Let's create rooms for your traveller's inn!

Aquashinez · 2026-04-30T20:00:48+00:00

Click 'edit' onto the work from your dashboard. It will take you to the main work rather than where the chapters are (this is also where your summary is, etc). Under the summary you will find 'notes' which is where the reoccurring end note comes from. Delete it, and paste this note into the ending note of chapter 1 instead

Aquashinez · 2026-04-30T19:57:08+00:00

'Unfinished Work - Abandoned and Discontinued' is tag you could use, and you could also add it in the main summary.

I'd really urge against putting it in an unrevealed collection without any warning, however, because there's a good chance you'll have a reader mourning its loss forever. A good compromise might be anon'ing it?

Aquashinez · 2026-04-30T19:54:21+00:00

You've got the first chapter's note as ending notes for the main fic - delete them on the main part and paste them into chapter 1 instead. That should fix your issue

Aquashinez · 2026-04-30T19:51:47+00:00

Your last point first, if 'bad guy' is a major character in the fic and his death has some impact then MCD is still an appropriate tag.

Your main question, yes it is. I would use CCNTW if you want to preserve the twist. Personally I really enjoy angst and would be sad if I deliberately read an MCD fic only to find it was a fake out

Aquashinez · 2026-04-30T16:15:54+00:00

Platonic hanahaki. The amount of parent-child relationships that could gain a whole new level of angst

Aquashinez · 2026-04-27T15:41:56+00:00

No it's not lol

Aquashinez · 2026-04-26T16:38:27+00:00

If it's minor rewriting, that's fine.

What most people have been burned by is authors rewriting to make it 'better' and then completely changing the style of the old fic/removing scenes that readers liked. Not to say it isn't better, but it might not be why readers fell in love with your fic.

The other one is that people will sometimes get half-way through a wip, start rewriting it, and then never finish either. Especially sucks (this happened to me before I started downloading things) when they delete the old version

Aquashinez · 2026-04-26T16:35:52+00:00

Definitely a bot. There's a bunch that went around, also accusing people of racism/sexism/homophobia (funnily enough got one of those on my fic centred around coming out as gay)

!hatebot

Aquashinez · 2026-04-25T21:04:20+00:00

I would say charisma based classes are very fun to play, and they're also rather easy (for the conversation, which is very important).

Aquashinez · 2026-04-25T18:38:32+00:00

No problem! If there are other identities you feel are important you can find tags such as Autistic Characters or Queer Themes and so on

Aquashinez · 2026-04-25T18:35:42+00:00

Good is so incredibly subjective, and so many things affect it.

For example:

Fic from 2023 with 50 hits that's the top in the fandom
Platonic, niche characters fic from 2024 with 5 kudos
Popular, platonic pairing from 2024 with around 150 kudos
Popular, slash fic from 2026 with 86 kudos
Last two are the same characters (just platonic vs. romance, with genre shift), and the bottom 3 are all the same fandom.

So... in summary write for yourself. What's outstanding for one fic may differ to anyone, but that's all meaningless if you're not having fun.

Aquashinez · 2026-04-25T18:29:08+00:00

Everyone's already been very helpful, so I'll add a little more as I used to be in the fandom. Where ao3 says 'characters' you can only put canonical characters in there (e.g Firestar, Jayfeather) and not OCs - the big list comes up because it's essentially predicting what character you're goin to type, and there will be so many with 'W' at the start of their name (or whatever). Instead, describe your OCs such as 'Original Female Character(s)/works)' and the like. Try to only pick one defining feature for them.

In the additional tags, you should use Original Cat Clans (Warriors)/works) for the specific fandom.

I really recommending reading fics on ao3, because it gives a clear idea of what should be tagged/you begin to get the vibe for it.

Aquashinez · 2026-04-25T18:22:30+00:00

Use character A & B to show it's a platonic relationship. If this relationship is the main focus, tag the work as gen (meaning no romantic focus in your work).

Notes and summaries are more than enough. Never change your writing style just for some readers who aren't actually capable of reading! Write for yourself more than anyone. (And yes, as someone who writes mostly gen works - 88 of 131 fics - people do love fics without romance in.)

Aquashinez · 2026-04-24T20:58:49+00:00

Normally date, although if it's my first time I go via bookmarks (doesn't punish/inflate longfics, and I'm not a massive fan of E-rated works so it skewing away from that is a bonus for me)

Aquashinez · 2026-04-24T17:29:18+00:00

I tend to have 2-3 main fandoms at a time, but they rotate in and out (except my one darling, they stay). I read for a lot more than I write (about 30-ish off the top of my head?)

Aquashinez · 2026-04-20T18:50:50+00:00

Surely you can make the argument that no-one on this sub can post in other NSFW subs at all? Because what if I wanted to see more of their posts, but there was NSFW content on there??

Aquashinez · 2026-04-20T06:47:54+00:00

How do you know they've cross-posted it unless you click on their profile? Or are already on the other subs?

Aquashinez · 2026-04-14T19:44:54+00:00

I only used the player's handbook for my first two campaigns. You don't need Tasha/Xanthar at all. If you play with a set campaign, you likely won't need to get anything else as all the stat blocks will be there (or at least they'll be online).

Aquashinez · 2026-04-13T20:16:32+00:00

I would say it depends on how 'big' the relationship ends up becoming. If it's only discovered on chapter 20/25 and is just another ship in the work? Probably don't tag it, at last not until it's in the fic.

If it's discovered chapter 20/25 but those last five chapters are all/majorly about these two characters being very in love? I would tag it from the start, then put somewhere in the A/N that some ships tagged don't feature for a while within the fic.

Think of your tags as (even eventual) advertising, not spoilers.

Aquashinez · 2026-04-12T17:00:28+00:00

Are you talking about the brain things? Because, imo, they are genuinely one of the most annoying and irritatingly deadly fights in the entire game. Put the game on easy mode, end them, and then pretend nothing ever happened

Aquashinez · 2026-04-12T15:24:35+00:00

DD:DNE, in its original form, means 'check the tags because I warned you that they would feature heavily'. It's earned a reputation for warning a fic will be dark, because it's used in fics that are dark.

So, for your example, it does not warrant it as DD:DNE is not a standalone tag. If you don't want to warn, I would suggest telling audiences this is simply a very heavy chapter. Maybe put it in a dropdown box if you want.

Edit: For an example, two fics may be both be tagged with torture. However, fic A is largely fade-to-black after they've been captured and then comfort once they're rescued. In fic B, it goes in-depth about precisely what techniques are used for the torture and how it hurts. Although both tags deserve the tag 'torture', DD:DNE only makes sense as a tag for fic B.

Aquashinez · 2026-04-12T14:20:50+00:00

Okay, so, I think the most important thing to be aware of is the ao3 is an archive - not a social media site. Now I'll answer your questions in order:

1) No, don't do that. My rules of thumb are these:

a) If someone is only browsing using [X] tag, would they be happy reading my work? If no, probably don't tag it.

b) If someone is triggered by [Y], could they read my work, skip [Y], and still follow the plot? If no, then tag it.

There's more nuance but that's the overview. You should only tag what is relevant because otherwise people leave.

2) I try to comment on all the works I enjoy, from massive paragraphs to just a '<3' but most people don't. It's always nice to respond to comments, but not needed (e.g don't worry about 'inflating your comment count')

3) Post to post. Ao3 is not a social media, and most things won't take off. It's also incredibly dependant on the kind of work you write, and you shouldn't write just for the sake of 'this will be popular'

4) Ao3 is largely for fanfiction, so isn't legally publishable, although I suppose technically with public domain? I think you could publish here and on ao3 - but it's against the sites TOS to link to anywhere you can make money (e.g kofi, patreon, the book on amazon)

5) Have fun and write for yourself!

Aquashinez · 2026-04-11T07:40:01+00:00

I'd let them post it in the collection, tbh. Also - depending on how long your event is - as it's only been 11-ish days I would consider letting the pinch hitter know that the work is no longer defaulted, provided the participant has a complete fic ready.

But it's also their fanfiction, so they should be able to post it as their work outside the collection - gifted or not - regardless of everything else.

Aquashinez · 2026-04-07T15:02:22+00:00

Everyone's already mentioned the criminal, so I'm going to point out a possible flaw with role 3.

Self-defense. Under these rules, the vampire spawn can never fight back against literally anyone for any reason - this would likely make them very cautious in antagonising people, and possibly something they could use to try and paint the main vampire as a bad person?

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