themoonplantwrites

[themoonplantwrites]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[themoonplantwrites]

Proposal for new fandom etiquette:

If you read a fic because it was linked/recced somewhere, you leave a comment saying "came from XXX" and that comment doesn't need to include anything else.

Because when all of a sudden there's a lot of activity on one particular fic I WANNA KNOW WHY!!!!!

[themoonplantwrites]

hey uh new type of ao3 spam comment just dropped. (I know it's spam because the fic they left this comment on . doesn't have chapters. lmfao). Report this kinda comment as spam and don't take it personally it is literally recycled bullshit

[themoonplantwrites]

I only hate certain types of fic the same way I hate mosquitos and ticks. Like get these nasty little buggers away from me but also I respect their place in the ecosystem.

[themoonplantwrites]

fanfic writing culture isn’t “oh dang! I wanted to write about this prompt with this character but someone else already wrote it, so now I can’t”.

fanfic writing culture is always “two cakes is better than one. the more the merrier. there can ever be enough fics of this character with this prompt!”

[themoonplantwrites]

”I have this artistic idea but not the skills to achieve it to the standard I want.”

congrats! Now you have a motif! A recurring theme! A focus for your art! Something to haunt you!

Seventeen still lives of dandelions? Three hundred poems about grief? A sketchbook dedicated to your grandmother’s house? Two books trying to unravel the complexities of familial relationships?

Don’t let the fear of it not being perfect on the first try stop you from being Weird About It!

[themoonplantwrites]

i’m going to hold your hands when i say this and i am only going to be kind about it once: ai does not belong in fandom spaces, ever. not in writing, not in art, not in video, not at all. it does not matter how bad you want to see your favourite characters kiss, or how much you need a bit of help finishing a chapter, or whatever.

make friends with artists. commission somebody. learn to draw yourself. ask for a beta read. try a writing partnership. fandom spaces are communities, so engage with them! it is about the journey and the fact that we all love something enough to create and build together about that thing.

spending 30 seconds to kill a tree and get an AI to push out some soulless empty piece of “content” is antithetical to the entire point of being engaged with fandom, and if you’ve taken to doing this you should really reconsider if you belong in these spaces with the rest of us.

[themoonplantwrites]

don't judge a fic by its stats

[themoonplantwrites]

that's... not how it works. you can't guarantee that your work definitely won't squick anyone. what do you think you're saying?

[themoonplantwrites]

couldn’t have said it better myself.

[themoonplantwrites]

This.

[themoonplantwrites]

a collection of motivational insights regarding content creation and creative hobbies

and of course the classic

[themoonplantwrites]

i think something that gets lost in the fandom is that for all her projected toughness in tlt—"he made his choice about who he wants to live with and it's not me"—annabeth never actually closed the door on her dad. with very little convincing, she went back and actually (seemingly successfully) tried to salvage their relationship. she is a forgiving person who wants to see the best in the people she loves even when there's every reason to think it's a bad idea. she is soft-hearted, she cares deeply, and she desperately wants to be cared for in return. if there's a glimmer of hope that someone might still be who she needs them to be, she reaches out again. you see this with her dad, you see it with luke, and you see it with percy in tlo, when even though she believed he was likely drifting away from her, she stayed steadfastly by his side. it's utterly heart-wrenching

[themoonplantwrites]

Hey, you reblogged that AI post and I was surprised to see something so mean on your blog. "If you cant write unassisted, fuck you, youre a disgrace to the community." Is that really something you want on your blog?

Just in case this isn't a spam message:

Posting AI-generated content to a platform intended to be an archive for writers is not appropriate use of the platform. On a platform intended for human creation, it is rude and inappropriate to clog search results with AI-produced content which often plagiarizes the work of human authors.

Use of generative AI is also horrible for our environment, leading to massive waste of fossil fuel energy and water. We should not be doing damage to our planet for the sake of generating (robot-produced, often plagiarized) fiction, especially when the joy of fiction comes from the creation and emotion of real people.

Rather than giving a prompt to a generative AI, people should consider attempting to write their own work, or asking another writer from the fandom if they would be interested in writing it. Anyone who is capable of typing a prompt into ChatGPT is capable of writing a story. The first attempts may not be amazing, but that is true of any skill, and anyone can improve with time and practice - and while ChatGPT may give you big returns in your time, it doesn't give you practice, growth, or creativity, which is where the joy of writing should come from.

[themoonplantwrites]

I'm a fandom oldie and a strong proponent of "ship and let ship", and I defend everyone else's right to ship what they love... But I think that gives people the idea that I like, automatically love every single ship??? Or every single trope?

I don't though!

There are a lot of fandom tropes that are on my "absolutely fuck no" list. There are a lot of irk kinks that are also on my "nope absolutely not" list, too. Personally, this is healthy. I'm able to look at something and go "Yep, I hate it, but it's not harming anyone, so continue to do as you please."

[themoonplantwrites]

yall ever just *develops hc about The Character* oh I can't tell the internet that one they'll rip my throat out

(this post is about aromantic and/or asexual headcanons)

[themoonplantwrites]

Okay, this is a long shot but it’s honestly bothering me that I can’t find these fanfics.

I’m looking for two Percy Jackson fanfics that I read on fanfiction.net back in like 2012/2013.

The first one was a one shot called something like “Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold”. The set up was “what if Percy and Jason had met during the Titan War but were made to forget because the Greeks and Romans are supposed to be separated”. It’s from Percy’s POV. They meet on a battle mission to like a warehouse full of monsters. Percy gets there via Blackjack, who then proceeds to get a sugar high. By the end of the story, Percy ends up in the infirmary and his memory is wiped.

The second one is either a one shot or has like 3-4 chapters. The plot is that Paul and Percy travel to another town to check out something having to do with Paul’s family (who are not in the story). While Paul’s dealing with that, Percy gets attacked by empousia and gets injured badly. Mrs. O’Leary shows up to save him and protects him in the snow until Paul finds them. Paul takes Percy back to where they are staying to rest and heal. One random detail I remember is that Percy is wearing a blue scarf that Rachel made him that he describes as being like bright enough to see from space.

If anyone knows of the fics I’m talking about, please let me know. I realize that they may have been deleted from ff.net since I read them, but if they are still out there, I’d like to try to find them.