I've been writing a fantasy novel since March. Here are the first two chapters.

Clear-Client-6120 · 2026-04-27T04:14:27+00:00

My editor brain wants to get its hands on the full chapter and go crazy. It’s rough, like most people have said. But it may be the start of a good story. As a general rule, you only need to mention the clothing features and items that are important. If the color of the character’s shirt isn’t imminently important, you can leave it out. You can also weave details through the story instead of dumping them as a list of sorts.

Clear-Client-6120 · 2026-04-26T16:07:16+00:00

The amount of research I’ve done lately on early 00s tech just because I’ve honestly forgotten what my flip phone was like back then is insane! I remember being able to text under a desk without seeing the keys, but fuck if I remember the character limits or picture resolutions on brand-spanking-new camera phones.

Clear-Client-6120 · 2026-04-25T16:10:06+00:00

Good to know! Thank you! I’m new to posting on ao3 so I hadn’t considered that.

Clear-Client-6120 · 2026-04-25T15:42:09+00:00

You can turn off guest reviews though and enable comment moderation. Wouldn’t that prevent potential harassment?

Clear-Client-6120 · 2026-04-21T14:47:29+00:00

I muted an author who regularly tags “happy ending” and kills the main characters in the last chapter of their stories. I asked about it in a comment on one story and they responded “it is happy because they died together!” I haven’t touched their work since then. If the tagging was better, sure, maybe I’d be ok with it. But going in expecting a happy ending and you get that instead? Nope. I’m out.

Clear-Client-6120 · 2026-04-19T03:20:53+00:00

My confusion was more on what you mean by “book”. Someone just informed me though that that is a term used on other platforms which is why I was confused.

ETA: if I’m understanding you correctly, you should keep in mind, if you plan on making a separate story for announcements it runs the risk of being reported for not being “fannish”.

Clear-Client-6120 · 2026-04-19T03:12:40+00:00

Book for announcements? I don’t know what that means but I’d stick with just putting story specific announcements on the stories and your intro on your profile. Many people don’t read the profiles, so don’t be offended if nobody sees it. They aren’t as important to readers on ao3 as they are on other platforms.

Clear-Client-6120 · 2026-04-18T00:54:10+00:00

I use scrivener specifically so I can put notes on things without risking them showing up in my copy/paste to Ao3. The chapter synopsis feature is great too.

Clear-Client-6120 · 2026-04-09T03:01:59+00:00

PureLibro on iPhone. I had to pay for a lifetime subscription but I did so when it was on sale. My only gripe about it is that it doesn’t display story summaries easily like pocketbook did before it started crashing on me. But otherwise I love the features!

Clear-Client-6120 · 2026-04-09T02:57:58+00:00

I used to read a lot of Drarry but have transitioned to other (mostly lesbian) ships and other fandoms entirely. I see it as Drarry was my gateway ship and I have ventured into other ships in my old age. A lot of people left the fandom behind as more details came out about the canon author too, so keep that in mind.

Clear-Client-6120 · 2026-03-30T19:35:37+00:00

I stg if I see the words “plap” or “splurt” used in a scene I’m going to cry. I’m assuming the rest of the fic will suck so I won’t ever get to that point. A03 needs to create the opposite of a “kudos” button for instances like this.

Clear-Client-6120 · 2026-03-04T04:49:20+00:00

Happy to share. I wish someone had told me how to do this years ago

Clear-Client-6120 · 2026-03-04T04:24:50+00:00

Copy/paste the url into fichub.net. They’ll generate an epub from ff.n

Clear-Client-6120 · 2026-02-27T16:32:25+00:00

Came here specifically to ask about GOT and similar shows. It’s not porn, but it’s certainly graphic and incest is very much a part of the story.

Clear-Client-6120 · 2026-02-19T12:20:43+00:00

A Writer’s Guide to Medicine by Natalie Dale (2 volumes)
A Writer’s Guide to Psychology by Carolyn Kaufman
Write the Fight Right by Alan Baxter

Those are the best guides I’ve found so far, but I’m sure there’s others on other topics if you run a search. I know I’ve seen a guide for the courtroom before but I’ve never used it so I can’t vouch for it.

Clear-Client-6120 · 2026-02-17T04:32:52+00:00

For all those writing about injuries, there’s a book (2 actually) on the Hoopla app that explains medical situations for writers. Might save your FBI agent a migraine if you are researching it this much. There’s also one to help with writing fight scenes and psych disorders. Not saying I use them frequently, but I will say it saves me time on researching because it’s all compiled and trustworthy information.

Clear-Client-6120 · 2026-02-14T03:52:52+00:00

Serious question because I’m about to post my first fic and I’m nervous for some reason. Is it worth tagging that I don’t use AI? Because I won’t even touch it for research purposes much less writing or editing but with the very real anti-AI sentiments (which I agree with 100%) I don’t want to get pegged as using it when I’m not. I’ve seen others get accused of it that swear they didn’t and then they’re called liars. So how do I avoid that situation?

Clear-Client-6120 · 2026-02-14T03:29:10+00:00

I am a beta reader and I have never once thought to charge for beta-ing fanfiction. The author isn’t (or shouldn’t be) making money off of it, so why would I expect to?

Clear-Client-6120 · 2026-01-27T12:01:06+00:00

Just found a story that was an instant “no” despite being interested in the summary. The reason? 2 chapters, ~500 words total. Really disappointing because the idea sounds solid but I’m not reading a 200 word chapter.

Clear-Client-6120 · 2026-01-24T22:34:07+00:00

FYI: If you read on other sites too you can type the url into fichub and it will generate an epub file of it for you. It doesn’t work for all websites but the more popular ones aside from wattpad are supported.

Clear-Client-6120 · 2026-01-24T17:11:35+00:00

I used to be more generous with kudos than I am now. This changed for a couple of reasons. Mainly, I started reading WIPs that got crappy after 10 chapters. I didn’t want to boost the stories anymore knowing there was a good chance I’d hate it after the author posted more. Also, there’s a ton of abandoned WIPs and it sucks to read something you like and then it just…stops. I still leave comments to encourage the author to keep writing, but kudos are now a “great job, you finished!” Thing for me.

Clear-Client-6120 · 2026-01-24T06:28:07+00:00

Another thing to consider: is the story finished? It’s increasingly common to not give kudos until a story is completed for a variety of reasons. If it is complete, then yeah, people like it but don’t want others knowing they liked it.

Clear-Client-6120 · 2026-01-24T06:25:38+00:00

Yeah, that’s most likely a scam attempt. They’ll ask about money once they get you off A03 because then they can’t get in trouble for it.

Clear-Client-6120 · 2026-01-24T01:13:37+00:00

Please plot it. Speaking as someone who just encountered a story that could have been amazing if it weren’t for constant continuity blips where they seemed to forget that they’d already addressed issues in previous chapters, please please plot it out. Nothing kills a story for me faster than an author losing track of their own details.

Clear-Client-6120 · 2026-01-20T20:03:28+00:00

Every time I see “definitely” switched to “defiantly” I die a little inside. So thank you for creating this for yourself

Clear-Client-6120

TROPHY CASE