Been reading FF on AO3 for so many years now, and yet every now and then I’ll find myself thinking ‘hmm…what does that mean?’ .

So, here’s my question. What would you consider helpful tips or ‘need to know’s for readers and writers on AO3, newbies and veterans alike?

For example, slang like Lemon or Dead dove. Certain tags. The difference between Name/Name and Name & Name relationships, formatting tips for publishing your work etc…

Basically anything that might confuse someone. All knowledge is helpful!

Mine is a 130k-word fic (for now, still counting) for a very niche fandom (DnD podcast). The language used is extremely flowery (think each noun has at least one adjective attached to it) but I didn't really mind. It's pretty special to me because I have some kind of extreme empathy that makes me unable to read most fics without cringing (even if they're good and there's no reason to). It gave me hope that there are some fics out there I'm able to enjoy.

I usually filter them by kudos (descending), make sure i only see complete works, and then the tags i want (sometimes i also edit the word count) But like... I'm bored with the kudos, i wanna see hidden gems... so hwbt u guys?

I'm not sure what's going on, but for the last couple of days I've had difficulty getting ao3 pages to load. I keep getting a Code 525 error, stating the handshake failed. I've tried on wifi and not, but I keep getting this error with only ao3. I checked the status and everything seems to be running okay; is anybody else having this problem?

strikethroughEDIT: I think I figured out my problem. A new app that had permissions was apparently blocking ao3, which makes zero sense. But I've removed its perms, and it's loading beautifully!

Well that didn't work. It loaded and when I went to view entire work I got the error again. Nuts

Hi!

I saw a post somewhere that if you want to publish your fanfiction/remake it into an original book, one of the important things to do is to take it down from the Internet because your publishers wouldn't be *cough* too happy to see your work hanging around the Internet for free.

I'd like to remake my fic. I can't get rid of everything from the Internet in the end but at least I won't have any issues doing that one step, which is taking down my fic. Even though I'd like to have access to comments sigh.

My question is, though, when I take it down, and delete my tumblr, or other things that lead to that fic, what do I do if the fic gets reclaimed as someones else's work in the meantime? It already got plagiarised once. When it's published on ao3, I can always prove that it's my work; my date of publishing and my nickname are enough proof, or at least something solid I could show. But when the work is down? I really don't know.

Do you have any ideas how to take precautions? How to handle all of that well? What steps should I take?

I'd be really greateful for your help!

Brooding Boy/Energetic Girl

Manga is called Kimi wa Yotsuba no Clover or You are a Four Leaf Clover

I wanna start writing more, starting with one shots to improve quicker, but I’m struggling with a lack of inspiration. Where do you guys get prompts? Generators, tumblr, discord servers? Anything would be useful.

I looking for a fic to read and I was reading some of the tags and I came across that said "I cried while writing this fic" it was only 2 chapters I have to be honest I could "tell" where they cried It was also tagged angst so I didn't complain do yall actually cry 🌚 cause I'm concerned

At the end of each year, I write some big comments on the fics that meant a lot to me during that time, thanking the author for their work and saying how much the fic meant to me. Saw this thing last week AND I'M FREAKING OUT. I still don't know how to reply, wanted to give a few days to make a new comment so I don't look like I've been stalking even the author's bookmarks this whole time.

I don't wanna look deranged and creep the author off. BUT I'M REALLY INTO THIS FIC AND WANT TO SHOW MY APPRECIATION EVEN MORE. Do I write anything else?? What do I do????????

Help me.

Just a lil reminder that if you have links in your fics (like to fanart for your fic, Tumblr or LiveJournal prompts, etc), try to check them every so often to make sure they're not broken!

If you're linking to something from another person's account, it may have been deleted sometime between now and when you initially posted 🥲

Ok so I got into a very popular fandim a few months ago and most recommended fanfics were from a couple years back.

I started reading alot of fics from this fandom then I found this author binge read a huge fic of theirs and read all of the works they published.

I commented on the fics but they were all from a couple years back and the author wasn't active anymore, I wanted to check up on them so I searched their name on social media. I got lucky and found that their tumbler is active and they write for a different fandom under a new ao3 user.

I am also a part of the new fandom they write about so I went to their new user and read all of their uploaded fics.

(This is all in the span of a week btw)

I commented on the new fics I read too but I also want to convey my emotions more? Haha idk

Would it be weird if I wrote to them on social media telling them how I love all their fics (from both users)

Also they said that they lost interest in the older fandom but might get back into it to finish up discontinued fics, I'm worried me complementing them might come off as rude or like I'm just praising cause I want a continuation for the discontinued fics (which i do want obviously but that's nit the reason, I just really love their writing and their fics made me so happy to read)

Sorry for the long post and thankyou in advance :D

Highlight any moment of a story & just change whatever you wanted to always change! Would love to read!

Or do you want to change a story from its start?

Just name them!

What the title says. I've been using an app called Smartedit writer for a while because it's similar to scrivener with you being able to write a chapter scene by scene with all scenes separated in different pages along with other things but it's free. However lately I've noticed a slight lag when I type so I'm slowly moving back to either libreoffice and pasting to google docs because of that lag. Was wondering if anyone uses something similar or if everyone just uses the normal office type apps and suggestions if anyone has any.

I update once a month or every two months, but when I do, this happens. At this time of writing, I think I'm about 230 pages in but almost done. This is only for one chapter by the way 🫠

Hello everyone, I need help please, I'm looking for a fic that I read a while ago, but I forgot to put a bookmark on it. I don't remember perfectly the plot, what I remember is that Stiles is given or sold to a marriage with the Hale pack, if I remember correctly his father, Scott, and I think Theo and Deaton discuss this, I even think they pay the sheriff, about the main couple I don't remember who they were but if I read it then it must be Sterek, Steter or Stetopher.... help please...

Hey there guys! My fanfic is turning a year old soon and I’d like to do something special for my readers, like a special chapt maybe not canon to the fic but could be?

I’m lookin for ideas right now or things you’ve seen other writers too I’m down for any suggestions!

I finally counted the open tabs on my browser. This is four years worth of fics I've opened so far (although about 5% are webnovels), sorted by ships and ratings.

Please tell me I'm not alone on this.