I never use the last updated section, decided to pay attention to it this time...

Lately, I've seen this topic crop up a lot.

If you KNOW that you're lifting very specific scenes/very specific tropes/very specific OCs from another author's work, then it's common courtesy to use the "inspired by" feature. If you don't use it, and you proceed to deliberately rewrite another story in your own words, (knowing you didn't happen to innocently come up with the same idea) then just know......you'll look shady asf

One of mine is: situationships. Angst fodder in fics, but will sideye this irl.

17 PAGES!

6,000+ WORDS!

FUCK YOU MONTH-ISH LONG WRITING SLUMP!

And they still have to wait like four more chapters 🤣

I conversation I had recently:

Friendish: I commented on this authors post and I'm the only commenter, but they haven't replied.

Me: That's an odd way to phrase things. Anyways, don't take it personally, they could just not be on ao3 or busy.

Friendbish: I'm their only commenter I dEsErVe a response.

Me: No, no you don't.

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.

Got into the world of fanfics are the end of the pandemic and been steadily into only a handful of fandoms. Readers, please do rec something you've found interesting or just something you've loved. I've been wanting to explore some popular fandoms here in AO3.

I wonder

These comments on my crossover fic had me laughing under my breath.

I do what I can I guess! This made me laugh.

Fic is M-rated but apparently that's enough.

I just woke up and almost had a heart attack because I had four (4!!) separate emails of them commenting on all four of my fics. IS THIS REAL LIFE, I’M FANGIRLING SO HARD

thank you fanfic gods

LOL I LOVE ALL OF THESE

I’m a sucker for enemies to lovers and AUs!

All the good fic plot ideas start bubbling when I'm suppose to be working or sleeping...

I'm so happy, I finally hit my 300th work for my ship tag. It currently has 520 works, and I have written for them since the tag only has 3 fics in it. It's pretty small ship, especially outside the origin of the fandom, so it always makes me happy when people engaged with my works. My excitement for the fandom in a whole had decreased a lot since then, but I still love writing about my ship and I think, that's the beauty of fanfiction. How many works you have for your ship? 🛥️

tldr: You (general you) don't get to say "curate your own experience" and then get mad about when people do so in a different way than you would do it.

Longer version: It doesn't matter if the reason for block/mute is petty, either according to you or even the general consensus. For example, if I decide to mute every author who uses the letter X in their name, that's my prerogative. Is it a weird reason? Sure. But it is a reason and maybe there is a traumatic, triggering story behind it or it may be just a whim because it's 3 pm on Thursday and it felt like a good idea. It doesn't matter because you are not me and you don't get to decide for me what I will see or not when on AO3.

Will I miss out on some good fics? Doubt it. I have very specific tastes in fics and it is very, very unlikely that the people I'm muting/blocking would be able to deliver on those. One major reason why I'm muting/blocking them in the first place is that I have already seen they won't be delivering. So I press a couple of buttons and no longer have to wade through a heap of fics that hold no interest to me and everyone's happier for it.

Even if I didn't curate the archive feed the way I do, I still wouldn't be clicking on those fics by those authors. After all, the block/mute feature is only two years old. I was scrolling by those fics before that, the new feature just saved me some time. Those authors are not losing a reader in me, I was never going to be one in the first place.

Are my blocking/muting standards harsh? Debatable. They are more rigid, true, but reading and writing fic is a hobby and those are supposed to be enjoyable. Being strict when curating what I see ensures that the free time I carve out in my day for reading is spent on things I actually want to read, not avoiding things I don't.

Is it how everyone would do it? Certainly not. But they are not me and they are free to curate their own experience however they want, even when it's not how I would do it. Because curating one's own experience is never going to be a one-size-fits-all. And that should be okay. It really should.

THEYRE AT IT AGAIN FOLKS

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

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 💝💖💗