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ao3commentoftheday

sometimes a family is you, 45,820 fandoms, and 4,000,000 registered users

🥳 Congratulations AO3! 🎉

dawnsedits

You can’t outrun who you really are.

wisdom-and-such

Human history during the lifespan of a tree; from the burning of Alexandria to America’s declaration of independence.

laporcupina

This tree slice is part of the (NYC) American Museum of Natural History’s permanent collection and I’d know it anywhere because I’ve been looking at it for forty years.

truintent444

issasideblogbruh

THIS.

jabberwockypie

I reblogged this a few hours ago, but I will reblog it again, because I just feel this SO STRONGLY.

everythingfox

Illegally small

(via)

acecroft

that’s it that’s their relationship

shypotatotale

innytoes

Completely useless Leverage question I get distracted wondering about:

Does Hardison run like a giant group chat of Nana’s former foster kids where they coordinate who gets her what for Mother’s Day and her birthday? Is there like a spreadsheet involved? Are there arguments at 0:01 on the day after her birthday that NO, DARRYL, YOU CANNOT SIGN UP TO BE THE ONE TO GET HER FLOWERS AGAIN THAT IS CHEATING.

(Obviously any current foster kids who want to participate get first pick and a budget Hardison sets aside for each of them. He also gives them like a spreadsheet of ‘a heartfelt card has a 99.3% success rate of making her tear up, if you wanna ensure 100%, draw her a card yourself.’)

coffeesuperhero

I think about this constantly. Like maybe it isn’t just Nana’s birthday, it’s holidays, everyone else’s birthdays, life events like high school graduations, college graduations, weddings, whatever, any day that’s important to any of them, Hardison has it on his calendar, he knows about it, there is a group chat about it, and you will get a present even if he can’t be there in person and he runs a weekly video chat for anybody who can join where they just check in, make fun of each other, talk about life, or whatever. (”Okay, okay, Darryl, I think we’ve heard enough about your Star Wars fanfiction, I’m not– Darryl. DARRYL. I’m not judging you, man, I’m glad you have the joy of fanfiction in your life, I’m just saying, that isn’t my ship, and I KNOW it’s not anybody else’s, and I don’t think everybody wants to hear about your ninety chapter WIP– look, can we put this to a vote and move on, people? Because somebody brought it to my attention that it’s Tasha’s high school graduation next month and we need to talk about presents before she gets back from quiz bowl practice and jumps on the call.”)

The calls have always been fun but they get a lot more interesting over the years, sometimes there’s this blonde lady who like, rappels down from the ceiling behind Alec, and like, what is that about, but he doesn’t even turn around he just smiles and says “Hey Parker, everybody, this is Parker, Parker, this is everybody,” and the lady gives them a little wave and a smile before doing something with her gear and disappearing out of the frame again, and Alec just seems to think this is totally normal and if it works for him it’s normal and that’s that, just like Nana says, so nobody says anything about it. And everybody like, low-key knows Hardison’s not really a computer tech for some international IT company like he says he is, because he calls them from a lot of interesting places (what’s a computer tech doing on a mountain in Alaska???) but nobody calls him on it because the whole time he’s had this “computer tech” gig the presents he sends them have been getting like, increasingly cooler. Also a couple of years ago they all started getting what are obviously homemade baked goods in the mail and many of them know from experience that big brother Alec Hardison makes a mean pan of scrambled eggs but they’re pretty sure his culinary skillset does not include the delicately flavored confections they’ve been gifted recently, so they have a separate group chat without Hardison in it where they’re discussing which one of the many other random people who have wandered through the background of the video calls over the years might be the person who makes this food. Maybe they have a bet on it. Everybody says smart money’s on the lady with the accent and most of them mock Darryl for his decision to stick with that grumpy white guy with the good hair but what do you know, Alec moves to Portland and that guy’s around in the background a lot more, usually with a towel slung over his shoulder, and Darryl can’t take it anymore so he says “Hey, tell your friend those scones were really fucking good,” and the guy stops on his way out of the room and actually smiles, and Alec says, “Everything Eliot makes is really fucking good,” and Eliot’s still smiling but it’s definitely a different smile when he’s looking at their brother, and half the kids on the call are like Dammit Darryl, and anyway I think about this a lot.

innytoes

Hardison wonders why half the people on the screen suddenly take out their phone. They’re venmo-ing each other money to settle bets. Darryl makes a killing.

Wait until canon OT3 is confirmed. Darryl keeps taking sips out of a very bright mug that says I TOLD YOU SO during their weekly videochat.

coffeesuperhero

YES and eventually the other kids are like TELL DARRYL TO STOP GLOATING but Alec Hardison, who is part of a crew that literally structures time for gloating into every job they do, cannot and will not deny anyone their well-earned right to gloat, and the next week on the video call he’s drinking out of an equally brightly colored mug that says DARRYL TOLD YOU SO, and everyone just groans

ladyvyola

WHAT IS DARRYL’S INCREDIBLY NICHE STAR WARS SHIP?!?

bloodytales

One year Hardison panics because he had a stack of presents he was going to take over for the current foster kids with Nana, but he can’t find them. Gone. All the stores are closed and it’s Christmas eve. He immediately calls Parker.

Parker picks up, but says “can’t talk now.” And hangs up.

Hardison, now pacing, frantically calls Elliot.

“Damn it Hardison, what do you want?”

Hardison replies, “Parker hung up on me, all the presents are gone, I’m supposed to be at Nana’s by 9 am and I’ve got nothing. I figure you and I break into a couple stores before morning and-”

Elliot interrupts “Parker has all the presents.”

“What now?” Hardison stammers.

“Yeah, hold on.” Elliot grunts. There is a sound of a pulley.

“What do you mean Parker has the presents. Elliot?”

“Hold on, man.” Elliot’s voice is distant, like he put the phone down.

“Who are you talking to?”

Hardison recognizes Parker’s voice, “Parker? Parker… Parker!”

There is the sound of the phone being picked back up, “Oh, hey Hardison.”

Hardison, still pacing, “Parker, where are all the presents. I need to load them up in Lucille-”

“Santa delivered them.”

There is a pause before Hardison responds, “What?”

Parker replies, her voice twinkling with jingle bells and holiday spirit, “SAANTAAA!”

“Give me that.” Elliot takes the phone back.

“Elliot…. where are the presents?” Hardison’s head is now in his hands.

Elliot sweeps the hair out of his face, “Like Parker said, Santa.”

Just before Elliot hangs up, Hardison hears sleigh bells.

The next morning all the kids in Nana’s wake up to a pile of presents around the Christmas tree, all the cookies have bite marks, the milk is half drunk, and the carrots for the reindeer are gone too. When Hardison arrives later, the little kids eagerly tell him that Santa came, and point out the sooty boot prints by the fireplace.

Hardison’s visible shock at the evidence of Santa sends the older kids into a silent frenzy trying to figure out how someone got past the security system Hardison installed for Nana.

nys1065

This is the most perfect of perfect things and this must be reblogged forever

#leverage redemption

parentheticalaside

The bookselling behemoth is making life harder for writers, but so is the public perception that art doesn’t need to be paid for

“People have always felt a sort of ownership over art, and that’s actually good. It’s why you keep a book on your shelf and return to it, it’s why you hang a picture on your wall that speaks to you. But when this gets out of hand and you mistake access or a personal connection with your rights, as happens so often in our Internet age, it leads to a dangerous sense of entitlement. That’s why readers feel empowered to complain, directly to the creator, that a book or show doesn’t have absolutely everything they want: the romantic pairing they’d hoped for, the language they find most friendly, the ending they desired. And it’s also why, for instance, the last Harry Potter book leaked on the internet before it was officially published: fans saw the book as something they were owed, not the product of labor that deserved compensation. Not that J.K. Rowling needs more money—but she, and all authors, deserve to have their work recognized as work.

“Consumers hold a pernicious power, so this trend towards free content won’t reverse itself unless we want it to. This is a sad thing, and we will all be much worse off if we can only hear stories from people who can afford to write.”

roane72

Please please please do NOT pirate books if you want to keep having books to read. The median income for full-time authors in 2017 is reported at $20,857. That means half of all authors reporting income made LESS.

And of the authors that reported that they were, in fact, full-time authors, only 63% had ANY earnings to report. The average of those who did earn something was $43,247. Which means, looking at the difference between the median and average, the average is heavily weighted by the superstars.

MOST of your favorite authors are either working a second (or third, or more) job, have a partner who earns more money, or is living hand-to-mouth, or some combination of the three.

Libraries are your friends. Most have ebook collections now. I know readers gotta eat, but writers do too.

Signed, Someone whose book isn’t out for another 4 months, and is ALREADY being pirated :(

fishwrites

Oh gosh :( this really hit me: “This is a sad thing, and we will all be much worse off if we can only hear stories from people who can afford to write.”

stelamaris

A post from Maggie Stiefvater’s deactivated Tumblr about pirating killing the Raven Cycle boxset

Another post about how piracy meant that her publisher cut the print run on the last book because the previous book wasn’t selling as well and how she teamed up with her brother to prove that online piracy was responsible for the lower sales

starry-eyed-guttersnipe

If you cannot afford to buy books, please go through your public library! When you get a library card, you’ll also be able to sign up to rent audiobooks; a librarian can help you if you’re not sure how. Libraries are an important part of the book ecosystem, and when you get a book for free from the library, you’re still supporting the author.

nomadicism

Adding to this: do not return ebooks purchased on Amazon for a refund. There are a disturbing number of people who read the whole (or nearly whole) ebook and then return for refund. The author loses money when you do that, and not Amazon. Just use the library if you don’t want to pay for it. Libraries have ebooks these days too.

zalia

The average yearly income for writers (from writing) in the UK is about £11,000. Which is not great. And yeah, piracy means that authors don’t get paid, don’t get future books bought by publishers, get lower advances and smaller print runs which means few people can buy their books which means… lower income.

Also, if you’re in the UK, borrowing from the library does directly support authors financially too! They get payments from library books being borrowed!

If you’re in the UK and want to skip Amazon, but don’t have a local indie bookstore, you can also try Bookshop.org

nestofstraightlines

Bookshop.org and Hive are obviously better than Amazon but the indie sellers don’t get that much of a cut when you buy via them. Much better to buy direct from an indie if you can.

If you’re avoiding Amazon, remember, Abe Books, Book Depository and Audible are all Amazon companies.

I also recommend Better World Books for both new and second-hand books. They have free, fast delivery. And they are owned by a non-profit! Which is partnered with the Internet Archive! They’re so good.

Waterstones.com is a decent alternative to Amazon, if you’re struggling to find a local indie or you need somewhere with a really huge range. Waterstones is a chain but it’s a chain that the indies need to survive - its buying power helps keen publisher prices down so Amazon and the supermarkets don’t have a monopoly.

And yeah - public libraries! You can join online for free and borrow ebooks and audiobooks as well as physically going in. It’s so easy there’s literally no justification for pirating books.

Writers need to and deserve to be reimbursed for the enormous labour that goes into making books. And it doesn’t get said enough - but so do comissioning editors, copy editors, illustrators, cover designers and all the other people who work hard and contribute to the creation of books.

rootingformephistopheles

Also, if the library doesn’t have the book you want, there’s a GOOD chance they will either straight up buy it for you OR they can inter-library loan it from a library that does have it. Don’t use ‘well they don’t have that book’ as an excuse! You can even request ebooks and audiobooks directly from overdrive/libby without having to talk to a human person about it.

unashamedly-enthusiastic

brb, crying at this

whatagrump

Apparently a lot of people get dialogue punctuation wrong despite having an otherwise solid grasp of grammar, possibly because they’re used to writing essays rather than prose. I don’t wanna be the asshole who complains about writing errors and then doesn’t offer to help, so here are the basics summarized as simply as I could manage on my phone (“dialogue tag” just refers to phrases like “he said,” “she whispered,” “they asked”):

“For most dialogue, use a comma after the sentence and don’t capitalize the next word after the quotation mark,” she said.

“But what if you’re using a question mark rather than a period?” they asked.

“When using a dialogue tag, you never capitalize the word after the quotation mark unless it’s a proper noun!” she snapped.

“When breaking up a single sentence with a dialogue tag,” she said, “use commas.”

“This is a single sentence,” she said. “Now, this is a second stand-alone sentence, so there’s no comma after ‘she said.’”

“There’s no dialogue tag after this sentence, so end it with a period rather than a comma.” She frowned, suddenly concerned that the entire post was as unasked for as it was sanctimonious.

thewritinggrindstone

And!

“If you’re breaking dialogue up with an action tag”—she waves her hands back and forth—”the dashes go outside the quotation marks.”

winged

Here’s one that a lot of people miss, but that can be helpful for the reader:

“Of course you already know to use a paragraph break between speakers,” they said.

“Yes,” she agreed. “Depending on style, you can either indent or line break, as long as you keep it consistent.” “Exactly! But did you know that if your single speaker goes on and on and gets a little rambly, and you find yourself needing to put in a paragraph break but not switch speakers, you should do the exact same thing? “Only, in this case, don’t close off the quotation marks until that speaker is completely done talking. See how after the question mark above there isn’t anything? Indent or line break for your next paragraph – however you’re indicating – and use a beginning quotation to mark the dialogue, but leave the initial paragraph open, so that the reader can tell it’s not a different person now speaking,” they finished.

Obviously, people can often get it from context even if you don’t do this, and grammar and punctuation is a thing that evolves and changes over time, but I do like this rule because it actually benefits the reader.

nandalorian

Further to breaking up dialogue with action, there are actually a couple of rules to be cognizant of.

As @thewritinggrindstone mentioned:

“If you’re breaking dialogue up with an action tag”—she waves her hands back and forth—”the dashes go outside the quotation marks.”

However, if the action that breaks up the dialogue also makes the speaker pause while speaking, the line breaks/EM dashes go inside the quotation marks, and the action should be a complete sentence.

For example:

“If you’re breaking up dialogue with an action tag—” She paused to wave her hands back and forth. “—the dashes go inside the quotation marks.”

arahir

if you can't get on ao3 tonight it's because a minecraft streamer rpf fic just updated and all 41k of the authors twitter followers tried to read it at once and yes if reading this confused you it means you're officially old

arahir

you all honest to god have no idea but minecraft rpf IS the biggest fandom right now. most of these people and certainly the people this story is about had no or very little engagement before last year but suddenly millions of american children who 1) love minecraft, 2) are growing up on streaming, 3) have never heard of fandom before, had nothing to do for a full year but sit at home and watch these guys stream. dream, who is a 21 year old streamer who has never shown his face, gained 15 million subs this year. fans of this genre are avid, skew very young, and, as mentioned, have probably never read another fic. the author's twitter replies are full of young teens explaining to each other what ao3 is and how to make an account there just to read this fic. we have wild times ahead. anyway, if this post really confused you, that's what's going on.

ao3org

Not to begrudge anyone their fun, but we work really hard on making sure our servers don't keel over even during stressful times, and it would be a pretty bad sign if a single fandom, let alone a single work, managed to bring the whole website to its knees. Luckily, it didn't!

(We even said so at the time, even though a screenshot of that tweet didn't make it into the post above.)

To give you a sense of how much traffic the AO3 servers can handle, we saw a total of 65.6 million page views on Sunday, January 3rd, which was a new record. That's an average of 2.73 million pages served every hour (more at peak times, less when a majority of users are asleep), or 45,555 pages per minute, or 759 pages per second. This level of fannish activity did not crash our volunteer-maintained servers, and we're actually kind of proud of that accomplishment!

The day of the downtime, we had a total of 62 million page views, which was still a bit more than we saw over the December holidays. And while a new chapter on a popular fic did not manage to kill the Archive for three hours, we are still working on optimizing things to prevent an unlucky repeat of that downtime in the future. Please help us out by not spreading admittedly funny rumors, if you'd be so kind!