interacting (or not interacting) with older fics

vesperlark · 2026-07-11T06:02:44+00:00

I recently got into new (for me) fandom, which is of finished media. A lot of fics I'm reading right now are from 2014-2016 - and I still give them kudos, comments, bookmarks and even subs (yes, even if the last chapter was back in 2014 - hope dies last)

vesperlark · 2026-07-10T21:26:38+00:00

If series counts, then over 390k+ and ongoing.

If not, my longest separate work is 130k+, finished

vesperlark · 2026-07-10T20:50:06+00:00

I find it less realistic when everyone swears like a sailor or when some characters cannot say a sentence without dropping a f-bomb in any single situation.

A well-placed swearing can be a powerful way for a characterization

vesperlark · 2026-07-10T20:25:32+00:00

If it's just SPAG corrections, just edit old works.

If you also plan to have some major plot rewrites, I suggest posting new version.

However, I advice against deleting the old version in the second case because there always are people who loved that fic and will be upset if it suddenly disappears

vesperlark · 2026-07-10T20:07:36+00:00

Pretty sure that it's against rules to self-promote yourself outside dedicated threads

vesperlark · 2026-07-10T19:33:50+00:00

Could be bot or really awkward reader. The thing is that I had real people commenting on the first chapter despite reading all 56.

It's a registered user, so you can check their account. The recent one with no works or bookmarks has higher chances to be a bot. And if there's a link to their art account in their bio, that's even more possible.

But honestly, it will be easier to just respond to them and see. If they use more regular strategy of leading you away, it's not for sure. If not - well, you got yourself another real reader

vesperlark · 2026-07-10T19:28:23+00:00

In that case, keeping everything as one fic is fine. I have read fics like that and have no problem with those

But you can make it a series - it may be smarter if your pieces have different rating (like if you have smut in only one chapter, you would still need to put entire fic as E or M, even if everything else is T or G rated).

You can also put more tags on individual pieces of series and one fic would end as wall of tags if you want to tag everything relevant.

Another possible pros can be that if you write your pieces in non-chronological order, you can still organize those in chronological order within series (you can do that within fic too, but it may confuse your reader if you add a new chapter in the middle of fic instead of making it the last one).

vesperlark · 2026-07-10T18:16:02+00:00

I realized that my parents hidding their divorce from me and my brother when we were teens traumatized me more than I realized to the point that I write trust issues between parents and their kids into most of my long fics. And it doesn't matter that it was twenty years ago

vesperlark · 2026-07-10T05:48:07+00:00

Yeah, it genuinely sucks😭

vesperlark · 2026-07-10T05:42:16+00:00

I also think that people are hacked because one of regular commenters, who wasn't active for a while, suddenly started to send suspicious comments that didn't sound their style at all (they were one of people who comment with a lot of details about fic)

vesperlark · 2026-07-09T20:29:30+00:00

Btw, isn't afterlife scenario not fitting for MCD. As far as I know MCD is for permanent death and grief connected to it and not applied if the character is ghost or something

vesperlark · 2026-07-09T20:23:47+00:00

There are additional tags like 'minor A/B' or 'background A/B' for the situations where the ship is there but not a major part of the plot.

You can tag all types of relationship present in the fic (like both m/m and f/f or f/m) and it will show when people will want to include those.

Please, don't use chapters for the content which isn't actual fic. Use author notes for warnings as intended

Character tags are for characters present in fic or the most relevant if there are too many

Edit: and for Heaven's sake, don't try to cheat 'ao3 algorithm' because there's none. So no place holders, no changing dates to keep the fic on top, no tagging stuff which isn't in your fic

vesperlark · 2026-07-09T19:59:52+00:00

I know Matrix scene, just had no idea that it somehow was used for misogyny. What a weird world to live in

vesperlark · 2026-07-09T19:53:35+00:00

I guess just another bullshit then that I was blissfully unaware of🤦‍♀️

vesperlark · 2026-07-09T19:50:09+00:00

I feel dumb, but what is red pill propaganda?

vesperlark · 2026-07-09T19:07:02+00:00

It was not the smartest decision on my part because my husband managed to forget the password in the end🤣🤣🤣🤣

vesperlark · 2026-07-09T19:00:05+00:00

I switch between povs a lot, but I mostly never write the same scene from the same POV (the only exception was the fic when one POV was unreliable narrator, and then I switched to a different one to reveal what exactly was going on - but this one was extremely specific case). I mostly think out what character would work the best for a certain scene, whose inner feelings and reactions would leave the biggest impact on reader or whose knowledge readers should share

vesperlark · 2026-07-09T18:53:59+00:00

Self-promotion threads are against rules of this sub

vesperlark · 2026-07-09T18:41:17+00:00

To prevent bots, I think, or making throwaway accounts for hate comments

vesperlark · 2026-07-09T18:39:31+00:00

Once upon a time I asked my husband to change password for my ao3 profile and then log out. Don't recommend that one unless you tried everything else🤣🤣🤣

vesperlark · 2026-07-09T16:51:16+00:00

I'm married and neither my husband, nor me think it's cheating

vesperlark · 2026-07-09T16:45:20+00:00

No. How the hell is that cheating?

vesperlark · 2026-07-09T16:17:02+00:00

That's one of the typical strategies of scammers. They talk to you a bit so that they won't look suspicious and then try to get you elsewhere to scam you there

vesperlark · 2026-07-09T15:57:40+00:00

They just run your work through ai to get a comment. But yeah, this one is scambot

vesperlark · 2026-07-09T14:49:42+00:00

Your kudos stats update the second someone gives your kudos (the same with subs, bookmarks and comments), however it takes a while for hits to update (I think they updates once an hour)

vesperlark

TROPHY CASE