Writing is not about ‘telling an epic story’ or ‘making something that will outlive you’. Writing is about going “You know what would be fucking awesome?” and then committing word crimes

titsay

Kiana Khansmith
d e v o n
todays bird
almost home
Peter Solarz
i don't do bad sauce passes

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pixel skylines
noise dept.
hello vonnie
Xuebing Du
Three Goblin Art
NASA
Monterey Bay Aquarium

izzy's playlists!

Origami Around
sheepfilms
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dirt enthusiast

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@royalfoxfics
Writing is not about ‘telling an epic story’ or ‘making something that will outlive you’. Writing is about going “You know what would be fucking awesome?” and then committing word crimes
Important ideas to consider when creating characters who are black and indigenous people of color. (x) (Creator’s instagram post)
I redid this older comic I made for my storytelling class based on this post. Have some cute wlw love in your day.
It’s hard, if I had more free time I could make it so pretty, this is what I could throw together for the assignment.
Help support a queer artist: Ko fi, Redbubble, Teepublic
good morning. claim the energy
a non-selective plan for the resurgence of fic commissions
Too many children in the comments like ‘I think authors should be able to share ko-fi links :) it’s just nice’ and ‘OP is just a cop.’ Homie, OP is trying to keep AO3 fully functional without interruption. I will report your ass, too, because I value fic artists and our freedom of expression and my audience and our shared history far more than I value the few bux you wanna make on a commission.
It is not hard to link to your Tumblr or Twitter with a vague message like, “If you’re looking for my other works or other ways of supporting me, go here: link.” I have had people buy me coffees after enjoying my fic and asking where to support me. I threw up a link to my Tumblr and people cared enough to follow it. They were fully understanding when I explained in the comments that they could not commission me and I could not link them directly to any donation platform, but they could go to xyz link to read more. And they did! Nobody has to put AO3 directly on the firing line.
Go ahead and commission independently. Just do it anywhere else except on AO3. And then don’t come crying to the community when you, personally, get a C&D from a massive corporation.
AO3 is our bullet shield. Tumblr will pull your shit down. Wattpad won’t fucking protect you. LJ and FF.net already sold our asses for one (1) corn chip. AO3 is trying to protect us, you goddamn lemmings.
If you cannot follow the rules that protect fanspaces, you do not belong in our fanspaces.
The only people who misunderstand this are doing so intentionally and maliciously. Do yourself a favor and block the infants who think this isn’t a big deal.
Please remember that this ALSO INCLUDES FANDOM CHARITY AUCTIONS.
When you post charity auction fics, DO NOT note that they are commissions in any way. You can note them as “here is my thank you gift to X for such-and-such event” but please please PLEASE do not list them as commissions.
guys check ao3 for interview with the vampire fics bc apparently there’s 65 pgs worth of it now, being dated back to 1995.
I’m just hoping her estate doesn’t follow in her wishes. Maybe I’m just negative but I wouldn’t trust it until we find out what her heirs have planned.
There’s nothing they can do, if the fics are posted to AO3 and aren’t being posted for any kind of monetary gain (which they shouldn’t be because AO3 doesn’t allow that for exactly this reason).
Because here’s the first thing: fanfiction falls under fair use, for reasons, which is why so much of it exists and you don’t hear many stories about people being sued for it or creators coming after fans anymore. You’ve technically been able to post fanfic of Anne Rice stuff, but here’s the second thing: although plenty of people did post anyway, people often didn’t out of either respect for her wishes (because she was expressly against fanfic authors writing about her characters) or the fandom genetic-memory fear that she would personally try to come for them.
But here’s the third thing: the estate can’t come for you directly unless you list direct contact info on AO3. Because what are they going to do? Leave a comment with a takedown notice, with no way to know if you have notifications turned on? No! AO3 has no native way to directly contact any of the authors archiving their work there. If they want to get to you, they have to go through AO3, and as long as you’re following AO3’s rules (which again are literally in place to protect you against exactly this kind of thing and specifically protect you from this actual person/estate, as her history is part of the reason AO3 exists) AO3 is going to tell them they have no ability to make you take it down. You actually won’t hear from the estate for posting on AO3, because AO3 would be the ones dealing with it for you.
So like. Take a moment and appreciate the folks who are posting freshly because they feel safer with her gone, sure. But also take a moment to appreciate that AO3 exists and protects us, and has been protecting us from their first day.
& then maybe go drop them a couple bucks to help keep the lights on so they can keep doing so.
HUH
With ADS????
I dont think this is official....
--
Sigh.
Okay, on the vanishingly slim chance that anyone who follows me does not already know this:
AO3 does not have an official app. AO3 will never have an official app.
The reason is that apps require a lot of money to develop and maintain, money that could be better spent on more servers and other shit AO3 actually needs.
The other reason is that the Apple store won't allow "adult" apps, and AO3 hosts explicit content and has no intention of censoring itself.
There have been plenty of "AO3 apps" before and will be again. Most are sleazy cash grabs you don't want to give your login info to. A few are nonprofit labors of love by fans. (Please don't harass people about their apps without checking which type they are. JUST SAYING.)
As someone who archive-locks their work, I would prefer it you logged in in your browser and did not miss out on The Good Shit™ that is archive locked. It's going to be disproportionately the good shit because the reasons one locks are:
weird porn
to avoid bullies (see reason 1)
because one is a fandom Old who likes to keep your shit within fandom (which doesn't always mean better writing, but there's a certain trend that way)
If you want a fake app, just download another browser, make a shortcut to your preferred AO3 search terms, and stick it on your homescreen with an AO3 icon. Use that browser only for AO3.
Reminder to all my followers: AO3 does not have an app and if you're using one, you're running a risk. If you give your user name and password to one of these apps and they do naughty things with it? That's on you.
#I'm completely new to Ao3#BUT THE APP I HAVE LOOKS EXACTLY THE SAME#As the online ome#And I logged in online using the same as the app?#i'm so confused#I signed up with the app#And it has all my bookmarks and the same as online
It’s not uncommon for apps to just reskin the site, basically. Is this Archive Track Reader?
How are we feeling about Archive Track Reader, tumblr? That’s the one people think is good, isn’t it?
An app can be trying to steal your info or it could be by a fan helping out other fans to be nice. The only real question is:
Do you trust the app maker?
Do you trust them not to steal your shit, but also, do you trust them to be technically competent and not accidentally leak your password. (People often miss that second half. Good intentions are not enough on the modern internet.) If yes, then go for it. I don’t think you’re required to hate all third party apps. I just think you should be aware they’re third party and make an informed decision.
Holy Trinity
Best content
Being Better: My ADHD comic for @adhd-alien’s Cosmic Takeover event!
Having ADHD has been a really hard experience for me, and it affects me every minute of my life. This is the first time I’ve ever been able to address it publicly, and I’m glad I got to share it in such a special way. If you relate and think you have ADHD, don’t hesitate to contact a medical professional and find out more about getting diagnosed. Thank you for reading! ❤️
Can you make a post linking to all of your one-shots and stuff please?
Here is all my Tomb Raider stuff.
True Standalones:
Memory - Lara, Sam (POV) - SFW
Summer Rain - Lara/Sam - SFW
Happy Birthday - Lara (POV) - SFW
Valentines Day - Lara/Sam - SFW
Breaking Bread - Alex (POV), Lara, Sam - SFW
When Your Heroes Aren’t Heroes (Drabble) - Lara - SFW
Don’t Wait Up - Sam, Lara - SFW
Pros and Cons - Sam (POV) & Lara - SFW
Revenge (Drabble) - Lara & Sam (POV) - SFW
PMS - Sam(POV)/Lara - SFW
Sacrifice - (Drabble) - Sam (POV) x Lara - SFW
Ten Things I Hate About You - Lara & Sam - SFW
MAR 03 2013 00:00 - Sam (POV) & Lara - SFW
Could you write a drabble where Sam and Lara have a cute conversation about what their lives would be like in a parallel universe where they’re a domestic couple? - Lara/Sam - SFW
That One Time At Film Camp - Sam/OC, Lara - NSFW
Tax Time - Lara, Sam - Crack!fic - SFW
A Day in the Life - Lara, Sam - SFW
We All Have Our Demons - Lara, Sam - SFW
It’s Better In Berlin - Sam/OC, Lara/Sam - NSFW
Three’s a Crowd - Sam (POV), Lara/OC - SFW
While You Were Working - Lara (POV)/Sam - SFW
Little Blue Cross - Lara(POV)/Sam - SFW
Ice Bucket Challenge - Lara/Sam - SFW
In Tribute - Lara (POV)/Sam - SFW (HUNGER GAMES CROSSOVER)
Deep End - Lara (POV)/Sam - SFW (POLICE AU)
Set in the ‘The Camera Loves You’-verse (in order):
The Camera Loves You - Lara/Sam - (EPIC, COMPLETE)
Coda - Lara (POV)/Sam - NSFW
Dinner Date - Sam(POV)/Lara - SFW
A Little Privacy - Sam (POV) x Lara - NSFW
Surprise - Sam (POV)/Lara - NSFW
The Dreaming - Lara/Sam - (EPIC, COMPLETE)
Make Believe - Min/Bree, Min/Lara, Lara(/Sam) - NSFW Set in Part 2 of The Dreaming.
Checkmate - Sam(POV)/Lara, Min/Bree - SFW
Agreement - Lara(POV)/Sam, Min - SFW
Research - Lara/Sam (POV) - SFW
Fanfic - Lara/Sam (Min/Bree) - SFW
Cruise Control - Sam(POV)/Lara - NSFW
Free Pass - Bree (POV)/Min/Lara - NSFW
Company - Bree, Lara (POV) - SFW
Frozen - Lara (POV)/Sam (Min/Bree) - SFW
AU from The Dreaming (or possible continuation) - Lara/Sam, Min/Bree
Loosely based on ‘The Camera Loves You’-verse but readable out of order:
“Can you like make a thing Where Lara walks in on Sam duct-taping the ends of her clothes to her body to make herself more aerodynamic for their next expedition like a hunter from left 4 dead” - SFW
Trash & Treasure - Lara, Sam - SFW
Three times Natla’s Hair Distracted Lara and One Time it Really Didn’t - Lara, Lara/Sam, Preslash Lara/Natla - SFW
Also, the one about Lara’s facelist (ala Definitive version of her model)
Mourning Sam Nishimura and her not being included in the Tomb Raider movie? Drown your sorrow in my 550,000 words of gay Tomb Raider fiction.
just gonna leave this here
I’ve said this before, possibly even on this post, but this also means throwing out that shitty attitude of “You can tell this was made by cishets for cishets” just because it doesn’t relate to your specific queer experience. I have seen works created by queer creators based on their own experiences get labeled “by cishets for cishets” because it didn’t reflect a particular experience/reflected a different experience from that of those criticizing it. There is no universal queer experience. Just because it’s not YOUR experience doesn’t mean it’s not queer.
6 Tricks to Layer on Stakes
Every great story has stakes–things that are at risk throughout the plot. It might be that the protagonist’s life is at risk, or perhaps a romantic relationship, or maybe the opportunity to go on a long-awaited trip. Years ago, I had a hard time understanding stakes, and I think it was in part because they were often defined vaguely. Everything clicked when I realized that they are really potential consequences, which is how I prefer to define them now.
Stakes are significant events that could happen, and they include a sense of cause and effect. Typically, you can fit stakes into an “if … then … ” statement (even if it’s not literally written as one in the text):
“If I don’t defeat [the antagonist], then he’ll hurt my family.”“If you become a vampire, then the only thing you’ll love is blood.”“If we don’t fight back, then he’ll take all our land, our homes, our lives we built.” “If we don’t keep moving, then dehydration will kill us.”
Great stakes are closely related to tension, suspense, and hooks. All three get the audience to look forward and anticipate what could happen, usually by getting the audience to hope or fear a potential consequence. The audience then has to keep reading to discover the actual outcome.
All easier said than done. For many writers, stakes can be difficult to get on the page specifically because they require the writer to brainstorm possible, future outcomes–some of which may not actually happen.
For example, say your characters are stranded in a desert. They decide if they don’t keep moving, they could die of dehydration. But perhaps, in reality, it turns out if they had stayed put, they would have been rescued. Stakes aren’t always about what actually happens. Remember, they are about risk.
In a page-turner of a story, you’ll want to brainstorm and put in much more stakes, or potential consequences, in the text than what actually happens. For some of us, it’s hard to brainstorm enough of those, so here are some tricks.
1. Look at both positive and negative potential consequences.
When it comes to stakes, we often focus on the negative … because that is what is at risk.
“If [the protagonist] doesn’t defeat [the antagonist], [the antagonist] will take over the world.”
But putting positive outcomes on the page can sometimes be just as effective.
“If Samantha can nail this audition, then she can finally star in a movie.”
In this example, a positive potential consequence is what is at risk. Sure, we could change it to a negative–if she doesn’t nail the audition, she can’t star in a movie.
But the exercise of looking at both positive and negative potential consequences can help you brainstorm new ones. After all, if we were only looking at the negative, we may not have come up with “starring in a movie.”
2. Add to the cause-and-effect trajectory
Once you have one stake on the page, you can often add more to it, by taking the cause-and-effect trajectory out further. Suzanne Collins does this well in the opening of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
If the protagonist can’t eat cabbage soup, then he can’t get his stomach to stop growling (consequence #1), which means people will realize he’s poor, not rich (consequence #2), which means his reputation will be ruined (consequence #3), which means he’ll lose his opportunity to be a mentor through his school program (consequence #4), which means he’ll unlikely be able to meet the credentials needed for college (consequence #5), which means his family won’t be taken care of (consequence #6), which means his cousin might have to succumb to prostitution (consequence #7).
Whew, that’s a lot that hinges on making cabbage soup. Suddenly finding out whether or not the cabbage soup is going to work feels way more important!
You don’t have to take it out that far, but hopefully you get the idea.
3. Consider broad potential consequences
Another helpful approach is to look at how a potential consequence can have broader ramifications.
This works even with personal matters.
“If Jasper doesn’t return Emily’s love with a proposal, her descendants may be doomed to live in poverty.”
Here, something personal, love, has been broadened to include a family line–all of Emily’s children.
“If George doesn’t get to water, he could die of dehydration, which means his evil uncle could take the throne.”
In this example, the protagonist’s possible death affects a whole kingdom.
4. Consider personal potential consequences
A reverse of the previous is to look at ways to make potential outcomes more personal.
“If I don’t defeat the antagonist, he’ll take over the world–my mom, dad, Frankie, my entire hometown won’t survive.”
Here we move from a broad problem to a personal risk.
5. Pull in other cause-and-effect trajectories
In most stories, there are multiple cause-and-effect trajectories at work–this is what makes up the plot. There might be a primary plot, a secondary plot, tertiary plot, etc. There might be cause-and-effect trajectories that only last for several chapters or less.
One way to brainstorm more stakes, is to try to connect the current situation to an indirect stake.
For example, say in one plotline, the protagonist is concerned about training her dog. In another plotline, she’s concerned about getting her love interest to take notice of her. They may seem pretty unrelated, but you can look for ways to make them connect. If she can’t get her dog trained, then Fido might decide to try to chase after the love interest’s car–earning her the wrong kind of attention.
6. Look at perceived threats
Sometimes a perceived risk can also work well. Meaning, the character thinks something is at risk, when it actually isn’t. Multiple times in the Harry Potter series, Harry is at risk of being killed or expelled, but since we know there are more books in the series, we can surmise that he won’t be … at least not until near the end, probably.
Or perhaps you are writing about a child who thinks if she lies to her teacher, she’ll go to jail. This is obviously not true, but to her, it’s a possibility.
When perceived threats are written well, it can often feel as if they are real, even when the audience knows they aren’t. This can be effective to layer on (and is better than nothing), but needs to be mixed up with the others, as its often not as powerful.
With these six approaches, you should be armed to brainstorm more, significant stakes. To learn more about stakes, you can read my other article on them here: How to Write Stakes in Storytelling.
god keep ur fucking kink meme shit out of ao3 tag y'all make this fandom even more insufferable than it already is and thats saying something!!! The kind of shit y'all post require a fucking trigger warning it doesnt belong in a safe space
Hello! I see there’s been some confusion! Allow me to clear something up: AO3 is not a safe space.
Let me repeat that. Archive Of Our Own is not a safe space, not in the way you mean it.
From the AO3 Terms of Service:
Why does the Archive have a goal of maximum inclusiveness?
There are a number of wonderful specialized archives. Our aim with this Archive is to provide a place to preserve as many fanworks as possible. At the same time, the Archive software can be used by anyone to create their own archives, including archives limited to particular topics, fandoms, or ratings.
What kind of content do you allow?
We will not remove content from the Archive because it contains explicit material, as long as it doesn’t violate any other part of the content policy (e.g., the harassment policy).
One basic consequence is that users are responsible for reading and heeding the warnings provided by the creator. Risk-averse users should keep in mind that not all content will carry full warnings. If you want to know more, you may also wish to consult the bookmarks that people other than the creator have used to categorize the fanwork.
Some creators do not want to put specific ratings or warnings on their works. Our policy aims to enable creators to choose appropriate labels or to opt not to use ratings and warnings, with the understanding that some users will avoid unrated or unwarned content.
The ratings/warnings policy is really minimal. Why is this?
We believe that appropriate ratings and warnings are often in the eye of the beholder. Users who feel that a fanwork lacks an appropriate rating/warning are encouraged to try to resolve the issue with the creator. Users may also add tags of their own to on-site bookmarks of a fanwork, which other users can consult for more information. When those tags are present, you can click on the “Bookmarks” link at the top of the work to see them.
The stated desires/goals when AO3 was conceived and initially developed can be found here, on a livejournal post from @astolat (founder of VidCon, Yuletide, and AO3, and all around fannish legend). In short, the goal was “allowing ANYTHING – het, slash, RPF, chan, kink, highly adult.”
And that, in fact, is precisely what AO3 hosts. You see, AO3 is a safe space for fanfiction. It’s a safe space for people to explore all kinds of fannish content without fear of banning, deletion, or legal reprisal. It was founded, designed, and developed to be a safe space for fandom and fannish works.
There also seems to be some confusion about the nature of safe spaces vs. trigger warnings. A fannish work that merits a trigger warning isn’t something that doesn’t belong in a safe space. The trigger warning is what MAKES something a safe space despite the presence of fannish works that merit warnings.
Something else to consider: there are many other things that include het, slash, RPF, chan, kink, and highly adult material, in addition to incest, pedophilia, infanticide, necrophilia, rape, bestiality, sadism and violence, adultery, and all manner of other things.
So holding individual women (because that’s what fandom primarily is, women exploring their sexuality in a safe forum filled with other women doing the same) accountable for their fictional exploration of things that a) exist in real life in genuinely damaging forms, b) have significant impact on women themselves, thus leading in some part to the urge to explore those things safely, and c) have existing in movies, television, popular culture, the Bible, and in all of literature since literature began? Well, that’s just an extension of the same culture that polices women’s sexuality in the first place and drives them to find safe ways to explore it.
Ding ding ding we have a winner 🙌🏼
AO3 was pretty much meant to be a safe space … FOR WRITERS.
FOR WRITERS TO POST PRETTY MUCH ANYTHING AS LONG AS IT IS ADEQUATELY WARNED FOR AND MEETS THEIR CLEARLY POSTED CRITERIA.
IT LITERALLY EXISTS TO PROTECT FANWORKS FROM BEING CENSORED, THREATENED BY LAWYERS, OR TAKEN DOWN OR ALTERED AGAINST THE WRITER’S WILL. THIS APPLIES TO ALL WORKS THAT MEET ITS TOS. ALL OF THEM. YES, INCLUDING AND ESPECIALLY THAT REALLY ICKY ONE.
THAT IS LITERALLY ITS PURPOSE FROM THE VERY BEGINNING. IT WILL NOT CHANGE ITS PURPOSE AND SUDDENLY DECIDE SOME KINDS OF CENSORSHIP ARE OKAY NOW BECAUSE SOME PEOPLE YELL.
If this makes anyone personally uncomfortable, there’s a very easy way to avoid that. Just don’t use AO3. Problem solved.
I guess I should be glad that we have built a world where young fans can be so deeply ignorant of fannish history that they think that the mechanism of repression they’re invoking wasn’t originally built and used to silence them, and so easily could be again. Their assumption is that they are entitled to have fandom feel comfortable and safe for them; it literally does not occur to them that within their own short lifespans you had to have separate and sometimes secret lists and archives for slash because “nobody wants to see that” and “it’s gross/against God’s will” and “what if the children see it!!!” (I remember a man knitter having to quit the freaking knitlist because he took such shit just for referring to his partner as “DH/DB” (dear husband/boyfriend) the way the women knitters did theirs.) And even within the slash community…the very first Smallville slash mailing list tried to ban strong language and graphic content. A rebel splinter had to break off and found ClarkLex to publish all kinds of stories. That was only in 2001!
I know it’s a good thing that we’re now in a world where indignant young people have no idea how vulnerable they historically have been and still are in this particular context. The time before: that was worse, for many people. But it’s still very tiring to see.
Please, indignant young people, do start up your own archives where the Problematic Content is banned. You’ll be setting each other on fire within the year over just where the line is to be drawn. And advancing your actual cause not at all.
AO3 is big and easy to use and I have seen some fucked up shit there.
Fandom is becoming mainstream. We need to reconsider if “because you CAN write it, no other reason necessary” is a good philosophy these days. It may be that AO3 needs to reconsider its philosophy and possibly change.
Excuse me? What’s wrong with writing something “because I can”? What other philosophy do you want us to adopt? Let’s see if this fits mainstream criteria of normalcy, of “good” and “moral”? And the answer to that is: NO. A huge big NO. This is why AO3 was created after LJ strikethrough in 2007 - because we wanted a space where it didn’t matter how weird or kinky or fucked up a story is. Where it didn’t matter that it’s not mainstream. Where we wouldn’t be judged, nobody could delete our stuff and nobody could try holding us legally accountable simply for writing something that’s not to their tastes (as long as there is no actually illegal material).
It may be that AO3 needs to reconsider its philosophy and possibly change.
Why would they “need” to do that? For what reason? AO3 is precisely what we need - apparently now not only to ward off attacks from outside fandom as it used to be, but from inside fandom as well.
“It may be that AO3 needs to reconsider its philosophy and possibly change.”
NO. Ao3 doesn’t *need* to do a damn thing. If you (and plenty of other people, evidently) think that fandom needs a more mainstream, sanitized space/archive go ahead and make it happen, the source codes are out there (and good luck deciding about how clean is clean enough).
I have seen this exact response given over and over again -make your own space, go on and do it yourselves- and it’s always ignored or treated like a dismissal. It’s NOT a dismissal, this is how everything in fandom gets created. This is how ao3 was created: a bunch of people wanted it enough to make it happen. We donated money, time and workto make it happen. And the folks at ao3 did such a good job that the result is now the biggest and most well known fandom archive. But it was born from a bunch of people who wanted to give fanfics a safe space and were willing to work for it.
Every time I see people huffing and ignoring the perfectly logical suggestion to “get together and create the fandom space that you want” I can’t help but think that they just don’t care enough about their ideas to be willing to put in the work (and if so, why should we care enough to do their work for them?) or worse, are just in it for the joy of policing and shaming others
THIS.
We didn’t like how it was done elsewhere, so we built AO3. You don’t like how AO3 does it? WELL GO BUILD YOUR OWN SPACE INSTEAD OF DEMANDIG AO3 TO DO AS YOU PLEASE! DAMN IT!
This entitlement is so disgusting.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
the scripts for cruella, riverdale and the powerpuff girls reboot have done an Excellent job at raising my self confidence as a writer; I rest assured in the knowledge that I Literally can't do worse
sometimes you start reading a fic and immediately you’re like OH this was written by a child. okay. please know that i am proud of you but also i cannot keep reading this
“this kid is in eighth grade, and their teacher just told them that using ‘said’ is bad, so they’re plumbing the depths of the dictionary for every single other dialogue tag that exists - and some that don’t - and I’m proud of them for expanding their vocabulary, but I must depart all the same”
This needs to be like on this post for reals
I can’t read it not because it’s bad (it’s not!)
I can’t read it because it’s like looking in a mirror and I can’t even focus on the story