Me personally it was: Wattpad ➡️ Quotev ➡️ Tumblr ➡️ Fanfiction.net ➡️ AO3

I have. . .way too many ongoing drafts right now.

In one fandom alone, I've started 8 drafts in the last two months, and only the one-shot actually got finished. One got completely scrapped and thrown into the archive for when I remember it exists next time I'm looking for inspiration, and I'm actively adding to 3 of them.

Thankfully only the completed one-shot got published, but I have a feeling I've bitten off way more than I can chew with so many drafts. I just keep getting new ideas and have to start them or else I can't write anything. At least this way I'm still writing, I guess?

Other than just starting to write it, of course.

Can’t be changing plot elements, choosing to write something, picking a website, any of that.

I saw a post about a fanfiction written by Toby Fox about Ant Tenna, and I just thought of this question soooo

so i'm turning twenty-one in a couple months and i realised a while ago i haven't really cried to a fic in years. the last time was when i was fourteen and i was properly sobbing at one in the morning. maybe it was because i was younger or because i was just lucky to find something written so beautifully but i'm just wondering whether people have cried to fics as adults?

might be a silly question but lmk!

I've been struggling with when I'm making a character speak in my recent fics- and have been realizing that it's all starting(or always ending) with just "says [character name], or said [character name)" and I don't know how to stop.. any ideas on how to avoid repeating those things, or any alternatives?

On another note I also feel like I've been saying "as" and "before" a lot in my stories too.. I feel like I'm having same face syndrome but with writing

I feel like I need a word bank GIGGLES

(EDIT: I just want to say thank you to everyone who comment! It all really helps :3 <3)

I understand the commenting etiquette has come a long way for fanfictions and generally people push for just DNFing a work if they dont like something, but I genuinely am looking for constructive criticism on my works. I write for fun, and the challenge of making something work but Im a novice at writing and do like to know what could be improved on.

Im not looking for pure hate (the bots do enough already) but genuine criticism. How would I ask for this from what little readers I have? Like if ive missed a tag, or something in my style is too repetitive ect. I know writing more helps make you better but I also dont want to cultivate bad habits.

I've been wanting to write x reader fics, but my main problem is how do i portray the reader without them sounding like an OC?

if i give the reader a certain attitude, such as their dialogue sounding defiant or sassy, or maybe giving them a habit or two, does that make it sound like an OC instead?

maybe I'm overthinking it, at one point i wondered if giving them a backstory makes it seem like an OC, as if that couldn't possibly shape the plot.

I tried narrowing it down a little, making it an x fem!reader fanfic, but then i thought, do i avoid hair descriptions? because what if the reader is bald lol

it's a whole spiral of "i want to have a scene where the reader's hair gets stuck— wait, but what if the reader reading doesn't have hair long enough for that?" "the reader escapes through this path..Wait but that makes it sound like the reader is skinny—" "the reader couldn't reach this.. But does that make it sound like the reader is short?"

I'm trying to make it as inclusive as possible</3 advice is appreciated, I'd like to know what fellow x readers like or dislike when reading x reader fanfics too!

Ever feel extraordinarily anxious when you want to submit a fic to a fandom for the very first time? I like to write for numerous fandoms, and I write when I feel inspired or when my interest in a particular fandom suddenly surges.

That being said, I've been known as an author for one particular fandom for the past eight years with the occasional one-off for other fandoms thrown in every now and then. As of late, my desire to continue writing for this primary fandom has faded despite my love for it never diminishing. I want to try writing for another fandom that I'm interested in to try to get back into the groove and love of writing in general, but I feel like I'd be intruding on a beloved fandom by trying to include a fic of my own.

It's the strangest feeling. I've never been bullied or harassed in any of the fandoms I've written for in the past, and yet that strange worry that branching out into a new fandom will be met with hostility makes it difficult to even try to finish the first paragraph of my next story.

I can't be alone in this feeling. It's not going to deter me from finishing this work in progress, but I can't stop myself from dreading negative commentary from a potential fandom gatekeeper who doesn't want anyone else writing for that fandom because they decided that they're somehow the rightful moderator of the entire franchise regardless of what's been written or who's doing the writing.

I’m planning to write an Itoshi brothers fanfic on AO3 that evokes a sense of nostalgia. Since I know that a large portion of the AO3 audience is American—and given that a lullaby plays a significant role in the story—I wanted to ask: what lullaby do you sing to your children, or what lullabies were sung to you?

Update: Thanks to everyone who suggested options. Since "You Are My Sunshine" was the most fitting and frequently suggested choice, I went with that one. Thanks to you, I was able to write and post this work on AO3—though I did have to fiddle quite a bit with the text formatting.

I've been wondering about this for a long time because I'm not really the best at righting fan fics but how do you really write a swap AU? Theres a lot of ways to write a swap AU and I have no idea what to choose whenever I want to make a swap AU so I'll just make a list of some of the types because I don't even know if these count as swap??

1. Personality swapping Like there two characters swap personalities but they still have the exact same roles / fates
2. Fate swapping, where two characters switch fates (ex: Character 1 dies in cannon and character 2 survives but in AU character 2 dies and character 1 survives) they still have the exact same lore as usual but their fates are swapped now.
3. Lore swap , two characters switch lore with each other but everything else about them stays the same it's just their backstory makes them different now which I guess could also be kind of like personality swapping??
4. Role swap? I don't exactly know how to explain this one but it's where like two characters swap roles not exactly like fate or lore swap but more like just the role of the character (like character 1 is prince and character 2 is a guard but in AU character 2 is prince and character 1 is guard)

I think what I really don't get is the roles when it comes to things like swap AU's because a lot of people in swap AU's swap the two partners but a lot of people also swap enemies or characters that are opposite to each other but theres also AU's where people swap pairs instead of just two characters. I know theres a lot more types of swap Au's but I just can't exactly explain them because they're so complecated to me. Do different types of swap AU's have different particular names? What really is a swap AU??? ( I know I'd probably know this if I read or wrote more fanfictions but I really don't so PLEASE help me)

Welcome back to the Alphabet Excerpt Challenge! As a reminder, our challenges are every Wednesday and Saturday at 3pm London time.

If you've missed the previous challenges, you're welcome to go back and participate in them. You can find them here. And remember to check out the Activities and Events flair to play along with other fun games.

Here's a quick recap of the rules for our game:

1. Post a top level comment with a word starting with the letter W. You can suggest more than one, but please put them in separate comments.
2. Reply to suggestions with an excerpt containing that word. Short and sweet is best, but use your judgement. Excerpts can be from published or unpublished works, or even something you wrote for the prompt.
3. All content is welcome but per rules 7 and 12 of the sub, NSFW excerpts may not be shared as plain text (even if it's spoilered). If you would like to share these, use an external text sharing tool like justpasteit and link it here with a clear warning. Mods may remove excerpts that break these rules.
4. Respond to people who left excerpts on the words you suggested, at a minimum, but the more people you respond to the better. Everyone likes nice comments!
5. Upvote other excerpts you enjoy, and leave a friendly comment. Again, everyone likes nice comments!
6. Most important: have fun!

I just wanted to celebrate with you.

I know it's nothing, it's one person BUT.
A few weeks ago, I started writing again after a hiatus of 3/4 years. I got divorced, went back to college and all... It was all very busy. I also took writing classes and entered a few contests (I won 2 here in France, yeah!).
And I went back to the very first thing I wrote, in 2021, my long fan fiction in the universe of The Strain, which is very niche.
And boy. It was bad. The story was bad, my OC was totally a Mary Sue and the writing was trash.
I gave it to a friend of mine who is a professional editor and made me feel even more terrible about my writing.
We spent days building the story, writing each character's arc separately etc. Crazy work for a fandom with like 12 potential readers!

And so, I started posting a few edited chapters in lieu of my old ones and... I got hits.... I got kudos and now... I have this one reader leaving LONG comments on every chapter. And it makes me SO happy.

I was kind of scared the girls who harassed me in 2021 would come back but for now it's only kudos and fun and nice comments. It feels so good!!!

There, sorry for oversharing but I just wanted you all to know that even in small fandoms, there will always be at least one person your fanfiction will please :) keep writing!

I assume many people have already asked the same question on this subreddit, but I think I have a specific case.

I have a setting where two characters have the same goal and have to get through certain challenges to achieve it. Of course, during this process they fall in love and stuff.

The thing is - I really want to portray internal homophobia in the best way possible. My only question is… how? How should a character act with someone he’s romantically interested in if he has internalized homophobia? What should he think of? What his internal monologue should look like? What’s the right way out of it and figuring things out?

I’d really appreciate your help

Im just not to sure what the difference between them are

Hi!!! So I am new to the fanfic universe and I feel like I opened my life to a world that I wish I found sooner!! Apparently Marvel is the most popular fandom that has the most fanfics which is amazing because my current hyperfixation is MCU and I’m rewatching all the movies.

BUT I love a good OC romance fic and I usually read M/F but I’m honestly open to anything so what are the best fics out there? Like the CLASSICS like I know in the HP fandom the classic fic was Manacled, does MCU have any of those?

Thank youuu❤️❤️

I've been really wanting to write a fanfic lately. Not a huge project — actually, I'd like to keep it fairly small, write it mostly for myself, finish it first, and maybe publish it afterwards if I'm happy with it.

The problem is… I can't pick a fandom.

I have several fandoms I like, but right now none of them gives me that "YES, I need to write something about this" feeling. And when I try to force myself to come up with a plot or an OC for one of them, my brain just goes completely blank.

The weird thing is that I really want to write. It's not the act of writing that I'm tired of. I just don't seem to have a story or fandom that's grabbing me enough to start.

I also tend to enjoy writing OCs into existing universes, so I'd probably like to do that again.

Has this ever happened to you?

Do you wait until a fandom/story naturally grabs you again? Do you use prompts? Revisit old fandoms? Pick something almost at random and start writing until an idea appears?

I'd especially love to hear from people who write mostly for themselves and only publish once a story is finished.

This might be a weird question, but I feel that it’s necessary to ask.

I am a sapphic woman, I have known since a very young age and I have never showed any interest in men outside the realm of fiction, and reading smutty fics about them is basically where my sexual experience with men both starts and ends.

I am not too well versed on the functions of the male reproductive system, I know the basics that are taught in American public schools but it doesn’t feel right to describe it so medically and without flavor in a smutty fic.

Fellow writers that have no actual experience with guys, what do you do when you write fics that include penetrative vaginal sex? I’m trying to be the best writer I can be

Thank you to anyone who responds, your advice is super appreciated

I think I'm too in my head about this one, so turning to the internet for guidance. How quickly would you want/expect an epilogue to be posted after the final chapter? Sooner or along the same schedule the rest of the fic has been posted?

Edit: thanks everyone! I'll probably post the final chapter today and the epilogue tomorrow as a compromise. (Also I want to mark the fic as complete already haha)

All I remember was that they were both animals (?) that were owned by Alana (or was it Bedelia???). Hannibal didn't "like" Will at first (stealing food, just being annoying, sneaking in Will's cage) but I think after an encounter with a stray, they ended up more friendly.

I also remember Will going to heat and Alana was helping him through it and then while she was away, Hannibal sneaked inside his cage and then they fricked. (I think).

It was a short fanfic...I think. If you can somehow find the fanfic through this... You are a lifesaver.

Hey so I had posted a work on AO3 recently about a male gay character and one of the tags I added was #Pillow Princess (insert gay character).

I thought that was the correct use because doing research it was said to have originated from lesbian media and terms, but was now used for LGBTQ+ individuals as a whole. but I got a comment saying it was lesbian exclusive and that I was trying to erase lesbian people and such.

Im lesbian. I was always under the impression that pillow princess was anyone who preferred to receive the pleasure rather than giving it (from things I’ve read and google). I thought it was a term that could be used under the same umbrella as ‘Malewife’ when used for a male character receiving.

I don’t want to offend anyone! So I changed the tag to #Pillow Prince (insert gay character) instead, since that seems like the next obvious answer.

I’m just wondering if it is really that offensive, since, as a lesbian, I had never even considered that it was offensive towards us😭

(Also I was gonna post this on r/AO3 but apparently you cant post on Tuesdays???)

I write for niche fandoms, so I’m used to my fics not getting much attention. But, last week, when I published the latest chapter on my long fic, the guest kudos exploded in a day.

I‘ve heard of the bot that randomly gives a handful of kudos, or maybe a lot of people saw my fic that day—so I didn’t think much of it. But, I’ve been getting around 10 guest kudos every day since and it’s starting to get a little ridiculous. This isn’t happening to any of my other fics either, just this one.

Will it ever stop, or is it stuck on some glitch that will repeat indefinitely?