#fic discourse

can fandoms please stop fucking describing fanfiction as "CSAM"?

that term refers to recordings (image, video, or audio) of minors being sexually abused

please stop using it to describe fictional stories about fictional people who do not exist outside of words on a page, thank you.

people will sit on tiktok and make entire ranking videos of fics. they'll talk about how they want slow burns with immaculate characterization, intricate political plots, and emotional payoffs that span 600k words across five years of updates. they'll talk about wanting stories that completely take over their lives.

and then those same people won't touch an ongoing fic.

they won't leave comments. they won't bookmark. they won't tell their friends. they won't engage until the work is already finished and has been vetted by fifty other readers.

do people realize what they're asking for when they demand a 600k slow burn? that's half a decade of somebody's free time. that's thousands of hours spent writing after work, after school, after exams, after family emergencies, after losing motivation and finding it again.

those legendary fics everyone loves to recommend didn't appear fully formed out of nowhere. they survived because people supported them while they were being written.

everybody wants the next fandom-defining epic. nobody wants to be the person encouraging chapter 17 of 143.

and then people wonder why fewer longfics get finished.

This is directed to the ageist anon who wrote the post containing the following quote:

"a few 40 y/o fic authors..."

That quote is working very hard to erase the fact that the people who were teenagers during Bullets era are now in their late thirties and forties right now. they didn't age out of the fandom. they're still here. they're still writing.

and here's the thing about "realistic" it goes both ways. if you're 22y.o. writing yourself with a 49y.o. gerard way, that IS an age gap fic. if you're 40y.o. writing yourself with a 49y.o. gerard way, that's practically peers. which one is more realistic depends entirely on who's holding the pen.

...but if you can't identify with the character, you're not describing a collective reality. you're describing your reality and assuming everyone else's looks the same.

MCR was one of the first biggest bands on AO3, which is a website that you can thank the "few 40-year-old fic authors" out there for as well, just so you're informed and can no longer claim ignorance.

Best wishes! 🍀

I actually made this account ages ago and then forgot about it like a true AO3 feral. Anyway hi. I’m the author of Ashes and Embers, the long-ass Naruto/Sasuke fic where they’re both mentally ill, emotionally constipated, and also probably in love (tragically).

This blog is now officially my place to:

Scream about my fic

Post dumbass meta

Spiral about how Sasuke is both the problem and the solution

Cry over other fandoms too (ATEEZ, other animes, K-pop chaos, etc.)

Possibly ruin lives with crack posts like “Naruto bottoming is reparations”

If you're here because you read my fic and went “what the hell is wrong with this person,” welcome. You were right. Pull up a chair.