Always RB: because there is never enough love. And fanfic love is some of the purest.
AO3 Etiquette
It would seem a whole new kind of AO3 reader/writer is emerging and it is becoming clear not everyone quite understands how the website community works. Here is some basic guidance on how most people expect you to go about using AO3 to keep this a fun community archive that funtions correctly:
- Kudos is for when the story was interesting enough to make you finish reading. If it sucked or was badly written, you probably left. If you finished - you kudos.
- If you liked it, you should comment. It can be long and detailed or a literal keysmash. Writers don't care, we just love comments.
- No critisism unless the author has specifically asked or agreed to hear it. Even constructive critisism is a no-no unless an author note tells you it's okay. Many people write as a fun hobby or a way to cope with, among other things, insecurity. Don't ruin that for them.
- Do not comment to ask the author to write/update something else. It's tacky and off-putting and will probably have the opposite effect than the one you want.
- There is no algorithm, it's an archive. Use the search and filter function to add/remove the pairings/characters/tropes etc. you want to read about and it will find you the fics that fit the bill.
- For this to work, writers must tag and rate stories. This avoids readers finding the wrong things and missing the stuff they want. I don't care how cringy that trope is in your eyes - it gets tagged.
- Character A/Character B means a ROMANTIC or SEXUAL relationship of some kind. Character A&Character B is PLANTONIC, like friendship or family.
- Nothing is banned. This is an implicit rule because banning one thing is a slipperly slope to banning another and another, until nothing is allowed anymore. Do not expect anyone to censor for you. Because of the tags system, you are responsible for your own reading experience.
- People can create new chapters and sequels/fic series any time after they "complete" a story. So it's considered perfectly normal to subscribe, even to a finished story. You can even subscribe to the author instead just to cover your bases.
- Do not repost stories or change the publishing date without an extremely good reason (like a complete top to bottom rewrite). It's an archive, not social media. No one cares what's the most recent, only what fits their tag needs.
- Avoid deleting a story you wrote if you hate it - orphan it so others can still enjoy it, without it being connected to you anymore.
- This is a creative fanfiction archive. No essays on your insights or theories please. There are other places for that.
I KNOW there's plenty more I missed but I'm trying to cover most of the basics that people seem to be struggling with.
I invite anyone to add to this, but please explain, don't berate.
People are so entitled in the comments damn like no you writer don’t have to put up with you being rude they wrote you entertainment for free
To the people in the notes who are insisting that they have the right to leave negative feedback on AO3:
What you’re not understanding is that fandom is not a service, it’s a community. I saw someone compare leaving a comment on AO3 to reviewing a product on Amazon - if you didn’t like the product, you’re going to say so. But fanworks are not products and you didn’t pay money for them. They were shared with you.
Leaving un-asked-for criticism in AO3 comments isn’t like reviewing a product you were disappointed with. It’s like going to a friend’s house when they’ve cooked a meal and telling them all the things that are wrong with the food. Sure, you can do it, but it’s rude as hell and they are probably not going to invite you to dinner again.
("Can you leave crit in comments” has been a debate as long as I’ve been in fandom, but 20 years ago the argument was “I’m helping the writer improve!” and not “I am a consumer with a right to complain.” Fandom has gotten more creepily capitalistic over the decades but jerks are evergreen, I guess.)
xxblackheartbiohazardsxx
✨ It's okay to write fiction in a lot of different genres.
✨ It's okay to not have a personal "brand."
✨ It's okay to write lots of different types of stories.
✨ You do not need to feel like you are obligated to "create a brand" to "build and audience".
✨ Write the fiction that you are interested in writing.
✨ You do not need to worry about marketing when you are writing.
✨ It's better to focus on writing what you want to write instead of what a hypothetical audience will think of it.
✨ Write stories that you find interesting, appealing of fascinating.
✨ Do not feel like you need to limit the type of stories you write in order to appeal to an audience.
✨ You do not need to
worry about marketing
when you are writing.
Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.
one of my FAVORITE favorite things that improv and/or collaborative storytelling like ttrpgs and online roleplay allow for is accidental foreshadowing. when things that seemed and were in fact innocuous at the time suddenly become significant due to their unintentional connection to another, later story beat that no one was aware it could be traced back to from until it happened? that fucks so unbelievably hard i go apeshit every time
xxblackheartbiohazardsxx
📌 Character driven fiction that focuses on the people and their emotions and interactions is wonderful.
📌 Plot driven fiction that focuses the things that happen and how and why events unfold is wonderful.
📌 Fast paced, action oriented fiction is wonderful.
📌 Slow paced fiction, whether tension driven or tranquil, is wonderful.
📌 High stakes narratives in fiction are wonderful.
📌 Low stakes narratives in fiction are wonderful.
📌 There is no one right type of plot, there is no one right type of pacing, there is no one right kind of stakes.
Peldor joi, Emissary During the Bajoran Gratitude Festival, bateret leaves are traditionally burned, and participants write their problems on renewal scrolls which are then burned so that their troubles symbolically turn to ashes. As the scrolls burn, may our troubles turn to ashes with them
I'm proud to present... me typing in Bajoran! finally!
admittedly this vid is a bit jank due to me being too excited to just screen record and go to actually close programs that i know make my Streamlabs lag, but regardless HERE IT IS
I still have a few things(the damn lowercase t) to fix in the romanization half of the font, but that bit's only really in there to see if i could pull it off
but im pretty happy with everything else! so the keyboard file and the font file will both be put into a dropbox or smthn to share with y'all, along with instructions on how to download, how to type, and some spelling things that are really just for in-world building (i.e. [n] is substituted with the [ni] character, but when [n] is in a cluster like [nt] or [nj], the [n] is instead written as [ne], which the writer has to keep in mind as it automatically makes a solo [n] into [ni]). I'll also, of course, provide a link to Keyman itself, as that's what i used to the keyboard creation. in the future i'll def be using keyman over MKLC just because it's a much stronger program with better abilities.
aaaand here's a quick reblog with the link to all the files you need to be able to type it yourself! this includes a quick guide to typing it :)
I am legitimately shocked there are so many more Annie/Jeff stories than Troy/Abed stories on AO3. Granted I spend all my time in DS9 where homoerotic male friendships dominate the fan landscape, but still... Annie and Jeff is darkest timeline canon. While prime Annie has a crush, it's explicit that the age gap and the superficiality of that crush (she stated she isn't actually in love with Jeff, she just wants to feel loved by someone) stop it from going forward. Meanwhile, Troy and Abed are referred to as boyfriends multiple times in the prime timeline. It's a plot point that Troy remembers their anniversaries but not the ones he has with his actual girlfriend. Heck, he has Abed break up with his actual girlfriend for him.
After the first couple of seasons I thought that people who said Troy and Abed were basically canon were exaggerating. Now that I have seen more, I can comfortably say they were right and I was wrong. Of course, I'm still two seasons I may or may not watch from the end. Maybe there's some vital Annie/Jeff content yet to be revealed.
Okay I hit the ending and I still do not get it, now in spite of the... canonization, I guess, maybe? Like, sure, Jeff says he still holds her in his heart and has never let go of her, but also that's after a fantasy where he realizes he doesn't really know what she wants, which was after his other fantasies about resetting her character arc so he doesn't have to accept that she's changed? And then they have a whole conversation about their incompatible life stages and divergent desires? Am I missing something here?
There have been times before where I didn't understand why people ship something, but I am generally pretty mainstream in my tastes, and I've never failed to understand the appeal of the most popular ship in a given content before.
Alternatively, at this point in my fandom experience I'm just extremely spoiled about other people agreeing with my opinions and my preferred ship being the most popular one. This is probably a good experience for me, humility-wise.
There they are
the boyest of bands
forgot the main boy
decided to completely ignore the revelation that curzon was in love with jadzia (stupid all around, i will not abide) because curzon was actually in unspoken love with sisko which is why jadzia dax has a latent sisko-traction and also calls him full name "benjamin" all the time and sometimes looks pained as well as fond when sisko calls her "old man." happy pride.
"You treat death like a lover... I think living is a lot more attractive"
(Quote from Jadzia in Season 2, Episode 19: Blood Oath)
"Blood Oath" is one of my all-time favorite Jadzia episodes and an early seasons DS9 favorite overall, but I keep thinking about how they could have done so much more with it.
It's an episode that should be more significant for Jadzia's character, especially because we find out about Joran in the following season. Was he created after "Blood Oath" was written?
When Kira and Jadzia talk about what it's like to take someone's life, or when she hesitates and lets Kang deal the final blow at the end, I feel like those could have been wonderful moments to foreshadow Joran somehow. To have her grapple with feelings that she does not know the source of, because she doesn't know that Joran exists yet! It would add to the tense atmosphere of the ending. Kang and Koloth, dead. Kira and Benjamin averting their eyes from her.
What I also find very interesting in this episode is how Jadzia works as a contrast to Kor, Kang and Koloth on this mission, and their readiness to die.
While she is very passionate when she has to convince everyone to let her go, when it comes to the actual revenge, you see her tactician skills at work, and she is able to put any complicated feelings she may have aside, right up until she is holding a blade up to the Albino's neck. Doing that is a necessity, but it also must be kind of scary, to realize you're capable of that.
I understand that they wouldn't have enough time left in the episode to address Jadzia's feelings after the mission, but it could've been something to include in an episode later on, or have her talk to Kira or Benjamin again about what happened as a retrospective.
There's probably so much to be said, but I don't want to make this post too long + there are most likely people who'd word that better than me lmao
“you don’t like the proliferation of terms like Unalive outside of TikTok because you realize that you’re aging out of youth culture and it makes you uncomfortable!”
no I don’t like it because there’s something INCREDIBLY dystopian about being forced to soften terms for basic parts of the human experience like death and sex (and even more so terms for oppressed minorities- call me a “le-dollar sign-bian” and I will bite you) purely because advertisers and corporations demand it
The idea that young people are getting used to not being able to speak in public about sex, queerness etc without talking around censors, and see this as normal and not a problem, scares me tbh.
The fact that people are so comfortable with being censored that they Voluntarily censor themselves on words and topics that aren’t even being limited is a terrifying sign
Reminder that I have had students write essays about Romeo and Juliet "unaliving" themselves, despite the fact that in class our language was always clear and direct. They have just become that accustomed to censorship.
I love the Starfleet technical manuals as much as anyone but where is the book that compiles all the Starfleet admin documents. Templates for reports & personnel files. Forms of all types. Medical charts & files. Where's the Star Trek book for those of us who are obsessed with paperwork :(
Had an idea you might be able to use for something: Klingon Soap Operas.
(sigh)
Thanks for the thought. I appreciate your kindness!
But unfortunately, because you've sent me the idea and I've read it, I can now not use it, ever. No matter how much I might like to.
This isn't about you, you understand. And in its way it probably seems like a cruel paradox. You were only trying to be helpful! But if I was working on something for Trek and this concept came up even in casual discussion, I would be honor-bound (and contractually required) to inform them that the idea had come to me from a reader or fan. And then—rightly, from their point of view—they would forbid me to use it, because the idea's originator might some day, despite all their friendly intentions now, sue them over it. And the evidence that I was at fault would be easy to obtain. Sending a DM on any major platform generates an electronic "paper trail" that will confirm its target has opened and read the message in question. And that electronic record can be subpoenaed and submitted as evidence, and would stand up in court.
"Oh, come on, who'd do a thing like that, what are the odds...?" people will say. But it's not generally known that I've already been involved in a high-stakes lawsuit in which someone tried to sue Mattel over material I wrote when developing the initial form of the "Barbie: Fairytopia" universe (and the first Fairytopia film) for them. I'd never so much as met or communicated with the person suing them, had never read even a word of their work... but they still went to great trouble and expense attempting to prove that I'd had access to their material and used it without permission.
Mattel won the suit (as I'd frankly been expecting: the attorney handling their defense was one of the most expert IP lawyers in the US). But it gave me the chills... and made it clear how very wrong things could go, and the kind of damage that could be done to my career and my personal life, if I even accidentally used ideas from unauthorized sources.
Seriously, folks. I know you all mean well! But please don't make me tap the sign. DO NOT SEND ME STORY IDEAS, no matter how vague or general or unformed they may be. To do so is to absolutely guarantee that they will never, ever happen.* (And in my own universes, your innocently-meant suggestion could mean that neither you or anyone else will ever see that particular Young Wizards or Middle Kingdoms plot, no matter how much you'd like to... because I take this stuff seriously.)
...Thanks, all.
*This is also why I don't read fanfic set in my universes. Which you also shouldn't send me: please and thank you.
Please read this before you send me ideas or links to fanfic of any of my stuff. Please.
That is the plot of like 75% of TNG episodes I swear.
i was so prepared for image 2 to be “I’m at the taco bell”
qkaboo
star trek heritage post (January 15th, 2015)
This isn't a Garashir post, but I guess you could read it that way if you wanted?
Everyone seems to think Garak would be proud of Julian for keeping a secret so long, but on the flipside...
His secret got found out.
To Garak and other Cardassians, isn't that a huge fucking deal? Like, life ending? So, instead of just simply expressing 'I'm so proud of you for being so good at lying' and whatnot...
Garak probably wouldn't wave off Julian's discomfort with being 'found out'. He'd think 'what a perfectly reasonable response to having your entire life flayed open like that', I think.
He'd likely think not mentioning it would be a courtesy, but then the Doctor mentions it first and of course. It's no longer a secret, so he no longer has to hide it-- so Garak just says, very gently, that he's sorry the Doctor's secret was found.
And if he knew the details, that it was found because his father was not only incompetent, but also fought and tried to make up with lackluster apologies so often that he didn't even pause to think over his words before running off at the mouth.
That the 'family secret' was ruined because his relationship with his family was bad.
All of that seems like something that Garak would feel really bad for Julian about. But he'd say it you know, sideways.
~
"I suppose you know by now."
"I suppose I do."
"Nothing to say about it?"
"I am sorry"
"S-. You're sorry?"
"It was such a precious secret to you, wasn't it?"
"...yes."
"One your family had been protecting all your life."
"Yes."
"I am sorry you lost it."
~
Something like that.
Ooh okay thought: Verad Dax/Sisko. Verad wants to prove to Benjamin just how much of the old Dax he still is
it's wild that virtually all modern digital infrastructure is built to constantly spy on us and harvast our data for advertising yet online advertsing is still basically worthless and nobody seems to actually be benefitting from all this
a vast rube goldberg machine of privacy violations all working together to deliver the most precisely targeted ads straight into my adblocker