#the amount of fanfics i have deleted from my bookmarks because the first read was amazing

[psalmsofpsychosis]

i'm obsessed with how much my first impression of things differs even from the second or third impressions, and by obsessed i mean it used to literally give me mental breakdowns

like, on first impression when something is still new to me, i can love it *so much*, so fucking much i think it's the most brilliant thing to have happened to humanity. we're talking "i find it almost holy i want to devour this thing" levels of love.

And then there's the second, or the third time i ho back for it, if i ever go back for it (i barely ever read the same thing or listen to the same song twice, you have to restrain me to make me go back into things, sometimes i dont even finish things i love because the first impression is already set and i'm terrified of the high wearing off). So like, the second or third read becomes not only about how good something is, but also how it ages. And oh boy, a solid 90% of stuff i find dont age well beyond the initial excitement. Something that was a perfect experience to go through the first time is now only an ordinary, lukewarm thing at best, outright terrible and meaningless at worst. Like, it means absolutely nothing on a second read. This used to give me such horrible wiplash that i'd never come back for things i supposedly loved on the first round– it'd be too disheartening to watch those things become meaningless to me on a closer look.

But i think that with age i've gotten better with it, i still mostly dont reread stuff and very much prefer to find new music rather than listening to the same songs, but i have found stuff that stayed relevant and beautiful to me on second and third and forth tries. The emotional high wears off more or less, but a different kind of discovery still exists within the things that keep me going.

[themerriweathermage]

Author Interview

I was tagged by @sleepswithvillains . I’ve never been tagged much before so this is kind of new for me, but I love it! Tag me all the time! Also you did it again, where I got the Tumblr notification like right as I went to bed, but my sleep schedule is so wack right now.

Tagging: @guardianofrivendell @moriamithril @sunflower1000 and really whoever wants to do it. Drop me a tag if you decide to do it because I definitely want to see what you have to say!

I have a lot of unfinished fics and not a lot of published works in comparison. 

1. Name: The Merriweather Mage (Tumblr)/ RinzlersGhost (AO3)

2. Fandoms: LOTR/The Hobbit, The Witcher (TV), SWTOR/Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, Twilight, Underworld (though I’m not active in most of them unless I’m hyper-fixating)

3. Where you post: AO3, Tumblr, and I have an inactive FF.NET account

4. Most popular oneshot: People seem to have a real affinity for Meleth-nin/My Love. I actually hated writing it, because I was in such a bad place after receiving news that my childhood dog had died, but I don’t hate the fic itself.

5. Most popular multichapter: Every Kitten Has Claws which is a Geralt X Druid Fem!Reader. 25 Kudos, 3 bookmarks, 517 hits. Followed by Turuhalme in the Greenwood which is Thranduil X Fem!Reader. 9 Kudos, 1 bookmark, 270 hits. Both contain 18+ Content.

6. Actual worst part of writing: I legitimately hate writing fight scenes. I’m horrible at them and most of my fics contain some sort of fight scene obnoxiously enough. Although the best advice I ever saw on here was to keep your fight scenes short because not very many people are interested in a long drawn out detailed fight scene. 

7. Favorite story you wrote: Bards & Beans Coffee Co. Elrond X Fem!Reader. Was the first time I’d ever written anything in the second person. I based it off of a dream I had about meeting Elrond in a coffee shop. I planned it, wrote it, and posted it in the span of four days. It’s basically as if Middle Earth exists on the other side of meridian locks, and it’s set during the War of the Ring but with some of the characters from the Hobbit so the timelines are pretty pushed together. Your side of the meridian locks has a Earth that is basically a continuous strip of land that varies from high-tech futuristic ports all the way down to medieval ports. Basically the farther North you go, the more high tech and futuristic the land becomes. Quite a shock for those who would have never been to the other side of the locks. 18+ Content.

8. Story you were nervous to post: Most likely all of them. Any of my Twilight work though, I always hesitate about publishing. Sometimes it’s because the stories are close to my heart, but I also know that the fandom can be rabid. Most of the interactions I’ve ever had with Twilight blogs are fine, but there’s a lot of discourse about Twilight right now, and while I appreciate that most people are in the right (the issue with the Quileute tribe, the Cullen’s as villains, Jasper and the Confederacy, the actual legitimacy of the Volturi as a ruling body, etc), this is actually one of the reasons I left the fandom from a writing/following POV. (There are many, many things that are wrong with Twilight and not from a literature point of view. For example, Meyers took a real life Native American tribe and treated them highly unfairly in the books, to the point of calling them dogs which isn’t very fair at all, and they have received no compensation for being used and they are risk in the place they live in now. If you have some time and money, I would recommend checking out the Quileute Move to Higher Ground project.)

9. How you choose your titles: For story titles, I like to choose the main theme or a main phrase that is used. For chapter titles, I either don’t title or I will chose something that is a main part of the chapter.

10. Complete works: Out of the 21 works I have on AO3, 18 of them are completed, although one is an open ended and may be reopened after I get some of the larger works out of my way. As for fics in general that I haven’t published or have published on other platforms, there is 2 of 5 complete works on FF.NET. Some of those stories I will be pulling and deleting. The two complete works will be migrating to AO3.

11. Incomplete works: Actively: Sadril-nin/My Loyal One, A Hunter’s Circlet, and Beauty in Brokenness (unpublished for now). I have a few other inactive LOTR/The Hobbit based fics that I might try to finish after the main two are finished. Inactive: Literally too many to count. I mean, when I wrote my goodbye to the Twilight fandom, I said that I had been writing for the fandom for nearly nine years. I have so many unfinished Twilight fics, well over 100.

12. Do you outline: Not usually. I’m at the point with Sadril-nin right now where I’m literally following a map of Middle Earth and cataloguing the journey across the map, so I guess that could be considered an outline. Mostly if I’m writing for LOTR/The Hobbit, I want to follow the timeline of progression for the story that’s already been written. I do have a little bit of leeway in that gap between The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings though.

13. Coming soon ideas, maybe? I’ve been giving you a taste of Beauty in Brokenness. I do intend to publish it, but it’s a constant struggle to rework it. I have ideas that I want to cement in the story that don’t always come out the way I want them to, so I am consistently reworking parts of it all the time. I will also be rewriting (eventually) Crown of Thorns, which is Pirates of the Caribbean fanfic, Lord Beckett X Siren!OFC. I also appreciate the idea of Nestadion X Centaur Fem!Reader, but instead of being a centaur all the time, you’re actually a shifter who can turn into a centaur. Really confuses a warrior elf to see what amounts to a small human carrying this massive two handed sword around and calling him “princess” all the time.

14. Ask me anything: Is there anything you miss in fanfic? In comparison to the actual book/movie? Not really. I appreciate the original works, but I recognize that they can be flawed and so can their authors/writers. Which is why fanfic is so appealing-- everyone has a different spin on the original; everyone has a different take on the characters, everyone writes differently, and that’s the fascinating part to me. The only downside, of course with any fanfic, is the fandom and it can be hit or miss with people. It is what it is, and the liberty of fanfic is that not everyone is going to like or enjoy your works, and the same goes for your tastes. Are there right or wrong opinions? I don’t know; I’ve both read and written some morally ambiguous fics, and some I would like to forget that I very much haven’t.

15. Best writing traits: Same as the worst writing traits. I’m a sucker for detail. I love it. I want my readers to see it like I do. When I read books or play D&D or play video games, I see it like I’m in a movie. When I write, I want you to see it like you’re on set and the cameras are rolling and you are perfectly prepared. I want you to feel like you are in the story, which is why my oneshots turn into series, and my multi-chapter fics turn into novel length stories. I find it obnoxious at times, because I feel like I can’t ever turn it off, but by the feedback I get, some of y’all really enjoy it, so let’s get this show on the road.

16. Upcoming Story You Are Most Excited to Write: Uhhhh, let me go browse my WIP folder. I’ve put quite a bit of research into rewriting Crown of Thorns and making it slightly more historically accurate. I know that there will be a Part 2 to Sadril-nin, because I’m not going to time skip a seventy/eighty year gap between the timelines of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. And I really don’t want to submit y’all to this absolutely massive story all jam-packed into one fic. Other than that, I’m also sitting on Through Hellfire and High Waters, which is another Elrond X Reader fic that follows the premise of a modern/medieval world all smashed into one. The Queen of Eryn Galen also needs a proper ending and to be published, a Thranduil X OFC fic; this one will also have a Part 2.

17. Spicy Tangential Opinion: I don’t care if my writing makes the characters out of character. I try to tag that if I can, but let’s be real here. Either I’m writing a character that originally has a limited backstory and a very real chance at an open-ended future, or I didn’t like the canon character and I’m rejecting that reality and replacing it with my own. Does it mean that I don’t or am refusing to recognize character flaws? No, and that’s the beauty of fanfic. You can do whatever you want. You might get hate for it or you might not. For example, I am a fan of Severus Snape (RIP Alan Rickman). Does his character have flaws? Yes. Do I like the way he was canonically written? No. Are his actions justifiable? Hell no. Is that going to stop me from being a fan? Again, no. He is arguably one of the most disagreed upon character of that series. I don’t see a need to defend why I write him the way I do. I don’t see a need to defend him in discourse, and I’m certainly not going to be hateful about it. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion about it. Yes, there was probably some underlying intent when the character was written. I’m not here (unless you’re specifically asking my opinion on it) I’m not here to read in between the lines with characters like Snape. I do not care enough to lose friends over opinions like that.

[speedy-1236]

Hi! I feel a bit weird for asking this, because you're such a long standing, popular author and probably think I'm stupid or something, but I'm just starting out writing fanfiction and I feel like nobody is reading it? Any tips on how to stay patient or how to make more people read my stories?

Hi! I don't think you're stupid. Uploading stuff you made can feel like screaming into the void. I'm not a stranger to that phenomenon. Long standing, yeah, I guess. Not sure about popular.

Either way, I also started out with no long standing or any amounts of popularity once.

And you shouldn't pay too much attention to how popular or not you are. Fanfic is a hobby, and a rather time consuming one, too. Write first of all for yourself. Write what you like to write, what you would want to read, and don't worry about anyone else. This is your free time you're putting into it, and you ought to be enjoying it. Then, if you share it with others, and they enjoy it as well, that's a fun bonus.

It takes a while to get noticed online. Fanfic is a little less terrible as art there, but still, if you're unlucky, the right people will just overlook your stuff because of bad timing.

You can try to maximize your exposure by dividing stories that are reasonably long into chapters (they'll turn up on the front page several times, and a lot of people don't venture from the first few pages when looking for a quick read). From my experience you get a tad more hits when you post at the end of the week rather than on a Monday, for example, too. Tag stuff properly, write a summary that sounds interesting (I know, hypocritical of me).

Find people in your particular corner of the Sonic fanfic community. People who write about similar stuff, who have the same favourite characters, etc. Review their stuff, make friends.

Be persistent. Write your story, put it out there, don't stress out. People are going to find it in time. Fanfic archive sites are a lot kinder to older work than Tumblr or Deviant Art. It's fairly easy to find even stories that are quite old, so it doesn't have to be spotted right away or it'll never be seen again. If it's tagged well, someone looking for fic with this character or that trope in it will still find it in a year, or two, or ten. (For a while when I put my stuff up on AO3, more people read my oldest story than my newer ones. I have no idea why.)

If you just want to see someone reads your stuff, there's always the hit count, I guess, although I suppose it can also stress people out to look at that, and you need to know how to read it. (A first chapter always has much more hits than any other chapters for example, because a good amount of readers click the title, end up on the first chapter, and then realise they already read that one and move on to the latest chapter you posted.) There were also times when I looked at my hit counts and was mad that nobody bothered to review, because clearly people were reading, but they weren't talking to me. So there's a certain amount of potential for frustration there.

One thing I just recently discovered might be a cool thing to remind yourself how many others enjoy your stuff is a bit of a long haul thing, but worth it on the long run: keep your notification emails. I did that. When I posted my first fic, every comment and fave and alert was such an unexpected treasure, and I shoved all the automatic emails you get from fanfiction sites into a folder in my email archives to keep them. Before long, I'd made a habit of it, and never questioned it. Then, earlier this year, the mailbox was nearing full. I deleted other stuff first (like ancient photos of school note sheets and stuff...), and then I thought, you can probably make a lot of room if you keep only reviews and messages instead of every "someone faved story X" email. It was a little sad, kinda, but also very nice, because by going through years of saved emails like this, I realised how many there were. I ended up marking thousands (literally!) of notification mails for deletion. I kept all the reviews and comments and actual written feedback, but faves/bookmark count can easily be seen on site if you want to. There wasn't ever a necessity to keep all of those, especially once I started running out of space. But, I think it might be a cool thing to try if you feel like you don't have a lot of people liking your stuff. Collect those faves and kudos mails. Maybe it seems like you hardly get any, but if you check in a year, you'll probably find you got more or those than you thought you would have.

Hope that's a bit helpful? Good luck, keep writing, have fun, and don't let the silence of the void get to you.

[lostinfantasies38]

Writer Asks

Thanks for tagging me @cartadwarfwithaheartofgold ! Tagging @theaiobhan @bigfan-fanfic @jacklyn-flynn @thejeeperswife @darlingrutherford @ginnyq

ao3 name: Lostinfantasies38

fandoms: Exclusively DA. Once upon a time I wrote for Harry Potter, as well, but I have deleted or lost them all over the years

number of fics: 13

fic i spent the most time on: Sun Touched - I started writing this story in Oct 2019 and posted the first chapter in December. It is not complete, because it is a novelization of DA:Origins, but it is my love child. Sirra Brosca/Alistair Theirin is my ride or die OTP and I love my feisty dwarf with all my heart.

fic i spent the least amount of time on: Careworn - a Tumblr angst prompt featuring Varric Tethras (another fave dwarf!) that I penned in a furious outpouring in an hour. Love this piece so much - it is heartbreakingly beautiful.

shortest fic: Careworn is also my shortest fic, so I’ll post my second shortest for a change of pace. Another angsty Tumblr prompt, Wait For Me, is only 811 words

most hits: Sun Touched has 495 hits! Say whaaaa?!? It blows my mind since it’s a rare pair AND an Origins storyline instead of Inquisition. Seeing how many people enjoy this story never ceases to amaze me since it is purely indulgent on my part.

most kudos: You Give Me That Lovin’ Feelin’ This is my collection of rare pairs for @scharoux 14 Days of DA Lover’s for Valentine’s.

most comment threads: You Give Me That Lovin’ Feelin’

most bookmarks: Sun Touched and Find Me Well Within Your Grace are tied 

highest total word count:  89,761 words for Sun Touched (keep in mind this story is only 1/4 complete). I expect it to hit, if not exceed, 400k by the end.

favorite fic i wrote: This is hard because I love both of my current WIPs for very different reasons!! Sun Touched and FMWWYG are my faves - hands down. 

fic i want to rewrite/expand on: I need to finish From The Ashes We Rise, but I do plan to go back and rework some of the earlier chapters. It was my first foray back into fanfiction and it’s a little stilted in places, which irritates me. It’s still good, but it's not my best and I hate that it's not a true reflection of my storytelling abilities.

share a bit of a wip or story idea you’re working on: From the next chapter of Sun Touched (since it seems to be the story everyone is most interested in): Read under the cut

Head held high, Sirra tossed back the hood of her blue-gray cape with more confidence than she felt, letting it settle around her shoulders to lead her companions into the market district.  Zevran choked slightly at the motion and Sirra glanced uncertainly at him, painfully aware that Alistair was also staring at her.

“What?”  

Her palms sweated and butterflies settled in her gut in a rush of nerves, unsure what to make of her male companion’s inability to tear their gaze from her new visage. 

“My dear, you are –” The elf blinked in a daze, breathing deeply before continuing. “Not that you are not always becoming, mi dulce, but now –” 

“It’s strange to see you without tattoos,” Alistair interjected quietly. “I know it’s you under the glamour. I can hear your voice, which is disconcerting because it’s coming from a strange woman’s mouth.”

Plump lips quirked involuntarily as she leaned toward the men gawking at her new identity. “And what does this other woman look like?”  

Alistair shook his head, cognizant that any admission of finding her attractive with an unfamiliar face was probably unwise, but Zevran had no compunction to hold his tongue.

“Radiant waves of flame, eyes to rival sapphires, and lips so perfectly formed that not having another’s pressed against them is surely a sin in the eyes of the Maker.” Zevran murmured sensually while bending over her hand, ignoring Alistair’s warning growl and Morrigan’s irritated groan, maintaining Sirra’s gaze as his lips brushed her knuckles.  

“Men would go to war for such beauty, Warden. If you hoped the glamour would hide your presence in the city, I fear it shall do the opposite.”

Alistair sighed in concession. “Zevran is right. At least, no one will suspect that you are a Grey Warden. That was the goal, but if we want to remain unnoticed, you’ll have to wear your hood.”

Sirra struggled to breathe after Zevran’s effluent praise. Sparing another glance at Alistair, she noted his flushed cheeks while replacing her hood, carefully tucking rogue strands of crimson under the linen. Rica’s stunning beauty flashed through her mind and she snorted at the irony.  

“Well, I always wanted to know what it was like to look like my sister. Guess I got my wish.”

[meryton-etc]

I saw @yeats-infection do this and I was so so so bored I decided it couldn’t hurt for me to do it too I shall tag @saumenschliesel, @combeferre, @likehandlingroses and anyone else who wants to do this, please do because it’s interesting to read!

ao3 name: InfiniteCalm

fandoms: I have written for many and then deleted them! At the minute it’s mostly Downton Abbey and Leonard Finch Grantchester. If you’d told me that this time last year I’d be so confused. I think then I was in the middle of the abandoned Merlin-realises-identity-politics-wont-save-him project. And of course Tolkein will forever have ownership rights to some of my brain real estate, though I find it difficult to write for that because the stories all seem quite complete to me.

number of fics: unlucky thirteen!

fic i spent the most time on: the hellish harry potter fic that was born out of a mental breakdown that i didn’t realise was a mental breakdown at the time. see if you can tell from the plot/prose/formatting....

fic i spent the least amount of time on: Lost in Translation just came and flowed and was finished during a time when that was particularly rare. I like it though! Nimona forever.

longest fic: Let’s not talk about TSOHS anymore!!!!!!

shortest fic: Let’s see... oh, it’s Photographs! I think I was 17 when I published that! So long ago... I still think the plot of this holds up, but obviously if I wrote it today I would change a great deal. Nimona was a really great webcomic, and I read it with two of my best friends. We were on a school trip once and had to go in search of wifi to steal in order to read the penultimate page. 

most hits: i’m not talking about the real most hits!! The most hits of my Downton stories is Then Came Hallelujah Sounding, which checks out I guess, since I published so close to Christmas, which seems to be peak fanfic reading time. 

most kudos: out of the Downton fics the most kudos is You’re Knee Deep in Clover. I guess because it has Daisy and Thomas dancing, Baxter/Molesley proposal etiquette and a nice little trauma response at the end. What more could you want from a fic? 

most comment threads: Wake Up (Like This) and How the Note Lingers are tied for this one! Personally I find fic comments are the best things ever ever ever and I love them so much, and I’m glad that people responded to these stories so well in particular. The comments on How the Note Lingers were so so cool so thanks to youse for writing them :) also here I would like to stress that Wake Up (Like This) was such a joke title, it is not serious, please don’t take it seriously!!

most bookmarks: Overriding the question again! Both my Grantchester fics have one each (you know who you are <3 ). I love these scmoop-ridden cliché overwritten monstrosities so much. Thomas/Richard, despite being only 30 years apart from Leonard/Daniel, is an awful lot heavier than the latter, so it can be nice to write something where you don’t first have to work out how they get to each other’s houses. 

total word count:  59,642???!!!! 

favorite fic i wrote: choose between my babies? Or conversely, everything I’ve ever written is complete and utter garbage!! (It’s wake up like this)

fic i’d rewrite / expand on: like. at this stage, i read things and i’m like, everyone who says to edit things is clearly right! everything published is riddled with typos and sentences that make no sense because i cut out what went before it without reading over the paragraph. So in that sense, all of them! if i still liked HP i would rewrite TSOHS becuase there were some (some!!!!!) good ideas there. 

share a bit of a WIP: under the cut! I have two “real” WIPs that i will not post because I’m superstitious so have a snippet of something i most likely will not post.

He’s a nervous little thing, though. A bit soft, though she’d never put it like that out loud. Sudden noises scare him- the news- traffic- his father. Too many adults looking at him have him shrinking shyly into her side, his hand searching for hers. He’s only four, she thinks desperately, he’s young enough to grow out of this stage yet, before we have to make him. He’s made friends with the little girl next door, and some of the older children are kind enough towards him, so at least there things are OK, and he’s not suffering the lack of siblings. His cousins are far away, and all older than him, though they do dote on him. And rightly enough, too. He’s a gangly, clumsy little thing, legs long, like saplings. He runs along after the other children. He’s trying his best.

...

One of the Flynns comes running in, followed by a grinning Leonard, interrupting their conversation with questions about their tea. Leonard comes over to her, his dirty little face flushed with fresh air and exercise, and he shows her the stuff they found on their adventure- bits of dirt, mostly, but not as bad as the time they brought a live leech home to show everyone. When they get home to start preparing their own tea, he makes her laugh by trying out some of Mrs Flynn’s idiosyncratic phrases in conversation. He’s full, these days, of malapropisms. But she looks at him gazing at the newspaper, tracing the headlines and frowning at the smaller print, and thinks that before long he’ll be using those words properly. He seems so young, to be sent away to school. But there it is. 

[creideamhgradochas]

Thanks to the lovely @youngmoneymilla for taking the time to answer these! Get to know more about lovely Eliza, go give her a follow and then show her some love!

These questions are from this list. You should check it out, there’s 50 questions all together and they’d be great to ask your favorite fic writer!

1) How old were you when you first starting writing fan-fiction?

13

2) Do you prefer writing OC’s or reader inserts? Explain your answer.

I did love writing OC’s because I have a lot of fun with physical description. However, that was when I wasn’t aware of Reader Inserts since I just recently came back into the fanfic world. Reader Inserts are great because I have to work that much harder on giving them a backstory/personality and not focus at all on physical description. Plus, everyone gets to read the work and hopefully find themselves in it. The only thing I hate is being unable to use a name. I can’t write “Y/N” bc it bugs me haha.

3) What is your favorite genre to write for?

Ummm Angst probably? I’m a huge horror fan so, I’m trying to incorporate that into more work.

4) If you had to delete one of your stories and never speak of it again, which would it be and why?

“It Would Have Made it True” just because I didn’t really connect with it that much and the ending was rushed.

5) When is your preferred time to write? 

11 am to 10 pm haha. I’m an asshole and write a lot during my job.

6) Where do you take your inspiration from? 

I have about a million fics bookmarked from over the years, literally fics from when I was in high school to now. They’re so gorgeously written and they inspire me to write. I pretty much only read non-fiction outside of fanfic so, that doesn’t really work.

7) What’s your favorite scene that you’ve written?

Bathtub/Bedroom scene in the second part of “Bungalows and Baths”

8) Have you ever amended a story due to criticisms you’ve received after posting it?

Yep. In one fic, I included a descriptive characteristic for the reader that implied she was white. It hadn’t even occurred to me but, I immediately fixed it when someone pointed it out.

9) Who is your favorite character to write for? Why? 

Tossup between Bucky and Steve. Bucky has the very obvious trauma and grief that’s interesting to write about but, Steve has a lot of buried darkness that’s subtle and extremely intriguing.

10) Who is your least favorite character to write for? Why?

Maybe Bruce? I don’t care that much for his character (despite the fact I love Hulk)

11) How do you come up with the titles for your stories? 

A lot of the time, it’s a line that’s said throughout the narrative. However, I have a word doc filled with random quotes I like and I usually throw something together. I always think up the title at the end and it’s always an afterthought. Titles blow.

12) What do you think is the best idea you’ve had for a story so far?

I am currently writing a Bucky x Reader fic (TRYING TO AT LEAST) that is going to take the team to New Orleans. It’s going to involve vampires since I wrote a novella about vampires back in high school and want to re-explore that mythology. However, there is going to be a lot of twists and it won’t be an AU, it’s just introducing the possibility of vampires in the MC universe. The reader and Bucky will both be struggling with the idea of themselves as monsters and trying to help themselves through that. It’s going to be a lot of voodoo and magic and angsty “will they, won’t they”. I’m going off on a tangent now but, that’s the gist. I have not written an actual series in a long time so, this would be my first one.

13) Do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?

There are many half-filled one- page word docs on my desktop that are rotting away as we speak. I just get bored or think of something else.

14) Are there any stories that you’ve written that you’d really love to do a sequel to?

I’d love to do more fics with the same reader from Bungalows and Baths.

15) Are there any stories that you wished you’d ended differently?

Lol I’m actually annoyed with how I ended 6 Times right now. Not sure why.

16) Tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? What is it about them that you admire?

Omg I admire so many but, here are a few.

@bitsandbobsandstuff – obviously for her “Safe with Me” piece which is fantastic, emotional and well-paced. Pacing/keeping the reader on their toes is the hardest thing for me in a series and so, I really admire her ability to do that. I also LOVED her “A Million Invisible Threads” piece because it’s such a gorgeous character study on the Winter Soldier

@a-splash-of-stucky  – She’s the Queen of Angst duh and a GORGEOUS writer. I love her stuff. A Messed Up Place left me weak.

@imhereforbvcky – Her “Mirror for the Sun” fic inspired me to start writing from Bucky’s POV actually. She’s just a beautiful writer.

@tilltheendwilliwrite – I love everything she writes. I love all the mythology she brings to her fics while still staying within the Avengers universe. Her smut is on another level, too. I find myself rereading her stuff again and again.

17) Do you have a story that you look back on and cringe when you reread it?

Here and there. There are definitely moments in a fic where I think why did I keep that. It’s usually because I ended it too quickly or just wanted it over.

18) Do you prefer listening to music when you’re writing or do you need silence? 

I love music when I write fics. It’s all movie scores. I have a spotify playlist for it.

19) Have you ever cried whilst writing a story?

I’ve cried (ish) when writing anything that has to do with alcohol/substance abuse. I’ve been in and out of AA for the past two years and have finally started recovery again. I also have depression so, writing about that can leave me raw. Writing truly always helps though.

20) Which part of your fics have been the hardest to write?

SMUT. Jesus Christ. I struggle so hard with making smut sound hot, as well as lyrical so, it can fit with the narrative. I don’t want to reuse anything I’ve used in other fics before or repeat words but, it’s SO hard (pardon the pun). I always forget what position they’re in and where the body parts need to go. It’s legitimately why I have yet to write a Stucky x Reader fic. I can’t introduce another person into my difficult SMUT journey.

21) Do you make a general outline for your stories or do you just go with the flow? 

I usually have a general idea and I’ll have a very vague outline going. I just write everything out like word vomit and go back and edit.

22) What is something you wished you’d known before you started posting fan-fiction? 

That some of the best stories I’ve read aren’t necessarily the ones with the most likes or comments. I stumble upon stuff and wonder “HOW DOES THIS NOT HAVE 2K LIKES”.

23) Do you have a story that you feel doesn’t get as much love as you’d like?

That’s tough. Maybe the stuff I wrote in the beginning where I didn’t have many followers. I loved the concept of “You Don’t Mean for it to Happen” but, sometimes I want to rewrite the whole thing. I put a lot of myself into “I Think of You All the Time” but, I feel like that got some good traction. IDK.  Bungalows and Baths got a crazy amount of love. Did not expect that but, v grateful.

24) In contrast to 23 is there a story which gets lots of love which you kinda eye roll at? 

Nope. I appreciate any love haha.

25) Are any of your characters based on real people?

Well, I think it goes without saying that every reader character has a little bit of the author in there. I think I pull from some of my friends but, not really.

26) What’s the biggest compliment you’ve gotten? 

Someone once said that their soul was marked by “Bungalows and Baths” which was amazing haha.

27) What’s the harshest criticism you’ve gotten?

I haven’t really gotten criticism other than that time I screwed up on including a feature for a white reader. I felt terrible about that.

28) Do you share your story ideas with anyone else or do you keep them close to your chest?

Not really. I don’t have people to share them with haha.

29) Do people know you write fan-fiction?

My best friend knows but, she doesn’t read fanfic. Shockingly, my mom and sister know but, I told them that they could never read them. I just share reviews with them. My mom likes to know that I’m staying creative.

30) What’s you favorite minor character you’ve written? 

Oh jeez idk if I have one. Natasha isn’t considered a minor character but, she usually plays a side character in my stories and she’s fun to write for.

31) What spurs you on during the writing process?

Once I get started, I’m usually good at keeping it going. Music helps.

32) What’s your favorite trope to write?

Probably slow burn romance or one of the lovers is injured/captured. I also am a huge sucker for love triangles because I’m greedy AF.

33) Can you remember the first fic you read? What was it about?

Lawl this might not have been the first one but, I read a Lizzie Mcguire SMUT piece when I was maybe in 6th grade and was severely chilled to the bone. I was trash even at 12.

34) If you could write only angst, fluff or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why?

Angst. I always write better when I’m emotionally distraught and tortured. Although as I get older, I realize this isn’t fabulous for my own mental health.

[destinyandcoins]

who wants to hear something horrifying about teenage syra's internet habits

just kidding I'm telling you anyway, gather round folks

so back in ye olden days of my youth before I had an ao3 account and even back when I was reading fics on lj and ffnet and such, I had no good way to save or keep track of 

fanfics I had read and wanted to bookmark because i loved them

fanfics that were incomplete and I was checking on regularly for updates

fanfics for fandoms I was not actively fixated on but knew I would circle back to, or 

just fanfics in general that my greedy little eyes had latched onto before I had finished my existing to-read list.

Now used to be that at the beginning, I would keep these open in a frankly debilitating number of tabs on my browser, but either because it got to the point that even I couldn't page through the miniscule thumbnails of unread fics or after one too many devastating losses when the computer did not save my recent tabs after crashing (likely because of the insane amount of tabs I had open in the first place on both accounts here), i had to come up with a new system. So, to combat these unacceptable losses of countless stories i thought i would never find my way back to, I developed a habit of using this nice little feature on Google Chrome called bookmark all tabs.

this is where i go off the rails

See once I started bookmarking all open tabs and starting with a fresh browser the next day, my little instant gratification brain, lacking in the concept of object permanence, started getting even more greedy and would just open a dozen more tabs of whatever the hell i wanted without ever really bothering to look back at all the lonely abandoned bookmarks waiting for my return. Not always, and to be fair these tabs were not EXCLUSIVELY fanfics. I also had really shitty internet at the time and would bookmark pages that hadn't loaded properly to reload later, or that I wanted to show to a sibling, or a picture or article or other website I optimistically thought I would return to. Or, yknow, really any neat thing that caught my eye that I wanted to squeeze more serotonin out of. My brain has been firmly fixed on "hoarder" since birth and I live in perpetual fear of losing something that turns out to be vital even though odds are strongly against me ever needing any of my internet bookmarks as a matter of life or death, but I will argue that I have gotten some use out of bookmarked recipes or other reference materials I was able to track down due to this habit of mine

You still with me?

Okay so bookmarking addiction identified. I would painstakingly save all my days' unfinished pages in a nice new folder and close down my computer, and then begin the next day from scratch. Only sometimes chrome would remember the tabs I hadnt closed, or I would have prematurely saved my tabs but then carried on surfing the internet for another couple hours and would then just add new tabs to my window and make a new bookmark folder. Except, I obviously could not be bothered to manage duplicate tabs that had been bookmarked more than once or delete the older folder--what if I mistakenly deleted a tab i didn't actually want to get rid of? Also, why waste time when I could just continue stacking folders of bookmarks inside each other like the world's most fucked up  infinite Russian nesting doll?

And sure, I must have deleted some bookmarks once I was done here and there. I probably kept several folders of my favorite stories that I didn't have an account on the hosting site to bookmark with, and I know I did clean out stories I was waiting on updates for once they completed or I gave up hope on. i do not have a bookmark for every fic i have ever intended to read, a number i can only estimate is in the thousands

However. All this to say. Today I was setting up my new laptop, and while getting ready to import my bookmarks from chrome to Mozilla since i’m giving that a shot, I figured hey maybe let's go through those old bookmarks and see what I really want to keep. I know there's a lot of them so I can definitely pare them down, I've managed to keep the tabs on my phone of stories I want to read down to a reasonable 40ish, I can probably stand to confront this old mausoleum of unread fanfics. it's surely not as bad as i remember

and it wasn’t.

It was worse.

it has been two hours. at rough, low estimate, i have now deleted 64 folders of bookmarks, containing ~650 tabs of fanfiction since i began counting. i must have deleted a dozen folders before i even thought to keep track. roughly 95% of the tabs were either individual stories, author pages, fic rec lists, or fanfiction communities/search results. yes, there were definitely duplicate bookmarks among those numbers from the messy free-for-all bookmarking frenzy the unhinged fanfic goblin in me had collected. yes, some of those bookmarks were research for school or recipes or online shopping results. however

h o w e v e r

dear readers, please. please look at these screenshots of the graveyard of abandoned bookmarks that has been weighing down my computer for the last 10 years. note the scroll bar indicating just how many many more folders there are to comb through. at best guess, i have about 75 more “new folders” to comb through, not counting any that might be nested. 

i am legitimately speechless. never in my wildest dreams had i ever considered that it was this bad. my morbid curiosity prevents me from just mass-deleting these folders without even opening them to check what’s inside. something in the back of my head tries to whisper to me that i have enough fanfiction to keep me entertained for literally the rest of my life and maybe i should see what hidden gems lie within. i found two folders stuffed entirely with favorite stories i had saved with little comments of what i loved about them or otherwise expressed my delight and part of me is tempted to revisit every single one to reminisce because i had honestly forgotten that i had bothered to save favorite stories pre-ao3. 

these fucking bookmarks are like albatross, i feel like atlas trying to hold up the weight of the world. if i ever see the goddamn words ‘new folder’ again in my life it will be too soon, and i am frankly disturbed by my 16 year old self’s tastes based on a few stories i opened out of morbid curiosity. frankly this bad habit of greedily snatching up any semi-interesting story/webpage that caught my eye and sitting on it for the rest of time without actually doing anything with them is probably the saddest and most accurate metaphor for my life to-date and explains so much about me as a person. 

y’all if you don’t hear from me again for the next couple days. well. i won’t lie and say i’ll be in a better place but if i’m really lucky i will someday manage to dig myself out from under these

[its-love-u-asshole]

about me as a writer

I was tagged by @oiivkawa <3 Thanks so much, this was super fun!

Tagging: @emeraldwaves @ivyfics @calmgeyama @ohoholyshit @yatatsukki and?? anyone else who wants to I guess lol, I feel like most ppl I know how been tagged ^^ 

I’m putting my responses under the cut as well bc I know myself lmao, my responses can be long af ^^’’

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean? bleh I have two usernames, and both stories are embarrassing LOL I’ll go with my actual ao3 name though I guess?? When I was in middle (?) school I used to watch the anime HOTD, which is like...awful first off. It’s borderline hentai, shitty fanservice, the whole thing (don’t ask me why I watched it, bc who knows, the music was A+) but my favorite character’s name was Saya, and her servants would call her ladysaya, so that’s the explanation for that ha. I put the x in front because I used to be obsessed with x men and all the marvel/dc animated series, so it felt appropriate pft. Man, even talking about this brings back so many cringe worthy memories lmao forgive me. 

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (Bookmarks/ Subscriptions/ Hits/ Kudos) for Haikyuu!! it’s definitely Slipping Underneath, and for K Project it’s There You Are <3 

3. What is your AO3 profile icon and why did you choose it? It’s Semi! The reasoning for this is because I have 3 fav Haikyuu!! characters: Tsukishima, Oikawa, and Semi. So I just try to distribute my love evenly tbh lol. I have a Tsukki icon on here and discord, Semi for AO3, and Oikawa is on my phone case ^^ 

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters? ahhh I have several but I’m not aware if many of them have tumblr?? A lot of people who comment on every chapter of my multichapters are very special to me, I love them all! Ofc on here there’s @emeraldwaves @ivyfics @momomirasaki124 @uselessvalshit @starjem and then I have my other fav supporters @serviceace @caelestisxyz and @urikawa-miyuki  <3 

5. Is there a fanfic you keep going back to read again and again? Ah damn there are so many lmfao, I have a lot of fav fics and I don’t want to make this post super long. Please check out the rec posts I’ve done here and here ! Or also message me for specific types of fics <3 I will say though, one fic I always go back to read even though it’s been YEARS is a kyoukao fic by potionwine! 

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked? I consider myself pretty picky, but I do read a LOT of fic, so I have a decent amount of both ^^ About 187 bookmarks, and 16 fic/author subscriptions! 

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most? Probably college?? even though I know that’s super broad, and all kinds of different AUs can be based in college but that’s how it is lol. I think that’s because I honestly don’t like redoing AUs?? I like experimenting and making up really weird shit and original scenarios as much as possible. Though, I’m sure you can find apparent trends across all my fics ^^ 

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? haha...I have 76 user subscriptions, 436 general fic subscriptions, and 792 bookmarks. I don’t even know how that’s real lmao I feel so blessed that so many people enjoy my writing <3 

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!) not really honestly, if I have an embarrassing or indulgent idea at this point, I just write it lmao idc but there are lots of types of fics I am scared to write just bc I don’t know if I could do them justice heh....

10. Is there anything you’d like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc. yes lmao updating better would be something I’d LOVE to improve on ; ; Also writing action scenes too fff fuck action scenes

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often? Uhhh I’ve dabbled in both but yeah, more often than not I stick to more popular pairs just because I need content to motivate me pftt

12. How many stories have you posted on AO3 to this day? 50! 

13. How many stories do you have saved in/ with your writing program? Like WIPs? ffff WIPs...maybe like 4 or 5 at this point, including multichapters, and wow that’s actually not a lot, usually I have a ton and I’m drowning in them loool

14. Do you write down story ideas or just keep them in your head? Both...I usually just keep things in my head, but if a fic starts giving me issues, I like to plot it out

15. Have you ever co- authored a story? Nope, but I’d really love to at some point with a friend! 

16. How did you discover AO3? Uh I honestly don’t remember loool I think one day I sorta just saw that no one was using ff anymore and I was like ‘aight’ 

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on AO3? Not really lmao, I mean...my siren au does pretty well, but otherwise my fics get kinda slept on -shrug- it is what it is 

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers? lol i do not

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write? Well I’ve always loved to write so no, but @brynne-lagaao is a big reason I started writing sarumi fics back when I was in K fandom! And nowadays in the hq fandom, a lot of amazing authors really push me to keep writing ^^ 

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author? don’t be afraid to write and write whatever you want basically lmao I know it can be daunting if you think your writing skills aren’t matching up with other authors, but the best thing you can do is practice, practice, and eventually you will see results! Also read a lot, reading other ppl’s stories really helps, and above all, just have fun with it! 

21. Do you plot out your stories or do you just figure it out as you go? I try to have a basic plot (beginning, middle, end) because I used to just DIVE IN to stories and it was awful lmao I need some sort of guideline, even if it’s small

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do? yes ofc, but I honestly try not to dwell on them because they’re not worth it. I either ignore or delete in most cases

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (Action, smut, etc) action and smut are never easy for me lol

24. What story(s) are you working on now? well right now I’m working on two secret santa fics for iwaoi, as well as my two kurotsuki multichapters! I am also trying to write kacchako as a x-mas present for a friend lol

25. Do you plan your new projects before you finish your current ongoing story(s)? ha yeah, it’s a bad habit but I have no self-control

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself? I do not! I just try to write at least a little bit each day if I can, but there’s never a word minimum I try to reach ^^ 

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started? oh 100% lmao comparing some of my old fics from even a year ago to my fics now is eye opening 

28. What is your favourite story that you have written? Shaking in My Skull for sarumi, it’s also the longest fic I’ve ever written and it holds a special place in my heart ; ; For kurotsuki it’s gotta be Let My Love 

29. What is your least favourite story that you have written? fuck me, Pencils and Paper LOL it was an earlier sarumi fic of mine and I just...hate it. I’m not even gonna link it LOL 

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years? Still writing fanfic most likely, maybe some original stuff (I hope!)

31. What’s the easiest part about writing? lmao nothing, writing is super hard work, sometimes even just thinking up ideas can be difficult, then there’s actually writing and making the ideas come to life, and don’t get me started on editing lmaooo writers are my heroes 

32. What is the hardest part about writing? Finding the motivation, at least for me. I struggle sometimes with it because I’ll have the time and inspiration but depression just kicks my ass every time fff

33. Why do you write? For me it’s super therapeutic, I love the satisfaction of putting hard work into an idea you love and finishing it, and the high that comes with that. Plus sharing the story with others and getting positive feedback is a feeling that can’t be beat. I’ve always loved writing, I love how the possibilities are endless, and I hope I never stop <3 

[novocaine-sea]

About Me As a Writer

Tagged by @foxyena Thank you so much!!

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean? My tumblr username obviously comes from Aizawa from BNHA. He’s one of my favorite characters and he’s voiced by one of my favorite seiyuu’s, Junichi Suwabe. My old username novocaine-sea (which is novocaine_sea on AO3) came from a song by the band Senses Fail! The lyrics go “I wanna drown in a sea filled with novocaine” I had that username from my bandom days and couldn’t part with it

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/subscriptions/hits/kudos).

Fruitless has the most of all of these things, over 200 bookmarks, 726 kudos, almost 9000 hits and 100 subs! But as for active fics Side Effects is the second best with 90 subs!

3. What is your AO3 profile icon, and why did you choose it?

My AO3 icon is a sleeping Bakugou cap from the anime bc he looks like such an angel I love him so much

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters?

Yes!! My fav commenters are @vairenna, @emotabek and @mirikiri93 but i also love every single person who comments on my stories anyway because they’re all so lovely and supportive and I cherish every single one of them

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again?

Right now I’ve been going back and reading Feathers Are the Least of These by mousapelli (I’m unsure if they have a tumblr account). It’s a Tokoyami x Deku fic and it’s really wonderful I love it a lot.

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked?

I have 830 bookmarks (it’s a mess I had more but went through and deleted a bunch one day, I need to do it again) and I don’t know how to see the exact number of works I’m subscribed to but there are 5 pages worth, though half of them are most likely completed

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most?

Well I tend to keep coming back to serial killer AUs, are AUs that are particularly blody. I think I have at least one planned for each fandom I’m in, and have already accomplished that with Haikyuu. Though I do wanna write more. 

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (you can view this on the stats page)

I have 145 user subscriptions and 1655 bookmarked

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!)

I have a, uh, cannibal fic planned? Which I feel like a lot of people wouldn’t be cool with so I’m gonna keep it to myself for now lmao

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc.

Fluff mostly. I’m not very good at it and i feel like compared to my angst and smut even it comes out really lackluster

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often?

I really love rarepairs, my favorite pairs are SemiSuga and MatsuAka, but lately I’ve found myself writing IwaOi which is strange bc they’re not even one of my main ships. But I love both rarepairs and popular ships equally!

12. How many stories have you posted on AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)?

Okay so my AO3 says 56 but I’ve deleted at least 5 or 6 from it so it’s more in the 60s.

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program?

Oh god I don’t even want to count but I have at least 5 WIPs for Haikyuu, BNHA, and YOI respectively

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head?

I do the bad thing of keeping some of them in my head but I really try to write down a lot of them.

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?

I have not! But I was planning to cowrite something with my friend Erin! I think it would be fun to cowrite with somebody :)

16. How did you discover AO3?

My best friend Faith made me read this one Teen Wolf fic called “DILF” and I’ve been on AO3 ever since!

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on AO3?

Oh no not at all

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers?

Do fandom authors do that?

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?

A lot but I would credit @thewiselearnfromhistory as my biggest inspiration. Idk where she disappeared off to but she’s a wonderful friend and an amazing writing (she’s ConesofDunshire on AO3)

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?

Write what you want to see. Don’t try and copy other writer’s style; develop your own while reading their works. It’s okay to be inspired by other people’s writing. 

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go?

I’ve done both! I had a really intense outlie for Fruitless but it ended in a way that was not plan. Half of what happened in the fic was not planned until I actually wrote the completed chater. I really thik it’s fun to let the fic take you where it wants to go. Currently I’ve planned out all the chapters of Side Effects but they’ll probably end up being scrapped, at least half of it.

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?

Yes! I have been told that my grammar is awful and the story would have been more readable and enjoyable if I had a “better grasp on my grammar.” I’ve been told that the way I write certain characters is extremely OOC. I’ve been told that characters would never do that because they’re monsters and not kind souls. But the amount of positive comments I’ve gotten outweighs the bad ones tenfold

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc..)

I’m really bad with action scenes but I’ve been writing BNHA which is an action packed series so I’ve been trying to use that as my “training” I guess

24. What story(s) are you working on now?

My biggest priority right now is Side Effects as that is my main work on AO3 right now. But I will return to Untucking and the TodoMomo fic eventually. I am also working on some Kacchako secret Santa stuff!

25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)?

Lmao yes it’s an ISSUE

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself?

No but my only goal right now is to finish Side Effects chapter 23 because it’s been giving me issues so that’s my goal every day right now

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started?

Oh my fucking god yes. I read the UshiOi smut that I have posted on AO3 and I cringe SO HARD. My friend told me that,that was their favorite fic of mine (or one of them at least) and I was like why... please....

28. What is your favorite story that you’ve written?

I would say Fruitless, but I also really love Golden. IT evoked a lot of emotion from me and I really love that piece of writing. But also Side Effects. And Wisteria. I can’t pick a favorite

29. What is your least favorite story that you’ve written?

Ahhhh the UshiOi story aforementioned. And anything I’ve deleted from AO3

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?

I hope to still be writing for fandom because I do enjoy it, but I also hope to be writing my own original work and maybe have a short story or two published? I think it would be nice to get into a fandom zine too!

31. What is the easiest thing about writing?

I think putting intense emotions into the characters and everything around them is my strong suit. I love breaking characters down and getting to the root of their problems

32. What is the hardest thing about writing?

Keeping things happy! I always return right back to the angst and I need to fucking relax with it it’s bad

33. Why do you write?

I write for myself, to get my ideas out there, and hopefully write something that other people love and enjoy fully. I write to make friends and to meet people who will inspire me and who I can inspire too. I love the way writing and art in general in fandom connects people. It’s really special :)

Tagging: @hamletsprozac @tenacioustooru @caelestisxyz @tootsonnewts @meimagino @seekingsquake and anybody else who wants to do it! don’t feel pressured

[bughead-fic-request]

I would like to thank @leaalda for making these amazing banners.

This is an effort to spread the word about all fan fiction writers in our little fandom. If you would like to be featured or nominate a writer, please contact me. Please reblog this post if you can and check out some of @allskynostars work!

1. First things first, if someone wanted to read your stories where can they find them.

The can find them on my tumblr;  https://allskynostars.tumblr.com/tagged/allskynostars-fics  or on AO3;  http://archiveofourown.org/users/allskynostars/pseuds/allskynostars/works

2. Tell us a little about yourself.

My name is Jenna, I am 23 (24 in a couple of weeks!). I have 3 brothers.. It's been a struggle haha. I was born in London, my parents and I moved to New Zealand when I was 6 months old. And just two months ago I moved back to London with my boyfriend. I've written a few fics, and have just finished my first multi chapter Ever Since New York. I am currently unemployed, but looking for Pharmacy work as that's what I did at home and would like to continue.

3. What do you never leave home without? 

My phone! And keys.

4. Are you an early bird or a night owl?

Night owl, 100000%. I suck at mornings.

5. If you could live in any fictional world which one would you choose and why?

Maaan, probably Middle Earth. Like I would kill to be an elf and shack up with Legolas. Or Thranduil, keep it in the family yunno. Or the Harry Potter universe because magic? Yes.

6. Who is the most famous person you’ve ever met.

I've 'met' a whole heap, like I've paid at cons and things to meet Aidan Turner, Dean O'Gorman, Andrew Scott, Karen Gillan. I went to the Age of Ultron prem when I was in London last time and got photos/signatures with Mark Ruffalo (ultimate fav), Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Aaron Taylor Johnson. I got Robert Downey Jrs autograph but no photo. But just by chance without planning too I met Jenna Coleman. We were visiting my family in Wales and just so happened to drive past during filming. Didn't quite get to meet Peter Capaldi though. And then I was in London last time, me and my best friend walked into Jamie Campbell Bower in the street. The story Is actually so cool but I feel like this answer is long enough hahah.

7. What are some of your favorite movies/TV?

Movies: Eternal Sunshine, Only Lovers Left Alive, Big Daddy (my go to movie when I'm sad, I love Adam Sandler). I always struggle to answer this because after I think of one I should have mentioned! Shutter Island. 

TV Shows: There are far too many but right now Riverdale, obviously. And I just smashed through Brooklyn 99. The OC, Game of Thrones, Doctor Who, SOA, Friends, Being Human, the list goes on...

8. What are some of your favorite bands/musicians?

SO my first favourite and was Panic! At The Disco. Then My Chemical Romance took over my life. Now I'm into The 1975, Arctic Monkeys, Bastille, Hozier, Tom Odell, James Bay, Ed Sheeran. Thanks to my Dad I love Alanis Morrissette and Radiohead. Thanks to my Mum I have a soft spot for Robbie Williams. My music taste is diverse so I listen to a lot of rap. I'll defend Kanye West to my dying breath, I really like Post Malone at the moment too. It chops and changes so so much. Also I've seen One Direction 4 times so judge as you will, ahaha.

9. Favorite Books?

Pretty generic, really. Harry Potter series, LOTR, The Mortal Instruments series and all that go with it. Fault In Our Stars, All The Bright Places, Lovely Bones.

10. Favorite Food?

I love Mexican food.

11. Biggest pet peeve?

Sidewalk Hoggers who walk SO SLOW.

12. What did you want to be when you were little? What do you want to be now?

I always wanted to sing or act, but seeing as I can do neither.. I always wanted to work in the entertainment industry and sometimes still do, like behind the scenes. Maybe in Media. But for now I love working in Pharmacy and want to train to become a Pharmacy Tech.

13. What are your biggest fears? Do you have any strange fears?

I don't have many fears, I have no issue with the dark or heights or anything like that. I HATE bugs, like any kind of insect or creepy crawly, just no. Sometimes even butterflies irk me.

And as far as strange fears, everyone always looks at me weird when I say this, I have a fear of whales.. Like I don't like the ocean or fish, sharks etc, but I can handle it. But whales? No. I get goosebumps and feel like my throat closes up when I look at them. I think it's to do with their sheer size and power. I don't even know why but I just, I can't.

14. When you are on your deathbed what would be the one you’d regret not doing? 

Seeing the world.

Okay... lets talk about your writing!

15. Which is your favorite of the fics you've written for the Bughead fandom?

Probably Who She Was, How She Loved. It was only a one shot, and it hurt like hell to write, but it seemed to get a reaction from everyone who read it and that's what we write for, right? I don't even know where I pulled that fic from, but I really love it. It feels real.

16. Which was the hardest to write, in terms of plot?

Ever Since New York, just to keep it going. I didn't want to drag it out too much, but it needed a fair amount of content. So I struggled at the end there.

17. How do you come up with the ideas for you fic(s)? Do you people watch? Listen to music? Get inspired by TV/movies?

A lot of it definitely comes from music. Like, if the lyrics to a song resonate with me I always think of a story to go with it. Always, even if I have no intention of writing it. I also pull inspiration from certain movies and things, but it is definitely music at the forefront.

18. Idea that you always wanted to write but could never make work?

I really love the idea of room mate fics, I haven't actually tried though. Maybe I could do it.

19. Least favorite plot point/chapter/moment you’ve written?

I only posted the last chapter of ESNY the other day, and the response has been good, but I'm still not happy with it. I couldn't even read it over. I don't really know what my problem is, I guess I just felt it was very anti-climatic.

20. Favorite plot point/chapter/moment you’ve written?

In my fic And Then? There's a scene where Betty & Jug are in the ocean yelling, and I really loved that moment.

21.Favorite character to write? 

Jughead. Always. He has layers...  

22. Favorite line or lines of dialogue that you've written?

Dark. Brown. Not round, more sleek. The complete opposite of the girl who's face was flashing through Jughead’s mind at this very moment. Which he knew, of course he did. That's why he had picked her. With her dark head of hair, and her dark eyes, he would never have to be reminded of the one he was missing.

Except for the fact that he saw Betty Cooper in everything. And everyone.

23. Best comment/review you’ve ever received?

Every comment someone goes out of their way to write about something I've spent time on is amazing. I think it always makes me smile though when they say they can see it all happening as they read. And you know, making them cry when they say fanfic never makes them cry.

24. How do you handle bad reviews or comments?

I haven't been 'lucky' enough to have to deal with this, yet. But I think I would just ignore and delete the comment. Who needs that negativity.

25. If you could change anything in any of your stories, what would it be?

I think I would have included more characters in Ever Since New York, like Archie etc.

26. What is your favorite story you’ve ever written? Any fandom?

I've only ever written for the Bughead fandom, but my favourite is Who She Was purely for the emotions. I'm a sucker for emotions.

27. What are you reading right now? Both fan fiction and general fiction?

I have 51 bookmarks on AO3. So I am reading basically everything right now haha. But in terms of general fiction, I haven't read anything in a while and I need too.

28. Do you have an advice for writers that want to get into this fandom but might be scared? 

As typical as it sounds, just do it. I was so nervous, but this fandom is hands down the best. Everyone is so, so welcoming, and if there are so many people to reach out too if you’re ever feeling unsure about your own work or anything. Just take the dive guys, it's a fun ride.  

[chuuyazai]

Tagged by: @shitabukenjirou Thanks love!! These were super interesting!!!

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean? 

Well, I was really into the bungou stray dogs fandom when I changed my username to chuuyazai and it’s basically just Chuuya and Dazai combines (not their ship name unfortunately) and I’m an uncreative piece of shit so I use this as my AO3 account too. And my writing blog I wanted to make bnha related so i just did bnheadcanons-scenarios. It was originally kaminari-damnki cuz why not then I changed it to what it is now.

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/subscriptions/hits/kudos)

Swim with Me probably because it’s my longest fic plus mermaids

3. What is your AO3 profile icon and why did you choose it?

It is a picture of Uno from Nanbaka because I love him

4. Do you have any regular/favorite commenters?

Yeah, actually! If you comment on my stuff there is a 99% chance I’ll recognize you in my other works and stuff. But no matter if you’re a regular or a one-time guy, I love you anyway.

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again?

I never really reread my own stuff becuase cringe and there aren’t really many others I reread because I don’t have time anymore.

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked?

I don’t have any bookmarked but I do have 7 that I’m subscribed to. I subscribe more to authors than fics though.

7. Which AU do you kind yourself writing the most?

I don’t know...I write a lot of fantasy AU’s a lot or Soulmate AU’s or Coffee Shop AU’s....I have a wide variety lol

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (you can view this on the stats page)

User Subscriptions: 23

Overall Subscriptions: 133

Bookmarks: 266

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it?

Shrug. Not much I can think of right now...

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, etc.

Updating. Definitely.

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often?

Popular ships simply because most of the time I love them more than rarepairs, but I do write rarepairs frequently too.

12. How many stories have you posted on AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)?

18.

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program?

A lot. I have 1 wip for my writing blog, 2 wips for my friend, and at least 5 wips that I have saved to work on and finish at some point to post to AO3.

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head?

 i aggressively write them down on a new document whenever I think of one.

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?

Kinda? Never was published and it was more like I was just the editor.

16. How did you discover AO3?

Long, long ago when I discovered fanfiction, I scowered the web for a good site and it was either AO3 or fanfiction.net and I liked AO3 better because it was easier to navigate.

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom (s) on AO3?

Fuck no.

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers?

Not really? I call everyone “babe” or “love” but no special nicknames. I’m not popular enough for that.

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?

Of course. Everyone who writes fanfiction is an inspiration to me.

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?

Write for yourself at first. It’ll make things so much easier. Write whatever you want to write and don’t get frustrated if it doesn’t turn out perfect the first time around. Your first fanfiction won’t be the best but don’t let that discourage you. Keep pushing forward!

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go?

Kinda both? I have a clear start and end game but the middle isn’t plotted out. Hell, sometimes the end changes too depending where the flow of the story takes me.

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?

Again, kinda? Like, they were more of constructive criticisms than bad comments and I took them in stride to fix my writings. One was on my very first fic I ever published (i recently deleted it actually) and it said I had to work on my dialogue, one was telling me to work on reducing the amount of epithets I use, which I know I need to work on, and one was to stop using so many curse words (but I was writing Bakugou so cursing is very expected with his character that one I just kind of ignored)

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc...)

Smut probably is my worst area, simply because I’m a science nerd so I want to call everything by it’s proper name but it sounds awkward.

24. What story(s) are you currently working on now?

Current;y, I have a request I’m finishing up and I’m also trying to finish a chapter of a new AU i want to post eventually. 

25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)?

I don’t really plan anything? If i have an idea, I write it down and get to it when I feel the motivation.

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself?

I try to get at least one request done per day but I’ve been falling behind unfortunately. 

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started?

Fuck Yeah

28. What’s your favorite story that you’ve written?

Swim with Me

29. What’s your least favorite story you’ve written?

Smells like Home. I don’t know why but it just didn’t feel right to me when I wrote it but I said “fuck it” and posted it anyway.

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?

No clue.

31. What’s the easiest thing about writing?

The ideas.

32. What’s the hardest thing about writing?

The motivation.

33. Why do you write?

Because I like it. Simple as that. I don’t really write to make other people happy, though it is an added bonus and I enjoy it when I do make people happy, but I write because it’s something I want to do.

Tagging @kakuseis and @eien-misui-ni-goodbye and whoever else is a writer (i’m blanking my dudes sorry)

[not-poignant]

could you please answer 23, 25, 31, 32? thanks!!! :)

23. Name a fic you’ve written that you’re especially fond of & explain why you like it.

From the Darkness We Rise and Into Shadows We Fall. Given I had never written anything like it, I still can’t believe I wrote that story with no plan, no idea of how it would end, no idea what the OCs would become, and with no experience of action/adventure of as a genre. It was also my first experience writing more obvious BDSM. Before that I’d written mild power play, but that was it. I have no idea how I pulled it off. I thought I’d delete it after the first chapter because I was afraid people would hate me for how it opened. It was only meant to be around 7 or 8 chapters long and I can’t even remember why. And sometimes I look back just...amazed at the whirlwind that was the entire SAL series.

25. What’s your most popular fanfic? 

By kudos, The Golden Age that Never Was. It’s the only fic I’ve ever written to crack 2000 kudos. (5th most popular fic in the fandom).

By ‘was number one in the fandom for a while’ - the Shadows and Light stories. Not anymore lol.

By ‘was the number one original fic on AO3 for a while’ - then Game Theory. It’s not anymore. Actually my Fae Tales writing is not super popular compared to fanfiction, which makes sense, AO3 is for fanfic.

By public bookmarks, amazingly, Stuck on the Puzzle, which has the best kudos-to-hit and bookmark-to-kudos ratio of anything I’ve ever written. It’s currently in the top 20 of 25,000+ Dragon Age Inquisition fics for bookmarks (at like 445), and it’s a rarepair. Not bad.

(If you ever get the impression that I sometimes validate myself via looking at my metrics... *hides*)

31. What’s the nicest thing someone has ever said about your writing?

I honestly have lost count of the ‘nicest things’ I’ve heard. The things that stay with me the most though, are the people who tell me my writing changed their lives in some way - helped them realise it’s okay to reach out to friends sometimes and be more honest about what’s going on with them (SAL especially, did this). Helped them realise maybe they had more issues with past trauma than they knew, and they were going to look for more support and felt validated. And people who are inspired to write because of reading my writing. No matter what they write. Idk. It’s incredibly humbling and energising to realise something you’ve done could influence anyone, let alone influence them like this.

Honestly, it’s all... it’s very hard to convey, but there has been no one nicest thing. I can’t pick a favourite. There has been no favourite.

Oh it’s amazing when people say ‘thank you for writing about X thing, it feels realistic / like what I’ve gone through and I don’t get to see that much.’

Tbh even people I know saying: ‘it was better than I thought it would be’ is pretty amazing. :D

32. Do you listen to music when you write or does music inspire you? If so, which band or genre of music does it for you? 

I feel like it’s time to bring out my masterlist of writing playlists to give you an idea of the hundreds/thousands of songs I listen to while writing. :D

Radical Face really inspired a lot of the Elliott/Alex story. And I usually like music that won’t drag me out of the ‘zone’ while writing so even though I actually listen to a fair amount of rock and emo (ha), it’s often not on my playlists.

But yeah, like, so many character / story playlists. Unless I want to write in silence (which does happen), I usually just put the right playlist on for the character or story. Though I’ll often put on my upbeat or rock playlists for action scenes to make sure I keep up with the pacing as much as possible.

From this fanfiction meme!

[kupoxv]

Feedback is important.

So I decided to delete one of my fanfics and a comment I’ve got about my decision made me frustrated. I won’t say angry because I’m not, but... I’m pissed.

There’s this one fanfic (on ao3) that I stopped updating a while ago because I got so little feedback (a total of 5 comments for 2 chapters), which was a little depressing. After a while, I totally lost my motivation and it never came back.

Yesterday, I made an announcement to say I will delete it.

And here it came, this comment from someone telling me that they’re sad that I’m not continuing this story, that they’ve been waiting for me to update it and that people’s opinion shouldn’t matter if I love my story.

First of all, I want to say to that person that I’m thankful they read my work and for their comment (I posted this announcement with the first chapter of my most recent fic), and that I’m not mad at them at all. But here is the thing, and this is not only for this person in particular, but for all the people who saw a fanfic they liked being deleted but never bothered to leave any feedback before:

If you liked this story, then why didn’t you leave a comment on it? Bookmarked it so I can see you liked it, wanted to recommend it to people visiting your profile? I haven’t updated it for 3 months, why didn’t you leave a comment to tell me you were waiting for an update? Knowing that someone actually liked my story and wanted more would’ve given me that kick I needed to finish it.

But you post a comment only now that it’s too late.

The second thing is ‘people’s opinion shouldn’t matter if I love my story’, I guess you meant people giving me feedback. Well let me tell you how I feel when I post a chapter and no one shows any interest in it.

Try telling a tale of yours to a wall for a solid 10 hours (the average amount of time it takes for me to write a chapter with a few breaks in between), and tell me how you feel after that. Because this is exactly how I feel.

If I just liked my stories, I wouldn’t bother writing and would rather keep them for myself, in my mind. I started writing fanfics because I want to share my stories but also contribute to the FFXV fandom, to make people happy, (and sad... and upset sometimes too lol).

So when I post something and get absolutely no feedback, I can't tell if I made someone happy, if someone enjoyed what they read, smiled or cried, or upset. I can't tell if I make people feel anything about this story.

Worst ! I'll put myself down. I even end up being embarassed by my own work, thinking that it must be really shitty and there must be something wrong with me (either my writing is terrible or my idea) for nobody to comment about it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not asking you to kiss my ass for every chapter I post (although I am so so thank ful for those people who regularly comment everytime I update. You guys keep me going, seriously. I love you.). You can just slam your head on your keyboard as a comment and post it. But you have to understand writers, just like artists, NEED FEEDBACK. Not only to be willing to continue and share more, but to improve through your comments and criticism.

You can’t tell someone to just keep on giving so much of their time (for drawing, writing, editing videos etc) and ignore this feeling than no one cares about what they’re sharing, while yourself keeping quiet and enjoying what they do.

When someone cooks something delicious for you, you’ll tell them how much you like it, so they’ll cook it again. This is the same.

I don’t make any money, any benefits of this time I’m spending to write my stories. The only thing I earn is the thought that people like/love what I write and are asking for more, it makes me happy!

Anyway, I’m sorry for this long post, but I had to let it out. Not just for me, but for all the people in my situation.

[feoplepeel]

Give AO3 a Chance

Back in January, Odylism put out this call to fanfic writers in the community she writes for (the Campaign Podcast--go check it out guys). The TLDR message was: Please archive on AO3.  Tumblr is ephemeral. AO3 is a bit more permanent. The rest of her message is below:

What is AO3?

AO3 is the Archive of Our Own. It is the big pan-fandom fan controlled fan fiction archive. Essentially, anyone can go and post fanfic there for others to read and enjoy. It is controlled by a non-profit, the Organization for Transformative Works.

Why are you begging me?

Because I love fandom and fic. Anyone who’s been in fandom a while can tell you of the great amounts of fic that have been lost over the years. Fanfic archives have evaporated. LJ has blacked out content they didn’t like. Geocities came tumbling down. Tumblr is what we’re on now, but anyone who’s tried to go back and search for something six months later can tell you that tumblr is hard to pin down. If you don’t have something bookmarked, it can be impossible to find again. Even if you did bookmark it, you have to pray that person didn’t change their URL.

AO3 was established with the purpose of having a central repository for fanfic that’s stable. It’s been the major repository of fanfic for a while now.

Why should I archive? It’s just dumb/less than 100 words/totally silly/terribly written.

Fanfic is important. Your fanfic is important. I couldn’t begin to describe all of the silly junk I’ve written or read over the years. Not everything has to be perfect serious canon longfic. Each fic, from epic to drabble, paints a picture of the fandom at the time when it was written. AO3 helps us capture that history. I want to be able to go back and read fic (both the serious stuff and the silly AUs) long after Tumblr has gone the way of the dodos. AO3 also has the benefit of being searchable. If I’m in the mood for a certain story, I can go on AO3 and search for exactly that.

What do I need to do to archive on AO3?

For those who want serious instructions, AO3 has an official FAQ that’s helpful.

First, you need to register for an account. If you’re a chameleon person who changes their handle with every new moon, that’s okay. You can add additional pseudonyms after you register. You can go here to register. It does require an invitation code, but they send those out fairly quickly. If you’re not willing to wait, you can usually find someone on here who has one laying around.

Next, you need to post your fic on AO3. When posting a story to AO3, you have to pick a title and tags. Some tags are obvious (characters, relationships, warnings). If one of those tags is missing from the archive, you can add it. The additional tags can take some nuance, but are great for indicating tropes or trigger warnings. AO3 allows users to format their stories using HTML or a rich text editor. I’m an old and always just put together my HTML myself, so I can’t speak to how good/bad the rich text editor is. Once you’ve formatted, you will be shown a preview of the story before you post so you can check everything one last time.

Last, you wait. People can give feedback on AO3 in two ways: kudos and comments. Kudos are a little button people can press at the end of a chapter or story to signal that they enjoyed the work. Comments are when people leave actual written comments on your story. AO3 doesn’t have a great comment culture, but it isn’t any worse than tumblr.

I don’t write fan fiction, but I want to comment/leave kudos/bookmark stories.

Great! You can comment and leave kudos without an account, but I really recommend getting one. Some users don’t allow anon comments or restrict their stories to only logged in users. Bookmarking is only available to registered users.

This is a lot.

I’m sorry about that. Obviously, I have a lot of feelings about fic and the preservation of fandom. Being on AO3 is a great way to preserve fic and make it searchable.

If you have questions or need help, please let me know. I’m happy to walk anyone through the process. You can contact me through tumblr or on twitter.

I’ve been seeing a lot of small fics for Stranger Things not being crossposted to AO3 and I don’t know if that’s for lack of an account or disinterest in posting. I appreciate all the amazing fic that I’ve had the privilege to read on Tumblr, but Tumblr doesn’t allow for bookmarking, save my personal bookmarks (and I know I’m not the only person who has experienced the sinking feeling of clicking on a blog after someone’s changed their url or deleted their blog). In an addition to the original post, “Tumblr is a good way to meet friends and spread the word about new things, but a terrible terrible way to post and archive fanfic. Who knows if tumblr will even be here in a few years, being sold to new companies and subject to new corporate mandates.”

Thanks for reading. Again, feel free to ask me anything <3

[fanfictionlive]

Finished my fanfic! Some retrospective thoughts

So it’s celebrating time over at my place. As of this morning, I have officially finished posting up my Loki time-travel fic. All up it’s 45 chapters comprising of 141,889 words, written over the course of eleven months. Currently, the stats come out to:

Archive of Our Own

Above All Shadows: 33,490 hits, 1,806 kudos, 535 comment threads, 530 bookmarks

Deleted Scenes: 1119 hits, 35 kudos, 1 comment thread, 5 bookmarks

Fanfiction.net

Above All Shadows: 115,214 views, 360 favourites, 320 reviews

Deleted Scenes: 455 views, 5 favourites, 2 reviews

Wattpad

Above All Shadows: 2.2k reads, 359 stars, 891 comments

This is the longest piece of fiction I’ve ever completed and now that it’s all out there in the world, I’ve had a chance to reflect on what worked and what didn’t. Some random thoughts, in case they are helpful to anyone here:

Writing long-form fiction

I went into the story without knowing most of the key plot points or how Loki (as the main character) would get to the ending, but I had a definite end in mind – “he went back to kill Thanos, this story must conclude when he kills Thanos”. For me, this was crucial in getting me to stay on track and not get distracted by side-quests and minor characters.

I outline on the biggest piece of paper I can get my hand on. First up, I mindmap every plot point I know will happen in a story arc. Then, I put them on a timeline and figure out what events need to happen to link all these plot points together. Once that’s filled out, I break down the events into chapters and scenes.

Stick with what works for you. For this story, I ended up settling on writing and revising about a chapter a week. When I tried to rush through the fic as part of NaNoWriMo, I nearly had a breakdown. If I had stopped updating during that time, it might have been ok, but I didn’t and I ended up very stressed because I was producing terrible first drafts every night while not having the time to polish the chapters I was due to publish. In the end, I abandoned NaNoWriMo and scrapped pretty much everything I wrote for it.

Reaching and Engaging Readers

A regular update schedule is a must. Any time I missed a week, reader engagement would be down when I came back and would take a couple of weeks to bump back up.

The update day doesn’t seem to make a difference. I initially tried to fit in with the days the common fanfic wisdom says are most popular with readers, but it was too chaotic on my real life, so I settled on Wednesdays – the day that worked for me. No one ever commented it and the pattern of views/hits didn’t change.

Reply to your reviews and comments. People are more likely to keep leaving their thoughts if they know the writer reads them.

Be prepared for people seeing very different things in your writing. I have been complimented on how close my story-line stuck to the original canon and on how far it diverged from the canon. One reader liked the character development, another thought that same character didn’t really grow at all. Some readers found influences from the comics in my story, which is somewhat awkward, because I have never picked up a Marvel comic in my life.

Wattpad

I feel like my Wattpad stats need to come with a list of caveats. I started posting on Wattpad six months after posting it elsewhere and at a time when Wattpad started having major issues with the way stories were ranked on the site, making it even more difficult to new work to be found by prospective readers.

That said, the stats are vastly inflated as well. As far as I can tell, I ended up with three consistent readers on Wattpad. The rest came from feedback from members of a book club I joined and me opening pages to do minor edits or answer comments. Yeah, every time an author opens a page, Wattpad counts that as read.

I went in with low expectations for Wattpad, but was irritated nevertheless. If you want your story to be read, you are going to have to spend vast amounts of time promoting on twitter, on the forums, joining book clubs, entering contests, doing reads for reads and stalking readers on other stories so you can message them inviting them to reads your story. I’m not saying writers shouldn’t post on Wattpad, because you can get a lot out of the platform. But you have to be prepared to play the game.

submitted by /u/hellxxfire [link] [comments] from FanFiction: Where Magical Ponies battle Imperial Titans http://bit.ly/2XxwqEo

[fruitbatmans]

psa to all lovely fic writers

tonight i cracked open my old creaky laptop from 4+ years ago for the first time in forever. when i say this thing has been round the block, i mean it. this poor monolith has been through all the viruses my dumbass preteen self could download; it’s seen the worst of anime and manga; it’s seen two girls one cup, okay? im not proud.

so, in a fit of nostalgia, i turn it on, and start browsing my old teenage bookmarks on chrome. they’re embarrassing, they’re cringeworthy, they’re awful. the amount of youtube amv’s alone are shocking. im honestly so delighted to see all this dumb stuff because memories are just flooding back. im remembering all the things mini-me was so passionate about and enjoyed so much. im having the time of my life, right.

then i get to the fics i bookmarked, and boy were there a lot. i was a straight up connoisseur, a collector, a fanfiction fanatic. im overjoyed, losing my mind going through all these old fullmetal alchemist x harry potter crossovers, and bleach oc self inserts, its a gold mine. half of them are unfinished, kia, or abandoned, but that’s not the point. they’re still there! after all this time, the things i adored are still online for me to revisit? for new generations to enjoy like i did?? wow.

there was this one author, and there honestly aren’t words to explain how much i loved them. they wrote my favorite ship so honestly and beautifully it blew little-me’s brain. they’re actually what made me move on to other types of fic, and start being more choosy about what i read, but i always came back to their stories.

all in all, this author wrote several fma fics. i remember each and every one vividly; the synopsis, the plots, certain lines. i see their fics bookmarked on my old laptop and i get so excited, right, because i thought i’d lost them when i moved to my new computer. i click on the links, and it takes me to an error page, and my stomach just sinks.

i check every bookmark i have. i google the titles of their fics in different combinations over and over, but nothing. they’re just gone. im gutted. i feel like the missed connections page on craigslist. this author and i are but ships in the night. every single one of their fics that i loved so much have been erased, and so has their account. this person that made me level up in terms of literary appreciation has houdini’d off fanfiction.com. it’s the worst. and it’s not just that i’d like to read those old fics; i’d also love to know what the author has moved on to. id love to see their new stuff, new fandoms, maybe they’ve started original work, maybe they got published even! i’d read all of it if i could, but i can’t. it sucks.

so this is officially me, begging on my knees, to fic writers out there. no matter how awful you think your old fic is, no matter how cringey or embarrassing, please don’t delete them. songfics or crossovers, ooc characters, mary-sues--they’re all awesome! please don’t delete them! i understand that in the end it’s up to you because they’re your creative property, and you put your time and skills into them, so it’s your decision to delete. some people delete fics because publishing houses tell them to, some people don’t want their emails attached to that account anymore, i get it, i do, but there are ways around those problems.

im not trying to tell you what to do, and don’t feel guilty for hitting that delete button in the end, because you have nothing to apologize for. im just asking, on my own behalf, because as dumb as this sounds, somewhere out there there will be someone who remembers your fics with ridiculous fondness and nostalgia; someone who read them over and over again when they were 12, 14, 16, and would have loved to do so again at 20. 

somewhere out there, there’ll be some fandom newbie just discovering fanfics, who happens to click on your old oneshot first. there will be a teenager, sending a link of your 40-chapter narusasu hs au to a friend and keyboard mashing in the group chat. and that’s the awesome circle of fic-life, embrace it. 

tl;dr your audience loves you, at every stage of your writing journey. thanks for sharing it with us!!