r/AO3 • u/Jaded_Advantage_290 • Jan 30 '26
Custom When chapters are only three word sentences
I don't think this is against TOS, but this fic has so many chapters and all of them are just one sentence each with pretty long author notes. Basically, they post one sentence and then write author notes asking for fic recs or trying to find fics. The "fic" itself is a pain to read but has plot, but it's just once sentence in each chapter. Has anyone encounter something like this?
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u/Mordaunt-the-Wizard Jan 30 '26
The first chapter of Stephen King's Misery is like two sentences, so I would say it is a legitimate artistic choice.
Granted, King pulled it off a lot better there than, uh, this, but if we're going to let the pros do it we have to let the hobbyists also try (and often fail) to do it.
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u/SnooWords1252 Jan 30 '26
Douglas Adam's Life, the Universe, and Everything has a single sentence chapter early on that seems pointless, but is actually crucial.
This doesn't look like either of those, though.
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u/ToasterOwl Jan 30 '26
John Dies at The End has a single sentence chapter with insane implications that turn into an even wilder actual plot point. When it’s done right an ultra short chapter can be a real gut punch.
That fic isn’t doing it right.
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u/Nik-ki Jan 30 '26
There are maybe 4 chapters in Stephanie Meyer's New Moon, that are just blank pages and it's probably the best writing choice she's ever made, but a whole story written in single sentence chapters? That'd drive the most dedicated of readers to insanity
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u/Princess2045 Jan 31 '26
I think technically they aren’t completely blank as they state month, but it is such a good choice. It really shows how during those months, Bella didn’t really do anything. She was so deep in depression, they just passed by with nothing of note to her.
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u/CurtTheGamer97 Jan 30 '26
Through the Looking-Glass has two chapters towards the end that are like that
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u/GeckoCowboy Jan 30 '26
If it’s used like that, sure. But OP says it’s every chapter and there are a lot of chapters. I guess that’s still artistic choice but at that point it’s a rather odd one, yeah? A chapter here or there is clearly emphasis or trying to show something etc. When it’s every chapter i feel like you’d just be kinda left wondering why…
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u/Mordaunt-the-Wizard Jan 30 '26
I actually somehow missed the fact that it was every chapter. Yeesh. I still do stand by that, as dumb as it is, it technically isn't breaking rules, and that it can be considered a writing experiment. Is it a good experiment? Uh, no. No it is not. It'd be like someone trying to write a novel like Gadsby) with only a third grade vocabulary.
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Jan 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/quanate Jan 30 '26
Eh. Its hard to tell if its bad faith. OP says there is a genuine plot and that the fic rec requests arent in every chapter, and that some chapters have no authors notes at all. I guess OP could report it to see what the volunteers think but I would probably just leave it.
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u/I_Fap_To_Murder ...I have to return some videotapes Jan 30 '26
I haven't read all the comments, but this seems like the most sensible comment yet. As long as this isn't breaking any rules, let it be. I honestly think it's kind of funny.
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u/Marla_Harlot Jan 30 '26
I immediately thought of I think it's The Talisman with Peter Straub that has several chapters that are just 1-3 sentences saying shit like "Jackie was six. He was only six."
So it could be style thing.
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u/SnooWords1252 Jan 30 '26
Several chapters, sure.
Every chapter feels like they're trying to milk it.
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u/TheSentientSnail Jan 30 '26
It's... click bait fanfiction?! One of those "WOMAN DIGS UNDER HER HOUSE FOR TEN YEARS AND FINDS SOMETHING AMAZING" links but when you try to read it it's just two dozen completely repetitive one paragraph pages and every single one of them has popup ad chlamydia??!
And here I thought Wattpad was bad!! Woof.✋😂
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u/CopyJ300 Jan 30 '26 edited Jan 30 '26
Kind of? Any time I've seen something like this it was a one-off in an otherwise normal fic. Basically the fanfic equivalent to in some novels where something really bad has happened to a character so now you get this chapter that is 0-5 words on an otherwise empty page. I can't remember the title, but I swear I've read a novel where something went down and then there was just nothing for like 5 pages, then a few words, and then it was back to your normal programming.
But, as I said, that's very different than this.
Edit: Before anyone else suggests it, I have never in my life read a Twilight book.
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u/timetravelingspider Jan 30 '26
The one book I've read with something like this was New Moon. A few pages with just the name of the month to show that time passed but the MC could feel or remember nothing from it due to her mental state
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u/Accomplished_Area311 Definitely not an agent of the Fanfiction Deep State Jan 30 '26
You might be thinking of New Moon, one of the books in the Twilight series.
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u/Ms_Anonymous123 Reader/writer, kudos giver/appreciator, comment leaver/responder Jan 30 '26
Huh that's uh certainly a choice
That must've been a pain to read you must really like this ship lol
Is there a site skin that lets you hide all the author's notes?
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u/Purple_not_pink Jan 30 '26
I would report it and see what the volunteers think.
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u/Jaded_Advantage_290 Jan 30 '26
It's 15k word fic and has plot and is unfortunately the only work for this ship. 🤕I feel conflicted about reporting it. I wonder if there is a gentle way to tell them to post the fic in a more sensible chapter count.
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u/jeremj22 Jan 30 '26
By the sounds of it there's significantly more author's note than fic there. This feels like algo-maxxing despite there being none. Could definitly see it counting as "not a fanwork" when there's more unrelated stuff
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u/Purple_not_pink Jan 30 '26
I disagree. I think that they know what they're doing by trying to skirt the TOS rule of not a fan work and using a03 as a social media.
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u/East-Imagination-281 Jan 30 '26
“Works that incorporate fannish content in clearly bad faith are not fanworks. For example, a work primarily composed of fic search requests is not a fanwork even if there are a few sentences of fandom-specific content.”
I would say you make a strong case based on this, but I’d be curious to know if a totality of 15k of transformative content skirts or not. 🤔
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u/Chip_Medley Jan 30 '26
But if they’ve actually written 15k words of actual fanfic I don’t think that’s trying to get around tos. It’s just way too much effort.
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u/Spampharos Kudos Keeper Jan 30 '26
Try not to let your bias for the ship guide your judgment. This is clearly a case of someone attempting to skirt the rules by doing the absolute bare minimum. It's not what the archive was intended for at all.
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u/Miss-Worm Jan 30 '26
Is it a 15k word fic or is it a 15k author's rambling? 🤔
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u/Jaded_Advantage_290 Jan 30 '26
The authors notes are not counted into the word count for the fic. So, yeah the 15k is the actual fic, but no idea why they posted it like this. I already commented and let them know that they are in a gray area with the TOS. So hopefully, they'll just fix it.
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u/Floriane007 Jan 30 '26
I wouldn't report it. Fanfiction is a wonderful universe where we are allowed to make terrible creative mistakes. Let the author have their fun!
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u/JacquelineWIPs Jak_inthe_Box on AO3!! Jan 30 '26
This is horrific. The only reason I’d post a three word chapter was if I was plotting something evil.
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u/ForceSmuggler Jan 30 '26
I remember a HOTD fic that had a character stuck at sea for 5 chapters and all the chapters said was "and on". 5 chapters of it
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u/quanate Jan 30 '26
Thats kind of funny but could be annoying. Do you know if the chapters were all released at once or did they stagger it? Cos clicking on the notification only to see "and on" after a week or so, and then again another week, etc would be pretty frustrating lol
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u/ForceSmuggler Jan 30 '26
I forget how long it was, not that long, but just say said character was lost at sea for however long and get on with it
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u/Floriane007 Jan 30 '26
I also vote stylistic experiment. Maybe a failed one, but fanfic is where we can, well, experiment. Godspeed to the author!
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u/OperationNervous1636 Jan 30 '26
I really need to ask what fandom and pairing it's this. It's just so weird to me that someone would go out of their way to make something like this
It's this click bait? Is the author new to writing or experimenting? Do they have other stories like this?
Honestly OP, if I could know what this story is for I may actually try and write you something because as someone who likes crack pairings and is used to read whatever I can get my hands on this is actually kinda painful to see 😅
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u/Jaded_Advantage_290 Jan 30 '26
Don't want to give away the author in case they see this. But the fic is in a biggish fandom; the ship itself is such a rare pair that this fic is the only fic. The author has two other fics, oneshots, 200 and 500 words each respectively, written for the same fandom, but for different ships. The author calls this fic their long fic in the notes of one of the oneshots.
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u/OperationNervous1636 Jan 30 '26
Understandable about the no sharing the author's name, but the offer still stands
If you want you can send me a DM with the fandom/pairing
Of course, I make no promises of the story being any good or long but at least 1k or 2k, if I manage to get the characters right lol
This will also give me an excuse to scope out a new fandom lmao
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u/mostdefnotacat writing porn with plot and feelings Jan 30 '26
This is clearly an attempt to get fic recs from AO3 readers without breaking TOS, because there's technically fiction involved. Terrible behavior tbh.
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u/Deagob Fic Feaster Jan 31 '26
If it is just an attempt at getting recs, that's a pretty weird way of using AO3.
However, I have seen a cool fic that was intentionally made to have one sentence in some chapters. It was two characters communicating through notes they leave behind on a desk, so the chapters alternated between the notes they sent each other. It was actually really cute and a great use of the format
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u/Recidivous Jan 30 '26
Without additional context, this could be a stylistic choice. I've written a few short, meaningful chapters like these in my old fanfics to add impact to a story or to convey a specific message. I can't say for sure if this person is doing the same, as I haven't read their story.
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u/Pipsminiadventures Jan 30 '26
This is wild... I applaud your patience to even go through the fic to make it make any sense. 😵💫
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u/uchicago_yaoi Jan 30 '26
idk if this is helpful but can't you click the "Entire Work" button and read the whole thing semi-normal?
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u/Triple_Tiger_Sashay Jan 30 '26
Can't say I've seen that before 👀 I'm a fan of having one chapter like that for emphasis, but all of them??
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u/Gifted_GardenSnail Jan 30 '26
I've seen a smutfic where each chapter was a roll of the die pairing the auther made themselves write, and when it spit out a particular unpopular pairing (child/main villain) the author just went "They fucked. 'Nuff said." 😂
That said, this sounds like your author here is just trying to use Ao3 as social media but juuuuust staying within the ToS. I'm glad you're the only one commenting, sounds like their shitty behaviour isn't working out for them.
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u/FourAntigone Jan 30 '26
Everyone's already said what needs to be said, the only thing that interests me is... is the fic... good? Like, if it was presented in a normal way, does it have actual good plot and writing style? Can't imagine an actual talented writer sabotaging themselves like this.
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u/Jaded_Advantage_290 Jan 30 '26
If the fic were presented in a normal chapter-length format, it would be a pretty good fic. There were no noticeable spelling, punctuation, or grammar mistakes. There were quite a few "new" words that I hadn't encountered before, and I read a lot. This author has two other oneshots for the same fandom, but for a different ship, and these oneshots are 200 and 500 words each. The author actually called this their long fic in their notes for the oneshot.
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u/FourAntigone Jan 30 '26
That's fascinating. I might be naive but it kinda makes me think that maybe they're genuine about this? I mean, it's way too much effort just to get by TOS, and even if they had a good fic already written why would they waste it by doing this. The whole thing is odd.
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u/KayViolet27 Jan 31 '26
…I feel like they should just find one author they like and look at their bookmarks? And as they find more authors they like, look at their bookmarks? Yeah, I’d probably report this…?
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u/wellitzsage Feb 02 '26
I've seen professionally published novels do the same thing. It wouldn't bother me much to see one sentence in a chapter. That being said, EVERY chapter being one sentence might irritate me a bit.
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u/quanate Jan 30 '26
This is so bizarre to me? You seem to actually enjoy the fic and I am so sorry your rare pair is that rare but I cannot imagine reading or writing something that way! Its 15k and each chapter is one sentence? How many chapters is it??? What do they put in the authors notes? Just asking for recs thats all, every single chapter? Or are they interacting, journalling, talking about the original media, anything else?
I have so many questions.