I have not read fanfic in some time.
But now.
Now I went to ao3.
And across many fandoms it’s all the same.
Fic.
Fic where every line is a new point of emphasis.
Not just emphasis.
Every line says the next set of reactions, words, description, or emotions have to be set off.
In a new line.
Like this.
Paragraphs can’t be longer than a sentence, not ever.
It’s like the writers have never read a book.
Like they’ve trained themselves to write by reading the floating closed captions that appear.
Sentence by sentence.
Sometimes just word by word.
One thought at a time.
In a short form video.
Maybe it’s AI.
Maybe, though, people just stopped knowing how to write.
This isn’t how stories should work.
Each fanfic an inadvertent poem.
In 5000 words.
Or more.
Sometimes it’s more.
For so many chapters, every line.
Every line a new emphasis.
Imagine if someone talked to you like this.
Imagine a story where nothing varied.
They say we let out breaths we didn’t know we were holding.
What if, every time, every line, every minor moment felt like that.
Like a breath.
A breath you dumbasses keep letting out.
Over, and over.
With never an inhale in between.
That’s not a breath.
That’s a fart.
A long, long fart.
How the fuck does this not annoy you.
