#i don't know if that's a ship tag but I'm using it

[ao3commentoftheday]

i'm not in this fandom anymore, but i've been thinking about this lately and thought i'd ask.

the fandom i was in, there was a trans character that i really loved, and since i love writing smut, i wanted to write one that included this character. however, there was no indication in canon of whether this character had surgery "down there" or not (i don't know how to phrase this, i'm sorry), and while that's definitely fine, i saw fans really divided on what the situation was and which would be "disrespectful" to write this character with. i saw arguments against both ways, ones that said without the surgery were fetishizing, and with the surgery were "basically writing the character as cis", which meant i never knew which would be the "right and respectful" way to write this character in smut, since both had been called disrespectful. i ended up leaving the fandom before i could figure out how to write smut for my favorite character.

thinking about this again, how should i have handled this?

This sounds like a situation where people have strong personal feelings about the character being shown as one way or the other, and they're using arguments to make people feel bad for doing the opposite. If they can make you feel bad enough, you'll stop writing the thing they dislike (or at least, that's the assumption)

It happens a lot in fandom. Like, a lot - with characters, with ships, with redemption arcs, you name it.

This character is an imaginary person, and therefore they can be anything at all. There are trans people who make changes to their bodies and there are trans people who don't. They're still trans either way - that "they're basically cis" argument doesn't track for me at all. Transness is about the person and their relationship to their gender, not about what junk they happen to have in their pants at any given time.

As with so many things in fandom, people are going to disagree about what they do and don't want to read. That's fair. In order to allow people to make informed choices, you could add a tag or an author's note so that they know going in and can decide not to read further. If they make a big stink about it after being informed, then that's their problem not yours.

I'm not trans and I haven't written smut for a trans character yet, and I apologize if anything I've said above is ignorant or misinformed. Please do correct me in the notes. I want to be supportive of trans fans 🏳️‍⚧️

If anyone knows of good tags to use in this situation, please do leave them in the notes. Are there other good ways to make this clear so that people who like a particular interpretation of a character can find those fics and those who hate it can avoid them?

[maoam]

I guess I'll tag @sasukesun since this post is addressed to her as well. Anyway, how are you addressing me yet not tagging me (I assume I'm still blocked) and I only got this through another person? You're just being hostile.

I have said multiple times Sasuke isn't girly. Neither is Naruto. You put words in my mouth. His feminity comes from his looks (because that's Kishi's type) and the yin/yang. Sasuke is very neutral in the way he dresses, rather rude in the way he speaks to people (compared to how Japanese generally speak) and definitely not a weak doormat like Hinata. I have addressed all these things multiple times.

Sarada and Boruto's relationship doesn't parallel NaruSasu, if you read Boruto manga you would know that. Sarada is very passive when compared to Naruto. She just asks Sasuke to help Boruto. Can you imagine Naruto doing that? Naruto would help Sasuke by himself, that's how Kishi would write it. He wouldn't write Naruto to sat on his ass and wait for things to happen like he is writing both Sarada and Sumire do. People constantly complain about Sarada being rather irrelevant and it's true.

When I say "dynamic" I'm referring to the fact Minato is the only one who bothered to try to save Kushina and the only one who didn't give up on her. My point was about TROPES Kishimoto likes [link]. And why are you ignoring I pointed out Kishimoto paralleld Boruto to young Naruto, Sasuke to Kushina, and Naruto to Minato in the Boruto movie where they were coparenting Boruto? And again, it's about a trope. It's not complicated. Here is another post I made about similar tropes in both ships [link].

Same with Mario/Saori. Funny how you keep ignoring the latter despite me writing posts about that as well. [link] Can you seriously look me in the eyes and deny the similar tropes? Oh hey here's another [link].

I also made a post pointing out the similarities in how Hinata feels towards Naruto and how Naruto feels towards Sasuke but of course you ignore that because it doesn't fit your narrative about me. [link] If it was like you said, I would have ignored this as well. I also made another in reverse, about similarities in how Hinata feels towards Naruto and how Sasuke feels towards Naruto. [link]

The examples of Oro, Obito and Kabuto, are all about them making Sasuke their possession. And when you add the weird imagery, which Kishi never uses anywhere else, and Oro's comments about Sasuke's beautiful face and body, it's not rocket science to understand what's going on. Notice how I didn't mention Itachi, because despite Itachi wanting to control Sasuke, I never saw 'that type' of thing there. And trust me, I would point it out if there was, it wouldn't make me uncomfortable.

You call me a weirdo and stupid so I feel I have to reply to all this.

"I just express my opinion and if you don't agree you can always block me" I guess this is more directed at sasukesun but can't this apply to you as well? I mean you block and unblock me because you don't want me to see your replies and respond, but you still want to call me stupid and other names. It's just not cool dude...

Also this is you so I'm pretty sure you are the one mad that I'm not raving about girly twink Naruto and masculine buff alpha Sasuke aren't you? Lol. I'm sure my posts about Naruto being a rascal punk who gives people the middle finger and farts in his opponent's face kill that little princess image for you.

[peachesofteal]

Twenty questions for fic writers

Thank you @kneelingshadowsalome for the tag! Tagging @391780 @moondirti and @cordeliawhohung or anyone else who wants to do this

1. How many works do you have on Ao3?

36

2. What's your total Ao3 word count?

446,469

3. What fandoms do you write for?

COD, TLOU, Sandman, but I'm only active in COD right now.

4. Top five by kudos.

Simple Math, Dead Disco, Light On, Black Sun, Heartbeat

5. Do you respond to comments?

I used to but then I got so behind and I have some anxiety so... no. I read everything and cherish it but I struggle to respond to everyone.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

The sweet series for TLOU, or fragile ones for Sandman.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Sassy probably has the happiest ending so far.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

on AO3 almost never. On Tumblr I get lunatics in my inbox but it kind of comes with the territory.

9. Do you write smut?

Yes

10. Craziest crossover.

None they are weird to me

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I wouldn't know but I'd be pretty upset tbh

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I gave my permission for Simple Math to be translated but not sure if anything ever came from it

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No

14. All time favorite ship?

Galadriel/Halbrand... Klaroline.

15. What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Duality. I don't think it will ever see the light of day.

16. What are your writing strengths?

ummm

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Stage direction. You're writing a story, not a screenplay: except not me. Apparently I care more about physical actions than anything else. Also prose, abuse and misuse of flowery language where it doesn't belong, sentence structure.

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

It's fine

19. First fandom you wrote in?

Marvel, actually. But those are long gone.

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

Probably Dead Disco.

[kneelingshadowsalome]

Twenty questions for fic writers

Thank you @homicidal-slvt for the tag. Tagging @ceilidho @peachesofteal @neoarchipelago @tinypandacakes & @gremlingottoosilly (no pressure folks!)

1. How many works do you have on Ao3?

15. Yikes.

2. What's your total Ao3 word count?

361,563. Double yikes!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Call of Duty only... I think I might be mentally ill

4. Top five by kudos.

DOG, Just Friends, Man-sized, Refugee, Fatum Nos Iungebit

5. Do you respond to comments?

I used to but I've been so bad at it lately that I decided that if I can't get to every single one I shouldn't reply to anyone at all T.T But I see them all and cherish them dearly!!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Just friends for sure

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I think it's a tie between Christian Woman and Love is a Heavy Weapon :)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I used to get hate for tagging all of my fics in x reader as a default when some of them included a more fleshed out OC. Understandable perhaps!

9. Do you write smut?

Honey it's all I write these days

10. Craziest crossover.

I'm a purist and don't do crossovers :/

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I sure hope not!!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Hope not (meaning if the fic also gets shared without permission)

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, and honestly I don't know how this even works :') But I like the idea!

14. All time favorite ship?

Maybeeee Loki x Jane Foster. Gosh, I don't know. I mainly write/read reader inserts these days

15. What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

The Gromsko thingy I said I'd write this time last year

16. What are your writing strengths?

Inner dialogue. Subtle details when it comes to historical/mythical au's. I'm pretty good at conveying yearning and other strong emotions, perhaps?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Eloquent prose & poetry. I can do it once in a blue moon but not constantly, it somehow destroys my brain cells & saps me of my creative energy

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

If only I could speak German fluently...

19. First fandom you wrote in?

Mortal Kombat... my cringeworthy beloved 💖

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

Maybe Fatum. It has Romans, slow burn and König in it 🥰

[callmehere-iwillappear]

20 Questions For Fic Writers

this has been sitting in my drafts for probably months and i actually don't remember who tagged me at this point sorry </3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

26

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

168,724

3. What fandoms do you write for?

currently just rise but i've had some other fandoms i've written for in the past

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

call me here (i will appear) Use Only For Intended Purpose The Idiot's Guide to Blindfold Chess new phone who dis because i fear i'm lost (and i cannot be found again) wow big surprise(/s) all of these are rise al;jfldksjfkd

5. Do you respond to comments?

i try to but uh </3 i am not very good at it

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

ummm. probably waiting for answers, wasting time bc even if u know the comfort and healing comes there very much isn't any in the fic itself so whoops </3 i am not good at hurt/no comfort so i don't. have a lot of fics that would really qualify

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

uuhhhhh ig fibonacci? most of my fics have relatively happy endings and. this is the one with the least angst overall so

8. Do you get hate on fics?

not yet thank god

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

i do not alfjdlkjfkdls

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

imma keep it real with you chief most of the crossovers that i've written are with other people's aus and idk if that counts

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of fingers crossed

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

nope

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

yeesssss? sorta? it's not like, on ao3 but i've done some collab crossover stuff with friends (see aforementioned crossover question)

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

god idk. i don't do a lot of shipping these days sorry </3 i have some ships i think are cute but i'm not like, into them enough to say they really qualify

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

i want to finish idiot's guide and cmh very very badly and i refuse to jinx it. idk abt npwd solely because of like the type of fic it is, idk if it'll ever be finished finished yk. like there'll always be more little scenes i can do

16. What are your writing strengths?

um. i've been told i'm good at character voice

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

sweats nervously

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

i don't really do it? i probably wouldn't unless it was like, just a couple words - i don't mind too much when other ppl do it bc i have a translation extension on my laptop but i don't have many options when i'm on my phone

19. First fandom you wrote for?

doctor who........ i was like. god idek. fifteen? maybe younger i straight up don't remember <- also none of this is on ao3 this was like, back in my ff.net days and i don't think i even remember my login lmao

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

hmm hm hm. okay. probably because i fear i'm lost. just bc like... idk i'm proud of how it turned out and i'm really . idk. happy with the reception it got. i'm happy it reached people who can relate to it. and it's short enough that there's not like, enough space for there to be parts where i just have to force myself to write stuff i'm not 100% happy with to fill in the gaps. if that makes sense

tagging: You

[fromtenthousandfeet]

All Cash and No Credit

Let's talk about HYBE's strategy for Jimin's MUSE. It's pretty simple

Maximize Profit - Minimize Success

Let's break down how they're doing it.

Goal #1 is to get as many customers as possible to buy from Weverse instead of regular retailers like chains (Target, Walmart, Barnes & Noble) and online sellers like Amazon. When fans buy on Weverse, a HYBE subsidiary, the company keeps not only the wholesale portion of the album sale, but the retail portion as well. This is obvious, right? If not, I'm happy to explain. The company likely makes twice the profit (give or take) on albums purchased via Weverse. AND, they can control when those albums are shipped, and how, when, or if the sales are reported to the music charting agencies.

The fact that Target pre-sales of MUSE is sold out within hours is suspect. This indicates limited stock, just like the strategy used for Like Crazy CD singles. Meanwhile, Geffen is very slow to release the pre-sale links for other retailers. The Walmart presale just went up. Where are B&N and Amazon? Will they have limited inventory, too?

Putting Jimin's Production Diary on Weverse only was a conscious choice. The cost of the documentary was expensive - more than the monthly fee for streaming services, the company kept all the profit (didn't have to share the costs with Netflix or Disney+), and limited his exposure to the general public. I suspect they will operate the same way with MUSE.

Goal #2 Keep Jimin as low as possible on the charts. We've seen this over and over. First, by splitting Like Crazy versions and disappearing sales, no CD restocks. Then we saw the same behavior from BH/HYBE again with Closer Than This being released on the worst possible day of the year and almost zero promotion. You know the details.

HYBE will limit stock. They will likely not report all sales.

MUSE physical albums will not be eligible for UK charts because of a random inclusion. The previous four solo album releases have had specific UK versions with no inclusions. UK fans will have to rely on digital sales for charting purposes unless BH provides a new version. Dirty.

Goal #3 Promote the album just enough to garner sales from fans while minimizing advertising to the greater public. The announcement of the new album is also strange. The teaser video was only on Instagram and only on the BigHit/BTS channel (this didn't stop anyone, though, as far as I can tell) as well as Weverse (I'm getting tired of that platform). TikTok is a far more effective advertising tool when it comes to targeting young people. Why wasn't the teaser posted to TikTok? Either way, "Jimin Jimin" was trending on X/Twitter with over 1.7 million mentions many hours after the announcement of the new album. There's only so much BH can do to suppress Jimin now that fans have taken marketing him into their own hands.

Let's keep an eye on this.

What's different this time around? This time the fandom knows who is behind thwarting Jimin's success. Precious time was lost during the FACE era when everyone was blaming Jimin's sabotage on Billboard and Spotify, rather than the rightful villain - HYBE/Big Hit. This time the fandom knows to watch their every move and call them out on their shady and unequal treatment. That said, tagging Geffen, Big Hit, and HYBE on X is pretty much useless. They have shown they won't change their behavior when fans complain. Instead, fans must start tagging Billboard, Spotify, and media outlets. Media outlets are the most important. HYBE does not care about the fandom, but they do care about their public image, especially after all the damage that's been done to the company and the stock price due to the ADOR controversy and court case.

I think Jimin is going to a different label for his solo work. That's my hunch. The company is going to squeeze as much profit out of him as possible before he goes, but it's a balancing act because they don't want him to outshine Jungkook. Of course, I could be completely wrong.

[i-lavabean]

There will be time to figure out what happened later after you finally rest

[aaapplepie]

also wait I made a comic

cws for animal death (old age, nothing graphic), human death (implied), blood (plague stuff)

sometimes the dog gets a better funeral than you but that's fine it's fine

[iizuumi]

Enough general kn8 art, time to make everyone look at my weird little ship hello

[lustrecannon]

fuck it. formal time

[sunnydayaoe]

This was cuter in my head hee hoo, but it's still fun :) [don't ask why they have wings when they have fur I can do whatever I want ghgh]

[Please don't tag as ship!]

[ao3commentoftheday]

(Sorry if this has been asked before) I was curious if you knew the etiquette for posting a collection of oneshots in one fic? (Every chapter is a oneshot rather than all of them being posted seperately.) Is it better to mark it completed even if I'm still adding to it? Or is it better to mark it unfinished since I don't know if it will ever be finished?

You don't know it anon, but you've got two separate potential pitfalls here in the exact same question.

I'll start with the one you're aware of: do you mark a fic as complete when you might or might not continue it.

If you're actively planning to add more chapters, I'd recommend against marking the work complete. People who filter for complete works only will be annoyed with you. People who filter for works in progress won't find your stuff.

If you're unsure whether or not you're going to continue a fic, but you think that you probably won't, then you can mark it as complete, BUT because as I mentioned above, there are people who want to read complete works only, I recommend adding a word/phrase like ABANDONED or even ON HIATUS to the summary so that those folks know not to dive into your fic and get annoyed.

Now, as for the potential pitfall you don't know you might be running into: a lot of people have strong negative feelings about posting a series of one shots as if they're a single fic. Reasons for that differ, but a few of the highlights are:

I love oneshots and I filter for works with 1 chapter so that I can find them. If you put all of them into a multi-chaptered fic, I'll never find them.

I love multichaps and your work looks like a multichap, but when I start reading it, it's just a bunch of oneshots.

I filter for X word count because that's my preferred length of story. By posting those works together, the word counts are all combined, so I either can't find your short stories or think that they're long stories and either way, it's not what I want.

You have so many tags to cover the characters, ships, and scenarios of each story and I don't know which chapter is related to which tags.

You have so many tags and it takes forever for me to scroll past your work in my search results.

You wrote five stories, but I can only kudos once!

I want to reread [this particular story] but I don't know which chapter of your work it is and now it's impossible for me to find it again.

While there are people who either don't mind or prefer seeing a group of oneshots all gathered together in a single fic, it's more common (anecdotally, based on years of reading replies on this blog) to prefer for those oneshots to be gathered together in a series.

Readers can subscribe to a series, just like they can to a fic, but each oneshot will have its own particular set of tags and each oneshot can get its own kudos.

It's definitely more work for the author, and I know some creators feel weird about having that many works on their profile, but the internet is a vast expanse with no physical borders to it, so you can take up all the room you want.

I know this ask was supposed to be about whether to mark your work as complete or not, but I figured I should give you a heads up about that as well. I don't know that I'd use the term "etiquette" for either situation, though. It's not rude to do one thing or the other, it's just potentially annoying to some of your fellow fans. You're still the author, and you should do what makes you comfortable.

[cozylittleartblog]

swatchvember: 90′s, rainy day, sleeping

cramming some of these prompts together to be silly <3 they spent a lot of time back then keeping some rich up-and-coming little salesman entertained, he’s one of their best customers. maybe you’ve heard of him...

[royalarchivist]

undefined

Wilbur: Everyone give it up for Alex Quackity! Thank you.

A close-up of one of the TNTduo hugs from the Lovejoy concert :')

[adhd-merlin]

why do some many people use a ship's romantic and platonic tag simultaneously on ao3. I feel like some people might not be aware of the difference between "&" (platonic) and "/" (romantic)? I understand there might be cases where there's some overlap between the two but 90% of the time these fics are just mistagged. if it's an ambiguous relationship or something, there's a tag for that (ambiguous relationships). if it's a friends to lovers fic it should still be tagged as romantic. the clue is in the name

[dustykneed]

Hello! Random whipper snipper! Share a WIP of your work!

ooh, with pleasure. six the musical araleyn fanart? in the year 2k24? more likely than you think xDD

i realize this looks finished, but technically i'm still deciding whether to add a background or not lol. still, for the sake of sharing a proper WIP, here's a line or two from an araleyn brainworm WIP that i started reworking yesterday (mild tw for religious guilt and period-typical internalized homophobia from aragon's pov):

She remembers sharing her bed with Anne at Henry's behest, remembers the nights of tossing and turning and trying not to think about Anne asleep next to her-- remembers waking up to dark hair spilling across her pillow and the press of blood-warm bosoms against her own, softer than sin, as hot as the Devil, remembers lying still as death, mouthing prayers into the heat of Anne's neck like an act of penance.