Fandom Etiquette

Fandom Etiquette

Over the last several months, bad behavior has been on the rise. I’m going to mostly chalk it up to an influx of younger fans, or people that are new to fandom in general, but as a creator it can be incredibly frustrating when these types of behaviors persist. So as a general reminder:

Posting to Ao3

Ao3 is an archive. It was essentially created as an immense library of people’s fanworks. It is not a social media site. There is also no algorithm that curates which posts are shown to people. Any post created on Ao3 that is not a fanwork (or original work) that is posted is actually in direct violation of AO3’s terms of service. Your post will get reported and eventually your account may be suspended or terminated. These posts include:

Lists of prompts that you’d like to see written

A post asking for people to send you prompts or to tell you which prompt to write next

Posts asking for help looking for a specific fic or fic recommendations.

All of these posts belong on social media sites like tumblr or twitter. Both sites have strong fandom presences and you’re more likely to be helped. You can also try a dedicated discord.

Why does it matter? As mentioned, there’s no algorithm on Ao3. It’s equal opportunity in that the most recent posts appear at the top of the page. Inappropriate posts bury actual creator content and this frustrates writers. You may think it’s not a big deal because ‘it’s just one post’, but think about what would happen if everyone did it. There are more readers than there are writers on Ao3. If everyone made posts like this, the actual works that people devoted hours into creating would get lost, driving down engagement which also drives down motivation. Your flaunting the rules encourages others to do the same. And no, it doesn’t matter if you intend to ‘delete it later’.

Commenting on works

As creators, we all love receiving comments. For most people it’s the single biggest motivator to create more. But please think about the way your comments can come across before you post them.

The main type of comment that I’m talking about is the demand for more

Update please

This needs another chapter

I need an update

Etc.

You may think these comments come across as complimentary but unless you’ve added something else substantial (like an explanation of what you’ve enjoyed so far, or even just a real indication of your enjoyment), they don’t. Most people I know would much rather receive a single emoji (send me a heart! That’s great! I appreciate it!) than one of these comments.

What I think a lot of people tend to forget is that no one is getting paid to write these fics. A lot of your favorite creators are adults with careers and families that write as their hobby. These comments make everything feel transactional. They suck the joy out of creating. They make working on a fic feel like a chore. For a lot of people, receiving an ‘Update’ comment will actually have the opposite effect, causing them to avoid working on that fic for a period of time.

We are not your favorite TikToker or YouTuber. We do not owe you anything, Please act like it.

Getting called out on your behavior

Please. If someone calls you out, telling you that your behavior is inappropriate or upsetting, learn from it. Don’t get defensive. Don’t double down. You can absolutely curate your space— mute or block the person that you’re having a disagreement with. It won’t hurt anyone and honestly everyone will probably come out with a more comfortable experience for it.

But at the end of the day, fandom is an adult space. Younger people are still welcome, but a certain level of maturity is expected. When spaces become hostile, creators leave, and we’re all left poorer for it

| We’re one big happy family (Patrick Keleher via instagram) |

This is a favorite of mine. It’s so well done. I hope @cleromanticon finds time and inspiration to finish it some day. Sooooo good. And a bit scary at the same time.

Tim sat drumming his fingers on his truck’s steering wheel, parked beside his sister’s van in the hospice parking lot, wondering why he was dreading this moment so much. He regretted not telling Lucy where he was going. She would have come with him. This would be easier if she was with him. “Get it together, Bradford,” he said aloud to himself. “Sign a piece of paper, get rid of that damned house, and you never have to come here again. You don’t have to see him. You don’t have to go past the lobby. Win-win-win, so go do it.” He didn’t move. He tried to picture Lucy beside him.The sooner you get this over with, the sooner you get to go back and tell her you just made a million dollars, and you’re taking her out to celebrate. This time Tim opened the truck door, climbed out, and headed towards the front entrance of the hospice. He imagined the actual conversation with Lucy, trying out different ways of asking her. He wondered if he should ask her out on a date. If he should ask her to go out to celebrate with him as friends. He imagined making the invitation ambiguous and Lucy asking him, “Is this a date?” And he’d know by the hope in her eyes that she wanted it to be, so he’d tell her, “You decide.”

- Omne Malum ab Homine by @cleromanticon (submitted by @come-rain-come-shine)

Six(ish) Sentence Saturday (or Monday...)

Honestly, I just liked how this segment came together, so I thought I'd share.

Lucy’s eyes widened, and she gasped as she looked at her oval moonstone ring. That was another item that she could neither wear nor discard. There were too many memories tied to that ring. It was her favorite ring long before she ever met Caleb Wright. Then, after the ring was instrumental in her discovery and rescue, it was a reminder that she was a survivor. But she hadn’t been able to wear it ever since Tim left because the ring was also a reminder of who saved her and helped her recover from her trauma and always had her back.

Until he didn’t.

Until he couldn’t.

Until he was gone.

I hope to finish up this chapter tonight. Maybe I'll even have time to get it edited and posted. It's another long one. Sorry if that doesn't appeal to you. It's how I roll lately.

Also, as an FYI, after receiving a decent amount of hateful/rude comments and asks, I've turned off my asks. I'm still happy to get prompts and other various asks if you can be kind - just send them as a message instead of an ask. Thanks.

insp.

Six Sentence (Paragraph?) Saturday

Haha. 😬🫣🤦🏻‍♀️ I couldn’t cut it short.

This is a throw back to a favorite scene of mine that I wrote back in February in the last chapter of Snowed In. Tim and Lucy meet after he’s in Metro (Ashley is gone), and she’s a detective at North Hollywood (Chris is gone). In this scene, Tim has to take care of some paperwork, and he brings her to his office for the first time. The link to the story is below. Enjoy!

Tim opened the door and squeezed through the narrow space to his desk. There was a small stack of papers waiting for him there. “Have a seat,” he said. “This shouldn’t take too long.” He picked up a pen and started writing at a frantic pace.

Lucy looked around the office and walked from one end to the other, which only took about seven steps to do. She went to the window and pulled the cord to bring the blinds down. Then she pulled the cord on the opposite side to see how well they closed. “Hmm,” she observed. That’ll work, she thought to herself, opening the blinds again. Then she took two steps back to look at the door. “Does this lock?” she asked in an innocent voice.

“Of course,” he said quickly. The moment the words left his lips though, he realized what she was really asking. He raised his head to look at her more closely. She had a mischievous glint in her eye. “Later. Soon,” he said, repeating her words back to her with a smile.

Lucy smiled back at him and tucked that little tidbit of information away for another day. Then she moved over to examine the small couch. She pushed on it a couple of times to see how springy it was. Then she laid down on it. Lucy was disappointed that she barely fit, so Tim would definitely not be able to lay down comfortably on it. “Too bad,” she muttered to herself.

Tim looked up when he heard her voice, but he couldn’t tell what she was saying. “I can see the wheels in your head spinning.”

She turned and walked back to his desk in response. Lucy grabbed the edge of the desk with both hands and gave it a little shake. She made a high pitched ‘hmph,’ and said quietly “That should work out well.”

“Lucy,” he warned but with a laugh he was trying to stifle. “I’ve got to finish this paperwork. If I speed through it, we can be done in 15 minutes. But if all I do is envision… utilizing this space with you in the future, then it’s going to take much longer.”

“Fine. I’ll be good,” she promised. “Maybe I’ll wander around the station for a few minutes.”

I love these two in love.

Read more here.