a series of shorter works. It all feels more sane in my head now. No idea when the first fic will be posted; just gonna put my head down and keep on drafting!! 

Big thanks to everyone for sharing their work!! It is lovely to be surrounded by so many busy, humming, creative minds. ❤️❤️❤️

[magicaltrans]

Hi, I am really nervous about writing a trans character/intimacy as a cis person. It’s not part of the plot, I just want to show two characters falling in love, one saying he’s trans and the other saying it doesn’t change how they feel and being eager to learn to make the trans character comfortable. Above all I just want to write this character as confident and comfortable with themselves and completely accepted by this new love interest. Him being trans is not the plot, he just is. I feel kind of disrespectful I guess since I’m not part of the trans community. I just want to write him and his relationship how I want everyone to be treated and loved and fucked

Hey, hello! Thank you for reaching out.

What you are describing is casual representation and we are very excited for it here at the Magical Trans HC (I'm kidding, I'm writing this from my bed, no capitalistic bs on our blog).

Personally (I, Baz) think this nervousness is really positive for your work. It makes you careful. I don't have much advice that hasn't already been given a million time. This ao3commentoftheday post gives out plenty of good ressources for people in your case, so do take a look.

Also, do not hesitate to seek a sensitivity reader. More on than here and if you ever feel comfortable joining the server, we have a dedicated channel to ask for sensitivity readers.

All in all, I think you just have to jump in unknown waters. You have good intentions and with a little bit of help, I'm sure you'll come out of it with something beautiful and unique. We all want "everyone to be treated and loved and fucked"

[runabout-river]

You see, while I am technically versed, no such knowledge extents to browsers and whatever they can do. I'm a "I got PDFs (and phyiscal paper) from University to study and I wrote my stuff on Word" so I'll always prefer those forms over looking up how else I could access information I want.

Like, someone else mentioned that it's possible to search through a folder that has all your chapters in it and I at least thought that could be sth I could look into before the Ao3 PDF option emerged in my mind which I found 1000% better (I put that 460 page PDF now into that folder too) but the browser option didn't even cross my mind.

With how popular this post got (mostly thanks to ao3commentoftheday) I guess many people share my intuition on this somewhat.

Guys! I just had the most brilliant save-the-life-of-a-fanfic-author idea while despairing over information I wrote in my fic once and can't find anymore because the fic is 240k long with 60 chapters all with their own Word document.

I just went on Ao3, pushed the entire work button and downloaded a PDF version of my fic! Now I have a documment with 460 pages that I can search through easily without despairing over untitled word documents. 😭 You can do that 10 second task instead of painstakingly going through your documents and combining them together, too.

I'm sure not everyone writes that way to need that advice and many people probably had the same idea already but I never saw it on author spaces here on tumblr so I'm gonna tag @ao3commentoftheday for this.

Also, download one or a few versions of your fics anyway.

[sincerelymalfoyy]

👿💡🏆 emoji asks!!

Hi!!

👿 What trope do you hate / avoid at all costs?

Ooo this is hard! I would say I really don’t hate any tropes. Just rarely read which are cross over fics (I also don’t know if this is a trope lol), miscommunication, or divorced couple but I’m slowly coming around hahaha.

💡 Tell me a headcanon (and who you wish would write it)?

I have a ton of random thoughts but I would say one headcanon I have is that Theo Nott is like really good at sports like from the wizarding world muggle sports, but he’s also good at random things no one else is good at. So, I would see him trying to become an auror and the Ministry wouldn’t want him at first but he’d pass every single ridiculous test and along the way in the plot he falls in love with someone (any character). I’d be happy with anyone writing this, and I’d be at their mercy.

this is more my most coherent headcanon right now but I have more! 😂

🏆 What do you wish more authors in your fandom would write about?

I think since I’m just starting to get into these I would love to read more a/b/o or soulmate markings in different pairings in HP!

originally from: @ao3commentoftheday

Thank you for such great questions! ☺️

[owlsinathens]

Hey,

😅😈✨🤗

Thanks 🥰

😅 The whole vamp AU lol I'm dying a thousand cringe deaths when I think of it. But, it is what it is, it was fun to write even though I wouldn't write a fic like that again (considering the very VERY explicit noncon and the levels of whump oh dear), and it entertained people and, most important of all, the friend I wrote it for liked it. Mission accomplished.

😈 Have I ever been doing anything to be playfully mean to readers? Oh my, I would never! Perish the thought! Call the church elders! 😱

....yes. I mean, I don't remember a specific instance now, but I know I have taken great joy out of ending chapters on suspenseful points or something of the sort 😬😬😬

🤗 My advice for new fanfic writers: read. Read, read, read, and write. Write to your heart's desire. Learn about writing rules, then break them. Write with joy. Tell the story you want to tell. Don't even start looking at stats, it's hard to break the habit once you have it 🙈 If on tumblr and considering posting on AO3, follow @ao3commentoftheday, it's a marvellous, incredibly helpful blog. Do spell characters' names correctly*

*This is just a personal pet peeve, don't take me too serious 😘

Thank you so much for the ask ♥️♥️♥️

[primavera-cerezos]

onlyfans AU

prompt from @ao3commentoftheday

a little bit of NSFW text (I mean, it’s onlyfans...) | 359 words

Draco has a wildly successful OnlyFans but always wears a mask or hides his face. it’s what makes him so popular and people are always begging to know what he looks like—but he never shows them.

Harry is a longtime subscriber and has kind of fallen in love with the mystery person (and his 🍑).

Draco DMs Harry on twitter to ask if he has any requests; eventually they’re talking all day every day (and not just about Harry’s desire for Draco to make himself come with just a dildo—which Draco posts the next day). little things like “hey how’s your morning?” “oh you know, meetings and paperwork” “sounds fun. I’m figuring out how to sew.” “lol what are you making?” “wouldn’t you like to know 😇”

after a few weeks, it’s really late at night and they’re messaging each other in bed, it’s that witching hour intimacy that makes him do it, Draco swears, and he tells Harry he really likes him but he feels bad that he’s seen Harry’s face but Harry hasn’t seen his. Harry has never asked, never wanted to overstep and ruin whatever it is they’re doing, but he can’t deny he really has feelings for this person.

“I don’t need to see your face to know that I like you.”

Draco types and erases for a long time. Harry feels like he might burst.

then it comes: a barely-lit selfie, just by the yellow light of a nightlight. Draco’s head is on a dark pillow, a shy smile on his full lips. he’s all long lashes and high cheekbones and sharp jawline. Harry can see a couple of freckles on his nose, a little mole under one eye. Harry knows that he has been given something very, very special.

“you’re beautiful. I knew you were, but seeing you... thank you, Draco. I want to kiss your nose. is that okay to say?”

“yes. I want that too. I want you here with me.”

“me too.”

they message for a while longer and then Draco falls asleep, curled around a pillow, phone in hand. Harry dreams of soft, platinum hair and sleepy grey eyes.

[pastafossa]

Hello, I just found out there's a way to save everyone's lovely eyes and make ao3 dark mode (note you have to be logged in to do this). Credit to ao3 user ao3commentoftheday who has a post about it. I think links get marked as spam in asks so here's how to do it. On any fic scroll to the bottom of the page with the red bar, next to "about the archive" "contact us" and "development" there's a tab called "customize" under it select "choose skin" and then change it to "reversi". I hope this helps!

AAAAAAAAAH, thank you my friend! This will help, I know people are binging through and all that time staring at a white screen has gotta be hell. This will help a ton! I'll link to this on TRT's masterlist so people know there's a way to read it all without burning their eyes out. 😂

[kimberkingrivers]

I deal with this, daily in my profession. I’m an artist by trade. Specifically a photographer, in a niche that isn’t most people’s first pick. But there this constant Walking a line of being vain and proud when talking about your art, and just being happy you made it and wanting other people to share in that happiness you find in it.

I understand the chasing the popularity, to a point. ( A lot of this is my personal opinion and experience so take it with what you will, a fucking brick of salt if you want, it’s going to be different for everyone.)

I’m the photography, yes I’d like to he know and recognized, yeah I want to he know for my shots, and what I do as an artist. I’m looking at an opportunity to shoot (photograph) something right now that would be a literal dream come true. But I don’t want to compromise who I am as a person, as brand or as an artist to get that popularity. I’m not going to compromise who I am as an artist, just to have the fame.

And the same goes for me as a writer, I don’t share my work. I keep telling myself I’m going to. I have in the past posted a little. I just set up another tumblr for that reason but I just can’t convince myself to post it yet.

What I’m trying to say before I rambled off. Is for me it’s okay to want the fame and popularity but I’m still gonna write what I want to write, I’m still gonna photograph what I want to photograph.

So the people that enjoy my work might be smaller, but I do believe they’ll be more loyal. They’ll care more. And to me that means more. People just want genuine art. I can tell the difference when someone is motivated by a quick buck or because they care about the piece of art they are creating.

I’m not gonna lie to you, I’ve done it before too. Shot stuff I normally wouldn’t because it’s pay my bills. But I can also tell the difference in my work and the quality and sadly so can my clients or in this case readers.

I think that’s why fanfic can be such a better read than 50% of what’s on the shelves sometimes. Because it not about making money, or “publishing a book” they’re writing because they love the Charcters they love the story and they have a story they just want to share with the world.

This isn’t an attack on published authors at all, I’m incredibly proud of the fanfic authors I’ve watch get to publish their books. I love books, i love that authors spend the time they do writing and sharing their stories with the world. But I’m less cautious when I read fanfic because you can tell the love and passion that went into the stories. Where as you have to find and look through more books to find that love and passion.

I’m just giving a different perspective, someone that deals with this all the time in both writing and professionally. And like I said this is just what my opinion from my experiences.

Thanks anonymous for your perspective as well and everyone else that replied.

And thanks @ao3commentoftheday for the time you put in answering everyone’s questions, I haven’t sent one in yet but I’ve gotten a lot of help reading your replies to others messages and questions. 🤍

I think previous anon talking about popularity is too harsh, but overall I agree with them. There were good reblogs, but a lot of them remind me of the time when I was very unpopular in fandom and people told me that I don't need to chase popularity. They weren't huge BNFs but still someone who can be called "well-known" in fandom. It felt like a rich person was telling me that money doesn't matter. They were poular for quite a long time so I think they just forgot how extremely discouraging it is to spend hours on a work and receive no feedback. When you feel sad and uninspired, there is no precious warm comments to reread and feel better about your art.

Also it's not like you only get hate and fandom wank when you are popular. I was in a huge wanky fandom. I barely got any likes but received hate comments regularly because my favourite character had a lot of haters. I am more popular now but I am in a different fandom and my corner of it is pretty chill. I get stupid comments sometimes, but nothing as hateful as a got in my previous fandom.

Overall from popularity I got a lot of encouragement, inspiration, ideas and connections. It's so amazing to see you art bringing joy to people you don't even know. It's so amazing to stumble upon a comment about you in fandom discord server. "Oh, there is this writer, I really love their world building". You post your concept for a character in AU and people reblog it with tags "HE LOOKS SO GOOD I WANT TO DEVOUR HIM". It's the best feeling. Sometimes when I feel sad for a reason completely unrelated to fandom I just open one of my popular posts/fic and read all these nice things people wrote about it. I feel better instantly.

From people "just talking about downsides of popularity" and discouraging me from seeking it I got a lot of insecurities about my art and myself as an artist, I still struggle with even in my thirties. I still feel like a fake creative person because The True Creative Person (tm) is happy without any feedback and even think that having a lot of feedback is too much of a bother. I still afraid of promoting myself because I feel like I will be labeled as a vain clout-chasing fake artist who doesn't really care about things they draw/write and only cares about popularity.

thank you for sharing a different perspective!

[shatouto]

Can I get your opinion on something? I want to write a real unhinged fic, just straight dead dove (properly tagged ofc!) and im worried about how my friends in the fandom will percieve me when I post it. How do I get away from that worry? I understand this fic will not appeal to the majority of the fanbase, but I think it'll be fun to do and I've learned there's always at least one other person who likes what I write, so im sure ill have an audience however small. But im worried about how this fic will alter people's idea of me 😅 you always seem so chill and able to curate your experience to avoid the assholes and antis, which is why im asking you. Even if you have no advice, I really appreciate how much you've put into the obikin fandom, you're someone I really look up to

oh!! well i mean, if you worry about outside perception, you can always post your fic anonymously if on ao3 (just put it in an anonymous collection) :D

but on a more abstract level, if you're talking about like..... how to get away from this worry about what people will think of you when it comes to dark stuff, in general, i would say tbh it's your story to tell. there is so much more to you than just, like, a dark fic, or even a hundred dark fics. like yea ppl can be squicked out by your stuff and avoid it, in which case it's fine!! but nobody has any right to infer anything about you as a person solely based on the content you create. so like, go for it, cause ur friends who love you as a person will love you regardless of whether they like your stuff :)

also omg at first glance i thought you accidentally sent this to me instead of @/ao3commentoftheday until i read all the way to the end hahaha please don't look up to me i’m just a chaotic trash gremlin thank you for your kind words and your regards, i’m honestly surprised and very touched ;o;

[r3volutionary-queen]

Trivia Tuesday

Creators: give a “behind the scenes” look at one of your works. This could be things that got removed or changed, the origins of ideas/details, whatever you like!

(Thanks @ao3commentoftheday for the header!)

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I haven’t done one of these in a while. After having a pretty deep Ignition chat with @unlimitedhappylife last night, I thought it might be fun to share some insight.

One thing, if you read with a magnifying glass, you’ll notice in Ignition is that it has layers. Layers on layers on layers.  I also love playing with parallels. One of my favorite examples is the dynamic between Steve and Darcy. Prepare for a long post below of an author’s ramblings.

A big theme in this story is sacrifice. In the start of Ignition we see it play out where Steve is willing to put Darcy at risk by taking her on a secret mission in order to bring back the TeleThor. When they get back to the safe house, successful but with a close call, Thor and Steve have a big argument over it because to Thor, the idea that Steve was so willing to put Darcy, who is infinitely precious to him, in danger is enraging. In their argument, we see Steve state that it was Darcy’s ultimate choice to take the risk and that she has that right.

And Thor struggles with that reality because he loves Darcy like a little sister—she is all he has left.

Later, after Thanos threw down the ultimatum to the Avengers demanding they turn themselves in or he starts killing 50 random citizens a day, we see Steve getting ready to turn himself in to Thanos. He’s ready to sacrifice himself so that 50 citizens can go free because one life for 50 is worth it to him. And we see Darcy have a major issue with that (basically having a similar stance as Thor in the first argument over the idea of sacrifice).

“And if I willingly choose to sit back and let fifty people—fifty lives—be snuffed out, what will my life be worth then?” Steve’s voice was hard and unyielding. “It’s a selfish thing to want to trade fifty innocents for our lives.”

“Says the man who wouldn’t be left behind to drown in the grief,” she snapped, slamming down her mug.

And a little later in their argument...

“Steve, you’re asking me to do the very thing you are unwilling to do: knowingly stand back and let a sacrifice happen. If we’re—you said we’re friends, right?”

He gave her a careful nod, like he was waiting for the trap, and Darcy pressed on.

“Then stop asking me to be okay with losing you.”

And then, later on when the Soul Stone comes into play, I flip the script. Steve gets to experience firsthand what Darcy felt in that kitchen—what it’s like for someone he cares about to decide to put their life at risk.

And suddenly, Steve is no longer okay with the idea. It makes you wonder if the Steve we see later in Ignition would have been as open to the idea of sneaking Darcy out on a secret mission as the earlier Steve was.

Also, everyone loves to get pissed at Clint and I get it, he’s a bit of a dick. But I wanted to write Endgame Clint (minus the Murder spree) and have him be an alternative view on things. And, whether we like him or not, he speaks some pretty hard truth. He calls Steve out on his shit (in an asshole kind of way lol).

“Darcy.”

Clint slid a dangerous look at Steve who was leaning forward trying to get her attention, his hand closed in a tight fist. The archer lifted one cool brow, his voice turning mean. “Yeah, you’re going to get over that coddling shit real fast, Cap. We’ve all got tough decisions to make and a part to play. We’ve known since the moment Loki brought back the stone that there would be a sacrifice and—”

“—and it’s not you being ripped open by an infinity stone every time you touch it.” Steve bit out with real venom, his eyes flashing.

“Maybe if you weren’t just interested in getting your dick wet—”

Darcy flinched, shame washing over her, turning her face a bright red.

And a few paragraphs later...

Steve’s jaw ticked. “I don’t want us to fight, we’ve got a big enough enemy already. We don’t need to add more amongst ourselves. That being said, you do seem awful eager to spill blood that isn’t your own, Barton. That’s where I have my problem,” Steve tried, his tone less defensive.

Clint snorted humorlessly, still clearly riled up. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse, barely more than a rasp, like he had screamed it all out.

“That’s easy for you to say. Didn’t you sneak her off for a fucking mission back at the safehouse? What, now suddenly things are different—you care?”

Bottom line: I love gray areas. I love decisions that aren’t black and white, things that make you think.

Darcy is their only hope at that time of bringing back half the universe. One life for half the universe, is it worth it? Clint doesn’t know Darcy like Steve or Thor do, to him, she is the key to bringing back those he loves and so in his mind, it’s worth it.

Steve had this same conversation with Vision in Infinity War and remember, Vision was okay with sacrifice but Wanda was not (again, it’s different when the sacrifice is not yourself but someone you love).

Anyway, congrats if you read all of that. Welcome to how fucking complicated the storylines and characterizations are in my head. It’s a hot mess most of the time, but I also love this kind of shit.

If this is something folks like, I’d be happy to share any other sort of behind the scenes insights to the story or characters.

Annnnd I’m done 😂