#what's the point of writing niche fanfic you want if you can't even read it when it's done

[pagodazz]

Emh fans when they're asked to stop sexualizing Evan Jennings and his characters because it makes him and his wife uncomfortable:

hope y'all are so happy with yourself for going against his wishes and being fucking freaks to him. You're all why he's barely online anymore. you cannot behave and you cannot be normal and you all have ruined what could be a very fun fandom.

Everyone in this fandom sees Evan as a piece of meat basically, you all only care about his character because Evan is a good looking guy. I mean!! let's be real here!!! let me quiz you on the lore!!! let me see just how fucking much you know about ALL the characters. let me see how much you ACTUALLY give a shit. Because all any of you do is post about how attractive you find Evan/habit and it's honestly so annoying.

I'm not saying you can't compliment him??? or appreciate his looks?? but drawing him in sexually compromising positions, writing in great detail about what you want him to do to you (PUBLICLY. no one gives a SHIT what you fucking do in private.) Or you're fucking mixing up habit and Evan, and just acting like you know his story when CLEARLY the most of you have watched habit compilations on YouTube and NOTHING else.

You cannot even convince me otherwise because I deal with people coming in my comments all the time asking about BASIC INFORMATION. like IF YOU DON'T KNOW THE PRINCETON TAPES ????? WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT THE FUCK????? YOU NEED THAT FOR THE SERIES. YOU CANNOT EVEN BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND HALF THE THINGS WITHOUT IT???????

This isn't saying you can't write fanfiction or shit like that this is JUST SAYING BE RESPECTFUL?????? these slenderverse actors ARE NOT A LIST CELEBRITIES. they're not like fucking Oscar Isaac or whoever people are obsessed with right now. THEY'RE NOT FAMOUS. THIS IS NICHE. THIS IS NOT POPULAR MEDIA 😭😭😭😭

Emh literally made NO money from their series, they didn't create it to gain anything like that. they created something fun and NOW YOU ALL ARE THE REASON THEY HAVE NO PART IN THIS FANDOM ANYMORE.

you robbed them of being able to love their creation and I hope you're all happy about that honestly because it seems like this fandom is only gonna get worse in this area. and I'm deeply disappointed.

edit: I would like to add one thing, Vincent caffarello had to deal with situations of extreme sexualization as well, and his got to the point to where he had to leave. Vinnie used to be very involved with the fandom, he even used to read fanfic which he had to stop doing because people would be writing characters to SEXUALLY ASSAULT HIM or others and he just couldn't continue to read things like that. He delt with minors sending him explicit photos and messages and that's literally all kinds of FUCKED UP. He did NOT want to be involved with that stuff.

It's like when Evan had someone impersonate him to try to get with minors. THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT OBJECTS FOR YOU TO SEEK OUT PLEASURE WITH. THEY ARE PEOPLE.

they are HUMAN.

if they were women?? would you be doing this as much??? or would you realize how messed up it really is.

[lia404]

It doesn't happen a lot, but for once I'll be venting on main. Let's talk about fandoms and languages, in a very frustrated way.

Many time, I have found myself upset at and exhausted by the entitlement of native English speakers when everyone else is already making the effort to speak their language.

Try (and I'm not being a Yoda here, I don't even say to do it, just to even try) to speak my language, and then we'll talk about the terminology I use and the grammar mistakes I make. Don't you dare dogpile on me for using the wrong word when I'm clearly not native. No, I was not trying to insult anyone. Yes, what I said was wrong, but you can point it out in a didactic way without being aggressive, and you can acknowledge that we are not all equal in languages or in our abilities in learning English, the One Language To Rule Them All (with all the dark implications of the title.)

Heaven's sake. I know I'm sometimes missing nuances. I am painfully aware that I'l never speak or write like a native speaker, and I'll never grasp the full underlying meaning of some words. Especially when they are words that have evolved, that have become something else in the context of modern Internet, in a corner of the web that I don't visit, because most of my English interactions are in the context of fandoms.

I don't understand your memes. I don't understand your jokes. I likely never will, and I've given up on asking for explanations, because they usually come with even more ununderstandable jokes, sometimes borderline mockery.

And don't you dare tell me "but your English is so good! Don't worry!" because guess what? I know. I've been studying that language for 25 years. It's my fucking job. I am rather confident in the fact that I know English grammar better than most native English speakers. It doesn't mean I don't make stupid mistakes, and it doesn't make me a native speaker. No matter how hard I try, I will never, ever be a native speaker.

Day after day after day, I'm putting in the effort of thinking in a language that isn't mine, looking for hidden meanings and weighing every sentence because even after 25 years, they'll never come naturally. Day after day, interaction after interaction, I wonder if I'll accidentally insult someone because of an awkward, gauche phrasing.

And I write this while being fully conscious that I have the priviledge of being a native speaker of one of the colonising languages. There are tons of resources in my language.

"If you're not happy, then just don't go to English fandoms."

See, that's the thing. Fandom activity exists in my language, but not in the fandoms I'm in. But you know, maybe I will. Maybe I'll snap and populate a full niche fandom with stories that native English speakers can't understand in a glance, have to put in an effort to interact with. Maybe I'll make memes in my language that none of my mutuals can get. But in the end, it will just be like shouting in the void.

Because here's a reality: most English speakers never put in the effort. They see a foreign language, and move away. And if, by some sort of miracle, they actually want to try, then they are lucky to be able to count on automated translation. Machine translation tools are always trained on English first. Any language > English usually is the pair that has the most reliable results. The same cannot exactly be said about English > any language. And again, I acknowledge that I'm priviledged in such a case, because I'm native of a language that is well-covered.

But it will never be enough for international fandom interactions. Another uncomfortable reality: the globalisation of fandoms has led to erasure of most other languages in fan spaces. This one's going to be hard to reclaim.

So I adapt and I speak English and I write in English. Sometimes I read fanfics and I cry, because I stumbled upon a sentence that I know, even with the best efforts in the world, I would have never managed to come up with. Sometimes I realise that between my job and my fandom activities, English has become such a huge part of my life that I'm losing my own mother tongue, that my phrasing is becoming awkward in it too. I'm not confident anymore using it. I look at the sentence I wrote on the blank page and I cry some more.

And I'm so, so tired of seeing "well-meaning" entitled native English speakers (and, no offense, but most happen to be from the USA, so there might be something cultural at hand here, but while I feel legitimate to observe languages, I don't think I have the legitimacy to observe societies) trying to hold everyone in the world up to their self-centred standards.

I speak English because you speak English. Speak my language flawlessly, and then we'll talk about my flaws when speaking yours.

[olderthannetfic]

https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/751011464262860800?source=share

Seeing the numbers compared, I realized that you are right, anon. It's a privilege to be able to write long fics, regardless of them thinking they're unable to write short fics because short fics are mostly scenes so it's not that long fic writers are incapable of writing short stories, deep down, they don't want to. Maybe it feels wrong for them since they've made an impression they always write long fics, maybe they find short fics less impressive, or believe that people won't give the same feedback as when they post something longer.

But I would like to argue that longer doesn't mean it has a plot. I've read 80k words of a character getting tortured with no chance of figuring things out or getting out of that situation and ended quite the same as the start. I've read 25k fic of characters just hogging. These fics have no stakes, no crisis, no buildup, no development, nothing just series of the same scene over and over with different sets or different positions.

Fanfic is free and that is why you encounter things that are, in a way, out of the box and technically are not allowed in the publishing world. But that's the beauty of it. Is it really that big of a gap for people who can write long fics vs people who can only write short fics? Because of how free fanfiction is, most things are okay to do, including only being able to write plotless or short.

One reason why I get jealous of other authors who manage to write longer fics than me is because I was too busy at the time. I found a good system for myself (dedicating a certain time to finish a chapter and then uploading them as I edit and so on) and you can build your own. I think with the right system, anyone can do it.

Pantsers, plotters, and hybrids are equal to me and it's true because how do you know that a person didn't just recycle the same plot they use from their previous fics, thus being able to write different versions of that story? We've seen the viral meme abt fic writers recycling the same thing and a lot of people admit to doing it. Does this mean they're mediocre or bad writers? It's not like that's against the TOS or illegal. Nobody paid us to keep making fresh new ground-breaking stories. The quality of a fanfic is decided from how you treat it. Do you still like it even after five years? Do you think about it sometimes? Do you feel so ashamed you'd rather put it in an anon collection or close your acc completely and orphan it? Do you wish for it gone to the point you delete every trace of it?

It's not from the amount of kudos, hits, or comments, tho yes it is easier to find good ones if you filter by kudos but there are lots of underrated ones and I've DNF a lot of fics that are not to my liking but have high-kudos because people keep rec-ing it. I want underrated fics to be more popular but not because it needs to be popular but because I hope to be in a community with more like-minded people. Fanfic has no publisher, we can't earn from it so traffic is merely informative so it's the community that matters the most.

In fact, to tell you the truth, after 17 years of being in ao3, I've curated my tag very specifically and stopped using the fandom tag and went straight to the ship tag. I also mostly rely on bookmarks, private collections, word from mouth of people I trust or believe to have the same writing style and taste as me. So it was very niche and limited.

Lots of stories have plots but not all must be in your favor so you gotta figure what you like to start. Are you team canon divergence or AU? what trope do you like? Telling someone to stop comparing is ineffective. We always compare because that's how we communicate. But people feel inferior because they don't feel worthy of themselves. If you start to know what you want, it's easier for you to write more. Whether you're still stuck on making 1k-2k, etc, at least you don't waste your time feeling sad or down and you keep writing. That'll help stimulate your brain and you will improve.

(Also maybe just don't listen to authors who you think are humblebragging. Mute or block them if you need to because I know, to some people who are in the same fandom, these types of attitude have more context to it. Idk abt anon, but in some cases maybe they were moots or the account was owned by another fan they've encountered on tumblr or other social media often, a BNF maybe, or just a popular author that other fans praise or talk about often, and things could get personal. Shit can go south quickly in the community tbh)

--

There's definitely an art to condensing one's thoughts into only a few words.

[caelum-in-the-avatarverse]

Hello! I’m trying to collect seminal fanworks for different fandoms, and figured that it would be a good idea to ask you for any for atla since you said that you’ve been involved in writing fanfic for the show for so long. Basically, I’m hoping to find any fics that are widely popular within the fandom and/or have laid the groundwork for certain aspects of fanon. I’ve already got Embers by Vathara down for this since I’ve seen influence from it pop up pretty often, but I’m a bit new to the fic side of the fandom so I wanted to know which other ones were out there. Thank you!

Hmmm. Well, I can probably point you in the right direction, BUT there's a few things about me you'll want to take into account.

I have always had incredibly niche tastes. Even back in 2009 I was way more interested in reading about minor characters than I was reading about the main cast, and I preferred genfic over shipping. So the fics I read didn't tend to get popular, and the fics that did get popular were usually shipfic and thus I didn't read them and wouldn't be able to track their effects on the fandom. I also haven't regularly read ATLA fic in years; I write it, but I'm way more interested in my own OCs and worldbuilding and headcanon sandbox than most fic these days, so I'm not sure what the current trends are or where they came from. Most of the things I point you towards are going to be very old and possibly forgotten.

That said, I think your best bet is going to be figuring out where the hangout spaces were and who the major players were in old ATLA fandom and going from there. @loopy777 and @piandaoist may be able to help us out here too, especially since I only joined the fandom after the finale aired; they were around long before that.

So, where did the original ATLA fandom and its fic live? Well, for the fic, mostly on FanFiction.Net. You're lucky in this regard--I don't think there were any big independent fanfic archives for ATLA. Harry Potter was around at the same time and had several big fic sites, but HP was older than ATLA, so places like Sugar Quill and FictionAlley were founded around 2001. FFdotnet was founded in 1998, but back then it was pretty commonplace to build your own personal place on the internet. By the time ATLA aired, though, I think FFdotnet was becoming the go-to fic place. And old ATLA fandom never seemed to have much of a slash fandom; if it had that would've been more incentive to start up a separate slash-focused archive, since m/m would be especially vulnerable to purges. So as far as I know, no one felt a need to establish an ATLA-focused fic website, and if they did it never got very big. You'll probably have some good luck seeing what was popular if you just go to the FFdotnet ATLA section and sort by number of reviews and check the dates on what you find.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are going to go looking for this stuff, you need to keep in mind that you are looking at a past internet that is very different from what you might be used to today. For all that purity culture wankers like to complain, AO3 is a dream compared to the olden days. Now, you can see a fic's tags and warnings (or that the author chose NOT to warn) before you even open it. That was not possible or expected on many other fic archives. FFdotnet only gave you so many characters to write your fic summary, that was precious real estate. Sometimes people warned for things in author's notes, sometimes they did not. The culture and etiquette around warnings was different; in many fandoms back then, failing to warn for character death was seen as way more upsetting than failing to warn for rape. Check the rating, the summary, the author's notes--and then understand that you might still run into a completely random sex scene halfway through the fic. Was every fic like this? No, of course not. Most of them weren't. But you have to understand that this is an unavoidable risk. If you can't handle the idea of stumbling across some underage Zutara smut, this might not be the project for you.

Oh, and mind the citrus scale--lemons mean sex, limes mean the characters don't go as far as having sex.

And FYI, it's been ages since I've read anything I'm about to go over and I can't remember the details, so yes, this warning applies to anything I recommend here, too.

Other places to check...well, fandom lived on LiveJournal back then. I'm not sure if ATLA fandom was very affected by Strikethrough and Boldthrough; like I said, there didn't seem to be a lot of slash fans back then. But you could probably go trawling through old journals and communities and see if you find anything interesting... Oh, and back then all fanart would've been posted on DeviantArt, that was pretty much where fanart lived back then. LJ didn't have native image hosting, you had to use Photobucket if you wanted to post any images on there, and why do that when DeviantArt was RIGHT THERE for your fanart.

Ooooh, here you go, FanLore has some lists of ATLA fan spaces, lots of which are on LJ and DA!

There was also AvatarSpirit.Net, but they shut down ages ago. I archived a lot of the threads before it went, but I basically skipped the whole fanfic forum--everything in there was probably on FFdotnet, and no one really left comments on the fic threads, so it seemed pointless since I was pressed for time.

I think that pretty much covers the places. So what about the people?

Well, off the top of my head, I think one fan you might find useful is AvocadoLove (haha your names match). She wrote a lot of fic, but her most popular by far was Another Brother, which I believe was the original Zuko Joins The Water Tribe story, so that trope can be traced back to her. AvocadoLove also kept what might've been the fandom's most prestigious fic reclist, which you can still see on both her LiveJournal and her DreamWidth:

LJ 1 | LJ 2 ||| DW 1 | DW 2

There's a lot of popular fics on this list. Be warned, though, that a lot of them have disappeared, especially if they were posted on someone's LJ instead of on FFdotnet. A few years back I went down this list archiving everything I could, and the number of error pages I hit was saddening. It's possible some have been reposted to AO3 so you can go check there.

Going off this list...

Enslaved by sharkflip--This was a popular Zutara fic, Zuko's the one who got enslaved lol. Extremely different worldbuilding from canon, I gave it a read once and it was interesting.

Mai's Ramblings by @loopy777--Oh my GOD I forgot this existed but it's great. Unfortunately ASN is gone and I have no idea if they're posted anywhere else, LOOPY TELL US, but these were just hilariously stupid rambles by Mai on every ATLA ship imaginable. Did they have a big effect on fanon? Unsure. Were they beloved by the ASN community? YES.

Stormbenders by Fandomme--Another super-popular Zutara fic, people loved it, so it's possible it might've affected Zutara fanon?

Water Tribe by Rufftoon on NoSelfControl--Okay, so this is a long webcomic about "what if Zhao survived the Siege of the North, got amnesia, and the NWT begrudgingly took him in?" Very popular with Zhao fans back in the day. The really cool thing about this is that Rufftoon was actually an ATLA storyboard artist, so her artwork looks a LOT like the show. I believe she made Water Tribe as a sort of personal practice for long-term visual storytelling or something. She did lots of other ATLA art too, you should check her out.

Oh, speaking of webcomics...

Plight of the Freedom Fighters by SioUte and PFFbySIO--The first webcomic was a "how to make Jet survive" story, the second followed the Freedom Fighters after the war as adults. SioUte was the Freedom Fighters BNF back in the day.

And while I'm thinking of it, not a webcomic, but sylvacoer had this whole not-really-Zutara story going on that was literally Blue Spirit/Painted Lady.

*thinks* Look, when it comes right down to it, unless there's stuff going on in the shipping subfandoms that I'm not aware of, I don't think you're going to find anything that directly established as much fanon as Embers did. There were plenty of other super-popular fics, sure, but most of them focused on shipping, and worldbuilding wasn't quite as important. Embers put worldbuilding first and foremost, and therefore it was easier for the fandom to pull from as a whole.

Uhhh let's see what else...at this point I'm basically just throwing whatever I can remember being interesting at you, lol, idk how much of an effect any of this really had.

DJNS wrote a bunch of fic with interesting premises, some shippy, some not. The Zuko/Aang roleswap AU was pretty cool.

For me personally, the biggest influences on my writing were Dark Puck and Rebecca Hb, specifically their Dai Li fics. They had a circle of friends on LJ who put out some good stuff.

*thinks* Yeah, I think that's all I've got for now. Hope that gives you a starting point! I'd also recommend, as you trawl through FFdotnet, checking out the authors' favorited fics in their profiles, you could probably find more interesting stuff that way.

Idk, I'll add more later if I think of anything. But if you start with AvocadoLove, I think that's an excellent starting point.

[finalgirlminamurray]

alright i'm gonna do it. my tcm fanfics:

The Sawyer Sisters, Fifty Years Later. the first one i posted which i wanted to get done in time for the 50th anniversary of the events of the first movie (not the movie itself, that was this year). consider it an introduction of sorts to the setting and characters of my gender-swapped au. written as an in-universe journalistic article but the kind that someone may have written out, sat down and looked at for a while, then discarded. i wrote it a few weeks before posting and i think it came out well enough. i felt like i should do something to celebrate the date and also establish my ideas.

The Texas Chainsaw Tarot. a conceptual piece that just consists of my descriptions of what i'd imagine a tcm-themed tarot deck would look like. i'm interested in tarot from an artistic/symbolic perspective and designing fandom-themed tarot decks is always fun, but i can't draw so i have to write it out instead. i'm glad i posted it on ao3 because it got some decent engagement. i still stand by all my choices.

don't question the virtue names: the sawyer sisters saga. this is my collection of all the sawyer sisters-verse fics i've posted. i'd already had these written but i did some significant edits before posting, and i think they turned out alright. still it's a very niche thing to have written so i didn't expect much of an audience. it's possible to read these like original fiction, but it would be too much to make the necessary changes to make it actual original fiction, you know? anyway what i've posted so far is focused on chastity (chop top's counterpart) and what she was doing in 1969-1973, because i felt that needed the most elaboration in this universe, and it turned into a whole thing because i just kept writing more and more detailed lore. i'll probably post more stories focused on other characters and time periods at some point, but for now we have a three-part history. (chass has kind of become my blorbo from my brain due to how much i've expended on her story, and she's not even really my favorite of the sort-of ocs!)

features a lot of 60s-70s cult stuff, partly inspired by some of the true crime literature i read around this time for "research", and partly by just the general vibe of the era. i deliberately didn't want this directly based off of any real-life things even though it's impossible not to be influenced, just as real cult leaders were probably inspired by the tactics of others before them. also features a lot of ocs.

i actually wrote these in reverse order of how they ended up being posted. i just kept going further back in the timeline while i wrote

ace of swords, or the rhythm of life (is a powerful beat). the first in the aforementioned series. chastity goes to la, meets and eats a girl, joins a new community, meets another girl, and... this was just meant to establish how she got to the final point, but it became its own thing soon enough. 2 chapters, 14k words.

hit the floor (and crawl to your mama). chastity goes to a party and has her first negative experience with the cult, then goes home, but not for long. originally written as an interlude of sorts. the last chapter takes place later in the timeline than everything else that's been posted so far, because again, these were written in reverse order. 3 chapters, 12k words.

the flesh failures (let the sun shine in). the last part...for now. chastity does something she's not proud of and unintentionally performs a heroic action, then gets her head bashed in for it. 3 chapters, 14k words.

more to come if i ever post the rest, and then...who knows? i'd also really like to expand on this verse here in ways that wouldn't fit into a published fanfic, regardless of whether anyone else cares lol.

[ladyniniane]

Trick or treat wip fanfic edition (obv post in whatever language said wip is in)

Also extra boop / trick or treat for an idea for an art project? 🎃

Thank you for the question!

Right now, I don't have any WIP fanfic, so to speak. I'm not writing much because my main focus is on my health. At first, I was like the worst patient ever but I have accepted that I must rest if I need to so my energy is returning! I hope to get back to writing soon.

I still have a fanfic on hold. It was supposed to be a sequel to my main fe3h fic. I have already written a good chunk of it. It's mostly cozy fantasy, focusing on house Gautier after the war. It also involves an OC, Ismene, a part-Agarthan doctor who must find her place in the world. I stopped writing it because I needed to distance myself from this fandom. I also didn't see the point since it's pretty niche. Many people can't be normal about OCs and won't give a chance to these fics, regardless of the quality and amount of work put in it. The French side of the fandom is almost dead (on Ao3 at least). But, it's the kind of thing I feel like I could need right now, so I will maybe keep it as a side project.

I have also my main WIP (Byzantine-inspired fantasy). Reading The teller of small fortunes really helped me figure out what I wanted to do with this one. Even though I'm writing a palace story, I don't want to write about some big conspiracy. What interests me are the relationships between the characters and the secrets of the imperial family. So that will be my main focus, with a set of secondary objectives to get some tension going.

As for an art project, here is a drawing in progress of a Byzantine empress (who is she😉?) (feat my workspace. Bird is a gift from my mom).

[cate-deriana]

Answer the Questions and Tag 5 Fanfic Authors

@pfirsichspritzer Thank you so much for the tag, it was so a lot of fun and I had to really think about my answers.

1 . How did you get into writing fanfiction?

In my case it's a funny question actually, because the first thing I've ever written was a fanfiction. But that was long before I even knew what fanfiction was or that it existed, simply because I was about eight or nine and wrote something about Digimon Adventure on my dad's computer. So I did it long before I knew that was actually a thing.

2. How many fandoms have you written in?

About five or six I think, but sometimes it was really only one story. Oh, and I also did some crossovers (fandoms not included in the above count).

3. How many years have you been writing fanfiction?

Ok, let me do the math... as I started with eight/nine it's now about 24 years... is this real? Omg, I'm old, haha. Though there were always years in between were life got in the way and I didn't write anything.

4. Do you read or write more fanfiction?

I'd like to say it's write, but it's definitely read. Also, I think you can only really become better and know what a certain fandom likes and wants to read, if you read a lot.

5. What is one way you’ve improved as a writer?

Honestly I can't really pinpoint that exactly. I think it's really a matter of progress over a long period of time. Reading helps, of course, immensely. But also (as cliché as that might sound) life experience. Actually I always liked to incorporate personal side stories into my fanfictions. And I think I am not taking the same things as overly serious as now, I'm a lot calmer now.

6. What’s the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

Can't really spontaneously name a topic, but as I am over-invested in always getting characters as close to the original as possible so the story feels "real" I once re-watched countless of episodes of a certain anime to make a chart in excel on how character x adresses character y, z and so on... It was a lot of work.

7. What’s your favorite type of comment to receive on your work?

I like every simple little 'I liked your story' or just an emoji or the longer ones equally. But I once got a review for a story were I tried to make sense of an anime's ending and I really poured my heart into that one and the reviewer commented with 'you relieved my heart'. It still makes me so happy.

8. What’s the most fringe trope/topic you write about?

The most niche think I've ever done was more the way I wrote a story. I decided on about 30 random sentences before starting and while writing threw a dice to determine which sentence I had to use right at that point in the story. It was so much fun, I recommend to try that out, it's a great challenge.

9. What is the hardest type of story for you to write?

Real and believable romance and intimacy.

10. What is the easiest type?

Stories that are funny just in order to be funny and nothing more.

11. Where do you do your writing? What platform? When?

On the computer. Has always been that way, I am not fast enough for my brain to do it on paper, though I write down ideas in my notebook. I'm (nearly) always carrying something to write on. My best writing times had been evenings mostly, but I can write anytime I am in the mood or really force myself to do it - setting a timer for an hour has really helped me a lot recently.

12. What is something you’ve been too nervous/intimidated to write, but would love to write one day?

A really cool fighting scene, preferably with swords.

13. What made you choose your username?

It's the name of a character I originally designed for myself, to represent myself (like an avatar you could say). Deriana comes from browsing an atlas. It's a great way to come up with names. I just use whatever city, river or whatever sounds nice to me and alter the word a little.

I've no idea who has been tagged already, but I'll try. If you've already done this please just ignore me :D @worldofkaeos @ariadnekurosaki @eudociacovert @womaninwinter @photorose11

[16woodsequ]

(For the writers truth and dare ask game)

I was unsure how many I could pick so I chose two, 🍓 because I’m genuinely curious and 🍦for the fun of it!

Also excuse me for not interacting as much as I usually do, but now I’m back :)

(From this ask game)

Thanks for the ask! I always love them :D

🍓 how did you get into writing fanfiction? 

Oh that's something I haven't thought about in a while! Okay, so my first introduction to fandom was through DeviantArt. I grew up on transformers and went looking for cool fanart. I found some but couldn't comment without an account, so I made my first fandom account. I wasn't planning to post anything, but a stranger followed my empty blog and sent me an encouraging note saying they couldn't wait to see what I did. (I still think of them, we never became mutuals or anything, it was like they were a benevolent fairy godmother telling me to create, and then I never saw them again, but I owe them a lot!)

So I posted a few drawings and followed a bunch of people and groups on DA. I began reading fanfiction there. But I still never even thought to post my own work at the time.

But circa 2014 I am very invested in reading fic and I have a favourite Transformer character (Starscream) whom I have created an entire backstory for (sparked by a take I didn't agree with in a fic). I'm deep into mentally writing stories, with my own Mary Sues and everything. It's my daily pass-time, daydreaming these stories and meta.

It still doesn't occur to me to write any of these until one day I'm watching The Hobbit, and Ed Sheran's I See Fire plays and hits me like a lightning bolt. This song is perfect for my fav character!! Someone's got to have written about it, right???

So I scour fanfiction sites (I can't remember if I'd started reading on Ao3 yet, but I'd definitely been on FNN) but No One had written this Very Niche idea???

And that's when the concept of writing my own fic started. I just had too. The idea was too good. So my first fic was a song fic writing on the DA STASH program (not even Word lol. This thing didn't even have a word count, and my editing process was to read the wip backwards word for word, searching for misspellings or other typos).

And after that I suddenly realised that if I wanted people to see my fav character in the same light I did, I had to write it. And so it began.

I eventually started posting on FNN, and then in 2016 on Ao3. My first Marvel fic followed a similar process where I got an idea and it was just too good and people needed to know about it, so Lessons Learned was written on STASH. (I think around then I finally moved to Word XD). I still have an old account on DA, but I haven't been active on it in many years. It does hold a special place in my heart for being the place I started learning about fandom and writing in though.

So I guess I started writing fanfic because no one seemed to be writing my stories, and I had Opinions that needed to be shown.

🍦 name three good things about a character you hate

Oh geez, lemme think.

Quickest name comes to mind is Rumlow. But that's in a Love to hate situation. I know some people like to redeem Rumlow, but I love how he can shorthand so easily as just the worst guy you know.

He's just the worst (positive). No matter what AU you're reading you know any character named Rumlow is going to be the worst scum ever.

I mean, I've heard about what it's like to live with large, bad burns. So good for him for making it through the acute period and living with it I guess.

Kind of ties in to the first point, but there's not much he wouldn't believably do. You want an unhinged bad guy? Rumlow will help you out. Does he have morals or did he lose them with the burns? Your choice writer! He's up for anything.

Hope you enjoyed the ask! Oh and don't feel bad at all about engagement! I know how life can get sometimes and I'm not ever going to get mad for something like that.

[lucithornz]

Least Favorite Fanfiction Tropes

I recently shared my favorite fanfiction tropes to read and to write. Now it's time for my least favorite. I don't hate these, they just are not my thing. I don't always exclude them from my searches(some are inevitable). But these tropes are usually a no-go for me. And I struggle to write them if they come up in my fics.

I'm actually not picky with my tastes, if a fic has like the perfect tags, but one of these is included, I'll probably give it a try.

Holidays - I don't know what it is, but there are always too many characters. I'm not a fan of holidays in general, so I don't really get much out of this situational setting. Having to write a holiday is even worse for me. I just don't find it to add the spice I want. Or it's because I am the spawn of Satan and just don't like Christmas(we may never know)

Domesticity - This is one I dislike because I usually end up having to write it at some point(goes hand in hand with fluff). Just all those little moments feels like I'm describing nothing. Also a bunch of nothing happening. I want plot. I do not care if they are making pasta together.

Mafia/crime AU - this is probably my least favorite of the common trope AU's. Probably because I don't like original stories that are about this either. I will probably never write this trope.

Fluff - I struggle to write this, and if there is too much in a fic I'm reading I just die. It's an unavoidable trope, and I write it because I want to tell a well-rounded story, and those soft moments are important. But it's hard. No conflict, just things going well, no one's feelings are getting hurt, what's the point? I do think it has it's place, but that doesn't mean I have to be happy about it.

Hanahaki - as someone who is very into omegaverse there's only so many niche fanfic tropes I can invest in. I find it hard to suspend my disbelief for this. The art is always really pretty though.

Amnesia - this trope is overdone in original fiction, and I haven't really seen it subverted well in fanfic either. I find it has a very predictable plotline for 99% of the stories it's present in.

Baby fic - no children. I like characters to be on birth control thank you. Pregnancy scares make for good angst, but I do not care about the baby(unless it's a canon compliant type deal) I don't like writing babies so I don't think I'll ever touch this(unless I need to really traumatize my readers).

Gen fic - sorry, it has it's place. But it's not for me. I almost am always reading rated M or E. I write those same ratings, every now and then something rated T will sneak in. But those are too wholesome for my cold dead heart.

Sick fic - this is a tricky one for me. I do use injuries and illnesses as plot devices in my work, but more secondary plots. If the whole fic centers around an illness or disease I'm probably out(especially if it's serious) I think one problem is just a lot of domesticity goes along with this, and also because one character is sick, they can't do much else, so it's a bit boring.

Bonus number 10! Miscommunication - this one is tricky. I either love it or hate it depending on the execution. I write this a lot. But where it can break a fic for me is if there isn't a good reason or foundation for the miscommunication. Give me a good reason why things went wrong and I'm all there, but if characters aren't talking "just because" I will get pissed.

[quijotine]

hot take but the gatekeeping and purism in these replies makes it so evident that some people haven't even bothered to see how ChatGPT works.

If you've ever used it, you'd know it is an excellent tool, but ultimately, it does not replace an editor, or in this case, a beta reader. In short, when you use the GPT, you have to invest time into teaching it what you need it to do. This is part of prompt engineering, and it takes some level of skill. You can't just ask it to do shit as if it were the genie in the lamp, contrary to popular belief. If you are trying to use it as a quick workaround from a beta reader that focuses on developmental issues, it is simply not going to work. You need to coach it. Full stop.

That being said, and pushing the ideological point aside for a moment, as someone that has written fanfic, original fiction, and corporate documents (though only have used AI on my own original work), I do think it is a better tool for developing original work of any kind than for transformative fiction because in transformative fiction, you already have a set of parameters you need to follow and there is only so much the GPT will be able to help you with if it knows you are working with someone else's intellectual property. Basicslly, you already have the tools you need to get yourself unstuck from a plot hole, since the actual story, the base parameters you must follow in order for it to be considered derivative fiction, has already been written for you by the original, canon author.

GPT is probably best as a brainstorming and iteration tool, i.e. when you are stuck on something and want to see your options or be reminded of a bird eye's view of your work (something that is not precisely the strongsuit of a discussion with a peer, as these usually are rich in details, and notably, also unintentionally biased). This is more useful if you are coming up with something from scratch imo, because as an author you are continuously developing those parameters readers will later on use as the starting point for their own derivatives, i.e. fanfic.

So, it is not whether or not AI has a place in fandom, it's just that it is simply not as useful as it could be when it comes to developmental work (not line editing).

That being said, to shun AI as nothing short of a sin speaks of closemindedness, bordering on willful ignorance.

AI can't replace the input of a colleague because the AI will give you the answer that is logical, not necessarily the pleasing or aesthetic one. Not the one a human would enjoy reading, in any case. That is inalienable. It is up to you as a creative to exercise your discernment. The usefulness of ChatGPT is directly tied to your ability for critical thinking and your mastery over your topic. If you can't do much of that, then it simply won't be that useful.

On the matter of whether it constitutes the end of fandom community as we know it, and that no one that uses it can call themself a writer, I think it is a very gatekeepy thing to say. We say that as though there aren't any cliques and egos and jealousies and dynamics of influence that people, especially newcomers, have to navigate in order to find their niche in these communities. We say that as though everyone has all the best intentions at all times and we all have all the time and energy in the world. Sometimes, people do not have beta readers, not for a lack of trying, but simply because they are ignored, rejected, or simply too new or too shy in their communities. Here is when AI can actually make a difference to an extent (because again, if you are new to writing, you really should be striving to learn by practicing instead of asking the chat). If you are a writer with some skill, you know it cannot replace the interaction with like-minded peers because all the AI does is speed up your own creative process, but it cannot write the thing for you, not really. It cannot say, "My heart skipped a beat when I read this".

Under capable hands, it is a tremendous help, but it simply isn't a replacement.

Fanfic is ultimately a subversion of capitalism. It is labor with absolutely no purpose other than enjoyment. A core tenet of fanfic is to use other people's ideas as a playground and to just. waste time and have fun. Whether you need AI for that or not... well, that is up to you to reflect on.

just saw a fanfic on ao3 have a dedication for chatgpt... that section is meant for your horny perverted mutual who proofread your work, you violated sacred law and you will be torn apart and laid bare btw

[electricpoolshark]

I got hit with an overwhelming confluence of melancholy and nostalgia this afternoon because of art. My art, specifically. I feel so... guilty isn't quite the right word, but it's the closest I have right now. I feel so guilty sometimes about my art because I'm a gifter, right? I love giving and making things to make people smile (feel is more accurate with some things, but always to a welcome end, if that makes sense).

There's some difficulty with that in regards to how I make art. I don't do fanfic- I wrote a few, sure, but I get this sense of fear writing other people's characters, especially ones perceived as keystones. It's not enjoyable for me. I write my own stories, but they're almost all related to Aeln, which, I can't share with the broad spectrum of people because it's niche and also spoileriffic for the rest of the people that would be interested.

And, generally, I don't write fluff. I'm not against fluff. I love fluff. It's fun and enjoyable and sometimes I just want to read something sweet and fun. But my writing, I don't tend towards easily digestible work. (My music is more on the softer end when I create, but I'll argue that that's at least an equal gamble on sharing, in part due to some of the personal nature of music that shows differently in prose, and in part due to the unpredictability of listening to your friend bang out a middling cover of some indie song you heard twice on TikTok. But I'm sensitive to sound, so ymmv.)

And that's where my lament comes in. I want to be able to make things for my loved ones to help... ease the pain of living? Celebrate the little joys of life? All of the above and more? And I can't send complex dishes and can barely send baked goods in the mail (if we count home cooking as Art), which seems the simplest solution. I don't want to make something for someone that takes up unwelcome space. I don't want my stories to become a chore to make me, the gift giver, happy.

Do I want to tell stories that get people thinking? Absolutely. I want people to dig deep into my work and enjoy theorizing and the depths about which I personally think about my work. But there is that guilt that I can't send a sketch to brighten someone's day. (I know everyone has the capability to draw. My point with that is more that I don't have the physical time to learn to draw to the level I want to because I work, do grad school, exercise, write, cook, etc. I don't mentally have the energy right now, and I'm enjoying the physical crafts I do occasionally make time for. Drawing is just something I can't bring myself to do poorly, but I want encouragement in my art. It's a vicious cycle.)

I think this is yet another branch of feeling like I'm not doing enough. It's not on anyone else, really, aside from maybe genetics. My mom and I both struggle with stopping and resting until the machine that is our bodies decides it's on break. I want to do everything I want to do, you know?

All of this to say, I really do love to the point of creation but I feel like such an acquired taste sometimes.

Maybe it's the autism. Maybe I just need to stop being so precious about inspiration and write more. Maybe I need to start writing poetry again. Maybe I need to blog my thoughts out more. God knows I can't keep a diary to save my life. Maybe I need to work on my non-Aeln WIP, even if it's sad.

Unlike my stories, I don't have a witty or poignant line with which to end this. I spent my lunch break mourning the past instead of celebrating the present or preparing for the future. I think that amounts to something. I wish I knew what

[imaybelactoseintolerant]

I don't want to be the change I want to see in the world

Really getting to that point where the lack of fanfics for my not even niche interests is bothering me. I'm too old. I've been reading fanfic for too long. The well has run dry of all the good shit.

I can't even make myself read reader insert, or y/n, because my dumb brain can't handle it, but props to everyone who does.

I just want stuff with a new character or something added in, where they reasonably fit into the world, and make sense as a rounded but flawed character who isn't all powerful or super perfect.

And fuck, you know what I really want? A character tempted by the darkside in a way that isn't just a forced plot point. A fix-it au that isn't just as simple as 123 done Anakin didn't kill the younglings. Clone appreciation. Obi-Wan getting to be at least somewhat happy in the end. Delving into the force without suddenly giving characters the ability to suddenly do shit that even Yoda couldn't do.

And I know other people feel the same, and I'm part of the problem, because I could definitely at least try to contribute, but I don't even know who would want to read that.

Also, this comes from my childhood desire to write and read and publish fanfiction because I wanted more content, but being too terrified to do so because my family had no rgard for privacy and I knew I would be relentlessly mocked for it. But I'm an adult now, and I want my clone wars fanfiction.

[casiavium]

I've been editing old stuff instead of writing anything new so I'm going to post some of the parts of my fanfic that I don't hate and work well out of context!!

The crunch of leaves under Link's feet filled the forest, but for once, he wasn't afraid to alert others to his position. They were safe now.

Though it was hard to tell back in the perpetual springtime of Skyloft, time had passed since he fought Demise.

As the months wore on, the surface showed it. The stories of changing leaves and colder breezes that had been passed down for as long as anyone could remember turned out to be true. The world below was filled with brilliant reds and yellows, the air in Faron woods sharper than it had been before.

Link wasn't paying attention to where the path was leading him. He knew the woods well, even if they hadn't made the final move to the surface yet. He wasn't too worried about running into anything dangerous, as it seemed without a leader the bokoblins and moblins had vanished.

Though Faron appeared safe, Link wanted to wander farther. In the middle of their maps was a blank space where a kingdom once stood. He knew ruins laid there, hopefully with the answers to unsolved mysteries regarding gods and demons. Zelda wouldn't let him go alone, but the plans to move meant no one could be spared.

He sighed out loud, stopping in front of a fallen log. He didn't know the area beyond it very well, down a tunnel that looked like it was leading to a canyon. He really should turn back, people would start to worry. Climbing up the log onto the ledge, Link looked back out over the forest.

He wasn't familiar with the area. If he turned around now, he could head straight back the way he came, and be sure to end up at the Sealed Temple. Zelda was waiting for him there, discussing the future of both the surface and Skyloft with Groose. He had said he would be right back, he just needed a minute to get some air. They'd be looking for him soon...

Beyond the tunnel, a faint noise rang through the canyon. Link whipped around, sure he had imagined it. He hadn't heard the soft sound of bells for three months, not since he had left the Master Sword to rest in the past. Wandering farther down the path, Link ignored the instinct to head back.

He had been here before. A long time ago, now. Though the walls of the canyon hid it, Link knew a temple was sitting at the end, surrounded by a grove of trees and wildflowers unlike any others on the surface. The winding path dropped off abruptly in places, fraying rope the only way to cross.

It was dangerous. Alone, if something were to happen to him, he would be trapped. Not expecting to adventure today, he only carried a simple training sword.

At the bend of the path, a shadowy figure flickered at the edge of Link's vision. The chime rang through the canyon again, this time a little louder. When he turned to face the figure head on, the shadow disappeared.

Something was wrong, Link thought, as he felt himself follow the shadow. He had done this before, at the beginning of his quest, with Fi, but this time... the energy that was calling to him felt different. Like it wasn't meant for him. He still followed.

Link almost lost his balance crossing a rope bridge when the shadow appeared at the end. It was small, dark, and still. He couldn't recognize the outline, a vague humanoid, but the chime it sent out sounded so familiar he couldn't ignore it. A soon as he corrected himself, it was gone.

As he followed the path, Link began to worry. He could have been hallucinating the apparition, but more than likely, it was leading him somewhere. A thought crossed his mind that it was guiding him to certain death, luring in a victim with a false sense of security. At the back of his mind, probably the worst thing to have in this situation, was hope.

The similarities to Fi, but darker, different... Link knew it was dangerous to wish for, but he was praying to Hylia the shadow figure was Ghirahim, calling to him as his own sword once had. He knew the spirit was alive, he saw him, Fi told him to find Ghirahim again, but it had been three months. There was no sign of the demon, no idea of where to even start, and Link was close to giving up.

As the shadow appeared in and out of his vision, Link continued down the path leading to Skyview Temple. Soon, he found himself at the front steps, staring up at the building before him.

He really should head back now, get backup or at least a better sword. He had actually turned to leave, but there it was again, the shadowy figure in the corner of his vision. At the entrance to the temple, it flickered, beckoning him inside.

Despite his better judgement, Link followed. There shouldn't have been any bokoblins to deal with, and though his sword was not the best, it would hold up against skulltullas well enough. The temple hadn't changed, and Link was lucky to find every door left unlocked from the last time he had been there.

At the end of the maze of passages, Link once again came to the broken bridge, the room taken over by vines and trees. Across the chasm, the shadow waited in front of the golden door, a dark contrast to the scattered glow of stray mushroom spores.

This was the first time he was able to look at it head on. The figure stood as tall as the keyhole, touching the floor but almost floating as it waited for him. It wasn't solid, a few glowing dots drifting through its body, and as each second passed Link could swear it was getting dimmer.

He couldn't say how much time was spent staring ahead. The figure blinked out of existence once more, and Link finally moved to follow it. The rope before him shook under his weight, and he nearly lost his balance a few times, but he had made it to the other side.

The large door was still unlocked, and open by just a sliver. Drawing his sword, Link pushed through.

Nothing had changed. The empty room stood before him, shattered pieces of pottery from the last fight that took place lining the edges. There was no figure, no demon nor sword waiting for him.

Link lowered his blade. He hadn't expected anything, really, but the confirmation of his fears stung. The sunlight had been very bright outside, the figure must have been a mirage his tired brain kept conjuring. Even so, he felt it would be a good idea to let the others know in case of some sinister new enemy. Placing his sword back in the scabbard, Link turned to leave.

"Did you really just sheathe your sword? Foolish boy."

At the voice, Link spun around with a racing heart. Across the room, where they had first met, Ghirahim was waiting for him.

"Hello, Link."

He looked the same as when Link last saw him. Taller than he was used to, eerily similar to Fi, glowing core exposed. He looked less worn down, but signs of battle were still etched onto his skin, cracks in the gem revealing the glow underneath. His hand held onto the sword, nearly as tall as Link, a reflection of the demon himself.

"It's been a while."

"It has." Link whispered in response, scared to walk closer and break the spell. "What took you so long?"

"Me?" Ghirahim scoffed. "I've been waiting here for you. I thought you'd come back eventually."

Link was confused. Looking back over his shoulder, he had the strange feeling of being watched. "So you weren't the shadow?"

"I don't know what you mean. Does it matter? You're here now."

Still wary, Link turned his attention back to Ghirahim. "I... yes. What... what happens now?"

Ghirahim twisted the sword in his hand. Picking it up, he walked towards Link, offering the blade to him. "That is up to you. I was under the impression you no longer have a sword, correct?"

Link absentmindedly brought his hand up to the training weapon. "Yeah."

"You are a swordsman in need of a blade. I am a blade in need of a master. Surely you see how we can solve these problems?"

Link stared at the black blade in front of him. He had imagined this day for months now, wanting nothing more, but he had never told anyone. Hesitation at taking the weapon clouded his mind. It would be difficult to explain.

"... what exactly does this mean?"

Growing frustrated, Ghirahim snapped, "You've had months to think about it. It's no different than your old spirit, and I promise, if you still worry that I may try to hurt you or your precious spirit maiden, this is the only way you could stop me."

At the mention of Zelda, Link stiffened. She wouldn't react well to this. Yet, Ghirahim had a point. Under his command, Ghirahim wouldn't hurt anyone. Fi had seemed okay with the idea, encouraged him to take it, even. He had been through so much... he deserved this one thing, at least.

"I'll take it."

"Good."

Reaching out for the blade, Link closed his eyes as he grasped the cold hilt. His fingers brushed against Ghirahim's for a moment, before the spirit was gone. Cracking an eye open, Link watched as the sword glowed, red flames lighting the room as it changed before his eyes. Just as when using the sacred flames on the Goddess Sword, the blade transformed under his grip, fitting to his palm and becoming much easier to handle.

The final form was smaller, the edges of the blade smoother. It looked similar to the Master Sword, yet rougher at the edges and still distinctly Ghirahim. Link lifted the newly transformed blade to the light, watching the last of the flames fall away.

Behind him, a hand rested on his waist. This time when Ghirahim leaned over his shoulder, tongue flicking out by his ear, Link did not flinch away. He was pulled against the other's body as that tongue traced his jaw, lips stopping to rest on his neck. Cold against his skin, he could feel them move as Ghirahim whispered,

"It will be a pleasure to serve you, Master."

[threefandomsinatrenchcoat]

Honestly, I'm gonna say it. I'm gonna drop my hot take. K/S just made me realize that no, I haven't become that much pickier with what fanfics I want to read/what's up to my standard. Fanfiction just genuinely got worse since I started reading it.

Thanks to K/S being old enough to bring a good sample size of old fics to the table, while browsing ao3 the last few days, I realized that I could often tell if a fanfic was on the newer side by the writing style. The new stuff is exactly the stuff that I don't like. For example, you'll often find information that could've been put into five sentences that sound good squeezed into one with five commas by using the gerund. And every sentence is like that. One after the other, it's always "person hugged other person, smiling, doing other stuff, saying 'whatever', stuffing another gerund into the sentence, not caring that it's starting to get ridiculous, not realizing that it sounds fucking awful". No while, no and, no but, no despite, no because, only a list of things put together in a way that I'm pretty sure isn't even technically a proper sentence at times. So many people write in exactly the same (bad) style. One fic reads like the next. There's barely any individuality. Everyone uses the same terms and euphimisms and sentence structures and bits. Literally read twenty, thirty smut fics published in the last few years and keep a tally of certain phrases. Look at the sentence structure and see how many different ones you find in a fic of up to tens of thousands of words. Maybe I'm overreacting based on my subjective experience and it's not actually that far spread but I genuinely don't think that's the case.

Older fanfics didn't have this problem. Everyone had their own style, their own ideas, their own thing. I know all art is derivative. How could I not, when we're literally talking about fanfiction? The whole point of fanfiction is that parts of it aren't new but something someone already thought of. But there's a difference between "I'm yoinking your characters to play with them like dolls and maybe I'll use your universe as the dollhouse, too" and "everything is literally the same, there were tracks driven into the mud and now that everything's frozen over, you barely have a choice other than to follow the exact path others have driven before you".

I don't want to glorify this all too much because I'd guess that one of the things that changed and made this happen is fandom becoming mainstream and accepted. You can't exactly have the Fanfiction Writing Style (TM) when you're writing something in secret, don't know that there's a word for what you're creating and certainly haven't read other works like yours before. Fandom being a niche thing that you didn't really talk about and that wasn't nearly as centralized as today is probably what forced this individuality and I can't say I want that back.

I like that fandom is normal now. But I also think that this centralization has brought bad habits into our culture. Be that bad writing, a lack of individuality, taking creators and artists for granted, or constantly calling the fucking moral police and debating what can and can't be depicted.

Do I think all new fanfiction is bad? No. Of course not. I've read wonderful works that were published within the last three to five years. They were refreshing, well written, creative, artful, entertaining, and whatever else I was looking for. Do I think all old fanfiction is good? No. Most likely, the works that have been preserved until today, sometimes for decades, were the most beloved and/or the best of their era. There are probably hundreds and thousands of forgotten works that were either never discovered or didn't survive until today because nobody thought they were worth spreading and preserving. But do I think there's a certain trend of newer works becoming less creative and well made? Absolutely. Fandom has become so mainstream and thus effortless that people don't always seem to put much effort and love in anymore. And I can't say if that's good or bad.

no fandom like the k/s fandom. Just read a fic that's older than me, and not gonna lie, it was pretty good

[olderthannetfic]

Fanfic as a whole experience is in many ways superior to published fic. For instance, AFAIK, books don't come with tags listing the tropes and warnings. The community around it, the rec sites, the shared experience of loving something. Also, the ending isn't quite the same. You know that feeling when you read a good book and you get to the end and there's no sequel, no nothing? Never get that quite the same with fanfiction, there's always slightly more of the universe to explore. I don't think I've ever seen anyone claim that the average standard of writing is higher, but then I don't get out much.

--

See, this is exactly what people were talking about.

Books don't typically come with AO3-style tags, but it's not unheard of for indie presses to do that. They can't do it on Amazon because that will tend to get them taken down. You'd find that info on their own sites, perhaps. There are also book review sites that warn extensively.

Lots of genres don't operate on the same tropes popular AO3 fics do, but I'd expect to see relatively similar understandings of what's worth tagging from Romance, especially indie queer romance.

You can also often tell the level of darkness/sex/whatever from being familiar with a particular publishing niche the same way a lot of AO3 fics will conform to approximately the same expectations. There's an art to interpreting blurbs and marketing copy. If you read a lot of similar books, you can often guess a lot even without specific tags.

There are absolutely shittons of communities around reading books. Many of them are centered around some very specific genre or marketing niche. Big book blogs form their own little communities.

Plenty of genres are given to series. I get to the end of book 1 of some endless mystery series, and I go on to read books 2-30. Sure, at some point, I'll run out of that series, that author, that author's imitators, etc., but I'll also very quickly run out of fic in anything but a juggernaut fandom.

--

If someone wanted a feeling more or less like fandom but with original work, I'd suggest joining some obsessive mystery novel nerd circles, finding Romance fans, or diving into the world of "original m/m", which is basically English language BL/danmei novels.

If you want something as queer as AO3 in similar ways, only the last of those is likely to provide, but if you want other types of fic experiences, I definitely think both Mystery and Romance have that 'community of fans' vibe. (SFF certainly can, but I find it to be more of a crapshoot for various reasons. I'd be more inclined to join the fandom for a specific book than deal with the community overall.)

There are tons of clubs and facebook groups and things where people share recs and discuss their latest reads. There are book review blogs like Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. There are whole bookstores and literary conferences devoted to just one or another of the genres of genre fiction.

--

If one just likes fic better no matter what, fair enough!

There's nothing wrong with preferring fic or preferring original. But a lot of things are actually present with both if you look in the right places.

I love AO3 community, but I very much do not love FFN, Wattpad, Quotev, or Spacebattles community. It's all about knowing fannish-but-not-fanfic spaces for books the same way one knows spaces for fic.

[pocketramblr]

Stupid ask but how do you even start writing. Like how do I get it out. It's like I've spent too long hesitating now I'm physically incapable of getting any of it out. Am I stupid for thinking about it? Would it even work? Would anyone read it? Love your work btw, you're awesome (and honestly really smart maybe that's why you'd answer this) !!

Not a stupid question! Trust me, I teach high schoolers, and "but how do I actually start?" is never a stupid question. Usually when you can't start there's some block, for lots of different reasons- lack of inspiration, too many options, executive disfunction for many possible reasons... Lots of causes, and everyone's different, but it sounds like your biggest cause is fear- that no one will want to read it, that youre stupid. So first of all, yes someone will, and no you're not. It's normal to feel this way, and it is scary. But this isn't one of those scary things that can kill you, so remember that and try your best.

There's a niche out there for everyone's kind of writing! Did I ask myself "Huh, Pocket, does anyone actually want to read about Rei and AfO being Shoto's parents?" No because the answer would have been 'uh probably not what's wrong with you' but! Then after I wrote it! People read it! My friends ready it! And most importantly: I have fun reading it.

You're the most important reader of your writing. Now, I'll admit- my fanfics from back when I was fifteen? Ah. I do not really enjoy rereading them! Cringe! But, I know that fifteen year old Pocket had so much fun writing and reading them, and she deserves to have that as much as current Pocket does, or ten years in the future Pocket. So write for current you- other versions will figure out their own things.

Anyway, I try to be helpful, so here's a few things that help me when I can't start writing either:

Start writing something else. Starting new ideas usually gives me a hit of serotonin, and then after a scene or two sometimes I can take that energy and inertia and move it to what I want/need to work on in the first place ideas.

Talk to the writing about someone. Bouncing ideas around, answering their questions about it, picking random scenes that grab interest, brainstorming dialogue, even thinking about different possibilities and aus of it- all of that counts as writing. You're thinking about the story and shaping and developing it, so it's writing. Sometimes this leads to ideas that you can just paste onto your blank page and keep going, writing "for real.". It doesn't usually work that well for short term me though. Personally, it helps me long term- knowing someone else is interested in reading when I'm done, but not judgemental, helps in general to get started writing other times.

"five four three two one go" this I hear helps with ADHD, which can cause the block? The idea is you close your eyes and visualize what you want to start with- a character, a scene, a statement, a vibe, whatever- for five seconds, counting done. As soon as you hit "two", start writing. Open your eyes on "go." This might help you if you just need a push to start

Write it a different way. Your first draft doesn't need to be good. Put "bad version" on the top of the page if it helps. Bullet points instead of sentences, that you can flesh out later. Write just what people are saying, like a script, and block out the moments on the second write through.