lameunicorn

they/them || writer, artist, and theatre-maker || submerged in batfam and jason todd, marvel, star wars, the magnus archives, and percy jackson || find me on ao3 as lame_unicorn

[dutchs-blog]

Lego Swimming Pool Layout

[helila]

[lameunicorn]

when you understand the 4th dimension and space-time and black holes and infinite timelines and your brain explodes at four in the morning

[clandestinegardenias]

My therapist just told me my problem is that I need to write more fanfiction.

[clandestinegardenias]

This sounds fake but the logic behind it is actually really interesting? She said obsession with a new fandom triggers quick dopamine release when we consume all this related content--it's easy and addictive.

What we're NOT getting is that 'slow dopamine' that's more sustainable and engaging. That's the kind we get from DOING things that take effort but are ultimately rewarding.

So like, she suggested that writing fic and making fanart are ways to balance the quick dopamine of watching a show/reading fic with the slow dopamine of working at something that takes effort.

Moral of the story is you should engage in the process of creation around your favorite things. You'll feel better for it.

[owldaughter]

Oh.

OH.

[dduane]

Let's all go do fandom.

FOR SCIENCE!

:)

[beemovieerotica]

PSA: bot comments are taking over ao3

The above examples have been provided with the authors' permission to demonstrate what these look like.

Basic rundown:

They are all 3 sentences long

Perfect grammar, capitalization, and punctuation

Like absolutely flawless English teacher-style writing with only a single exclamation mark, ever

No mentions whatsoever of character names, settings, situations, or anything that could be tied to the story

The usernames may be identical to people who exist on ao3, but the name is not clickable, and no profile is associated with it EXCEPT when you directly search for that name. What this means: the comments come from an unregistered (not logged in) reader, bots scrape the site for real usernames, attach that to the comment, and post

Please spread the word about this so authors can filter comments and report them accordingly

There has been some speculation about why this is happening at all, and the best guess is that this is a feature that AI-training story-scraping tools are implementing to try and make their browsing traffic look legitimate

[lameunicorn]

just discovered your held hostage series! I looove it. Thanks so much for writing and sharing and will always look forward to more!

Aww! Thank you!

[goldrushzukka]

okay wait ive never watched supernatural but is destiel canon?

i wish there were an easy answer to this question

[lameunicorn]

@yourfinalbow go check out the op tags omg

[taxi-cab-to-slowtown]

Another drawing of Blood Moon Jason. Here's him facing off against Bruce.

[taxi-cab-to-slowtown]

Blood Moon. After Bruce slits Jason's throat and leaves him to die at the end of UTRH, Khonshu appears to him and offers for him to be his avatar. The mystic suit of Moon Knight combines with Red Hood's gear and the bloody bandages he'd managed to messily tie around his wound appear whenever he summons the suit. A testament to the fact that Batman had gone too far.

[broosepayne]

Who is the LEAST likely to adequately season their food?

Bruce

Cass

Dick

Duke

Steph

Damian

Jason

Tim

view results

Voting ended onMar 4, 2023

[lameunicorn]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

[3-minnnn]

[fade-steppin]

digging in my trash

[aidaronan]

Why do people stop commenting on fics if they’re more than a week or two old? Please comment on old fics. Tell me you like my one shot from 2014. Tell me you like my old multi-chap I finished in 2016 that I spent a year writing. I will be fucking thrilled.

[thefeistydragon]

Fics are not social media posts. There’s no “stalking” someone’s “old posts”. They’re meant to be found and enjoyed years down the line. No need to be nervous.

[plaidadder]

I reblog this message every time it comes across my dash because it’s true. And also: 

When I first started writing fanfic, back in the mid 1990s (yes! the late twentieth century!) one of the discouraging things about it was that people treated fanfic as if it was disposable. It seemed like what most readers wanted was a constant stream of new content, whereas I tend to produce one big work every 6-12 months. It made me sad that people seemed to think there was no point to re-reading or saving old fic. There is no sell-by date on fiction! It does not get out of order! It can still work even years or decades later! 

So yeah, I have stories up at ao3 that are literally a quarter-century old, and every time someone leaves a comment on them I am very pleased to get it. We get attached to our stories and it cheers us up to see that they are still finding readers. It means that they are still ‘alive,’ in some way. 

[ruffboi-mags]

AO3 is not social media, it’s (essentially) a library.

You’re meant to engage with any and all of it, regardless of age.

[dduane]

This. (And you could make a case that the older the fic on which feedback is received, the more it’s appreciated…)

[inksandpensblog]

You know that favorite book or series that you had, growing up? That one that you reread over and over, cover to cover, first book to last, at least once a year?

You can do that with fanfics too.

[anexperimentallife]

[awwandcuteeveryday]

Cats in the snow

(source)

[lameunicorn]

@yourfinalbow

[yearoftheotpevent]

Prompt List 2023 - alt text under the cut

January

first kiss | mission fic | fake dating | "whenever I look at you..." | snow | historical au

February

valentine's day | pollen/fear gas/truth serum | established relationship | "if i kiss you, will you shut up?" | different | mermaid au

March

fresh starts | road trup | getting back together/mutual pining | "make me" | acceptance | fairytale au

April

pranks | canon divergence | (seemingly) unrequited love | "no, i'm not dating your brother" | peace | university au

May

flower language | sick fic | pet/child acquisition | "who are you" | sunshine | fantasy/medieval/dark knights of steel au

June

wedding/proposal | saving the world | (accidental) love confession | "you aren't what i expected" | downpour | soulmate au

July

vacation together | power swap | enemies to lovers | "batman won't like this" | stars | coffee shop au

August

au of your choice | time travel | meet cute/blind date | "you're the only one i could turn to for help" | storm | vampire/werewolf/dc vs vampires au

September

high school/college sweethearts | hurt/comfort | meeting the family | "i wrote this for you" | flood | shifter au

October

couples costume | test messaging | identity shenanigans | "you can't bench me!" | lightning | sports team au

November

life changes | de-aging | secret relationship (reveal) | "be careful what you wish for" | growth | music/band au

December

holidays together | crack treated seriously | moving in together | "that's my favorite thing about you" | forgiveness | tattoo parlor/flower shop au

[alex51324]

OK, so, this is weird.  

@dsudis just tipped me off that someone has copied Soldier’s Heart and published it through Kindle Unlimited.  It’s been up there since December 8 of this year.  

(There are a zillion books on Amazon called Soldier’s Heart, but this one is definitely mine–if you click through to the preview, it is literally just a cut-and-paste.)

Does anyone know what you’re supposed to do, when something like that happens?

I mean, this idiot didn’t even change the names, so I suppose Julian Fellowes/whoever owns the rights to Downton Abbey also has grounds to object to this.  

[iwilltrytobereasonable]

@thebibliosphere could probably give advice

[thebibliosphere]

Ah, I am wondering if this is the same person I just responded to via ask? If not we may have a bigger plagiarism issue at hand (again—it happens every few years.)

Best thing to do is report to Amazon (and any other hosting sites) immediately. Ao3 might also want to be made aware of it just for added legal clout.

Also, if you see or recognize any other authors, let them know so they can also report them and if necessary take legal action.

Otherwise name and shame. Find their socials and light them up. We do not take kindly to plagiarists profiting from fandom.

[whitewolf1998]

At least 2 of that “(Combat Series)” are straight copy pasted fics. The rest of them probably are too.

[thebibliosphere]

There’s over 500 books, most of them appear to be stolen. I retweeted the thread here.

The good news, after having looked at their catalog is that Plush Books published them all under Kindle Unlimited, which requires exclusivity. The mere fact that these works exist elsewhere online puts them in direct violation of KU terms and Amazon comes down on that hard.

It just requires a lot of reporting. Hopefully Amazon will see an influx of reports and axe the whole account.

[unforth]

Hey hey!

My friend Kokom, who uncovered the Romilly King plagiarism, started posted about this on Twitter yesterday. Kokom, @nickelkeep, and I made a server then (about Romilly) to try to track down plagiarism victims, and it’s been running full steam since yesterday tracking down affected authors and contacting them. I suspect indirectly that’s how you, op, ended up being pinged.

Kokom put together a template authors can use:

Hi,

I affirm under penalty of perjury that I am the author of the work posted at [FIC LINK] as a free-to-read story. Under statute 17 USC 512, Amazon has a legal obligation to take down [Author]’s [Book name] in response to a valid DMCA takedown notice by the author. According to this statute, if [Book] is not taken down, you are making Amazon liable to be sued. Please check with a manager to verify.

I don’t need to fill in my contact info just because Amazon wants it, and I don’t have to provide my home number and address to make my claim valid. I’ve written in the author’s note section of my fic that I haven’t given [Author] permission to use my work, which is proof enough that [Author] has stolen the work from someone, but if you’d like more proof, I can also email you screenshots of comments/kudos I’ve received from my readers from [year] and on that are still in my inbox.

Please take [Book] down.

/template

I hope this helps.

Also note that as far as we know currently Plush Books published all “their” (stolen, plagiarized) works on Barnes and Noble, too, so you’ll want to do take down notices in both places.

I’m usually the one who xposts Kokom’s discoveries to Tumblr (because they don’t use tumblr, they’re on Twitter) but I’m traveling so haven’t been able to, so apologies that my fucked up December schedule means there’s not more information on tumblr atm.

Their original tweet about it is here: https://twitter.com/KokomRoily/status/1603843494904270848?t=_ZRF47aGL1wZFdeAu7sROQ&s=19

And if you check their account you’ll see a lot of other information about the efforts they’ve spearheaded since they made their discovery of this plagiarism public. There are dozens kf effected fandoms, it’s insane how fucking lazy and shameless this/these assholes are.

[unforth]

More info Kokom posted on Discord after I said “help look at this tumblr post how should I answer it”

Step by step advice:

1. Go to: <https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/knowledge-center/submit-dmca-notice/> and have a read.

2. Edit your fic A/N to reflect that you are not profiting from the work and it is not published anywhere other than (site).

3. If the copyright page has mentions FicLab, contact FicLabApp on Twitter or <https://www.ficlab.com/contact> to help block the person who downloaded it.

4. Send the text with “I affirm that…” to [email protected] or [email protected]

5. Email OTW about it, but they are already in the know about this and an influx of emails may make it harder for them to investigate.

6. If you spot copyrighted art, such as the SHIELD logo, Mandalorian helmet, or anything else, email the pictures and links to the copyright holder. If you recognize a small artist, contact the artist and have them file a DMCA request.

(Yes, Plush literally used Disney’s trademarked SHIELD logo on a book. Whoever did this is also an idiot)

[three--rings]

Fandoms spotted from covers alone: Doctor Who, lots of Star Trek, Predator, lots of Pacific Rim, Twilight (or similar), Sherlock, Stargate, Marvel, especially stucky, Star Wars, Witcher, Alien, Transformers, Hannibal, James Bond, Pokemon, lots of zombies.

Basically if you write sci-fi in particular, you might want to go see if your stuff has been stolen. 

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Plush-Books/author/B0BMB1RG5J/allbooks

[unforth]

There’s a spreadsheet with all the identified stories, contacted authors, etc., here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nrkEQzKOjn1siNuDIKL97PbESrmWfV-gpQEugVagx7o/edit?usp=drivesdk

It’s really just a fuckton of people, across at least 5 different posting platforms (AO3, FF.net, Wattpad, Quotev, LJ…).

Afaik over 400 of the works have now been ided and authors contacted if possible, out of just under 550 works.