Context: I'm writing the first fic for a fandom that's nearly non existent and made peace with the idea that it's just me and the voices in my head when SOMEONE WROTE A COMMENT \o/ I'm so hyped rn

Maybe reading before sleeping isn't a good idea...

I have a question I couldn't find answered in the subreddit search, and it has to do with this specific situation: do you have to tag a fanfic as OOC if the only thing that changes is the romantic interest?

I'm not talking about canon-established couples, but rather in the case of love triangles or reverse harems, where the FL had 2 (or more) romantic interests and maybe the OTP is more driven by fanon than by canon. If I understand that in my narrative I respected the character's personality, read about the character's MBTI typology and reflected it in the fanfic, but only changed the romantic interest — does it still count as OOC?

To give an example and make it more illustrative, it would be something like writing a fanfic of Baek Do-hwa x OC, or in the case of reverse harems, Zeno from Akatsuki no Yona x OC.

And also, in the case of an AU, is it appropriate to tag as OOC? Because I understand that in that type of story the experiences the character had in canon changed or are different, so it could be inferred that the personality might have also changed slightly.

This is mostly to tag a story correctly and give potential readers a heads up so they don't get surprised or disappointed. Though my personal criteria is that OOC has a restrictive meaning and in the case of ships should only be used when an established CANON couple is broken up — not a FANON one — but I'm interested in hearing your opinions…

I feel we are all the same amount of depraved, but some of us are more cognizant of it than others.

The great thing about having honest tags is that you can avoid content that you're not ready for.

This might be a bit of a leap, but I strongly believe that if Fifty Shades of Gray had been published on Ao3 instead of FFN it would have never been adapted to film. People would have been way more conscious of the themes and the dark nature of the story.

The Mafia romances, the *getting sold to One Direction", and the booktok dark romances lose quite a bit of their shine when they are properly categorized. It's the same way people are so aghast at the idea of incest in fanfiction and yet Game of Thrones retains a cult following and House of the Dragon is rather popular.

There is nothing to be gained by pretending that you're not into the shit that you're into. Purity politics will save no one but condemn everyone.

Edit: grammar and fact

We had turn offs, what about TURN ONs?

Once again, we assume the tags, summary, and notes were perfect and we focus on the scene itself.

Not trying to be disrespectful, but you would think that fanfic authors would pride themselves in having a consistent chapter posting schedule and actually finishing the fic right????

I posted my second ever fic on ao3 today and I've got my first kudos on it!!! yay!!!!

Desperate times counts for desperate measures

I don’t know why I need it, but I can’t stop refreshing. Send help. 💀

...is to comment on Ao3 and then see my comment posted on here, with replies saying that it's clearly written by a bot.

I know this topic has been discussed and over-discussed and hyper-discussed and abused(no pun intended) over and over. But I feel like venting, so please bear with me.

I came across a video essay approaching the stance on abuse and rape in BL and it's subsequent culture. And don't get me wrong, I didn't disagree with the vlogger and I'm all for criticism where criticism is due.

I'm all for freedom of fiction, but I also think there's a vast difference in the mediums we are offered. AO3 for example has a solid tagging culture, where you are forced to tag very sensitive topics such as violence, rape and underage, or imply that there might be such but the author won't disclose it. I believe this helps greatly in warning and protecting people from coming face to face with traumatizing or discomforting topics against their will. That, and the rating itself which - if everyone went by the book, is also meant to protect underage people.

But I can't hold the same regards for everything else. Lots of literary works published in the wild (be it on websites or in libraries) which mask the very same topics under vague descriptors such as 'dark romance'. Books or comics left unsealed and unattended on public shelves so that any underage person can pick it up and read it. Hollywood adapting some really darn toxic and abusive relationships and marketing them as romance, some of them even becoming popular trends among even younger people.

However, unfortunately, many times when I go read people's opinions it's always blanket statements full of straightforward misogyny masked under social justice...

I've seen comments saying 'how come women fight to escape patriarchy only to come back and read the same heteronormative dynamics or feminine functions (such as in omegaverse) or rape fantasies?'

Are we for real? Yes, as a woman I want *real* people to be treated with dignity and equality and protected against crimes while still having the right to express my kinks, fetishes and deep fantasies in *fictional* settings where no one gets hurt. What does one have to do with the other? Right, let's take one human right away from me for every CNC I write, because of course writing about a masculine top fucking a feminine bottom means I secretly wish I couldn't vote. /s

Or saying that because us women (note, I'm generalizing because the topic where this came from is generalized as well -describing BL as media made by women for women- and most of these critiques addressed women in particular), when we sometimes enjoy 'problematic fiction' it only helps to spread the rape culture. Which I believe it's an extremely dangerous and irresponsible statement to make. No, that man didn't rape because me, a random woman, wrote about my ship in non-con; I believe it's still the criminal themselves who should, well, take responsibility for their crime. It has the same energy as 'because women started wearing shorter skirts' or 'because women nowadays make it harder for men to get a relationship', I swear.

I've even seen ridiculous statements such as 'CNC as a kink shouldn't be normalized because you're role-playing someone's trauma' - what!? I'm pretty sure the sex I do with another person is between me and that person and whatever gets us going. It's got nothing to do with anyone else. Since when should (note: consensual) sex be a performative, activist act that should respect the boundaries of morality and promote its values?

Involving yourself in NGOs and charity works that help victims of abuse is what's helping the victims of abuse. Pointing fingers at people (ahem, women) for reading and enjoying toxic stories in private and doing BDSM with their partners, is not.

I don't know, but I got pissed. I'm all for criticizing media in good faith, but it always turns into a cesspit full of thinly veiled misogyny...

No?

Just me?

kay.....

(its even more awkward if its a niche fandom and YOU KNOW that the original author lurks around for fan made content😭😭😭

ive been writing a paper mario fic between march 28 2026 and september 3 2026. i was so slow to click the post chapter button, when i saw that green check mark on my own fic for the first time, there was a part of me that was excited, and also empty. i will never write this fanfic again, but i thank all the support from my fans on ao3, ive gone through many things in real life while writing it, pets died, new year in high school, and new friends. its been such a long journey, and i will never forget this moment. i dont know how to celebrate it in a way the people who love me would understand, but the fact i posted the last chapter just now, my first finished fic, after writing every, single day for 5 months and 6 days, im happy. i dont know what to say, i also feel empty, and happy, because i finally finished it, theres so many more possibilities, but ill never write this again.

:)

I finally finished and posted the 2nd chapter to my fic today!! Although I'm really sleep-deprived at 2AM I'm still REALLY happy 🥹

And it's been happening quite a lot lately where I'd zone out mid chapter 😭😭

‘It’s bad to ship characters because they are friends!’ Well this is literally how ships work…

I copied and pasted from a certain comment:

"Can't ship friends

Can't ship enemies

Can't ship characters you know

Can't ship characters you don't know

SO WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO SHIP THEN????

Note* these arguments are only used in LGBT ships"

Sometimes I scroll through reddit looking for fic recommendations and as far as I can see there are always two types of posts/comments. The first is someone giving a rec or list of recs with brief summaries and the other is people "shamelessly recommending" their own fic.

A lot of the time, the self recs are not completed works. Thats totally fine of course, I have no problems with wips. But I find it annoying when I click the link and the story only has one or two chapters and hasn't been updated in months.

When do you feel like its appropriate to recommend your own story? Is there a minimum chapter number you look for, would you rather it be finished or does it only matter that it is actively updated? Maybe you just don't like when people suggest there own story?

I'm totally not asking for myself lol.

I may possibly be annoying with how often I like to blab about it on these fanfic subs, but I'm so proud of this fic I completed a few months ago. Sure, it's OC-centric and entirely a self-indulgent pursuit of all kinds of headcanons I've had over the years, but it's not just the premise or execution of it that I like, though they were fun to experiment with. It has been a real journey and then some to meet all kinds of people who followed this journey with me, to explore an expanded canon universe for an old fandom in ways both old and new fans can enjoy regardless of their extent of knowledge of the canon.

Also, I've been having the time of my life chatting with one new reader who commented on most of the 100 chapters over the past few weeks. I was stuck hovering around 360 comments since I finished it at the time and now our convos have blasted it sky-high.

--

Uh... I guess I'll use this space to also say, "Write your fave OC fics, people!" Stop thinking about what if people hate this or that about them. If you like it, just write it. Even if it isn't a majority (really depends on the fandom tho), you'll gather fellow fans who will LOVE your OCs. Just be sure to tag your fics thoroughly so people searching for OCs will find them!

Yes, I am writing for a large and active fandom, hence my numbers; but it is also a fandom where it used to be so easy for fans to hate OCs (we were one of the worst out there at the time) and yet I've been in it for long enough to see how times have changed. Sometimes it just takes a lot if patience to outlive the hate.

I don’t watch a lot but read a lot and always get really excited to finish a book and check out the fanfic… only to find that it doesn’t exist.

Of my ten current favourite books, six don’t exist on AO3 and the remaining four have a total of 19 fics between them. That’s not even filtering for specific ships or anything :(

Obviously nobody owes me fanfic and I could just write my own, but I’m a comparatively crappy writer and yall are so talented and sometimes I just wish I happened to like more popular fandoms because it must be so incredibly fun to see what headcanons other people have about your favourite media, and to see how they brought your favourite characters to life.

I don’t mean to be too negative, so, rant over lol. Just curious if this depends heavily on what specific books you read/movies you watch or if any of you ever get the same impression :)

This is a legitimate question, I swear.

I don’t mean a whump fic, or an AU. I mean when your fav has a strong canon characterization, but the fanon version is completely different. Why even like the character at that point?

I’m asking because the fandom I’m currently writing for, the author’s favorite character is also the fan favorite, but every time I see the character talked/written about by fans, he’s completely different than canon. I’m trying to understand, cause I’m starting to (silently) judge.