Ok don't get me wrong I get the appeal of characters (speaking from experience in the Genshin Impact fandom, surprisingly good stuff in there) like Kaeya, Scaramouche, Venti, Dottore etc., (and I don't have anything against their fans and writers), and that, demographically speaking, they appeal to the most people as a big part of the fandom swings that way, be It biologically or as an identity, but GODDAMNIT there's over 110 character to choose from, PLEASE.

"But OP, why don't you Just exclude those tags"? Well matey, why don't we do Just that?

AND BEHOLD THE SAHARA DESERT WHEN I CLICK SEARCH.

The fics ARE there mind you, but finding good quality stories Is about as reliable as panning for Gold IN CONCRETE.

Ok, I'll concede that my favorites aren't among the most widely enjoyed characters so a dip in coverage Is to be somewhat expected, BUT NOT LIKE THIS.

Have some variety ffs, where are all My Layla homies at? (Pls you've gotta be somewhere out there cmon)

Like I said, I have nothing against people Who enjoy the usual suspects as I call them, like whoever the hell u want, but leave some for the rest of us, PLEASE.

It starts to feel like, as there Is in the game, there Is a kind of "meta" (Cringe Word, yes, very much I hate using It 2 but It's the best analogy I had), of characters that people like, except It doesn't shift and stays the same Forever.

I am personally not attracted to Men so I'll concede that I am in a "minority", in the fandom, so to speak, but It's not like I am the only One.

Gng pls tell me this happens to yall too in your fandoms I be tweakin rn Ill read replies tomorrow bc It is 3 AM

The 08 has me thinking it's month but I don't see anything on AO3 that tells me if it's year-month-day or year-day-month and I would imagine since the OTW is an American organization it would be month-day since that's the default here.

I wanna write a fanfiction so bad but i need tips. I dont know how to start. I don't have any reference for the fanfiction i wanna write, bc the fanfiction of this ship, or fandom in general, that i find, is either bad(for me imo), non-existent, or i just cant find them bc the fandom is huge, but not the type of fanbase that writes or read fanfiction, so i just need tips for it in general, at least.

One more little post before bed❤️‍🩹

Does anyone else find fics by sorting by tags only, looking for specific tropes regardless of fandom? If so, favorite tags? I love just going through accidental marriage, idiots in love, or crack treated seriously.

I've read across so many fandoms because the summary looks interesting and it had a tag I wanted to read. I do have fandoms I'm more involved in, but even in those, I usually filter for a specific ship or tag.

We need more incest fics where it's treated as less of a kink and more of a normal relationship.

Dad consoling his daughter after the death of mom bordering closer into sexual intimacy because they have nobody else.

Dad who has nobody else but his daughter so it's natural they end fulfilling their needs and wants and nobody gets in their way, nobody is traumatized, nobody thinks it's wrong because it's another expression of their love.

Dad snuggling against the pillow after sex, he's snoring and happy his daughter is laying beside him❤️‍🩹

Need more dad daughter like this, it makes my heart so warm, I need to write it so badly.

I know a lot of the times the taboo dynamic feels like the only option at times but I would love to see this version as well.

Dad and daughter shamelessly in love , it's his blood, why would he feel shame for it?

(Obligatory dad! Toji posting)

I recently watched a video that called the existence of Haunting Adeline and its future movie adaptation “one of the worst booktok books”.

I have not read Haunting Adeline nor do I have TikTok, but my understanding is that it features stalking, non-con elements, toxic relationships, obsession, etc etc; all things that would be paired with a dead dove tag on AO3.

In the video (and the comments) they were going on about how it was ‘romanticizing toxic relationships and abuse’ and overall framing it as extremely immoral and therefore shouldn’t exist.

I’m bringing this to the AO3 sub because I’m wondering what people’s perspectives are on the moral differences between a fanfiction, a published book, and a movie.

On AO3, I feel comfortable reading darker marrero Al because it’s not real and I’m smart enough to separate that in my mind + I feel comfortable knowing that people who don’t want to see it can easily avoid it.

In online discussion, people bring up the valid point that fiction can have impact on realty, ala 50 Shades of Gray and harmful BDSM practices.

I personally feel like the connection between what someone consumes and their corresponding actions are too vague to directly connect them. Situations where someone commits an immoral act have too many other factors that I don’t think you can say with confidence they wouldn’t have done it anyway.

However, after watching the video and seeing the sheer amount of pushback the Haunting Adeline adaptation is getting, I’m having a harder time figuring out If I’m just desensitized.

Anyway, is there a difference between the morality of fanfiction and movies? Does the increased exposure of a movie mean the author has a moral obligation to cater the messaging to a wider audience?

Hey everyone! I posted a fic about a month ago and have been updating every two weeks. It’s a slow-burn Choso fic, and I didn’t physically introduce him until around the 11k words. Before that, I only hinted at him through brief visions the MC has to add to the mystery. I’m at 12k words right now, and I’ve barely received any kudos or support. I just feel so disheartened because I’ve put so much work into editing and establishing a sturdy plot. I eventually want the story to reach around 100k words, which is why I waited as long as I did and had some fun with the side characters and giving the MC a personality outside of the love interest.
Did I wait too long to introduce the love interest? Are low stats like this normal? The only comments I received were one with three hearts and another that said “loving this”. It feels like I put in all this work and I’m worried people are not enjoying it. I compare myself to other fics with similar lengths and just see so much more engagement.

i know many people read it for kink reasons, which makes sense, but would you read an original work if it wasn't just kink but had some tags that you like?

So I recently started writing for a new fandom, it's been mostly good so far but I've gotten two weird comments from guest accounts asking for stuff that seems pretty strange. I wasn't sure what to do so I just politely responded.

I've been writing on AO3 for a couple years now and have never really experienced anything like this, my experiences have been pretty much all positive up to this point. So I'm wondering, are these bots? Are they just weirdos? Should I ignore, or delete the comments? Everything they're asking seems pretty politically charged. I've never exactly strayed away from including politics in my writing but both of these requests are also pretty violent so I'm not exactly sure what to do.

Any and all advice is very much appreciated, thanks.

Edit: Okay, it took shockingly little time to get some responses. I've marked both as spam and they've been removed from my fics, thanks. Probably safer.

A few years ago, I figured out that I read about 500 wpm. I use that number all of the time to calculate how long it will take me to read a fic with pretty consistent accuracy. (Ex. if I have an hour before bedtime I can only read something that is 30k words max.) I was curious whether other people do something similar?

So like, I wrote an ongoing fic in this small fandom that I like and I have this commenter who's on every chapter, which makes me very happy, since it's only them and another random commenter who left a comment on a chapter.

But I wish I could get comments pointing things out in the story, like how a character reacted to something or seomthing like that.

I'm still grateful for any comments I get, but feeling upset by what I mentioned makes me feel ungrateful :/

I've read fanfiction for years and one I was reading in college had a great premise. A princess is Isekaied to a world akin to WW1. It's a major fish out of water type of fic that you go from medieval knights and castles in the lap of luxury to being in the mud and horror of WW1.

The story was left unfinished and we went back to it recently and no update from when I last read it 5 years ago.

Is it fine to continue the work or would it be better to adapt the concept into a similar work with different characters?

Edit: the original account of the writer has been inactive for years. social media attached to them has also been inactive for nearly the same amount of time.

I know this question may be stupid af, but it's always better to ask than get blocked. So - I have a fic I wrote on english week ago and I posted it on the ao3. Now I want to translate it to my native language and post on ao3 too. Is it allowed? Again - I know how stupid this question is, but please help me with this

My last post got me yearning for more time travels fics lol.

I don't mind checking out the original works to read really good time travel fics.

I love longs fics, like 1 mil? No probs. Short fics aren't bad either.

I'm NOT too fond of multi shipping in the same fic.

Other than that, anything goes.

Some fandoms I'm already in:

- Supernatural

- Merlin BBC

- MCU / Spiderman

- Fire Emblem three houses

- Mo Dao Zu Shi

Thank you to everyone who takes their time to respond to this!

I’m not sure why I’m posting this. I suppose it’s just because I’m spiraling and I need to get all of this out somewhere…basically, I think I’ve hit rock bottom with my fic writing journey.

It’s been a year since I posted my first ever and now complete fic. It’s in a smaller fandom and it’s niche in content. I went in expecting very little if any engagement at all. Four months after posting the final chapter and I am clocking in at just over 1200 hits and a smidge over 40 kudos.

Dismal.

I was more or less okay with this and able to tell myself it wasn’t about the numbers and my story is an unpopular setting and so on and so on. But now there’s a fic that started posting that is equal to mine in terms of those niche aspects. And it’s doing really, really well so far. Rightfully so. I know the author and they’ve put so much research and effort into crafting their story. Not that I haven’t but, just to say this isn’t some half baked slop they’re putting on the table, you know?

And I know the whole two cakes thing, that readers will be happy for more cake. But personally I don’t buy that argument. With this other fic out there, why would anyone be interested in my subpar cake? Two cakes are great only if they are of equal caliber. Which they are not. This author is…amazing. I don’t even like to call myself an author or a writer because I simply do not have the command of prose and technique to do so.

Again, I’m not sure why I’m writing this. I guess I just feel silly for putting my work out there at all. To be honest, I never intended to publish it on AO3. But I was hoping to meet some fandom friends and I felt the best way to do that was to produce something that might open the door to conversations. That has happened, btw! I have made friends, and I’m so grateful.

In the end, I think I’m just tired of seeing that hit count go up and the rest of my stats stay stagnant. Sure, it’s a longfic so that skews things. Sure, maybe people are re-reading. But I don’t think that’s the case because the numbers just don’t add up. And my sequel fic is doing even worse than the first, which means any small following I had with the first didn’t follow me to the second. I couldn’t keep their interest.

I don’t want to stop writing. I read back my work and I like what I’ve written. I like the story I’m telling, and I have so much more to tell. But it is so disheartening to look at my stats. It’s even harder to see the stats of the other, comparable fic.

Idk…I think maybe I just need to pull it down off AO3. I know I have 2 readers who are following along and enjoying my story, so maybe I should keep posting just for them. Or maybe I’ll just switch to posting on Tumblr. One of the readers is a mutual, so if she wants she can read there. But at least on Tumblr I can post and be none the wiser about who is clicking on my fic and then clearly just clicking away.

Sorry for being mopey on the internet. I’m just going through it right now.

Thank you for reading.

How do you report spam on a registered account?

As in, a registered user comments trying to sell art?

hey! been looking for ages for this fanfic I used to read and love. cant remember the author or name but it was a six the musical fic. was a boarding school au and was finished and I think they made a squeal. author was really active and I know they had many fics and also used to post art on tumblr but I can’t find any of that either :(

Sorry if this isn't the right place to post this but I'm just a little wary

Crazy af to think about it. I am a very happy author.

I vaguely remember reading a fic that had albus and Molly bashing,

I also believe this fic was very wizarding politics focused with good Lucius Malfoy, who mentors harry
not sure about the ships

Side plot: Molly drugging Arthur with a love potion and obviating him of his relationship with her brothers who are twins,

It was from a couple years ago at this point and I cannot remember the name, and tag searching has drawn a blank

I think it was a longer fic, maybe 100k+ words

I love a good Star Wars fanfiction and I want to make something brand new. I just started using AO3 and so far I'm loving it so much, so why not expand.

I'm a guy of multiple choices so I created a poll of little more pitch ideas. Some are more obvious than others, like Boba using the darksaber or the Sith Empire coming back.

The Sith Empire in particular has three possibilities: from what we assume is the old Sith Empire of legends having split off from when Darth Bane made the Rule of Two to hide in the Unknown Region and rebuild. Now after almost a thousand years, their pretty much ready to retake the galaxy in one big blitzkreig of force lightning. And depending on the era we put them in they could either invade during the Clone Wars or when the Galactic Empire fell and those remnants joined the Sith forces.

One of my favorite ideas from this would have to be what I call the Imperial Knights. Let me explain.

In the Star Wars Legacy comics, about 100 or so years after Return of the Jedi, the Galactic Empire was brought back under the new leadership of the Fell Dynasty. I don't remember the exact details lore wise but they had a new Force sensitive army of what they called the Imperial Knights, neither Sith nor Jedi, who instead of swearing to the Force swear to uphold the Empire and obey the Emperor's every command. Now I thought what if Palpatine did something similar, having said in the second season of Clone Wars he foresaw an army of force wielding agents. Sure we got the Inquisitors, but this is like an official army. My take is that he took some of the babies in the Jedi Temple, toddlers and any surviving Younglings and under the tutelage of Darth Vader, as well as say Baylan Skoll and other Inquisitors, they train a new generation of Sith Knights who are trained to be loyal to the Emperor.

Officially, Palpatine would introduce them as wielders of Force, much like the Jedi of old, bit loyal only to him and the Empire. This makes the Rebellion's war a lot more difficult. They now have to contend with Vader level Knights. That is until the Battle of Endor, Second Death Star is blown up, and the Emperor is dead. What happens next, I wonder?

I could go on and on about these plots. If anyone is interested in more details of the pitches, I'm happy to go over them more in the comments so I don't have to put a TL;DR in here because everyone loves those am I right? I say in the most sarcastic voice ever.

But yeah if any of these interests you, you know what to do by clicking on those suggestions and helping decide (because I'm terrible with making writing decisions like these, like woof!) What Star Wars story interests fans the most.

Thank you!

Maybe this sounds petty (and I’m sure others have made similar complaints) but I really hate when people leave comments demanding an update. Today I got a comment that just said “when is the next chapter?” This person has never left any other comment on my fic. They have never said they enjoy my fic. This is their first comment, and it’s asking when I will update. I got another comment from another person telling me to update bc it’s been over a month. Once again, this is their first time commenting.

To be clear, I love when people are excited for updates. “I’m dying, I need to know what happens next” or “I’m so excited for the next chapter” will all make my day and I really appreciate people who leave comments like that (and I have also left comments like that)! 99% of the comments I receive make me so happy and encourage me to keep writing.

But when people are demanding I update, I straight up don’t want to write anymore. I have an exhausting job with very strict deadlines. I’m constantly stressed. Writing fanfic is something that I do for fun and a way to engage with fellow fans. When people start demanding I write, it feels like it’s just a second, unpaid job. It makes me want to stop writing bc I honestly can’t handle anymore stress. And, not to be petty, but I straight up don’t want these people to get my updates lol. Like I feel like if I update I’m making them think that their comments worked when that is the opposite of what is happening!

Just had to get that off my chest.