msarahv

[msarahv]

don’t know who needs to hear this but AO3 comments section is not Letterboxd. giving unsolicited criticism to a fanfic writer does not make you a “fanfic critic” because there’s no. such. thing.

giving unsolicited criticism to a fanfic writer just makes you a spoiled, rude, entitled asshole at best, makes the author stop posting their works altogether at worst.

a reminder that it’s always okay to just stop reading and quietly click away from a fic if at any point you feel like you don’t like it for whatever reasons. unless specifically asked, there’s no need to tell the author, whose work you read for free, how you dislike something they wrote for themself for fun.

[msarahv]

The real thing with ADHD is not "I forgot", but that forgetting is this ongoing process. I remembered! And then I forgot.

At ten this (hypothetical) morning I remembered that I have a meeting at six. And then from 11 through 3 I worked on other stuff and had zero thoughts about that meeting. Maybe even thought about what I was gonna do with my evening at home. Got attached to the idea of taking the time to make a good dinner, maybe play some video games.

And then at three I said, "Oh! Fuck!" and remembered again, hopefully long enough to set an alarm. And then I went to the bathroom and remembered that I need to clean the counter and spent twenty minutes cleaning the bathroom and went to get a snack and then at five I said, "OH! FUCK!" and had to scramble to dress like a real adult and get out the door.

It isn't one clean forgetting. It's a constant process of forgetting and then, with an exhausting adrenaline spike, remembering. And then forgetting. Baby, I can forget the same thing more times in a day than you ever forgot your parents' anniversary.

[msarahv]

just a heads up to my fellow writers out there that AO3 is currently fighting off bots commenting on people’s works to tell them that AO3 will delete their fics “due to the works being deprecated”, and the deletion will affect their accounts unless the authors delete the fics themselves first. IT IS A SCAM. AO3 will NOT delete your works. please do NOT fall for these bots!

I’ve been told the reason why these bots are doing this is due to copyright infringement issue where they’re trying to steal your works (possibly to train AI but this is just a guess) ‼️‼️‼️and once you deleted your fics, it will be either very difficult or impossible for you to claim ownership of your own fics when they were already deleted.‼️‼️‼️

a reminder that AO3 will never contact you through your comments section (in case they claim to be one of the moderators). AO3 will only contact you through your email address which you use to register your account, and it will be from AO3’s official handle. not some sketchy ass @

so if you get a comment telling you you should “delete your works to protect your account because AO3 is doing blah blah blah” report that comment. don’t delete your works.

PLEASE DO NOT FALL FOR THESE SCAM.

AO3 IS NOT DELETING WORKS.

DO NOT DELETE YOUR WORKS JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE CLAIMS THEY KNOW SOMETHING.

[msarahv]

BAN ON CONVERSION PRACTICES IN THE EU. GO SIGN IT. DEADLINE IS FUCKING MAY 17. WE'RE STILL MISSING 800.000 signatures. FUCKING DO IT.

[msarahv]

[msarahv]

dealing with the worst case scenario

your condom breaks

you feel a lump on your breast

your friends are ignoring you

you’re stranded on an island 

you got rejected by a crush

you get into a car accident

you got stung by a bee/wasp

you got fired from your job

you’re in an earthquake

your tattoo gets infected

your house is on fire

you’re lost in the woods

you get arrested abroad

you get robbed

your partner cheated on you

you’re on a ship that’s sinking

you fall into ice

you’re stuck in an elevator

you hit a deer with your car

you have food poisoning

your pet passed away

you fall off of a horse

you or your friend has alcohol poisoning

you have toxic shock syndrome

your house has a gas leak

[msarahv]

(through gritted teeth) sometimes what's good for your mental health isn't another do nothing day or a little treat sometimes what's good for you is putting in some of the work. Not all of it at once but sometimes you have to finish that essay or at least take the next step or you have to clean your room or at least dust the shelves or you gotta do the laundry or at least put it all in the hamper and it's not fun and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks and it sucks but you have to because i read a post on the internet that told me that's what being nice to yourself is sometimes

[msarahv]

No but for real we need to confront the homophobia in fandom on multiple fronts. If we as humans genuinely support lgbtqa+ people in real life and want to see more queer characters (and don’t for one second think that first thing isn’t more important), then we need to STOP falling all over ourselves to prove our comfort with the idea via objectifying the quality of being queer. We need to divorce the sexuality (perceived or declared) of actors from that of characters. They should have nothing to do with each other. Queer characters cannot and should not ever be fully overlapped with queer actors.

For one thing, if you want queer actors (out or not) to be safe in an inherently unsafe world, give them the grace of not obsessing over a part of their lives they have not invited you into. If they haven’t said anything, you don’t know anything, and straight actors can and should play queer characters as long as they 1: want to, and 2: are willing to take care with their performance.

For another, if you want queer actors or actors who play queer characters to keep working and be successful, you should make every effort to NOT typecast them. Playing a queer character is less risky than it used to be, but there still very much is a risk, not just from outwardly homophobic audiences, but from fanbases who can’t move past a specific character, turning it into the millstone around the actor’s neck. Some of the things said about these actors by their own fans are quite alarming in terms of- so do you want future casting agents to put them in a box? If not, maybe wind that back in!

This is also true of out queer actors playing straight characters! You should not conflate the two in your head, and you shouldn’t make a big deal of it! If you assume a straight actor can sell you on a het romance without being specifically attracted to their scene partner, you should also assume the reverse, that queer actors can also sell you on a het romance! If they’re good at their job, who they go home to is irrelevant to their performance! Stop limiting them!

And it’s easy to say “omg it’s not that serious, I’m just one little nobody on the internet” but it’s emblematic of a larger issue that can and does have real-world effects on the lives and livelihood of real actual people who are trying to entertain.

[Quality] = Gay 😠

And

[Quality] = Gay! 🤩

Was not a societal upgrade, these are both limiting views that breed stereotyping and I thought we understood by now that even “positive” stereotypes are harmful???

[msarahv]

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[msarahv]

If you read the fic, leave the kudos. Leave a comment too, if possible. Just do it. It takes a few seconds of your time and it means the world to the writer.

Sincerely, me who just got told that my writing feels like watching a blockbuster movie. I don't care if they were sincere or not, I'll be thinking about that comment for the rest of my life and every time I feel bad about my art, I'll remember that someone once liked it.

[msarahv]

If I was desperate for kudos I would not be out here posting villain ships, minor character rarepairs, and other deeply unpopular ships.

I know how to write popular fic. I know how to farm kudos. That's not what I'm here for.

"Readers need to remember that authors don't know a reader liked their fic unless the reader tells them by leaving a kudos or a comment" does not mean "waahhh waahhh I need attention!"

It means "even if writers write purely for themselves, if you don't bother to interact with writers when you do enjoy their work, they might stop posting and just keep their work to themselves."

"If you enjoy a work you should kudos or comment" is not aimed at the people who aren't reading the fanfiction in question.

"If you enjoy a work you should kudos or comment" is not aimed at the people who did not enjoy the fanfiction in question.

"If you enjoy a work you should kudos or comment" is aimed at people who read a fanfiction, enjoyed it, and then didn't bother to even do the bare minimum to share their excitement about it with the work's creator, even though that excitement is literally the only thing they get in return for posting their work.

Fanfiction authors write because they enjoy writing. They post because they want to form a connection with the people who enjoyed their work.

This is not an attempt to scold anyone, I literally don't care if I get kudos or not. It's simply an attempt to remind people that fanfiction is a community, and fan authors can't read your mind.

[msarahv]

[msarahv]

Not "humans are inherently good" or "humans are inherently evil" but a secret third thing (humans are inherently social animals which means that we're very good at cooperating and being compassionate towards those we perceive as being part of our community but we're also very good at being tribal and violent towards those we perceive as threats to our community and everyone defines their community differently)

[msarahv]

I make a post about how smut writers shouldn't be discouraged if their smut has a low hits to kudos ratio, because people are just afraid to kudos smut.

I get told in response that AKTUALLY smut has a low kudos to hits ratio because people are re-reading that smut.

I make a post about how if you're re-reading a fic a lot you should tell the author because they won't know that and will think no one likes their fic.

I get told that authors should just ASSUME that it's re-reads without needing to be told.

I post a smut fic that gets 100+ hits in its first 24 hours of posting (therefor no re-reads counted) and this smut fic with 100+ hits gets zero kudos.

I make a post about how if you read a fic on AO3 it creates a 'hit' and if the author gets a lot of hits without kudos or comments or response, the author will assume no one liked their fic.

I get told that authors should just ASSUME that everyone who clicks their fic likes it, without needing to be told that.

I make a post reminding people that fanfiction authors are not mind readers and that there's no way for them to tell a hit from a person who clicked a fic by mistake, or hated the fic, from a hit from a person who liked it, and if you don't tell the author you liked their fic they will assume you didn't.

I get told that authors aren't entitled to comments or kudos, or to a certain ratio of kudos to hits.

NO SHIT.

But if they don't get comments or kudos, they're gonna assume ya'll didn't like the fic!

[msarahv]

don’t know who needs to hear this but no, you’re not giving “constructive criticism” if the author didn’t specifically ask you for constructive criticism. you’re just being entitled, rude and overall an unpleasant jerk to be telling fanfic writers they shouldn’t have done this or they should have done that, or that it’s “out of character for (x) to be doing or saying this” — especially when they were kind enough to let you read their works, something they wrote for themselves, for free. fuck off

if at any point you’re dissatisfied with what you’re reading, quietly exit the fic and keep your opinions to yourself. no one forces you to read anything. fanfic writers don’t have to please you. you’re not receiving a customer service where you pay for something and can outright say what you dislike. you’re just allowed to read something the authors are passionate about, something they were kind enough to share with you for free. you’re not allowed to be an entitled prick just because the gift is not to your personal liking. again, fuck off.

[msarahv]

heard someone say archive of our own should install a "dislike" button and I thought I should say this: no, there's absolutely no need for archive of our own to install a "dislike" button.

why? because archive of our own isn't tiktok or youtube or twitter/x where users can monetize their content. archive of our own is a nonprofit site run by fans for fans, which means every content — every fanfic — you see on archive of our own was made out of pure love and passion from the artists/authors.

ao3 authors write because writing about these characters is their happiness and passion. they write for themselves, but they were generous enough to share with you their creations.

they're not "content creators" the way tiktokers or youtubers or instagram models are. they don't "make content" for views and engagements that can be monetized.

so no, you don't get to "grade their works" unless they specifically and directly ask you to.

you don't get to "say what you dislike about their works" unless they specifically and directly ask you to.

you don't get to "dislike" works that are not made specifically to please you in the first place. you're just a guest in someone's house, a house in which they let you in because they were kind, you don't get to roam around their house and say what you dislike about their furniture. you don't get to roam around their house and say you "dislike their house".

of course, you can have your opinion about the house its host invites you in. but if it's a negative one and you find yourself not liking the house, the polite things for you to do is excuse yourself and leave without telling them you dislike their house.

and just because you personally dislike the house doesn't mean the house is "ugly" either. the house you dislike could be a favorite, most luxurious place to many others.

my point is, don't be entitled by wanting the rights to voice your disapproval of things that you get to enjoy for free. don't be entitled by wanting the rights to voice your disapproval of things that were made out of love and passion — things the artists made for themselves for fun.

it makes you look like an entitled jerk with main character syndrome. the universe does not revolve around you.

now repeat after me: don't like don't read. no one forces you to continue reading a fic you don't like. quietly leave instead of being rude to authors who write for free because writing is their source of comfort.

people are so used to contents that were made because it's a trend / contents like tiktok that were made with the main purpose of reaching high engagement and making profits that they forget sometimes things can be made out of love and be made just for fun. sometimes things are supposed to just be for people to enjoy, and if some people don't enjoy them, then they can simply leave without being unnecessary unkind.

[msarahv]