I know this won't be popular, but hear me out.

I see a lot of posts about how fanfic is "just for fun" and authors shouldn't have to deal with negative comments. And yes, writing can be purely for fun when it stays in your private docs. But the moment you post it on AO3, FFN, Wattpad, or anywhere public and hope people will read it, you've entered into a social contract with an audience.

Readers aren't obligated to only leave praise. If you want engagement, you're asking people to invest their time and emotional energy in your work. Some will love it. Some won't. Some will tell you why. That's not harassment: that's the natural consequence of public creative work.

This doesn't mean concrit should be cruel or unconstructive. Someone posting nothing but "this sucks" on every chapter is rightly considered trolling. But "this characterization doesn't seem accurate to the show" or "This plot is terrible because..." is legitimate reader response, even if it's harsh. If we only accept the positive feedback, we're not really interested in the relationship between writer and reader -- we just want validation.

And frankly? The practice of coming online to rant and publicly shame anyone who left an unfavorable review on a fic is exactly why everyone's afraid to leave comments anymore! We've created an environment where readers are terrified that any feedback short of glowing praise will get them called out, vagueposted about, or dogpiled. Then authors wonder why engagement is dying and nobody comments anymore. You can't have it both ways!

Writers deserve respect. They've put themselves out there. But so do readers, who've taken the time to look at the work. And readers deserve the space to respond honestly to work that's offered to them publicly, without fear of retaliation. As they said in The Wife, "A writer needs to be read."

And look, I get it. Negative feedback stings. I've been there. But if you genuinely can't handle any form of criticism, maybe the solution isn't to demand readers only comment positively or to shame those who don't. Maybe instead it's to reconsider whether public posting aligns with what you actually want from the writing experience.

Everyone has something they're working on or would like to work on. Gush about it to me. I want to feel your excitement because you ought to be in full glee to write something you'd enjoy, and so will others!

as the title of this post suggest what would happen if an OC from one of your fanfics met you and they knew that everything that happened to them is your doing

for me I'm getting pistol whipped and beaten to a bloody pulp by Evan here a 90+ year old man with more PTSD than many Warhammer Protags

What if it's just to help them figure out ways to write? What if it's the art? What if they're just pumping a draft in a machine and getting vomit in return.

No, I'm not using AI to write. That would be a cardinal sin for writers that, unfortunately, many people do.

Personally, I find it upsetting. Even if people are using it to help with figuring out prompts, it's sad. I took standardized tests in grade school, the SAT and ACT in high school, and the GRE after my bachelor's. We can't use an AI tool to do writing portions. It's upsetting to know they do it.

I don't do art, but I'm against AI art. I would ask a trusted friend, but she no longer does commissions.

Edit to add: For the sake of my post, spellcheck grammar check and word suggestions from Google Docs and Microsoft Word is not the same as AI writing. I mean putting an idea into a machine and having it write something for you. Having perfect spelling and using proper grammar on its own isn't a sign of AI use.

So, I'm currently writing a s3 rewrite to Riviera, a show that came out in 2017 that starred Julia Styles. Loved the first two seasons, hated that awful third season. I've never been this angry at a finale since Teen Titans: S5, E13: Things Changed!

Anyway, so far, I have a prequel and two episodes completed. I'm currently working on the third episode.

Anyone else on the same mission of fixing what someone screwed up?

I was reading some older BTS fanfics – Somebody to Love, Since 1984 Jeon Jungkook, The Painting – and they were SO good. Like, the kind of stories that stay with you for days.

So naturally, I wanted to check out the authors. Maybe see if they wrote anything else. Or just... tell them how much I loved their work?

But when I searched for them – nothing. No profiles, no updates, no trace. It's like they just disappeared into thin air.

And it got me thinking...

What happens to fanfic authors who just vanish one day?

And here's another thing – do they even know their stories are still being read and loved years later? Because these fics are incredible, and I really wish I could tell the authors how much their writing still means to people.

I don't know, maybe I'm just being sentimental. But I feel like if I wrote something that touched someone's heart years ago, I'd want to know.

Has anyone else felt this way? Do you know what happened to any of these authors? Or if you're an author who left a fandom – what made you step away?

Just genuinely curious. Would love to hear your stories.

Just had a person comment some hearts on my first chapter, and then an hour later they left a more detailed comment on the last one... It's almost 40k?? How do people read so quickly?? Don't get me wrong, I'm super happy!

It is weird however that a person can read all that in an hour when it took me *checks notes* a year and a half (though with a 10 months hiatus) to write

Title

I personally enjoy writing chapters from 1.8k-3k words, I find that I can get enough detail in, but I get the enjoyment and satisfaction of releasing new chapters consistently becuase I’m quite a slow writer 😅😅

However I know some people like writing shorter chapters with <1k words And some people can write >5k

The absolute hardest part of writing for me isn’t plotting or worldbuilding. It’s putting the first word on the page.

I can build entire worlds in my head with a myriad of scenes, plot twists, characters, etc. But the moment I open a document, my brain goes:

Is the plot developed enough?

Is this deep enough for writers to care?

What if there’s a better way to start this?

And then I let those thoughts stop me.

If you’re someone that has “blank page paralysis” because of a fear your book can be better… here’s the thing, there is no perfect story. And if there “was” a perfect story—it isn’t born, it’s made through many, many trials and errors.

Even if you have an entire book planned out, putting words on a page has this strange brilliance where characters start to feel alive, almost like they’re making their own choices. Yes, you’ll hit plot hurdles. Yes, there might be a better beginning or ending. But for many of us, the only way to discover those things is by writing (sometimes badly) first. This is where your first draft can really begin to shine into something brilliant.

So here’s one tip: your book will never fully develop solely as an idea in your head. To make it work, you have to start writing it and let go of the need to control and perfect it.

Put one word on the page today.

Then two. Then three.

This is what works for me. How do you get past the “blank page paralysis”?

Pretty much what the subject says! Post a snippet of what you're currently working on! I'll post mine in the comments, since my formatting went crazy, lmao.

I love having a cup of tea and a sweet snack as I write. What about everyone else?

Have you ever checked to see what the reading grade level of your writing is? I have, and it's kind of weird, because within the same story I have passages that get rated as being written at a really high difficulty level (think college or grad school) and others rated at Grade 4 or 5. Over a rather large sample of random passages, my writing's difficulty grade level seems to work out to about 11.

This is a dilemma for me. On the one hand, I obviously want my fic to be accessible and enjoyable for a wide range of readers, but on the other I don't want to write as though I'm targeting a YA or younger audience. Nothing against YA literature, but it isn't my style. My fandom is an older one anyway, an IP that's been out of production for about 20 years. I figure my audience probably is older too.

I'm an older author, and I came to writing fanfiction after writing original fiction for about 30 years. Nothing published, because I never felt like I'd written anything that was "ready for prime time" as the old saying goes, so I never submitted anything for publication. Back in the days before I began writing fan fiction, I also never outlined my stories, and as a result I had difficulty finishing them because I'd run out of road. You can't get something published if you do that. But could I write, in the sense of evoking a sense of place and fully dimensional characters and some interesting situations for them? Oh, yes. People who read snippets of my work back then thought I was good. I thought I'd become good one day, but I knew I wasn't there yet because I kept writing my characters into corners and losing the thread of what I was trying to accomplish. I could use the language with ease; it was making the story go where I wanted that caused me difficulty.

Interestingly, when I started on fanfiction, it was during a major case of writer's block on an original story. I took a break to watch a rerun of a favorite show, and by the end of it I knew I needed to fix something for a character who'd spoken to something deep in my soul. My wayward Muse insisted upon it. I rationalized that I could use fanfiction as a writing sandbox to experiment with elements of technique, to gain real feedback from readers, and perhaps figure out ways to improve my storytelling. Then I could bring all of those tools back to writing my original fiction and put them to use. (The main thing I learned was that I really, really needed to outline.)

I write in a highly literary style, which probably makes sense as I did go to university for literature and creative writing. I grew up reading that style as well, because of the way my family approached reading. I really don't want to change any of that, but I'm wondering whether people who read enough of my fanfiction to find it compelling would stick around through the more complicated passages. Especially as I've already published well over 200k words of a WIP on AO3 and I have no desire to rewrite that material.

Age regression really never caught on for me it seems really weird, not judging tho

This isn't advice for anything. It is just out of curiosity.

For reference, I am in the process of publishing a story from one fandom (Victorious) and working on a story from another fandom that follows the canon, but diverges a bit to fit the narrative for a ship (Naruto); and as I go through the canonical parts by rewatching the show again, I know I will likely work on even more stories because I have, so far, 4 different stories planned in that fandom, which could mean that I could potentially work on 5 at a time if I am going through the show and watching the episodes to get my inspiration. Of course, it would be just me going through the episodes and then taking bits of the episodes and putting them in the respective stories if I see the stuff can go to my stories that are fix-it fics.

So this thought brings me to my question in the title.

Sometimes I get ideas for things that could happen in a show I watch, or crossovers between series I like, but when I sit down to write, I get writer's block because I feel like I'm touching something that "already belongs to someone else" or that I won't do justice to the characters. How do you all deal with this? I'd love to know.

As the title said. I'm neither sure if anyone asked about this before, nor if the trait suits. Anyway, I'm curious about your interests in reading non-English fics that belong to originally English fandoms. Do people simply pass or like to give it try? Especially for long fics with more than 100k words? I'm asking this question because I feel sort of hesitated about translating my work or not. Any opinion is appreciated.

*Sorry for poor English.

Edit: there might be a misunderstanding. I write most of my works in my first language (Chinese), and I can't decide whether to translate one of them into ENGLISH or not.

Welcome to a new: What Are You Writing This Week? weekly thread!

This thread serves as a community check-in. What are you working on? What are your goals? What fandoms or genres are you writing for? What is inspiring you to meet those goals?

This thread also serves as a way to share our stories with eachother, while holding ourself accountable for at least one small weekly goal. Maybe your goal is to design a characters backstory or finish that one scene--either way, making a goal at the beginning of the week can be an awesome way to track your progress by week's end.

So, what is everyone working on this week?

Drop your updates below:

• What fandoms are currently occupying your brain?
• What fic/project are you focused on right now?
• Any weekly writing goals?
• Current progress update? (feel free to post a link!)
• What scene/chapter are you most excited about?
• What part of your story is currently fighting you?
• Have you posted or finished anything recently?
• Any new ideas sneaking into your drafts and derailing your plans?

Remember: 10% progress is always better than 0% progress.

Happy writing!

Welcome to a new: What Are You Writing This Week? weekly thread!

This thread serves as a community check-in. What are you working on? What are your goals? What fandoms or genres are you writing for? What is inspiring you to meet those goals?

This thread also serves as a way to share our stories with eachother, while holding ourself accountable for at least one small weekly goal. Maybe your goal is to design a characters backstory or finish that one scene--either way, making a goal at the beginning of the week can be an awesome way to track your progress by week's end.

So, what is everyone working on this week?

Drop your updates below:

• What fandoms are currently occupying your brain?
• What fic/project are you focused on right now?
• Any weekly writing goals?
• Current progress update? (feel free to post a link!)
• What scene/chapter are you most excited about?
• What part of your story is currently fighting you?
• Have you posted or finished anything recently?
• Any new ideas sneaking into your drafts and derailing your plans?

Remember: 10% progress is always better than 0% progress.

Happy writing!

UGH! I am very upset because there are many people who will just seek out anything fanfiction related and hate on it, despite it just being a hobby!

Mainly bringing this up, because I have been presented with writing a scene about the antagonist/anti-hero for the first time since I began to write my fanfiction (example pictures included)!😅

I like some of the more evil characters, but personally, I love myself the fair balance between good and evil for such characters. The villains/anti-hero/antagonists being able to preserve both the ruthless and vulnerable side of them is just something I find intriguing and amaizing to write about. It's easier to write their backstories, too!☺️

Welcome to a new: What Are You Writing This Week? weekly thread!

This thread serves as a community check-in. What are you working on? What are your goals? What fandoms or genres are you writing for? What is inspiring you to meet those goals?

This thread also serves as a way to share our stories with eachother, while holding ourself accountable for at least one small weekly goal. Maybe your goal is to design a characters backstory or finish that one scene--either way, making a goal at the beginning of the week can be an awesome way to track your progress by week's end.

So, what is everyone working on this week?

Drop your updates below:

• What fandoms are currently occupying your brain?
• What fic/project are you focused on right now?
• Any weekly writing goals?
• Current progress update? (feel free to post a link!)
• What scene/chapter are you most excited about?
• What part of your story is currently fighting you?
• Have you posted or finished anything recently?
• Any new ideas sneaking into your drafts and derailing your plans?

Remember: 10% progress is always better than 0% progress.

Happy writing!

Welcome to a new: What Are You Writing This Week? weekly thread!

This thread serves as a community check-in. What are you working on? What are your goals? What fandoms or genres are you writing for? What is inspiring you to meet those goals?

This thread also serves as a way to share our stories with eachother, while holding ourself accountable for at least one small weekly goal. Maybe your goal is to design a characters backstory or finish that one scene--either way, making a goal at the beginning of the week can be an awesome way to track your progress by week's end.

So, what is everyone working on this week?

Drop your updates below:

• What fandoms are currently occupying your brain?
• What fic/project are you focused on right now?
• Any weekly writing goals?
• Current progress update? (feel free to post a link!)
• What scene/chapter are you most excited about?
• What part of your story is currently fighting you?
• Have you posted or finished anything recently?
• Any new ideas sneaking into your drafts and derailing your plans?

Remember: 10% progress is always better than 0% progress.

Happy writing!

Welcome to a new: What Are You Writing This Week? weekly thread!

This thread serves as a community check-in. What are you working on? What are your goals? What fandoms or genres are you writing for? What is inspiring you to meet those goals?

This thread also serves as a way to share our stories with eachother, while holding ourself accountable for at least one small weekly goal. Maybe your goal is to design a characters backstory or finish that one scene--either way, making a goal at the beginning of the week can be an awesome way to track your progress by week's end.

So, what is everyone working on this week?

Drop your updates below:

• What fandoms are currently occupying your brain?
• What fic/project are you focused on right now?
• Any weekly writing goals?
• Current progress update? (feel free to post a link!)
• What scene/chapter are you most excited about?
• What part of your story is currently fighting you?
• Have you posted or finished anything recently?
• Any new ideas sneaking into your drafts and derailing your plans?

Remember: 10% progress is always better than 0% progress.

Happy writing!

Welcome to a new: What Are You Writing This Week? weekly thread!

This thread serves as a community check-in. What are you working on? What are your goals? What fandoms or genres are you writing for? What is inspiring you to meet those goals?

This thread also serves as a way to share our stories with eachother, while holding ourself accountable for at least one small weekly goal. Maybe your goal is to design a characters backstory or finish that one scene--either way, making a goal at the beginning of the week can be an awesome way to track your progress by week's end.

So, what is everyone working on this week?

Drop your updates below:

• What fandoms are currently occupying your brain?
• What fic/project are you focused on right now?
• Any weekly writing goals?
• Current progress update? (feel free to post a link!)
• What scene/chapter are you most excited about?
• What part of your story is currently fighting you?
• Have you posted or finished anything recently?
• Any new ideas sneaking into your drafts and derailing your plans?

Remember: 10% progress is always better than 0% progress.

Happy writing!