i think we (fanfiction writers) can sometimes be self-conscious about the concept of originality in our work, and the way i’ve handled that in the past is to tell myself nothing is truly original, that everything comes in part from something else. tastes, interests, and ideals can’t be built from nothing; the stories that surround us also create us, and we put our made selves into our work. the only difference between original fiction and fanfiction is that fanfiction openly acknowledges the text(s) that inspired it.
but i’m just about finished with jane smiley’s 13 ways of looking at the novel (HIGHLY recommended) and she asserts that everything is original. she says that unless you’re taking someone else’s actual words as your own, you’re always creating something original.
and even though “nothing is original” and “everything is original” inevitably reach the same conclusion (write it anyway), reframing my perspective that way has helped me see my work in a new light. i’m focusing less on the things i know i’m borrowing and more on the things i invent from that which i’ve borrowed.
“biblical angels” you do realise there are angels in the old testament that are literally just regular looking guys, right? you do know that the hallucinogenic incoherent descriptions are in like. two books. and the rest of the time angels are just guys. you know that, right?
and I’m not saying don’t have fun with weird angels. I’m saying, either the eldritch forms are for special occasions, or the society of the angels is Many-Eyed-Many-Winged-Interlocking-Circles, Four-Faces-Six-Wings, and Mike.
Literally Raphael is just a normal person!
this is what the heavenly breakroom is like
So weird that there’s a biblical angel who looks just like a water cooler
ALWAYS REBLOG WHEN YOU SEE SOMETHING LIKE THIS PLEASE; ITS SO MUCH MORE THAN IMPORTANT TO PEOPLE. IT MEANS EVERYTHING TO SOMEBODY AND EVEN THOUGH YOU MIGHT NOT SEE THIS IN THE SAME LIGHT, SOMEONE MIGHT. INFACT YOU REBLOGGING THIS COULD STOP SOMEONE TAKING THEIR LIFE TONIGHT.
I noticed there isn’t one here for Ireland, so
Irish free suicide helpline: 01-116 123
last time i reblogged this, i got this ask:
so please, please reblog. this could actually save a life.
Check the notes, some people have added hotlines that aren’t listed here.
The Trevor project is really great for LGBT++ too!
I really, really, REALLY need help from y’all to share this and to let people know how desperate I am, how time sensitive this is, and how IMPORTANT this little girl is.
I’m hoping to get help for my best friend. CC (Coco Chanel) has had a major health decline since we had to evacuate for Hurricane Idalia. She stopped eating, became severely dehydrated, and then her bowels stopped working. She strains constantly to have a BM, but nothing comes out. She already struggles from hypothyroidism, degenerative joint disease, and masses on her body (previously checked as benign).
We are unable to return to our home after the hurricane and currently living in an out of town motel. I had to travel almost two hours just to find an open vet as our town was severely devastated.
Right now we are still in the diagnostic stages which they say will run $1200-$1500. This does not include any aftercare, maintenance or potential surgeries. They are worried the tumors have spread and become malignant, or are causing a colon blockage. We have exhausted our savings in the hurricane aftermath and still have much more to go before we can even live safely in our home again.
Any prayers, resources and help would be greatly appreciated!
$0/$1500
I have paypal, and I will be linking it down below. Please if you can, sending it through friends and family would help a lot as paypal wont place it onhold and wont deduct any fees! 🙏
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.)
Also -
you can post in an Anon collection if you want to publish anonymously. Rather than orphaning your works, in which they no longer belong to you and you can’t edit them anymore, you still own your Anon works and can edit and change them. You can remove from Anon collection at anytime.
OP said don’t post essays insight theories etc - but actually all those are allowed in the TOS. It’s a fandom archive, although primarily used for fanfiction. Just tag it appropriately as meta/essay/whatever so that people looking for fics can filter it out.
Also - some tags are optional. Others are not. The big four checkboxes are mandatory UNLESS you check “creator chooses not to use Archive warnings.” This lets people with PTSD know they may be walking into a dangerous fic for them.
If your fic has dubcon (which to be clear, doesn’t exist irl. Irl there is consent or non-consent. Period.) For that reason. you MUST either check “Rape/Noncon” in the big 4, OR check “Creator Chooses not to use Archive warnings.” Otherwise sexual assault survivors walk into a fic thinking there’s no rape, and there absolutely is, because dubcon is what? Rape. It doesn’t matter if you don’t see it as rape in your fictional world. It is rape irl, and real life survivors will be triggered if you say “No archive warnings apply.” Don’t be evil. Check the correct box. If you don’t want to check Rape/Noncon - that is EXACTLY why the checkbox “creator chooses not to use archive warnings” exists.
You can now Mute and Block anyone ! You can block people who you don’t want to comment again (the above assholes who seem to think they’re entitled to leave mean feedback on peoples hobbies they graciously share for free). And if there’s someone whose fics you never want to accidentally see, you can Mute them as well.
another big one for ao3 etiquette:
if you see "dead dove: do not eat” in the tags, that is a giant blinking neon billboard saying PAY ATTENTION TO THE TAGS. it essentially means, “what you see is what you get.” if you see a string of tags that could be potentially upsetting (torture, gore, extreme violence, things of that ilk) followed by dead dove: do not eat, it’s a warning from the author that the tropes won’t necessarily be subverted or dulled down. it doesn’t even necessarily have to be for explicit violence, i’ve used it before for monsterfucking fics, but i know that the nature of it alone could be disturbing to some. if you see dd:dne in the tags, read the story anyway, and still get upset from reading it, don’t get pissed at the author. they warned you.
and for authors posting on ao3, if you want to use that tag, DON’T MAKE IT THE ONLY TRIGGER TAG. throwing dd:dne in the tags and nothing else will leave readers confused. what’s the warning for? violence? gore? noncon? the clarification can go a long way for the readers. everyone has different sensitivity to certain topics, and one person’s “meh” can be another person’s “oh god why”.
tl;dr, readers, pay attention to the tags when you see dead dove: do not eat, and writers, if you’re gonna use dead dove: do not eat, tag the rest of your story properly.
No one believes me bc of all these posts but I REALLY THINK 2015 CINDERELLA IS OK. ROMANCE IS GOOD. ANTAGONISTS ARE GOOD. MOSTLY GETS THROUGH THE MAIN POINTS OF CINDERELLA UNSCATHED. NOT SUPER OFFENSIVE TO ME. LILY JAMES KILLED IT. PROBABLY THE BEST PRINCESS ACTRESS OF THE MODERN DISNEY PRINCESS REMAKES. SHE ALSO HAS THE BEST DRESS BY FAR.
