#nothing is guaranteed

[dreamproxyaesthetics]

It can happen anywhere...at anytime.

[im-a-king-baby]

hi!! i'm in the process of writing a fic that i plan to post on ao3 and i'm just wondering how you get readers and stuff. i worry that if i just post it no one will see but i'm not sure if there's anything i can do...

Hi! Firstly congrats on writing a fic! I hope you're enjoying playing with these characters and having fun with your story! Posting work can be a hard/frustrating/amazing/rewarding/confusing process so as much as we love readers (and kudos and comments!) it is really important to write because you enjoy writing and to write for yourself first. Be your own biggest fan! Write what you want to read!

I am not by any means an expert in getting readers, but here is most of what I have learned after many years of writing fic.

On AO3 the default is that all fics are listed in the order they were posted, so as soon as you post your fic will be at the top of the list! In an active fandom, there are usually a few people who check AO3 regularly and read any new fics that catch their eye. So just by posting, you're likely to get a few readers if the fandom is active enough (to captalise on this you can also pick a time to post when the fandom is buzzing e.g. when there's new content or a new season out).

If your fic is long, it's worth splitting it into chapters because each chapter puts you back at the top of the page on AO3 and gives you another chance to share that you're writing. (Also for me that's one of the better things about posting fic, getting to see people react to the story as it unfolds.)

What do I mean by sharing? I mean when you post fic, tell people in whatever fandom spaces you are in! A lot of people want to read fic but aren't checking AO3 every day so you have to find other ways to tell them about it. I posted on tumblr, and tagged 'young royals' and 'young royals fic' so anyone following those tags would see it. The great @hillerskalibrary I think finds most tagged fic so they'll share your story with their followers who are looking for fic. I know there's a YR community on Twitter so if you're in that, tell them you're writing!

Get chatting to YR fans in whatever space you're in, make friends and then you can not only ask them to read it, you can make them help you edit it! (This is how all beta readers are made, I'm pretty sure.)

For tumblr, if you like making graphics, having a banner or a header or something might help you stand out but it's more important to just make sure your post tells people what the fic is about so they'll want to take a look!

But it can be hard, and sometimes you don't get the reception you were hoping for. It's easy to look at the big super popular fics in any fandom and get disheartened when you've got less comments or kudos, but those kind of numbers depend so much on how big the fandom is when you post, what tropes people are wanting to read, who happens to give your fic a go, and if people start talking about it none of which is in your control. The trick is to enjoy the writing for itself, to write things you love and to find people to talk to about your ideas and your stories who will love them with you. (By taking part in the fandom, getting beta readers, etc.) I have fics on AO3 with less than 10 kudos that I love and think are great but that never found their audience, that doesn't mean it was a waste of time writing or posting them and I still love them for the fun I had writing, and the friends in those fandoms that I shared them with.

<3

[kafkasmuses]

heyy!! was js wondering if you still write about luke

i can’t completely guarantee anything as i don’t want anyone to get their hopes up.. but the luke hype has died down and i feel like with challengers coming out i may be more focused on writing for that!!

[ericsuddoth]

Almost Nothing is Guaranteed

It’s hard to believe it is already middle of January 2024. Time seems to go faster as the years add on. I was talking to some friends the other day and they were talking about a family tragedy and the sentiment of we are not guaranteed another day hung in the air. Most times we speak these words during a trial or death with the outlook that tomorrow we will seize the day. But when tomorrow…

[podcastwizard]

someone post the dancing crab it feels appropriate

[atlas-affogato]

You have to be okay with change. You have to be okay with pain. You have to be okay with heartache. You have to be okay with loneliness. It will get better, but first you have to be okay with it.

[wolfrunner25]

29 Jun 23

Good Morning! “Nothing is perfect. Life is messy. Relationships are complex. Outcomes are uncertain. People are irrational.”  -  Hugh Mackay

Perfection is over rated. I used to tell myself that if it wasn't perfect it wasn't worth doing. I was lying to myself. Progress not perfection is a much better way to look at it. Life is messy as hell. I grew up in a time when you were bombarded with fairy tale crap. Fairy tales are just that tales you tell when telling a story. Its not real. Life is nothing like that. Relationships (of all kinds; romantic, friends, coworkers) are complex. They take work on both parts to survive. You can try and plan for an outcome but nothing that happens is certain. Things change, people change and you just never know what will actually happen. People can be completely irrational usually when their emotions get involved. All we can do is to deal with the changes that come our way. We hang in there and do the best we can at handling the craziness that comes with life. So my wish for each of you today is that you find a healthy way to cope with life. Have an amazing day!

[sweetvillainjude]

There’s something so raw about the image of Cardan with his sleeves rolled up washing the blood off Jude’s hands, after he’s ruined his velvet jacket to stop her bleeding. It’s one of the moments where we clearly see how much he cares for her. He wouldn’t let the guards touch her, despite—from his perspective—not having any way of knowing she wasn’t there to kill him. On top of that, he declares to the palace crowd that Jude is the rightful Queen of Elfhame, who is not in exile, stunning everyone. And then later tells Jude that he had been terrified, not of her but for her.

“It was terrifying,” he says, “watching you fall.”

“Mortals are fragile,” I say. “Not you,” he says in a way that sounds a little like a lament. “You never break.”

Jurdan are wild because they may not have been able to verbalise what they felt for each other, nor even admit it to themselves, but it showed through their actions anyway.

[united-federation-of-trek]

i hate you subscription services. i hate you streaming. i hate you computers that aren’t made to be able to use dvds or cds. i hate you not being able to have anything as your own. i hate you having to endlessly pay for something you should only have to pay for once.

[comradekatara]

okay be honest. if someone as hot as sokka (is constantly established to be by other characters within the text) said these exact words to you, you would also fall in love with them on the spot and/or be overwhelmed with uncontrollable horniness. yue is valid

[queerfables]

At this stage, Crowley having lost memories from before the Fall is a theory, not a given. There's some evidence for it but nothing like proof. It's fine to base analysis on the possibility but your argument will be much stronger if you acknowledge that it's an if. If Crowley lost his memories, then - whatever it is this implies or raises questions about.

Maybe I'm being too precious about What's Really Canon but we're only a few months into a hiatus that's going to last years, and I'm desperately hoping we can avoid fanon creep as much as possible. So I'm encouraging us, in all areas, to notice when we're accepting possibilities as givens. We can build theories on top of theories but it's really crucial that we acknowledge which parts are assumptions. Because each incorrect assumption that we rely on takes us further away from the truth. This is such a smart fandom and I love reading everyone's perspectives. I want us to keep all our avenues for speculation open, including the ones that go against dominant fandom readings.

[kagoutiss]

oot zelda doodle i liked :’-)))

[pianokantzart]

What do you think the status of "nothing can hurt us as long as we're together" is for the bros? What I mean is- I see a lot of pre-canon fics use that line, and I love it, but based on the way Luigi's face slowly lit up when Mario said it to him as they were flying through the warp pipe, I think that might have been the first time either of them ever said it, and then it stuck after that as they pulled it out in different high-stakes situations lol

I'm with you. I think that moment in the warp pipe was the first time it was said.

That was, no doubt, the first time they were ever in a situation that bizarre and unpredictable. Nothing but a reassurance that sincere and heartfelt was going to help Luigi calm down.

Then there's Luigi's reaction, that look of utter surprise that slowly turns into a heartened smile.

That's not the face of someone whose heard that same sentiment a hundred times before.

[scarycranegame]

you know kosa is a horrible fucking idea when even the kids it's claiming to protect are rallying against it

[angeat]

I don't know if it'd be up your alley but for the yugioh lesbians prompt, Ruri/Serena with optional 闇落ち/Academia Ruri because that shit makes the hamster in my brain go circles

thank you for this my brain completely and utterly ran away with it and went like full au mode so. cough

my interpretation of this is when ruri is kidnapped she is brainwashed into being an academia solider, forgetting her previous life though naturally she's not allowed out like serena so she gets very attached to her.

ruri doesn't mind it nearly as much, she has more faith in what leo says and lacks the level of pride in duelling that makes her want to show off so she simply finds most her enjoyment in being alone with serena.

serena has no idea how to really handle ruri's company or how to feel about it because she's never had someone with an unabashed genuine interest in her and being a friend to her rather than like... a bodyguard or something so she has a tendency to push ruri away, but ruri is perceptive enough to tell she sort of likes the attention, she feels hurt sometimes but it just motivates her to try to be closer and understand serena better.

ruri being as social as she is, when the others like sora and dennis are present she tags along with them as much as she's able so she gets like stories of what they did while deployed out and such.

given the way her morals are kind of absent since her brain is 100% academia propaganda with the brainwashing, evidently she absorbs a little of a sadistic streak from them so she's a bit Weird. being like innately a gentle polite sweetheart but also "omg I hoped you made him beg and grovel to be spared and watched all hope drain from his eyes as he realized you wouldn’t"

once plot happens and serena goes off on her own and defects, still at academia, ruri (after being in shambles from the news for a while) is like "I have to kill this motherfucker" and so escapes solo JUST to hunt serena down. turns into a toxic yandere yuri thing. because of course it does. I could go on.

[wolfrunner25]

26 Aug 22

Good morning! “The truth is you don't know what is going to happen tomorrow. Life is a crazy ride, and nothing is guaranteed.” - Eminem

We don't know what will happen next year, next week, next month, all the way down to the next minute. We just don't know. All we can do is to try and live our lives the best we can every minute of every day. So I hope you can get out there and live, truly live. Just know that you are enough, love who you are, and collect your happy moments. I hope you all have a good weekend.