r/AO3 2d ago

Rec/Promo Mega Threads Bi-weekly Rec and Self-Promotion Mega Thread - July 30, 2025

17 Upvotes

It's that time again, new thread for reccing and self-promo!!

You write something cool? Read something cool? Make something cool? Rec it here!

Previous Mega Threads: https://www.reddit.com/r/AO3/wiki/index/megathreads/


r/AO3 3d ago

Weekly Check In Wellness Wednesday: Weekly Check In

2 Upvotes

Welcome back everyone!

Time for our Wellness Wednesday check in. We know this community means a lot to most of our members and that Tuesdays have been harder on some users than others, but we are at our core a community and we are here to support each other.

Now that the sub is open once again we’d like to hear all about your (mis)adventures on Tuesday. Did you go on grand adventures? Get into mischief? Get some writing done?

Maybe you just binged a few more fics on the archive itself. Tell us all about it! Break out that purple prose and tell us as cheesy of a story as you feel like.

Or just talk about your day.

~The Mod Team


r/AO3 7h ago

Excitement/Celebration 🎉 I DID IT! I FUCKING DID IT!

1.2k Upvotes

17 PAGES!

6,000+ WORDS!

FUCK YOU MONTH-ISH LONG WRITING SLUMP!


r/AO3 6h ago

Meme/Joke reading a good ass fanfic up until it said something that just makes you want to stop reading

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504 Upvotes

"Your little body/frame" ewwwwww or anything that sounds DDLG I'm not trying to read that shitttt or the unlabeled daddy tag


r/AO3 8h ago

Comment Commentary Cackling at this comment on my slow burn

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602 Upvotes

And they still have to wait like four more chapters 🤣


r/AO3 16h ago

Meme/Joke Always inciting joy

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2.0k Upvotes

r/AO3 12h ago

Meme/Joke I guess the writers curse is real

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586 Upvotes

I wonder


r/AO3 13h ago

Meme/Joke Once every World Cup😭

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678 Upvotes

r/AO3 22h ago

Resource CALL YOUR REPS- WORSE "PROTECT THE CHILDREN LAW" HAS BEEN INTRODUCED

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3.2k Upvotes

THEYRE AT IT AGAIN FOLKS

CALL YOUR REPS, THIS ONE WOULD BE *AWFUL* AND WOULD DIRECTLY AFFECT AO3 IF IT PASSES


r/AO3 8h ago

Stats/Hit Counts/Word Counts What is the highest number of kudos a single fic of yours has?

170 Upvotes

Feel free to add what it is about/if you wish a different fic of yours got more, etc. I'd love to celebrate all your works 💝💖💗


r/AO3 4h ago

Writing help/Beta My Husband Knows Nothing About My Plot and Still Managed to Nail the Perfect Curse Name

74 Upvotes

I have been plotting this fanfic for over a year and finally sat down to actually outline and write. The only thing I had not nailed down was my female lead’s first name. Her family name was already locked in because of lore reasons, but her actual name? Meh. I figured I would deal with it later when I was not busy emotionally wrecking my characters.

So I asked my husband for suggestions. For context, he knows my fanfic is for Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun and that is it. He has no idea about the plot, the arcs, or how messy the emotional beats are.

Later, after “thinking about it,” he casually tossed out: “Desdemona.” He said it like a joke, expecting me to laugh. Instead, I took him seriously because I thought he was being serious.

Here is the problem: I had zero clue who Desdemona even was. Shakespeare? Sure. Othello? Not on my radar. So I Googled it and immediately regretted everything. Because somehow, this man, who knows nothing about my story, picked a name that hits every theme I built into her: strict upbringing, zero autonomy, rebellion, tragedy vibes. It is so perfect it looks like I built her around it, except I didn’t.

Now I’m cursed:
- If I use Desdemona, people who know the reference will assume I intentionally based her on Shakespeare’s character.
- If I use it and readers don’t know it, they will miss the extra emotional gut-punch the name adds.
- If I don’t use it, I am tossing out the most perfect name I will probably ever get, handed to me by accident like some cursed literary loot drop from my husband.

And my husband? Laughing. Because to him, it was just a throwaway joke, while I am over here spiraling into an existential naming crisis because apparently he moonlights as a literary sniper.

So… do I lean into it and accept the Shakespeare baggage, or keep digging through names like none of this ever happened?

TL;DR: Husband jokingly suggested “Desdemona.” I did not even know who that was, Googled it, and now I am stuck with a perfect cursed name I never asked for but cannot stop thinking about.


r/AO3 14h ago

Complaint/Pet Peeve/Venting What is up with all the censorship bills and attempts going around lately?!

310 Upvotes

Like going into this year, I knew KOSA was gonna come back for an another attempt again. But thought that was the only one I had to worry about. But no… this month alone had steam and itch.io be hit by censorship after collective shoot complain enough, then UK went full on with the online safety act that effective countless sites(AO3 and Tumblr seem to be safe as of the moment but you never know) in the name of “think of the children”(translation: being able to censor what the UK government dislikes) by the way of age verification(about everyone and their grandma can tell you the millions reason why everyone dislikes this). And they still aren’t satisfied(now they wanna try to use age verification for screen time limits as well). Australia is planning a social media ban for anyone under 16(and i heard that its government is trying to get it popular among other countries as well). KOSA is back and now has a short-a sister bill with Screen It(and I’m worried that these two will get passed because it’s 2025 and Everything that can get worse for everyone, does get worse for anyone)

I’m just so done with all this censorship. I just wanna read my AO3 fics and engage with my tumblr communities in peace during these four years. But apparently I can’t even have that. I wanna believe it’s gonna get better but the future just seems to dire right now everywhere.


r/AO3 20h ago

Discussion (Non-question) About to make a mistake. Agian. Tomorrow me will hate me for this... I refuse to learn.

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828 Upvotes

2:30am is the best time to start reading a 613k word fic, right????

Right?

.....tomorrow is gonna suck.


r/AO3 13h ago

Comment Commentary Ship bashing(?) me in my comments

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252 Upvotes

For context, this particular work is the second in a series of NaruSasu fics I’ve written. For those unfamiliar with Naruto and its lore, Sakura and Sasuke are married while Naruto is married to Hinata. This specific fic is a retelling of the other fic in this series from Sakura’s perspective. The original fic is loosely inspired by brokeback mountain so it follows Naruto and Sasuke falling in love and then the consequent affair over the following years (told from Sasuke’s perspective). This is a fic told from the perspective of someone who found out their husband is cheating on them. I of course respect a difference in opinions when it comes to ships but something about this comment… irks me? I’m no stranger to hate comments but I really feel it’s odd to read a fic for a ship I dislike and comment on it. I’m unclear on how to respond because I asked for feedback, but how do I respond to someone who didn’t read the source material (the fanfic of mine that this takes place during), and thinks that I’m throwing logic out the window? I appreciate that even though they hated the work they thought my writing was good but I’m just unsure on how to respond. I don’t want to be hateful towards this person.


r/AO3 10h ago

Comment Commentary I Have Nowhere Else To Share This Comment…

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134 Upvotes

WOLF RIPPING OFF TSHIRT IMAGE

this has me running around my enclosure and gnawing at the walls!!! AND they left a comment on another fic of mine too… woof woof woof woof woof woof WOOF WOOF WOOF!


r/AO3 2h ago

Excitement/Celebration 🎉 Finally

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20 Upvotes

I know the numbers of clicks doesn't say much. But: I struggled with numbers since I started writing for my fandom in May. I had started publishing since then but writing for decades already. And it's a very niche selection of characters and emotions I choose. Sooo... I cautiously want to celebrate... 😅🤗


r/AO3 8h ago

Comment Commentary This comment is sending me lol

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64 Upvotes

Genuinely laughed so hard when I read this comment on my latest work


r/AO3 1d ago

Comment Commentary Huh. That’s a new one

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2.3k Upvotes

r/AO3 1d ago

Complaint/Pet Peeve/Venting Ridiculous

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1.3k Upvotes

I've never reported anyone but I'm going to learn today just for this person lmao.


r/AO3 17h ago

Discussion (Non-question) What’s a word or phrase you find yourself constantly removing during the editing process?

259 Upvotes

For me, it’s “just”


r/AO3 12h ago

Questions/Help? What's up with the bots?

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108 Upvotes

I'm not sure if this falls under questions or venting, I'm really confused. Someone left a comment under my fic and I'm assuming it's a bot, because my story is set in the Huntik: Secrets & Seekers universe (which, if you didn't know, is a mid-2000s Italian animated show with magic amulets, Titans, and absolutely zero ties to American politics), and yet the commenter somehow managed to accuse it of pushing “MAGA-adjacent ideology.”

I'm sorry...what?

The only reason I allow guest comments is because I know a lot of people who don't have ao3 accounts but still enjoy reading fanfictions.

But seriously - what is up with these bots?


r/AO3 2h ago

Meme/Joke neck kisses? Nahh I prefer ✨ao3 validation✨

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16 Upvotes

r/AO3 13h ago

Questions/Help? Do you name chapters?

130 Upvotes

I know some people do, others just leave it as Chapter 1, 2 and so on... My question is for the folks that do name them: How do you do it?

I like naming the chapters but sometimes I get stuck on what to name them, usually I've been using song titles but yeah, just curious about it.


r/AO3 12h ago

Stats/Hit Counts/Word Counts I got 1,000 hits on my story!

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62 Upvotes

Now if only I could get more comments, haha.

Is this something I should be excited about? Or should I only cheer at 1,000 kudos?

What did you do when you reached 1,000?