emiwritesfiction

[emiwritesfiction]

"Deprecated Fandoms" Spam Bot Alert!

If you get a comment that says AO3 is "deleting works to conserve server space", that is a Spam Bot. There is no such thing as "deprecated fandom content", nor is there any limit on the number of works that can be posted to a fandom tag (regardless of how "popular" it is). AO3 has not changed its content policies. We are committed to upholding our founding principle of maximum inclusiveness of fanwork content, and will only remove content that violates the AO3 Terms of Service. While non-fanworks are not allowed on AO3, we consider both original works and real-person fiction to be fanworks. Please don't listen to anyone telling you otherwise.

Unlike the previous round of art spam, so far these comments have all been from guests, so our advice for handling them is different! We're working on filtering these comments out, and flagging them as spam is how you can help. Read more below the cut!

To help train our automated spam-checker to block similar guest comments in the future:

If the comment is on your own work: 

Note: The "Spam" button only appears when viewing a guest comment directly on your work. This is because the AO3 comment inbox is merely a copy of the work's comments – deleting a comment from your AO3 inbox does not delete the comment from the work itself.

Go directly to the comment on your work, either by clicking on the link in your email or in your AO3 inbox.

Click on the "Spam" button to mark the guest comment as spam and remove it from your work. 

That's it! You don't have to do anything else.

If you see comments like these on someone else's work: 

Feel free to let the creator know the comment is from a bot and that they should mark it as spam. 

You can also report the comments as botspam via the Policy Questions & Abuse Reports form linked at the bottom of every page on AO3. 

If you are reporting multiple guest comments, please submit only one report and include all comment links in your report description. (You can get the direct link to any comment by clicking the "Thread" button on the comment, and then copying the URL of that page.)

AO3's Policy & Abuse committee (PAC) does not pre-screen content on AO3; they only investigate if they receive a report. All reports are reviewed by PAC volunteers, who are real human beings. You don't need to worry that your or anyone else's fanworks will be taken down due to a baseless report or a mass-reporting campaign. 

If PAC were to determine that you had violated the TOS, you would receive a notification of the violation via the email address associated with your AO3 account—not via comments, social media, or any other method. 

[emiwritesfiction]

THIS IS NOT REAL. If you get this comment, they’re just trying to get you to delete your fic.

1) I would have gotten some kind of email from Ao3 if this was true

2) this comment is formatted to be perfect to tack onto any fic they choose

3) ALSO why on earth would Ao3 get rid of entire fandoms off the site? Even if they WERE inactive? Who knows if others will be ‘late’ to the fandom and want some fic to read. Who knows if someone wants to come back to their 6 year old account only to find most of their fics deleted.

I’m lucky to be a reasonable adult who has seen tricks like these who also had a very kind person comment their own doubts.

Please let your Ao3 friends know <3

[emiwritesfiction]

hey uh new type of ao3 spam comment just dropped. (I know it's spam because the fic they left this comment on . doesn't have chapters. lmfao). Report this kinda comment as spam and don't take it personally it is literally recycled bullshit

[emiwritesfiction]

[emiwritesfiction]

a writing competition i was going to participate in again this year has announced that they now allow AI generated content to be submitted

their reasoning being that "we couldn't ban it even if we wanted to, every writer already uses it anyway"

"Every writer"?

come on

[emiwritesfiction]

AO3 Status Change

So not that many people read my fics, I don't think this will have a huge impact, but - I am updating all my works on AO3 to be locked.

I hate doing this - I've read as a guest many times on AO3 before I started writing, and I understand there are many readers who (for a variety of reasons) may not be able to create/use an account.

But I love my characters; I love my stories. I put little pieces of my heart and soul in them every time I write. The idea of them being effectively butchered for parts and fed into a plagiarism machine is legitimately nauseating.

I hate it. I hate it. I hate it.

I may not be able to go back and protect those stories that have already been scraped and dumped into the hellpit. But I can at least take this one small step to protect them from similar attacks.

And seriously, to the asshole out there who did this? From the absolute bottom of my heart, fuck you.

[emiwritesfiction]

AO3 has been scraped, once again.

As of the time of this post, AO3 has been scraped by yet another shady individual looking to make a quick buck off the backs of hardworking hobby writers. This Reddit post here has all the details and the most current information. In short, if your fic URL ends in a number between 1 and 63,200,000 (inclusive), AND is not archive locked, your fic has been scraped and added to this database.

I have been trying to hold off on archive locking my fics for as long as possible, and I've managed to get by unscathed up to now. Unfortunately, my luck has run out and I am archive locking all of my current and future stories. I'm sorry to my lovelies who read and comment without an account; I love you all. But I have to do what is best for me and my work. Thank you for your understanding.

[emiwritesfiction]

Query for all writers

Does anyone have any really good resources for color references? I am not the greatest at identifying the correct terms for various shades and hues - like whether the purple I'm looking is lavender or lilac or something else entirely - and in some of the fics I want to write, those differences do rather matter...

Also, in terms of descriptive details, I want to make sure what's in my head matches the words I'm using - I *think* this character has blushed a lovely shade of vermilion, but... I am not always sure?

I'd really love to get an actual reference book that just has pictures of different color shades with their proper names/descriptions, if such a thing exists.

I'll take a reliable website, too - but I'm really trying not to use/rely on google or anything else that might reference back to AI...

[emiwritesfiction]

That neurodivergent writer experience where you are suddenly hit by a fanfic idea that you LOVE, but for a show you've only watched once and don't remember much detail on---

---and therefore you now need to rewatch the ENTIRE SHOW from start to end so that you at least vaguely remember what is happening and what everyone sounds like before you can write the fic and it is lowkey torture because I just really, really want to write the fic....but if I do it before I watch the show again, I'll do it WRONG---

At least according to my brain, which sets arbitrary rules but insists on them being followed or no writing is allowed.

Not cool, brain. Not cool.

[emiwritesfiction]

I did it! I finally finished writing chapter 20 of my beloved idiots-in-love SWTOR epic!

I cannot express how amazing this feels. I *love* this story. I love these two lil' fools. And I have been trying, desperately, to find the right way to continue this story for SIX MONTHS. I have written this chapter, scrapped it, started from a blank page and written it all over again SO MANY TIMES. I have four different verions sitting in my "cut" folder.

I haven't been able to write anything else. I have another two-parter tale that is waiting on its second half that I haven't been able to focus on, because this has been HAUNTING me!

And today, at long last - it's ready! It's right! It sounds like them, it feels like them, it carries the soft pivot of the story so we can move towards the last third of this tale (pure conjecture on length but sounds about right? Like I know where this going but I'm not sure how we're getting there).

Guys. Is this. What joy feels like. Like I might be existentially happy right now and that is not normal.

*deep breath*

Okay. Um. I guess now I have to write chapter 21...?

[emiwritesfiction]

Yes to all the above. As many of our most beloved characters have taught us time out of mind - there is always hope.

As we see a barrage of evil executive orders come in, they are not immediately enforceable and will takes months or years to implement.

That’s still not great, but don’t let these pile up to the point of hopelessness. Take a breath, and look community leaders who will fight it every step of the way.

[emiwritesfiction]

I'm working through this beginner's cookbook that says that cooking is an art and baking is a science and I'm over here giving it side-eye like are you sure you meant science? Are you sure you didn't mean alchemy, or witchcraft, or anything else in which your mood is just as important as your measurements???

like the first rule of cooking is to have fun and be yourself and the first rule of baking is to stay calm because the dough can sense fear

[emiwritesfiction]

Why does my cat only want to sit on my lap when I am trying to write?!

Like... I love you, little dude, light of my life... but you wait until I get my laptop set up to try and shove your way into my face and demand pets??

You wait until my neurodivergent brain is like "yay writing!" to insist on socializing?! Why?!?!

Now I either have to set aside my laptop and not write, which physically and psychically hurts, or I have to push aside my darling fuzzball, which ALSO physically and psychically hurts?!?!

[emiwritesfiction]

Writer problems that make me feel insane

Literally sitting here at my keyboard like I've got this, I've got this, I know what I'm trying to write, I know where it's going, I know how to get there, I just... can't... write...

Begging my brain please. Please. What is it. What do you need. C'mon buddy, just tell me. You need some water? You need to go for a walk? Just tell me what you need, please, I swear I will fix it just let me write.

And yet the only two options my brain has given me thus far are:

Can you get someone to braid your hair? Like... brush it, and then braid it, and then unbraid it and comb it out and then brush it and braid it again, just on endless repeat until you finish this chapter?

Your abs are a drumset. Maybe if you freestyle your way through a four or five hours of random playlists, you might be able to write something?

Brain? Are you kidding me?? What in the ever-loving vastness of space...???

[emiwritesfiction]

This. All of this. I feel this in my soul.

I decided to be super, super extra. I printed all of my nicest ao3 comments, and I hung them on my wall. For real! Commenting on fics means EVERYTHING! We read your comments, and we take them all to heart. We exclaim and squeal and cry happy tears over them. We show them to our friends. We pull them up and re-read them when we're running out of motivation or wondering if there's any point to finishing our stories. Your comments matter. Your love matters. To write a story is to reach out through space and time, to say "won't you feel something with me."

[emiwritesfiction]

For everyone who comments on fanfics, thank you!

I'm not always the best at this myself, because I'm very self-conscious about commenting on other people's work - which is quite preposterous when I know how much I enjoy any and all comments!

I'm not a prolific writer, but I've been at it for a few months now, and every single comment I have ever received has been a little bubble of joy to brighten my day.

You liked reading it? Thanks so much, I liked writing it, I'm glad we got to share that!

That chapter made you sad and you want to give everyone hugs? Holy crap, please do that, everybody does need hugs!

The three people who have been commenting consistently on my last five chapters - you have given me so much encouragement and hope as I worked on this, I literally could not have done this without you! Thank you for showing me that this matters to you.

The person who left a single comment at the end of 12 chapters that just said "I'm looking forward to part 2" - I swear it's on it's way, and knowing that you are looking forward to it is honestly helpful as I try to craft story from the chaotic scenes that keep writing themselves. Thank you for letting me know you want more!

And the brand new person who just showed up and said "I've been looking for inspiration for my own writing and you gave me a new perspective on this storyline/character" - like damn, I am somehow both elated and completely humbled. Thank you for letting my work inspire you in some small way, I can't wait to see what you do with it!

So if you read fanfic and leave feedback, whether it's a kudos or a single heart emoji or a comment that makes me want to run screaming into the woods with my laptop and spend my days writing obsessively - Thank you!

[emiwritesfiction]

For aro/ace writers:

- you don't have to write sex scenes. Tolkien didn't

- you don't have to write romance. Lewis didn't

- you can write very close friendships that have nothing romantic nor sexual in them. Scott Lynch did

- you can write sexual relationships that don't involve romance. Sapkowski did

- you can write romantic relationships that don't involve sex. Pratchett and Gaiman did

Don't let anyone tell you that some kinds of relationships are impossible or that a story must contain some themes. It's your story, write it the way you want