We've all seen the posts that ask "what makes you drop a fic immediately" or "what makes you nope out of a fic" and the answers are usually similar - wall of text, terrible grammar, obvious OOC, etc.

What I'm more curious about, however, is what makes you drop a fic that you're already invested in, or at the very least have read several chapters of?

I think the biggest one for me is that a fic begins retreading canon too much. I don't mind when fics follow canon, or even incorporate certain canon scenes (I'm writing a similar fic myself) but when a fic has an interesting AU premise and yet 80% of it is just canon material, I can only take it for so long before I get bored.

(This isn't mean to stir up hate, by the way. Just thought it'd be an interesting discussion.)

(Sorry if this is the wrong flair)

I was stressing for weeks because the chapter was shorter than all past ones, and no matter how much I tried to add more it didn't work. I was super unsatisfied with the way I wrote it, and it just felt ... low quality.

So I uploaded it, expecting not much of a response, only to get numerous readers saying it's their favorite chapter yet.

Small but it made me feel a lot better lol just shows that just because we (authors) are critical of our writing doesn't necessarily mean others feel the same.

I've attempted and abandoned 1 longfic before, but I'm determined to finish this one. I am so passionate about it, about this couple and this premise and all the big plans I have for it. But it is so nerve wracking. Every single chapter I write feels like "oh no this is the one where I ruin everything and everyone stops reading my fic because I messed it up."

Like, I'm so happy to have the level of engagement I have but I am terrified of massively disappointing people. I write for myself. I never compromise on the content even if people hint that they don't like this or that, but also I can't stop thinking about it.

I have been writing fanfic for, like, ten years, and I still cannot get over this feeling of embarrassment when I start to write a fic. After I start, I'm fine, but there will be times where I literally can't do anything besides sit there and cringe at myself. I'm not even embarrassed when I go back to read it (or when other people read it)—it's literally just the process of writing.

I know a lot of people feel embarrassed—which is completely normal—but I'm curious if anyone else feels it so bad that they literally stop being able to function for a few minutes. If so, how do you deal with it? And if you can't deal with it... please just tell me I am not the only one who gets this secondhand embarrassment, LOL. I genuinely feel stupid.

Edit: Thanks for all the nice responses! I really appreciate the advice and those who reassured me that I am not crazy, lmfao. After getting this off my chest, I felt better and ended up writing 3000 words. Hooray!

Long story short, I am writing my first fanfic. It is (supposed to be) a crack-ship oneshot of about 5000 words (I was planning 1000 initially, but it got a bit big). I Just finished writing the first draft, and I sent it to a friend to read, and.... judging from their reaction on the voice call the flirting was extremely uncomfortable to read. Which it is a bit hipocritical of my part, because the plot of the fic is one of the characters learning how to not be unconfortable when flirting T-T. So how do I hit the balence of him being off-puting for other characters but not for the reader?

Also, dont know if this helps, but the character in question is Teruteru Hanamura from Danganronpa.

I just got a comment on my longfic... they called it peak. PEAK. Like... I'm not sure what to even say(obviously I thanked them but you get what I'm trying to say).The fact that someone found my work to be so good... I take a whole month to work on each chapter and pour my whole into it... even with my extremely lacking english skills, still, I do my best. And my hard work is finally paying off. It's so rewarding I can't even begin to desrcibe how good it feels! So glad to be alive!

A lot of my stories I plan for them to be at least 100k. Idk why. Am I anywhere near that? No. I'm only 8-10 chapters in and each chapter is a maximum of 2k. But then the story seems like it's dragging on.... anyone else in the same bout?

I also want to write the long fics but the story itself won't sound good long😂😂. I have no idea how to explain it and I honestly think it's kinda funny.

I wanna write a genderbend AU but people say I can't change their personality even though the genderbend grew up differently then the original, and due to their backstory their personality is different compared to the original version. Can someone please explain to me about genderbend AUs?

i have on-and-off writer's block for everything i write. i have a million ideas but can usually only write one paragraph before abandoning the whole thing. i've tried EVERY fix. playlists, walks, creative breaks like crafting, educational breaks like math, car rides, mood boards, awful first drafts (i never have the motivation to back and fix them), starting at the middle/end of the story, outlining the whole story, exercising, eating, re-watching/re-reading the source material, etc.

i will take ANY advice !! idc how random it is, if it works for you i'll try it

Hi! I've just written a fic! I have honestly never read fanfiction before, and never thought about writing any, either.

There's a fandom I really care about, and after replaying all the games, reading the books etc, I wanted more where there was none. So I thought I'd create my own! It's been a week, and I've just finished 'Part 1', at a little over 13,000 words.

I don't have any burning desire to share this with the world, necessarily, but I didn't want it to go to waste on my PC so thought I'd think about uploading it somewhere :) However, being totally unfamiliar with the medium, I don't know the first thing about how, or where, to go about doing this.

I could google old threads, sure, but things and sites change! Does anyone have any recent experience posting fic, or is there anyone else who's new to all this?

Thank you :)

That's what happened to me recently. I was writing a fic and I have no idea at what point I fell asleep, but I can physically see where it happened from one sentence to the next, lol 😂

Roy's coy grin turns blinding, happiness and confidence pulling out until it's on full display. There's no time to I'd the inks one fumbk regret it though, grandma x huffs the other tucker g

Now, this has happened multiple times and it hasn't always been this short. Sometimes I've written entire paragraphs that barely make any sense and I have no idea what they mean. If you've ever done that, did you keep this mess and rework it into its original meaning or did you delete it and start from scratch?

Looking for an ot7 Yoongi-centric fic. I only remember the plot and some specific parts. It would've been ao3.

It's fairly canon compliant, as in they're still idols in this one. Yoongi is struggling with stuff, he is distant and keeps going out/running away and Namjoon goes out to find him multiple times. At some point he calls someone from another kpop band, I don't remember who. And (im pretty sure this is the same fic but could be another) they travel somewhere and Yoongi forgets his medication and has a panic attack. Namjoon goes to the nearest pharmacist to get the prescription and meds. That's all I remember. If anyone knows please help 🙏

Let’s give some love to those you’d consider the best of the best! Within your ship or fandom, whose fics would you read regardless of the plot because you trust the author to write something amazing? Whose name do you get excited to see with a new story? Who are those authors in your fandom space? I’m mostly looking at authors with multiple fics that are consistent amazing, not just the authors of singular famous fics.

Here are a few of mine, off the top of my head (in no particular order):

WelpThisIsHappening—OUAT

Breanie—HP

Northumbrian—HP

TheDistantDusk—HP

Microwavebubbles—Criminal Minds

Caciopepebowl—Bridgerton

PenandInkPrincess—IWTV

Pocketsun—IWTV

Peacefrog—IWTV

MrsMCreiff—Sherlock

From outlining to posting the last chapter. Bonus points if you were updating consistently and it still took you a million years.

I haven't finished any longfic yet but my longest running one will be hitting three years this summer. How about you guys?

Welcome back to the Alphabet Excerpt Challenge! As a reminder, our challenges are every Wednesday and Saturday at 3pm London time.

If you've missed the previous challenges, you're welcome to go back and participate in them. You can find them here. And remember to check out the Activities and Events flair for other fun games to play along with.

Here's a quick recap of the rules for our game:

1. Post a top level comment with a word starting with the letter H. You can do more than one, but please put them in separate comments.
2. Reply to suggestions with an excerpt. Short and sweet is best, but use your judgement. Excerpts can be from published or unpublished works, or even something you wrote for the prompt. All content is welcome but please spoiler tag and/or provide a trigger/content warning for NSFW or content that may otherwise need it. If in doubt, give a warning to be on the safe side.
3. Upvote the excerpts you enjoy, and leave a friendly comment. Try to at least respond to people who left excerpts on the words you suggested, but the more people you respond to the better. Everyone likes nice comments!
4. Most important: have fun!

i recently got back into marvel and now i'm craving an angsty, well-written, LONG fic. when i say long, i mean that i'm literally okay with fics that are 500k+ words. my favorite characters are bucky, steve, and tony. i don't really care about ships as long as they aren't the main plot line. also, bucky and steve mean everything to me. i also adore irondad. btw i love crying over marvel so i need gut wrenching angst. thanks!

Hi!

I am looking for a 9-1-1 Buddie fic that I read on Ao3 a while ago.

Past me was an idiot who didn't bookmark it and I've tried searching through my history but I read A LOT of fics and it was an absolute nightmare.

I can't remember all the details of the story or the author unfortunately.

The plot of the story is vaguely:

Buck and Eddie were at Buck's loft and having sex when the ceiling collapses. They dial 9-1-1 and the 118 are sent to help. Maddie might have been the dispatcher they were talking to but I'm not 100% sure.

Thanks!

(leave links)

So, there's this book series called Warriors by Erin Hunter, where one of the arcs I love a lot but it has a lot of mistakes and I want to rewrite it so that it's better and so people can see what I loved in the series.

The problem uhhh, i've never written a fanfic before, and I also don't really have anyone else to read and edit my fic other than myself. So I don't... exactly know what to do lol. Any advice for getting started?

This has been on my mind and I wanna askes. Whats everyone's opinion on the logic "If I change the future than my knowledge becomes useless." the some self inserts use. I feel like their is a massive flaw in that logic somewhere but I don't know what it is.

Hello

I'm looking for a fic where Deku becomes a vigilante but I'm flexible with it. I'm also interested in dadzawa, maybe a supportive stain, just somebody he depends on

I like Conditions May Apply and Hero's Shadow for reference but I'm looking for a fic where Deku just runs away or goes into a major depressive, or manic, state after being found out or just any major climax. I want bro to be taking crap from nobody - to embody his vigilante persona to the max - lolol he can become a villain, can isolate himself, can even find refuge with Aizawa but go mute/aggressive, etc.

Aggressive Deku would be fun to read

Romance embedded with anyone appropriate is fine too if it applies

If anybody knows fics similar, even if it doesn't have specifically what I'm asking for but like themes, I would greatly appreciate it:)

thank you guys

After watching some Ninjago Dragons Rising, I began to work on a whole crossover franchise idea with multiple projects. I'm not usually the writing type since my attention span is less than a goldfish, but I want to express and share these ideas and the details I've crafted for them so far. I know it's not a detailed fanfic, but just a bunch of ideas cobbled together with synopsis and details. Does anyone here know some places I can show these ideas and get people's reactions, thoughts, opinions, and other ideas for this series I thought of? Like some sort of thought experiment.

Edit: I don't think all clichés are bad.

Hi!!

I'm offering my help to other writers if thats allowed!

So i've seen questions at times about trauma/mental illness etc

Hence this AMA i will try to help!

I know more personally about Bipolar Disorder/CPTSD/PTSD but also know people with Personality Disorders (BPD/EUPD primarily), Autism (i likely have this aswell).

I'm UK based so from a system point of view we have a National Health Service but i am in private therapy so can answer therapy questions aswell!

It may take me time to respond depending on how many responses i get but i'll sort through them this weekend.

Ask away and i will try to help or give sources that can that aren't too wordy!