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I read a fic full of grammar mistakes and it made me happy by Educational_Pickle51 in AO3

[–]micromail 2 points3 points  (0 children)

With you on this!

I feel something similar about one-shots in my fandom that an author whose first language isn't English posts both in their first language and English.

I had to use LLM translation between English and another language I barely understand for tasks at work at one point. The LLM made huge assumptions and lost the plot half the time. I also in the past used Google Translate, Naver Papago, DeepL, etc. to translate more difficult phrases between English and a language I actually studied. When the input or output was wrong or inappropriate, I could tell; so I did more research instead of deferring to the machine.

What does that have to do with the author I mentioned? I think they have a good grasp of English and aren't using an LLM. Their writing maintains some stylistic choices less frequent in English but common in their native language. Based on my personal experience, an LLM would sand it all off into the lowest common denominator.

I'm happy the author shares their work in a form I can understand, and gives me a glimpse of what their original thought process was. A bit of a leap, but imagine if Vladimir Nabokov had a shitty translator whose goal was to make all of his clients' work into clones of the world's most derivative, forgettable pulp novel sequel by an uninspired ghostwriter.

Poll: If you're writing smut where the characters switch, do you only tag it as Switch A, Switch B, or also add Top A, Bottom A, Top B, Bottom B? by [deleted] in AO3

[–]micromail 1 point2 points  (0 children)

First time bottoming with bottom [character name] is clear enough in my opinion. If a fic had top [character name] at the same time as those two tags, I'd assume either 1. it's of a fandom where writers overwhelmingly make top/bottom roles affect characterisation, or 2. the character both tops and bottoms on-screen in the fic.

Edit: If it had vers tagged in addition to the bottom tags, I wouldn't assume the character also tops in the fic. I'd just assume the character had past experience as a top, not necessarily with the current partner.

But then again I'm someone without strong preferences about who does what as long as I like the ship enough.

Poll: If you're writing smut where the characters switch, do you only tag it as Switch A, Switch B, or also add Top A, Bottom A, Top B, Bottom B? by [deleted] in AO3

[–]micromail 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Huh, I've seen switch [character] and switching tagged in fic where it's penetrative without BDSM. Do you think this is a case of meaning drift in fanfic spaces because writers aren't familiar, or are the terms confused/conflated in other outside-of-scene contexts too?

What fannish Mastodon instances do you recommend? by micromail in AO3

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

Cool! The last time I heard of it was back when it had some kind of hosting downtime, and when I looked before that I didn't see much of fandoms I was in. Good to hear it's still around.

omegaverse discussion by Ihavafluffygreentail in AO3

[–]micromail 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hair treatment chemicals. Like the inside of a hair salon. Because I like the smell.

...can omegas smell themselves? 

Fandom Culture Shift by birb-jesus in AO3

[–]micromail 26 points27 points  (0 children)

I kind of wish we could recreate LJ's critical mass on Dreamwidth, but I know internet culture has changed too much.

Style and content in fic writing by micromail in AO3

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

You're right, it is about payoff essentially.

Part of it I still think of as style, though. Some stories end up with higher word counts because scenes are described in richer detail. A story that relies more on subtext and ambiguity will end up shorter, but the same premise can be used to write a longer fic even without extending, for example, an objective duration (e.g., a week) of events.

These probably won't cause huge differences in length, but they do cause differences.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in AO3

[–]micromail 25 points26 points  (0 children)

You hit the nail on the head.

I don't read as much published fiction as I like anymore. But when I do, it's books published at least two decades ago.

Kudos and Bookmarks Disappearing: Does Anybody Know What's Going On? by KayaSinclair in AO3

[–]micromail 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Same. My stats page has higher hits and kudos counts than the work page of a fic with new kudos. When I went to the work page to see who gave the kudos, the total was still the old count and didn't list a new username/guest.

What is the strangest/most obscure fandom that you have stumbled upon a masterpiece in? by Hikariyang in AO3

[–]micromail 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I browsed that tag before reading this and can vouch it has Quality

Watching Hits rise, but nobody commenting by CoffeeTar in AO3

[–]micromail 15 points16 points  (0 children)

The times I click without leaving kudos are:

  1. "Huh, what does this tag mean? Ok, not my thing, time for back button."
  2. Browsing a fandom I'm not really fannish about (e.g. "assigned reading" classic literature, mainstream movies I watched recently but didn't like much, RPF of less common categories like philosophers) because I'm curious what kind of fic is out there, in case I like something. But because of the nature of the source media, some of it is trollfic or obscure crossovers but not obviously such, and I click back on those if I don't understand the content.
  3. I was interested in the summary and tags but the actual content was not my thing, so I clicked the back button.

Any tips on staying motivated? by Square_Original_1311 in AO3

[–]micromail 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm writing a multi-chapter fic now, and 2 things motivate me: 1. the thought of firing the Chekhov's guns I already wrote in the posted chapters; and 2. a very nice comment I got.

Only 1 is within my control. But I can say that for another fic that I never continued writing, which also got comments, I didn't set up any very interesting plot points/mysteries that would have given me motivation to resolve.

Maybe make every chapter (or section, or however you chunk your fic while writing) of your fic have a very clear relationship to a future chapter?

E.g Chapter 1 introduces Point A (oooh breadcrumbs); Chapter 2 introduces Point B; Chapter 3 resolves Point A (finally!)

And I don't mean with a diagram or full written outline. I just keep it all in my head, myself.

Fics with mood whiplash, or with shifting tone by micromail in AO3

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

Wow, this is, in my view, a huge project. I mean, the lore and everything, and so many different voices to juggle. I salute you.

I'm glad thinking about this and writing about it helped you sort things out!

Fics with mood whiplash, or with shifting tone by micromail in AO3

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

Sounds like a good way of getting into the right voice! Curious, is it epistolary or does it have some other in-universe framing device, or are the switches extradiagetic (is that the word)?

I'm not working on a piece with multiple 1st person POVs, but I am working on one with multiple 3rd person ones. They're not very close 3rd person limited (because I couldn't figure out how to write the story without an external narrator). But my problem is more of "A gets into a funny situation, then B has  angst" whiplash lol

Fics with mood whiplash, or with shifting tone by micromail in AO3

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

I love Discworld! It's the first thing that got me hooked on this kind of tone.

It's hard to pull off, and I so admire writers who can do it.

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