curiousoh-randomfandoms

[curiousoh-randomfandoms]

I know tag wranglers do a lot of work connecting tags etc. Is there anything authors can do to make their jobs easier for them like trying to mostly use canonical tags or not making tag comments?

Thanks!

This is a great question, and I'll do my best to answer it but I do hope that some wranglers add on in the notes! I'm also just going to preface this with the fact that you should still tag however you like to tag. This list isn't meant to be a checklist or anything. It's just info I've picked up over the years and you can take or leave each piece as you see fit.

Okay, so the first thing that most non-wranglers should know is that wranglers see tags separately from the fic. They get a big bin full of tags to sort through and match up in the system, but they'll only see your fic and the other tags you've added to it if they decide to go look.

That's important to know because sometimes a user will tag something like [character] is so sexy and then also tag by which I mean they're a huge dork. The wranlger won't see that second tag and won't know that they're connected so your sarcastic tag will end up synned (matched up to) sexy!Character or whatever the canonical is, as if that was the meaning you were going for.

Another good thing to know is that tags can only be synned if they only have 1 idea in them. So if you tag, say, [character] is gay and autistic then the wrangler can't actually syn that to either [character] is gay or character is autistic because it only half-fits either tag. To have them synned in the database, you would need to tag those two ideas separately.

You might have already seen the post I made referencing the fact that you don't have to tag multiple versions of the same idea (unless you want to for the aesthetic) because the synning that wranglers do makes sure that tagging one idea allows users to filter for all versions of that idea. But in case you didn't know that, now you do!

Wranglers are often members of the fandoms they wrangle, but they aren't always. Sometimes they'll take on a fandom that doesn't otherwise have a wrangler because they like to do research or because they like small fandoms or for many other reasons. But that means that if you're tagging your OCs by name, you should add (OC) to the end so that they know it's not a canon character that they aren't familiar with. This is double true in huge fandoms like Star Wars where there are millions of canon characters and just as many OCs.

Wranglers don't "seed" tags in fandoms. For a tag to exist, users need to create it. The rule of thumb is at least 3 fics from 3 separate authors, but that's very much the minimum and in fast-moving or huge fandoms the bar is probably higher. Also, for brand new fandoms, it's entirely possible that they won't know you exist until you tell them. Back in January I was the first person to write in a brand new fandom so I knew I had to start the tags, and I waited until there were 25 or so works by 15 or so creators before I emailed Support because I know I have to be patient - but I'm still impatient by nature lol.

Another thing to know is that tags are kind of like proton packs - they can't cross the streams. If you put a tag in the Character field by mistake, wranglers can't move it to the Additionals. This can also work in your favour, though, because if you have a minor character or minor relationship that you want to tag because there's some kind of fandom drama happening and people want to be able to avoid them, you can tag them in the Additional Tags so that people can know they're in there, but the people who like that character or ship can still filter the Character and Relationship tags without seeing a bunch of works that don't really focus on them.

This got super long, so I'll end with your question about tag comments. I know people worry that it makes extra work for tag wranglers if you get all chatty in your fic tags but I've been reassured by more than one wrangler over the course of several years now that it's no extra work. They just shovel those tags into the gaping maw of the Unfilterable Beast - which is the same thing they do with those tags that have multiple concepts in them. If it can't be synned, then that's where they go.

(keep tagging that way, though, if you like to because that's how new concepts get created and eventually canonized)

Alright, I that's all I can think of off the top of my head, and the list was actually longer than I thought! Wranglers: please do add on with other things you wish users knew, and please correct me if anything has changed since the last time I delved into this topic!

[curiousoh-randomfandoms]

Work in Progress Wednesday Thursday

I don't remember the last time I was quite this excited about a skin that I'm making. I have no idea if all of this will end up in the final version, but I'm just having so much fun with seeing what I can actually do that I wanted to share some work in progress shots.

(honestly? the hardest part has been finding the images. any tips on where to get medieval illuminated artwork would be much appreciated!)

In the first image, the AO3 title and the lady/dragon are separate images so on a desktop monitor the AO3 part is on the left and the dragon piece is on the right.

[curiousoh-randomfandoms]

SMALLVILLE | SEASON 1 EPISODE Pilot

[curiousoh-randomfandoms]

In your opinion, how does one differentiate between OOC behavior and a natural shift in a character's demeanor/attitude/choices when written in a fanfic context that is not identical to the canon in question?

When it comes to the age-old question of "he wouldn't fucking say that" I land firmly in the camp of "what would it take to MAKE him say that?"

Basically, anything can be in character if you tie it back to how you got there from canon.

A normally shy, dorky, stumbly person is a dommy sex beast in the sack? Show me how they control themselves in a professional setting and how letting "the beast" free is a release for them. Or show me how guilty they feel over their sexual preferences and how they're overcompensating outside of the bedroom to make up for it. Or maybe they're just super into RPGs and they realized that they can use their improv skills to get their partner off and their partner likes exploring the subby side of the spectrum.

Sometimes a difference in demeanor/attitude/choices is doable in a canon universe, but sometimes it's not. Someone who has a lot of repressed trauma issues and zero ability to cope with them is not going to use therapy speak until and unless they've been to therapy. So if you want to write them doing that, then put them in an AU where they've been to therapy. The issue isn't them talking like that, it's that they're talking that way with possible reason in their history for them to have access to that kind of language or thought process.

For me, a character will feel out of character if the change from canon doesn't fit into canon, but the author is still trying to force it to. A lot of those issues go away when the author can embrace the idea of an alternate universe, just a little to the left of the canon one, where something else happened that makes that characterization make perfect sense.

That's how I see things anyway. But let's see what everyone else thinks.

[curiousoh-randomfandoms]

Fanwork Friday: What Shall We Do With A Drunken Sailor?

Going against the dictates of Lucasfilm, today's Fanwork Friday is What Shall We Do With A Drunken Sailor? by Halrloprillalar & Laura Shapiro.

Since 1980 Lucasfilm had asked fans not to publish "sexually explicit" or "gay" stories. However, with the advent of the world wide web this became much harder to enforce. Enter What Shall We Do With A Drunken Sailor?, in 1997, a Hando (Han Solo/Lando Calrissian) fic, one of the first Star Wars slash fics shared online. It imagined Han and Lando as romantic partners, and is fondly remembered by many Star Wars fans.

Curious? Come visit its Fanlore page!

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We value every contribution to our shared fandom history. If you’re new to editing Fanlore or wikis in general, visit our New Visitor Portal to get started or ask us questions here!

[curiousoh-randomfandoms]

illya is so dramatic oh my god i love him

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hey um. so sorry to tell you this, but op of that post plays toys kinda weird. yeah you should just block them, that's not how normal people play with toys

[curiousoh-randomfandoms]

“If you haven’t noticed, most people can���t bear to be in the same room as me.”

“Yeah, well.” Greg shrugged. “Don’t you always say that people are idiots.”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/63902410/chapters/163891996

Oh no, if it isn't consequences

A story about accidentally falling for someone and David Attenborough documentaries.

[curiousoh-randomfandoms]

Your response in your reblog on the post about collections and series made me think of something since you mentioned that the works in the series are meant to be read in order and collections can be enjoyed separately. I have a whole bunch of AU stories (9 in total, possibly 10 if I decide to post the one I’m working on now) and I was thinking of posting them in a series since they’re all of the same fandom, the same characters are usually involved (meaning sometimes all while other times just a few of them), the only difference is is how they get together with their significant other. I figured putting them in a series would be good since the first AUs take place when the characters are in high school and then later on the AUs are of them in their twenties. But now I’m wondering whether I should instead post them as a collection. What do you think?

I'm afraid it's been so long since you sent this in that I'm not able to find that ask and link it here. Sorry about that!

I hope whatever I said wasn't as prescriptive as that. I tend to work in terms of generalities rather than in specific rules. That said, I do say a lot of stuff on this blog so it's entirely possible that was just how I felt that day.

Today, I would say that series definitely lend themselves to stories being told in a certain order. You can even re-order the works in a series if you write a new fic that you want to put in between two existing ones.

That doesn't mean that works in a series must be read that way, though. It's just a benefit to using the series function over a collection.

If having them in a series has worked for you thus far, I don't think you need to worry about changing it. I think series are probably the more common choice for grouping works together by a single author, anyway.

Unless I'm wrong about that? What do you all think?

[curiousoh-randomfandoms]

When I was in my first fandom in ~2013 everyone was commenting on everyone's fanfiction for the sole reason that it was impossible to advertise your story in any other way (individual blog sites). So it was totally normal to finish your first comment with "oh btw I check out my blog too if you want I write this too ^^" (obviously the comments themselves were longer than two sentences long so it wasn't a bland advertisement)

(basically almost always commentators == fanfic authors and if you were a not-writing commentator there was some small expectation that probably one day you'll make a story too)

And. I don't really ever see it on ao3? Is it just not the done thing? I suppose it's much, much easier to find the stories for your fandom there so it's not necessary... But I think it really helped to build the community. Still, I feel like if I did it now it'd be rude

(was it even ever a thing in English fandom? I mean I doubt that it was my country's fandom specific thing but who knows)

I don't specifically remember that happening? But I was on a fic reading/writing hiatus at that point so I'm not the best to know.

I will say, as a member of a small fandom with some very supportive people in it, that it's actually also possible for authors to shout out other authors either in comment replies to readers or in their author's notes. It's a great way to cheer on your fellow writers and also guide readers (or listeners, in the case of podfics!) to other content they might enjoy.

Another way that I see more often on AO3 is to make use of the inspired by feature and the gift work feature - both of which help creators share their love and excitement and build on each other's work. (can you tell I'm a fan?)

I'm also a huge proponent of making use of your profile page to let folks know where they can find you. And while you're there, maybe throw up a fanworks permission statement so that other fans know whether you'd appreciate art or podfics etc. of your works!

[curiousoh-randomfandoms]

favorite thing ever is leaving this gif in Ao3 comment sections

because A: a shocking amount of people don't know abt the 'img src=' trick to add images into comment sections, and B: well over half of the authors seem to really enjoy the sentiment

[curiousoh-randomfandoms]

idk how to word this properly but wrt the fanfic thing you reblogged earlier. Why do fanfic writers have such different expectations than any other content hosting platform?

Like lets take youtube as a point of comparison, Engagement like comments and likes largely exists to boost the works place in algorithm, thats why youtubers put in calls to action and other engament bait. Few with decent reach even read the comments and the audience shouldnt try to develop any weird parasocial relationship with the youtuber. Fanfic authors ask for likes (kudos, because the websites gotta use nonstandard language for some reason) and comments despite them not having any impact on an algorithm, and seem to want the audience to try and develop a relationship with the author based on tumblr posts like that one.

Why the radical difference in behaviour away from the norm? And honestly with all the (usually) metaphorical blood spilled online about parasociality why are authors really surprised that the audience tries to keep their distance as is best practice with any other content producer?

okay I am going to answer this as kindly and as calmly as I can and try to assume that you are asking this in good faith. because my friend, the fact that you feel the need to ask is, to me, The Problem.

[this is, for the record, in response to this post]

fanfiction writers are not *posting content.* (I also have reservations about engaging with the term "content producer" or "content creator" but let's put that aside for now, I'll circle back to it.) you say "they seem to want the audience to try and develop a relationship with the author" as though it is strange, off-putting, and incomprehensible to you, when in fact that is the point of writing fanfiction. it is a way of participating in fandom. it is a way of building community and exchanging ideas and becoming closer with people.

if authors wanted to solely ~generate content~ that would get them attention (?? to what end, the dynamic you have described seems to equate algorithmic supremacy as winning for winning's sake, as though all anyone wants to do is BUILD an audience without ENGAGING with them, which I cannot fathom but let's pretend for a moment that is, in fact, true) then like. if that were the case why on earth would they choose a medium in which they categorically cannot succeed and profit, because it isn't their IP?

you are equating two things that are not at all the same thing. to the degree that parasocial relationships are to be avoided, and "that person is not trying to be your friend they are trying to entertain you, please respect their boundaries" is a real dynamic -- which it is!! -- like. you have to understand that the reason that is true for the people of whom it is true is because it is their JOB. they are storytellers by profession, and they are either through direct payment, or sponsorship, or advertising, or through some other means, profiting off of your attention. i don't say this to be dismissive, many wonderful artists and actors and comedians and any number of a thousand things that i enjoy very much go this route but they do so as a *career choice.* and so when you violate the public/private boundary with them, you are presuming to know a Person rather than their Worksona. the people who work at Dropout or who stream their actual play tabletop games or who broadcast on TikTok or YouTube are inviting me to feel like i know them to the degree to which that helps them succeed in their medium and at their craft, but there MUST be a mutual understanding that that's a feeling, not a fact.

however.

a fanfiction writer is not an influencer, not a professional, and is not looking to garner "success." there is no share of audience we are trying to gain for gain's sake, because we are not competition with one another, because there is nothing to win other than the pleasure of each other's company. we are doing this for no other reason than the love of the game; because we have things we want desperately to say about these worlds, these characters, these dynamics, and because we *want more than anything to know we are not alone in our thoughts and feelings.* fanfiction is a bid for interaction, engagement, attention, and consideration. it is not meant to be consumed and then moved on from because we are NOT paid for our work, nor do we want to be. the reward we seek is "attention," but attention as in CONVERSATION, not attention as in clicks. we are not IN this for profit, or for number-go-up. there is no such thing: legally there cannot be. we are in this because we want to be seen and known.

like. please understand. i am now married to someone i met because of mutual comments on fanfiction. our close friend and roommate, with whom i have cohabitated for over a decade now, is someone I met because of mutual comments on fanfiction and livejournal posts. that is my household. beyond my household, the vast majority of my closest personal friends are people with whom I built relationships in this way.

you ask why fanfiction writers want THIS and not "the norm," but the idea of everything being built to cater to an algorithm to continue to build clout, as though the only method of reaching people is Distant Overlord Creator and Passive Receptive Audience being "the norm" is EXTREMELY NEW. this is not how it has always been!! please think of the writers of zines in a pre-internet fandom, using paper and glue and xerox to try and meet like-minded people in a world that was designed for you to only ever meet people in person, by happenstance, in your own hometown. imagine the writers of the early internet, building webrings from scratch to CREATE a community to find each other, despite distance. imagine livejournal groups, forums, and -- yes, indeed, of course -- comment threads IN STORIES -- as places where people go to *converse.* in the past, we had an entire Type Of Guy that everyone knew about, the BNF ("Big Name Fan") whose existence had to be described via meme because it was SO DIFFERENT THAN THE NORM. treating fellow fans like celebrities or people too cool for the regular kids to know was an OUTLIER, and one commonly understood to lead to toxicity.

in the past, I have likened writing fanfiction to echolocation. i am not screaming because I like hearing the sound of my own voice, though i can and do find my voice beautiful. i am screaming so that the vibrations can bounce back to me and show me the world. the purpose is in the feedback. otherwise it is just noise.

does this make any sense? can you see, when i describe it that way, why an ask like yours makes me feel despair, because it makes us all sound so horribly separate from one another?

perhaps I will try another metaphor:

a professional chef who runs a restaurant will not have her feelings hurt if you never fight your way into the kitchen to personally tell her how much you enjoyed the meal. that would, indeed, violate a boundary. professional kitchens are a place of work, and you have already showed her you enjoyed the meal by paying for it, or by perhaps spreading your enjoyment by word of mouth to your friends so they, too, can have good meals. you show your appreciation by continuing to come back. if a bunch of people sitting around randomly happen to have a conversation about how much they love the food, it wouldn't hurt that chef's feelings to not be included in the conversation. however: EVEN IN THIS INSTANCE, it is ADVISABLE AND APPROPRIATE to leave a good review! you might post about how much you like this restaurant on Yelp, and it would probably make the chef feel great to see those positive comments. but the chef doesn't NEED them, because the chef is, again, *also being paid to cook.* that's why she started the restaurant, to be paid to cook!

i am not being paid to cook.

i am at home in my own kitchen, making things for a community potluck where i hope everyone will bring something we can all enjoy together. some people at the potluck are better bakers, some better cooks; some can't cook at all but are great at logistics and make sure there's enough napkins for everyone; some people come just to enjoy the food, because that's what the party is for. and if I, as this enthusiast chef who made something from my heart for this reason alone, learned after the fact that a bunch of people got together in the parking lot to rave about my dish but no one of them had ever bothered to tell me while I sat alone at my table all night, occasionally seeing people come by to pick up a plate but never saying anything to me -- of course that would bother me, because I am not otherwise profiting off the labor I put in. this is not a bid to be paid, because if someone WERE to say "hey, great cake!! here's five bucks for a slice" i would say no, friend, that is not the point and give them the money back. i'm not trying to Get Mine. I am in it to see the look on your face. I'm in it so you can tell me what about it moved you, so that I can say back what moved me to make it in the first place. so we can TALK about it.

because what happened in the first place is this: one time I had a cake whose sweetness, richness, flavor, intensity, and composition moved me so much that I *taught myself to bake.* so I could see how much vanilla and sugar was too much, so I could learn how to make things rise instead of fall flat, so I could even better appreciate the original cake by seeing for myself the effort and talent and inspiration that goes into making one even half as good.

learning to do so is a satisfying accomplishment in and of itself, yes.

but I also did it because at the end of the day we should EAT the cake. and it's a lonely thing, to eat alone when a meal was always designed and intended to be shared.

so, to answer your last question: i'm not surprised, i'm just sad. because somehow two things that were never meant to be seen as the same have been labeled "content," and thus identical. and it diminishes both the things that ARE intended to be paid for AND the things that are not, because it removes any sense of intimacy or meaning from the work.

i hope you know i'm not mad at you for asking. but i'm frustrated we've come to live in a world where the question needs to be asked, because the answers are no longer intuitively obvious because we're so siloed.

[curiousoh-randomfandoms]

Sometimes I do ship something and it's not unpopular its just that fanon harbors enough popular misconceptions to make the content frequently unreadable. So I will be like "can I have my ship please" and the internet will go "sure! here are a thousand results!" and I will go "is it actually my ship or is it some guys who are basically totally different characters in all meaningful ways that someone is having masquerade as my blorbos?" and the answer is yes often enough that I give up

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[curiousoh-randomfandoms]

Happy Pride month everyone! Here are Buck and Eddie celebrating the day and proudly showing the world that they are, in fact, more than buddies! ❤️ 🌈 

[Image description: Artwork shows two men—one a taller blond (Evan ‘Buck’ Buckley) and the other, a shorter brunet (Eddie Diaz) kissing. On the left—Buck is wearing a black T-Shirt. He is holding up a bisexual flag (pink, purple and blue striped) in the air with his left hand. On the right—Eddie is wearing a grey T-Shirt. He is holding up the gay flag (rainbow striped) in the air with his right hand. Both men are wearing pride wristbands and their faces are painted with a pride flag, one on Buck’s right cheek, and one on Eddie’s left. Their eyes are closed and smile lines are visible. The background shows a bright blue sky, with fluffy clouds, while multicoloured confetti rains down over the entire image. The artwork was done digitally.]

[curiousoh-randomfandoms]

Ahh the miracle of technology. 

My Sterek hour long supercut extravaganza is now here, YouTube-free and available to the lovely folks in the US. Fuck Viacom, it’s Fair Use, don’t @ me.

Every scene from the entire show where these two knuckleheads shared air.