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good smut is really a character study and that is final. i need it to be about vulnerability i need it to be about trust or lack thereof and most of all i need it to be emotional agony. thats what sex is for

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Applications now open!

The Fall 2025 Fanauthor Workshop is a 7-week writing course led by Betts (@bettsfic). The workshop offers fanwriters a supportive space to receive constructive feedback on fanfiction, original fiction, or creative nonfiction.

Where & When

We meet weekly over Zoom. You can apply for one of two sessions:

Group A: Thursdays from Oct 2 - Nov 13, 12-2pm ET [See what time that is in your time zone]

Group B: Mondays from Oct 6 - Nov 17, 6-8pm ET [See what time that is in your time zone]

Note that USA daylight savings begins November 2nd. For those outside the US, our sessions will move one hour back.

What

FAW is a feedback-oriented workshop. This means that each week we read 2 pieces submitted by participants, offer written feedback, and discuss them over Zoom. You'll be able to sign up for the week you would like to workshop your own piece, which can be anything under 6k words.

There may be weeks where, in lieu of workshopping, I present external readings and writing exercises.

I developed a workshop model that focuses mostly on affirmations and positivity, as well as descriptive over prescriptive feedback, which is to say, describing one's experience of reading rather than prescribing solutions to perceived problems. We also present improvement-oriented feedback, but avoid negativity, judgment, and pedantry. Week 1 is spent going over the workshop model and how to give feedback.

About

The first FAW was held in 2017 as an independent study in my MFA. I restarted it in 2022 and since then have led 13 sessions with a total of 60 participants, over half of whom have participated in the workshop more than once.

Participation in the workshop includes entrance into the FAW community, an active Discord server where we host:

Eligibility to attend WTFS (Write the Fucking Story), a different 7-week workshop that takes place before FAW where we each do generative activities toward a one-shot or work on the first chapter of a longer story (WTFS is currently only open to members in the FAW server)

Ongoing accountability meetings during which we chat over Zoom about our projects and set goals for ourselves every other week

A monthly longform writing workshop, where writers can workshop any story between 6k and 100k words

A short story club, where we read and discuss original short form works

Birthday movie nights

Scheduled write-ins and impromptu writing sprints

A group quarterly progress tracking sheet that accidentally turned into a micro social media platform

And there are always other things going on, like international snack exchanges, craft exchanges, support during the looming deadlines of fic exchanges, and so on

We also chat about writing and craft, offer resources, and share many, many pet photos.

In addition, participants of the workshop receive:

A one-hour consultation with me to go over your workshop feedback, come up with a plan for revision and/or publication, or anything else you’d like to discuss regarding your writing

Open enrollment in future workshops

Eligibility

Anyone over the age of 18 who considers themselves a participant of fandom and who is familiar with fanfiction may apply. A stable internet connection is also required.

Cost

The cost of the workshop is "pay what you can" with the recommended amount of $300. To be as inclusive as possible, I don't want money to be a deterrent for anyone interested in participating.

At least partial payment (or notification of nonpayment) will be requested prior to the start of workshop via PayPal, Venmo, or Wise. Installment payments are fine.

Application requirements

To apply, you will need:

An informal cover letter discussing your fan history and goals as a (fan)writer (more specific instructions on submittable)

A short sample of your writing, either original work or fanfiction. This may be previously published/posted

You can apply via submittable. Applications close September 1st.

If you have any questions at all, or are on the fence about it for whatever reason, please feel free to DM me! You can even just say "I'm on the fence about applying to FAW" and we'll chat about it.

FAQ under the cut

FAQ

Are there any content restrictions to what I can workshop?

The only restriction is word count (max 6k), with the following caveats:

If you workshop a piece in a form other than prose (for example, a script), your peers may not be able to offer constructive feedback on that aspect of the work. Participants are asked only to have a familiarity with prose.

Content warnings are required for each piece (if applicable), and participants who are uncomfortable reading certain subject matter may abstain from your workshop.

What is the time commitment of the workshop?

As a participant of the workshop, you'll be asked to:

Workshop any piece of your own prose up to 6k words, which will need to be uploaded to the group folder one week before your workshop.

Read 2 pieces per week, write out your individual crit, and attend the workshop itself.

What is the timeline of the workshop?

In week 1, we go over the syllabus and do a writing exercise. Weeks 2 through 7 will be a workshop, a discussion of an external reading, or a writing activity. Prior to the start of workshop, you'll be able to sign up for the week you would like to workshop your piece.

Structure of the sessions:

Question of the day

First workshop

Short break

Second workshop

We'll go over my workshop model and the syllabus in week 1.

Do I have to participate in the Zoom meetings (camera and mic on)?

Attending the workshop itself is required, and everyone is asked to offer at least one note of positive feedback on each piece, so mics are necessary. Cameras are preferred but not required.

You can't asynchronously participate, i.e. read the pieces and offer written feedback without attending the sessions. For those who don't want to attend Zoom sessions, I plan to run an asynchronous session in summer.

Can workshop participants submit to OFIC Magazine?

Yes! Part of the reason I run the workshop is to inspire and promote the original work of fanwriters. You can follow us on tumblr @oficmag.

Who is running the workshop?

@bettsfic! In short, I lived a dreary cubicle life as a banker until I found fanfiction at 24. I loved it so much that I quit my job to get an MFA in creative writing. I loved the MFA so much that I became a writing teacher. I have some publications, awards, an agent, and 2 million words of fic on ao3. I don't have a book out yet but I'm getting there.

Currently I'm a writing coach and freelance editor. I also have a lowkey writing-related newsletter. And I've been answering writing advice asks on my blog for 10 years.

If you want an idea of the kind of writing activities I create, last summer I worked with @books on a workshop series which includes craft essays and some fun prompts.

If you're interested in my original work, my short story "Not If, When" is a good representation of my writing. For something darker, check out "Shut Up and Kill Me."

What is the workshop like?

Check out G's experience of attending the workshop. And here's some feedback from previous participants.

One final note: I'm working on updating the copy about the workshop on my website and move it over to OFIC's website. This post and Submittable has the most updated information on the workshop. If you have questions about discrepancies (or anything at all), you can shoot me an ask, DM me, or add me on Discord (I'm bettsfic there too).

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Can’t properly explain it, but “I like this character”, “I like how this character is written” and “I care about this character” are 3 very different things which may or may not overlap.

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saw an elderly woman walking around with a tote bag whose design were the four AO3 fic category squares and she very excitedly asked if i was a reader or a writer bcs nobody else at the con had recognized it, and after telling her that i've been writing fic since fanfic.net, she solemnly nodded and explained that she'd been reading fic since "the days of personal websites" but that she only started writing fanfic when she was 47 and oh my god when i tell you that i genuinely teared up on the spot!!!!! like!!! HELL YEAH???? LITERALLY NEVER TOO OLD TO START WRITING. NEVER TOO OLD TO WRITE AND SHARE YOUR FIC.

her enthusiastic "i'm a very nice and bubbly person, i swear! but i love writing angst and major character death :)" nearly took me the fuck out.

icon. legend. diva. i wish her nothing but a kajillion million comments and kudos. i hope her fic updates crash AO3. i hope she knows i'm promoting her to my personal patron saint of AO3.

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When you talk about why someone might want engagement with their fics, I do think there is one crucial reason you always overlook.

Sometimes the reason is not a bid for popularity or reassurance or even community, but for me at least if I am writing a fic, it is because I am passionate about the show and the characters and I tend to approach my fics as a way to sink my teeth into what makes the characters tick, how they might act like in different circumstances and so on. Therefore I post because I want to geek out with others about it. For that same reason, I cannot shut up in other writers' comment boxes if their story resonates with me.

I agree with you that community makes fandom infinitely more fun and rewarding but the rush of happiness at getting a (multi sentence) comment to me is not unlike when you say strike a conversation with a stranger in a museum in front of your favourite painting or finding out that a friend or an acquaintance shares a hobby or a passion for a dear book or movie with you, after which you jump into a fevered and lengthy discussion.

It is also for this reason that fandoms where I have gone to the trouble of building community in the first place are those where people generally want to tell interesting stories and to talk about them and have interesting things to say. Sometimes that's three fandom friends leaving wall of text comments on one another's fics (that no one else cares about), and sometimes it's a larger more diffuse group of strangers leaving short comments that say "I screeched with delight reading what Character A said" - but it always is a place where people are not afraid to share their enthusiasm and joy and passion about the stories told and the act of story telling itself.

That's an excellent point, anon. I think I'm mentally including that concept under the umbrella of community but it's a fair point that I should really break it out when I'm describing the concept.

It's one of the aspects of fandom that I really enjoy as well. Having a space where people feel comfortable being enthusiastic is a core component of community to me, but that doesn't necessarily mean that a "community" forms.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts! It's an excellent reminder and food for people to think about.

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people have got to learn the difference between I didnt like it and It was bad

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star wars is about coruscant

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subscribing to a fic isn’t enough I need the author to blast a bat signal into the night sky whenever they update

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“this character can’t/shouldn’t be trans because it doesn’t have a purpose or serve their narrative” god who the fuck cares. sometimes people are just trans.

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Moon

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INQUISITOR REVA SEVANDER in OBI-WAN KENOBI Part VI

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When a fic doesn’t fit my head canons but it’s well-written

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I feel like a concept that wasn't really fully explored in TCW was the concept of personhood with droids and its specific implications on the war. The clones' personhood is explored more, and we look into how they're individual people with their own lives and personalities and wants and relationships. But then we see the Separatist droids, cannon fodder and comedic relief, barely individual.

But that almost... makes it worse, in a way that's never really explored. The Separatist army has significantly less loss of life because the droids aren't counted as lives. I feel like there's something more that could've been explored there.

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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!

Editing to add: a wrangler pointed out in the tags that [character] is autistic and gay can itself become a single tag if enough people use it. That's true of other tags with multiple meanings as well. They just can't be synned with existing tags in the meantime.

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Niwan + shitposts pt. 3 because everyone's STRESSED about the season finale

Pt. 2 is here :)

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just remembered the duster season finale is tonight