#ao3 help

[material-possessions]

What’s up with these lines at the edges of the fic? They just appeared for me and i hate how they look, id love to know how to remove them

UPDATE: the wonderful user @griffinclawforlife made a skin that gets rid of them!

#main .wrapper {

border-left: none !important;

border-right: none !important;

box-shadow: none !important;

}

#workskin {

border-left: none !important;

border-right: none !important;

}

Create your own skin, paste this into the CSS box, and use 👍

[peachesbloominspring]

Level up your writing skills in English - Dialogue Punctuation

A guide for those whose first language is not English (pro tips at the end)

Well, this is maybe the most that the new authors struggle with. As any other language, English also has its own rules for dialogues and I bet you could find them on the net as well, but if you want it short - here I am.

First things first, we use ‘’ and “” for dialogues in English and never ‘—‘ or ‘–‘ or spaces or just ‘start new line’. We need to indicate the people are speaking. ‘’ - for thoughts and “” - for speaking.

‘I was dancing with him.’ - I understand it’s in the character’s head.

“I was dancing with him.” - I understand the character says it out loud.

The next part is punctuation. I know, a lot of you maybe struggle with all these commas and no commas at the end, at the beginning, dialogue tags and stuff, but, believe me, it’s not as hard as it seems. So, what is important to remember is that we use commas with things that we do with our mouth or verbally and full stops with actions.

“It was quite interesting,” she said.

Look, comma is inside the “” and ‘said’ is something she does with her mouth or verbally.

“It was not so easy.” She moved closer to the table.

Look, full stops is inside the “” and ‘she’ is written in the capital, because ‘she moved closer to the table’ is not something she could do with her mouth or verbally.

Also, do not forget to start each character’s speaking from the new line, so it doesn’t look like a mess.

“I came here from the north.” He put his gloves on the table.

“Me too,” she agreed.

Look, 2 characters speaking, each of them having their own line. Also, notice that the first one is doing action, which is why there’s a full stop at the end, and the second one is agreeing - which is something we could do with our mouth or verbally and - which is why we have comma at the end.

The other thing to remember is that ‘…’ is not interrupting. It’s about the words slowly fading as the character speaks. If you want to show that the person was interrupted - use ‘—‘.

“I wasn’t sure whether to go…” Jake answered.

Look, there’s no comma or full stop at the end of “” and I understand that Jake’s voice becomes quieter and quieter as he speaks, showing that he’s really unsure of what to do next.

“I wasn’t sure wheth—“

“I will tell you!” she shouted.

Look, there’s no comma or full stop at the end of “” and I understand that the character is interrupted. Also, take a look at the second line: there’s an exclamation mark inside “”, but she is written with the small letter - yes, because shouted is something you do with your mouth or verbally.

One more thing: if your sentence finished with ! or ? there’s no need to add a full stop or comma at the end or after “”, ‘’.

That’s it for beginners. Practice with those above to sharpen your writing skills. Yes, you may think it’s too easy and want more, but believe me - I’m also using the rules above and rarely use the rules I’m gonna tell next in my own writing. Make small things look good first and then go to bigger things.

Well, my fellows, who are professionals in writing dialogues and the tips above were like a baby talk to you, fasten your seatbelts, you’re gonna find out some more tricks (I hope).

Okay, first things first, ‘’ and “” could be interchangeable. If you want to write thoughts in “” - you’re welcome, but don’t forget your choice for the rest of the story, so the readers are not messed up with what’s thought and what’s word:

“I was dreaming,” he thought.

And

‘I was dreaming,’ he thought.

Are both fine.

Next, using dialogue tags or actions before the words themselves:

Jake answered quietly, “What if I got it wrong?”

She pressed her hand to his chest. “It can’t be.”

It’s also okay. Just mind the punctuation: commas are for dialogue tags (mouth or verbally) and full stops for actions.

Depending on what you choose for your story, we use ‘’ inside “” and “” inside ‘’:

“I was surprised by ‘his’ behavior,” she stated.

If you have prolonged dialogue tag or action with dialogue tag, the tag should always come directly to the sentence (it’s easier to avoid any extra punctuation drama):

He answered quietly, smiling, “Of course.”

Julie laughed and asked, “What’s that?”

“I want this,” she replied, walking down the street.

There’s a difference when the words are interrupted by dialogue tag or action:

“We’d rather,” Jake said and lifted his arm, “win this auction.”

“I’ll never”—she pressed her finger to his chest—“let you do this!”

But personally I never use this rule, cause it’s just hard to punctuate and I believe that non-English readers may find it too hard to understand.

Well, that’s all for now, thanks for reading and I hope that was useful! <3

[elphabathropp-www]

Ao3 should allow us to block writers, because I swear to God, I WILL cut a bitch the next time I see updates on the Fiyeraba tags and it's actually clickbait Gelphie!

[flixpii]

i feel so awkward to ask, but i saw that you have written both dubcon and noncon, and i wanted to ask the difference between the two. i’m also just now getting into fanfiction so all of the terms are very new to me 📖

hey ! it’s not awkward dw 👩🏾‍💻 i’m so glad you asked, especially since you’re new to fanfic. the tags can feel like overwhelming at first and it’s totally normal to ask questions

noncon = non-consensual

this is the more straightforward one. it means the sexual stuff in the fic happens without consent. like, one character is actively saying no, fighting it, being forced, or they literally can’t consent (passed out, drugged to the point they don’t know what’s happening, etc...). it’s the tag people use when the scene is straight-up depicting rape or sexual assault in the story. writers tag it so readers know “hey this is dark and the consent is 100% not there.”

dubcon = dubious consent

this is the gray-area one. consent is murky. it’s not a full enthusiastic “yes,” but it’s also not a clear “no. stop.” examples of what might get tagged dubcon :

one character is drunk / high but still kinda aware and goes along with it

there’s a massive power imbalance (boss / employee, captor / hostage, teacher / student, etc…) and the ‘weaker’ character feels like they have to say yes

manipulation, blackmail, coercion, or emotional pressure

sex pollen / magic fic where the character is physically overwhelmed and their brain is like “i don’t want this… but my body does”

the key word is dubious—the consent is questionable, not fully free or informed.

quick comparison :

noncon 👉🏾 character is forced or can’t say no at all

dubcon 👉🏾 character technically ‘agrees’ but the situation makes that agreement super sketchy

a lot of people (myself included) write both because they explore different flavors of dark fic / power dynamics, but they’re tagged separately so readers can choose what they’re in the mood for (or what they want to avoid). some ppl love the moral-gray tension of dubcon, others only want the full-on intensity of noncon, and some noped out of both completely & it’s all valid

if you’re a writer :

tagging your fics right is super important !! dubcon and noncon are not the same thing at all, and mixing them up (or just slapping ‘dubcon’ on something that’s actually full noncon) can really mess with readers. someone might click expecting the tense, gray-area vibe of dubcon and suddenly get hit with straight-up non-consent they weren’t ready for. or the other way around, where they skip something they’d want to read because the tags are off. readers trust those tags to make informed choices about their own comfort so being accurate is basically respecting the whole community.

IMPORTANT NOTE. dubcon only exists in fiction. what gets tagged as ‘dubcon’ in stories (intoxication, power imbalances, coercion, pressure, etc.) would almost always count as sexual assault or rape in real life. consent has to be clear, enthusiastic, ongoing, and freely given. anything murky, pressured, or not-fully-informed isn’t consent at all.

IMPORTANT NOTE. these are fantasy tags. they don’t mean the author thinks any of this is okay in real life. fanfic is just a space where people safely explore weird, dark, or complicated stuff. the tags exist to protect you, not to trick you.

if you ever see something tagged either one and you’re not sure if it’s your vibe, you can usually check the rest of the tags or the author’s note. most writers are pretty good about warning. and if you’re still unsure about a fic, it’s 100% okay to just not click it. your comfort > everything

hope that clears it ! if you have any other questions just ask 💗🫶🏾

[imaginarykxm]

VOLTRON FIC

I hope this gets on someone’s feed but i’m writing a klance fic in the foreseeable future and I need social media names. Is ANYONE willing to let me use theirs? Please? 🥹

It can be any social media username but I just NEED them because who DOESN’T want to make rumours about klance in this au

[jawnlockblog]

does anyone know how to download a series fic on ao3...? wanna reread demon and angel professor on the plane, but i don't really wanna download 200 works.........

[galaxythreads]

ok this is unrelated (mostly) to endo but i have a question about ao3 formatting when transferring it from google docs. on book club live the other day (iirc) you write in double space and with indents and everything and i'm having a hellish time trying to figure out how to transport that into ao3 from google docs without the formatting becoming evil and like, too far apart and such, if that makes sense? so I was just wondering how you and chem go about doing that...

I've got you!! goodness i feel like we should all have an ao3 sit down together i feel so bad when no one understands how it works.

Okay. Go to google and copy the text like so:

and then DO NOT click on HTML

click on RICH TEXT:

copy and paste INTO rich text and only rich text

It should split itself evenly. Sometimes the text will skip a space but all you have to do is hit enter after the sentence ends above that paragraph and it will automatically move down.

the important thing is for google to be set to these things first:

NO spaces before or after paragraphs on google, set to double, use the tab button for every single paragraph like you're working on a novel, should copy in paste super easily.

If you use line break on google docs, that won't transfer over, so chem and I go back in and add line breaks manually but that usually takes a few seconds.