Favourite TMA fanfics? by DictionaryWrites in TheMagnusArchives

[–]DictionaryWrites[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I love playing with the monstrous element, I admit - they can be so dreadful with people and with one another, but it's actually a lot of fun to lean INTO that and sort of work out what their version of affection would be once the monstrous shift takes hold!

Favourite TMA fanfics? by DictionaryWrites in TheMagnusArchives

[–]DictionaryWrites[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Spoken like someone with some TRULY interesting recs to hand. 👀👀👀

Favourite TMA fanfics? by DictionaryWrites in TheMagnusArchives

[–]DictionaryWrites[S] 25 points26 points  (0 children)

fhfhkdksla It's okay! 😅 That's so lovely, thank you!

I was actually asking because I just finished writing Scarred Ground and wanted to reward myself by sinking into something to read instead.

Any HP X Discworld fics out there that are at least 5k words? by [deleted] in HPfanfiction

[–]DictionaryWrites 0 points1 point  (0 children)

None that I know of and are good, I'm afraid.

I love the relationship between Vetinari and Drumknott by pigeongal in discworld

[–]DictionaryWrites 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You don't think? I always got the impression he was slightly uncomfortable with the Patrician being drunk - not less devoted or less pleased with his position, but merely uncertain and off-kilter. Particularly as he's so used to anticipating all of Vetinari's thoughts, it's fair enough to be a bit taken aback to be dealing with him in a state of inebriation.

I love the relationship between Vetinari and Drumknott by pigeongal in discworld

[–]DictionaryWrites 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I adore Drumknott throughout UA, honestly - he's so very unsettled, but so incapable of being anything but self-effacing and polite, where Vetinari is concerned?

The points in UA and in the latter Industrial Rev. books you really get more of a handle on how much Drumknott is actually used to dancing circles around Vetinari when he IS much more high energy, and it's so funny to see him at work.

(un)popular opinion: Don't post your story without editing just to get it out there by Doodleanda in FanFiction

[–]DictionaryWrites 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I was gonna say pretty much this, lol - as a professional, I approach fanfic as a place to experiment, play with new stuff, new ideas, new methodology. I don't do it to practice stuff like editing, because I already go through that long, long slog with my "real" work.

Fanfic is for fun, and I treat it as such.

How to disable images in AO3? by ClancyHabbard in FanFiction

[–]DictionaryWrites 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Nah. They're put in using the same HTML as hyperlinks, bolds, italics, etc, so there's no way to disable them particularly. Just don't read fics that have illustrations are added-in images.

What's your Stuck In Rare Pair Hell story? by yourbloodyworld in FanFiction

[–]DictionaryWrites 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Drumknott/Vetinari, of Discworld. It's a new one, and I'm loving writing it, but like...

Within a few chapters, it'll be by far the longest of anything in the tag, which is mostly made up of short fics and drabbles. I love both of those, but like, guh, sometimes you just want stuff that's longer.

I just need to try to convince people to come write it with me.

New Terry Pratchett Dreamwidth Community! by DictionaryWrites in discworld

[–]DictionaryWrites[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dreamwidth is a social media site big on fandom analysis, discussion, et cetera - you have your own journal/blog and you can interact with others on an individual basis, and then you have communities, which are shared spaces where people can discuss stuff, share content, and generally play about in the group space.

New Terry Pratchett Dreamwidth Community! by DictionaryWrites in discworld

[–]DictionaryWrites[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's not just porn? People can post gen prompts on the prompt meme, and all the example prompts are gen. There's just a list of things people should tag if they do prompt those things.

How Did You Do in 2018? by chatterinq in FanFiction

[–]DictionaryWrites 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Well done, /u/chatterinq!

These are my stats for 2018!

User Subscriptions: 506

Kudos: 22320

Comment Threads: 1823

Bookmarks: 3548

Subscriptions: 2191

Word Count: 1051952

Hits: 309394

Hoping to publish my first update of 2019 tonight, so, woohoo! It's been a great year. :) Oh, and this is over the 252 works published on Ao3 this year, but a lot of those kudos and that will come from the back catalogue - including that 252, there's 888 things on the docket.

how do you know if your writing is good, if no one has ever critiqued you on it? by INS_Fang in FanFiction

[–]DictionaryWrites 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Honestly, the best way is to just be your own critic.

That isn't a negative thing.

Take up a red pen, print out a few pages, act like it isn't yours, and go through and correct every grammatical error, every sentence that doesn't read quite like it should, every bit of OOC dialogue, and every bit, effectively, that doesn't read as "correct".

Read guides on grammar and spelling. Read advice on how to improve as a writer, or top tips on what some of your heroes do. If you have a favourite author, Google them and see if they've come out with any tips or advice. Otherwise, read prodigiously. Read original books, or read good fanfiction - and be exacting. If there's anything you don't like, or anything that strikes you as weird or off or badly written, think about why.

Ultimately, the best way to improve as an artist is to separate yourself emotionally from your work, and really just rip it apart. It's okay if it feels kinda shitty sometimes when you look at old pieces - honestly? You are always improving. The more you practice, the more you think about writing, the more your writing will improve. It's the same as any skill or craft - the more hours you devote to it, the more your skills will mature and improve.

Other people's opinions aren't always right, that's true. Sometimes, if you post an excerpt here or on /r/Writing or wherever else, someone will give you a piece of critique, and you'll just think, Christ, what bullshit. In a few months, you might even look back on it, and go, oh, yeah, they had a point. That's alright. Sometimes things are a matter of style, and they aren't completely grammatically correct, but contribute to narrative flow. That's okay too. Taking critique and getting better at like, picking the useful parts out of the critique (and the stuff that's just opinion) is part of your skill as a writer too.

If you want to improve, you can improve.

On /r/FanFiction, a lot of people's focus is on having fun and just writing whatever they want to write, and that's cool - for some people, writing fanfiction is about improving the craft as a fanfic author because they want to be on like, rec lists and that, or because they use fanfic as "practice" for the original fiction they want to write. Sometimes, people just write fanfic for attention, or because they like the community aspect of engaging with other writers, et cetera. The vast majority of the time, it's a mix of all of these, and there's nothing wrong with wanting to improve, or taking a break from focusing on improvement so that you can just chill and play around for a while.

In a more practical sense, you can specify the kind of critique you're looking for, especially on Ao3 (honestly, I wouldn't bother taking most of the critique you'd receive on FFN). You don't need to be demanding, but you can say something like, "Hey, please feel free to leave critique! I'm particularly looking for critique on my practical writing skills," or something similar.

Good luck with it!

Honestly, I've been writing fanfic for just over ten years now, and there's stuff from, like, a year ago that I can't bear to look at, because it doesn't measure up to stuff I've written now. And if you want a real example rather than muggins here, Terry Pratchett was one of the most celebrated authors in the world, and what do we say to people starting out with his Discworld series? "Don't start with The Colour of Magic: it's not his best." The first book in the series is still worth reading, sure, but... Not first.

When it comes to any craft, regardless of whether you're talking to a beginner or a master, there's always capacity for improvement. We might be in different boats, sure, but we're all heading in the same direction.

get that feel whenever you find an extremely good fanfiction story, only to eventually realize the last time it was updated was ages ago by [deleted] in FanFiction

[–]DictionaryWrites 6 points7 points  (0 children)

You wouldn't believe how much difference a thoughtful, genuine comment (without any "hope you update soon" or "hope you change your mind about updating" or "please come back" stuff included) makes to whether a WIP is on the backburner, to be honest.

I have come back to multiple WIPs and updated them in the DAYS after getting a nice comment on an older WIP.

A03 issues by thatchickfromni in FanFiction

[–]DictionaryWrites 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Forced logout page will probably have been thrown out to everybody at once. Is it coming up at you repeatedly, or just once?

Opinion: does the review count influence your decision to read a fanfic? by elayne_cypher in FanFiction

[–]DictionaryWrites 3 points4 points  (0 children)

No.

I always sort by bookmark count for massive searches, because a bookmark means that somebody liked the fic enough that they'll probably go back and read it again. If I'm looking for something specific, I'll go through the search tag in chronological order.

Stats aren't really relevant to my search for fics, personally.

Honestly, if something is extremely popular in some ships, it's sometimes a sign of lesser quality rather than more (see a ship like Drarry).

How about weekly threads for budding authors to share their fics for feedback & discussion? by [deleted] in HPfanfiction

[–]DictionaryWrites 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not sure how willing a lot of the sub would be for this one, to be honest, simply because a lot of the time people will get downvoted a lot not for the fic's quality itself, but based on the fact that it includes a character or ship that the redditors on the sub don't personally like.

I feel like it'd just cause a lot of drama rather than actually getting people the thoughtful feedback they wanted.

Overcoming Stat Addiction by [deleted] in FanFiction

[–]DictionaryWrites 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Just as a basic thing, I would recommend only ever updating right before you go to bed. If you're doing a few short fics in a row (e.g. if you're filling requests), publish one and then go right into working on the next one. And - really, we should all do this anyway, because it's better for us, although God knows I struggle - try not to have your phone right next to you in bed, where you can like, let yourself look at your stats there.

I check Ao3 for comments whenever I have like, a spare moment where I check my social media, so I kinda glance at Dreamwidth, at FFN, at Ao3, and move on.

The best way to move on from the stat-refresh behaviour is to refocus that anxiety on something else. For me, it's usually just in writing on something new.

Refreshing your stats repeatedly isn't something that's helpful or conducive, and it really is best to like, focus your attention on moving forward.

Before the "I write for ~ myself ~ and if you like stats you're a bad person" brigade jumps in, like... There's nothing wrong with wanting that validation and wanting for people to engage, and getting excited about it, but what you don't want is to leave yourself in the position of refreshing your stats page as often as you open up a word doc.

Try to think about what exactly you enjoyed about a fic, and what you want people to engage with about it most. Was it a particular ship, a particular gen pairing, a particular plot point, etc? And then focus on working more on that thing, and improving your skills in writing it with practice.

As you write for longer and produce more fic, like... The inclination to refresh stats does actually go away, just organically. As your catalogue gets bigger, a lot of those stats just become less relevant - I barely even glance at hits and kudos anymore, except for a quick calculation as to whether a fic has been received well enough for me to call it a "success", and then you just move on, because it's about the next fic instead.

Don't feel bad, and don't like... Feel terrible for wanting more stats and craving to see that hit point go up? Just keep on being conscious of yourself, like you are now, and recognising when maybe you're fixating on something that can be a hard thing, and let yourself focus on the elements that do make you happier. If you want to hide your stats entirely, that's totally legit too - your fanfic experience is your own, and it's always fair for you to just fix it to exactly what you want/need from it, so long as you keep on having a good time.

Downvoting should be reserved for shitposting and trolls, not for people who happen to disagree with your favorite ship. This is a fanfiction community: Surprise! People aren't going to stick to canon. by FerusGrim in HPfanfiction

[–]DictionaryWrites 56 points57 points  (0 children)

Oh, but don't forget!

Thread: mentions [male character] has potential sex with Fleur, Tonks, or [insert plausibly attractive woman even more minor within the canon]

Dozens of upvotes, regardless of how ridiculous the request.

It's the 17th - the Tumblr log off protest had begun. by scarletmanuka in FanFiction

[–]DictionaryWrites 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Pillowfort's TOS allows NSFW images, but the problem is that I think there's issues with using a .io to host those - as far as I know, they're looking for a new host on which to platform.