#fanworks

[paganinpurple]

AO3 Etiquette -UPDATED

Based on both decent and not so decent replies, I have made some changes to my original post below.

It would seem a whole new kind of AO3 reader/writer is emerging and it is becoming clear not everyone quite understands how the website community works. Here is some basic guidance on how most people expect you to go about using AO3 to keep this a fun community archive that funtions correctly:

As well as likes, kudos is for when the story was interesting enough to make you finish reading. If it sucked or was badly written, you probably left. If you finished it, you liked it - so kudos.

If you really liked it, you should try to comment. It can be long and detailed or a literal keysmash. Writers don't care, we just love comments.

No critisism unless the author has specifically asked or agreed to hear it (so use your notes to say if you want some constructive feedback). Even constructive critisism is a no-no unless an author note tells you it's okay. No, posting it online is not an open invitation for that. Many people write as a fun hobby or a way to cope with, among other things, insecurity and just want to share. Don't ruin that for them. I've seen so many authors just stop writing coz they can't handle the negative emotions the critism brings, and it's only meant to be a fun thing shared for free (pointing out tagging errors is not included in this).

Do not comment to ask the author to write/update something else. It's tacky and off-putting and will probably have the opposite effect than the one you want.

There is no algorithm, it's an archive. Use the search and filter function to add/remove the pairings/characters/tropes etc. you want to read about and it will find you the fics that fit the bill.

For this to work, writers must tag and rate stories. This avoids readers finding the wrong things and missing the stuff they want. I don't care how cringy that trope is in your eyes - it gets tagged.

The tag exception is if you don't want to tag a million things or spoil your story, you can rate it as "chose not to use warnings," and maybe tag the bare minimum.

Don't censor tags. How can someone exclude a tag if the word isn't typed out correctly? There are no content bans for terms so don't censor them.

If the tags are mostly content/trigger warnings, especially if they are things considered very fucked up or graphic, you might want to use "dead dove - do not eat" to ensure people know that you're not messing around with tags and what they get is exactly what you've warned them about.

Character A/Character B means a ROMANTIC or SEXUAL relationship of some kind. Character A&Character B is PLATONIC, like friendship or family.

Nothing is banned. This is an rule because banning one thing is a slipperly slope to banning another and another, until nothing is allowed anymore. Do not expect anyone to censor for you. Because of the tags system, you are responsible for your own reading experience.

People can create new chapters and sequels/fic series any time after they "complete" a story. So it's considered perfectly normal to subscribe, even to a finished story. You can even subscribe to the author instead just to cover your bases.

Do not repost stories or change the publishing date without an extremely good reason (like a complete top to bottom rewrite or an exchange youve written for going public). It's an archive, not social media. No one cares what's the most recent, only what fits their tag needs.

Instead of deleting a story you wrote if you hate it - consider making it anonymous or orphaning it so others can still enjoy it, without it being connected to your name anymore. If you still want to delete it, fair enough.

It's come to my attention that metaworks ARE allowed on AO3, which is something I wasn't aware of. So if you do post an essay or theory, please tag it as such so others can choose to search for it or exclude it. Art is also allowed.

The only reason this archive works is because NON ONE PROFITS. Do not link to your ko-fi or patreon or mention monetary gain in any way or you violate the terms and risk having your account removed. If anyone does link, it leaves the archive open to people claiming it's for profit and having the whole thing removed.

I KNOW there's plenty more I missed but I'm trying to cover most of the basics that people seem to be struggling with.

I invite anyone to add to this, but please explain, don't berate.

#ao3 #using ao3 #archive of our own #fanfiction #fanworks

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

#good omens #neil gaiman #changing hands bookstore arizona #good omens pumpkin #pumpkin #fanworks #oooh! :) <3

[oceanichymns]

Recharging.

#legend of korra #avatar legend of korra #korrasami #korra #asami sato #asami #wlw #sapphic art #digital #fanworks #avatar #avatar universe

[transformativeworks]

April 2024 Membership Drive: Keeping Fanworks Safe

OTW's April Membership drive has begun!  Find out what we do to keep fanworks safe by reading more at: https://otw.news/dps

Bahasa Indonesia • Bahasa Melayu • Български • বাংলা • català • dansk • Deutsch • Ελληνικά • English • español • français • 한국어 • italiano • मराठी • Nederlands • norsk • polski • português brasileiro • português europeu • Română • Русский • slovenščina • Српски • suomi • svenska • Wikang Filipino • 中文

#organization for transformative works #otw #membership drive #preservation #fanworks

[stinalotte]

There is a Swiss group called Les Enfants de Macguyver and they actually built a life-size Stargate, complete with moving chevrons and all the lights. (A Pegasus gate was also done as—one hell of—a side project.) They have a website and are on a bunch of social media, here's their YouTube channel.

It's insanely well done, they had access to lots of the original parts, and the specs are all correct. Go and give them some love!

#stargate sg 1 #dyi stargate #3d printing #fanworks

[incognitopolls]

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

#polls #incognito polls #anonymous #tumblr polls #tumblr users #questions #polls about interests #submitted dec 13 #fandom #fanworks

[thirteenfanzine]

AVAILABLE NOW!

We're so happy to release No More: A Doctor Who Zine for Palestine. The zine (and the re-release of all 3 volumes of the Unofficial 13 Fanzine) will be on sale on Gumroad from April 5th until May 5th. Get them while they're hot!

All of the proceeds (and since there's no printing costs, that means every cent) from the sales of these zines will go to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund (www.pcrf.net).

Links below!

No More: A Doctor Who Zine for Palestine

Unofficial 13 Zines Bundle

#doctor who #doctor who fanart #doctor who fanfic #charity zine #fanworks #doctor who fanworks #no more: a doctor who zine for palestine

[fansplaining]

But actually? Fan creators might be the “real” artists here. Because fan creators know that all art is built on building blocks. It’s not hidden; it’s explicit. Fan creators know that creativity isn’t a finite resource that needs to be kept behind lock and key. With those same basic building blocks, from trope to trope and fandom to fandom, an infinite amount of vitally important creativity can be built. We know; we’ve done it. The law just needs to catch up. 

— @earlgreytea68 in her article "How U.S. Copyright Law Fails Fan Creators." Read it, then listen (or read a transcript) of our conversation with her in our most recent episode, "The Copyright Conundrum."

#fansplaining #earlgreytea68 #copyright law #fandom #fanworks #fanfiction

[000marie198]

I love you fanfic authors

I love you fanartists and fancomic artists

I love you amv editors

I love you fan animators

I love you theorists and analysts

I love you fandom people who make this little bubble of joy bigger and that much greater to experience

#you guys might not realize the extent of what u do but u directly play a hand in making a lot of people's days #fanfic authors #fanfics #fanfic writers #fanartist #artists #comic artist #fancomics #fan theory #fanworks #fandom #amv #animation #animatic #fan animation #fan animatic #fandom things

[biblyoteka]

Some more of my FE4 play diary -- I unfortunately never ended up finishing drawing all the chapters like I planned, but here is my experience with chapters 2-4. You can view my post with the prologue-chapter 1 diary here ♥

PS: Not supposed to be a representative of everyone's playthroughs, just some silly things that happened in my own game :D

#fire emblem #fe4 #sigurd #deirdre #lewyn #not going to tag every character #yes i was aiming to draw every gen 1 char at least once #ch5 diary is forever a sketch wip #maybe one day #artlog #fanworks

[cirrus-ghoulette]

Personalised Letters from Papa Emeritus

Hello, everyone!

I recently launched my Etsy shop, The Papal Quill!

In my store, you will find letters written to you from the Papa of your choice.

Right now I have four letters available; a Prime Mover proposal letter, a letter where Papa misses you while on tour, a letter where Papa is proud of you, and an acceptance letter to the Satanic Ministry in Linkoping! I also have these available as digital downloads for a lower cost.

All of the physical letters come in a hand-lettered envelope, sealed with a Grucifix wax seal, and they're placed inside a polymailer for extra protection.

I ship domestically within the UK, and internationally!

#ghost #ghost band #ghost bc #papa emeritus #my works #nameless ghoul #Copia #Cardinal copia #Papa Emeritus i #Papa Emeritus ii #Papa Emeritus iii #Papa Emeritus iv #Papa copia #Papa primo #Papa Secondo #Papa terzo #Nameless ghouls #Ghouls #Secondo #Terzo #Primo #Fanworks #Etsy #dew #dewdrop #cirrus #Cumulus #Swiss #Sodo

[frownyalfred]

Apparently ao3 just hit 11M fanworks. I’m proud to have contributed 100+ to that massive number.

Writers, give yourself a pat on the back!

#ao3 #archive of our own #fandom #fanworks #writing #writer #writers #let’s goooooooo

[its-seyunn]

happy valentine's day!!

#fanart #my art #art #fanworks #sketch #digital #bsd ranpo #bsd poe #bsd #bungou stray dogs #ranpo edogawa #edgar allan poe #bsd ranpoe #ranpoe fanart #ranpoe supremacy

[oceanichymns]

For From the Ashes: A Fire Nation Recovery Zine [@recovery-zine]

#atla #avatar #avatar the last airbender #azula #zuko #avatar universe #the last airbender #fire nation #ember island #digital #fanworks #zine promo

[celestemagnoliathewriter]

sometimes, as a fanfic writer, I worry about doing something that's already been done before. there's already a story with this pairing and trope, or this character and situation, etc.

of course, like many other fic readers, I like to see my favorite blorbos falling in love over and over or in the same sexy situations, but just a little differently each time.

it hit me today that it's not just fic readers who do this. you know how there's a gazillion covers of the same christmas songs? look up "have yourself a merry little christmas." there are so many covers. sure, some of them are our favorites, but if that song is a banger, you're going to listen to it performed and recorded in a million ways and still think it's awesome.

so, maybe next time when you're looking for a new fic that features your main idiots in love, pining after each other for the billionth time, and wondering why you do this, just know that there are people who love listening to "grandma got run over by a reindeer" sung by a diversity of voices.

if that's ok, so is reading about your little meow meows being repeatedly emotionally scarred or falling in love. or sharing one bed. or going from enemies to lovers.

the world that has many renditions of" grandma got run over by a reindeer" definitely has room for more stories of your blorbos.

#fanfiction #fanfic #ao3 #ao3 writer #ffn #ao3 reader #ao3 fanfiction #fanworks #blorbos #christmas #christmas music #music #my blorbos #only one bed #fanfic tropes #tropes #ao3 author #archive of our own #fanfic writing #fic writing #writeblr #writers of tumblr #writing advice #writing tips

[hms-no-fun]

i just want you to know that i read... i think Most of godfeels and had to stop because i was not enjoying it. but i think its really good and i really respect what you do. i think it's all too easy for people to mix up "this is not my cup of tea" with "this is bad and/or problematic". they dont take the time to see the artistry in it, why it is what it is, what it might be saying beyond their surface level read and the kneejerk reaction to it.

i also wanted to note that ive always been kind of scared of sharing fanworks for fear of writing "out of character" - and ive also even been afraid of it in original works. character isn't real and concrete, so anyone can decide something's out of character. so your exploration of that concept gives me more confidence as a writer. i really appreciate that and everything else you do. :)

thank you so much for this message! i'm glad you tapped out rather than force your way through something you weren't enjoying, that's a very mature response and something i wish more folks would recognize as a perfectly valid option. in fact i think pushing through and reading long after you've given up on the material, so to speak, is a great way to wind up angry at a writer for having "forced" you to endure such a trying experience. as i've said before, an author can't force you to do anything. you can close the book any time you like.

as far as the tension of "in character/out of character" goes, i think a lot of people in fandom struggle with the fact that "character" is very much in the eye of the beholder. sub-groups form within fandoms based on identities, politics, sexual predilections, etc, and typically gather around the fire that is their particular interpretation of a character. but from within that sub-group, it's rarely considered "an interpretation" so much as the obvious intended truth of the text. it's that intoxicating mood of finding people who share a perspective you rarely see elsewhere, like oh my god, you GET it, finally someone GETS it!

in homestuck fandom, for instance, quite a lot of people hate vriska and think she sucks, with a vocal sub-group of that sub-group still actively beating the drum that everything about her arc after [S] Game Over is the worst part of homestuck. but i love vriska, and my corner of the fandom very much organized around a full-throated defense of her. some folks think homestuck did tavros and gamzee dirty and that this is a fatal flaw in the text; when i countenance these people, i am convinced we read two very different comics. who's right and who's wrong? there are degrees. i can pull out any number of quotes from andrew hussie about the importance of vriska and the weenieness of tavros, but then, authors love to say things, and there's plenty of stories i love in ways that directly oppose to the authors' stated intent. the debate can never end because we are only ever talking about the version of a character or story that exists in our heads, based on the things that stuck with us when we read the thing (however long ago that was-- which is important because i find a LOT of people adamantly defending their headcanons haven't read the source text in a number of years. as time passes, your perception of the media you've experienced in the past morphs and distorts. someone who was right five years ago can be wrong today and not even notice the difference).

something i've realized in the last year is how much godfeels emerged from a very specific milieu, not just in terms of how we interpreted certain characters but in our approach to analyzing and talking about the text altogether. i believe most of the important stuff in godfeels is "in character" in most of the ways that matter, but it's built on a very specific meta that centered vrisrezi and transness and radical leftist politics and experimental hypertext. really, it's a post-Epilogues fanwork even despite the fact that godfeels 1 predates their release by a few weeks. and i think to this day a lot of homestuck fans haven't read the epilogues but have read fandom posts about how terrible they are (quite a lot of which will have either been written by teens, by people who already didn't like homestuck very much, or by one of the regressive stalkery weirdos prominent in the homestuck reddit/discord), and that misapprehension keeps them in the dark about just how many amazing tools the epilogues introduce to the homestuck formula that exponentially expand the expressive possibilities of attentive fanworks. and it of course elides the fact that the homestuck epilogues are a story about being in your 30s. i think we'll be getting a big re-appraisal of the epilogues in 5-10 years. it'll be the "twin peaks: fire walk with me" of homestuck, just you wait.

so these readers see my version of dirk being an unhinged murderous dick to a newly-out trans woman and go "he would never do that." then if i point at the epilogues, they'll say "i didn't read them/they're not even canon/that wasn't in character either." at which point there's nothing really to say, because we have two completely different perceptions of the text. who's right and who's wrong is almost always infinitely subjective, a circumstance that humans are notable for being very good at handling in a mature and politely discursive manner.

so i've got an "author's introduction" to godfeels baking in my docs to provide some context about the meta this story is built on, the milieu it came out of, that sort of thing. it won't make much of a difference in practical terms, but it'll at least be something i can point to.

in any event, thanks for this message. all i ever want is for people to give it an honest shot. i hope you can continue harvesting confidence from wherever it can be found. it takes a lot of audacity and backbone to be an artist, especially when you have something worthwhile to say. remember that you're not writing for the haters, you're writing for the kind of person, like you, who wants to see more stories like the thing you're writing. they're the ones who'll get it, they're the ones who'll stick around long after the haters have lost interest.

#sarahposts #in character #out of character #homestuck #godfeels #fanworks #writing advice #headcanon #fandom #long post