Shannara810

Another piece of Spunkle murder boyfriends au inspired by @bucksmommy

That’s why I started working on my own project: creating a safe space for authors and readers again. I’ve been part of the fanfiction community since before Wattpad even existed, and I can say -with a little pride- that I’ve witnessed the rise and fall of many fanfiction platforms.

My goal is simple: to create a place for us weirdos once again. A place built not just for posting fanfiction, but for building a real community.

This is a zero-judgment zone. No hate if you use grammar tools. No hate if English isn’t your native language and your writing isn’t “flawless.” No hate for writing what you love. This is simply a safe place to create, share your work, and connect with people who love fanfiction as much as you do.

And you know what? It’s almost ready.

So here’s my question: would you be interested in registering (completely free) and starting this new journey with me? A community built by fans, for fans.

hey so. don’t do this.

“coming from a place of respect” there is nothing respectful about a comment like this. this is exactly why I say witch hunt, speculations and accusations harm the writing community as much as ai does, if not more.

I am not saying “you’re an asshole if you think a fic is ai”. I have come across fics that I believe were ai-generated. but instead of asking (accusing) the authors, I make my own decisions whether I’ll continue reading for the benefit of the doubt or quietly exit the fics and look for something else to read.

because with every accusation like this, there’s always a chance of a genuine, innocent writer getting wrongly accused.

last but not least, fanfic writers do NOT owe you anything. they write for themselves and their own enjoyment. their ao3 accounts are their houses and they were kind enough to let you in their houses. for free. (you get to read things for free.) you don’t go into other people’s houses and tell them “actually I think the way you decorate your room is sus. did you actually do it yourself or did you ask a robot to do it for you?”. THEY 👏🏻 DON’T 👏🏻 OWE 👏🏻 YOU 👏🏻 ANYTHING. and I say this as someone who is not a fan of ai fics. if you don’t like what you’re seeing, quietly leave.

I write because I love it, in my own style and at my own pace. If I happen to be Italian, Chinese, Maori, or Russian, my syntax is obviously going to sound different to a native English speaker. That doesn't mean it's "wrong," and it definitely doesn't mean it was written by a robot.

hey so. don’t do this.

“coming from a place of respect” there is nothing respectful about a comment like this. this is exactly why I say witch hunt, speculations and accusations harm the writing community as much as ai does, if not more.

I am not saying “you’re an asshole if you think a fic is ai”. I have come across fics that I believe were ai-generated. but instead of asking (accusing) the authors, I make my own decisions whether I’ll continue reading for the benefit of the doubt or quietly exit the fics and look for something else to read.

because with every accusation like this, there’s always a chance of a genuine, innocent writer getting wrongly accused.

last but not least, fanfic writers do NOT owe you anything. they write for themselves and their own enjoyment. their ao3 accounts are their houses and they were kind enough to let you in their houses. for free. (you get to read things for free.) you don’t go into other people’s houses and tell them “actually I think the way you decorate your room is sus. did you actually do it yourself or did you ask a robot to do it for you?”. THEY 👏🏻 DON’T 👏🏻 OWE 👏🏻 YOU 👏🏻 ANYTHING. and I say this as someone who is not a fan of ai fics. if you don’t like what you’re seeing, quietly leave.

This is exactly how the "silent reader" culture took over places like AO3.

Ever since internet culture sped up with TikTok, people have started treating fanfiction like Netflix. They binge a massive story, finish it, and just click next without thinking. They completely forget that a real person spent months writing that for free.

A lot of readers honestly think that leaving a kudos is enough, but they don't realize that to an author, a kudos is just a polite nod. A comment is an actual conversation.

Other times, people stay quiet just because they are shy or intimidated. They think that if they can't write a super smart, long review, they shouldn't say anything at all. But they don't realize that even a single heart emoji or a quick "I loved this" can make a writer's whole week.

Nobody should write just for praise, but wanting a little bit of human connection isn't begging, it's just wanting a community. The current culture has made readers kind of lazy. They want amazing, free stories on demand, but they find it too exhausting to type a five-second sentence to say thank you.

While scrolling through TikTok, I’ve been seeing more and more videos from creators hunting down fanfics they believe were written using AI. Before someone comments on this post with some bullshit, I want to make one thing clear: I’m against generating a story with AI and then posting it as if it were your own writing. If you use AI to generate a story, please tag it properly so people can either avoid it or read it knowing you simply gave the AI a prompt.

Now that that’s out of the way, I also want to say that this “witch hunt” is harmful and damaging. It’s making people afraid to post their work because they’re scared they’ll be accused of using AI just because they used an em dash or some other stylistic choice (guess what? I’ve been using em dashes since 2001).

The world of fanfiction was never perfect, but it was built by weirdos, and those weirdos created a safe space for one another. It’s genuinely saddening to see new writers who want to share something they created but are too afraid to post it because they’re worried about being accused of cheating. They might miss the chance to make someone’s day a little brighter with their story.

I’m not a native English speaker, and I rely on Reverso Context to look up this or that word. But obviously, my English isn't going to sound like someone who speaks it every single day. I might use an archaic term, or something out of context, or maybe I was just taught in school to build sentences a certain way, while slang dictates otherwise.

So what? Should I be publicly humiliated for it? Or because, once in a while, I happen to ask an AI, 'I know there’s a mistake in this sentence, it sounds off to me, but I can’t figure out where I’m going wrong'?

Since when did the fanfiction world become yet another battlefield where you have to prove something to total strangers just to be worth anything? Or worse, where people feel entitled to pass judgment on your life?

There are real life places where fictional incest is illegal but you can still marry your cousin, maybe you should be fighting that instead of trying to censore fiction.

sometimes I’m reminded that there are still people who don’t know ao3 was literally created by incest shippers — and the site’s sole purpose is to 1. be completely against censorship and 2. host all kinds of dark, taboo fics that are banned on other platforms — and the first ever fic that was posted on ao3 was a fic about an incest ship from supernatural.

you are in the house that was created by freaks. for freaks (affectionate). every disgusting thing you can think of is rightfully allowed and welcomed on ao3, because they are exactly the reasons why ao3 was created in the first place.

ao3 was created because its creators got tired of censorship, they got tired of dark and taboo fics getting banned on pro-censorship platforms, and they wanted a place that was safe for ALL FICS THAT WERE DARK AND TABOO.

ao3’s main principle is being against censorship and being proship / profic.

there are some things in fiction that make me uncomfortable, but instead of shaming people who are just minding their own business and not harming anyone in real life, I choose to curate my own internet experience by blocking/muting what I don’t want to see. ao3 has excellent tagging system, so instead of being a bitch, use their tagging system properly and you won’t see the things you don’t want to see.

it’s your job to curate what you see. it’s not other people’s jobs or responsibilities to censor themselves for your personal comfort. the world does not revolve around you.

also you cannot censor “only the things you personally hate” without expecting everything else, that isn’t of conservative beliefs, to be censored too. because censorship is a slippery slope and a fascist tool. I promise you there are people who think “why do tags for queer love even exist on ao3? they’re grooming children”.

if you allow the things that you hate to be censored — because someone with enough power gets to control what other people can and cannot create/consume, it will not stop at the things that you hate.

I have spent a significant portion of my life sick in bed. This means I have read... a lot of fanfiction. I do not want to run the numbers (for my own sanity) but there is a nonzero chance that I have read a greater volume of fanfiction than most of you will in a lifetime (yes, even in a tumblr crowd, where I have some real competition 😆).

For a number of years I was really embarrassed by this because for most of my life, I've fit best with the 'socially elitist nerd' set. You know - the ones who don't care if you make a little less eye contact, as long as your performance of intelligence can make them feel intelligent too. I "passed" there. So more than a decade of constant fluff and rom-com "junk" really felt like something I should be ashamed of.

But I've realized recently what fanfiction (or any free web fiction) really is. It's the author's hopes. It's the author's fears. It's all the things you wouldn't write to publish because they feel too sad, or sinful, or sacred.

Without really thinking about it, I've been drinking from the well of human desire - from fear, and love, and lust. I've been reading your precious wishes for family, or protection, or connection. I've been learning how you dream life could be.

Thank you to every writer whose work I have read or will read someday. Thank you for sharing the most precious parts of your heart, even when you didn't realize what you were doing. To every writer out there - every middle schooler with dreams, every suburban mom wishing her life could be something more. You reached out into the oblivion with the piece of yourself you probably don't even share with those closest. And somewhere in this world, a person noticed. Your dreams and hopes and wishes became a piece of me too.

My first art for @harringrovesummerbingo