#Fanfiction discourse

[sofiadragon]

Hey fanfiction loving friend!

AO3 has the ability to turn off comments, moderate comments, restrict comments to logged in users only, or let anyone comment on your story. Most other fanfiction hosting websites do not allow comments to be turned off and in the case of some (wattpad) highly encourage comments even on individual paragraphs.

Over on reddit, someone said it is an unwritten rule of fanfiction that you should never leave a negative or critical comment on a story. This was countered most strongly by many arguments. Despite many people asserting that their stance was the one truth and that there was no debate on the topic - there was a lot of debate about what criticism even is and where the line should be for if giving concrit is alright.

So give this some thought:

If you have tea to spill, examples or an argument you want to make, please do. I have some that go both ways, but I'm going to wait for a few responses so I don't pre-empt the results. I'm not going to vote myself for a while, either, so I won't know which way the poll is leaning when I do pour my tea. I tried to cover all the flavors of debate I've seen in the many "definitive" posts I have read here and on reddit. Please reblog for a wider sample!

#fanfiction discourse #fan fiction #fanfiction #fan work #fan etiquette #commentary #fanfiction.net #ao3 author #ao3 reader #ao3feed #ao3 #wattpad comments #comments on fanfic #looking for constructive criticism #constructive criticism #concrit welcome #concrit not welcome #concrit

[amywritesthings]

okay, i have to address something that i've seen float around a bunch on tumblr, reddit, and tiktok lately when it comes to readers who are angry at fanfiction authors for not writing the content they wish to see in their fandom spaces.

...did you ever think to try and write it yourself?

this weekend i saw someone comment on the bg3 sub about how they're sick of seeing astarion fics with 'special/edgy female-centric tieflings or durges' and not much else. they were angry that 'they scroll for hours on ao3 and tumblr but only find all this oc and reader insert garbage, when it's plaguing their fandom space'.

so write the damn story you keep searching for. write what you find the fandom lacks. you take it upon yourself to curate the content you want out there.

if a writer wants to make 50 stories of the same 'special/edgy' original character smutting up a canon, they can? it's their labor of love. their passion project. a hobby. they choose to share it online for free. we are so very lucky to live in a digital age where fanfiction is so readily available, and there are millions if not billions of stories (for free!!) at your fingertips to scroll and enjoy.

i'm getting very tired of finding posts/videos of entitled readers who vocally complain about not being catered to when they themselves are not trying to contribute with the content, pairings, or topics they wish to see.

#fanfiction discourse #idk what else to tag it as #but i'm soooo so sick of hearing this take #from people who take shits on what other people write #when they themselves are not writers or even trying to be #the person on reddit got back to me and was like 'well its my opinion and i'm allowed to have it' #like no? you're just rude?? #negative tw

[myfandomrealitea]

The day that you understand that fanfiction has no literary/value difference to published literature and writing is the day you will understand exactly why readers and authors need a symbiotic relationship in fanfiction media just as much as the published author and their reader.

Right now, you have unlimited access to free literature.

I don't think a lot of you fully grasp the actual, true meaning of that. You are accessing literally as much content as you want, that you have had to do absolutely nothing for, for free. And often on a single website that you are also accessing for free, and don't need a hundred and one different kinds of log-ins or passwords or paid subscriptions to access.

If I want to read a specific type of story, I don't have to spend gas money to go to the bookstore that might not have the story I want, or funnel money into a blood corporation like Amazon to access it. I don't even have to pay someone for the time and effort and skill it took for them to write it.

I can go to my search bar. I can type in 'AO3' and I can access 141 variants of the same story for free and all in less time than it takes for my morning coffee to brew.

I am accessing content that cost these authors literal hours of their lives. Their time, their skills, their research, all for free, and I have to do absolutely nothing in return for it.

We take this kind of freedom and resource for granted, and even more so the people who actually enable us to have it in the first place.

Writers who talk about wanting engagement aren't being greedy, needy or selfish. They're not writing just for the 'clout' or whatever kind of half-cocked accusation you want to make. They're asking because engagement is what fuels more content. More community fulfilment. More productivity.

A lot of writers write for themselves, but they also write because its something they want to share with other people. Its a contribution to a shared interest. Its longevity to the enjoyment you experience within that space. Its a continuity of a limited source.

So many people sneer at fanfiction authors who offer commissions and it genuinely makes me want to rattle them all like a marble in a bean can.

Because you pay for books. Because someone took the time to write it. You don't sneer at the rows and rows of books in stores. You don't demean the authors who spent literal hours, sometimes even decades of their lives writing them.

People who write fanfiction are still authors.

Fanfiction is still literature.

Fanfiction's existence depends entirely on the authors.

Appreciate what you have. Understand the value in what you are being given.

Basic gratitude and respect is by far the absolutely minimum you should be giving in exchange for quite literally all the free literature you could ever want, on demand.

#myfandomrealitea #sephiroth speaks #fandom #ao3 #fanfiction #fanfic #fics #authors #writing #literature #fanfiction discourse #ao3 fanfiction #pro ao3

[heidi891]

Fanfiction is like karaoke.

Most people do it for fun. They share it with other people for fun. They write / sing in public in a designated place, but they don't want to be great writers / singers and they don't need negative comments.

Unless someone openly says they want to be a professional writer / singer and asks for constructive criticism, don't offer it.

#fanfiction #fanfiction writing #fanfiction discourse #fandom discourse #fanfiction.net #archive of our own

[fangswbenefits]

PSA

Please consider supporting the writers you send requests to. While it can be flattering, it can also be annoying, especially considering how readers are interacting less and less with fanfiction.

There are authors here with taglists who go through the ordeal of tagging multiple people that end up not showing their support… not even dropping a like. That’s really discouraging.

Writers on this hellsite provide amazing fanfics for free.

And no, no one is forcing us to write, but we keep fandoms alive. How often do you watch a movie, tv show, anime, etc and then rush to tumblr and/or ao3? I know I do.

So please… take care of your writers.

#miguel o’hara x reader #fandom discussion #fanfiction discourse #across the spiderverse #miguel ohara x reader #atsv fandom

[highpri3stess]

Alright, now I've come to my senses after playing some games and touching grass.

The anon was right about one thing, I am an attention seeker. I do enjoy attention and I will whine when things don't go my way. I'm not denying that. Imma keep it real with you guys - zero excuses, I'm no saint. I get emotional. Fair enough. I will beg for reblogs because I'm an attention whore. I don't handle situations with grace, fine and good.

That being said, I'm NOT going to deactivate this blog or leave tumblr.

You have a problem with what I write? kindly shove it up your asshole.

You want to assume my fetishes or kinks? Go ahead you perverted creep.

You have an issue with me thanking people for reading my works in the comments and gushing over my own writing? Go and hug a transformer, you talentless fuck.

You think my spelling and grammar is shit? Okay you racist and ableist fuck, throw yourself in a dumpster.

And if you follow me or you are a mutual and you don't fuck with me or my works, the block button is free. I worked too hard on this blog for some mad bitch to make me leave.

Lord knows I support other writers on this app and I don't hate on how people write here, so finding out that it is someone that follows me that sent that hate anon to me, that's fucked. You're a loser with a capital letter L.

Monica out. Peace.

#monica.speaks ♡ #tw. discourse #fanfiction discourse #y'all on my dick for no reason get off

[brettdoesdiscourse]

Just, by the way. Writers and artists should not be guilt-tripping you to do anything. You don't need to feel pressured to comment or reblog on anything. You're not a bad person for not doing so. In the same way they shouldn't be pressured to make content and aren't bad people for not doing so.

I feel like both sides have forgotten that fanworks are completely voluntary. They chose to create something and you can choose how to interact with it. And neither side should feel pressured or guilted to do something if they don't feel up to it for whatever reason.

#writing discourse #art discourse #like vs reblog discourse #fanfiction discourse #fanart discourse #discourse #fandom discourse #brett does discourse

[simping-overload]

Why are you so opposed to fems interacting with your mlm posts?? People are allowed to enjoy writing that isn’t about their gender

I don't want fems interacting with me bc -

This is a blog FOR gay men, nbmlm, anyone who is NOT a woman or fem identifying(agender, gender fluid, etc ppl like that are allowed on my blog tho <3)

This is supposed to be smth I like to call a SAFE SPACE for people of the above criteria.

This is my blog, I carter to a specific group of people so yeah no woman/fems have no right to be on my blog! It'd my blog, my rules.

There's also SOOOOO many good fem writers out there that they could go to but ofc chooses to harass the male writers despite the fact I'm the minority 💀💀💀

You also act as if they're no blogs on tumblr that say men dni. I've came across a LOT of wlw or even regular het x reader blogs that say men dni. And yk what I do? I BLOCK THE BLOG SO I DONT GET THRIR CONTENT ON MY FEED. It's genuinely so easy.

Learn how to respect fucking boundaries, thanks!

#yall #this is really just like how st8 people go to gay bars depsite thr fact its NOT for them #and its supposed to be a safe place for gay people #this says a lot abt u as a person btw #fanfiction #fanfiction discourse #fandom discourse #reader #male reader #female reader

[aquarian-airhead]

umm your ship is problematic because quantum theory says every parallel timeline is real because of potential electron positioning instance therefore the universes where they're full siblings are also real which makes it quantumcest and that means you want to show ankle to a minor on discord you should basically kys yourself

#shipping discourse #ship discourse #shipping #for goof #pro fiction #profic #fiction discourse #fic discourse #fanfiction discourse #fanfic discourse

[not-soup-333]

So sick and tired of fandom culture today. Fandom policing and complaining has been covering my dash the past few days and I'm so fucking sick of it. They say you need to say something three times for someone to remember it so let's give this one more go:

You cannot control what other people in fandom do. Yes this includes ships you find unsavory, yes this includes triggering content, yes this includes any creations you find morally reprehensible, you can't stop people from doing that.

What you can control is removing yourself from the space where you find content that is triggering to you. Choosing to complain about others' way of having fun/interacting in fandom and continuing to subject yourself to what you dislike is, in fact, your choice. You control your intake, especially on tumblr where you can block tags.

I'm patiently awaiting the day we bring back don't like don't read culture.

#fanfiction #fanfic #fanfiction discourse #fandom discourse #don't like don't interact #dldr #fandom police #fandom problems

[hailmaryfullofgrace55675]

i’ve come to believe “neither the writing nor the reading of words and neither the creation nor the viewing of drawings, in and of themselves, directly create harm. harm doesn’t exist independently of actual individuals experiencing it, and whether someone experiences harm in relationship to their or someone else’s experience with art is always dependent on factors other than the nature or content of the art” and “positioning art with particular types of sexual content in it as inherently harmful or inherently creating particular impacts has some importantly bad costs, especially if this is accomplished through harassment but even if it’s not”

i don’t think i can ever forgive the “proship” faction in fanfiction discourse for countering “certain types of sexual content in fanfiction are inherently evil and hurt people and make them evil so it’s good and helpful to harass people over them” with “nobody has ever been hurt by an experience with art. people only think they’ve been hurt because they’re stupid, crazy, and ideologically motivated.” or “if someone has a fucked up experience with sexuality in fandom, that may be their own fault for being naïve and predisposed, their non-fandom community’s fault for causing their predisposition, or the fault of any individual who interpersonally hurt them, but it’s incorrect and fascistic to think that art could have been an impactful part of their bad experience.”

#fanfiction discourse

[pixelfun20]

look I get the hype behind dsmp and all but the fact that out of the most kudos’ed hermitcraft fics on AO3, 15 out of the top 20 are Tommyinnit-centric/insert fics is probably the most annoying thing I’ve had to deal with in a fandom.

#the curse of being a smaller fandom closely affiliated with a massive one #all the tommy fic have an inherent advantage #was seeing all those posts about the Watcher!Trope and was reminded of how annoying the Hermit!Tommy trope is #most of the time the Hermits completely loose all personality save catering to Tommy's needs #at least Watcher fics give Grian his own independent character #rant over lol #vent post #hermitcraft #hermitcraft fanfiction #fanfiction discourse #discourse

[roamingtigress]

"Fiction affects reality" Cool. So that means, hopefully, more Old Man Yaoi (hopefully involving them) is to come.

#fanfiction discourse #rdr2 #red dead redemption 2 #vandermatthews #hosea matthews #dutch van der linde #hosea x dutch #dutch x hosea #St Denis #Lemoyne #rdr2 photography #red dead redemption 2 photography #rdr2 community #red dead redemption 2 community #red dead #red dead redemption two

[myfandomrealitea]

Imagine this:

You live in a town. There is a park that allows both people and dogs. You live in this town and decide dogs should not be allowed at the park. You complain and push and get dogs banned from the park.

The town builds another park for the dogs. Now there is a dog park and a people park. You see the dog park and think it looks better than the people park. You, a person who neither owns a dog nor likes dogs, begins to use the dog park.

That's okay. The dog owners don't mind sharing their park. Its a nice park. Its definitely better than the people park.

You like the dog park better, but you don't like the dogs, so you tell the dog owners they're not allowed to go there anymore. They're not welcome. Its a dog park, but you personally don't like dogs, so they're not allowed to bring their dogs here anymore. You start harassing the dog owners and trying to bully them out of the park.

"Just go to a different park!" you yell at them. "Go build your own park if you want to bring your dogs in!" you cry.

You are an anti. The dogs are works of fiction. The park is AO3. Your perspective is as ridiculous as the above anecdote sounds. AO3's entire existence was founded on you encouraging sites like Wattpad to purge and ban fanfiction that didn't fit certain, bias-flexible criteria. AO3's core purpose is to host and preserve fanfiction.

If AO3 did not want that kind of fanfiction, it would not allow it. Simple. AO3 itself dictates that fanfiction has a place there. You cannot storm in and demand its not allowed to host it because you've finally realized sites like Wattpad fucking suck, and not just because of their content regulations.

You're a guest in AO3's park. Act like it. Don't like the rules? Their code is open-source. Build your own park.

#discourse #ao3 #ao3 discourse #fanfiction discourse #proship #proshipping #antishipping #antiship #sephiroth speaks

[junos-office-drama]

I hate the idea that authors who wait until they've reached a certain threshold of kudos or comments to publish the next chapter are somehow holding their work "hostage."

Like, if a painter refuses to hand over a painting until they've been paid for it, no one claims that the painter is holding their painting "hostage." We instead recognize it as a reasonable exchange.

And if I make an offer to my roommate, "hey, I'll share my lunch with you, if you make dessert," and then they never make dessert, no one claims I'm holding the lunch "hostage" if I don't share it with them. And no one says I'm holding lunch "hostage" if I continue to make it for myself, but refuse to share it with my roommate in the future. Again, it's viewed as a reasonable exchange.

At concerts, bands will often perform encores if the crowd cheers loudly enough -- and skip them if the crowd is silent or quiet. But never once in my life have I heard someone complain that a band is holding their music "hostage" when an encore isn't performed for a lackluster crowd. That, too, is seen as reasonable behavior.

Even on social media, I've seen plenty of "I'll give away one free [item] if I reach X number of followers!" posts, and I've never seen anyone say "they're holding [item] hostage" in this scenario.

But somehow, if an author says, "hey, I'll post the next chapter if you kudos / comment on this chapter," suddenly it's a hostage situation?

Authors can choose to write for engagement, and they can equally choose to stop writing if they don't get the engagement they seek. What's wrong with being upfront about that?

Personally, I would rather know if a fic is likely to be discontinued due to a lack of engagement, rather than seeing the work suddenly stop updating after a dozen chapters with no explanation whatsoever.

If you're a reader and you dislike this author behavior, then just move onto the next fic. Seriously. No one is making you read this particular fic or engage with this particular author.

But I have seen so much hate and vitriol spewed at authors who do this, as if the readers are entitled to the next chapter no matter what. As if authors who do this are literal villains. As if asking a reader to spend even a minute engaging with the free entertainment they're benefiting from is a high crime worthy of capital punishment.

(And, yes, some authors are rude about it. But then the problem is the rude delivery of the message, not the message itself.)

Anyway, if you're an author that doesn't update your chapters until you've hit certain engagement metrics, I support you. I will always defend you. I believe your work has value, and I believe in your right to be compensated for that work -- even if it's via engagement.

#ao3 #ao3 writing #fanfic #fanfiction #fanfic comments #fanfiction comments #fanfic discussion #fanfic discourse #fanfiction discourse #ao3 writer #ao3 readers

[captainkirkk]

I feel like lately, the overuse of epithets in fanfic has been getting worse and worse- have you experienced this?? Maybe that’s the curse of reading more “popular” fandoms; more writers?? I really don’t know, but it’s making me insane. It’s to the point where I will close the tab if I see an epithet, lmao.

I think more people are coming over to ao3 from other sites like wattpad and ff.net, where that style is more prevalent? Not sure

But I agree, I don't mind an epithet here or there, but when there's too many it's hard to get immersed in the story

#ask #anon #glad to see the epithet slander continues on this blog #fanfiction discourse