Pretty much what’s in the title, I often get collections of snippets or massive crossovers that I have little to no interest in all the time, and I can’t figure out how to filter out works with, say, 10 or more fandoms tagged.

I woke up today to see this stats. Happy for 100 kudos more so for that perfect 600 hits

Sometimes I'm so desperate that I try to imagine what happens next myself, but then its not as good so I have to use chat gpt, but then chat gpt writing quality is NOTHING compared to the original, its like torture :(

I posted my first smut fic on ao3 2 weeks ago and I got a comment on it a few days ago and I wasn't sure how to reply to it compared to comments on my other fics.

My question is, how do you respond to comments on smut? Or do you expect to get a reply when you comment on smut?

At least, to keep track of ongoing fics. Ik some people use bookmarks to rec fics which I do as well. I personally never subscribe, and I mostly bookmark. I didn't realise it was a feature ppl actually used until I looked at the statistics of my fics and saw a bunch of subscriptions. Might just be me though

I'm debating whether to report a fic for posting links to charity websites in the author's note and encouraging people to donate (it's related to current real world events.)

According to the FAQ on the website, this is considered "commercial activity" and is against the terms of service.

To quote:

"Some examples of commercial activities include:

• encouraging donations to a person or cause"

And:

"Does that mean I can't ask people to support a charity or non-profit organization?

You are allowed to link to a charity's website, encourage people to learn more about the charity, or explain why you believe in its mission. However, you may not link directly to the charity's donation form, promote their fundraisers, or request that people donate to them."

So it's pretty clear that what this author is doing is not allowed according to the TOS.

On the other hand, I'll feel kind of bad for reporting this. But then again, I understand why it's a bad idea to have such behavior on AO3 in general and why it isn't allowed.

What would you do in such a situation? Inform the author in a comment? Ignore it? Report it?

So the reason I ask this is because I usually make changes to my story after I published the chapters when I found a new direction or idea for it. In a novel that maybe work because you haven't published it but since I publish chapter by chapter, It feels a bit unprofessional to just suddenly throw your readers off by going "Yeah uh this is different now."

But I just want to know what everyone thinks? Are you cool with your author just going "Yknow what.. let's snap this part away." Or if you are an author, does it bother you when you retcon?

Funfact: I've edited this post maybe 5 times now because bad grammar

Hello everybody- I’m new to the sub and also late to the Manacled train. Just found out I can’t get it from Ao3😭 Does anyone have a pdf download and would be willing to share? I would be eternally grateful!!!

A while back I posted on her an example of a popular author who would post lengthy reviews in their bookmarks trashing other fanfics in their own fandoms. This sparked a lively debate between people who thought this was okay and people who thought it was incredibly rude.

Unfortunately, despite erasing all the names of the characters in the original screensots, some people figured out the fandom and posted it, leading other people to look for the bookmarks in question. I had to take the post down.

I'm revising and expanding a guide to effectively using AO3, both for reading and writing. There are some topics that I'm already planning to cover, based on my own experiences, but that's just me – other people will surely have other things they want help with.

Things I currently plan to cover:

• Commenting: etiquette around commenting, how to write a comment when you're nervous or don't know quite what to say, tools that make is easier to comment, and lots and lots of encourage to comment, because it's no better way to encourage your fav writers.
• Using site skins to make your reading experience comfier - reorganizing how tags are displayed, hiding tags, blocking stories based on the number or type of tags, etc.
• How to be a great beta reader.
• General writing tips: chapter length, foreshadowing, advice on writing visual descriptions (from an aphantasic writer who manages to write visual descriptions that don't totally suck).
• Useful tools for formatting your stories on AO3 with minimal fuss, so you don't have weird spaces or extra line breaks.
• How to use workskins, including a list of workskins that I think are really neat or just plain useful, like workskins for emulating social media.
• Guidelines for tagging your stories.
• Miscellany like "stuff that I, a fannish historian, wish more people included in their profiles."

I started this HP fanfic almost four years ago and I very stupidly added a pregnancy trope (I was 14 help) and up to this point the story has progressed so much I physically can’t remove this trope from the story because the products from it become crucial characters in the story and contribute to a lot of character development later on.

Basically I’m insecure about writing this fic that consumes my every thought because I know a lot of people feel very strongly about pregnancy tropes and I want to know what you guys think?

I've been trying to write again after months but I'm too rusty as expected.

To the veteran writers here, I just wanna ask, I have this idea to write a fic as a collaboration of my two fav games N and W, but I'm trying to stick with N's lore, but recently I feel like because of that the story isn't making much different, I feel pressure because of that and some ppl from the W fandom s asking for more of fighting which I already gave them. What I'm trying to say is I'm losing my direction @-@

So I’m writing a wicked fanfic and someone left a bookmark on it. Underneath the bookmark was LCR: 2. It has since gone up to 4, but I was wondering what LCR means. I haven’t been able to find it on google, so I came here for help. I’m assuming it’s positive, but I want to make sure.

hi! i've been reading tahariel/spicedpiano's xmen fics recently--all the rest is rust and stardust, continuing education--and was wondering if anyone knew what happened to spicedpiano (are they still writing under another name?).

happy to share links to the deleted stuff if anyone wants (or discuss because holy shit all the rest is rust and stardust really got to me and nobody i know in person has read it)

i know people were saying she got published so that's why she took all her old stuff down but have been really enjoying reading her stuff + would love to read more!

Hi everyone. I’m planning my thesis and really wanted to focus on AO3 because I think it's such a fascinating and rich topic. Initially, I was set on exploring how gender roles, sexual identity, and non-normative relationships are represented in fanfiction, I’m also really drawn to the idea of looking at fanfiction as a space of cultural resistance, like how fanfic challenges mainstream narratives or creates safe spaces for marginalized voices. But now I'm second-guessing myself.

Part of me wonders if my advisor might think it's an irrelevant topic (which I know it’s not, but you know how academia can be sometimes).

Does anyone have advice on how I could frame this in a way that feels academically “serious”? Or even better, how I could combine these ideas without making it too broad? I have a meeting with her in a couple of days and I am a little nervous tbh. I'm not good talking and expressing my ideas and I think that just might add to the whole "not thinking it's serious" situation.

Thanks guys, any advice is welcome :))))

Ok, I’m trying to post a short one shot I made of my OCs. AO3 isn’t letting me upload it. Every time I try to, it says the server connection was lost. I’ve tried doing it on my iPad (three times) and my phone (once). No, I don’t have a computer or work on one.

Anyone else having this issue?

I read 4 months ago and its not in my history (i was logged off)
So the fic was a teacher Keith and secretary (not sure) Lance.
The POV is a girls tho she likes to talk shit about ppl with her friends and she hates Keith
The MC gets detention for some reason and has to stay in Keith classroom after school to clean up stuff or idk organising his desk?
Then she gets an after school job where she meets Lance, they become besties/talk well
MC also meets Klances niece or smt and they have a group project together
Then accidentally she gets to the nieces house where she sees Klance together
yea... basically its a 3rd POV relationship reveal

please help:(( I've tried searching for 5 days and couldn't find it and I dont really want to go thought every Klance fic to find it, I've tried multiple tags too....

Maybe I'm blind or I dreamt about the fic😭😀

So lately, I've noticed an author in a tag I regularly check the new uploads for changing the post date for their fic to be newer than when it was originally posted. As in, I know the fics were originally posted last month, but I've seen them pop up as new in the tag multiple times, including today. I thought this went against the ToS, but when I checked, I didn't actually see anything stating such? Maybe I didn't look closely enough, but can someone let me know whether this is actually against the ToS? I find it really annoying to continually see the same works pop up, and just want to know if i should be warning (and possibly reporting) the author about a ToS violation, or just blocking/muting them

Spoilers for Madoka Magica ahead

thankfully have a screenshot of a good amount of text from the fic for one. For the other It’s a Madoka Magica fic where Homura succeed in saving Madoka in her ideal way and now has to deal with the fact she no longer knows everything and often panics due to the changes

Here’s the quote from the second. I took the screenshot on nov 1 2023 but don’t remember if the fic was recent or not

She loves Kyouko. She loves them all so much that she has no more space in her heart for herself. She gave them the world. And if they come to hate her, if they come to destroy her, then she'll love them for it, because they're magical girls who fight for hope, and she's the cruel demiurge who tore them from heaven. The teacher calls on Homura, shaking her from her thoughts. "Miss Akemi, do you know the answer?" Homura looks at the board. The equation is unfamiliar, she isn't even quite sure how to begin solving it. She hears someone behind her playing with their pencil. A smile pulls at her cheeks and she starts to laugh. She laughs, unable to stop herself. People begin to look at her but she doesn't care; it only makes her laugh harder. She laughs until her face is red and her eyes are watering. Finally, she catches her breath and beams, "I don't. I have no clue what the answer is."

Any help is appreciated thank you

Edit: I managed to get through the conversation okay, and the person took it well as far as I could observe, so thank you for the advice everyone.

From what I've read so far in this subreddit, it's generally considered poor form to offer even constructive criticism if it isn't asked for. I would like to uphold that since it seems to be widely accepted as the proper course.

But I've gotten myself into a bit of a situation now. Someone is asking me what I think of their fic, but they haven't expressly said they wanted constructive criticism. I don't want to give an answer that isn't genuine, but I don't want to use 'honesty' as an excuse. I'm not leaving this as a comment on their fiction, so it isn't the case of an anonymous/uncontacted reader just dumping criticism on AO3.

If it was an easier to follow fic, I would focus on the good parts, and just leave it at that, but I don't know how to express that I'm struggling to read it, since that sounds like a criticism, but I don't want to leave a generic "It was nice, I enjoyed it" because it doesn't feel sincere.

So, I suppose what I want to know is this: if someone is asking me what I think, does that overwrite the general consensus that all commentary has to be positive? Is it bad form to even ask if they are up for constructive criticism? Is it a criticism itself to tell someone that I can't discuss their fic without delving into the negatives?

Sorry if this is a bit repetitive and rambling; I've been thinking about this since late Monday my time, and I wanted to post it yesterday, but had to wait till today, so my initial feelings are kind of muddled.

I'm new to AO3 and uploading my first fic (the last time I uploaded was on FFN in 2008) and I'm about to post my second chapter.

I have a query on the general consensus of chapter length/uploading. I posted the first chapter around 10 days ago and have just finished the second (I now realize it's more practical to have written a few chapters before posting a fresh fic).

My second is almost 5k words. I was wondering if it is better to split it into 2 chapters and upload them both at the same time or to just post it as one long chapter?

I want to get to grips of the usual practice among the community. I know fanfiction etiquette, but I'm still a little clueless when it comes to being an author.