trungles:

Honestly I feel like Tumblr has been the best about all this lately, though I kinda feel like my time away helped put a healthy sense of distance in me.

squirrelstone:

drunkenbartend:

sonicenvy:

there is a new scourge on AO3 that I discovered recently…

that scourge is “Placeholder fics”. This is thing, where someone posts a “fic” on AO3 with a summary and tags (and sometimes even a complete tag), but when you click on the “fic” the content of the “fic” is something like:

“coming soon” or “in progress” or “an idea I’ll write someday”

This is a scourge on AO3 tags that directly violates TOS Section IV, as it is spam (sect B) and inappropriate content (sect H) (not, strictly speaking a fanwork).

If you see these “placeholder fics” on AO3 REPORT THEM. It is easy to do.

Link the fic in report and in the description, you can write something like this:

The linked “fic” is a so-called “placeholder fic” where the author posts a work to a tag and the only content is the words “In progress”. The “fic” appears in tags, yet contains no content, so I would consider it to be spam. Thank you!

(This, btw is the actual thing that I wrote to report one of these a few weeks ago)

If you want to get jazzy you can even mention that you believe the “fic” violates TOS IV.H (which is what the AO3 mod told me in the email response to my report) or TOS IV.B.

You can report anonymously if you want afaik. Once you submit a report the AO3 moderators will get back to you at some point to update you on that report and action taken.

This is a simple way that YOU can make AO3 better today. If you see a “fic” that violates TOS in any way, REPORT IT. There are literally millions of fics on AO3 and the moderators can’t possibly go through all of them without YOUR help.

I suspect that the people who are posting these “placeholder fics” are probably very young people who are very new to fandom and fanfiction and do not know better. If you are reading this post, and you are one of these people, know that I don’t hate you, I just want you to know that what you are doing is a violation of the AO3 TOS and that it fills AO3 tags with spam, preventing readers from finding actual fic to read. There can be (and certainly are) MANY fics on AO3 with the SAME names, if that’s what is motivating this.

AO3 isn’t a social media site, it’s an ARCHIVE for fanfiction. If you want to communicate with your following that you are planning on writing a new fic, use your tumblr, your reddit, your dreamwidth, your substack, your pillowfort, your livejournal, your bird site or whatever the fuck you have to do this. Link your socials in your bio on AO3 if you must. Mention it in the author’s notes on your latest work. IDK, just don’t post empty “fics” on the ARCHIVE.

Ok, so, i can see why this could be annoying, and i understand that it may be a scourge.

BUT as someone who does this, i would like for you to understand that it is another way for me to motivate myself. By posting these “empty fics” and getting them out there for people in that famdom to see the potential, i then have forced myself into writing it.

I do not have any sort of following on socials, as with many fanfic writers, so that is not a viable option for me. By promising these people this fic, i have also promised myself to write.

(Also, does it count if i have a trailer chapter that has actual content? But like the content is a very brief snippets, cause i usually do that)

Might I propose we start tagging such fics as something like “under constuction” or “coming soon to an ao3 near you”? Because then you, a reader who does not wish to see fics like that, can either filter them out, or just skip them, and then writers who need to just get something down first can also do that.

Of course, the tag name can be disputed later, but i just wanted to help you understand my side of this problem

Of course you can completely disagree, i just wanted atleast the possibility of a truce.

I would love for more input if you would like, because i only know my side and the above glimps of your side(cause i haven’t really seen any fics like you described except my own(NOT TO INVALIDATE YOUR EXPERIENCE!!!! Just sharing mine.(i swear, every word i spout feels like I’m adding fuel to the fire)))

As the op stated, ao3 is an archive, not an advertising space, which is what you’re trying to do. Even if you “promise the fic” to others, there are going to be many more who went to read a fic and found none. It’s a betrayal of the community that uses the archive, even with tags stating the intent. You will only make yourself notorious for violating both the terms of service and the social contract of ao3, and people will block you in droves so you never get those readers you’re trying to appeal to.

You’re better off posting in tumblr tags and things like that cause people follow those, too, so you’re not just dumping ideas and placeholders out to people who don’t event want to see it. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a “following” because if you post things properly you will find people interested in your fics. Most tumblr users don’t use the algorithm option, so it’s much easier to “break through” and get noticed because if you’ve posted in whatever tag recently, people will see it.

Needing to force yourself into writing is a personal problem; don’t make it the rest of ao3’s readers. And again, it is in the terms of service that you cannot do this. If you continue to try to dodge the rules, you will only come off as entitled and disrespectful and people will avoid your fics out of spite.

Regarding your “trailer” idea, I’d expect a full chapter to be posted at the same time or else it’s just a one shot that may be expanded upon later.

I was naively reading the first part thinking it was just an AO3 newbie who hadn’t figured out the ‘save as draft’ function…oops

(I miss the age where the ‘read more’ could say things besides ‘read more’…anyway, either skip or prepare to scroll)

I think the newer arrivals to AO3 have had no experience of the ‘archive’ intention of AO3. It’s not terrible to think of your creativity as a living thing that thrives on community, and there is one here. But it doesn’t grow in the same pattern as social media. The archive is for finished works, and by that I mean finished for posting. Even if you never write another chapter, or return constantly to edit the WIP you’re struggling with, or revamp the whole thing on a whim. What you posted was a whole piece of work, which you wrote with the simple intention of writing it. Adding something to the archive which is not a work, but a promotion of the possibility of future work, seems counterproductive to the whole system. Not to mention frustrating to author, readers and archivists.

If you need external motivation to begin creating that’s not bad either, just not a task for the archive. There are some great communities out there, and AO3 will be waiting with its kudos function to receive the results when you do start writing. Blogs, writing groups, Discord servers, Tumblr, Twitter…lots of choice. Also, there’s nothing wrong with just starting to write on AO3 and tagging the thing “wip”. There are people who will see and appreciate it eventually. Trying to rush the process with empty chapters might end up putting off readers instead. @squirrelstone put this better than I did, but it needs repeating that AO3 specifically does not allow this self-promotion.

It’s also my opinion that it’s refreshing to just produce content without having to pander to algorithms once in a while. People can be smart about it with tagging and posting times, and boosting on their social media, but…just writing, posting and seeing what happens is good too.

(Were people doing this on Wattpad? I was never on it so I don’t know if it was a regular practice there.)

TLDR: if you need motivation to write maybe find a community first, and then post stuff to AO3. Empty “trailer”-style posts might annoy potential readers, and WIPS often attract passers-by anyway.

gffa:

Absolutely charmed by Bruce’s vision of all his kids being chaos gremlins, but HAPPY chaos gremlins!

Like, yeah, he pretends to hate it and it probably does get on his nerves sometimes, but also this is a man who clearly loves that his kids are all awful, awful children, that they bring light and joy into his life by tricking each other into coming over, by gleefully arguing over the pancakes for, by apparently climbing on the counter to reach the high shelves, by TELLING THEM TO TRIP THE SENSORS ON THEIR WAY IN

I’s just so much chaos and Bruce’s reaction to all of this? Once he settles in, “This is nice.”

Mermay Prompt: Music for a Sushi Restaurant

When I saw this on the prompt list I went “what?” Apparently it’s a Harry Styles song. The video is fun!

Of course the songs I usually hear in REAL sushi restaurants are most often by that goddess of J-pop, the idol of weebs everywhere: Utada Hikaru. If you have heard a sweet voice over a snappy beat in a Daiso, Japanese mini-mart or yes, a sushi restaurant, it was probably Hikki. Long may she reign.

I made her a rainbow squid here, enjoy!

Prompt for Mermay - Sunrise

Shaheen’s sisters come for a visit. Or maybe a rescue.

In the original story the sisters went to the Sea Witch and swapped their hair for a knife to give to the Mermaid, so she could kill the Prince. This story happens in a kinder world, where mermaids have souls of their own and magic isn’t all pain and punishment. Also the sisters know there’s no way their softie of a baby brother could kill anyone, even this trash biped who broke his heart. They might want to take a shot at it themselves, though.

Prompt for Mermay - Horror

(TW: Gore, body horror)

Here be trigger warnings for body horror. In the story the Sea Witch gives the Mermaid a potion. “Then your tail will divide and shrink until it becomes what the people on earth call a pair of shapely legs. But it will hurt; it will feel as if a sharp sword slashed through you. …every step you take will feel as if you were treading upon knife blades so sharp that blood must flow.”

Even in the Disney movie, there’s a split second where Ursula’s magic flashes and Ariel’s tail tears in half and then transforms -bam! bam! - into legs. Because I read the story first, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. How does one tail become two legs? Not easily.

I learned how to draw a pelvis (well, half a pelvis) and a fish spine! It looked very different from what I thought. It was also the first time I tried to paint raw meat. I’m usually a big chicken but less, it seems, when I’m creating the horror myself.

Sakura dark grey Sigma Micron and various artist watercolours on Gerstaecker watercolour paper.

Prompt for Mermay - Deep Sea

In my story, the Sea Serpent is an ancient mage and teacher that lives in the deep trenches and advises the royal family. If you want to learn magic, he’s the best source.

I used Caran D’Ache pan gouache on Clairefontaine Denim toned paper for the first time. The inking went well, but the painting process was very awkward and I often felt lost and like I didn’t know what I was doing. Still, I love these materials and would love to try this again.