#they literally invented ao3 and fanfic

[starnana7]

ship so good it makes me want to kms.

[d33pwithinmys0ul]

༄*･*｡.･༄･* ･*｡.･*༄*･*｡.･༄･* ･*｡.･*༄*･

Pride and Prejudice and Titans

This is a project I've wanted to do for a while, and finally started for day 26 of Janeuary, militia! Author's note and prologue (technically chapter one) are below the cut, but the first two chapters are here on ao3!

જ⁀➴ Regency romantasy AU inspired by Pride and Prejudice, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and Attack on Titan. Jean Kirstein x Reader, third person, semi graphic violence, use of y/n, Levihan, Aruani, she/her Hange Zoe, and soon to feature Eremika, Pokkopiku, Yumihisu, and more chapters.

See other Janeuary works reposted by @janeuary-month! See my Jane Austen blog here @aust3nland

જ⁀➴ authors note: This fanfic is a melting pot of direct lines from the Pride and Prejudice novel, references to the 2005 & 1995 adaptations, the p&p zombies novel, but mostly the p&p zombies movie- with Attack on Titan on top. I wanna make the disclaimer that this was super self indulgent fun, and though it features chunks of Austen’s writing, it’s obviously mixed with mine, and it’s not perfect, and definitely not “better,” that’s not the goal. I took certain liberties with characters in both canons to fit the idea of everything mashed together, and tried to contextualize both canons enough so that (hopefully) if someone read this with only knowledge of one fandom but not the other, they can still somewhat enjoy this. And there’s literally third person self insert, so that’s another gluttonous sin. <3

༄*･*｡.･༄･* ･*｡.･*༄*･*｡.･༄･* ･*｡.･*༄*･

Prologue

It is a truth universally acknowledged that any titan consuming human flesh must be in want of more flesh. 

Never was this truth more plain than during the attack at Maria Park in Shiganshire, in which the grand household of twenty aristocrats, children, and servants, were slaughtered and feasted upon by a horde of titans. They were brought on by a previous ambush from an exceptionally tall and menacing titan, very unlike the rest of his kind. 

Aptly named, the Coordinate Titan was observed to withhold a great degree of control and consciousness, alongside the unique ability to command armies of his “pure,” comparatively docile brethren. 

In the earliest days of the war against the titan scourge, long before the Coordinate came to be, the great country of Paradis built three walls within their borders, with very few access points, in order to keep the horde at bay. 

The outermost wall collapsed almost completely, prior to the discovery and invention of those omnidirectional mechanisms by which one could kill such beasts. It became fashionable and esteemed for young and able bodied people in and out of the militia to learn the art of navigating such gear, leaping to great heights and slaying the giants with a long blade in each hand. 

After the Coordinate titan unleashed its wrath upon many towns across Paradis, was one last attempt at isolating man, the order to destroy every connection and entrance of the walls to one another—save Fritz Bridge, now teeming with defenses, and the only remaining means of protected correspondence between the central city of Mitras and the new outer wall. 

Without warning, humanity’s most perilous discovery then vanished, and the threat of the Coordinate was no more, the circumstances of his disappearance and initial attack still unknown. 

Following the rehabilitation of society, the gentry began to leave the safe confines of the Interior, in favor of newly fortified country estates. 

Many were of the opinion that Paradis approached peace, despite the remaining infection of pure titans milling within and beyond its walls. Some insisted that vigilance was of the essence, and there were greater things to fear than the occasional horde upon a vulnerable town—whether it was the end of days, or the return of the Coordinate, often seen as one and the same. 

Well trained soldiers returned to their lives with a determination to pass their deadly skills onto the next generation, should any greater threat arise.

A former captain, with his section commander and wife, sat in the library at their estate, and possessed such a goal.

“My dear Mr. Ackerman,” said his wife to him one day, “have you heard that Maria Park is let at last?”

Levi replied that he had not. 

“But it is,” returned Hange, “for Mr. Berner had just been here, and told me all about it.”

Levi gave no answer, stirring his tea. 

“Do you want to know who has taken it?” Hange cried impatiently. 

The embroidered rose upon her eyepatch, a decorated mark of her many battles, winked at her husband from behind wiry spectacles. 

“You want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it.” Mr. Ackerman replied. 

This was invitation enough. 

“Mr. Berner says that Maria is taken by a young man of large fortune and artillery; he came to Shiganshire in a chaise and four, narrowly escaping from the most recent resurgence of unmentionables in Ermich!”

“What is his name?” Only the latter statement piqued Mr. Ackerman's interest.

“Arlert. Though the man says that Mitras no longer agrees with him, and that Shiganshire is most charming. A single man of four or five thousand a year—what a fine thing for our girls, an even finer thing for my research, to chance the briefest inspection of the true damage the Coordinate had left!” Hange made no attempt to hide her thrill.

“Can this Mr. Arlert train our girls to balance perfectly in firmament as they use their mobility gear?” Levi’s amusement was unabashed.

“How can you be so tiresome, my dear? Surely your own instruction for the girls is more than adequate. You must know that I am thinking of his marrying one of them.” 

Hange was by no means a romantic. Despite society’s disheveled efforts at rebuilding, one must continue moving forward and look to the future. Mr. Ackerman will not live forever, and the female line was not to inherit the estate, no matter her efforts… 

“Is that his design in settling here?” Her husband replied. 

“Design! Nonsense,” Hange said, pacing about the room. “But it is very likely that he may fall in love with one of them, and therefore you must consider our daughters. It will be impossible for us to visit him if you do not initiate.” 

“I see no occasion to risk my life to visit a man with whom I am unfamiliar.” Levi cradled his teacup with his palm above the rim. “If you insist it is for the good of your research, surely you may charm him yourself, to be so presumptuous as to consider Mr. Arlert a special instrument for your scientific endeavors.” 

“Mr. Ackerman, you take delight in vexing me. You have no compassion on my poor nerves.'' Hange sighed, fanning herself lightly. “With five daughters so close in age, I should desire a young man take a liking to any of them. There are none so refined in the deadly arts as our girls, nor as dutiful as Anne, or as well humored as Sasha.” 

There were many things in Eldian society Hange did not invest her beliefs in, least of all social etiquette —all the more her amiable husband must introduce himself first, to secure the girls in Mr. Arlert’s good graces. She knew that she would much rather explore Maria Park than speak idly to anyone for the permission to do so.

“You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves, as they are my old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration these twenty years at least.'' Levi’s tone was dry, and he could not help but give his wife a small smile. “I hope you will get over it, and live to see many young men, fine warriors, of four thousand a year come into the neighborhood.'' 

“It will be no use to us if twenty such should come, since you will not visit him,'' Hange sniffed, discontented. 

“Depend upon it, my dear, when there are twenty, I will visit them all.''

read the rest here on ao3

[pluckyredhead]

hi! i'm new to comics and i got in through reading your fics and wayne family adventures. i've since started reading more of the mainstream verse and i realized that most comic fans consider wfa to be totally fanon. you're one of the few i saw that disagrees. would you mind elaborating a lil on why? i'm too new to really form an opinion either way but i'd like to know your's!

(also yes i really did stalk your blog back years worth of posts i'm sorry! 😭😭)

Aw I love this! Welcome!

So I think it's really important to be clear on definitions here:

Canon means it's part of an official text. It's literally in a comic (or book or movie or other property) published or licensed by DC.

Fanon means it's made up by fans. That doesn't mean bad or good, it just means that it comes from fandom and is not part of the official text.

Wayne Family Adventures is an official licensed comic by DC, so by definition, it cannot be fanon. That doesn't mean everyone has to like it, but it's not a fan comic. It's an official DC product. It's not fanon.

Now, WFA isn't part of the main DCU canon. It takes place in a separate universe. The Jason in Batman #138 and the Jason in WFA are not the same and they are having very different experiences. (And I'm sure the Jason in WFA would be grateful if he knew.)

But that's no different than a comic that takes place in an alternate universe, like Dark Knights of Steel or DCeased, or a movie like Blue Beetle or a show like My Adventures with Superman. They all take place in their own universes, but all of those universes are canon. None of them are fanon.

What I think most people mean when they say WFA is fanon is that WFA draws on tropes and characterizations that are popular in fandom. Which...yes, absolutely. This is on purpose, and honestly, it pisses me off when people complain about it. (Not you, anon! Your question was lovely, you just triggered my unskippable cut scene of dialogue. Sorry lol.)

Wayne Family Adventures is probably the single best idea DC has had in the 20 years I've been reading comics. (The second best was the kids and YA graphic novel lines.)

I just checked, and WFA has 1.3 MILLION subscribers. That's more than every floppy comic starring Batman sells in a month, combined. It's more than literally any superhero comic has sold in decades - in this century! The combined strips have over A HUNDRED MILLION VIEWS. That is bonkerstown. That is a readership like DC hasn't seen since the 1970s. That is unparalleled success, and it's introducing characters like Kate Kane and Duke Thomas to a whole new audience.

Now, WFA was clearly designed to appeal to Batfans who were active on social media and fanfic sites like AO3 and Wattpad, and Webtoon readers. The readership of Webtoon is mostly young and female. Fandom as a whole is mostly female. The writer of WFA is female.

And maybe I'm not being fair here, but when I see people dismiss WFA as "just fanon," I always catch a whiff of "It's not a real Batman comic. It's a girl comic for girls."

I have spent the past 20 years begging DC (and Marvel, DC is not alone in this) to see women as a viable audience - as their largest potential growth audience! I have watched in dumbfounded frustration as they ignored the juggernaut success of Raina Telgemeier and Ngozi Ukazu and Alice Oseman running rings around the NY Times bestseller list and counted a 50k shipment here and there as a resounding triumph. I have literally seen them throw out survey responses from women because "those women had an agenda." (This is a true story. 2011 was rough, y'all.)

And all of a sudden, they gave us a comic actually catering to women and young people and fandom, and they put it on the most popular, current, modern platform for comics availably - and it's brilliant. It's smart and funny and stunningly drawn and every episode makes clever, inventive use of the scrolling format. They FINALLY gave us a girl comic for girls, and it's a masterpiece.

And yes, it riffs on fanon concepts. It also has its roots firmly in mainstream DCU canon. It references deep cuts. CRC Payne and StarBite know their shit. Jason Todd being a bookworm may be a fanon staple, but he does plenty of reading - including Jane Austen - in the 100% canon mainstream DCU comics.

It's not going to be for everything, because nothing is. It's completely fine if you don't like WFA. No one has to read it or enjoy it. If you're into Batman for the darkness and the crime and the ongoing plotlines and the angst, WFA won't be for you, and that's totally fine!

But to finally, finally be valued as a reader by DC, to have them do something smart and innovative and so, so well executed, and have the exact people they made it for dismiss it out of hand because Bruce has a "World's Okayest Dad" mug or whatever? Yeah, that chafes.

[daytaker]

Master Post! (One Post to Rule Them All!)

About Me:

You can call me Day! Or daytaker, or taker, or pretty much anything else. I'm an adult (over 25) from North America, and I use she/her pronouns. English is my first (and functionally only) language. I'm a major history nerd, especially when it comes to Ancient Greece and Rome, but also like... literally anywhere, any time. History is just so cool.

Fandoms:

Primary: Obey Me!, Genshin Impact (I will create and reblog content for this fandom!) Others: Arcana Twilight, Cult of the Lamb, Twisted Wonderland, Hazbin Hotel lately, plenty of others... (I will rarely create or reblog content for these fandoms, but I will like related posts!)

Requests:

Headcanons: FULL Drabbles: INACTIVE, but feel free to submit! Fanart: INACTIVE, but feel free to submit! Anything NSFW: Please inquire at my sideblog, @dayfinisher!

Ask/Request Guidelines

Important to remember with requests: there are no guarantees I'll actually get to them.

Commissions:

Fanfics and Fan Art: DM me! I've never done writing commissions before but knowing me I'll probably make 'em pretty cheap. You're free to ask about commissions at any time, even when requests are closed.

Masterlist of Content (Or, here are links to my fanfics, my art, and my headcanons, sorted by tag.)

Let's All Be Shadows - Honestly, I made this blog purely because I was so excited about writing this thing, I wanted to share it more. So I'm gonna put a link to its AO3 page on my pinned post. Satan-centric, endgame Satan x MC (kinda?), set in the Nightbringer timeline. I think it's pretty good. Lots of stuff happening. Hijinks and invented lore and all that.

[theconstitutionisgayculture]

Why do you care so much about AO3? The fanfics in that place, most of them, are just as bad written and cringe as the ones in Tumblr or Wattpad. Most fanfic writers aren good writers, they can't write anything of their own so they climb to IPs that aren't theirs, mischaraterize the characters and plot to the point of acting completely different.

And when they get a job as writers or directors in the intertaiment industry (like Nia DaCosta in Marvel), they do a terrible job.

Because I disagree completely with your assessment of fanfiction and fanfiction writers and I don't think art should be censored. I also lived through the FFnet days of having your favorite stories disappear overnight because of the obtuse, unevenly enforced, and constantly changing content restrictions on that site. A place like AO3, that was founded to be a place where all content is welcome and protected, is rare and important. Increasingly so as time goes on and the "art is literally harming me" crowd gets more and more influence.

Most fanfic writers aren good writers, they can't write anything of their own so they climb to IPs that aren't theirs, mischaraterize the characters and plot to the point of acting completely different.

So, they're so uncreative that they need to latch onto established IPs because they can't think up their own ideas, but then they change those characters and plots to be something completely different than what they read? Interesting. Anyway, all art is derivative in some way. Depending on which analyses you want to believe, there are only 6-9 story types. Every single story falls within one of these types. You can sprinkle in genre tropes, anti-tropes, subversion, modern inventions, etc to make your own story more unique, but nothing is wholly original. So I don't consider that a valid criticism at all.

And when they get a job as writers or directors in the intertaiment industry (like Nia DaCosta in Marvel), they do a terrible job.

Now this I do agree with, but I don't blame fanfiction, I blame producers and studio executives and DEI policies. If the best person who applied was hired for the job, it wouldn't matter how many fanfic writers and Booktokers tried to get mainstream writing jobs, none of them would be chosen because objectively better writers would be hired. But when the studio policy says "you must hire a woman for this" and all the talented women are unavailable, and the applicants you get are a bunch of no name, no resume, women, but one of them has a built in following from their fanfic days, an executive who only cares about filling in a name on a hire sheet so the project can move on is going to probably pick the one with a following and hope that translates to ticket sales in the future. The entertainment industry as a whole is going through a massive depression right now, and exactly none of that can be blamed on fanfiction or fanfiction writers.

Fanfiction is a blessing. It's thousand of novel length stories written by people who like the same things you like, delivered for free on an easily accessible and searchable site. It lets you experience new interpretations of your favorite characters and stories, or lets you continue those stories as they might have been continued by the original writers. The quality varies, wildly sometimes, but you can pretty much always find something you like unless you just hate the entire concept of fanfic as a whole. Which is, of course, perfectly fine. But let's not pretend that we need to find objective reasons to subjectively dislike something. We can all just dislike the things we dislike, and we don't need a reason other than "I don't like this thing".

[transredguy]

why do some people put ao3 on a high pedestal and treat it like its the greatest thing of our generation and actually ao3 invented queer rights where would our society be without ao3. like. first of all its just a fanfic site. and second i literally cant look through any tag without seeing a fic about rape on every page

[a1brix]

A "What If Uzi Died Instead of Nori" Fanfiction

This a first final draft of the opening scene of a new fanfic to post on AO3. I don't expect this to garner much attention in tumblr, but if you see this, please give comments and critiques! I feel like the ending was a little bit weak, and I have no beta readers...

---

"Mom! Check this out!"

Nori slowly turned from her desk to see Uzi hopping around proudly, holding a gun-looking thing in her hands. Nori sighed internally. That thing was the likely culprit to Nori's charge deprivation; That loud welding noise last night was constantly pulling her off sleep mode. And it was probably a new invention of Uzi's that Nori most definitely doesn't approve of...

She shook it off and smiled. If it would make her daughter happy, then she would entertain the idea of what kind of weapon her little girl had come up with this time.

"What have you got there?"

"My latest weapon!" Uzi began to wave the gun around, pretending like it was some sort of sword. 

“This cool-as-heck railgun!”

Nori stifled a yelp as the barrel whizzed past her head several times. She kept her smile though. The last thing she wanted was for her daughter to stop sharing these things with her. 

She loved seeing Uzi be with her…

But she was still quite uneasy about it! It's not every day your child makes something this... dangerous. Her eyes twitched a little when the barrel approached her again. Nori noted to herself to let Khan show Uzi some gun safety sometime soon, or at least how to keep the barrel pointed away from anyone.

Uzi smiled proudly back at her mom. "Pretty awesome, huh?"

"Sure, Uzi..." Nori reached forward, carefully pushing the barrel down so it wasn't pointed at her face. "Just... Please, try not to point that in anyone's direction, okay?"

Uzi stared blankly.

"Oh right... sorry, Mom." She said, tittering. "I forgot, heh heh..." Uzi set the railgun down on her desk carefully.

"Well... what do you think?"

Nori leaned forwards to inspect it a little. She didn't want to encourage the thought, but... "I can really tell how much thought you've put into making it a lightweight. The design itself is very sleek..." Nori did genuinely admire the craftsmanship. Khan really has been rubbing off on her daughter, hasn't he? She chuckled a little. 

"Although I am surprised you made it violet... and with stickers?"

Uzi crossed her arms and huffed. 

"Hey, I think it looks cooler that way! Don't ruin it for me!"

Nori shook her head, cupping a hand over her mouth and chuckling into her palm. "Well, I wasn't implying anything!"

"You're literally laughing at me!"

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are!"

"So, what if I am?” Nori gave her daughter a playful smack. Uzi stumbled theatrically as a response, before retaliating with an onslaught of light jabs aimed at her mother. Nori held up her arms in defence, laughing softly.

“As your mom, it's my job to bully you for impractical aesthetics!"

"Bite me!" Uzi exclaimed, now giggling. "As your daughter, it's my job to make fun of you for being lame!”

Nori gasped in mock horror. "How dare you?!" She grabbed her daughter by the shoulders, and Uzi squirmed in response, still laughing. "That's it, you're grounded!"

"What?! No!" Uzi cried out, trying to worm out of her mother's grasp. "This is injustice! I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Really? Did you do your homework?"

There was an awkward silence before Uzi’s eyes hollowed, displaying underlines.

"Ah! There it is!" Nori laughed, pointing a metal finger at the lines. "The proof I need!"

“Mom!! That’s cheating!”

Nori laughed again. Uzi was smart, but could never outwit her mom. Well, not yet, anyway. She awaits the day her little genius finally pulls one over on her… but in the meantime, Nori couldn't help but have a little fun with this.

"Yep, it's true. You are grounded. That's also for making me stay up all night with all those sounds, you little gremlin."

Uzi grunted. "In my defence, I was working on something awesome!"

Nori rolled her eyes, playfully pushing her daughter away. It was times like this Nori wished she had a popcorn bucket. These kinds of shenanigans with Uzi were more entertaining than old human movies… and the "definitely-not-pirated” anime Uzi always wanted her to watch? Speaking of, she should really introduce Uzi to some new stuff.

"Well, I hope it's worth giving your poor mother a sleepless night."

"Sorry... But hey, I promise it's good." Uzi picked up her railgun and smiled. "It's going to blast some murder drones' heads off."

Nori chuckled, but it lacked warmth. She still has to care for the safety of her daughter. Just imagining the thought of her little girl facing a murder drone made her—

"Don’t go, please...”

Those words came so suddenly. Too suddenly.

Nori’s eyes hollowed. Something was crawling up the back of Nori's processor. An awful feeling, weighing down on her entire being as she blanked out for a moment. She couldn’t let the cracks show through though, even if just a little bit. 

Her teeth clenched, and Nori swallowed hard. She forced that feeling down.

Uzi maintained her grin.

“Go where?" Uzi asked. "Oh…! Outside? I mean… Yeah. I'm definitely planning to take this bad boy outside once it is fully done, but—”

Nori flinched.

"I SAID DON'T GO THERE!"

There was a clattering sound that caused Nori to blink. Her eyes glanced down to see her hands grabbing onto Uzi’s wrists tightly, with the railgun now discarded on the floor.

A few moments passed before Nori looked up to see Uzi staring right at her.

For the first time in a while, fear was etched into her little girl’s face.

“...M-mom?”

Stop ruining everything.

Nori let go of her daughter's wrist immediately.

Uzi clutched her wrist, looking down at it while rubbing it gently.

No... She promised would not lose control again. She could not bear to hurt anyone again, especially not her own daughter. Uzi did not do anything wrong. Uzi was only being herself. 

And this was just supposed to be some fun teasing.

"Did you not like what I said…?" Uzi looked up, her eyes void of their usual cheerful light. Her tone of voice seemed too frightened to hide its waver, almost sounding like she was about to cry.

A painful static suddenly blared inside her. 

Nori stumbled back, grabbing her head.

A good mother wouldn't do this to their own child.

"Mom!"

Nori's optics widened as she saw her daughter scramble to take hold of her.

"Are you okay?!" Uzi asked.

Nori is okay. Nori will always be okay when Uzi is around.

"I... I... " Nori stammered, “I’m so sorry, Uzi.”

Nori hugged Uzi. Uzi did not reply, but Nori had her daughter with her. Nori wasn't alone. Everything was okay as long as Uzi was here. Nori wouldn't lose her, right? Uzi was her everything, her reason to live for, her ray of hope when everything turns dark. It would destroy her if she could never see those sweet purple eyes again.

In her presence, Uzi will always be safe.

A smile formed as Nori looked up to her daughter’s face again. 

Her visor was completely shattered on the right.

On the left, her remaining purple eyelight flickered weakly.

Everything will be okay…

"Uzi…" Nori smiled, “We can still fix this..."

She pushed the shattered glass away with her foot.

Nori was still okay…

Her eyelight darted around.

"M-mom… What is happening?"

Uzi was still there…

Nori held her tight. "I... I don't know, but we'll be okay."

Uzi's head fell forward, hitting her shoulder.

Uzi…

“Mom… Why…”

Uzi looked up at Nori, before her light flickered out.

Uzi... it still hurts.

"Why did you kill me, Nori?"

[neatimmortal]

Snippet of something im working on rn

this is gonna get lost anyways lol. anyways here's your fanfic formalities:

heizou x GN reader! modern?au!

TW: Character death, direct mentions of war (not a specific just a war), implied terrible injuries but very vaguely described.

DISCLAIMER: this is part of a longfic im currently cooking, and plan to start publishing on ao3 (once i figure out how to even work the site). This is not proofread! I quite literally just wrote this. Excited for this project.

1k wk.

As the bullets flew, one thing was clear. This was the end. And by Archons had it taken its’ time, you thought. A hand that took you longer to identify as yours than it should’ve was wrapped tightly around your abdomen, in a pitiful attempt to dissuade the bleeding from continuing it’s relentless pace. Your ears had been ringing since you arrived here weeks ago, the non-stop firing of guns and other military-grade weapons of destructions and what have you. You had assumed your eyes to refuse to focus on anything much like how your ears never ceased to stop ringing however you had not been aware of just how unfocused they could be until you had caught a couple of bullets yourself.

Was it vain to be curious as to what you looked like? Not in the “I-hope-I-at-least-look-as-decent-as-I-can-be-given-the-situation” type of way, but just how harshly had this war torn into you? Did you look as bad as you felt? You pondered as you trudged along the debris and worn trees. You weren’t sure where you were going. Just away, was all you really could think at the moment. Away from the gunfire, from the yelling, from the flares, the blood, the death, all of it. Away from all of it. A moment of peace.

Surely you at least deserved that, right? Just a moment. Nothing shorter or longer. Just a moment, to tip your head back, breathe in some air that didn’t feel filtered through the horrors you had been facing for the past couple of weeks while being stationed here. Your feet made up the destination before your mind did, tripping clumsily and falling to the ground in a partially-shaded area in the woods. Not even the strength to complain, a moment of peace, was all you repeated in your mind, as you struggled and eventually managed to turn on your back and face up at the sky.

You must have been further out than you thought. That or you just never really had the time to admire the sky when you were busy reloading the gun you had been given. It was a pretty blue. Not a cloud in sight, yet the sun’s warmth wasn’t unbearable. It was almost comforting, like how a mother cradles their child in their arms to help soothe them.

It was by some misfortune that your moment of peace was so rudely interrupted by someone else. They were picking their way through the forest, much like you had been doing not so long ago, with heavy, labored breaths. It was an even greater misfortune when you managed to discern the sound and made eye contact with a reddish-brown haired man, wearing the enemy’s uniform.

You had no gun on you. Not anymore at least. You knew the exact reason you had come all this way out here anyways, and figured you wouldn’t need it. Would he put you out of your misery, with a bullet to the head? Would he be kind enough to do that? Or would he beat you as you slowly bled and laugh maniacally? War was a terrible invention from long ago that brought out the inhumane side of humanity. To your upmost surprise, he let out a breathless chuckle, before flopping down near you. “Looks like someone had the same idea as me. What are the odds?” He spoke, his voice was terse, no doubt in as much pain as you probably were.

You let out a similarly sounding laugh as you replied, “apparently greater than either of us probably realized.” After a moment (used to gather enough oxygen in your lungs to speak again, truly it was a feat at this point), you continued. “How old are you?” The man let out a cough, then a couple more, before responding, “20, you?” “19. Turning 20 in a couple of weeks.” “Happy early Birthday then!” He congratulated, mustering whatever grandeur he could, earning another strained giggle from you. It was quiet for a moment. Then two. Then three.

You turned to look at your companion, had he already left you? To some relief (ironic how you were thankful that this soldier that you had likely been shooting at for days on end was still alive, if you made it out of here you’d for sure laugh about it.), it seemed as though he was just coming to terms with it all, he knew as well as you. He hadn’t fallen too far of a distant from you actually. Mustering up some strength, you reached your hand out towards him. Thankfully, he noticed without you having to get his attention. Looking at your hand, then up to make eye contact with you, you could see the tears forming in his eyes. He stared at you for a second, his troubles all televised too well on his features before he spoke. “I don’t want to die.” He whispered, the joking tone from earlier miles away. His voice wavered slightly, likely from the tears, but it must have been the way that he said it that caused a weight to settle in your chest. Rather than breaking down, though you could certainly feel your own tears beginning to well up in your eyes, you simply nodded at him.

“Me either,” your lips pressed into a sad smile, as there was no help coming, Both of you knew it. That was why both of you had come out here. For a moment of peace. It was well deserved, wasn’t it? He nodded and took your hand, grasping as tightly as he could muster for some solace. The two of you laid there for some time. No words spoken, no more action took. You each just stared up at the sky, not daring to look at each other anymore (at the chance to see their new companion had already gone ahead of them), hands intertwined. It was not what you had expected when you began your march out here, but you doubted that his expectations were any different from yours.

A moment of peace was what you both got.

[warrioreowynofrohan]

literally going to hell for this but whatever, i've just finished reading silmarillion last week and honestly, you've put into words what ive been thinking about finwe and his actions. i remember going 'what' everytime i see people's posts and fics about indis and her children because its such a far cry from the books themselves. like did the fandom also suffer from the fanon vs canon thingy?

Hi! Welcome to the fandom!

I don’t think you’re at all alone in your reaction to Finwë - I think he rubs most people the wrong way for a whole gamut of reasons. He seems to ge trying to have things both ways, and as a consequence ends up failing everyone - both sides of his family, and his people as well.

It’s a big fandom and there are plenty of different perspectives, but yes, on the whole, large parts of both both tumblr and AO3 have some serious issues distinguishing between fanon and canon when it comes to the Fëanoreans, and any characters who dare disagree with, oppose, or be harmed by the Fëanoreans. The former will be treated as justified in everything; the latter will be villainized. Elwing was a major target in the past, but that’s abated to a degree; Thingol still is, to the point where I’ve seen people say they hate him for [insert things that are made up entirely and the opposite of his canon actions] and largely ignore his canon portrayal, and act as if the text is behind them. (Guys, he’s got enough of his own flaws, there’s no need to invent new ones out of thin air!) Beren, Lúthien, Dior, Nimloth, Elwing, Eärendil - people will act like they’re in the wrong for having been subjected, variously, to attempted murder, attempted rape, and actual murder by the Fëanoreans. I haven’t run into a lot of stuff villainizing Indis and her children, but I have seen a few fanfics of that sort and they always make me hit the back button immediately.

For these reasons, I’ve ended up as pretty selective about what fanfic I read, because the character distortion in a large part of it is extreme. Apparently it used to be worse in the past; Elwing-hatred is a minority now on tumblr, it seems like, whereas years ago it was pervasive. There are still piles of older fanfics (and some new ones too) that treat Elwing as being obviously to blame for the Fëanoreans choosing to massacre her people, take her sons captive, and drive her to suicidal despair - and, worse, treat Elrond has having this perspective.

I suspect that some of this is coming from some very big, very popular older fanfics that created an image of the story and characters that is frequently confused with canon, and that a lot of people used as a jumping-off point.

Another element in fanon vs canon question is that there’s also a pile of in-between stuff: material that comes from Tolkien’s marginalia and other drafts that isn’t in the Silmarillion. Some very popular fandom stuff - though not the non-Fëanorean-character bashing - comes from there. (For example, Maedhros’ hair being red and him being attractive, and literally having a name that means ‘good-looking’, are some of the most widely-known things in fandom despite never being mentioned in the Silm, as some of Tolkien’s notes mentioned them. The main characters’ Quenya names - Maitimo or Nelyafinwë or Russandol rather than Maedhros, Makalaurë rather than Maglor, etc - are also from there, and you’ll see them all over the place. I wasn’t aware of any of that before I joined the fandom, but but within fandom it’s everywhere.) So it’s hard, sometimes, to know whether something is a widespread piece of fanon, or something from other books. This also plays into the Finwë situation, because one of the things that vary between versions is whether he remarried almost right away, while Fëanor was still a kid, or whether he remarried when Fëanor was an adult. Christopher Tolkien chose the material for the Silmarillion in order to have a coherent story - so, for example, some characters (for example, two daughters of Finwë and Indis) who existed in parts of some drafts but not in others are left out of the Silm, because it wouldn’t work to have them disappearing halfway through the story.

So that all adds into the issues because if people want to villainize one character or build up another one, they’ll go to different drafts and pull out all the most negative things about one character and all the positive things they can find about another.

There’s still a lot of good stuff in fandom, and a lot of good fic, and on the whole I’ve enjoyed things hugely (I started reading fanfic around 2018-2019 and joined tumblr fandom in 2020, so I’m comparatively new). And there is a lot of interesting stuff about the Fëanoreans - but it can sometimes tend to drown out - or at worst, shout down - fan material on other characters.

[neuroprincess]

My OC Odessa, an asanelian, and some stuff about this fictional species I invented in the Star Trek universe, all done with voices in my head

I'm literally just posting here so I can link to my ao3 fanfic XD

[musewrangler]

AO3 First Lines Tag Game

Tagged by: @brievel and @afaroffsong Thank you both!

Rules: Share the first lines of ten of your most recent fanfics and tag ten people. If you have written fewer than ten, don’t be shy and share anyway.

I'm assuming here ALL fan fic, so that will include a few yet unpublished things. ;D

Working from past fic to most recent:

10--Sanctuary

Veers watched tensely as the medics guided the grav sled onto the shuttle out on the vast landing platform connected to the medical station.

"You must stick to the schedule I've given you," Doctor Yara said sternly, tapping the specialized medical scanner. "No deviation. He ought to have had four days in the bacta, not 24 hours. You need to understand if you rush things it could literally kill him."

9--Forging Further Ch. 29

Piett looked up as the doors to his office slid open and Veers marched in. Any other person would have stomped, but as this was the 'Iron General' one didn't term this stomping. It was marching. Definitely.

8-- To Strive, To Seek, To Find, and Not To Yield

She clung as closely as she could to him in the dark and terrifying hold of this ship. She had utterly no idea where they were going, but she could guess the purpose. They were alive after all.

With beings like this it wasn't a mercy.

7--What We Say Without Speaking

"Sir, I have to admit this is making me rather nervous."

He could hear the Admiral making small movements to his left as he piloted the lamda. And he definitely heard heard the amusement in Piett's voice as he answered.

"I'm hearing a distinct lack of trust, Mr. Scraps."

6--Whiskey Diplomacy

It was entirely possible that diplomacy had been invented as a way to torture beings in ages past and all records of its inception had been lost. Thus, modern societies just assumed it was a normal way of conducting their affairs, slowly and torturously wearing each other down until they all got a mostly dissatisfying conclusion.

At least, this was Han's theory, as yet another senator rose to drone about all the virtues his planet brought to whatever deal they were trying to forge here.

5--Captain's Log: Tales Set in the World of Horblower

First Lieutenant Archie Kennedy was not someone who enjoyed the cold. His fiance loved the snow and found all sorts of romance about it. He could indeed appreciate that from beside the comfort of a warm fire or reading about it in a book. But she actually liked being out in it, and again, he could appreciate that for a while. But he was ready for the indoors after thirty minutes.

4--The War In The Shadows

Deep breath.

In.

Let it out slowly through the nose.

Lips arranged in a fixed and falsely pleasant smile.

Chin rested on gloved fingers interlaced together to portray interest in the speaker.

3--A Shield Not A Sword

"Sir," his weapons officer whispered in terror. He was a specky kid no older than eighteen. "Sir, what do we do?"

Piett stared out the viewport at the five Imperial Star Destroyers surrounding his tiny little assortment of ships. Four Gladiators and one Victory class. Typical for this part of the galaxy and more than enough to turn his smaller ships into tiny particles.

2--Yet to be titled long fic

Firmus Piett was not a man much given to the idea of romance. He acknowledged that it happened and other people seemed to like it---but he didn't understand the obsession with the shows on the holonet, or soul mates, or love at first sight.

1--Yet to bet titled one shot

"Plase, Max," his friend pleaded, gripping his jacket with surprising strength to keep Veers near him. "Plase. Ah know the ship went down intact. Ah saw it. Ya canna lave him..."

His Axxilan friend slipped back into his old accent when he was very tired, rather drunk, or downright terrified for his people.

Tagging with no pressure: @winterinhimring @hollers-and-holmes @chaosgoblinhours @klarionthewizard @alexx-dax @kanerallels @oftincturedwords @oh-great-authoress @mathmusic8 @themummersfolly

[irlkisukeurahara]

PULT Rose is not at all a reflection of how I actually see the character of Chairman Rose. The story I've written does that thing that I have personally admonished in the past of people taking shitty morally questionable characters and just making them pure evil out of nowhere. So maybe I'm a bit of a hypocrite. But my main point and problem with people doing that is inventing these grimdark takes and then going on Twitter and saying "Manfred von Karma is literally a child abuser you can't like him."

I wasn't gonna make Rose like that at first because I don't really believe he's like that. I think the take of Leon actually in game getting groomed is questionable at best. It only turned out like this because I was building PULT Leon's trauma around his past as a champion and was like "there's no way Rose wouldn't have found out about this and put a stop to it." so I just improvised from there. I know Rose isn't fucking like that. This is an AU. PULT is a sequel, but it's still an AU. An OC focused AU with a bunch of SWSH characters plus Arven as protagonists.

So I don't plan on tagging any PULT stuff I make with #chairman rose even when it very explicitly mentions him. Closest would probably be putting #rose is worse than he is in canon for like... The AO3 tags... Because, that's exactly what it is. An over exaggeration where he's made worse for the plot. I'm okay with AUs like that as long as they ACTUALLY UNDERSTAND that they're doing that. Make your "Manfred von Karma abused Miles" AU as much as you fucking want I don't care. But the moment you act as it's actually something that happened I'm out. And so I'm saying it right here - I know what I'm writing isn't canon. Because the point of it is that it isn't.

I'm probably never gonna tag Rose even when he's relevant. Because his portrayal in PULT is slander and that's part of the point. I know the difference between SWSH Rose and PULT Rose. Because PULT is a piece of dark fiction I am writing and I'll do what I want with it. And I know it's out of character, so I'm gonna spare the eyes of people who want in character jokes or funny content of the villain they like. Hell, my friend that likes Rose understands that difference.

It's not like I only made Rose shitty in PULT. Hop and Leon are also pretty fucking terrible to each other for a while. Mostly Hop but still. Because everyone fucking sucks in this goddamn fanfic alright. The characterization is questionable because it's an AU and that's the point. I know that's not everyone's cup of tea and that's okay. Just keep scrolling until you find a story that is <3

[ourlordapollo]

Stumbled across this Fanfic Tag Game and nobody tagged me in it but I thought it looked fun, so here we are

As such, I will also not be tagging anyone. Be free! You can do whatever you want forever!

1: How many fics do you have on AO3?

31

2: What’s your total AO3 word count?

347,001 :0

3: What fandoms do you write for?

Pokémon (games), Ace Attorney, Sanders Sides, Black Butler, Welcome to Hell

4: What are your top five fics by kudos?

I Love You (Just in Case You Didn't Know) (Pkmn)

Seek, and Ye Shall Find (W2H)

Soft-Shoe Shuffle (TSS)

Intertwined (TSS)

A Place Where I Can Breathe (TSS)

5: Do you respond to comments?

I try to! If someone leaves a whole bunch on a multichap then I usually just reply to the last one.

The only comments I absolutely don't respond to are ones speculating on what will happen next. No hate, and I'm truly flattered people are invested enough to guess, but they make me uncomfortable because them I start to wonder "does my version not make sense? Will they be disappointed if the story doesn't go that way?? Am I gonna get a bad grade in fanfic??????"

I am very normal :)

6: What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably Down Comes the Night. It's a W2H fic that ends with a break up so bad one of the parties literally invents Hell. (Yes it's Proveles lmao)

7: What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

ILY(JICYDK). I write a LOT of happy endings, but there's this concept in music theory where something loud sounds loud, but something equally loud preceeded by something quiet sounds REALLY LOUD. By that metric, many of my endings are roughly the same, but this one is preceded by something tragic.

8: Do you get hate on fics?

No lmao. I don't really write anything controversial.

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

Nah. Maybe in the future, but it's not really the kind of thing I'm interested in on its own? I can see p0rn having a place in some future stories, but it's not something I'd prioritize.

10: Do you write crossovers?

Nah. Apparently what I write are called "fusions."

11: Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge

12: Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but I have toyed with the idea of translating my own fics into German

13: Have you ever co-written a fic?

Good LORD, no. I'm too much of a control freak to ever consider that

14: What’s your all time favorite ship?

Apparently it's SnazzyShipping. Don't ask.

15: What’s a fic you’d like to finish but don’t think you ever will?

You never know with me. I could finish anything at any time.

16: What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, weird displays of love and intimacy that ride the line between platonic and romantic, dialogue, pastiche, and dialogue

17: What are your writing weaknesses?

Sometimes I get a little caught up in adjectives so I'll use two (or more) redundant ones in a way that really doesn't serve the story, but frees me of having to choose lmao. Occasionally you'll get a sentence like "her voice was soft, gentle, crawling along his skin like a drop of water" or some bullshit. It purples up my prose needlessly.

18: Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

BUCKLE UP

I think it works best as little interjections; I think it can really humanize characters who learned English as a second language. For example, in all my years studying German, no one in my class EVER answered a question with "ja." It was ALWAYS "yeah" or "yes," even when we were doing total immersion. There are just always things that are gonna come out of your mouth in your native tongue unless you're being REALLY careful. So I think interjections, expressions of pain, yes and no answers, and swears/oaths do REALLY well when written out in the target language.

That being said, I don't think it works for most other scenarios. Maybe in a story with an omniscient narrator. Because in deep POV, if your character doesn't speak the target language, "he mumbled something in German" works better than "'küssen verboten,' he said, whatever that meant" because there's no reason the POV character would be able to identify those words without also understanding them.

There is one niche usage of the above that I've found works, and it's used in The Secret History, the OG dark academia novel by Donna Tartt. A character speaks Latin at the POV character. He understands enough Latin to pick out and identify the words that are being said to him, but he doesn't know what they mean.

*deep inhale*

HOWEVER you do have the problem of the POV character speaking the target language with someone else, and they both understand each other. There's no elegant solution to this. "'Kissing forbidden," he said in German. / "Strongly forbidden," I agreed in kind' can only do so much, especially if it's a long conversation. It's not strictly grammatically correct, but back in my Hetalia days, people used to use «guillemets» to indicate sentences spoken in the target language and I have borrowed that from time to time because I find it the most elegant solution, even if it necessitates explanation in the author's note

19: First fandom you wrote for?

Pokémon! But the anime; I used to almost exclusively read and write RocketShipping fanfic

20: Favorite fic you’ve written?

When I weed my garden, I don't pick out a favorite weed as I'm throwing them all in the compost lmao. For me, writing is like weeding my brain. I think my fics are good, and I re-read them, but I wouldn't use the words "like," "dislike," favorite," "least favorite," etc to describe my relationship with them

Wait no just kidding it's Hitsuzen.

Hitsuzen is my favorite work.

[lilacmermaid25]

Ted Lasso Fanfic Challenge 2023 - September

September’s Challenge:  Let's make a swap!

The Rules: There are none, EXCEPT that that your piece must involve something in the show being 'swapped' in some way. Consider an AU where roles are swapped - make Mr. Lasso the cheater, and Mr. Welton the one who died in 1991. Make Roy the young hotshot, and Jamie the one on the verge of retirement. Make Rebecca the coach and Ted the owner of the team. Or take a line or an event, and attribute it to a different character than we saw in canon - write about Roy giving somebody else the captain's armband, or somebody else landing in the hospital after a bike accident, or Rebecca yelling at somebody else in the bathroom. Or make the swap at the episode level - what if Jamie had been sent back to Man City far earlier? What if Rebecca didn't reunite with Sassy and Nora until the funeral? What if Keeley started dating Jack after breaking up with Jamie? Lastly, if you're feeling really inventive - what about a literal bodyswap? What would happen if Ted & Rebecca woke up one morning in the wrong body?

Any character, any setting, any premise - anything goes! I’m calling it August’s challenge, but there is absolutely no deadline. And no word limit either - make it a drabble or a one-shot, or the longest multi-chapter you’ve ever written. (I can’t claim to need new things to read these days, but I love multi-chapters all the same). It doesn’t even need to be fic - I’d be thrilled if any of these challenges inspired a gifset or some other form of fanart!

Want to participate but aren’t able to write something at the moment? That’s fine too! Just describe what you’d like to write about for this month’s challenge. I’m curious what ideas all of you have in your heads!

Please add your fic to the AO3 collection HERE, and tag it with Ted Lasso Fanfic Challenge anywhere else you post!

Feel free to check out any of my prompts if you’re looking for inspiration. I hope to create a Masterpost with all of them in one place soon!

Bonus Challenge: Feel like setting an additional challenge for yourself? Send  me an Ask and I’ll give you a character/setting!

Good luck!

Previous Challenges:

2022

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

[elegantkittycat]

~ the humour is just perfectly tailored to my tastes: a little exaggerated and very crazy and also sarcasm and self-depreciative comments on an astronomical level

~ literally an alternate universe adult Harry falls into with two of his auror friends (not Ron and Hermione) hence no shared past with this world's Riddle

~ Riddle is a politician and Harry is a nihilistic little shit. it's basically The Office but so much more guys

~ with soooooooo much sexual tension and pining

~ Harry is a bi disaster and I love him for it

~ the side characters are AMAZING. GOYLE PAINTS. THERE'S A CONJURED CHICKEN. LAVENDER IS A SEXY BADASS QUEEN. IMAGINE THE DEATH EATERS IN THE OFFICE I DARE YOU

~ the every day life of an officer in the Ministry of Magic (full of assassination attempts and stray assassins in cupboards)

~ Tom and Harry are magical theory nerds

~ this is just delicious. and insane. i love every minute of it

~ to me, this is the best harrymort fic ever, and i've been reading countless newer and truly fabulous works, but this is THE fic standing the test of time (i read it first like, more than 10 years ago, if i remember correctly); the fic that stands out the most to me to this day. the one i constantly go back to. i even dream about it sometimes. it's crazy

~ also it's up on AO3 but only the first 17 chapters or so. the author started to post it there but just stopped, i guess? it's a huge piece of work, so i understand

~ Harry is a fledgling Unspeakable with a mysterious parentage (AND THAT PART IS JUST SO GOOD. SOOOO GOOD. if you want an unusual and fascinating take on Lily Potter and motherhood and career and magical theory and basically all the emotions under the sun this is the best piece of written story ever, like, ever for that)

~ harry is a bitter little gremlin. powerful and knowledge-driven but not overpowered and i love that for him. he makes countless of mistakes, and he's so goddamn real and relatable all the time it's a travesty. he's hot-headed, a little filled with hate and so malicious sometimes goood it's delicious. and he's so done with Voldemort's shit. angsty teen on 1000% here we gooooo

~ Voldemort is a shitty, insufferable person who loves to play with his food. best Dark Lord ever, a little bored, a tad sadistic, also shamelessly using Harry's genius for his own ends. the manipulative sexy, unapproachable, madly brilliant and mysterious clingy bastard we all deserve

~ PLOT TWISTS. I CANNOT EMPHASIZE THIS ENOUGH. there are some tropes alright. but damn. DAMN. PLOT TWISTS, OK???

~ i'm bringing you the old goodies

~ POST APOCALYPTIC STEAMPUNK, GUYS CAN YOU HEAR ME. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. no, but seriously, the best world-building EVER???!?!???!? POST APOCALYPTIC STEAMPUNK i'm dying here of excitement

~ i absolutely adore this story so much i have no words

~ an AU like nothing you ever read before. it's sooo refreshing, unique and full of mind-blowing ideas and inventions

~ LUNA IS LIKE A GODDESS

~ there are no kids in this world (because apocalypse, remember?) EXCEPT FOR DRACO AND IT'S HILARIOUS

~ Tom is a charming, smarmy bastard and he has literally no sense of shame nor any idea about personal space when it comes to Harry. what's new about that, i know right

~ Harry is a disaster engineer aka mad scientist constantly covered in soot and swearing like a sailor, also an emotional mess

~ imagine Tom, Bellatrix, Lucius and Narcissa storm into a throne room full of enemies with only swords in their hands, while Snape is throwing smoke bombs among them to even out the field and Ron plastered next to him thinking "these bitches are all fucking insane"

~ the Founders are living legends

what's everyone's top 3 tomarry/harrymort fics?

[bewires]

fandom and the criticism paradox: an essay

So there was recently some twitter drama about a thread where people were supposed to post "cancelable" opinions about fanfic. unsurprisingly, someone saw something in that thread that applied to their own fic and then deleted all their fics off AO3.

there was some backlash to this incident in two specific ways that I saw:

(a) criticizing the author for being so sensitive/looking at this thread in the first place

(b) rejecting criticism of fanfiction bc fanfiction is not forprofit

to be clear, I have no particular stake in the fic trope in question being criticized or the author who deleted, they are specific to a fandom I am not in. what this makes me think about more than anything is the uneasy role of fanfiction as an art form. (if you disagree that fanfic is art you can stop reading here, that is my central premise).

I've been involved in fandom in one way or another for ~15 years, and I can still recall that in the days of yore on fanfiction.net, people would add "concrit welcome" or "read and CC!" in the notes if they wanted to receive constructive criticism. Actually, when I went back to delete my fanfiction.net account several months ago, I discovered also that I as a 13-year-old was exactly the kind of asshole who GAVE constructive criticism, in a tone that would make me furiously angry if someone left that kind of comment for me on AO3.

I can also recall that as a 13-year-old, I received some dismissive commentary that made me discontinue a fic entirely. It was a terrible fic, it was marauders-era HP fanfic about Sirius Black falling for an OC who was best friends with Lily Evans structured around Beatles lyrics. I shudder to think of it and am thrilled it is lost to the sands of time and internet decay. But when someone left a comment making fun of how unoriginal this concept was, it hurt my feelings and made me move on to a different fandom. (This was literally at least a decade before the two cakes meme).

When I moved over to livejournal, it quickly became clear that this was a safer space to experiment, the worst that would happen there was that a fic would go ignored, not that people would leave condescending criticism. Maybe sometimes someone would message you to point something out, or fix a typo or something, but any sort of criticism was happening in private where I couldn't see it. Livejournal is where I really started challenging myself to write interesting concepts or experimental styles (all of which I also shudder to think of now).

Fast forward to AO3, and it is entirely impolite and not the done thing to leave any sort of criticism on a piece of fanfiction. What's more, AO3 is an archive. The author appears far more as an author rather than as a lowly blog runner among many; it's only when you follow them to tumblr or discord that you get to know the person behind the story, otherwise they appear to you only as an author.

There's still a much greater familiarity than there is on, say, goodreads. Published authors have access to their goodreads pages, they can see everything you say about their books there and some of them do check, but the comforting distance of a publisher and a for-profit book makes us more okay with that than with an ao3-review that lands directly in the author's inbox or the snide remark in the bookmark tags that the author will also see. (although I see y'all out there creating goodreads pages for my fanfiction and that....my dudes that's just weird why are you doing this?)

At the same time, though, the fanfiction author did not invent being sensitive about negative feedback. Authors being butthurt about bad reviews has been around for about as long as books. And I get why! Writing is personal. You put a lot of yourself into each word, and having it be rejected, or even mildly criticized, is uncomfortable and unpleasant. There's something to be said for the fact that it's a lot easier to leave negative feedback than positive. It's much easier to pinpoint what you don't like about something than to praise specific things you liked - I actually think ao3 comments are a great practice arena for giving praise and valuing what's done well, a thing I know I don't do enough irl.

So we can say that one arena which separates the fanfiction author from the published author is the directness with which criticism is received. Critical comments go straight from one user to another. In most cases when I've received them, they have been anonymous, probably because the user knows they're breaking fandom norms. Sure, criticism is hurtful for published authors as well, but they have two benefits: one, they are spoken ABOUT and not TO. And two, which leads me to the second point, at least they're getting paid.

The other big issue people raise is that fanfic authors aren't being paid; they are contributing their fanworks out of love, often in spare time as students or while working full-time. Fanfiction is not a commodity, you aren't buying a service and as such you have no right, as a reader, to complain.

This is not a point I can or want to argue; fanfiction is a labor of love and to see the work someone put in and decide to tear them down over not being great at dialogue or whatever is just a dick move.

But.

The thing that gets to me, the white-hot burning core of this argument to me, is that it can't be absolute. And this is where I run up against the central issue of debates about anything substantive on twitter or tumblr, and also why this post is so fricking long - these points are made briefly and succinctly and when you do that it sounds like you're making an absolute statement about whether fanfic should be criticized at all, ever, and I don't think that works.

See, I happen to think a thread asking for "cancellable fanfic takes" is an easy way to stir shit - it's bound to step on some toes and if you're posting in that thread, you're going to have to be okay with stepping on toes.

However, I also think that people should be allowed to have opinions on fanfic tropes in general without authors taking it personally immediately. Like, here, let me out myself: I don't like high school AUs. At all. Don't read 'em. Sometimes I filter them out on AO3 because I don't want to see them!

What a hot take. If some seminal author of high school AUs in any of my fandoms happens to see this, I sure hope they don't take this as a personal affront and delete their fic, because I'm talking about the trope in general and I have not even read their fics because like I said - I don't like this trope! And I happen to think I should be allowed to say that without being criticized for criticizing!

I even, and this is where I'm being controversial, think I should be allowed to go on at great length about why and in what ways I dislike this trope (I think it often destroys adult characters' agency and I also think most high school AUs are wildly OOC). This is not personal towards writers of this trope in my opinion. I do understand why someone might take it personally and/or disagree, and if they do, it's my responsibility to be clear that I'm not saying this to be hurtful but to express my own issues with the trope, but I still think I can say this on my personal blog in my corner of the internet.

So why is it important that I can lay out my issues with high school AUs? Well, because a lot of the time, the criticism of fandom tropes in general that get the kind of "authors are doing this for free how dare you express criticism" response is not innocuous, it's criticism of fandom tropes that further racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia etc. And I don't think it's a coincidence that this particular case, where a fandom trend for this specific fandom was being talked about in general and an author took it personally, is being used to restate and enforce "no criticism in fandom spaces".

Like...no, fanfic authors are not being paid. Yes, this is a labor of love and doesn't deserve to be treated like published work, lacking both the time and attention from an editor. But at the same time, if you put something out there into the world and let people read it, they can think whatever they want about it, and if they think you are hurting people with it, that should be something they can say. One last anecdote to exemplify this point: A few months ago, I clicked on a fic featuring what was, to me, very clearly a situation of dubious if not entirely lacking consent. The fic was not tagged as such at all. I found it pretty upsetting that the fic did not acknowledge the consent situation at all, and left a comment asking for a dubcon tag. In order to do so, I felt like I had to praise a fic that had upset me wildly so the author wouldn't be hurt by me asking for a tag, and afterwards, I was annoyed at myself for basically grovelling in order to get an appropriate tag I could filter for.

Fanfiction is populated by people who love art so much they want to make more of it, they want to think about it and meta and create. Of course fans think about the art created in their own spaces, and of course they have takes about it!

But I think that when we are discussing the role of criticism in fandom spaces, we must crucially differentiate between

Personal, individually-given criticism

Criticism of craft, i.e. solicited, friendly and clear suggestions to improve pacing, dialogue, whatever

Criticism as abuse, i.e. unsolicited and abusive critical commentary

Meta-criticism, i.e. commentary on tagging/fandom norms (which can easily also be abuse

General criticism

Criticism of craft, i.e. criticism of fandom trends like the way anal sex is often written in ways not at all like it's practiced irl

Criticism of norms, i.e. criticism of structural oppression being recreated in popular story beats

Criticism of tropes, i.e. "why I personally don't like high school AUs" (this can blend easily with criticism of norms)

Why is criticism of norms not part of individually-given criticism? Well, because fandom keeps showing over and over that when racism within a fandom is called out, it ends up with the people doing the calling out being harrassed and threatened and the people creating racist content portraying themselves as victims because "you don't criticize fanfiction".

And that's why I think we need to talk about fandom's uncomfortable relationship to criticism.