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About the AO3 "No Guest Comments for a while" warning

If you're not following any of AO3's social media accounts you might be in the dark as to what kind of "spam comments" have engendered this banner at the top of the site:

These spam comments have been posted about a great deal on the AO3 subreddit for the past couple of days. Initially they comprised a bunch of guest (logged out users) bot comments that insulted authors by suggesting they were using AI and not writing their own fics. Some examples, from the subreddit:

But it then escalated to outright graphic porn images and gifs being posted in comments, again by logged out 'Guest' accounts. Obviously, I'm not going to give examples of those, but between these two bot infestations, AO3 has clearly decided to act and has temporarily closed the ability to post comments for users who are not logged in with an AO3 account.

Unfortunately, this means that genuine readers who don't have an AO3 account won't be able to leave comments on fics that they enjoy.

If you are a genuine reader who doesn't yet have an AO3 account, I strongly suggest getting yourself on the waiting list for one. More and more AO3 authors are now locking their fics down to registered users only - either due to these bot comments or concerns about AI scraping their work - which means you're probably missing out on a lot of great stuff.

Hopefully guest commenting will be enabled again at some point soon, but I suggest not waiting until then. Get yourself on that list.

Wait times are going to be longer than usual at the moment, due to the current Wattpad purge [info on Fanlore | Wattpad subreddit thread], but if you're in line, then your invite will come through eventually.

Update: There's now a Megathread about this on the AO3 subreddit.

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A reminder to all my lovely fellow writers: progress is progress, even when it isn't. Writing four thousand words in a session is progress. Writing a hundred words in a session is progress. Removing an entire scene because it doesn't flow well is progress. Rethinking your plan for the plot in order to get unstuck is progress. Development looks different for every writer and every story.

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(Delayed) Evil Author's Day

So I have weird hours at my job, so I lost track of days, but with all the WIPs I have going, this felt up my ally. Here's like 7 snippets from different things I have going. There's more, but I figured this was enough.

Chicago Fire #1

“Javi,” Joe calls to the ten-year old.  When Javi looks up from his bowl of cereal, he continues, “Remember, we have a home visit with Eddie after school today.”

“Okay,” he responds, before hesitantly asking, “Joe?”

“Yeah?”  Joe gives his attention to Javi, after putting his sandwich in his lunchbox.

“I can stay here?”

“We’ll find out more when we talk to Eddie,” Joe tells him, not wanting to lie.

“I know they’re still looking for an aunt… but I like it here with you and Chloe and Otis.”

Joe smiles sadly, “We like having you here too.  Last time we saw Eddie, they hadn’t found an aunt and the chances of finding one wasn’t going to get bigger.”

“But what if they found her?”

“If they found an aunt and you still want to stay with us, then we can figure out what options we have.”

“Okay,” Javi responds quietly into his cereal.

“Hey,” Joe waits until Javi looks at him.  “I want you to have a good day at school.  As long as it’s up to Chloe and me, you're not going anywhere.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.  Finish your cereal, we need to get moving,” Joe squeezes Javi’s shoulder.

Chicago Fire #2

“With no family able to take them, we have no other choice nut to place the boys into foster care,” Griffin overhears the case worker tell his friend’s mom.

“They can stay wit us until Heather gets out,” she argues.

“I’m sorry,” the case worker apologizes, “but we can’t do that.”

“Are they going to be in the same home?”

“No, at this time we don’t have a foster home who have two open spots, who can take two boys,” he tells her.

“So what is going to happen now?”

“We place them in an emergency placement for now and hopefully we can get them in a more permanent placement by the end of the week.”

“Please these boys have been through a lot in the past year.  Let them stay here until you can get them a more permanent placement.  It would be moving them around less.”

He’s about to answer when his phone goes off, he glances at it before quickly responding, “I need to get going, one of my kids are n crisis.  Since this isn’t urgent either myself or another will be in contact by tomorrow.”

When the case workweek leaves, Griffin walks into the room, “Mrs. Carter, can I use your computer?”

“For what?”

“We have an uncle back in Chicago.  He took us in last time mom went to jail.  Maybe we can stay with him again.  He’s our guardian if anything happens to my parents. My dad is dead and mom’s in jail again.”

Chicago PD #1

“Okay, it’s just us,” Hailey looks to Jay while they cuddle on the couch.  “What’s going on?  You’re still acting off.”  Jay opens his mouth to answer, but is cut off by Hailey, “No lying.”

Jay sighs, “I’m just tired. And I don’t feel that good.”

Hailey’s brow furrows with worry as she reaches a hand to his forehead.  “You don’t feel warm,” she comments.

“Well, I still feel sick,” Jay mumbles annoyed.

“I know.  And I believe you.  Can I do anything to help?”  Hailey asks running her hand through his hair.

“Can we just stay like this?”

“Okay,” Hailey agrees pulling Jay down so he is laying across her lap.  No sooner does she have Jay laying down when Jay moves to get up.  “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.  Bathroom,” Jay answers.

When he is out of her sight, Hailey knows that she has waited long enough and that something is really wrong with Jay.  Hailey grabs her phone and calls Will to see if he can come by to check out his brother.

“Hey Hailey,” a familiar voice picks up.

“Hey, Will,” she greets.  “Listen, Jay’s safe, but I think somethings wrong,” she tells the red-head while looking at the bathroom door.

“What’s going on?”

“Jay was sick earlier this week.  Today was his first day back at work after being out for five days, but he still seems off.”

“Okay, what are his symptoms?”

“He’s been pretty tired and has had no energy-”

“That would be pretty normal if he had the flu.”

“I’ve seen Jay with the flu before.  I couldn’t get him to eat anything.  He’s been eating everything in sight and still seems hungry.  And it looks like he’s still been losing weight.”

“Is he staying hydrated?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure in the last week he’s drank half of Lake Michigan.”

This catches Will’s attention.  “Has he been urinating more than normal?”

“Probably, but with how much he’s been drinking, isn't that normal?”

Will doesn’t answer her, instead telling her, “Listen to me, I want you to bring him to Med right now.  I’ll meet you there, but I’m going to call Maggie and let her know to be expecting you guys.”

“Will, what’s happening?”

“I’ll explain when you get here, just get to Med.  If you’re not here in a half hour,” Will gives her, knowing the amount of time it takes to get from Hailey’s place to Med, “I’m going to send an ambulance to your place.”

Chicago PD #2

The intelligence unit takes a collective breath when they close their latest case.  Everyone’s worse nightmare when dealing with child victims.

“I don’t know about you guys but I could use a drink,” Adam looks to the rest of the team.

“I have to go home to Makayla,” Kim answers.

Vanessa and Kevin look to each other before agreeing to go to Molly’s with Adam.

Jay looks discreetly to Hailey before giving his answer, “Sorry, Adam.  I haven’t had much time with Lucas since we got this case.”

“Rain check,” Jay adds.

“Come on, Jay.  You got a date?”

“No, headache,” he lies.  “Just going to go home and sleep it off.

Hailey looks at him concerned for a second before her attention goes to her phone that just went off, likely a text from Lucas, Jay guesses.  Jay takes her being distracted as an opportunity to get out of the bullpen, normally she’d be the only one to notice his behavior.

Jay takes a deep breath once in the safety of his tuck.  He can feel himself starting to spin out, but knows he can’t bother Hailey.  His second option is his other best friend, Mouse, but he’s in a war zone overseas; so he decides on the only other option he has, his brother.

Jay pulls out his phone to shoot Will a text, but his hands are shaking too much.  Sighing in defeat, Jay decides on calling his brother instead.

“Hello?” Will answers a little distracted.

Chicago. PD #3

Jay takes off his shirt to revel dark bruises on his back, shoulders and torso.  Hailey gasps when she sees the state of her partner.

“Oh, Jay,” Natalie whispers, shocked by all the bruises.  “Put this on,” Natalie orders him handing him the thin hospital gown.  “I'm going to take care of the cut first and then we can figure out what’s going on with the bruises.”

Natalie gets what she needs for the stiches while Hailey pulls Jay’s attention to her.  Jay flinches when the needle with the numbing agent enters his skin.  She waits until his arm is numb before giving the stiches to close the cut.  The whole time, Hailey keeps Jay’s attention away from his injured arm.

“All done,” Natalie announces after seven stiches.  She puts a gauze pad over the injury and reminds him not to get it wet and to keep it clean.  “Hailey switch sides with me,” she asks so she can give the tetanus booster.

“Can I leave now?” Jay asks as soon as the needle is out of his skin.

“Not yet, we need to figure of why you have so many bruises.”

“I told you- I don’t exactly have a desk job.”

“Jay,” Hailey scolds.  Jay gives a mumbled apology.

“It’s alright.  I'm going to see if your blood work came back.  That could give us a starting point,” Natalie tells them before leaving the treatment room.

“Jay, why don’t you lay down?  You look tired and this might take a while,” Hailey asks Jay.  Jay looks at her unsure, “I'm not leaving,” Hailey answers his unanswered question.

Jay lays back on the bed staring up at the celling.  Hailey places her and on his forehead feeling the heat coming off of his skin.  Jay leans into her touch, the same way his mother used to check if he’d had a fever.  “I'm sorry.”

“For what?” Hailey asks confused.

“For being stuck here,” Jay answers guiltily.

“Don’t apologize for that,” Hailey stops him.  “Now, do you want to tell me how you got all these bruises without Natalie here?”

“I don’t know.”

9-1-1: Lone Star #1

Detective Paul Strickland walks into the 21st district, mentally trying to prepare for the day knowing that his sergeant and partner have been going off the rails a bit… again regarding police reform.  He shakes his head, hoping that Halstead is already in so they can work out a plan.

Before he can make it a few steps into the building, Sergeant Trudy Platt calls him over to her desk, “Strickland!”

“Yes, Sarge?”  he greets, used to the nickname.

“You got a visitor,” she jerks her head towards a conference room across from them.

Paul follows her glaze to the conference room across from her desk where a man about Voight’s age is sitting at the table.

“Who is he?”  Paul asks, looking from the white shirt to Trudy.

“Some bigshot from Texas,” she answers.

“Texas?”

“Did I stutter?”  Trudy in a way only she can.  “He was pretty adamant that he sees you,” she adds.

“Why?”

“I didn’t ask,” she answers.  When he doesn’t respond she gives him a pointed look, “Go!”

Knowing that Platt is done with him, Paul makes his way into the conference room.  “Sergeant Platt said you wanted to speak with me?  I’m Paul Strickland.”

The man looks up from his files, “Detective Strickland, I’m Deputy Chief Clayton Carter, of Austin PD.”

“Nice to meet you, sir,” Paul shakes his hand.  “If you don’t mind me asking, what brings you to Chicago?”

“I’d like to recruit you,” Carter gets right to the point.

“Recruit me?”  Paul echoes.

“Austin PD is putting together an Intelligence Unit.  You have experience in such an elite unit, your record is impressive, and you have a natural talent as a detective.”

“You want me to leave Chicago PD?”  Paul questions.

“I see your potential and want to pull you in as second in command.”

“Why me?  I’m sure there are plenty of people from Austin, or even other places in the country.”

“You’ve got a stack full of Lifesaving Commendations, which tells me you’ve got a gift for threat assessment,” Carter answers.  “Would you say that has anything to do with being trans?”

“Growing up the way I did, there was a lot of folks who wanted to hurt me, so, I guess I learned to figure out who they were before they figured out who I was.”

“How would you feel about relocation to Austin?  “Austin PD is striving for change from the inside, we believe you can bring something with your style of policing.”

One Chicago #1

Hailey walks down the hallway of the Hogwarts Express, trying to find somewhere to sit for the journey to her new school.  Hailey pokes her head into a compartment where she sees two boys; both with brown hair and a bit on the scrawny side.  One has blue eyes and the other has green eyes and freckles across his face.

“Can I sit here?”  she asks.

The two boys stop their conversation.  “Yeah,” the boy with green eyes answers while the other nods.

“Thanks, everywhere else was either full or the people in there looked,” she hesitates not knowing who to word it.

The boys share a knowing look, before answering.  “Yeah, we know what you mean.  I’m Jay Halstead and this is Mouse,” the green-eyed boy introduced them.

“Mouse?”

“It’s a nickname.  I’m Greg Gerwitz.”

“Hailey Upton.”

“So, what House do you guys think you’ll be in?” Jay questions.

“I think I’ll be in Ravenclaw, but I wouldn’t mind Gryffindor or Hufflepuff,” Mouse answers.

“House?”  Hailey questions.

“When we get to the school, we get sorted into one of four houses.  Its where we will live for the next seven years.”

“Oh.  How do we get sorted?”

“My brother said we get sorted by a hat,” Jay answers, face skeptical.

“Muggle-born?”  Mouse asks curiously.

“What?”  Hailey asks confused.

“Your parents aren’t magic,” Jay clarifies.

“Yeah, they're not; neither are my brothers.  Is that bad?”

“No.  There are a lot of muggle-borns,” Jay answers

“I wouldn’t say a lot,” Mouse corrects his friend, “but there are defiantly more than you think.”

“So, there’s a word for what we are?”

“Like witch and wizard?”  Jay clarifies.

“No, like muggle-born.”

“Yes,” Jay answers cautiously, “but it doesn’t really matter.  The only people who care are pure-blood supremacists.”

“Are you?”  Hailey looks to Mouse.

“Muggle-born?  No, I’m a pure-blood.  My mom is a witch and my dad is a wizard, but my stepdad and his family are muggles.”

“No, I meant a pure-blood supremacist.  But I guess you're not since your stepdad is a muggle.”

“No, I was just asking since you didn’t know about the Houses.  I figured that you were either muggle-born or muggle-raised.”

“Some are,” Jay adds.  “Some like to disown the muggles in their family and pretend they're a true pure-blood.  But this one isn’t.  He will even watch soccer.”

“Hey, its good.  And my cousins taught me, so there’s always a game going when we go to my grandparents.”

“I guess, but it’s not as good as quidditch.”

“What’s quidditch?”

“The best wizarding sport there is,” Jay answers.

“Okay?”

#Fanfiction #Chicago Fire fanfiction #Chicago PD fan Fiction #911 Lone Star Fanfiction #One Chicago Fan Fiction

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Welcome to the blog of the AO3 Demographics Survey 2024!

We are an independent fandom research project whose goal is to perform a large-scale survey of AO3 users, asking questions about demographics, preferences and behaviours.

The survey is now running 1 Jan - 1 Feb 2024. Take part at https://forms.gle/2kt5J17ipzcAbnFY9

If you are interested in following along with the project, this is the place to do it! We will be making official announcements on our progress here, including any requests for public feedback.

If you have any other questions, please check our FAQ. If that doesn’t answer your question, the askbox is now open.

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Combined with the twitter poll, daily won by one vote. 6-5

Also it might be posted a little later than I thought because I have a new job and am still working out my hours and finding time to write.

This was a request from 2020 that finally got finished. Hoping to start posting by mid January at the latest

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Season 3 Tarlos

(Tarlos Series, Part 3 of 4 🥰)

Season 2

Season 1

Close ups under the cut!

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Those letters pouring out of your fingertips can create beautiful words, can create whole universes. Or they can form barely comprehensible sentences.

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I don’t know what the difference between the first two but here are my AO3 Wraps. Also don’t know if these things are harder to fill out with more or less works for the year because I only got 2 things posted this year. More to come next year

#fanfiction #chicago pd fic #911 lone star fanfiction #writing things

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This was a request from 2020 that finally got finished. Hoping to start posting by mid January at the latest

#chicago pd fanfiction #jay halstead

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Shout-out to fan-fiction writers who don’t or can’t write the 50k fan-fictions, because of a lack of focus or motivation, or mental illness.

Shout-out to fan-fiction writers who don’t or can’t write smut, but are still lumped into a group that is almost expected to write smut. 

Shout-out to fan-fiction writers who can’t update chapters frequently for maybe a multitude of reasons, and get messages daily from people asking for “their” new chapter. 

Shout-out to fan-fiction writers who aren’t big name fans and hardly get ten kudos or one comment on their fan-fictions. 

Shout-out to fan-fiction writers who stay up all night editing and rewriting and don’t get much attention on their work no matter how much they feel like they promote their writing.

Shout-out to fan-fiction writers who don’t write a lot and are constantly asked to write more but can’t for whatever valid reason they have. 

Shout-out to fan-fiction writers who have the courage to post their writing online and only have it publicly made fun of for grammar or poor characterization. 

Shout-out to fan-fiction writers for writing their fan-fiction, posting it online, and continuing to do it no matter how much or little attention they get, and constantly improving as a writer with every upload.

You all rock.

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if you feel comfortable, list what generation you’re a part of and what writing system you use in the tags

#millennial gen z cusper

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Andie what animal would you atribute to each of the LS characters and why?

It took way too long to make this list but here's what I came up with:

TK - this one was easy. Feral cat turned domesticated cat. Back alley scrapper with bloody knuckles to pampered prince sleeping on a silk pillow.

Carlos - A dog but ... not like a golden retriever or something that's super happy and friendly to anyone it meets. Maybe like a husky or an arctic wolf. Solitary at times, stoic, very wary of strangers and outsiders, but fiercely loyal once he finds his mate and his pack.

Owen - Also a dog but not in the same way as Carlos. Maybe more like a sheep dog or a border collie, hard working and hyper active and very dedicated to service. Always wants to help and move and have something to do.

Grace - some kind of bear. Soft and loving when she needs to be, will rip your face off when the situation calls for it. Very protective, an excellent caretaker. Loves getting into other people's business. Do bears love gossip? Idk this bear does.

Marjan - A tiger. She doesn't wear so many tigers on her shirt just for fun it's because she is one in her soul. The queen of the jungle. Regal and fierce and dangerous and mesmerizingly beautiful.

Judd - Capybara. You know how they have that reputation for being so chill that all animals feel safe/comfortable around them? That's Judd. He's protective and strong and loyal and all those things but he also just makes people feel safe with his presence.

Paul - Elephant. Strong but exceedingly gentle.

Mateo - Meerkat. Idk I'm just going with vibes on this one. Small and scrappy.

Tommy - Peacock. Idk much about the personalities of peacock but all her showy hairstyles and outfits led me there.

Nancy - Some kind of sea creature like a whale or a seal. Elegant, goofy at times, illusive. Could do tricks for frozen fish but will not, she is too cool for that.

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Christmas/Winter holiday prompts - masterlist

Feel free to use and reblog!

~ Warm hearts ~ Christmas activity prompts

~ Snowy days ~ another Christmas prompt list - two-word prompts

~ Under the mistletoe ~ Christmas prompts

~ Visiting for the holidays ~ Christmas prompts

~ Fights over a gift ~ dialogue prompts

~ Love hurts ~ sad Christmas prompts

~ Fun in the snow ~ fluffy Christmas prompts

~ It's Christmas time ~ holiday event prompts

~ First Christmas as a couple ~ prompts

~ Holidays together? ~ rivals-to-lovers prompts

10 ice skating prompts

10 winter couple holidays prompts

~ Hanukkah ~ prompts

#writing things #for later

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I saw this before/after coloring challenge going around and thought it would be a perfect way to talk about how stupidly dark the lighting on 911LS is..

This is an opportunity for my fellow gifmakers to bitch with me about how difficult it can be to edit sometimes 😅 What is the worst scene you've tried to edit for this show?

This is also a reminder to thank your local neighborhood gifmakers in the 911LS fandom for making some of the most iconic tarlos scenes actually visible to the naked eye.

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How to show emotions

Part IV

How to show bitterness

tightness around their eyes

pinched mouth

sour expression on their face

crossed arms

snorting angrily

turning their eyes upward

shaking their head

How to show hysteria

fast breathing

chest heaving

trembling of their hands

weak knees, giving in

tears flowing down their face uncontrollably

laughing while crying

not being able to stand still

How to show awe

tension leaving their body

shoulders dropping

standing still

opening mouth

slack jaw

not being able to speak correctly

slowed down breathing

wide eyes open

softening their gaze

staring unabashingly

How to show shame

vacant stare

looking down

turning their head away

cannot look at another person

putting their head into their hands

shaking their head

How to show being flustered

blushing

looking down

nervous smile

sharp intake of breath

quickening of breath

blinking rapidly

breaking eye contact

trying to busy their hands

playing with their hair

fidgeting with their fingers

opening mouth without speaking

Part I + Part II + Part III

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