traditionalbird

[traditionalbird]

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.

[traditionalbird]

I am jittering with the need to finally (finally) paint our bedroom, and I think I’ve cracked the color combo I want.

So for the longest time I knew I wanted to paint the bedroom green. I was thinking of doing a deep, dark jewel-tone green (and I still might, ADHD brain going brrr) to make the space darker and better for sleeping. But supposedly jewel-tones make you more awake and pastels help you sleep? Idk, I read it somewhere. Anyway.

You know that arsenic mint green color in my office? I was thinking about how much I love that room yesterday, and I realized I still have a bunch of that paint. I could do the bedroom walls the same color, but instead of painting the ceiling pink like in my office, I could do the ceiling in a deep dark jewel-tone green. Maybe get some flower and vine stencils and go ham around the edges of the beams.

And honestly, I think it would fuck. Like paired with the same dusty pink curtains (we have them all through the house) and our nature-themed bedding and the Van Goh wallpaper in the closet? It’d absolutely fuck. My only regret is that we likely won’t be able to recreate that absolutely stunning trim in my office.

Though, idk, maybe. My FIL does woodworking so maybe...

Anyway. Prepare yourselves for more home renovation stories. I’m gearing up to do so many things this year. Including, finally finishing the bathroom 7 years after we started renovating it.

[traditionalbird]

Okay the thing I hate about dark academia is that like I try to look up inspiration for my room or something and everything is like rich person fake. If that makes sense? Like, it’s really cool but it’s like they started out with an empty room and just bought everything for it…no knickknacks no like out of place thing that they’ve had since infancy…I don’t want perfect Amazon trifle…give me scratched desks and worn chairs…

#Dark academia #dark academia style #maybe I’m just tired

[traditionalbird]

dude I love this

Rudolph ready for take off

@kjerstisofiean

[traditionalbird]

Same man

hey. personality quiz right here right now. What did you do at recess. :)

[traditionalbird]

who says brothers aren’t caring? My dad and brother are sick. Cut to my sitting on the couch, Warren comes over to me with an open bottle of chewable vitamin c (y’know the big chunks of chewable stuff) and dumps the bottle into my mouth and it cascades over me spilling over the couch and three of these actually ending in my mouth

#Brothers #brotherly love #vitamin c #eh #yknow

[traditionalbird]

I was talking to my brother today and randomly he tells me: your attention is the most important thing to a man one day. I love you talking to you and having your attention but one day you’re what a guy’s going to think about all day. Your opinion is going to matter so much to him and he’ll spend all day thinking about you. Warren (our brother) thinks about Allison constantly. All he wants to talk about is Allison. And you’re going to be that for someone. I just didn’t know if you knew that. I don’t think they teach that to girls and they should.

So I thought I’d share

#daily life #you should know #thoughts #brothers #guys #Internet #Life thoughts #I dunno #liked It #Random thoughts #brothers random insight

[traditionalbird]

i just saw someone describe a disabled person as "someone with beautiful abilities" i cannot do this anymore

[traditionalbird]

It hurt. Everywhere.

It hurt along my arms where the sharp edge of the blade had dragged along the skin. It hurt where the skin of my back had been flayed open by a whip. It hurt where a red hot iron had pressed into my skin and burned the flesh. And it hurt—oh how it hurt—where they had stabbed my stomach. I was dazed and my head pounded, I think I still had the dregs of a drug in my system. I stumbled along on wobbly legs trying to keep pressure on my stomach. I glance behind me and scan the area, the road, the building, the alleyways I couldn’t see anyone following me, hadn’t the last fifty times I checked, but I still felt eyes watching me. 

I couldn’t believe I had escaped. It didn’t seem real. 

I had escaped.

But they hadn’t. 

Because they were dead. They were dead.

I barely knew where I was but I managed to spot  familiar road leading up to the last person I would ever want to admit weakness to. I stumbled up his drive and thumped my fist wearily on the door. Funny, I thought leaning on the doorframe and trying not to faint, it always seems like they would be in some lair or cave maybe hidden in an active volcano or have a moat around it or something.  Maybe with bats or snapping crocodiles. 

The door opens and I almost fall onto the entryway floor. They [villan] looks shocked as I sway on their doorstep. “I just...I didn’t know where else to go.” I try and think as my head grows fuzzier. And then I don’t think I just succumb to darkness

#prompt #writingprompt #villian prompt #creative writing #my writing #original #failed hero #hero and villain #hero and villain prompt #writing snippet #snippet #short snippet #weak hero #fear #hurt #Villain is the rescuer

[traditionalbird]

[traditionalbird]

Wei Shi Lindon Arelius

[traditionalbird]

Ditto

finally got my brother to listen to cradle. he's on soulsmith.

another one for the cult fandom

[traditionalbird]

"We have stared into the abyss and lived to tell the tale,” Ziel said. “I’m going to sleep"

— Will Wight, Reaper

[traditionalbird]

Fanmade Webtoon Promo for Cradle Series by Will Wight!!! I’ve been caught in Cradle-verse and got so invested in it and IMO it doesn’t have the recognition it deserves. This webtoon contains out of context spoilers up to Vol 5, but I kept it vague enough that it shouldn’t ruin your enjoyment of the series. 

Please read Cradle! If you have Kindle Unlimited you can read it for free, if not you can start in “Unsouled”

[traditionalbird]

Ten books in a week? Accurateeeeeee

Ok, so I caught up with Cradle by Will Wight today. Lots of thoughts, head full. Ten books in a week is a lot to digest, even if they’re all short. The briefest version of my review is:

this shit fucks.

A slightly longer version would be:

Through streamlining his style and presenting a very linear, simple plot, Wight amps the pace up to be positively blistering. There’s very little fluff in his prose; in fact, I initially mistook it for a lack of writing skill. I’m very used to authors gushing lyrically onto the page with idiosyncrasies and various writing tics, but Wight cuts the shit and keeps it simple. When I first started Unsouled, the first book, I actually gave him a misplaced benefit of the doubt, assuming that he was just aware of his limits and strengths as a writer and chose to focus his efforts elsewhere. Now, I’m not so sure this was a limit, per se, so much as a deliberate choice.

If I had a single complaint with this series, it’d be… well, this is going to sound silly. It’s not a real complaint. As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, I’ve recently been almost exclusively reading very dark, depressing fantasy, which has led me to expect the worst out of every situation I read. Reading Cradle was a goddamn stressfest because, if it were a darker story, it’d be RIDDLED with catastrophes and trauma. Instead, it’s written… well, like a story about heroes. Bad things happen, make no mistake, but there will be a sunset to ride off into. Hopefully. My complaint basically boils down to “all this shit could’ve gone wrong but didn’t and it weirded me out”.

Other than that? Man, so… I’ve got this running joke with my girlfriend. I absolutely adored the manga Bleach in high school, and it still holds a special place in my heart, so I pretty much have it memorized. With a little abstraction, you can draw parallels to just about every fantasy story. We’ll be watching something like Witcher, or she’ll be reading a YA fantasy book and telling me about it, and I’ll stop her and go “hey. you know what”. and she’ll say “no. fuck you.” and I’ll say “this happens in Bleach”.

Cradle is the biggest “hey this happens in Bleach” fest I’ve ever experienced. I know that’s kind of a dumb and ignorant comparison, because it’s explicitly far more wuxia than it is shounen, but… it’s anime as fuck! And, from the bottom of my heart, I mean that in the best way possible. It’s anime as fuck in the same way that shit like the old Arthurian legends and the Poetic Edda are; it’s absolutely heart-stoppingly cool if you remember that it’s a fuckin story. It’s been a breath of fresh air to me, pulling me out of this weird rut I’ve been falling into where all the speculative fiction is about how wrong everything can go.

It’s not even that positive a series.Again, a bunch of bad shit happens to a bunch of people. It’s just got this tone to it where we can trust the characters to handle it. They’re the goddamn heroes! They will be okay. They will face the end of the world with a hug, a not, and a tear. They will pull each other out of the deepest holes anyone’s ever figured out how to dig.

It’s so relieving! I didn’t realize how goddamn sad all my books were until now! My Wheel of Time followers: you know Veins of Gold? Imagine ten books that’s just that sequence over and over again.

Also Yerin is my absolute hard fave. Top 10 all time character. Sword blood violence girl? Count me in. Most realistic 16-year-old girl I’ve ever read; every problem is met with overwhelming violence. Pinpoint.

[traditionalbird]

Call it a historical fiction

“…and in the fourth month of surveying his lands, Ozmanthus came to a prosperous town under his rule, and there was held a celebration.

During the festivities, a young child presented him with a clumsily-made crown of flowers and leaves, saying ‘look, it has your name!’

The founder agreed that the crown was indeed woven of osmanthus flowers, and placed it on his head with great solemnity.

The lord magistrate of the town was deeply embarrassed, and made to scold the child, saying that a great king was above such things and that they would show their wealth in proper fashion, presenting their ruler with a crown of gems and gold.

Ozmanthus held up a hand to indicate the man should be silent, and spoke, saying ‘the child is far wiser than you, who would present me with what I do not need.’

He gestured to his long and shining hair, declaring that nature had already provided him with a crown of gold, and thus he needed no further adornment. The symbolism of the flowers was far more pleasing to him, and should the magistrate have gold to spare on crowns, he would be better served by spending it to provide for his people.

His wisdom thus explained, Ozmanthus proceeded to wear the flower crown for the remainder of his visit.”

-An excerpt from the historical records of House Arelius, regarding various deeds of their founding patriarch.

“Doing a little light reading, Cassias?”

He’d known Eithan was coming this way, and somehow the man had still managed to greet him at exactly the right moment to interrupt him in the middle of a sentence. Somehow, he suspected it was on purpose.

“Just brushing up on my history.”

Even on a cloudship too small for a proper training session, you could at least spend the journey improving your mind. There was no sense in laziness.

“Come to think of it… weren’t you something of an expert on the founder, back in the Rosegold branch? What did you think of this parable?”

Out of politeness, he held up the scroll to show the text, even knowing that Eithan could probably read the whole thing from several rooms away.

“My tutors never seemed to agree whether it was a lesson on the importance of humility, or a metaphor about how a true Monarch carries themself with pride, no matter the circumstances. …One of them was convinced it was just a morality tale about not spending too much money.”

Eithan blinked. “That one? I should think it would be obvious!”

“Really? So what is the meaning, then?”

“You can be the most powerful person in the room, or the country, or the world…” He looked Cassias directly in the eyes, expression unusually stern. “…but when a small child hands you a flower crown, you wear the fucking flower crown.”

Cassias opened his mouth to chide Eithan for being irreverent about their founding patriarch- then thought of his son’s many, many crayon drawings pinned up on the walls of his home, and paused. Somehow, he couldn’t bring himself to argue the point.

The rest of the trip continued in surprisingly peaceful silence, broken only by the faint sound of Eithan humming to himself. When he looked over, Cassias saw the man twisting something green in his fingers, weaving it together.

When the cloudship reached their destination, Eithan stood up and went to go oversee the landing.

Left behind on the chair where he’d been sitting was a pristine, perfectly-woven crown of bright pink flowers.

[traditionalbird]

Reaper comic recap commissioned by Will Wight that he posted on Facebook

WARNING: ALL OF THE SPOILERS