TV FanFiction Thread

[festivus]

47 minutes ago, BlackberryJam said:

Jaime and Brienne bang it out in TV canon, so that's a thing. Book canon seems very much headed that way as well. There are over 8k Jaime Brienne fics, so if you need a recommendation, let me know. JB is my jam. 

I would love some recommendations.

[BlackberryJam]

23 minutes ago, festivus said:

I would love some recommendations.

Check your inbox! :)

[ElleryAnne]

4 hours ago, BlackberryJam said:

Tagging is so important. 

Definitely this.  These days,  I won't even read a fic where the author chooses not to tag.  I once made the mistake of reading a work in which the author hadn't tagged for a character death, and unfortunately it was shortly after my mother had passed away and I was reading to numb the sadness at that time.  Not a good time for me to have read that fic.  I don't fault the author - writers can choose to tag (or not) as they see fit - but it made a bad time worse for me, and ever since then, I do two things when choosing a fic:  1) I immediately scroll to the end of the fic to make sure its going to head to an ending I'm okay with; and 2) I give a quick glance through any comments to make sure no one is referencing anything in the fic that I would want to avoid.  

I'm not sure why an author wouldn't tag for major concepts in a fic, anyway, unless it spoils a mystery story.  Isn't that the best way to help the story be found by the right prospective fans? 

 

4 hours ago, festivus said:

To me the point of fanfiction is to tell stories not told in canon. That includes making characters gay or bi, who aren't in the original material. Also, I like pairings that aren't in the original, like that's why I'm reading fanfic. 

I agree.  Reading fanfiction probably kept me out of a few arguments back when Teen Wolf was baiting Sterek that was never going to happen in the show.  Luckily, there were some really good authors in that fandom.  I suppose a lot of people get into reading fanfic in the first place because they like non-canonical couples.  

 

3 hours ago, BlackberryJam said:

Uhmmm...there needs to be more Krycek/Scully thank you very much. :)

I was a Krycek/Jeff shipper.  That was a lonely little corner of fandom.

[Cloud9Shopper]

I agree about tagging. My ER fic does have some sensitive topics, so I tried to hit all the appropriate tags, and I’ll also let people know it has intense material when promoting it elsewhere so they know they can avoid it if it makes them uncomfortable. I haven’t heard any complaints...yet at least.

I guess my post before came out poorly. I too like to read fanfic where things don’t go exactly as they did in canon, just within reason I guess. Like I would love to write a character as alive who died in canon. (A couple of deaths on ER left me frustrated.) I should’ve worded it as a personal preference for certain aspects, not that I hate canon divergent altogether. I was just in a hurry when I posted, I suppose. 

[Annber03]

2 minutes ago, ElleryAnne said:

I'm not sure why an author wouldn't tag for major concepts in a fic, anyway, unless it spoils a mystery story.  Isn't that the best way to help the story be found by the right prospective fans?

I think some of it is that some writers are from the days where there wasn't all this tagging availability for fics, and you kinda wound up going in blind in a lot of stories-at most, you usually had an idea of the pairing involved, and that was likely it. So they're just used to that and have a hard time adjusting to today's current tagging systems. Either that, or, yes, they're afraid tags will spoil their stories (it is kind of funny that for as spoiler-averse as a lot of people tend to be nowadays, people expect all the details of a fic they want to read laid out ahead of time). 

And, with some stuff, sometimes people aren't always sure what to tag and not to tag. I've seen that debate when it comes to characters/pairings-there's people who want authors to tag every single character and pairing that may pop up in a story, even if they're just mentioned in passing or have a very small role, so that they can get a heads up ahead of time if the fic includes characters and pairings they don't like. And yet on the flip side, there's also people who get annoyed to see a fic that tags a character or pairing that they like, only to find out their appearance in the story is brief at best. It's like you can't win either way, and with situations like that, I can see authors getting frustrated over what they should and shouldn't do. 

All of that being said, however, I do agree that for major topics/kinks/tropes/etc., it's good to tag them, if only for the reason you note-that way people who want to read them can find them more easily. And luckily, at AO3, if an author does want to keep some element of surprise for their story, there is the "Choose Not to Warn" option, which also helps readers decide whether or not they want to go along with the surprise elements in the story. And if someone genuinely isn't sure what tags to include or not include, they can always just ask around and see if they can get a general consensus, and then go from there. I know the Fanfiction subreddit has been rather helpful in that regard many times. 

I also agree with the sentiment that fanfic is great for non-canon pairings. I have canon pairings I like to read about as well, but yeah, it's great to see all the possible "what if"s that people can come up with for non-canon relationships as well, and i have plenty of non-canon pairings that I'd happily read/write about. Plus, when it comes to the topic of sexuality, just because characters are presumed straight in canon, that doesn't automatically mean they are, and for so long TV had been so conservative in regards to the kinds of relationships that were put on the air. Even if/when writers and actors were open to the idea of making a character LGBTQ, they usually got squashed by the higher ups. So yeah, I totally get authors wanting to explore other possibilities in that regard as a result. 

[JustHereForFood]

56 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

And, with some stuff, sometimes people aren't always sure what to tag and not to tag. I've seen that debate when it comes to characters/pairings-there's people who want authors to tag every single character and pairing that may pop up in a story, even if they're just mentioned in passing or have a very small role, so that they can get a heads up ahead of time if the fic includes characters and pairings they don't like. And yet on the flip side, there's also people who get annoyed to see a fic that tags a character or pairing that they like, only to find out their appearance in the story is brief at best. It's like you can't win either way, and with situations like that, I can see authors getting frustrated over what they should and shouldn't do. 

Oh yes, I get so frustrated by that! When I filter a character that I want to read about, it means I want to read a story where they have a major role, not where they appear in one scene with all the characters and then the rest of the fic is about two other characters. Thankfully, you can usually tell by the description, but when you have a really big fandom with thousands of fics, it can take a long time to find what you are looking for if the search functions are useless because of this and you have to read every description anyway.

[LexieLily]

Even this conversation about tagging sounds exhausting and confusing to me, for the reasons @Annber03 so nicely stated first in her last post. I'm one of those who uses Fanfiction.net as her only posting outlet for fanfic and posted once on A03 and promptly gave up because I didn't get any feedback or comments. I used the basic what-tv-show-is-this and what-canon-'ship-is-this tag, but there seem to be a lot of additional tags that I feel like I'd need a major tutorial in before I even contemplated using them. 

So I can definitely see how the act of tagging in fics can be overwhelming./confusing for people, until they get used to it.

[Annber03]

It's also tough because yes, people want things tagged, which is fine....but then depending on how much stuff one tags they run into the whole "wall o'tags" situation, and after a while people just scroll past the huge block of them, which defeats the whole point of having tags in the first place. 

I also think the fandom one is in factors into what kinds of tags one would or should expect to see. If you're in a fandom that's known for being much lighter in nature, and you're writing a story that's dark in some way, then, sure, yeah, it makes sense to perhaps give a heads up with some of the stuff you'll be tackling in your fic, because I can see some fans coming in and being a bit blindsided otherwise. 

But if you're in, like, "Game of Thrones", or "Bates Motel", or "Hannibal", or "Criminal Minds", or some other show that's already got plenty of dark stuff within the canon itself...it would feel rather redundant to put a whole bunch of warnings on one's fic. If people can handle the canon violence/sex and so on, then chances are they can probably handle that same thing in the fics for that fandom, too, otherwise, what are they even doing here in the first place? 

[BlackberryJam]

9 hours ago, Annber03 said:

It's also tough because yes, people want things tagged, which is fine....but then depending on how much stuff one tags they run into the whole "wall o'tags" situation, and after a while people just scroll past the huge block of them, which defeats the whole point of having tags in the first place. 

I also think the fandom one is in factors into what kinds of tags one would or should expect to see. If you're in a fandom that's known for being much lighter in nature, and you're writing a story that's dark in some way, then, sure, yeah, it makes sense to perhaps give a heads up with some of the stuff you'll be tackling in your fic, because I can see some fans coming in and being a bit blindsided otherwise. 

But if you're in, like, "Game of Thrones", or "Bates Motel", or "Hannibal", or "Criminal Minds", or some other show that's already got plenty of dark stuff within the canon itself...it would feel rather redundant to put a whole bunch of warnings on one's fic. If people can handle the canon violence/sex and so on, then chances are they can probably handle that same thing in the fics for that fandom, too, otherwise, what are they even doing here in the first place? 

Yeah...I came across a HIMYM fic once based on rape and torture...noping out of that one.

The thing about AO3 tags is...you can make up your own. I just did a little google search for funny AO3 tags and found:

• Battle Pillows 
• Canon-flavored LaCroix
• Pudding Cups
• everyone has lost their keys
• insults: the sixth love language
• dick so good it makes you lose your religion
• Suez Canal AU
• Sex Pollen
• his pasta may be cold but his heart is warm
• Aggressive Home Remodeling.

Tagging can be FUN and if you're not having fun with it, maybe it's not for you.

AO3 has the WARNINGS specific tags that are required. You must put one of these Warning tags on before post.

• Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings = Beware all who enter
• No Archive Warnings Apply = Nothing to worry about here
• Major Character Death = Your fav may die
• Graphic Depictions Of Violence = Self explanatory
• Rape/Non-Con = Again, self explanatory
• Underage = This refers to underage sex usually.

These are the ones that upset people, when they aren't tagged properly. If an author is going to include a rape or underage sex in a fic, either tag for it so the reader is warned, or announce that they aren't using warnings, so you can read and be prepared for something. This is really where tagging complaints come in. If you tag No Archive Warnings Apply, then describe the graphic rape and death of a main character, well...that's just mean. I don't read torture porn books. I don't want to read it in fic either.

Shows like GoT will also have a frequently used tag like "Canon Typical Violence". When you're writing and go to post and tag, just typing in part of a tag will give you suggestions. 

A wall of tags is annoying, especially when the author is tagging every character who appears in the story even when it's the waiter who just walks through the room. But other times, tags are fun. It's a way for the author to interact and give the reader a heads up about what they are getting into, kind of like the blurb on the dust cover of a book.

 

[festivus]

Some of the tags on Ao3 are so funny. I usually do read them all. I didn't use many on my fics but that's straight up because I'm lazy. Maybe that's why I didn't get much play on the second one. Or maybe it just sucks, idk. I won't go back and read it, so I don't know. Is anyone else like that? I mean, I read them like 20 times before posting looking for errors and such and now I just can't read them. Maybe in 20 years if I'm still alive. 

[Cloud9Shopper]

35 minutes ago, festivus said:

Some of the tags on Ao3 are so funny. I usually do read them all. I didn't use many on my fics but that's straight up because I'm lazy. Maybe that's why I didn't get much play on the second one. Or maybe it just sucks, idk. I won't go back and read it, so I don't know. Is anyone else like that? I mean, I read them like 20 times before posting looking for errors and such and now I just can't read them. Maybe in 20 years if I'm still alive. 

I read my current WIP before publishing. If I read it after I go “God this is so cringe. Maybe I should rewrite it.” Then I’m like “But I would probably hate the rewrite too.” 

To be clear there are some things in my current fic that I could do better but I’m not sure if I care enough to rewrite them. (It wouldn’t be a plot change at this point; just things like adding more details, changing dialogue, etc.) I tend to think the same thing “maybe I just suck.” 

[festivus]

Yeah, that's it. Cringe. It took some courage for me to post it, I don't have enough to read it now. Like someday when I forget what I wrote, I may check it out. Weirdly, I was just checking my e-mail and I had a kudos. Always for the first fic, though. 

[Cloud9Shopper]

33 minutes ago, festivus said:

Yeah, that's it. Cringe. It took some courage for me to post it, I don't have enough to read it now. Like someday when I forget what I wrote, I may check it out. Weirdly, I was just checking my e-mail and I had a kudos. Always for the first fic, though. 

I was so nervous the first time I hit the publish button on AO3. I just shared my fic in a Discord channel today and felt nervous again haha. I’m in my 30s and still get the “OMG I hope people like this” nerves! 

[BlackberryJam]

A good, honest, supportive beta reader is key, I think. But in many fandoms, or with rarepairs, that's hard to find. If the pairing has a Discord, maybe you could find a beta there? A good beta will say, "that's a little much, how about X..." or such.

I feel bad for writers who write rarepairs or in inactive fandoms. There aren't enough people reading that for feedback to occur. Usually only 1 in 10 readers provides feedback.

[Ceindreadh]

23 minutes ago, BlackberryJam said:

 

I feel bad for writers who write rarepairs or in inactive fandoms. There aren't enough people reading that for feedback to occur. Usually only 1 in 10 readers provides feedback.

That's the story of my writing life!  Even when I was in an active fandom, I always tended to gravitate towards the uncommon pairings and the less popular characters to write about.  On the other hand, I would occasionally deliberately write about characters that didn't seem to be getting much love in fanfic, so I suppose I can't complain too much. 

[Cloud9Shopper]

3 minutes ago, Ceindreadh said:

That's the story of my writing life!  Even when I was in an active fandom, I always tended to gravitate towards the uncommon pairings and the less popular characters to write about.  On the other hand, I would occasionally deliberately write about characters that didn't seem to be getting much love in fanfic, so I suppose I can't complain too much. 

This is so me. I enjoy the popular pairings on New Amsterdam so I’m willing to write about those. But when it comes to ER, I don’t like the main pairing that takes up most of the fics right now. So my fic there is about a supporting/recurring character because that’s who I gravitated to and whose story I wanted to see more of. I also want to write about a pairing who were loved on the show but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of fic of them. 

Being different is hard in the fanfic world but at least I know I’m telling my stories in a way that I only can even if someone else comes along and writes the same concept. 

[JustHereForFood]

6 hours ago, BlackberryJam said:

The thing about AO3 tags is...you can make up your own. I just did a little google search for funny AO3 tags and found:

• Battle Pillows 
• Canon-flavored LaCroix
• Pudding Cups
• everyone has lost their keys
• insults: the sixth love language
• dick so good it makes you lose your religion
• Suez Canal AU
• Sex Pollen
• his pasta may be cold but his heart is warm
• Aggressive Home Remodeling.

 

Yeah, some tags can be hilarious, thanks for the laughs!

6 hours ago, BlackberryJam said:

A wall of tags is annoying, especially when the author is tagging every character who appears in the story even when it's the waiter who just walks through the room. But other times, tags are fun. It's a way for the author to interact and give the reader a heads up about what they are getting into, kind of like the blurb on the dust cover of a book.

Sure, and the wall of tags is still preferable to the other alternative, which is basically no summary, only a note like "I suck at summaries, just read the story". Though I don't think I see many of those these days, as I used to.

[Mabinogia]

On 7/14/2021 at 10:41 AM, Cloud9Shopper said:

How do you guys generally feel about stats on your stories, comments/reviews, kudos (if you’re on AO3)?etc.? Is it something you pay a lot of attention to or do you try not to care about it?

When I started fanfiction for House, MD I did it on the shows official forum and absolutely loved it there because every story was like a conversation. It was a similar structure to this site where I would post a chapter and someone would comment someone would respond to that comment, they'd share what they liked, or give ideas of what they wanted to see happen next. I got a lot of ideas from the conversations and it energized me to write daily. 

I was, at that time, churning out at least one chapter of at least one of my many open stories daily. I miss that level of interaction. It went way beyond, "OMG, I loved this story", or "ugh, what a waste of my time". At times we would discuss my stories as in depth as we would discuss the show. 

It is great when you see a "like" or a "thumbs up" but it's not quite the same as that communal conversation that the forum had. (when the ships weren't attacking each other that is. It did end up getting ugly and I left.)

I love writing and am always looking to improve, so I appreciate constructive feedback. "I love it" is great but "I really like how you captured the character" is more helpful. Someone once told me they thought I wasn't writing one of the characters right, so I asked what they meant which was very helpful because I had a blind spot I wasn't aware of. It inspired me to try to write a story from that characters POV. It didn't go well IMO, but it was a good exercise. 

 

[Annber03]

4 hours ago, Cloud9Shopper said:

I was so nervous the first time I hit the publish button on AO3. I just shared my fic in a Discord channel today and felt nervous again haha. I’m in my 30s and still get the “OMG I hope people like this” nerves! 

I always get nervous anytime I post something new, too. I think that's a common reaction of most writers in general, regardless of how old they get or how many stories they've published or whether they're professionals or not. It's always a little scary putting your work out there for people like that. Anyone who isn't nervous, they're either lying or they have way more confidence, perhaps too much, in their skills than most do. 

5 hours ago, festivus said:

Some of the tags on Ao3 are so funny. I usually do read them all. I didn't use many on my fics but that's straight up because I'm lazy. 

I don't use the funny types of tags, either, simply because I'm not clever enough to come up with those kinds of tags. I just tag the characters and/or pairings, the genre/tropes involved, and since I like to do a lot of episode tags, I'll make note of the specific episode(s) involved as well. And then if there's any other extra information I need to add, I'll go from there. My fics aren't very dramatic or wild in terms of what they're about, so I fortunately don't have to worry about warnings much or anything like that.

I've heard some people say that the funny kind of tagging is something that was brought over from Tumblr. Some of those tags can be clever and entertaining, some don't seem to have much relevance to the story, which kinda defeats the purpose to me, but it's their fic, so... 

1 hour ago, Mabinogia said:

I love writing and am always looking to improve, so I appreciate constructive feedback. "I love it" is great but "I really like how you captured the character" is more helpful. Someone once told me they thought I wasn't writing one of the characters right, so I asked what they meant which was very helpful because I had a blind spot I wasn't aware of. It inspired me to try to write a story from that characters POV. It didn't go well IMO, but it was a good exercise. 

Yeah, nowadays you pretty much have to explicitly ask for that kind of feedback, because most people don't want to do the whole critiquing thing anymore. The general trend nowadays seems to be "don't criticize unless the author specifically asks for it". And even then, if someone asks, that's not always a guarantee they'll get it, because people will still be reluctant to give critique, either because they don't know how or what to say, or because they've been burned by authors who've said they're open to critique...only to snap at people who give it. Getting comments is just very different today than it used to be in general, for the reasons discussed earlier in this thread. 

3 hours ago, Ceindreadh said:

That's the story of my writing life!  Even when I was in an active fandom, I always tended to gravitate towards the uncommon pairings and the less popular characters to write about.  On the other hand, I would occasionally deliberately write about characters that didn't seem to be getting much love in fanfic, so I suppose I can't complain too much. 

And the great thing there is that when it comes to rare pairs, or characters that don't get as much attention, yes, it's harder to get readers and comments for them, but the few that do will be really passionate when they do comment, because they're so darn happy to find fic for those pairings and characters :D. 

I've tended to have a mix, myself-I've got some pairings and characters I like in some fandoms that are popular with everyone else as well, to where I know if and when I write fics for them, I'll get a decent amount of attention, and then I've got some in other fandoms that aren't as big (and in those cases, a large part of that is because the fandom itself isn't very big or well-known, either, which is also a factor), and so I know that the comments and kudos and such are going to be fewer and farther between. 

Course, there's also the fact that being a fan of a popular pairing or character doesn't automatically mean you'll be swimming in reviews and kudos and such, either. If the fandom's a big, very active one, someone's fic could get buried among all the other stories. Or some people who've deemed themselves the "authority" on a certain character or pairing may not like a certain author's take on them. Or, because they're in competition with a lot more authors, it's harder for their fic to get attention. So sometimes being on the less popular side of things in a fandom can actually be beneficial, too. 

[BlackberryJam]

13 hours ago, Annber03 said:

I always get nervous anytime I post something new, too. I think that's a common reaction of most writers in general, regardless of how old they get or how many stories they've published or whether they're professionals or not. It's always a little scary putting your work out there for people like that. Anyone who isn't nervous, they're either lying or they have way more confidence, perhaps too much, in their skills than most do. 

I don't use the funny types of tags, either, simply because I'm not clever enough to come up with those kinds of tags. I just tag the characters and/or pairings, the genre/tropes involved, and since I like to do a lot of episode tags, I'll make note of the specific episode(s) involved as well. And then if there's any other extra information I need to add, I'll go from there. My fics aren't very dramatic or wild in terms of what they're about, so I fortunately don't have to worry about warnings much or anything like that.

I've heard some people say that the funny kind of tagging is something that was brought over from Tumblr. Some of those tags can be clever and entertaining, some don't seem to have much relevance to the story, which kinda defeats the purpose to me, but it's their fic, so... 

Yeah, nowadays you pretty much have to explicitly ask for that kind of feedback, because most people don't want to do the whole critiquing thing anymore. The general trend nowadays seems to be "don't criticize unless the author specifically asks for it". And even then, if someone asks, that's not always a guarantee they'll get it, because people will still be reluctant to give critique, either because they don't know how or what to say, or because they've been burned by authors who've said they're open to critique...only to snap at people who give it. Getting comments is just very different today than it used to be in general, for the reasons discussed earlier in this thread. 

And the great thing there is that when it comes to rare pairs, or characters that don't get as much attention, yes, it's harder to get readers and comments for them, but the few that do will be really passionate when they do comment, because they're so darn happy to find fic for those pairings and characters :D. 

I've tended to have a mix, myself-I've got some pairings and characters I like in some fandoms that are popular with everyone else as well, to where I know if and when I write fics for them, I'll get a decent amount of attention, and then I've got some in other fandoms that aren't as big (and in those cases, a large part of that is because the fandom itself isn't very big or well-known, either, which is also a factor), and so I know that the comments and kudos and such are going to be fewer and farther between. 

Course, there's also the fact that being a fan of a popular pairing or character doesn't automatically mean you'll be swimming in reviews and kudos and such, either. If the fandom's a big, very active one, someone's fic could get buried among all the other stories. Or some people who've deemed themselves the "authority" on a certain character or pairing may not like a certain author's take on them. Or, because they're in competition with a lot more authors, it's harder for their fic to get attention. So sometimes being on the less popular side of things in a fandom can actually be beneficial, too. 

I realize I am spoiled by the JB fandom and it's high quality and mostly great people, but there was a period of time when the competition for Kudos/Comments was fierce. There were people who prompted their fics, people who didn't promote, and a lot of jealousy, until a few of the great writers just noped out of it and stopped tagging the pairing from their fics. Since the show ended, that's leveled off.

There are always going to be factions in a fandom, and there are always going to be assholes. Posting your writing is like standing naked in front of a crowd of people. Sometimes people are going to compliment you for your body or bravery, sometimes they are going to mock you, and sometime they are going to just ignore you because they think you are crazy. Whatever happens, you're still out there exposed. 

 

[Cloud9Shopper]

I ended up signing up for Tumblr to better participate in a Glee fanfic challenge I joined, and I ended up searching ER posts one day to find out about an ER fanfic/fandom Discord that another writer had started. So while it’s not a big space and I know how easy it is to get lost on Tumblr, it’s been nice to interact with people who seem excited to read my story and are familiar with the show and characters to boot. 

The Glee challenge starts today and runs through September 30 to allow time for content creation and publish, and they’re allowing all kinds of content (fan art, fics, moodboards—which is kind of like a Pinterest board). So I made a moodboard and will write a ficlet to go with it. 

Joining Discord and Tumblr really helped me feel more confident again in wanting to write even if I don’t explode in popularity or anything. 

[Annber03]

Aw, cool, I'm glad that's given you a few more avenues to interact with other fans and get more fic inspiration and such.

I'm on a few Discords for some of my shows, but they either move too fast for conversation, and depending on time zones, by the time you get on, the conversation's moved on, or they're too slow, and it can be days, weeks, even months before anyone posts anything in them. They can be fun places to chat, yes, but they're not my preferred method of discussion. I like message boards, like this one, the most :). I think it's easier to keep things more organized and keep track of conversations better that way. 

And Tumblr...I've read a few things on that site, but I don't have an account there. I just have a really hard time keeping up with or posting on social media sites in general, it seems. I don't know why, but I just can't get the hang of it the way others do. 

But for you and everyone else who likes using sites like that, I'm glad that they exist, and that there's other means to participate in fandom out there :). 

[LexieLily]

1 hour ago, Annber03 said:

I'm on a few Discords for some of my shows, but they either move too fast for conversation, and depending on time zones, by the time you get on, the conversation's moved on, or they're too slow, and it can be days, weeks, even months before anyone posts anything in them. They can be fun places to chat, yes, but they're not my preferred method of discussion. I like message boards, like this one, the most :). I think it's easier to keep things more organized and keep track of conversations better that way. 

What's a Discord?

[Annber03]

3 minutes ago, LexieLily said:

What's a Discord?

It's a type of online chat site. People can set one up for anything-TV shows, music, some fic authors will set one up to discuss their fics with other people, stuff like that. I've never set one up myself, so I couldn't begin to tell you how to do that, but people can be invited to join them and things like that. 

[Cloud9Shopper]

12 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

It's a type of online chat site. People can set one up for anything-TV shows, music, some fic authors will set one up to discuss their fics with other people, stuff like that. I've never set one up myself, so I couldn't begin to tell you how to do that, but people can be invited to join them and things like that. 

I just randomly found my ER one on Tumblr and then I heard about another one for Glee on the Glee sub. The links to them were both easily available but they expire every seven days.

(BTW if anyone wants to join the ER discord let me know and I’ll drop the link here or PM it. All favorite characters and ships—canon or not— welcome as long as you’re civil. Any under 18s have to post their age in the discord but I think we’re all adults here.) 

Edited July 26, 2021 by Cloud9Shopper

[Cloud9Shopper]

Wow things got quiet. I didn’t realize I made the last post here before checking in now. Anyone reading or writing anything good lately?

I’m almost done with my first grad school class and get a month off before my next one starts so I’m hoping to spend that month finishing my WIPs and putting out some new ideas. The new ideas will probably be one shots or short stories in the interest of time, although I just wrote a oneshot and made a Tumblr post in response to two different prompts. (The Tumblr post will end up in an AO3 story at some point.) I also need to post my first submission to the Glee challenge I’m in on Tumblr. 
 

I also checked my AO3 stats tonight and I have four subscribers to two of my fics and two subscribers who get notified every time I post a new story. Pretty cool! 

Edited August 4, 2021 by Cloud9Shopper

[Annber03]

1 hour ago, Cloud9Shopper said:

Anyone reading or writing anything good lately?

Well, I'm really happy about developments in one of my fandoms-there's been a few more writers popping up in the Evil fandom of late, so I've been able to enjoy a lot of new, excellent stories there, and what's more one of the writers has been posting a LOT of really good stories involving one of my favorite ships, which, yay :D! And their take on the pairing seems fairly similar to my reading of them as well. So that's fun :).

As for my own work, uhhhhhh...I have...a lot of fics I'm working on, for multiple fandoms (Evil being one of them) :p. My issue is more just trying to find time to actually finish and post some of them, LOL. I'm hoping to do that at some point soon here, though. 

Quote

I also checked my AO3 stats tonight and I have four subscribers to two of my fics and two subscribers who get notified every time I post a new story. Pretty cool! 

Hooray :)!

[BlackberryJam]

The Jaime/Brienne Game of Thrones fandom just had a fic exchange with, at last count, 80 new fics posted in four days in the collection. My fanfic time is focused on the reading... :)

(I'm so spoiled with an active fandom and great writers.)

[Cloud9Shopper]

16 minutes ago, BlackberryJam said:

The Jaime/Brienne Game of Thrones fandom just had a fic exchange with, at last count, 80 new fics posted in four days in the collection. My fanfic time is focused on the reading... :)

(I'm so spoiled with an active fandom and great writers.)

Our ER Discord has a short fic challenge going on at the moment (2,000 words or less). I’ve only had time for one prompt, but most of the writers are just writing as they can anyway.

The challenge was grabbed from the ao3commentoftheday Tumblr, so there’s really no deadlines or specific fandom for it. Anyone who wants to participate can do so. 

https://ao3commentoftheday.tumblr.com/post/654286930877530112/short-fic-challenge

[JustHereForFood]

9 hours ago, BlackberryJam said:

(I'm so spoiled with an active fandom and great writers.)

That's how I currently feel about Good Omens fandom. I have finally been able to slow down with reading, after reading almost daily for a few months. I get this obsession when I dicover a new fandom that I like. Downside is of course, that I have no time left to read actual books. Oops.

[Cloud9Shopper]

I just realized when I was here I forgot to drop links to some of my latest work.

Chapter 3 of my New Amsterdam fic (Max/Helen ship, AKA Sharpwin): https://archiveofourown.org/works/32281105/chapters/81998146

ER oneshot about Neela. May make it a longfic later but not sure yet:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/32985469
 

An ER ficlet (<300 words) from my Tumblr about Archie and Claudia, S15 ship. May put it on AO3 later as part of a one-shot compilation about these two and flesh it out more. It was just a quick answer to a prompt:

https://drelizabethgreene.tumblr.com/post/658552372967211008/the-prompt-from-the-er-discord-channel-copy-and

 

[Cloud9Shopper]

Just about done with my ER fanfic! I posted the second-to-last chapter yesterday. Kind of happy and sad at the same time to be almost done. Happy because it’s been an emotional write for me, and sad because even though no one in the story is real, it’s like you’re letting go of your characters. 

Comments/feedback welcome! 
 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/30910673/chapters/82829992

[Aliferously]

I hardly ever use tags. I didn't know it was a requirement and I don't know, I don't see the point of them.

If I'm doing a particularly difficult subject (ie pregnancy loss, in my case) I do put up a note at the beginning of my chapter to warn people. I've never had complaints from my readers so I guess it's ok if they're not greeted by a whole wall of them everytime they click the story.

Not sure how much you're into (new version) Magnum PI or Rookie fic, or somewhat older 12 Monkeys or Haven fanfic but if you've got time to spare, this is my profile over at A03.

https://archiveofourown.org/users/LucyRasmussen/works 

It's not stellar stuff by any means but it keeps me busy and got me through the pandemic in one piece.

[Annber03]

12 hours ago, Aliferously said:

I hardly ever use tags. I didn't know it was a requirement and I don't know, I don't see the point of them.

There's certain types of tags that the site recommends people use if their fic touches on some particularly dark themes, but they also have a "Choose Not to Warn" option that I think can cover some of those bases as well. These links explain the tagging stuff further, if you're curious:

https://archiveofourown.org/tos?language_id=en

https://archiveofourown.org/tos_faq#ratings_and_warnings

I don't use a lot of tags, either, but a lot of that is because I tend to write a lot of one-shots and the list of characters in them is pretty small and they're pretty uneventful in terms of what happens in the story, so there's not really much I need to warn/tag for in the first place :p. 

[LexieLily]

12 hours ago, Aliferously said:

I hardly ever use tags. I didn't know it was a requirement and I don't know, I don't see the point of them.

Same. I don't post on A03 in the first place, though - I tried a one-shot once, didn't get any comments so gave up. Maybe I'll try it again someday but for now I much prefer FFN. All they have is the tag list of characters, singular or in a 'ship, and at least for me that's all you need, isn't it? If there's something that is needed to be said, you can say so in the fic summary. (A/U, post-ep tag, post-canon, etc.)

[Cloud9Shopper]

Yay good to see some activity here! Thought I was going to be talking to myself at some point. 

I just finished my ER fic, which is my first ever longfic. It ended up coming in at 13 chapters and nearly 58,000 words. I admit it felt a little bittersweet to be done, but you never know when I’ll dust off the characters for oneshots or “deleted scenes” (from my fic) type of things.

Here’s the last chapter. But if you want to catch up/start from the beginning the story isn’t going anywhere on AO3 so you have lots of time. :) And if the topic is too heavy for you, I have some less intense ideas planned in the near future. 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/30910673/chapters/83939887

 

 

[BlackberryJam]

One of my main reasons for wanting authors to tag comes from kinkfic. I enjoy reading smut, but if there’s going to be lactation kink, anal fisting, golden showers, sexualized self-harming, etc, I want to know so I can make an informed choice to read. Or not. 

[ESS]

Great idea for a thread!  

I have fanfiction I've written and I'm writing at the moment. I have a lot of fandoms I love, but I don't write for all of them, only some, but my main ones right now are Sons Of Anarchy (Gemma/Nero, my one & only OTP) and The Conners (Dan & Louise)

[ESS]

I haven't written much for Dan & Louise just yet, but I hope to eventually as I do have an idea for a story I'd to explore for them. I'm really focused so much on Gemma/Nero at this time it's where my muse is and not only that it's also because I'm still trying to finish my multi chaptered story on them I've had going for a while now, 

Edited January 11, 2022 by ESS

[Annber03]

Heh, yeah, I know how tough it can be, trying to balance ideas for more than one fandom :p. I'm bouncing around and plotting out ideas for a few fandoms as well. 

[Cloud9Shopper]

2 hours ago, Annber03 said:

Heh, yeah, I know how tough it can be, trying to balance ideas for more than one fandom :p. I'm bouncing around and plotting out ideas for a few fandoms as well. 

I just wrote for my fourth fandom a couple weeks ago! Fandom hopping keeps it fun, especially when you’re in a smaller one and want to write bigger fandoms so you can see some payoff with more comments, engagement, etc. 

[ESS]

12 hours ago, Annber03 said:

Heh, yeah, I know how tough it can be, trying to balance ideas for more than one fandom :p. I'm bouncing around and plotting out ideas for a few fandoms as well. 

Yep it definitely is because I always have some ideas and then my muse just doesn't want to go there I guess.. for another fandoms, but hey I'd rather have a lot of ideas than none at all I think that's worse for a writer.

[Annber03]

21 hours ago, Cloud9Shopper said:

I just wrote for my fourth fandom a couple weeks ago! Fandom hopping keeps it fun, especially when you’re in a smaller one and want to write bigger fandoms so you can see some payoff with more comments, engagement, etc. 

Looking at my profiles on FF.net and AO3, I've written something for seven fandoms now :p. Some of them very small (to where they're either dead or barely exist), some very big and active. Like you said, though, that variety is a good thing in terms of engagement. And on the flip side, the smaller fandoms can be good for the times when you just want to escape the fandom craziness and drama and hang out somewhere a little quieter. 

11 hours ago, ESS said:

I'd rather have a lot of ideas than none at all I think that's worse for a writer.

I just said the very same thing myself recently in a conversation elsewhere :p. So true. And if I get stuck on a story for one fandom, there's another one waiting for me to spend some time in while I work through whatever roadblocks I've got in the other. I like that there's no shortage of characters and pairings for me to write about and explore. 

[ESS]

2 hours ago, Annber03 said:

Looking at my profiles on FF.net and AO3, I've written something for seven fandoms now :p. Some of them very small (to where they're either dead or barely exist), some very big and active. Like you said, though, that variety is a good thing in terms of engagement. And on the flip side, the smaller fandoms can be good for the times when you just want to escape the fandom craziness and drama and hang out somewhere a little quieter. 

I just said the very same thing myself recently in a conversation elsewhere :p. So true. And if I get stuck on a story for one fandom, there's another one waiting for me to spend some time in while I work through whatever roadblocks I've got in the other. I like that there's no shortage of characters and pairings for me to write about and explore. 

My fandoms(at least the ones that are my main focused) one is smaller at least in terms of the pairing and the other is I'd say bigger, but the pairing is also pretty small in terms of stories. I mostly write for rare pairs which is very frustrating, but at the same time there's so many possibilities to write about, but the lack of comments isn't a great thing, but again it's nice to have some faithful readers/commenters. 

Yeah exactly my point. I have one story that I'm working on mainly for my couple Gemma/Nero, but then I have two others for them that I've started, although the one I haven't really done much with, but the other that's started that one is going a bit better in terms of plot and writing of it. My on going story for them is very long now it's been going on since 2019 and is now 22 chapters, still working on 23 and I still have more ideas it's like every time I think I'm done with ideas for it more come to mind, but I don't care because to be honest I kind of don't want the story to end either because I love it so much and I'm so proud of it because I've never written a multi chaptered story like this before where there's more than 10 chapters nor this long in terms of word count.

[BlackberryJam]

So, in a decently active fanfiction fandom (although the show concluded 2 years ago, and no new book has come out), there was recently a fic exchange with about 30+ fics being posted. At the same time people were posting at the end of the year to reach a number of fics milestone. Many writers crossed over and wrote both, because hey, love of the fandom, love of the pairing. Give me as much fic as possible. 

A few of the exchange people decided to publicly rip into the milestone authors accusing the milestone authors of "burying the good fic with their nonsense."

Which of course resulted in the more fragile of the authors feeling like they should delete every fic they've ever written and never write a word again. Then the authors who don't participate other than to occasionally post decide that writing for the fandom isn't worth it because the people in the fandom are jerks. 

I don't get it. You get 100 or so new fics in a month in a fandom that should be dead or dying, and people are jerks about it? And then those same jerks will be bitching in three months that no new fics are being posted. 

[JustHereForFood]

2 hours ago, BlackberryJam said:

So, in a decently active fanfiction fandom (although the show concluded 2 years ago, and no new book has come out), there was recently a fic exchange with about 30+ fics being posted. At the same time people were posting at the end of the year to reach a number of fics milestone. Many writers crossed over and wrote both, because hey, love of the fandom, love of the pairing. Give me as much fic as possible. 

A few of the exchange people decided to publicly rip into the milestone authors accusing the milestone authors of "burying the good fic with their nonsense."

Which of course resulted in the more fragile of the authors feeling like they should delete every fic they've ever written and never write a word again. Then the authors who don't participate other than to occasionally post decide that writing for the fandom isn't worth it because the people in the fandom are jerks. 

I don't get it. You get 100 or so new fics in a month in a fandom that should be dead or dying, and people are jerks about it? And then those same jerks will be bitching in three months that no new fics are being posted. 

So much unnecessary drama. From your description of the fandom, let me guess, GoT?

[BlackberryJam]

5 minutes ago, JustHereForFood said:

So much unnecessary drama. From your description of the fandom, let me guess, GoT?

Yes, Jaime and Brienne is the pairing. The fic writing is excellent in that fandom. One of the writers, Olivia Dade, converted her JxB fic into two original novels, Spoiler Alert and All the Feels, which had done well. The variety of fic is amazing, from Endgame canon fics to Mod AU to SciFi. The pairing just works. 

To post on Twitter insulting the fanfic within your own preferred fandom is just utterly trashy. 

[Ceindreadh]

13 hours ago, Annber03 said:

Looking at my profiles on FF.net and AO3, I've written something for seven fandoms now :p. Some of them very small (to where they're either dead or barely exist), some very big and active. Like you said, though, that variety is a good thing in terms of engagement. And on the flip side, the smaller fandoms can be good for the times when you just want to escape the fandom craziness and drama and hang out somewhere a little quieter. 

I just said the very same thing myself recently in a conversation elsewhere :p. So true. And if I get stuck on a story for one fandom, there's another one waiting for me to spend some time in while I work through whatever roadblocks I've got in the other. I like that there's no shortage of characters and pairings for me to write about and explore. 

 

I see your seven and raise you ten!

Most of them though were sequential, although there were a few times when I was writing in 3 or 4 fandoms simultaneously.

Fun times!

[Cloud9Shopper]

Good to see this thread wake up again! 

February has a couple of challenges coming up. There is Febuwhump (28 prompts of whump) and then there is a ficlet challenge where you’re challenged to come up with 28 pairings and write a ficlet for each one on a different day. (I think the 28 is ideal, but it should be OK if you can’t come up with 28…I only have eight lol.) 

I have never actually completed a challenge before but it’s always worth a try even if I only finish one or two. I fulfilled a Flufftober prompt (fluffy fics in October) last month and the event Tumblr still reblogged it. 

[ElleryAnne]

9 hours ago, BlackberryJam said:

So, in a decently active fanfiction fandom (although the show concluded 2 years ago, and no new book has come out), there was recently a fic exchange with about 30+ fics being posted. At the same time people were posting at the end of the year to reach a number of fics milestone. Many writers crossed over and wrote both, because hey, love of the fandom, love of the pairing. Give me as much fic as possible. 

A few of the exchange people decided to publicly rip into the milestone authors accusing the milestone authors of "burying the good fic with their nonsense."

Which of course resulted in the more fragile of the authors feeling like they should delete every fic they've ever written and never write a word again. Then the authors who don't participate other than to occasionally post decide that writing for the fandom isn't worth it because the people in the fandom are jerks. 

I don't get it. You get 100 or so new fics in a month in a fandom that should be dead or dying, and people are jerks about it? And then those same jerks will be bitching in three months that no new fics are being posted. 

I don't understand why people would be such jerks.  As someone who enjoys reading fanfic, I'm always appreciative of the works that authors create and share.  And that's especially true for the smaller fandoms and less active fandoms I read in, because I know the authors probably don't get much recognition for those works.  I hope that most authors, at least, aren't chased off by a handful of loudmouths that represent the worst of the internet, because I'm sure there are far more people who are grateful for all authors' contributions to the fandoms.