AO3 Author waking up from a coma: Where am I? Doctor: You were in a coma for three years. We didn’t think you’d ever wake up again. It’s a miracle you’re even speaking- wait what are you doing? AO3 Author, suddenly ripping out medical stuff and sprinting out the door: *SHIT SHIT MY UNDERTALE FANFICTION-*
sorry guys couldnt update these past few weeks! ive been trying to find a pigeon that wasnt too horribly mutated so i can send people fics by pigeon! unfortunately i have also gotten sick from the nuclear snow, so i am cutting the fanfic short by a few unimportant plotlines so i can finish before the radiation kills me. but now i should be back on the regular update schedule :)
There are two kinds of ao3 writers: the ones that almost die and still updating 20k a week and the ones that fake their death to avoid finishing a fic. I love this community
Now I feel like a terrible author because I haven't updated my story since like, a year ago just because I haven't started writing the next chapter, even though I said there would probably yearly updates (as a joke lmao)
An ACTUAL authors note i read on ao3 word for word : “cracked my backbone yesterday from a bone-crushing hug and it put my body into a state of shock which ends up with me getting high fever at midnight, i'm okay now, but my back still hurts A WHOLE DAMN LOT.”
“Sorry guys, there were only 3 updates today because I had defend my house from the mafia, every single world government, and existential horrors simultaneously during 350 mph winds in 50 inches of rain, snow and hail while trying to find the sacred sword of the multiverse to avoid the threat of our universe suddenly imploding. Worst of all, I woke up a bit late today.”
@@bluecocoa13 sometimes both... one day "oh yeah sorry guys my dog had to be put down and my cat was ran over so i had to go to their funerals" the next day "yeah sorry guys i just didn't want to update lmao"
I'm an avid AO3 consumer, Kwite. I have seen *shit* before. Literally one of the authors of a fic I follow said "sorry, I've been diagnosed with cancer and I'm going to need multiple surgeries done so sorry for making you all wait so long."
I’m a fanfiction writer and my most extreme intro was as follows: “Sorry for the delay in stories my house got petrol bombed by my crazy roommate and I lost almost everything in the fire. No worries, I got a replacement laptop and will continue to write! Enjoy!”
Sorry for not uploading boys and gals. Just got a mission from Micheal "Lebron" Jackson to go help free some unicorns from kanye and his funny mustache friend. Other than that I'm out with another banger! Lessgoooooooo!
I remember reading a fic and the note said "sorry the chapter is late. I got married today and the ceremony was till 5. I apologise for the long wait." Had me baffeld
I had one like this but it was: "Sorry, I said weekly updates, but i got married yesterday and I had my honeymoon today." Like. Dude did the deed then posted (probably a few) hours later.
A serial killer could kidnap an AO3 author & their biggest concern would not be their imminent torture & murder but the fact that they won’t be able to update their MHA Todoroki x Y/N fanfic on time.
Please, they'd somehow convince the kidnapper to let them use the wifi to update their fic. The authors note would be something like "Heyy guys ! Sorry for the late update, I've been kidnapped! Apologies for any spelling mistakes, the basement has bad reception and my captor is standing over my shoulder and watching everything I type so you can imagine how stressful and uncomfortable that is (sksksks). Anyway, I hope you like the chapter :))"
AO3 authors basically: “Hi my lovelies! Sorry I was gone for 3 years! An apocalypse broke out and I lost my whole family and struggled a bit with survival, but its all over now and I’ll be back to updating this fic! Thank you for your continued support, kudos, and tweets! They really make me have the motivation to continue thank you!
Dude I read a fic once where one of the authors literally died in a car accident, and the other one pulled in a couple of their friends to finish the last chapter or so in their memory. It was honestly heartbreaking. I cried for someone I’d known barely anything about, and had only seen their writing.
@@justaperson4656 It was a one off Miraculous Ladybug fic where they were handcuffed together for like, a day. 😭😩 It’s called Under Lock and Key by EdenDaphne(edelet) and Maerynn. All of Maerynn’s works stoped after 2018, since her accident, and the last chapter she actively was writing in Under Lock and Key was chapter 4. All of her other works that had co-writers continued and finished their stories in her memory.
Homie, people DO give legal advice in the comments. An author will rant about their troubles and I guarantee half of the comments will be genuinely helpful advice. Fucking love the fanfic community, we look out for each other.
So true. I once read a fic where the author offhandedly mentioned that someone they knew had stolen shit from her, and that she was feeling down because of it. Like half the comments were like “great chapter as always! Also here’s some resources for what you can do to get your things back” it was wild
I got called 7 slurs for requesting a niche character fanfic because their requests were open, about 6 months ago, the fanfic community is a dumpster fire
@@lachelnderhund did you happen to ask for it in a particularly feral fandom? most fanfic communities i've been part of were pretty nice, it only seems to get rough in anime communities because most of the fans are younger
@@rat-gang- Great rule of thumb is just to avoid the communities where the younger folks will usually hang around in, like anime. Little bastards get _very_ hostile.
Ok wait i want to share an example: i read a fanfic a while back that was basically just the saddest, miserable angst fic centering arround one-sided love and torture, and in the authors notes on the early chapters the writter mentioned how the fic was to vent/get over a really bad breakup. But by the end of the fic, the author had completely changed the ending, requited the love between the two, freed the protagonist from the torture, and changed the bad ending to be super sweet and all fluff - and it was all because they got married and settled down by the end of writing the fic (i think it was like 6 years time?). Wild stuff. Reading that fic + the author notes was like watching two stories unfold symultaniously.
imagine trying to write a smut chapter but your beta reader is in jail so you send it in, but when they try to send the revised copy back the poor policemen or women have to read through the entire thing😭
i made a similar comment on coley's video that i'm gonna make here; The prison guards are asking the beta reader for early updates about whatever drama is going on for future fanfic chapters, like whether the friends who aren't talking anymore after an argument are gonna make up or if this obvious ship are gonna get together or if they're gonna remain oblivious about it or- :D
I’m an AO3 writer and I just want to say, we all apologize for not uploading whether it be for family issues, some insane thing happening, some mental health issues, or for some other reason.
The chapter was amazing, :] *write it faster.* but seriously I hope your day is going well. And I know it might be a joke, but if you are having mental issues, it's okay to ask for help and to get help :]
“so sorry about the late update, my family and i got shot and i’m posting this from the back of an ambulance, anyway, here’s the next chapter of mario x bowser hardcore smut” not something i’ve exactly seen, (espically not that ship) but pretty damn close to one i’ve seen. (i’m not putting myself on blast that hard)
7:56 Therapist: are you okay? Me: sorry, it’s just hard to open up to people… Therapist:…what’s your Ao3? Me: w-what? Therapist: I’ll read your author notes then evaluate you that way
The two breeds of AO3 authors: “Lol sorry I haven’t updated in a few days I literally had a near death experience” And “Sorry I haven’t updated in five years I literally forgot this existed”
My friend found a really good fix and sent the link to me but said the author hasn’t updated in like 3 years. And then I had to explain to her that I wrote it when I was seventeen, then totally forgot about it.
I think the saddest author note I've ever read was when someone else was given their account and updated one of their fics that I was reading with "so the previous author left me their fics in their will because unfortunately they have passed away." And I was like holy shit we joke about fanfic authors being on the brink of death a lot but it actually happened
Actually in AO3 you can designate your fannish next of kin so there's literal plans like oh if i die I'll leave my account to this person and they can continue my fics or just tell people what happened, and, wow.
@@flyingstonemon3564 I worry about this with friends I have made online. I want them to know what happened to me if I were in an accident or something, but it feels like there's no one in my family who would understand ao3, discord, etc. :(
There was a writer I followed on wattpad and once there was an update where the notes were: "sorry for the late update, I was busy taking care of my two kids alone because my husband is in a coma because of C0vid :( btw enjoy the double update 💞" And these two chapters were literally a work of art that changed my whole view about religion, prejudices, faith, the meaning of life, and what humanity values and how it impacts the environment and our relationships as individuals. All this in a fanfic Drarry pirates and merpeople AU
Hearing people say they read fanfiction of a fandom you write for feels nice too, there's also the possibility they've read your fic (though in my case it's unlikely since i write for a specific part of the spider-man fandom that's not popular)
ao3 is insane, man. i remember reading this one fic in middle school and i ended up following the writer through their whole character development arc bc the fic was really long and took like 3 years to complete. and at the last chapter they wrote this whole letter about how the fic + the community around it helped them get thru high school + college, kept them going during rough times and inspired their love for writing and now theyre pursuing professional writing and everything. the authors note was longer than the actual epilogue chapter but no one minded bc we were all so invested in this persons growth and it was lowkey emotional. the fic was a fucking fire emblem awakening modern vampire au
7:19 IS MINE AHAHAHAHAH I can give a little insight into this. As an AO3 author, typically you create a story just because you love the story concept and want to indulge your muse/creativity, and then you find out that a significant number of people fall in love with the idea too and are depending on you to reveal what happens.... it gives you a very intense feeling of responsibility and ownership. When you go through anything that prevents you from posting that update, there's an immense sense of guilt and obligation because you are literally *the only person* that can finish the story. The readers are depending on you.
yesss! a03 and tumblr are much better to me than wattpad, the writing is so much more mature. i still use wattpad but it has to be a very specific type of fic these days where i know that the writing will be good.
Cw for terminal cancer One of my closest friends, whom I met through writing fic, passed away last year. I met her because she offered to beta my fics for me and a few years after, when she found out she had cancer, she asked me to finish writing her last fic for her. I managed to get it done in time for her to actually still be coherent enough to read it, but I swear to god.. that’s the most important thing I’ll ever write. The friendships and the hard work that goes into fanfic are my favourite thing in the entire world. I miss her so much.
I'm so sorry for your loss. I bet that meant so much for her, you finishing the fic for her. In a way it means she'll always live on, not just in this fic, but also in the ones she beta'd for you. She sounds like a wonderful person. Wishing both of you all my love and support
you don’t find author notes like this all the time, unless you’re following some long running fics. however, reading fic tags and descriptions is about as entertaining. i remember laughing for like 5 minutes over the dumbest crossover fic i’ve ever seen. i wouldn’t read it, because it’s an awful piece of writing, but the fact that it exists is funny. sometimes i do read bad or below average fics just for the out of context quotes. ex: “ ‘you got stabbed’ ‘i got better’ “ (that scene was supposed to be taken serious)
my author said at the end of a chapter “i’m having heart surgery today and wanted to post this. if i don’t post within the next week, i’m dead” and they didn’t post :( it’s so heartbreaking
a week ago a story i read updated and the author was like “sorry for the month hiatus but on the bright side i finally got the manslaughter case dropped!” LIKE THE WHAT???
My favourite fanfic writer got poisoned, went to the hospital, their whole city had a power outage and still managed to post a 30k chapter on scheduled time 🙇
As an AO3 Writer myself, I have to agree, fanfic ideas are absolutely blood-sucking parasites! They leach onto your body and gets to eat an inch of skin for every day without an update and in return I get one nice comment if I'm lucky since I have the personal curse of writing for tiny fandoms 😃👍 edit: I don't usually edit comments but since this popped off, I impart a tidbit of advice. If you got an idea, write and it share it to the world. It doesn't matter how awful of a writer you may be or how much you think no one will read it but I've gotten some of my best friends from my fanfics. Sure you probs won't get Heat Waves or Passerine big or anything, but the right people will be grateful for what you've created. It's the best feeling to wake up to 20+ notifs of someone binge reading you're entire trilogy and pleading for an update 😌 ok that's it
Damn i actually read one author's note throughout their chapters, starting from "Guys, I think I have cancer, but even if I die, I have 45 chapters written already, so you don't have to worry about getting regular updates." to "Guys, I went to the doctor, maybe I do have cancer. In case I die (now that I have a literal deadline), I am powering through the fic" to finally "GUYS I LIVED, I DON'T HAVE CANCER. NOW WE ARE BACK TO UPDATES TWICE A WEEK"
We all know AO3 authors are stronger than soldiers and more resistant than diamond, they are like: "Sorry I don't will update next week I have to be in full surveillance cause I tried to jump a cliff, and my parents didn't like it" or they are sorry because their house was in fire and his family died, AO3 authors are just incredibles
I swear the gods read fanfic and make scary shit like this strike around their favourite authors, but leave them barely alive cause they don't want the fic to stop without an ending.
The wildest authors note I ever read was the author explaining they had to go into a medical coma for a few weeks, but don't worry guys cause their mom was going to answer comments! HUH???? YOUR MOM????
As a fanfiction writer, (that's embarresing to admit) i can say that you never stop writing because it is THE outlet. It's literally the only way to fully emerse yourself into another world and just let reality go, at least for me. Sorry I didn't proofread this, I had to go to my grandmother's funeral.
I open Google docs and stare angrily at the screen waiting for the words in my head to appear on the doc in perfect grammatical order an edit: i started writing my fanfics like essays accidentally
I get it. Like, I only got my autism diagnosis at 20 years. After school, relationships and work went all down the drain. And through the process, I just went like "Fuck this shit, I'll read/write something to calm down"
As someone also going through an autism diagnosis, me too. My old coping mechanisms aren’t doing anything but opening up a private draft and just making a scenario with a character I like is just fun and I can distance myself from my issues by using a whole different reality. It’s a way to push away real problems by delving into a fictional word where I understand what’s happening, and I don’t have to spend time creating characters because I’m really bad at that 💀💀
I saw an author who consistantly was battling murder charges throughout the writing of the fic. They gave us an extra chapter when the case was finally dropped.
I’ve had Wattpad authors pop up like, “Hey, sorry for my absence. I went through a divorce and was SAed by a coworker so lots of legalities to go through. Here’s two chapters to make up for it~” Like, what? Are you okay?
I once saw one that was something along the lines of: "sorry for not updating for a while, i was playing a drinking game of bloody knuckles last week and the next morning i was incredibly hungover and ate a whole bag of takis and me forgetting about my ripped open knuckles got taki dust all over my open wounds, i dont know why i didnt clean my knuckles beforehand but they got infected and ive been on heavy antibiotics for the last 3 days. i really hate being 22."
@@celery7094 yup we all get bad hand infections after a night of heavy drinking and end up on a heavy regimen of antibiotics that makes you ill and loopy ...at 22..lol at 22 my craziest story was pulling an all nighter for an exam
i think im truly embracing the ao3 author today. i don’t write fanfictions but i wrote stories about my original characters and i finished my first multi-chapter one yesterday guess what happens the day after. my house catches HALFWAY ON FUCKING FIRE.
i love that theres no way to monetize fanfics bc it makes it such a pure art form. sure, lots of it is shitty and lots of it is cringe, but you always know that that shit and cringe comes from deep inside someone's heart. theres no other reason they wrote this than the shere need to express themselves and i think that makes it beautiful.
I imagine someone once wrote: “Sorry I didn’t update! I kinda became blind! It’s hard to update now! Luckily, I found a fan that helps me write these! Haha! Enjoy this chapter!”
this isn't a joke AT ALL. i once saw a hs fanfic writer get advice on good motels to stay at while they were they were trying to find a job in the city they were in. i dont rember why they were homeless, but it was fucking WILD.
The best author note was "Hi guys sorry for all the mistakes ı wasn't able to proofread because someone broke into my house and realized that ı was awake so they threw chemicals at my face. Now I'm half blind and half of my face is gone. Anyways enjoy the chapter guys lol"
Was reading a fic and the main character suddenly and randomly had their appendix rupture- turns out, the author actually had their appendix rupture WHILE WRITING and just HAD to describe the pain as it was happening and ig it came out really good because they put it in the chapter. The note was actually from the ER like what????
I once read a fic where the author was writing about the struggle between indigenous peoples in Alaska and the oil industry. They then vanished for several years and came back having become a climate activist and gone to Alaska because of the research they did for their fic. Amazing
I hate that I've had one of these moments as an ao3 writer... 💀 They range anywhere from "sorry for the lack of updates guys, I just graduated! 🥰" to "sorry, my entire family had covid and I went into a horrific mental spiral haha, I'll try to get out an update earlier next time"
I once had a webtoon author apologise for a late update because: "the internet has been out since there was a military coup recently" so very casually it felt like they'd be surprised if someone expressed serious concern.
I had a webtoon author apologize literally yesterday for not uploading because they live in Ukraine and their city was being continuously bombed... Edit: they and their family are safe btw!
AO3 apology that I read somewhere and screenshotted it: “I'm back. I never planned on being gone but, well, stuff happened. My grandma fell and broke her arm- she's better now. Thank god. My great- uncle has terminal cancer, I won first place in five different piano competitions, and I passed my beginners ASL exam. Honestly, I'm feeling a little burnt from that emotional whiplash. But I'm back. This chapter was, like, 99.9% fluff because my mental health needed it so there. No excuses. Just 100% coping mechanism. Thanks for your patience.”
i was reading a fic when i was like 13, and the author was like "sorry, this story will be on hiatus, my boyfriend got me pregnant and i'm gonna be busy dealing with legal issues and pregnancy. don't know when i'll be back :/" and i think about it daily
Okay, the whole, "Fics are sentient and forcing authors to write them," is absolutely true. There is also, however, "The characters I made for this fic to give it more depth have become sentient and now won't shut the fuck up even though I finished writing the fic years ago."
My characters keep hijacking the story and running it in all kinds of weird directions. Started a fic that was supposed to be like 4-5 chapters ~50k words back in august 2020, I'm currently writing my 44th 10k word chapter and I'm nowhere near done...
I've seen so many authors say that, it’s fascinating It must happen when you have a good internalized profile and understanding of the character in the story, so much so that you instinctively know how they would react in the fanfiction, and like they seem to breathe and live through the words in your fanfiction This must be an incredible experience for an author
@@mochacup1868 it is. The first time one of the characters starts talking with you is weird and amazing at the same time. But after the tenth time they keep you up till 2 a.m. it starts to lose it's charm.
I’m a wattpad writer and we’ll be gone for months or years and randomly post a new chapter with no explanation. AO3 authors out here be having little bit messed up schedule from trauma and apologize to the reader for it
AO3 is like the adult version of Wattpad imo, like it's the "hey I know we haven't talked in months, wanna meet up for drinks" rather than "yo let's go to the park 5 times this week"
as a Wattpad and AO3 reader/writer, yeah, i agree. some of us on Wattpad just disappear off the face of the earth and some of us on AO3 rush to get a chapter out every day, and if we miss a day or two, its like a year for us lmao
One AO3 fic I read, the author died and had their lawyer post on every one of their stories telling everyone that they died I thought it was hilarious that this guy felt the need to do this
nah man, fanfiction is legitimately great. these people are out there writing entire novels just because the want to. Your average novel is about 90,000 words. these people are crazy, and deserve respect
ppl will go further than that, they will write fics the length of the entire harry potter series over the course of 3 or 4 years and still apologise for how short their most recent 7k+ word chapter
One of my all time favorites is 207 758 words in 4 chapters. It takes about 5 seconds to scroll through it as fast as possible.Reading a single chapter could take a day or two, depending on how angsty and heartwrenching it was.
Fellow A03 writer, i can admit to this madness. I was submitted in the mental ward for being suicidal and my first request was to be given a notebook and a pen since my phone was pretty much dead for a week until I found out i can get it charged at the nurses office ☠. All i could think off were the fics i needed to update and how was i going to apologize to my readers for being gone so suddenly. Doing much better now though, and yes my readers are the most wholesome bunch who have wholeheartedly support me and are willingly waiting for my stupid ass to update.
I was reading a fic and the authors note was like a saga about how the author was trying to enter a window, but there were hornets and their uncle was there and it was chaotic
I remember reading this fanfic about a straight couple and the writer stopped writing in the middle because she found out she was a lesbian 😂 and she didn't feel comfortable writing straight love stories, which is completely understandable. I just love the irony 😂
I don't feel comfy with writing anything involving a woman, it has to be a male, trans ftm, nb, gn, anything but female characters that aren't broskies. Wait am I aroace? LMAO
@@inestabilidad you might be ace, sure, but I don't see what that has to do with being ✨uncomfy✨ writing a character with she/her pronouns. I think what you're actually suffering from is some pretty wild internalised misogyny. Like, apocalyptic levels. Wow. Get well soon, ig.
I saw this one fanfiction, absolutely destroyed me. Was the most beautiful, heart wrenching fic I’ve ever read. The author apologized for bad English, but their English was better than mine. I looked a couple years later, and it was removed. Heartbreaking.
@@megancress1384 do you know if the way back machine archives wattpad? There's a fic I've been recommended a thousand times over but the original author deleted their account. I'd love to find it again, since a lot of fics I've read reference it as one of the best works for that fandom and/or the reason they started writing
I work as a writer now, and i got started with writing fanfiction (this was like literally 18ish years ago and way before fanfiction was well-known). I never wrote anything before that , but i hated the poorly written fanfiction, and i was like, "i can do better than this," and then i realized i loved writing and literature and fully switched my major from biology to lit. literally, without fanfiction, i would not have found my calling in life. I don't read it or write it anymore, but it was fun while it lasted, and i'll always hold a special place in my heart for fanfiction writers.
yo same. i couldn't find any good fanfics that were to my liking, so i decided to write a fanfic i like. ended up really enjoying writing and literature analysis. i didn't change my major or do anything drastic, but i did end up getting the best grade for my university entrance exams's english writing paper, so there's that.
i honestly love hearing about all the conventionally "cringe" things kwite is into or supports. i'm so used to the cynical youtube commentator persona that shames anything and everything, it's some very refreshing open-mindedness lol
Agreed. I used to watch youtube commentators alot but then realized how a bunch of them just made fun of harmless things just because they where seen as cringy.
ikr, it’s really annoying when those male commentary youtubers just call anything and everything ‘dumb’ and make rude comments about people’s intelligence and all that
actually yeah! ive never rly watched kwite so i assumed he would be the same as all the other commenators of his field but i clicked into this by chance and was surprised by how,,, hes actually relatable lol
Me, an ao3 fic writer, watching this: God I haven't updated in awhile, and not even that much has been going on... Also me: getting diagnosed with ptsd, discovering severe life long anxiety, getting ready for surgery, discovering some life altering things about myself, dealing with my parents (who I was living with at the time) moving across country without making sure I had a place to go, moving, looking for a job, deciding what I want to do with my life, recovering from 13 years of burnout, recovering from two traumatizing therapists, etc.
true story: I uploaded to ao3 daily for 4 months straight, sometimes more than once per day but always at least once. During that time, a friend of mine passed away. I had enough stuff pre-written from my last writing binge that I still managed to post on both the day of the viewing and the day of the funeral
I truly feel bad for you, and sorry for your loss but you should take some time off, and process what you've been through and try to rise about it. Now I am, by no means, a therapist, nor do you have any reason to take my advice, but seriously, take some time off. Go on a vacation, or go swimming. Doesn't matter what it is, as long as it either takes your mind off of the sadness or generally makes you feel better, even just a small bit.
@@SonofApollo856 I appreciate the advice, because it very obviously comes from a place of kindness and caring. Thank you for that. And thank you to everyone who commented their condolences; that means a lot to me. However, at this point, it has been nearly two years since she passed. It still doesn't feel real some days and probably never will but if nothing else, I've had time to process it. I was actually using writing to help work through it, encouraged by my therapist. The upload schedule went from something I was doing for fun, to something I was doing out of pride, to something stable that I could lean on. It might seem silly, but writing fanfic is self-care for me. Thanks again for your concern. I hope the rest of your day is as lovely as you are!
The Ukrainian webcomic artists and fanfic authors really be like, “Haha, no scanner right now as I escape to Poland hope you enjoy this masterpiece I made on my smartphone nbd!” I’ll be binging through something now, catch up to Feb/March 2022, and get my heart broken for them and not their fantastic creations.
I found one author that switched their regular fanfic updates out to daily updates about the situation in Ukraine, her grandmother who was accosted by Russian soldiers, the the fact that she continues to work her virtual day job despite power outages and loss of signal. When the war was on the news more, I'd hear about events that happened hours before it showed up on the news.
I SAW A AUTHOR BE LIKE "sorry i havn't posted in a while i got married, got pregnant, had a misscarriage, mourned, and got pregnant again, and have been raising my twins lately" AFTER NOT POSTING IN JUST OVER A YEAR LIKE BABES IVE SEEN SOMEBODY COME BACK AFTER 3 YEARS
6:28 Kwite, I can confirm yes there is an obsession that grows within till you just give up. I remember being 14 and realizing a monster of a fic idea but not writing it because I knew it'd be cringe. But every night I'd go to sleep, when I was dozing off, I'd just conjure up scenes, dialogue, doodling what I wanted to write. I'm not joking when I say it haunted my every waking moment. In the end, I gave up and popped into a Google docs, where 100K was born
also currently in a similar place with a huge fic/au idea, but its based around topics that i probably shouldnt be handling so im hesitant to write anything in case i end up accidentally writing something unpleasant/offensive
Bro, I feel this so much. I have insomnia ( I find it extremely hard to sleep, not that I can't sleep at all ), and even my counselor suspects I have ADHD at this point, so my mind is constantly running and it has a lot of time to do so, and when I tell you I have 10+ fleshed out storys I'm not kidding, I will name the basic plots for all of them right now. My mind is constantly coming up with new things but I can never full fill my dreams of writing it because I cringe at the first sentence and immediately lose motivation and hate myself for it everytime 😭
As an AO3 writer who just finished their 30k wordcount fic despite depression, college, and the temporary loss of my one and only proofreader hitting me all at once, I have officially stopped feeling sorry for myself. It could be worse ahhaha!
You are an incredibly strong individual. However, allow yourself time to rest, and allow yourself time to feel. If you're anything like me and just trying to hold it all in because releasing it could be dangerous, ask a friend, loved one, therapist, or other person to stay with you as you release everything. You can't keep that shit in, or it will consume you. If AO3 is your outlet, by all means, write away! But just give yourself a moment. You are no less deserving of care than your closest friend.
Once I got paid 100 dollars to right a wings of fire fanfic. Yeah, the dragon book series. 100 dollars. Dude was really nice though and understanding of my personal life, and with his help I managed to write a 23 chapter book in 7 months (the shortest amount of time I've ever taken on a book)
I almost wrote on a recent chapter "sorry the next chapter will probably be really late, my grandma just died and I have to travel across the country for her funeral" before realizing I didn't have to apologize for that and just thanking the readers for their preemptive support. Of course they were super nice about it
My personal favourite ao3 author note: sorry that I missed last Friday’s update I unexpectedly went into labour with my twins 7 weeks early so it’s been somewhat stressful to deal with the nicu. My dad also passed away yesterday and that’s been rough for everyone in my family to get through. I’ll get the next chapter out asap. The author posted this on a Sunday. She had gone into labour literally less than 3 days before coming back to update the book AND HAD UPDATED IT THE THURSDAY BEFORE AND UPDATED IT THE MONDAY AFTER.
I swear writing fanfiction must come with some kind of curse. It’s a multi stage thing and this happens to a lot of writers. First you get addicted to writing, you’ll be planning and writing your fic during the most inappropriate times; in school, at work, when you’re eating…And when you don’t feel like writing, your fic kinda gnaws in the back of your mind going “Hey, you need to write this 20000 word long chapter and begin working on the next one immediately after.” The next stage is the addiction. Every view, every comment and every vote/kudos on your fix becomes more addictive than crack. The sheer joy you feel when even one person likes your fic becomes unmatched, it like a constant high, and that shit will get you hooked fast and hard, you can’t stop thinking about the one random person who commented “Nice chapter” on your fic and when you post and don’t get any sort of reaction from the readers the withdrawal hits hard and you’ll be stuck going through your fic repeatedly wondering if there’s anything wrong with it and feeling insecure about your writing and considering taking the chapter down to rewrite it even though there’s nothing wrong with it. And then, the interference starts, it could be anything, ranging from disease to losing your house to losing a loved one or just being too busy, but something will always come up that will interfere with the writing and posting process. And even though your readers are probably understanding people you can’t help but feel like a failure for something that isn’t even your fault, so you try to make it up to them;you try to get the next chapter out, but you don’t feel good enough, so you work extra hard on it to appease to the readers, who you think will be satisfied and they are definitely more than satisfied, they are overjoyed to see that you’re ok. Finally the last stage, finishing or quitting. You either power through the interference and are able to finish your fic, whether or not the last chapter had as much heart put into it as you could or was half assed really depends on your mental state at the time and the circumstances going on in your day to day life. You’ve reached the end of the characters’ wacky journey, they’ve changed across the course of the story and whether you know it or not, you have too. You might look back on the beginning chapters and recall how you felt during the whole thing, and think about how different things may have been when you first started. Your readers may have been impacted in some way and if this book will have a place in their heart as a book that they enjoyed and learnt something from. Whether by following the characters’ journey, or you, the author’s journey. Or, alternatively…you discontinue your fic, typically end it on a high note, but never really reach an ending. Unfinished character arcs, unresolved plot points…you just end it all. Even when you do this, you occasionally want to go back to continue writing, continue where you left off, let these characters continue to grow and not remain in a world that has been paused permanently. But time and again you decide not to and you may leave a note telling your readers why…or you may fake your death, much like I have considered doing several times. This may seem bad, but in the end you learnt something from this experience, and although you may have lost interest or motivation to continue writing, you’ll still remember the journey with the characters and the readers. Even if you forget the story itself, you won’t forget who you were back then. You’ll leave the fic up so people can read it, they might enjoy the little they got to experience. Fanfic writing is a scary process, too much unexplainable bs happens, but in the end, it ends up being really memorable, typically at least. If you’re wondering my basis for all of this, I used to write fanfic, but then my grandma died, a close friend got cancer and I ended up in the hospital. Much like heroin, fanfics are really addicting but also bad for your health if you’re the author.
I can tell you're actually decent at writing... because this isn't a wall of text. There are quite a few people who can't see that hitting Enter a few times can help make their stories and comments more readable.
First of all love that so many who write or wrote fic always write a fucking novel as a comment. I love to read them and love tho write them myself. And I think you are really onto something. The addiction is real and it burns so bright only tho make us succumb to the flames. And as so many we try so hard to not care to much about the stats, not become addicted but it gets us every time. Maybe that is the reason I bailed on every fic I started. But am so determined to push trough this time. What a beautiful curse this is. The whole idea of a fanfiction idea manifesting like a dark omen that give unlimited creative power or a parasite affecting its host is such a cool concept for a fanfic honestly. Just wish it wouldn’t feel this real. Sometimes it feels like there are so many bad things happening to awesome and creative people.
Currently stuck in two stages: the first and the last. I’ve put off my fanfics and it’s constantly gnawing at the back of my head. But, I’m also debating whether I should just abandon or push through and keep going with the long fic ones.
2:21 "Hey, just think about it as being extra creative. You have so much imagination your mind is making shit up even when you're not supposed to." You literally described my maladaptive daydreaming.
this is LITERALLY the definition of MD. it's both fun and awful because, for me at least, if the dream starts going somewhere sour, it's incredibly hard to bring it back where you want it to be.
@@ValeOfMuses my least favorite part is how things will start clipping or bugging like it's cyberpunk. Also the feeling I'll have after spending too much time inside my own head. It feels awful.
i read ao3 regularly, (i think i have about 200 tabs opened of just that alone) and my weirdest one was when the authors house blew up and they had to post late because they had to have surgery
can confirm as a retired fanfic writer, a story CAN be a brainworm i committed to a year-long story that was 52 chapters long and never stopped thinking abt it until the day I clicked 'Publish' on the epilogue
as someone who has read and written a fair amount of fanfic, this was a weirdly comforting video :') i'm so used to people trashing fanfic authors/readers so this was a nice change of pace, thanks Kwite
As an A03 writer I’ve literally left the Author’s notes as “sorry I haven’t posted, I literally caught covid while writing the end of this one shot.” A03 writers are indestructible man.
my latest AN is litterally "I KNOW i know, its been forever, im SORRY! sometimes you are able to write 3 chapters in a night and sometimes you get so violently ill with your chronic illness that you forget existance is real and cant tell the differeance between reality and the pain induced halluntinations you create! Anyway, Its my trauma, and ill express it how i see fit"
Once, I read a fic where the author was going thru some heavy dark thoughts and mental issues and they kept asking for advice in the notes, like whether or not they should stay in the waiting room of a mental hospital or something, or told us they didnt want to take their meds cause they felt good and like we were 3 freaking thousands to comment and tell them to keep going and to not give up. Best part is that they finished the fic and accepted the idea that they needed to get help from professionals and it was fkn wholesome i cried for a solid 20 minutes. The author's life was a much more emotional roller coaster for the readers than the fic (full of angst)
@@anabs.6209 yoooo this was a longggg time ago, when like, everyone was going crazy about undertale and its alternate universe so idk if that would be something you would read today, but the name was like "castelfell" or something. Like, good angst story, rly in echo w/ the author own struggle, but u know, its old undertale niche i doubt a lot of ppl dig that nowadays but here u go anyways !
I'm the fanfic author that doesn't have any good excuses for not updating in months and I get comments from readers asking me if I'm ok and show genuine concern for my wellbeing and I get so touched that we humans can feel so much compassion for people we've never even met
somewhere out there there’s something along the lines of “Heyyyy so I’m sorry I’ve been MIA for so long, I did get kidnapped, but while I was in my holding cell in the middle of nowhere I took it as an opportunity to write and memorize 2 new chapters for you guys all in my head! Hope you enjoy :D”
Bruh, as someone that reads an unhealthy amount of ao3 fanfics I can say I have seen my fair share of shit. Especially with the author of “Sexy Times With Wangxian” and her death threats. But the best author's note in my opinion is when the author apologises for making you wait so long and continuing their. I remember reading one of my all time fave ao3 fanfics and never finishing it bc the author just deicded to drop it. I would often come back and re-read it only to find out the author started to update it again (5years later), and at the final chapter she wrote that she "finally gain closure & peace" by ending this fanfic, and so did I.
@@ReiAnikaAyanami Basically there was this fanfic called sexy time with wangxian on ao3. The drama started bc the author added about 4400 tags to it (they were the reason ao3 added a maximum of 75 tags). And if you were looking for your fanfic you would always come across sexy time with wangxian and the website would crash bc of the number of tags. Even worse when people got pissed she started to retaliate and adding fandoms (around 70), who had nothing to do with wangxian. They got banned when they made death threats and somehow (but I am not sure) there was pedophilia involved (from the author's side).
ugh also not Sexy times with Wangxian, as someone who was active in the fandom as a writer and consumer that fic was my goddamn headache. One of the most obnoxiously tagged story with so many other fandoms involved for NO reason.
For some it may seem like free work, but for angst writers it is free tears. Some people are sadists and ao3 is a healthy place to exert pain upon innocent viewers. (:
Cry my dear viewers, I tricked you into loving this adorable sidekick character and now I will make you read a passage of them being violently stabbed in the back three times because they tried saving their pet bird. Haha I don't have issues, you have.
Gosh, now I'm remembering that time an ao3 author I liked reading from took an unexpected hiatus. Here are their notes, word for word: "basicallt, i broke up w my boyfriend bc he was using me 4 my body lolz , went to a concert, nearly got into a car crash, nearly got kidnapped, found out my mom is cheating on my dad w her cousin and i dead ass hate this chapter sm but i wanted to get something out. its 7 pages, which is two to three pages longer than the other chapters, so! have fun! it’s just pure fuckin fluff. NOT PROOFREAD OR BETAD WE DIE LIKE REAL FUCKIN MEN" "GUYS IM OK I PROMISE MY LIFE IS A MOVIE (a tragic comedy) BUT STILL A MOVIE. MORE CHAPTERS COMING SOON BUT THEY MIGHT BE A LITTLE SPORADIC IM SORHRURUEURU"
I just love ao3 authors. I’ve worked with a few, editing their works and everything, and I’ve never had a bad experience. they’re so nice (at least from what I’ve encountered), and if you compliment their fic they respond like you just gave them the first meal theyve had in weeks.
@@therealopaartist you mean like validation from people who read what you write, or just from completing something? edit oh wait stupid question It is super validating whenever you get a nice comment. I’ve posted exactly one fanfic and if anyone comments anything I will lose it (in a good way)
I, to this day, recall a fanfic that made me cry more than when some of my family members died. It was so beautifully written and ruined me emotionally. The author deleted it and I was inconsolable for days, it was so good. And you'd be surprised to hear it was actually on Wattpad.
Yeah my favorite fic is also on there and… it has the WORST name It’s “the class that no one else chose” for those that want to see it It’s like a weighted d100 but instead of going towards a hundred it goes to a one and instead of being a 100 at the end it’s a OO and it always surprises me
@@DrawciaGleam02 what you were talking about, story ideas that haunt and hound you your every waking moment until you write them, and if you dont write em out then they multiply into more related but distinct story ideas
A quote from the notes of a fic I've read: "Today I left my phone in my uber and I sprinted after the car on foot, lost sight of it, and then hijacked someone else's phone to hunt it down. Then I couldn't get dinner because my local grocery store is on strike. busy day! But here's a chapter!"
AO3 Author waking up from a coma: Where am I?
Doctor: You were in a coma for three years. We didn’t think you’d ever wake up again. It’s a miracle you’re even speaking- wait what are you doing?
AO3 Author, suddenly ripping out medical stuff and sprinting out the door: *SHIT SHIT MY UNDERTALE FANFICTION-*
This author will ship Frisk and Sans
When the author realizes deltarune released
Doctor: finally saw one of those Miracles…
XD
And that author was TheWill.
If you know you know
@@Tweedle-Stupid who is he?
My favorite ao3 author's note was: "Sorry for the lack of updates. I got amnesia and had to re-learn English as it's my second language."
Wait what the hell yo 💀
i need to find that author and give them a hug, a pat on the back, 2 boxes of donuts, and another pat on the back-
Ha
WHAT 💀
I'd be like, b-tch wtf are you okay-
I'm sending doughnuts to your location
Things that will survive a nuclear apocolypse:
1. Cockroaches
2. A few world leaders
3. Several million Swiss citizens
4. AO3 authors
They would apologize like sorry it took so long to update was dealing with the nuclear fallout more updates soon
sorry guys couldnt update these past few weeks! ive been trying to find a pigeon that wasnt too horribly mutated so i can send people fics by pigeon! unfortunately i have also gotten sick from the nuclear snow, so i am cutting the fanfic short by a few unimportant plotlines so i can finish before the radiation kills me. but now i should be back on the regular update schedule :)
5. The camera man
@@admiralmeow3161 This shit killed me
6. A mailman from Las Vegas
There are two kinds of ao3 writers: the ones that almost die and still updating 20k a week and the ones that fake their death to avoid finishing a fic. I love this community
I'm the later 😭😭😭 but also love the community lol
Now I feel like a terrible author because I haven't updated my story since like, a year ago just because I haven't started writing the next chapter, even though I said there would probably yearly updates (as a joke lmao)
@Starlight it's ok lmao you don't need to feel bad
It happens all the time
I almost faked my death on ao3. Shit is wack.
There's also the saints and those who still don't mark their fics as completed when it already is.
An ACTUAL authors note i read on ao3 word for word : “cracked my backbone yesterday from a bone-crushing hug and it put my body into a state of shock which ends up with me getting high fever at midnight, i'm okay now, but my back still hurts A WHOLE DAMN LOT.”
Literally the opposite of subhuman. They're like, one step above human..
@@optimisticwatermelon Like superhuman?
@@teethcoat4274 Human might be part of their evolutionary cycle?
💀💀
haha this is unrelated but the authors note reminded me of yor hugging her brother from spy x family
ao3 author apologies range from “sorry for no updates i got shot and killed” to “sorry for no updates i didnt want to”
"Ya sorry everyone I was like kidnapped at gunpoint or whatever, also I had to take my dog on a walk so sorry for the late update"
“Sorry guys, there were only 3 updates today because I had defend my house from the mafia, every single world government, and existential horrors simultaneously during 350 mph winds in 50 inches of rain, snow and hail while trying to find the sacred sword of the multiverse to avoid the threat of our universe suddenly imploding. Worst of all, I woke up a bit late today.”
it’s not a range it’s one or the other
@@bluecocoa13 sometimes both...
one day "oh yeah sorry guys my dog had to be put down and my cat was ran over so i had to go to their funerals"
the next day "yeah sorry guys i just didn't want to update lmao"
Sorry everyone I was caught buying nfts by my stepdad and he beat me senseless until I couldn't sit down.
I'm an avid AO3 consumer, Kwite. I have seen *shit* before. Literally one of the authors of a fic I follow said "sorry, I've been diagnosed with cancer and I'm going to need multiple surgeries done so sorry for making you all wait so long."
oh i think i read that one what fandom was it in
The worst I’ve seen was “sorry I have to end this fic early I’m literally going to die from cancer and wouldn’t be able to finish anything longer”
I saw someone who got literally kidnapped and as soon as they got away, they returned to posting Hannibal smut
@@thatguy3903 average ao3 writer
That’s sad they couldn’t even finish their story before they ran out of life
I’m a fanfiction writer and my most extreme intro was as follows:
“Sorry for the delay in stories my house got petrol bombed by my crazy roommate and I lost almost everything in the fire. No worries, I got a replacement laptop and will continue to write! Enjoy!”
Bruuuuh💀
Sorry for not uploading boys and gals. Just got a mission from Micheal "Lebron" Jackson to go help free some unicorns from kanye and his funny mustache friend. Other than that I'm out with another banger! Lessgoooooooo!
@@trevorphillips8415 FUNNY MUSTACHE FRIEND??? 😭
@@smn-hi9mn I hate you. But I just can't give you up.
@@trevorphillips8415would you say you would also let them down? never ginna tell them lies and desert you??
I remember reading a fic and the note said "sorry the chapter is late. I got married today and the ceremony was till 5. I apologise for the long wait." Had me baffeld
WHAT- they could be late all they want in that week, they got succesfully married, I assume! That's cool!
I had one like this but it was:
"Sorry, I said weekly updates, but i got married yesterday and I had my honeymoon today."
Like. Dude did the deed then posted (probably a few) hours later.
@@TabbyCatq imagine if it was smut and the AN said "don't worry guys I'm experienced now I can assure you this is accurate"
@@YataTheFifteenth omfg, now I'm kinda wishing it was XD
@@YataTheFifteenth BABAHAHA
you my friend, got a wheeze out of me.
"I have experience now" got me
his house exploded guys please be patient
Eyy, been awhile since I heard from you
💥
NO EXCUSE, GIB FIC NOW.
Ok
bruhificated
A serial killer could kidnap an AO3 author & their biggest concern would not be their imminent torture & murder but the fact that they won’t be able to update their MHA Todoroki x Y/N fanfic on time.
Please, they'd somehow convince the kidnapper to let them use the wifi to update their fic. The authors note would be something like "Heyy guys ! Sorry for the late update, I've been kidnapped! Apologies for any spelling mistakes, the basement has bad reception and my captor is standing over my shoulder and watching everything I type so you can imagine how stressful and uncomfortable that is (sksksks). Anyway, I hope you like the chapter :))"
Bold of you to assume said author wont try to turn their situation to a kidnapee x kidnapper type-thing
todoroki turns yandere and y/n is kidnapped by him 💀
Literally saw a Hannibal fanfiction where the author got kidnapped for like 3 days
@@thatguy3903 link?
AO3 authors basically:
“Hi my lovelies! Sorry I was gone for 3 years! An apocalypse broke out and I lost my whole family and struggled a bit with survival, but its all over now and I’ll be back to updating this fic! Thank you for your continued support, kudos, and tweets! They really make me have the motivation to continue thank you!
The only issue is that the author wouldn’t let the apocalypse halt production of the fix for more then a week.
@@IAloneAmTheYapper at most, a month, and 2 weeks is pushing the upper limits
And then they don't continue and another year goes by
That same author would probably still update despite being turned. Outcome 1 would be like "hi I'm zombie, here's update!
omg pfp twins
Dude I read a fic once where one of the authors literally died in a car accident, and the other one pulled in a couple of their friends to finish the last chapter or so in their memory. It was honestly heartbreaking. I cried for someone I’d known barely anything about, and had only seen their writing.
I know you probably don't remember but if you do, can you send me the link to the fanfic?
@@BitterJoyXx
...I would, but I am p embarrassed on what the fic was about ngl 😭🤚🏻
@@sleepdeprived_inc. dude, trust me, we are all embarrassed about our fanfic interests
@@justaperson4656
It was a one off Miraculous Ladybug fic where they were handcuffed together for like, a day. 😭😩
It’s called Under Lock and Key by EdenDaphne(edelet) and Maerynn.
All of Maerynn’s works stoped after 2018, since her accident, and the last chapter she actively was writing in Under Lock and Key was chapter 4. All of her other works that had co-writers continued and finished their stories in her memory.
@@sleepdeprived_inc. Oh my god I just read the note and it's so fucking sad, holy shit
Homie, people DO give legal advice in the comments. An author will rant about their troubles and I guarantee half of the comments will be genuinely helpful advice. Fucking love the fanfic community, we look out for each other.
So true. I once read a fic where the author offhandedly mentioned that someone they knew had stolen shit from her, and that she was feeling down because of it. Like half the comments were like “great chapter as always! Also here’s some resources for what you can do to get your things back” it was wild
I got called 7 slurs for requesting a niche character fanfic because their requests were open, about 6 months ago, the fanfic community is a dumpster fire
@@lachelnderhund did you happen to ask for it in a particularly feral fandom? most fanfic communities i've been part of were pretty nice, it only seems to get rough in anime communities because most of the fans are younger
@@lachelnderhund What did you request?
@@rat-gang- Great rule of thumb is just to avoid the communities where the younger folks will usually hang around in, like anime.
Little bastards get _very_ hostile.
Ok wait i want to share an example: i read a fanfic a while back that was basically just the saddest, miserable angst fic centering arround one-sided love and torture, and in the authors notes on the early chapters the writter mentioned how the fic was to vent/get over a really bad breakup. But by the end of the fic, the author had completely changed the ending, requited the love between the two, freed the protagonist from the torture, and changed the bad ending to be super sweet and all fluff - and it was all because they got married and settled down by the end of writing the fic (i think it was like 6 years time?). Wild stuff.
Reading that fic + the author notes was like watching two stories unfold symultaniously.
honestly thats really beautiful lmao?? like they character's life changed as theirs did. they got better and their characters did too.
oh my, what's the name of the fic??
Yeah, what's the name? I needs my reads!
deadass post a link of it my guy 👀
That is so fucking beautiful like omg
imagine trying to write a smut chapter but your beta reader is in jail so you send it in, but when they try to send the revised copy back the poor policemen or women have to read through the entire thing😭
I was about to say, don't the prison guards check any mail inmates receive? Lmao imagine them trying to make sense of fanfiction coming through
i made a similar comment on coley's video that i'm gonna make here;
The prison guards are asking the beta reader for early updates about whatever drama is going on for future fanfic chapters, like whether the friends who aren't talking anymore after an argument are gonna make up or if this obvious ship are gonna get together or if they're gonna remain oblivious about it or- :D
And they become fans and send some extra tips back with it
Damn, this makes me glad that im pursuing to become a Angst writer in Ao3 LMFAO
@৳Broken Eye৳ NAWWWW
Theres so many authors on ao3 being ashamed of what they've created and its literally hilarious
That’s the post-nut clarity
As an author on ao3, I second this.
i get ashamed and cringe at my own work but keep writing it
they just suddenly become aware of their sins /j
@@iEcilpse The way they might actually
I’m an AO3 writer and I just want to say, we all apologize for not uploading whether it be for family issues, some insane thing happening, some mental health issues, or for some other reason.
All a03 writers are canon Canadian
It’s always family issues when I read
also as an ao3 writer, can confirm
The chapter was amazing, :] *write it faster.*
but seriously I hope your day is going well. And I know it might be a joke, but if you are having mental issues, it's okay to ask for help and to get help :]
@@lobster6944 Don’t worry I have a therapist and I’m currently working on getting my mental health issues under control
Authors note: there are 10 pounds of asbestos in my garage so Tails Goes to College 7 will not get any updates this week
damn if we’re all linking shit I actually did write a fic today go read it
“so sorry about the late update, my family and i got shot and i’m posting this from the back of an ambulance, anyway, here’s the next chapter of mario x bowser hardcore smut” not something i’ve exactly seen, (espically not that ship) but pretty damn close to one i’ve seen. (i’m not putting myself on blast that hard)
@@imjustasconfusedasyou no judgment here. I’m curious now
@@smoov22_sonic then link it deadass💀
@@smoov22_sonic link? Title?
7:56
Therapist: are you okay?
Me: sorry, it’s just hard to open up to people…
Therapist:…what’s your Ao3?
Me: w-what?
Therapist: I’ll read your author notes then evaluate you that way
Why do I low key want this 😂😭
My therapist would be so concerned 😭
And I don’t even write smut 😂
(It’s the mental illness for me~)
i once read a story and the author was like, “sorry for not updating i got shot” and two chapters later SHE SAID SHE GOT SHOT AGAIN
DAMN IT THAT FIC IS CURSED
HOLY-
I don't know what to say other than this:😨😨😨😨
I read it as she got *the* shot, so for a moment I was like "yeah I also almost die with the booster shot" 💀💀
Hood niggas
The two breeds of AO3 authors:
“Lol sorry I haven’t updated in a few days I literally had a near death experience”
And
“Sorry I haven’t updated in five years I literally forgot this existed”
I was the latter but I'm about to become the former I hope. Completed unpublished fanfic on hand
And the 3rd authors succumbing to their own mortality due to events they couldn’t control
im both
@@noabinnendijk361 please share the name!
My friend found a really good fix and sent the link to me but said the author hasn’t updated in like 3 years. And then I had to explain to her that I wrote it when I was seventeen, then totally forgot about it.
I think the saddest author note I've ever read was when someone else was given their account and updated one of their fics that I was reading with "so the previous author left me their fics in their will because unfortunately they have passed away." And I was like holy shit we joke about fanfic authors being on the brink of death a lot but it actually happened
Actually in AO3 you can designate your fannish next of kin so there's literal plans like oh if i die I'll leave my account to this person and they can continue my fics or just tell people what happened, and, wow.
Yeah, the worst is when no one takes over so you just never officially know if the person's gone or not
@@flyingstonemon3564 I worry about this with friends I have made online. I want them to know what happened to me if I were in an accident or something, but it feels like there's no one in my family who would understand ao3, discord, etc. :(
@@WhiffleWaffles Yeah It's a heart wrench, knowing you won't be able to warn your friends or readers hurts
I saw someone say that their friend's last wish was to explain to the readers that they can't update anymore because they died
There was a writer I followed on wattpad and once there was an update where the notes were:
"sorry for the late update, I was busy taking care of my two kids alone because my husband is in a coma because of C0vid :( btw enjoy the double update 💞"
And these two chapters were literally a work of art that changed my whole view about religion, prejudices, faith, the meaning of life, and what humanity values and how it impacts the environment and our relationships as individuals. All this in a fanfic Drarry pirates and merpeople AU
omg lowkey drop the link
please share!! pirates AND merpeople- i need it
Help OP please please don't ghost us and drop the link please
drop the link I'm curious now
Omg this is gold
Knowing that Kwite reads spider man fanfic like me is very comforting to hear.
ikr
Same 🥺
@Mason How no fr
Hearing people say they read fanfiction of a fandom you write for feels nice too, there's also the possibility they've read your fic (though in my case it's unlikely since i write for a specific part of the spider-man fandom that's not popular)
@Mason How ultimate spider-man, the tv show not the comics
ao3 is insane, man. i remember reading this one fic in middle school and i ended up following the writer through their whole character development arc bc the fic was really long and took like 3 years to complete. and at the last chapter they wrote this whole letter about how the fic + the community around it helped them get thru high school + college, kept them going during rough times and inspired their love for writing and now theyre pursuing professional writing and everything. the authors note was longer than the actual epilogue chapter but no one minded bc we were all so invested in this persons growth and it was lowkey emotional. the fic was a fucking fire emblem awakening modern vampire au
HELP ME NOT FIRE EMBLEM. THIS IS SO FUNNY
do you have a link, actually?
Woah wait fire emblem? Yo can you drop the link? I was intrigued and became even more invested that it's a *modern vampire au* lmfao
Could you give the name of the author and title of the fic, please?
I actually wanna read it now
Link pls
7:19 IS MINE AHAHAHAHAH
I can give a little insight into this. As an AO3 author, typically you create a story just because you love the story concept and want to indulge your muse/creativity, and then you find out that a significant number of people fall in love with the idea too and are depending on you to reveal what happens.... it gives you a very intense feeling of responsibility and ownership. When you go through anything that prevents you from posting that update, there's an immense sense of guilt and obligation because you are literally *the only person* that can finish the story. The readers are depending on you.
I hope your life's better now!! Wishing you all the best >_
I'm glad your doing better!
if you don't mind me asking... link to fic?👀
Hope your doing fine!
yesss! a03 and tumblr are much better to me than wattpad, the writing is so much more mature. i still use wattpad but it has to be a very specific type of fic these days where i know that the writing will be good.
Cw for terminal cancer
One of my closest friends, whom I met through writing fic, passed away last year. I met her because she offered to beta my fics for me and a few years after, when she found out she had cancer, she asked me to finish writing her last fic for her. I managed to get it done in time for her to actually still be coherent enough to read it, but I swear to god.. that’s the most important thing I’ll ever write. The friendships and the hard work that goes into fanfic are my favourite thing in the entire world. I miss her so much.
Hi, sorry if this sounds insensitive or if its too painful to bring up for you, but do you have a link to the fic? I'd love to read it if it's okay.
@@3vil0vesy0u ooh thank you!! :D
I'm so sorry for your loss. I bet that meant so much for her, you finishing the fic for her. In a way it means she'll always live on, not just in this fic, but also in the ones she beta'd for you. She sounds like a wonderful person. Wishing both of you all my love and support
Currently about to sob
So sorry for your loss, i really hope you feel better now ! 💗
Im sorry for your loss ❤
Authors notes are more entertaining than the actual story
we'll try to keep you on your toes
@one of one finally its here
you don’t find author notes like this all the time, unless you’re following some long running fics. however, reading fic tags and descriptions is about as entertaining. i remember laughing for like 5 minutes over the dumbest crossover fic i’ve ever seen. i wouldn’t read it, because it’s an awful piece of writing, but the fact that it exists is funny. sometimes i do read bad or below average fics just for the out of context quotes. ex: “ ‘you got stabbed’ ‘i got better’ “ (that scene was supposed to be taken serious)
@JHONNY eat sand
@@popplejam2128 AO3 is honestly just a wild ride, at least we’re never bored
my author said at the end of a chapter “i’m having heart surgery today and wanted to post this. if i don’t post within the next week, i’m dead” and they didn’t post :( it’s so heartbreaking
Thats really sad im so sorry for them
Broooo
oh god thats awful
That's horrible. I hope they just forget about it because they are recovering.
Oh my god… I hope they’re just recovering…
a week ago a story i read updated and the author was like “sorry for the month hiatus but on the bright side i finally got the manslaughter case dropped!” LIKE THE WHAT???
WHAT PLEASE LINK THIS
Someone probably saw their search history and reported them or some shit
Bro not me seeing this on Twitter today
I know this fic! it was a riddler highschool AU made by Scribbleshrimp
I was able to look up the author (thx to the person who dropped their name) and i’m laughing so hard
My favourite fanfic writer got poisoned, went to the hospital, their whole city had a power outage and still managed to post a 30k chapter on scheduled time 🙇
30k? God damn bless the writer
@@liyuchii I think God either loves them or hates them and he can’t decide
Holy crap I need this fic
@@LesbianKimDokjait’s hates they just keep winning
Knowing that Kwite not only reads fanfic, but watches ColeyDoesThings, brings me an insurmountable amout of joy
I was shocked tbh
Same here lmao
Bro, i think we ALL were shocked bruh
Sammee
One of us, one of us!
As an AO3 Writer myself, I have to agree, fanfic ideas are absolutely blood-sucking parasites! They leach onto your body and gets to eat an inch of skin for every day without an update and in return I get one nice comment if I'm lucky since I have the personal curse of writing for tiny fandoms 😃👍
edit: I don't usually edit comments but since this popped off, I impart a tidbit of advice. If you got an idea, write and it share it to the world. It doesn't matter how awful of a writer you may be or how much you think no one will read it but I've gotten some of my best friends from my fanfics. Sure you probs won't get Heat Waves or Passerine big or anything, but the right people will be grateful for what you've created. It's the best feeling to wake up to 20+ notifs of someone binge reading you're entire trilogy and pleading for an update 😌 ok that's it
what's your name on ao3? i'm curious to read your works now lol
@@sabreen16 same here, would love to see their works lol
Name. Now. I’m reading it
Yes! Me too, me too! I needs reads!
Ohh I'm curious now, what's ur name? :O
Damn i actually read one author's note throughout their chapters, starting from "Guys, I think I have cancer, but even if I die, I have 45 chapters written already, so you don't have to worry about getting regular updates." to "Guys, I went to the doctor, maybe I do have cancer. In case I die (now that I have a literal deadline), I am powering through the fic" to finally "GUYS I LIVED, I DON'T HAVE CANCER. NOW WE ARE BACK TO UPDATES TWICE A WEEK"
when the authors notes are a story of their own
why do i feel proud for a random a03 fanfic author now
@This ain't worth searchin yall what
That makes me happy
omg, i swear AO3 writers have the curse of every bad thing being thrown at them, but they can’t feel the sweet release of death.
We all know AO3 authors are stronger than soldiers and more resistant than diamond, they are like: "Sorry I don't will update next week I have to be in full surveillance cause I tried to jump a cliff, and my parents didn't like it" or they are sorry because their house was in fire and his family died, AO3 authors are just incredibles
I swear the gods read fanfic and make scary shit like this strike around their favourite authors, but leave them barely alive cause they don't want the fic to stop without an ending.
Lmao I’m the first one. I couldn’t update my fic for 3 months bc I tried to unalive myself & got sent to a phyc ward 😎✌️
As an ao3 author who hasn't done anything like this, I'm impressed just by consistent updates.
The wildest authors note I ever read was the author explaining they had to go into a medical coma for a few weeks, but don't worry guys cause their mom was going to answer comments! HUH???? YOUR MOM????
That’s so sweet tho lol
I’ve literally read that fic! The author’s okay now, because they’ve continued to update!
Was the fic called 'salvaged' because I had extreme whiplash when I read an author's note exactly like that
Damn the amount of trust and support she has from one of her parents for her mom to agree to answering her fanfiction comments-
@@GalacticalHistorian WAIT WHAT GIMME THE LINK
finally, a popular commentary youtuber who doesnt aggressively make fun of fanfiction
"Yo that's so cringe! You enjoy [Insert thing] and I don't that's so cringe bruh"
Literally it’s so refreshing😭
I know nothing about the fanfic community, but I do know that the most judged communities are also usually the most judgemental.
ColeyDoesThings is good too
I can’t blame people for judging it, just look up Tim x Moby and boom I wish i disintegrated
As a fanfiction writer, (that's embarresing to admit) i can say that you never stop writing because it is THE outlet. It's literally the only way to fully emerse yourself into another world and just let reality go, at least for me.
Sorry I didn't proofread this, I had to go to my grandmother's funeral.
Lol for me it's the opposite. Writting does nothing for me but reading fanfiction does :)
@@firebreathingmoonbeam3961 same
I open Google docs and stare angrily at the screen waiting for the words in my head to appear on the doc in perfect grammatical order
an edit: i started writing my fanfics like essays accidentally
I get it. Like, I only got my autism diagnosis at 20 years. After school, relationships and work went all down the drain. And through the process, I just went like "Fuck this shit, I'll read/write something to calm down"
As someone also going through an autism diagnosis, me too. My old coping mechanisms aren’t doing anything but opening up a private draft and just making a scenario with a character I like is just fun and I can distance myself from my issues by using a whole different reality. It’s a way to push away real problems by delving into a fictional word where I understand what’s happening, and I don’t have to spend time creating characters because I’m really bad at that 💀💀
I saw an author who consistantly was battling murder charges throughout the writing of the fic. They gave us an extra chapter when the case was finally dropped.
Your honor in my defense it was tagged “all hurt no comfort” so the victim clearly knew what they were getting into
LINK???
WHAT
LINK PLEASE
I’ve had Wattpad authors pop up like, “Hey, sorry for my absence. I went through a divorce and was SAed by a coworker so lots of legalities to go through. Here’s two chapters to make up for it~” Like, what? Are you okay?
oh god, i hope they’re okay
@@adriannethornheart8516 they haven’t updated sense so I wouldn’t know
This sounds familiar- I think I've read this fanfic before....
That sounds like a fanfic
I hope theyre ok
Kwite: "You aren't gonna turn fan fic into a career"
E.L. James: "That's where you're wrong kiddo!"
Who's that?/genq
@@Forlorn_Overseer The woman who wrote Fifty Shades of Grey, which was originally a twilight fan fic
God how I wish he was right
@@aidanshea5942 it's funny but sad
also Ali Hazelwood
I once saw one that was something along the lines of:
"sorry for not updating for a while, i was playing a drinking game of bloody knuckles last week and the next morning i was incredibly hungover and ate a whole bag of takis and me forgetting about my ripped open knuckles got taki dust all over my open wounds, i dont know why i didnt clean my knuckles beforehand but they got infected and ive been on heavy antibiotics for the last 3 days.
i really hate being 22."
Holy fuckin shit...Fanfic writers really are built different, no doubt about that.
I love that this is framed like just a normal part of being 22
@@celery7094 yup we all get bad hand infections after a night of heavy drinking and end up on a heavy regimen of antibiotics that makes you ill and loopy ...at 22..lol at 22 my craziest story was pulling an all nighter for an exam
i think im truly embracing the ao3 author today. i don’t write fanfictions but i wrote stories about my original characters and i finished my first multi-chapter one yesterday
guess what happens the day after. my house catches HALFWAY ON FUCKING FIRE.
are you okay???
It’s a curse
all online authors are cursed with never ending bad luck
No way bruh 😭😭
@@greytelmer8376 im a wattpad author. Am i also going to have this curse aswell.?!! I already fell and hit my head once.
i love that theres no way to monetize fanfics bc it makes it such a pure art form. sure, lots of it is shitty and lots of it is cringe, but you always know that that shit and cringe comes from deep inside someone's heart. theres no other reason they wrote this than the shere need to express themselves and i think that makes it beautiful.
if you sort by bookmarks on ao3 you'd get stories BETTER than published books, it's a wild ride.
"Literally everything a human being does is cringe"
-SomeOrdinaryGamers
@@ceci--lia pls, those are one of my few vices, I know it says 50K but it's a one shot uwu
"You always know that that shit and cringe comes from deep inside someone's heart" Funniest sentence I've read this year.
Many include links to a pa treon.
I imagine someone once wrote:
“Sorry I didn’t update! I kinda became blind! It’s hard to update now! Luckily, I found a fan that helps me write these! Haha! Enjoy this chapter!”
You.... you can still write if you are blind... literally anyone can use text-to-speach
@@lord__lee9838 yeah but you need someone to proofread
@@child.of.helios There are free apps and sites that read text outloud
@@lord__lee9838 oh cool!
... it must be kinda embarrassing to narrate explicit fanfics to a machine and then having it read it to you though...
i know you said "imagine if the readers were that passionate and giving legal advice" but like,,,,you don't have to imagine. they ARE
this isn't a joke AT ALL. i once saw a hs fanfic writer get advice on good motels to stay at while they were they were trying to find a job in the city they were in. i dont rember why they were homeless, but it was fucking WILD.
The best author note was "Hi guys sorry for all the mistakes ı wasn't able to proofread because someone broke into my house and realized that ı was awake so they threw chemicals at my face. Now I'm half blind and half of my face is gone. Anyways enjoy the chapter guys lol"
This one takes the cake. ☠️
Were
Were they okay????
what the fuck?
name of the fic with that author note?
Am I going crazy or are your i’s circumcised
Was reading a fic and the main character suddenly and randomly had their appendix rupture- turns out, the author actually had their appendix rupture WHILE WRITING and just HAD to describe the pain as it was happening and ig it came out really good because they put it in the chapter. The note was actually from the ER like what????
AS IT WAS HAPPENING?? Ao3 authors are a different type of human, like, WOW, that is crazy!
You know what they say, write what you know.
that’s a whole art form ngl
I get that. Ever since I got into writing I've been paying attention to my senses so I can describe them in words if I ever need to write it
drop the fic name what
I once read a fic where the author was writing about the struggle between indigenous peoples in Alaska and the oil industry. They then vanished for several years and came back having become a climate activist and gone to Alaska because of the research they did for their fic. Amazing
Omg 😨
Don't you hate it when you did so much research for a fanfic you become an activist
That’s crazy lmao. Good for her tho
drop the link👀
Link?🌝
I hate that I've had one of these moments as an ao3 writer... 💀
They range anywhere from "sorry for the lack of updates guys, I just graduated! 🥰" to "sorry, my entire family had covid and I went into a horrific mental spiral haha, I'll try to get out an update earlier next time"
Also, is it bad that one of my primary concerns if I die is "who's gonna let my readers and friends online know I died???"
@@imjustsomebunny not really.
@@irpsicologiayeducaciongrup8251 Oh, good. So I'm not the only one? 😅
@@imjustsomebunny
I've thought that too!
Though just with online friends; I haven't written fanfiction...YET...
@@DrawciaGleam02 Yet. 😉
AO3 is just that one SCP that forces people to finish it with their own blood.
Ao3 is that SCP's more successful son
SCP-012
I write SCP Foundation fanfic, not on AO3, but on Docs for myself. I love that there's a comment about this.
I once had a webtoon author apologise for a late update because: "the internet has been out since there was a military coup recently" so very casually it felt like they'd be surprised if someone expressed serious concern.
Where did they live? Myanmar??
@@norasyikinali6283 Yeah, I believe so.
So I'm assuming the author was from Myanmar
@@norasyikinali6283 I'm guessing either Myanmar/Burma or Turkey. It feels like the Turks have coups in their spare time.
I had a webtoon author apologize literally yesterday for not uploading because they live in Ukraine and their city was being continuously bombed...
Edit: they and their family are safe btw!
Kwite watching Coley feels like a multiverse crossover that I was not ready for-
DUDE SAME
same bro same
SAMEE
SAME
AO3 apology that I read somewhere and screenshotted it:
“I'm back. I never planned on being
gone but, well, stuff happened.
My grandma fell and broke her arm-
she's better now. Thank god. My great-
uncle has terminal cancer, I won first
place in five different piano
competitions, and I passed my
beginners ASL exam.
Honestly, I'm feeling a little burnt from
that emotional whiplash.
But I'm back. This chapter was, like,
99.9% fluff because my mental health
needed it so there. No excuses. Just
100% coping mechanism.
Thanks for your patience.”
Mf has literally all of the excuse wtf do they mean “no excuse” goofy ass
@SlurgV2 that's what I said 😭
Good for them.. and sorry that happened.. and uhh, feel better.. holy shit
Once I read someone saying “i had exams” to “sorry guys i got hit by a car”
AO3 authors built different
i was reading a fic when i was like 13, and the author was like "sorry, this story will be on hiatus, my boyfriend got me pregnant and i'm gonna be busy dealing with legal issues and pregnancy. don't know when i'll be back :/" and i think about it daily
did they continue writing the fic doe?
I...uhm ..wow
Oh dear. I hope she’s okay.
Okay, the whole, "Fics are sentient and forcing authors to write them," is absolutely true. There is also, however, "The characters I made for this fic to give it more depth have become sentient and now won't shut the fuck up even though I finished writing the fic years ago."
Say it with me now, maladaptive daydreaming!
@@justaperson4656 Wait, what?
My characters keep hijacking the story and running it in all kinds of weird directions.
Started a fic that was supposed to be like 4-5 chapters ~50k words back in august 2020, I'm currently writing my 44th 10k word chapter and I'm nowhere near done...
I've seen so many authors say that, it’s fascinating
It must happen when you have a good internalized profile and understanding of the character in the story, so much so that you instinctively know how they would react in the fanfiction, and like they seem to breathe and live through the words in your fanfiction
This must be an incredible experience for an author
@@mochacup1868 it is. The first time one of the characters starts talking with you is weird and amazing at the same time.
But after the tenth time they keep you up till 2 a.m. it starts to lose it's charm.
I’m a wattpad writer and we’ll be gone for months or years and randomly post a new chapter with no explanation. AO3 authors out here be having little bit messed up schedule from trauma and apologize to the reader for it
As an ex Wattpad writer I posted my status updates on AO3 in chapter form instead of in the notes lmao
Yeah, Wattpad is.... Really something, huh?
@@obsidianyuhh Yeah that place fuckin traumatized me lmao, not even exaggerating
AO3 is like the adult version of Wattpad imo, like it's the "hey I know we haven't talked in months, wanna meet up for drinks" rather than "yo let's go to the park 5 times this week"
as a Wattpad and AO3 reader/writer, yeah, i agree. some of us on Wattpad just disappear off the face of the earth and some of us on AO3 rush to get a chapter out every day, and if we miss a day or two, its like a year for us lmao
One AO3 fic I read, the author died and had their lawyer post on every one of their stories telling everyone that they died
I thought it was hilarious that this guy felt the need to do this
That is hilarious but also I feel bad for finding it funny... talk about gallows humor sheesh
i would honestly do the same
i need to know what fanfic this was lmao
LMAO I'm not sorry that's hilarious
What a thorough lawyer.
nah man, fanfiction is legitimately great. these people are out there writing entire novels just because the want to. Your average novel is about 90,000 words. these people are crazy, and deserve respect
ppl will go further than that, they will write fics the length of the entire harry potter series over the course of 3 or 4 years and still apologise for how short their most recent 7k+ word chapter
i saw a fanfic with like 449,772(? some number like that) words, like bruh wtf
@@REN-no6zx I've seen a few that are longer/similar in length that have been posted in the span of less 3-4 month
I recently saw a fic with 100+ (and still *actively* counting, like it was updated pretty recently) chapters. 150k+ words. Insane.
One of my all time favorites is 207 758 words in 4 chapters. It takes about 5 seconds to scroll through it as fast as possible.Reading a single chapter could take a day or two, depending on how angsty and heartwrenching it was.
Fellow A03 writer, i can admit to this madness. I was submitted in the mental ward for being suicidal and my first request was to be given a notebook and a pen since my phone was pretty much dead for a week until I found out i can get it charged at the nurses office ☠. All i could think off were the fics i needed to update and how was i going to apologize to my readers for being gone so suddenly. Doing much better now though, and yes my readers are the most wholesome bunch who have wholeheartedly support me and are willingly waiting for my stupid ass to update.
Chill out bro 💀💀💀
Take it easy!
Why do you care about anonymous readers? Maybe u belong in a psych ward u freak
They say that we authors are a different breed, but I submit that readers can be just as awesome.
Awwww that's super cute, I'm glad your readers are there to support you and I'm beyond happy that you're doing better /gen
I was reading a fic and the authors note was like a saga about how the author was trying to enter a window, but there were hornets and their uncle was there and it was chaotic
Oh that’s funny...do you have the link? I kind of want to read that.
@@aranelnemonia6376 I second this. Hand over the link
@@d-righty i third this (is that even the correct term?) i want to see this now, link please if you find it
@@thattaigaforest_ I fourth this
I fifth this
I remember reading this fanfic about a straight couple and the writer stopped writing in the middle because she found out she was a lesbian 😂 and she didn't feel comfortable writing straight love stories, which is completely understandable.
I just love the irony 😂
mood
Honestly, same kind of? I mainly write BL fanfictions now, though I do have a few M/F stories
I don't feel comfy with writing anything involving a woman, it has to be a male, trans ftm, nb, gn, anything but female characters that aren't broskies. Wait am I aroace? LMAO
@@inestabilidadinternalized misogyny is one hell of a drug
@@inestabilidad you might be ace, sure, but I don't see what that has to do with being ✨uncomfy✨ writing a character with she/her pronouns. I think what you're actually suffering from is some pretty wild internalised misogyny. Like, apocalyptic levels. Wow. Get well soon, ig.
I saw this one fanfiction, absolutely destroyed me. Was the most beautiful, heart wrenching fic I’ve ever read. The author apologized for bad English, but their English was better than mine. I looked a couple years later, and it was removed. Heartbreaking.
What was it?
@@megancress1384 do you know if the way back machine archives wattpad? There's a fic I've been recommended a thousand times over but the original author deleted their account. I'd love to find it again, since a lot of fics I've read reference it as one of the best works for that fandom and/or the reason they started writing
@@justaperson4656 I think it does
@@justaperson4656 if you have the link and someone saved the page then yes
i always download my favs bc of this 😥
I work as a writer now, and i got started with writing fanfiction (this was like literally 18ish years ago and way before fanfiction was well-known). I never wrote anything before that , but i hated the poorly written fanfiction, and i was like, "i can do better than this," and then i realized i loved writing and literature and fully switched my major from biology to lit. literally, without fanfiction, i would not have found my calling in life. I don't read it or write it anymore, but it was fun while it lasted, and i'll always hold a special place in my heart for fanfiction writers.
What an inspiring story ♥️
As an unofficial, lifelong writer, I can safely say that I strongly detest PENNING fanfics yet, still, I am an *avid* consumer of it.
Wonderful💗
yo same. i couldn't find any good fanfics that were to my liking, so i decided to write a fanfic i like. ended up really enjoying writing and literature analysis. i didn't change my major or do anything drastic, but i did end up getting the best grade for my university entrance exams's english writing paper, so there's that.
i honestly love hearing about all the conventionally "cringe" things kwite is into or supports.
i'm so used to the cynical youtube commentator persona that shames anything and everything, it's some very refreshing open-mindedness lol
Agreed. I used to watch youtube commentators alot but then realized how a bunch of them just made fun of harmless things just because they where seen as cringy.
ikr, it’s really annoying when those male commentary youtubers just call anything and everything ‘dumb’ and make rude comments about people’s intelligence and all that
actually yeah! ive never rly watched kwite so i assumed he would be the same as all the other commenators of his field but i clicked into this by chance and was surprised by how,,, hes actually relatable lol
It's not just commenters. Just TH-cam in general. Go ahead and call me a snowflake but that's just facts-
@@vivvygenteman nope you're absolutely right
Me, an ao3 fic writer, watching this: God I haven't updated in awhile, and not even that much has been going on...
Also me: getting diagnosed with ptsd, discovering severe life long anxiety, getting ready for surgery, discovering some life altering things about myself, dealing with my parents (who I was living with at the time) moving across country without making sure I had a place to go, moving, looking for a job, deciding what I want to do with my life, recovering from 13 years of burnout, recovering from two traumatizing therapists, etc.
Um... are you okay? Like I know the ao3 writers are built different, but damn
@@teddyjlockwood I hope it continues to get better! Also, I hope you find a really good therapist to help!❤️
true story: I uploaded to ao3 daily for 4 months straight, sometimes more than once per day but always at least once. During that time, a friend of mine passed away. I had enough stuff pre-written from my last writing binge that I still managed to post on both the day of the viewing and the day of the funeral
I’m sorry about your friend
I’m sorry for your loss but gotta respect the dedication
so sorry for your lost but u are very dedicated to the cause
I truly feel bad for you, and sorry for your loss but you should take some time off, and process what you've been through and try to rise about it.
Now I am, by no means, a therapist, nor do you have any reason to take my advice, but seriously, take some time off. Go on a vacation, or go swimming.
Doesn't matter what it is, as long as it either takes your mind off of the sadness or generally makes you feel better, even just a small bit.
@@SonofApollo856 I appreciate the advice, because it very obviously comes from a place of kindness and caring. Thank you for that. And thank you to everyone who commented their condolences; that means a lot to me.
However, at this point, it has been nearly two years since she passed. It still doesn't feel real some days and probably never will but if nothing else, I've had time to process it. I was actually using writing to help work through it, encouraged by my therapist. The upload schedule went from something I was doing for fun, to something I was doing out of pride, to something stable that I could lean on. It might seem silly, but writing fanfic is self-care for me.
Thanks again for your concern. I hope the rest of your day is as lovely as you are!
"If Wilbur Soot is allowed to post original content on AO3, then I'm allowed to be a casual consumer." The way you said this got me. Like and sub lmao
Ayeeeeeeee I'm still trying to remember what the book is called again to read it
@@cherrypoptarts962 the one wilbur soot wrote?
i think its called hitting on 16?
The Wilbur van by Soot Wilbur @@cherrypoptarts962
The Ukrainian webcomic artists and fanfic authors really be like, “Haha, no scanner right now as I escape to Poland hope you enjoy this masterpiece I made on my smartphone nbd!” I’ll be binging through something now, catch up to Feb/March 2022, and get my heart broken for them and not their fantastic creations.
I found one author that switched their regular fanfic updates out to daily updates about the situation in Ukraine, her grandmother who was accosted by Russian soldiers, the the fact that she continues to work her virtual day job despite power outages and loss of signal. When the war was on the news more, I'd hear about events that happened hours before it showed up on the news.
I SAW A AUTHOR BE LIKE "sorry i havn't posted in a while i got married, got pregnant, had a misscarriage, mourned, and got pregnant again, and have been raising my twins lately" AFTER NOT POSTING IN JUST OVER A YEAR LIKE BABES IVE SEEN SOMEBODY COME BACK AFTER 3 YEARS
6:28 Kwite, I can confirm yes there is an obsession that grows within till you just give up. I remember being 14 and realizing a monster of a fic idea but not writing it because I knew it'd be cringe.
But every night I'd go to sleep, when I was dozing off, I'd just conjure up scenes, dialogue, doodling what I wanted to write. I'm not joking when I say it haunted my every waking moment.
In the end, I gave up and popped into a Google docs, where 100K was born
gimme the doc, dude
also currently in a similar place with a huge fic/au idea, but its based around topics that i probably shouldnt be handling so im hesitant to write anything in case i end up accidentally writing something unpleasant/offensive
@@1dkreally my writing life in a nutshell
This is literally me but I won't actually write since my English vocab sucks
Bro, I feel this so much. I have insomnia ( I find it extremely hard to sleep, not that I can't sleep at all ), and even my counselor suspects I have ADHD at this point, so my mind is constantly running and it has a lot of time to do so, and when I tell you I have 10+ fleshed out storys I'm not kidding, I will name the basic plots for all of them right now. My mind is constantly coming up with new things but I can never full fill my dreams of writing it because I cringe at the first sentence and immediately lose motivation and hate myself for it everytime 😭
As an AO3 writer who just finished their 30k wordcount fic despite depression, college, and the temporary loss of my one and only proofreader hitting me all at once, I have officially stopped feeling sorry for myself. It could be worse ahhaha!
You are an incredibly strong individual. However, allow yourself time to rest, and allow yourself time to feel. If you're anything like me and just trying to hold it all in because releasing it could be dangerous, ask a friend, loved one, therapist, or other person to stay with you as you release everything. You can't keep that shit in, or it will consume you. If AO3 is your outlet, by all means, write away! But just give yourself a moment. You are no less deserving of care than your closest friend.
Dude u need to rest 😢
Once I got paid 100 dollars to right a wings of fire fanfic. Yeah, the dragon book series. 100 dollars. Dude was really nice though and understanding of my personal life, and with his help I managed to write a 23 chapter book in 7 months (the shortest amount of time I've ever taken on a book)
only 100$ for a 23 chap book that took 7 months???????
Where you’d write it?
@@therealopaartist quotev
woah. tbh it's been a few years since i was really into erin hunter/wof books but they were pretty good.
@@nospoonfulofmayonnaiseforme same!
I almost wrote on a recent chapter "sorry the next chapter will probably be really late, my grandma just died and I have to travel across the country for her funeral" before realizing I didn't have to apologize for that and just thanking the readers for their preemptive support. Of course they were super nice about it
My personal favourite ao3 author note: sorry that I missed last Friday’s update I unexpectedly went into labour with my twins 7 weeks early so it’s been somewhat stressful to deal with the nicu. My dad also passed away yesterday and that’s been rough for everyone in my family to get through. I’ll get the next chapter out asap.
The author posted this on a Sunday. She had gone into labour literally less than 3 days before coming back to update the book AND HAD UPDATED IT THE THURSDAY BEFORE AND UPDATED IT THE MONDAY AFTER.
Props to that author jfc
she’s dedicated 😭
I think I read this fic lmaoo
As a fellow ao3 author I can agree. I was in residential and I’m healing from a unloving attempt and yes I am updating and yes I am apologizing:)
I may not know you, but I am very happy that you're still with us now regardless ❤️
Glad you’re still here with us and still updating and still apologizing.
Im very happy that your still with us and still updating (and i feel you on still apologising)
Thank u for being here with us ♡
ao3 is honestly a crazy place. a lot of good… stories heh. but the authors notes catch me off guard sometimes HAH
I read AO3 stories a lot.
Sorry guys I got my ribs pulverized no updates today 😔
The ‘…’ is sus
I swear writing fanfiction must come with some kind of curse. It’s a multi stage thing and this happens to a lot of writers. First you get addicted to writing, you’ll be planning and writing your fic during the most inappropriate times; in school, at work, when you’re eating…And when you don’t feel like writing, your fic kinda gnaws in the back of your mind going “Hey, you need to write this 20000 word long chapter and begin working on the next one immediately after.”
The next stage is the addiction. Every view, every comment and every vote/kudos on your fix becomes more addictive than crack. The sheer joy you feel when even one person likes your fic becomes unmatched, it like a constant high, and that shit will get you hooked fast and hard, you can’t stop thinking about the one random person who commented “Nice chapter” on your fic and when you post and don’t get any sort of reaction from the readers the withdrawal hits hard and you’ll be stuck going through your fic repeatedly wondering if there’s anything wrong with it and feeling insecure about your writing and considering taking the chapter down to rewrite it even though there’s nothing wrong with it.
And then, the interference starts, it could be anything, ranging from disease to losing your house to losing a loved one or just being too busy, but something will always come up that will interfere with the writing and posting process. And even though your readers are probably understanding people you can’t help but feel like a failure for something that isn’t even your fault, so you try to make it up to them;you try to get the next chapter out, but you don’t feel good enough, so you work extra hard on it to appease to the readers, who you think will be satisfied and they are definitely more than satisfied, they are overjoyed to see that you’re ok.
Finally the last stage, finishing or quitting. You either power through the interference and are able to finish your fic, whether or not the last chapter had as much heart put into it as you could or was half assed really depends on your mental state at the time and the circumstances going on in your day to day life. You’ve reached the end of the characters’ wacky journey, they’ve changed across the course of the story and whether you know it or not, you have too. You might look back on the beginning chapters and recall how you felt during the whole thing, and think about how different things may have been when you first started. Your readers may have been impacted in some way and if this book will have a place in their heart as a book that they enjoyed and learnt something from. Whether by following the characters’ journey, or you, the author’s journey.
Or, alternatively…you discontinue your fic, typically end it on a high note, but never really reach an ending. Unfinished character arcs, unresolved plot points…you just end it all. Even when you do this, you occasionally want to go back to continue writing, continue where you left off, let these characters continue to grow and not remain in a world that has been paused permanently. But time and again you decide not to and you may leave a note telling your readers why…or you may fake your death, much like I have considered doing several times. This may seem bad, but in the end you learnt something from this experience, and although you may have lost interest or motivation to continue writing, you’ll still remember the journey with the characters and the readers. Even if you forget the story itself, you won’t forget who you were back then. You’ll leave the fic up so people can read it, they might enjoy the little they got to experience.
Fanfic writing is a scary process, too much unexplainable bs happens, but in the end, it ends up being really memorable, typically at least.
If you’re wondering my basis for all of this, I used to write fanfic, but then my grandma died, a close friend got cancer and I ended up in the hospital. Much like heroin, fanfics are really addicting but also bad for your health if you’re the author.
I can tell you're actually decent at writing... because this isn't a wall of text. There are quite a few people who can't see that hitting Enter a few times can help make their stories and comments more readable.
First of all love that so many who write or wrote fic always write a fucking novel as a comment. I love to read them and love tho write them myself. And I think you are really onto something. The addiction is real and it burns so bright only tho make us succumb to the flames. And as so many we try so hard to not care to much about the stats, not become addicted but it gets us every time. Maybe that is the reason I bailed on every fic I started. But am so determined to push trough this time.
What a beautiful curse this is. The whole idea of a fanfiction idea manifesting like a dark omen that give unlimited creative power or a parasite affecting its host is such a cool concept for a fanfic honestly. Just wish it wouldn’t feel this real. Sometimes it feels like there are so many bad things happening to awesome and creative people.
Literally search up ao3 syndrome 😭
Jesus bro, I just started writing and you literally described shit perfectly, the constant need for validation trough comments is hitting SO HARD
Currently stuck in two stages: the first and the last. I’ve put off my fanfics and it’s constantly gnawing at the back of my head. But, I’m also debating whether I should just abandon or push through and keep going with the long fic ones.
2:21 "Hey, just think about it as being extra creative. You have so much imagination your mind is making shit up even when you're not supposed to." You literally described my maladaptive daydreaming.
unrelated but i thought you were me for a second
@@amaristm Oh my god, I thought you were me for a second too Lol what are the odds?
maladaptive daydreaming is awesome
this is LITERALLY the definition of MD. it's both fun and awful because, for me at least, if the dream starts going somewhere sour, it's incredibly hard to bring it back where you want it to be.
@@ValeOfMuses my least favorite part is how things will start clipping or bugging like it's cyberpunk. Also the feeling I'll have after spending too much time inside my own head. It feels awful.
It's nice to see someone who appreciates fanfic and isn't afraid to admit it!
Ikr! I talk about good fanfics unashamedly because THE PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THIS GOOD ASS STORY
i read ao3 regularly, (i think i have about 200 tabs opened of just that alone) and my weirdest one was when the authors house blew up and they had to post late because they had to have surgery
Same with the tabs
too little tabs tbh
only 35 tabs? smh /lh
@@kalonacre
bro that’s jus my fanfics tabs, i have ways to many tabs and photos on my phone and it’s old so it gets so slow
35 tabs? Those are rookie numbers. I HAVE 92 TABS.
can confirm as a retired fanfic writer, a story CAN be a brainworm
i committed to a year-long story that was 52 chapters long and never stopped thinking abt it until the day I clicked 'Publish' on the epilogue
as someone who has read and written a fair amount of fanfic, this was a weirdly comforting video :') i'm so used to people trashing fanfic authors/readers so this was a nice change of pace, thanks Kwite
yes :)
As an A03 writer I’ve literally left the Author’s notes as “sorry I haven’t posted, I literally caught covid while writing the end of this one shot.”
A03 writers are indestructible man.
my latest AN is litterally
"I KNOW i know, its been forever, im SORRY! sometimes you are able to write 3 chapters in a night and sometimes you get so violently ill with your chronic illness that you forget existance is real and cant tell the differeance between reality and the pain induced halluntinations you create! Anyway, Its my trauma, and ill express it how i see fit"
Once, I read a fic where the author was going thru some heavy dark thoughts and mental issues and they kept asking for advice in the notes, like whether or not they should stay in the waiting room of a mental hospital or something, or told us they didnt want to take their meds cause they felt good and like we were 3 freaking thousands to comment and tell them to keep going and to not give up. Best part is that they finished the fic and accepted the idea that they needed to get help from professionals and it was fkn wholesome i cried for a solid 20 minutes. The author's life was a much more emotional roller coaster for the readers than the fic (full of angst)
I’m sorry if this sounds insensitive but I wanted to know what fic was it🥺
@@anabs.6209 yoooo this was a longggg time ago, when like, everyone was going crazy about undertale and its alternate universe so idk if that would be something you would read today, but the name was like "castelfell" or something. Like, good angst story, rly in echo w/ the author own struggle, but u know, its old undertale niche i doubt a lot of ppl dig that nowadays but here u go anyways !
I'm the fanfic author that doesn't have any good excuses for not updating in months and I get comments from readers asking me if I'm ok and show genuine concern for my wellbeing and I get so touched that we humans can feel so much compassion for people we've never even met
somewhere out there there’s something along the lines of “Heyyyy so I’m sorry I’ve been MIA for so long, I did get kidnapped, but while I was in my holding cell in the middle of nowhere I took it as an opportunity to write and memorize 2 new chapters for you guys all in my head! Hope you enjoy :D”
Bruh, as someone that reads an unhealthy amount of ao3 fanfics I can say I have seen my fair share of shit. Especially with the author of “Sexy Times With Wangxian” and her death threats. But the best author's note in my opinion is when the author apologises for making you wait so long and continuing their. I remember reading one of my all time fave ao3 fanfics and never finishing it bc the author just deicded to drop it. I would often come back and re-read it only to find out the author started to update it again (5years later), and at the final chapter she wrote that she "finally gain closure & peace" by ending this fanfic, and so did I.
that last sentence is so beautifully worded
wait what's the deal with wangxian??
@@ReiAnikaAyanami Basically there was this fanfic called sexy time with wangxian on ao3. The drama started bc the author added about 4400 tags to it (they were the reason ao3 added a maximum of 75 tags). And if you were looking for your fanfic you would always come across sexy time with wangxian and the website would crash bc of the number of tags. Even worse when people got pissed she started to retaliate and adding fandoms (around 70), who had nothing to do with wangxian. They got banned when they made death threats and somehow (but I am not sure) there was pedophilia involved (from the author's side).
ugh also not Sexy times with Wangxian, as someone who was active in the fandom as a writer and consumer that fic was my goddamn headache. One of the most obnoxiously tagged story with so many other fandoms involved for NO reason.
@@alaskabane5340 I only know is the fact that the author started adding unrelated fandoms just to be petty, cuz people got (understandably) mad.
For some it may seem like free work, but for angst writers it is free tears. Some people are sadists and ao3 is a healthy place to exert pain upon innocent viewers. (:
Are you ok?
@@SonofApollo856 Is anyone?
i mean, you're correct (as someone who writes hardcore angst)
Cry my dear viewers, I tricked you into loving this adorable sidekick character and now I will make you read a passage of them being violently stabbed in the back three times because they tried saving their pet bird. Haha I don't have issues, you have.
you’re correct (as someone who reads angst as bedtime stories)
Gosh, now I'm remembering that time an ao3 author I liked reading from took an unexpected hiatus. Here are their notes, word for word:
"basicallt, i broke up w my boyfriend bc he was using me 4 my body lolz , went to a concert, nearly got into a car crash, nearly got kidnapped, found out my mom is cheating on my dad w her cousin and i dead ass hate this chapter sm but i wanted to get something out. its 7 pages, which is two to three pages longer than the other chapters, so! have fun! it’s just pure fuckin fluff. NOT PROOFREAD OR BETAD WE DIE LIKE REAL FUCKIN MEN"
"GUYS IM OK I PROMISE MY LIFE IS A MOVIE (a tragic comedy) BUT STILL A MOVIE. MORE CHAPTERS COMING SOON BUT THEY MIGHT BE A LITTLE SPORADIC IM SORHRURUEURU"
I feel bad for the author 😨
please tell me they are okay
Jesus i hope theyre alright
Hey why there a w is the creator support there mon cheating on the dad or did you put it but i hope the creator okay
@@ItsKadelyn w short for with
I just love ao3 authors. I’ve worked with a few, editing their works and everything, and I’ve never had a bad experience. they’re so nice (at least from what I’ve encountered), and if you compliment their fic they respond like you just gave them the first meal theyve had in weeks.
AH one of my favorite author’s notes was “I blacked out and this was written.”
I still remember that
And I swear most of these authors are invincible or have some form of death prevention
Lol 😂
I write because I crave emotional validation. It’s like a full course meal after only eating plain oatmeal and water for a week.
@@therealopaartist you mean like validation from people who read what you write, or just from completing something?
edit oh wait stupid question
It is super validating whenever you get a nice comment. I’ve posted exactly one fanfic and if anyone comments anything I will lose it (in a good way)
As an AO3 author, I can confirm: We are not okay
As a Wattpad author, I can confirm: neither are we
as a wattpad, AO3 and ficbook reader, i can tell, but in a good way
One could also argue that it is because we are not okay that we strive to create the beautiful things we post
Thank you for your service.
as an ao3 author, I remember having my readers tell me to take breaks because of how concerned they got from my author's notes
I, to this day, recall a fanfic that made me cry more than when some of my family members died. It was so beautifully written and ruined me emotionally.
The author deleted it and I was inconsolable for days, it was so good. And you'd be surprised to hear it was actually on Wattpad.
Yeah my favorite fic is also on there and… it has the WORST name
It’s “the class that no one else chose” for those that want to see it
It’s like a weighted d100 but instead of going towards a hundred it goes to a one and instead of being a 100 at the end it’s a OO and it always surprises me
As a reluctant fanfiction author, Kwite liking fanfiction is truly reassuring.
As a reluctant reader, same
6:40 they are called plot bunnies, and they also have a tendency to multiply out of control if you don't take the time to actually write one out
Plot bunnies?? What are those???
@@DrawciaGleam02 what you were talking about, story ideas that haunt and hound you your every waking moment until you write them, and if you dont write em out then they multiply into more related but distinct story ideas
ao3 authors will go through hell and back and then apologise
also the fucking tags man 😭
We will.
A quote from the notes of a fic I've read: "Today I left my phone in my uber and I sprinted after the car on foot, lost sight of it, and then hijacked someone else's phone to hunt it down. Then I couldn't get dinner because my local grocery store is on strike. busy day! But here's a chapter!"