@rapidhighway

"I didn't comment on a fic I liked because I don't think the author would care or remember my comment anyway". fanfic writer here, I still remember comments I got on my fics from seven years ago. I still think about them and they still make me smile. your kind comments are what motivates us and what helps us keep writing.

I personally know writers who take screenshot and print out comments they got from their readers.

TL;DR comments matter to us writers more than you think. if you like a fanfic, never be shy to let the author know ♡

I said this over on the skysite but realized it would probably be useful over here too, so!

Friendly reminder to AO3 readers that you absolutely should not be in the habit of making personal Collections for your favorite fics—instead, add tags to your bookmarks and use those to browse! This also works for private bookmarks, so there's no reason to do it otherwise.

The issue with using Collections for bookmark organization is that this feature can be (and often is) used by bad actors to hide fics they dislike by setting the collection to "Unrevealed" after the author agrees to have their work added. This hides the fic from everyone except the collection admin and the author, changing the fic listing to a note reading "This work is part of an unrevealed collection."

As you can probably guess, this is a common fancop tactic to hide what they consider "objectionable content" from readers.

Authors: DO NOT allow people you don't know to add your work to collections unless you actually participated in an event for which the collection was made. If you agree to have your work added to a collection and the admin changes the status of that collection in any way, you do not receive any notice. It doesn't matter how old the fic is, how many people had it bookmarked, how many people were subscribed to the fic—if the collection is set to "Unrevealed," even after the fact, nobody else can see anything in it.

Readers: DO put tags on your bookmarks and use AO3's browsing filters on said bookmarks to find specific fics. There is no reason to make a personal collection with how robust AO3's tag system is, and the only reason you'd set a personal collection to "Unrevealed" is to intentionally hide someone else's work, which is an undeniably shitty thing to do.

reblog if you’ve read fanfictions that are more professional, better written than some actual novels. I’m trying to see something

You should write the most niche, indulgent fiction that appeals to you specifically, because it will be much more artistically authentic and valuable than corporate slop that has been focus tested to death to appeal to the widest audience possible.

Write for yourself and you will always be making authentic art that has an uncompromised vision, and you will gain an audience that appreciates that.

if tumblr lives you can find me on tumblr

current fan creation landscape is kinda like if you went to a party with a homemade cake and everyone takes a slice and silently thumbs up at you with no attempt to start a conversation except for occasionally some guy sits in the corner with a tape recorder critiquing the cake as though he was a restaurant critic and another guy is handing the cake to an uber driver like "yeah i need you to find a restaurant that makes cake like this so i can have more of it" and the only person that's talked to you in 30 minutes is a very sweet little guy who was like "hey i liked your cake" and then ran away apologizing for bothering you the moment you said thank you.

someone brought a cake analysis robot to feed the cake into to determine the exact ingredients and supposedly it can spit out the exact same cake. and if you're like dude. what. then they're like well if it bothers you you should have made more cake. i'm hungry and i deserve cake. and you're like dude we're at a party.

Three months later you find out that fifty people locked themselves in a room to discuss how much they loved your cake and how they wished you made more. None of them ever told you.

so for the love of god. please tell people you liked their cake and don’t feel embarrassed about it. because then they will make more cake.