thelucyverse

[thelucyverse]

Gentle reminder that very little fandom labor is automated, because I think people forget that a lot.

That blog with a tagging system you love? A person curates those tags by hand.

That rec blog with a great organization scheme and pretty graphics? Someone designed and implemented that organization scheme and made those graphics.

That network that posts a cool variety of stuff? People track down all that variety and queue it by hand, and other people made all the individual pieces.

That post with umpteen links to helpful resources, and information about them? Someone gathered those links, researched the sources, wrote up the information about them.

That graphic about fandom statistics? Someone compiled those statistics, analyzed them, organized them, figured out a useful way to convey the information to others, and made the post.

That event that you think looks neat? Someone wrote the rules, created the blogs and Discords, designed the graphics, did their best to promo the event so it'd succeed.

None of this was done automatically. None of it just appears whole out of the internet ether.

I think everyone realizes that fic writing and fanart creation are work, and at least some folks have got it through their heads that gif creation and graphics and moodboards take effort, and meta is usually respected for the effort that goes into it, at least as far as I've seen, but I feel like a lot of people don't really get how much labor goes into curation, too.

If people are creating resources, curating content, organizing the creations of others, gathering information, and doing other fandom activities that aren't necessarily the direct action of creation, they're doing a lot of fandom labor, and it's often largely unrecognized.

Celebrate fan work!

To folks doing this kind of labor: I see you, and I thank you. You are the backbones of our fandoms and I love you.

[thelucyverse]

they need to let me make movies

[thelucyverse]

someone apologized for commenting late… 2 months after the fic was posted 😭😭 girl that’s EARLY thats fresh

[thelucyverse]

Hi! Quick AO3 question: I wrote a comment on a fic that has comment moderation enabled. Within 1/2hr, the author approved it & my comment appeared on the chapter. I noticed some typos so I edited it (my memory says twice, but maybe it was all at the same time). My comment has now disappeared -- does this mean the author got sick of me & deleted it, OR does editing an approved comment on a fic that has moderation enabled just automatically make the comment disappear until the edits are approved?

Hi! Every edit has to be approved by the author again - a good thing, as otherwise someone could make a short generic comment, get it approved, and then change it into hatemail!

Thanks for the ask, have a nice weekend :)

How to: comment on fic beta read bookmarks

#anon #am I the expert on all things Ao3 now? apparently I am :D #how to ao3 #ao3 #ao3 comments #ao3 comment restriction

[thelucyverse]

relatable!

Keep fandoms alive, comment on more fanfics!

The do‘s and don’ts of fic reviews

Because a friend told me she never knows what to write and then never comments, but wants to learn how to do better, I thought I’d compile a list, and maybe it will help someone else as well!

As always, this is unofficial and just from my personal experience writing and reading fic, and talking with other fic authors.

My posts on beta reading | ao3 bookmarks

What to comment

Honestly, authors love friendly comments, no matter how small. Here are some ideas for short comments you can write to pretty much any fic you enjoyed:

I loved it!

Great fic!

Thanks for writing this!

Thanks for sharing your fic with the fandom :)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ 10/10 perfection

So happy I found this!

Reading this made my day

I had fun reading this

You’re a great writer!

Love your writing style

<3<3<3

Amazing!

Kudos!

If you want to write something a bit longer, you can for example

Tell the author where you have been reading the fic or what you were doing while reading it

Tell the author what you should have been doing instead of reading fanfic (and that it was worth it to read the fic)

Copy a passage (or several) from the fic you particularly enjoyed

Did the author write a note at the end or beginning of the fic? Maybe even ask a question? Sometimes you can reply to author’s notes in your comment

How did the fic make you feel? Happy, made you cry, made you laugh, made you jealous of a character, or made you want to punch an antagonistic character’s nose in? Write it in the comment!

Is it your first fic in a fandom or with a ship? Your favorite fic in a fandom, or with a specific character? Did you read it in one go? Did you savour it slowly reading over days or weeks? Have you enjoyed every update of a multi-chapter? Do you wish you could read it again for the first time? Write anything you want to let the author know about your reading experience!

Is there a character you particularly enjoyed in that fic/chapter? Tell the author you think they wrote xy character really well!

You can always start or finish your comment with one of the suggestions from the short comments to make sure the author knows you liked it :)

If you really don’t know what to write, or are reading fic in a language not your own (though authors usually don’t mind you commenting in your native language) and aren’t comfortable commenting in either language, you can also leave emojis as comments, for example variations of:

for any fics:❤️💕💜💗💞💓💖💟🤩😍🥰

for humor fics: 😂😆🤣🤪💯

for shippy fics/getting together: 🎉💖🥳💋💘💏👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨💑👩‍❤️‍👩👨‍❤️‍👨🫶

for angst or hurt no comort: 🥹😭🤯😱🫣😢💔❣️❤️‍🩹🖤 maybe still include a ❤️heart in there so the author can be sure you still liked it!

for smut/pwp: ❤️‍🔥💯🫣😋🤩🥵😈🤯🫦

There are even some stickers you can comment by copying the html! A few tumblr posts with stickers to copy can be found here & here!

Don’ts

There isn’t much you can do wrong when writing comments on fic, but there are a few things you should keep in mind:

don’t criticize (unless negative critics/what they can do better has been specifically asked for by the author, and then stick to the kind of criticism asked for, and best try to include something positive too to soften the blow)

don’t demand more/ask for updates - you can tell the author you’d read it if they wrote more, but don’t put pressure on them, you don’t know what’s happening in their lives right now and for what reason new entries might have slowed down, and they don’t owe you regular or any updates!

don’t tell them what to write (unless the author is taking prompts, and in most cases the comment section is not the right place for prompts, check what the author specified)

Remember: Fan fiction are free, from fans for fans, so etiquette is a bit different than in the Amazon reviews of books you paid good money for! Fic authors don’t have to cater to you, just enjoy that there are fics shared with the fandom :) If you don’t like something, or don’t like a part of something, either close the tab or quietly ignore the issue and just enjoy the parts you do like.

And in general, to end this on a positive note:

Yes, you can comment on older fanfics!

Yes, comment on several fics in a row if you’re reading through fics by one author!

Yes, comment on as many chapters of the same fic as you like!

Yes, you can make art for the fic and tell the author about it!

Yes, absolutely tell the author if you’re still thinking about a fic hours/days/years… after reading it!

Yes, send authors asks on tumblr/other sites talking about how you love their fics, if they link these sites in the author’s notes! (But also comment on Ao3)

Yes, you can comment/review even if you don’t have an account (at least on Ao3 and ffnet)!

Yes, please let the author know if you’re reading a fic for a second time, even if you just write ‘re-read kudos!’

The best comments are also written directly on the site the fanfiction got posted on (so usually ao3/ffnet and not tumblr/discord), both because it makes the note count higher, and because then the comment won’t quickly get buried under unrelated messages or posts.

If you want to leave long comments about different parts of a fic or chapter, you can also make use of the floating Ao3 comment box! It allows you to type your comment while you're still reading, without having to leave the page!

Some more kinds of comments on another post

#commenting

[thelucyverse]

OC fact swap.

Send me a fact about your OC and I’ll answer with a relevant fact about mine. I want to learn about your OCs.

[thelucyverse]

Keep fandoms alive, comment on more fanfics!

The do‘s and don’ts of fic reviews

Because a friend told me she never knows what to write and then never comments, but wants to learn how to do better, I thought I’d compile a list, and maybe it will help someone else as well!

As always, this is unofficial and just from my personal experience writing and reading fic, and talking with other fic authors.

My posts on beta reading | ao3 bookmarks

What to comment

Honestly, authors love friendly comments, no matter how small. Here are some ideas for short comments you can write to pretty much any fic you enjoyed:

I loved it!

Great fic!

Thanks for writing this!

Thanks for sharing your fic with the fandom :)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ 10/10 perfection

So happy I found this!

Reading this made my day

I had fun reading this

You’re a great writer!

Love your writing style

<3<3<3

Amazing!

Kudos!

If you want to write something a bit longer, you can for example

Tell the author where you have been reading the fic or what you were doing while reading it

Tell the author what you should have been doing instead of reading fanfic (and that it was worth it to read the fic)

Copy a passage (or several) from the fic you particularly enjoyed

Did the author write a note at the end or beginning of the fic? Maybe even ask a question? Sometimes you can reply to author’s notes in your comment

How did the fic make you feel? Happy, made you cry, made you laugh, made you jealous of a character, or made you want to punch an antagonistic character’s nose in? Write it in the comment!

Is it your first fic in a fandom or with a ship? Your favorite fic in a fandom, or with a specific character? Did you read it in one go? Did you savour it slowly reading over days or weeks? Have you enjoyed every update of a multi-chapter? Do you wish you could read it again for the first time? Write anything you want to let the author know about your reading experience!

Is there a character you particularly enjoyed in that fic/chapter? Tell the author you think they wrote xy character really well!

You can always start or finish your comment with one of the suggestions from the short comments to make sure the author knows you liked it :)

If you really don’t know what to write, or are reading fic in a language not your own (though authors usually don’t mind you commenting in your native language) and aren’t comfortable commenting in either language, you can also leave emojis as comments, for example variations of:

for any fics:❤️💕💜💗💞💓💖💟🤩😍🥰

for humor fics: 😂😆🤣🤪💯

for shippy fics/getting together: 🎉💖🥳💋💘💏👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨💑👩‍❤️‍👩👨‍❤️‍👨🫶

for angst or hurt no comort: 🥹😭🤯😱🫣😢💔❣️❤️‍🩹🖤 maybe still include a ❤️heart in there so the author can be sure you still liked it!

for smut/pwp: ❤️‍🔥💯🫣😋🤩🥵😈🤯🫦

There are even some stickers you can comment by copying the html! A few tumblr posts with stickers to copy can be found here & here!

Don’ts

There isn’t much you can do wrong when writing comments on fic, but there are a few things you should keep in mind:

don’t criticize (unless negative critics/what they can do better has been specifically asked for by the author, and then stick to the kind of criticism asked for, and best try to include something positive too to soften the blow)

don’t demand more/ask for updates - you can tell the author you’d read it if they wrote more, but don’t put pressure on them, you don’t know what’s happening in their lives right now and for what reason new entries might have slowed down, and they don’t owe you regular or any updates!

don’t tell them what to write (unless the author is taking prompts, and in most cases the comment section is not the right place for prompts, check what the author specified)

Remember: Fan fiction are free, from fans for fans, so etiquette is a bit different than in the Amazon reviews of books you paid good money for! Fic authors don’t have to cater to you, just enjoy that there are fics shared with the fandom :) If you don’t like something, or don’t like a part of something, either close the tab or quietly ignore the issue and just enjoy the parts you do like.

And in general, to end this on a positive note:

Yes, you can comment on older fanfics!

Yes, comment on several fics in a row if you’re reading through fics by one author!

Yes, comment on as many chapters of the same fic as you like!

Yes, you can make art for the fic and tell the author about it!

Yes, absolutely tell the author if you’re still thinking about a fic hours/days/years… after reading it!

Yes, send authors asks on tumblr/other sites talking about how you love their fics, if they link these sites in the author’s notes! (But also comment on Ao3)

Yes, you can comment/review even if you don’t have an account (at least on Ao3 and ffnet)!

Yes, please let the author know if you’re reading a fic for a second time, even if you just write ‘re-read kudos!’

The best comments are also written directly on the site the fanfiction got posted on (so usually ao3/ffnet and not tumblr/discord), both because it makes the note count higher, and because then the comment won’t quickly get buried under unrelated messages or posts.

If you want to leave long comments about different parts of a fic or chapter, you can also make use of the floating Ao3 comment box! It allows you to type your comment while you're still reading, without having to leave the page!

Some more kinds of comments on another post

#comment #fan fiction #fandom #siuaraine #(my friend’s fandom where the topic came up) #fanfic #fanfic comments #fanfic reading #fic #fanfiction #fandom etiquette #fandoms #our flag means death #harry potter #ao3 #ffnet #swan queen #Star trek #supernatural #how to comment

[thelucyverse]

I feel like Nessa for venessa more now? Idk

Venessa ('Nesme'), Vera and Nessie - different universes' versions of Renesmee Swan Cullen.

Nesme joined Central quite young- teenage rebellion to get away from her parents, one might say (while physically full grown, she wasn't yet an adult in numbers)- and befrien(emie)ded Rhun Hale a few universes over. Now, in her twenties, she is a full-time member of Central and goes on mostly intelligence gathering missions in new 'verses.

Vera and Nessie body-swapped cross-universe as infants. As they have since grown up in their respective swapped bodies, they each consider their new bodies and lifes their own- even Vera whose life took a tragic turn when her universe shattered unexpectedly when she was mere weeks old. As Central's protocol is to first get a hold of everyone who has travelled cross-universe in the past to ensure that their people survive, Vera was one of the few survivors. Adopted by a siyee species with a shorter lifespan, they thought their presence made her age faster, and, knowing that this was wrong for a human (not knowing that she was in fact a half vampire) they managed to slow down her aging process.

Vera is shy, a little bouncy at times, sometimes she gets loud and excited and then quiets down embarrassedly. She is curious, kind. She is happy to have Nesme as an older sister of sorts, even though Venessa is gruff and distance at times. She is even happier to gain Nessie as a 'twin'. Vera never resents her for having taken her place in the universe that didn't fall apart, she is fine with her own life.

Nessie is confused about her entire existence. While physically she looks Vera's age- about 13- she is barely seven years old. Her half-vampire mind might work faster than a human's, but she still has to learn things, and she is especially wary around other people, never quite having been allowed to socialise until she too was given the opportunity to slow her aging process when she was five years of age, which she gratefully accepted. She often gazes at people, trying to figure them out, stands in the back of a room but can't help standing out.

Venessa and Nessie (her current body) are twin universals, but Nesme used to colour her hair lighter to look less like her mother, and Nessie colours hers darker to look more like her aunties Alice and Alicia. Vera ('s current body) is not a twin- but a sister universal of them, looking more like her father than like her mother.

All three are happy with their existence as half-vampires.

#rambling #venessa | nesme

[thelucyverse]

You know when someone goes through your blog on a mass reblog-spree for a fandom? I love those like, 19 notifications in a row. it’s like “Ah, I see you’re well into a fixation. God bless.”

[thelucyverse]

30 book development/ author questions

because we all want to talk about the things we’re writing. also this is geared specifically towards new and aspiring original fiction writers, but it could probably work for fanfic writers and more established authors too :)

how long have you been working on your story?

what’s your current word count?

are you an overwriter or an underwriter?

what genre is it? 

is there a romance? why do they fall in love?

how long did you/ have you been planning?

what are some things that inspired this story? 

what are some words to describe the aesthetic?

do you think you’ll ever finish it?

do you know how it will end?

what’s your biggest roadblock? 

is it more plot or character driven? is that your usual style?

do you want to get it traditionally published? do you think you’ll publish it at all or are you just writing for the sake of it?

your main character is lost in the woods, write a paragraph about it (i want to hear your style :D):

what scenes are hardest for you to write?

are there any authors who’s style you wan to emulate in your work? 

do you find description or dialog more difficult?

what are your main characters flaws? are they a good person?

what is the conflict?

write a paragraph describing one of the locations, get as in-depth as you can:

is there anything you refuse to write?

be honest, what sucks about your writing (no one’s perfect so if you can’t think of anything go back and reread)?

who is the target audience?

are you insecure about your writing?

what thing are you finding hardest to convey in your story?

how often do you step outside your writing comfort zone?

do you or did you ever write fanfiction? if so do you find it easier to write it or original fiction (or even non-fiction)?

how self-indulgent are you with your writing?

how stylized is your writing?

do you think you’re a good writer?

#ask me things! #questions

[thelucyverse]

So my problem with most ‘get to know your character’ questioneers is that they’re full of questions that just aren’t that important (what color eyes do they have) too hard to answer right away (what is their greatest fear) or are just impossible to answer (what is their favorite movie.)  Like no one has one single favorite movie. And even if they do the answer changes.

If I’m doing this exercise, I want 7-10 questions to get the character feeling real in my head. So I thought I’d share the ones that get me (and my students) good results: 

What is the character’s go-to drink order? (this one gets into how do they like to be publicly perceived, because there is always some level of theatricality to ordering drinks at a bar/resturant)

What is their grooming routine? (how do they treat themselves in private)

What was their most expensive purchase/where does their disposable income go? (Gets you thinking about socio-economic class, values, and how they spend their leisure time)

Do they have any scars or tattoos? (good way to get into literal backstory) 

What was the last time they cried, and under what circumstances? (Good way to get some *emotional* backstory in.) 

Are they an oldest, middle, youngest or only child? (This one might be a me thing, because I LOVE writing/reading about family dynamics, but knowing what kinds of things were ‘normal’ for them growing up is important.)

Describe the shoes they’re wearing. (This is a big catch all, gets into money, taste, practicality, level of wear, level of repair, literally what kind of shoes they require to live their life.)

Describe the place where they sleep. (ie what does their safe space look like. How much (or how little) care / decoration / personal touch goes into it.)

What is their favorite holiday? (How do they relate to their culture/outside world. Also fun is least favorite holiday.) 

What objects do they always carry around with them? (What do they need for their normal, day-to-day routine? What does ‘normal’ even look like for them.) 

#reblog #how to

[thelucyverse]

العربية • Bahasa Indonesia • català • Čeština • dansk • Deutsch • Ελληνικά • English • español • français • italiano • magyar • Nederlands • norsk • polski • português brasileiro • português europeu • Română • Русский • svenska • Wikang Filipino • 中文

AO3 has reached 25,000 fandoms! To celebrate, we’ve put together info about fandom tags and how all tags work: https://goo.gl/W4wPxH

#ao3 lesson #reblog

[thelucyverse]

#reblog #mood

[thelucyverse]

Femslash Fortnight 2022

An initiative to come together and create more fan content for our favourite ladies!

After the successful event last year, we are organizing another fortnight!

The two-week long event will take place from the 23rd of July to the 7th of August, 2022, and will feature daily prompts for visual and written content! You can also create written content for a visual prompt and vice versa; we just wanted to make sure there were options suitable for all types of media you may want to create!

Unlike last year, this fortnight will be open to all Star Trek femslash, although we are still primarily promoting it for Discovery. There will be an ‘other treks’ tag for all non-disco creations we reblog, so if you are only interested in Discovery you can block the tag and still follow. All works will be tagged by their respective shows as well, so bring on the R/7 or Keytegas or whatever else you can think of!

There is no minimum participation requirement, every submission counts, and the prompts are the same for both weeks: if you for example want to paint something for both Mondays, you can either make something to an aesthetic in one week and something emotional the other, or create several posts to the same prompt - you can even submit several posts a day!

Writing prompts - fanfic, meta, playlists, rec lists, etc.:

Monday - Favorite Trope / Headcanon

Tuesday - Reunions or Confessions

Wednesday - Intimacy or Getting Together

Thursday - Gifts or Food & Drink

Friday - Humor or Song as Inspiration

Saturday - AU or Episode Tag

Sunday - Free Choice

Visual prompts - videos, art, moodboards, manips, gifsets, etc.:

Monday - Aesthetics or Emotions

Tuesday - Symbolism or Scenes

Wednesday - Contrasts or Parallels

Thursday - Gifts or Food & Drink

Friday - Memes or Funny Stuff

Saturday - AU or Episode Tag

Sunday - Free Choice

If you don’t create your own works but still want to participate, you can support the event by telling others about it, reblogging and commenting on submissions, and by signing up as a beta reader.

Directory - Rules - Ao3 - FAQ - Ask Box

#fandom event #reblog

[thelucyverse]

And when we finally kill the gods neither hell nor heaven will be waiting for them because they created those to imprison us

#lverse #coververse #cover worlds #reblog

[thelucyverse]

@ao3screenshotss saw you reblog this just before I made the addition, there are more bookmark search tips here now, thought you might be interested in those as well!

Seeing some replies to questions from my ao3 ask meme, I've been made aware that not everyone knows the bookmark search! So here's a quick tutorial go get yourself some fic recs:

Ao3 bookmark search

Especially useful for large fandoms where you easily lose the overview, old dead fandoms where reloading the first page won't ever get you anything new but you don't know what else to filter for, a search tag with many incorrectly tagged fics, or just when you want to get fic recs for something!

On the archive, when you're in the search for a ship/tag/fandom, your page usually looks something like this, with the 'works' search automatically selected:

Now, if you clicked the 'bookmarks' search I circled in red here, it will change to something like this, showing you no longer the newest works but instead the latest bookmarks people created:

Clicking filter here...

...you can now not only filter including and excluding additional work tags, but also bookmarker's tags circled blue in the pic above, and what you can also do is click 'recs only' (circled red here) to no longer see all bookmarks (as people might bookmark something they haven't even read yet to look at it later etc, bookmarks don't say that much about a fic's quality), but only the recommended fics! (see next image)

The 'only bookmarks with notes' function below that one is also interesting if you want to see what the bookmakers have to say about a fic before you read it!

To further narrow it down, you can either instead of or in addition to the 'recs only' add the tag you were already looking for in the 'bookmarker's tags' section - then you won't get all fics, but only ones where the bookmarker added the tag themselves!

Good to find fics missing from the tag otherwise, as the bookmark search is still looking at the work tags first even though it's showing bookmarks as not all bookmarks even have tags (confusing at first, I know) and in case a tag is spammed by incorrectly tagged things, you can now ensure that it's been verified by the bookmarking person!

In case of Andy/Quynh sadly not too many bookmarkers seem to have used this function yet, which is a pity with how spammed the works tag is with fics where they barely feature, so I strongly encourage readers to use this function to make it easier to find good Andromaquynh fic, without having to resort to 'otp:true' and filter out all other relationship and friendship tags!

When you make a bookmark yourself and want to recommend it, the button is at the bottom of the bookmark page, circled red here:

Typing a note also helps promote a fic in case someone searched for 'only bookmarks with notes', and in the screenshot above you can also see the tag function I already talked about! (Edit: the tag apparently has to be exact to show in the bookmark search! No 'Andy/Quynh' short version... But once you've typed 'Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Q' it should suggest you the correct tag to click :)

Hope this helps some of you navigate ao3 a bit better in the future!

[thelucyverse]

Hi! I hope you're doing okay! <3

Can you please tell how and where can I find a beta? English isn't my first language and I self-learned it. I'm decent at it but I don't have enough confidence to write something and post it on my own.

I'm in an Otaku mood so I'm writing for animes at the moment, if that's helpful.

Thank you <3

Hey there, I next to never check my notes here & as this is on anon, you won't get a reply notif anyway, so it'll probably just disappear into the void if it's an old ask but I thought I'd reply anyway...

I made a beta reader post here a while back, feel free to check it out!

And your English sounds fine, don't worry about it really! You can still post fic even without having it beta read even if your English was worse than it seems to be, fic is just for fun - if someone doesn't like it bc of language level or writing style or whatever, they don't have to read it, but there's usually at least a few people who happily read what you'll post!

#ask #beta reader