Jenn Writes

apotelesma: the influence that stars have over human destiny

asteriscus: a little star; an asterisk

astralis: relating to the stars

astrifer: starry; numbered with the stars

astriloquus: talking of the stars

astrologia: knowledge of the stars

constellatio: constellation

noctifer: the night-bringer; the evening star

sidereus: belonging to the stars, starry

stella: star

stellifer: star-bearing, starry

stellimicans: glittering with stars

That being said, can i request another one please? It could be HCs or scenario (just do one that feel comfortable with you, i'll eat anything you throw at me😆) about mha boys (deku, bakugo, kiri and shoto) + tenya, where they found their own hero's merchandise (for the first time) in a store with their child, like how would they react anddd how they react when their child pick another hero's merch instead of their dad's. Thank you! Take care and don't forget to rest once in a while!! <////3

Ahh thank you soo much! That means so much to me! I hope I did this justice for you <3 I didnt know if you meant seeing their merch for the first time in general or for the first time with their kid, so I did just in general- I hope that was right.

Hero Merch

ft. Midoriya, Shoto, Kirishima, Bakugo, Tenya

Midoriya-

Izuku didn’t expect the grocery run to turn into something like this. It was supposed to be simple: milk, bread, something sweet because your daughter had been very good this week. The three of you walked through the wide aisles together, your child’s small hand tucked securely into Izuku’s glove-less one, her steps uneven as she hummed to herself.

Then you passed the toy aisle. And Izuku froze.

“Oh.” There it was. A full shelf. Action figures. Plushies. Keychains. A lunchbox. Even tiny hero masks in green and black.

“Deku - Pro Hero Edition.”

For a moment, Izuku genuinely forgot how to breathe.

“That’s-” His voice cracked, and he cleared his throat, mortified. “That’s me.”

Your daughter blinked up at the shelf, then at him. “You?”

Izuku crouched down to her level, eyes shining in a way you hadn’t seen since his first big hero ranking announcement. “Y-Yeah. That hero… that’s Daddy.” She stared again. Long and serious. Then she gasped.

“Daddy’s a toy?!”

You bit your lip to keep from laughing.

Izuku sputtered. “N-No! I mean, well, kind of? I mean, people made toys of me because I help people, and-” He gestured helplessly at the shelf. “I didn’t even know they’d put these out yet.” He picked one up carefully, like it might vanish if he moved too fast. The figure was detailed; freckles and all. Even the little scuff on his boot was there.

“They got my shoot style right,” he whispered, reverent. You watched his shoulders shake slightly as he laughed under his breath, overwhelmed.

“Izuku,” you said softly, kneeling beside him. “You did it.”

He smiled at you; wide, disbelieving, emotional. “We did.” Then your daughter wriggled free from his hand.

“Look!” she chirped, already toddling a few steps down the aisle. Izuku turned, still glowing.

“What is it, sweetheart?” She stopped in front of another shelf. Bright. Loud. Explosive. She grabbed a plush with two tiny grenade-shaped hands.

“THIS ONE!”

Silence. Izuku stared.

“Kacchan.” You covered your mouth.

“Oh no.” Your daughter hugged the plush tightly.

“He yells funny!”

Izuku let out the most betrayed noise you’d ever heard him make. “I-You- But Daddy’s right there,” he said, pointing weakly to his own merch. She frowned, considering this.

Then she shook her head. “Boom hero.” You laughed so hard you had to sit down.

Izuku slumped dramatically against the shelf. “I fought villains. I saved cities. I broke bones. And my own child prefers Boom Hero.”

You reached over and squeezed his arm affectionately. “Hey,” you teased, “at least she didn’t pick Endeavor.”

He shuddered. “That would’ve destroyed me.” Your daughter toddled back over and, after a moment of intense thought, picked up a small Deku keychain too. She held both up proudly.

“Daddy and boom.” Izuku blinked.

“I’ll take it,” he said softly, smiling. As you walked out, your daughter swinging the bag between you, Izuku glanced back at the store one last time. His name. His face. On a shelf. A dream he’d once been afraid to even imagine. And now? Now he had you beside him. And a child who loved him- even if she loved explosions just a little more. Izuku squeezed both your hands and smiled.

“This,” he said quietly, “is better than any ranking.”

Shoto-

Shoto passed the end of the aisle, eyes flicking over shelves out of habit, scanning for exits and threats even in places that didn’t need it. You were halfway through reminding your child not to climb the cart when his steps slowed. Then halted.

“Wait.” You turned back just in time to see him standing perfectly still, one hand resting lightly on the handle of the cart, your child seated inside it and swinging their legs. Shoto stared at the shelf. Neatly arranged. Symmetrical. Almost too orderly. It was a shelf full of all of his hero merch.

You watched his heterochromatic eyes move, left to right, reading every label, every price tag, every small plastic version of himself staring back at him with varying expressions of calm intensity. He didn’t reach for anything. Didn’t speak.

Your child leaned forward. “Daddy?” Shoto knelt slowly to look at the bottom shelves, as if afraid a sudden movement might disrupt whatever fragile thing had just formed in his chest.

“That’s,” He paused, choosing his words with care. “That hero is me.” Your child blinked. Then leaned closer to the shelf.

“Oh.”

Just oh. Shoto exhaled quietly. Not disappointment; just relief that the moment hadn’t exploded into something overwhelming. He picked up one box at random, studying it like evidence.

“They captured my scar accurately,” he noted. “And the burn pattern on the uniform.”

You smiled. “Do you like it?” He considered the question seriously.

“I don’t dislike it,” he said, which, for Shoto, was monumental. There was something strange about seeing himself this way. Clean. Polished. Packaged. A version of him untouched by the weight of his past. A version your child might grow up recognizing before they ever understood the rest.

Then your child pointed. “That one.” Shoto followed their finger. Bright red packaging. Loud font. A grinning hero frozen mid-pose, fire effects curling around exaggerated muscles. Endeavor. The air shifted. You stiffened slightly, already preparing to redirect, when Shoto gently placed a hand on the cart.

“It’s okay,” he said calmly.

Your child bounced in their seat. “He’s shiny!”

Shoto hummed thoughtfully. “He is visually intense.” He didn’t look away from the box. Not in anger. Not in longing. Just acknowledgment. After a moment, he reached out and moved the Endeavor figure slightly aside, revealing another hero behind it. A rabbit-eared plush. Mirko.

Your child gasped. “Bunny!” Shoto’s lips twitched.

“That,” he said, “makes more sense.”

You laughed softly as your child reached for the Mirko plush with both hands. Shoto handed it to them as they gleamed with delight at the new toy. Shoto picked up one of his own items at last, not the action figure, but a simple winter-themed plush version of himself. Soft. Small. Non-threatening. He placed it gently into the cart beside your child.

They glanced at it. Touched its half-red, half-white hair. Then, without missing a beat, tucked it under their arm alongside the bunny. Shoto’s breath hitched. Just slightly. At the checkout, he stood straighter than usual, gaze unfocused as if lost in thought.

On the walk back to the car, you squeezed his hand. “You okay?”

“Yes,” he said immediately. Then, after a pause, “I think this is the first time I’ve seen myself as something safe.”

You didn’t respond, just leaned into him. Behind you, your child happily babbled to the Mirko plush, occasionally bumping Shoto’s with it like they were fighting. Shoto watched them, expression soft.

“I don’t mind,” he added quietly, “sharing the spotlight.”

Kirishima-

“NO WAY! WAIT- IS THAT: IS THAT ME?!” Half the aisle turned to stare. You barely had time to brace before your husband scooped your child straight up into his arms, spinning them around like they weighed nothing.

“BUDDY,” he said, eyes sparkling like he’d just won the lottery, “CHECK IT OUT- DAD’S A LEGEND NOW!”

Your child giggled, gripping his collar. “Again!”

“Later!” you laughed. “Let daddy catch a breath first!” Kirishima finally set them down, still vibrating with excitement, and crouched in front of the shelf like he was greeting an old friend. There it was. Bright red packaging. Big bold letters. Poses that screamed action.

“Red Riot - Unbreakable Series.”

He stared for a full five seconds. Then sniffed.

“Dang it,” he muttered.

You blinked. “Are you crying?”

“N-No!” He wiped his face with his sleeve aggressively. “Just- manly tears! They’re DIFFERENT!” He picked up one figure, turning it over with reverent hands. “They even got my teeth right, and my scar above my eye, dude, look at these abs!” You snorted.

Your child waddled closer, eyes wide. “That’s Daddy?”

“YEAH IT IS!” Kirishima beamed. “That’s your old man when he’s being extra cool!” Your child nodded very seriously. Then they reached past the Red Riot figures. Straight to a towering, flashy box.

All Might.

Your kid gasped. “BIG SMILE!” The smile on Kirishima’s face froze.

“Oh.” You watched his soul leave his body in real time. He recovered fast- too fast.

“HEY!” He laughed loudly, clapping a hand on his knee. “Can’t blame you! All Might’s awesome! That’s manly taste right there!” Your child hugged the All-Might plush like it was the greatest treasure in the world.

Kirishima leaned closer, stage-whispering, “But y’know- All Might doesn’t help you brush your teeth.”

Your kid squinted at him. Then grabbed a Red Riot action figure with their free hand.

“Daddy.” Kirishima made a sound that was half choke, half laugh.

“BRO-” He pressed a fist to his chest. “I’m done. I can’t handle this. I peaked as a hero AND a dad today.” At checkout, Kirishima insisted on buying everything. The plush. The figure. A keychain. A Red Riot lunchbox your kid hadn’t even asked for.

“This one’s for school,” he said. “This one’s for home. This one’s emotional support.” Outside, your child walked between you, clutching All Might in one hand and Red Riot in the other. Kirishima looked down at them, grinning ear to ear.

“Guess it’s okay,” he said softly, “if I’m not the biggest hero in your world.”

He ruffled their hair. “Long as I’m your favorite guy.”

Your child looked up. “Daddy’s strong.” Kirishima stopped walking.

“Okay,” he said, voice thick but smiling, “now I’m crying for real.”

Bakugo-

Bakugo noticed it because he was already pissed. The cart’s wheel squeaked. Some kid was screaming two aisles over. And the cereal you wanted was, of course, sold out.

“Stupid-ass store-” Then he saw it. He stopped so abruptly that the cart bumped into his heel from you pushing it into him.

“What the hell?” You thought he was talking to you at first until you followed his line of sight. A whole endcap. Explosions. Black and orange packaging. Aggressive font choices. His scowling face stamped across boxes like a warning label.

“Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight.”

Your child leaned over the cart. “Daddy is angry.” Bakugo’s eye twitched.

“I am not-” He inhaled sharply, then froze again, staring at the shelf. “They got my gauntlets right.” He grabbed a box, holding it too tightly, knuckles whitening.

“Why am I so short in this one?”

You peeked over his shoulder. “You’re not. You’re just proportionally accurate.”

“Tch.”

Your child squinted at the figure. “Daddy go boom?” Bakugo crouched, expression intense but oddly careful.

“Yeah. And I save people while I’m at it. Don’t copy the yelling.” They nodded solemnly.

Then your child reached past his merch. Straight for a bright, sparkly figure with a grin too big for its face. Kaminari.

“YELLOW!” your kid yelled.

Bakugo’s jaw dropped. “You picked Chargebolt?”

You bit your lip. “Oh, this is bad.” Bakugo stood slowly, looming over the shelf as it had personally betrayed him.

“You live in my house,” he said to your child. “I make your lunch. I pay for your shoes. And you choose that idiot?”

Your child hugged the Kaminari plush proudly. “He is funny.” Bakugo stared at them. Then, unbelievably, he laughed. Short and sharp

“Figures,” he muttered. “Guess bad taste is genetic.” Referencing his friendship with the yellow-haired man since their UA days.

You blinked. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” He shoved one of his own plushies into the cart anyway. “If they like the idiot, fine. I’ll just be the strongest hero they know.”

At checkout, your child placed both items on the belt; Kaminari figurine. Bakugo plush. Bakugo noticed. Didn’t comment. Later, walking to the car, your kid reached up and grabbed Bakugou’s sleeve.

 “Daddy strongest.” Bakugo looked away fast, jaw tight.

“Damn right,” he said. He carried the bags the rest of the way; no complaints, no yelling. Just a faint smirk on his face that didn’t fade the whole ride home.

Tenya-

Tenya adjusted his glasses. Once. Twice. Then stopped walking so suddenly that the cart rolled half a foot ahead of him.

“This is highly unexpected.”

You turned. “What is?” He stepped to the side with military precision and gestured sharply. An entire shelf; meticulously arranged, properly labeled, and aligned to regulation-level neatness. It was his hero merchandise. Tenya stared as he’d just been handed an official commendation.

“That is,” He cleared his throat. “Me.”

Your child peeked over the side of the cart, who was walking beside it so well behaved just a moment before. “Daddy?”

Tenya knelt immediately, posture perfect even at child height. “Yes. That hero is your father. These items exist to promote public trust and inspire moral integrity.” Your child blinked.

“Vroom?”

Tenya brightened. “Yes! Vroom!” Tenya picked up an action figure and examined it with critical scrutiny. “The engine detailing is correct. The posture is accurate. The helmet curvature is exquisite.”

You smiled. “You look proud.”

“I am,” he admitted. “But I must ensure these items uphold ethical standards.” Your child moved from the cart and toddled over. They reached out. Past Ingenium. Straight to a sleek, white-and-blue figure mid–air kick. Hawks.

“Bird man!” your child chirped. Tenya froze.

“Ah.” You watched him process this with the same seriousness he’d once reserved for emergency drills.

“Well,” he said carefully, “Hawks is a capable hero with commendable efficiency, though his adherence to protocol is flexible.”

Your child flapped their arms. “Fly!”

Tenya nodded. “Flying is objectively appealing.” He crouched, guiding their hand back to the Ingenium shelf; not forcefully, just gently. “However, your father’s heroic work emphasizes perseverance, responsibility, and-” Your child had already picked up an Ingenium helmet.

“Daddy,” they said, holding it up proudly. Tenya’s composure cracked. Just slightly. His shoulders relaxed. His mouth curved into a small, stunned smile.

“I see,” he said quietly. “A balanced selection.” At checkout, Tenya insisted on placing the items on the belt in a specific order. Hawks first. Then Ingenium.

“For efficiency,” he explained, but you knew better. A small smile plays on your lips. Outside, your child clutched the Hawks in one hand and the helmet in the other, making whooshing engine noises. Tenya watched them, hands on the shopping cart as you walked beside him.

“It is acceptable,” he said, voice warm, “for a child to admire many heroes.” He looked down at your child.

“So long as they know where home is.”

Your child grinned. “Daddy go vroom!” Tenya beamed.

On every What is Wednesdays I will explain a trope, a rhetorical device, or a literary technique in a few sentences. Put in the comments what you would like me to explain next.

What is... a drabble?

What is... dead dove?

What is... archetypal characters?

What is… deus ex machina?

What is… whump?

What is... plot bunny?

What is... canon vs. fanon?

What is… a headcanon?

What is… a plot hole?

What is… retcon?

What is… WIP?

What is… a sequel hook?

What is… a crossover?

What is… crack?

What is… a rarepair?

What is… a red herring?

What is… fluff?

What is… smut?

What is… OOC?

What is… a missing scene?

What is… Coda?

What is… a trope?

What is… Alpha vs. Beta Reader?

What is… a cliffhanger?

What is… an AU?

What is… a slice of life?

What is… a flashforward vs a flashback?

What is… BAMF?

What is an… OTP?

What is… an OT3?

What is… a reader insert?

What is… a squick?

Short story: under 7,500

Novelette: between 7,500 and 17,500

Novella: between 17,500 and 40,000

Novel: over 40,000

What to Do With Too Much Dialogue

Thank you for the ask Anon! Honestly, this is something I struggle with as well. My characters just love to hear themselves talk.

What Does Dialogue Add to the Scene?:

Dialogue is a very easy way to reveal a character's personality. It makes them more fleshed out as an individual and it's a way for the reader to decide if they like the character or not.

Two characters exchanging a conversation can also reveal back story, add conflict to a situation, tell the reader something about themselves or about another character, and it can reveal a characters goals and motivation.

Even though dialogue does all of these useful things, there are other elements that can do the same. By all means, continue using dialogue in your writing, but don't allow it to take over a story.

Summarizing Dialogue:

If you want to show your reader that you have two characters talking to one other, but it doesn't add anything to the story, you can summarize it.

Let's say two characters are exchanging small talk about the weather. You don't need to write out exactly what is being said line for line. Cut it down to something like "They talked about the weather for a few moments."

The same thing applies to a conversation that is important to the story, but knowing exactly what is said is not necessary. You can summarize what they talked about, and even share what the characters thought about it, what they were doing as they talked, etc.

Find What is Missing and Add It:

When you find a scene that has a lot of dialogue, the best thing to do is add information that is missing from the scene.

I read that if a conversation ever exceeds six lines of dialogue back and forth with nothing in between, your reader will get bored.

A few ideas:

Give a description of the setting

Share something relevant about the characters that are talking

Have your characters move around during the conversation

Share what one of the characters is thinking

I'll share a scene from one of my WIPs (This is not a prompt, just an example), so you can get an idea:

Dialogue with no breaks:

"You wouldn't understand!" "You're right, I don't understand. Not yet at least. Will you help me understand?" "I don't want to talk about it. I don't even want to think about it." "I want you to know I want to listen if you need someone to talk to. I won't force it out of you." "Why are you taking care of me? What did I do to deserve your help?" "It's incredibly sad that you feel that you have to ask that, you realize?"

Notice how it just runs on and on? Even if you add "he said," or "she said," it doesn't add anything. There's conflict and lots of emotion, but the reader can't tell what the characters are thinking or what they're doing during this conversation.

Here is the same scene (still not a prompt), but now with added information:

“You wouldn’t understand!” Red stared at her, taking in every miniscule detail of her face. The freckles that dotted her nose, the stray hair that cascaded down her face, no matter how many times she tucked it behind her ear it refused to stay. He examined the bruise that colored her left cheek, dancing up to her eye and down to her jawline. The scar: the faintest white line he had ever seen that traveled her forehead and disappeared beneath her brow. His eyes lingered on the bandage on her neck, the red irritated skin that peeked out from the edges. He saw the devastation in her eyes, an emotion he now saw that she had masked with anger.  “You’re right.” He told her, “I don’t understand. Not yet at least. Will you help me understand?” June was the first to break eye contact, instead fixating on a mark in the wood. “I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t even want to think about it.” A sigh from Red. “I want you to know I want to listen if you need someone to talk to. I won’t force it out of you.” “Why are you taking care of me? What did I do to deserve your help?” It was a question Red was not anticipating. His brows furrowed. “It’s incredibly sad that you feel that you have to ask that, you realize?”

The added information to the scene shows how the characters feel about the conversation and how they view each other. The reader is more engaged because they're not overwhelmed by the dialogue, and it gives them insight to the personality of the characters, making them seem more human.

Editing:

When I write, I find it easier to write out the dialogue first. My main goal is to get words on paper. I'll add who is talking and how they said it, but other than that it's just dialogue. When I finish, I go back and look for those dialogue-heavy scenes, and that's when I add the information that is missing.

Other Resources:

Too Much Dialogue - The Editor's Blog

Option 1 - The Excerpt:

The quickest, the easiest! Find a section of your fic that contains the main premise of said fic and also showcases your writing. Copy paste that into the summary box. BOOM! Done.

Best used for any fic, unless it's so short the excerpt would be the whole fic.

Option 2 - The No Frills:

Just a description of the fic. No need for drama. No need to complicate matters. Keep it simple, keep it safe.

Example: "A short character exploration of Blorbo's thoughts after Daisy leaves."

Best used for short fics, poems and fics where the style/format is more important than the plot. Or fics that tie directly into a scene/episode from canon or another fanfic.

Option 3 - The Hook:

Draw the reader's interest by giving them a set up with no conclusion. Introduce the main character(s), introduce the status quo, describe an inciting incident, leave a question in the reader's mind.

Example: "Blorbo is a barista at a coffee shop, struggling to pay their bills, but after handsome rockstar Obrolb walks into their coffee shop they find that they have to decide whether a chance at love is worth the cost of fame."

Best used for mid to long fic where there's a strong premise and follow through. Especially good for AUs. Can be expanded for more complex plots or used multiple times in one summary for multiple characters or subplots.

Option 4 - The Sitcom One-Liner:

"The one in which [over simplified description of one of the main plotlines]" This is essentially 'boil your plot down to the very simplest statement you can, oversimplify if possible. The more bizarre or unhelpful the better.

Example: "The one in which Blorbo learns to like cake".

Best used for fics with at least a little humour in them.

Option 5 - The Rule of Three:

Three is a magic number. Find three key moments in your fic and just list them. That's it. Often ends with 'not necessarily in that order' if used for comic effect. If it's an AU, establish that quickly (i.e. 'Star NHL player Blorbo…').

Example: "Blorbo makes a friend, falls in love, and almost burns to death, not necessarily in that order."

Best used for anything, really. Three is a magic number. The human brain loves things that come in threes.

Option 6 - The Trope Lure:

Why bother describing the plot? We all know AO3 readers are here for the tropes. Similar to The Sitcom One-Liner just using tropes instead of plot. Often followed by the phrase 'that nobody asked for'.

Example: "The Space western/ABO/Mail Order Bride fic that nobody asked for."

Often tacked on to the end of The Hook or The Excerpt as a tl;dr.

Best used for fic that plays its tropes straight with no shame or second guessing.

Option 7 - The Pre-emptive Strike:

(Not recommended) You just wrote this fic, the self doubt is consuming you. You feel the need to apologise profusely for your existence for no apparently reason. You feel cringe, you think the fic is cringe, you want everyone to know that you think the fic is cringe in case they don't like it and judge you for it.

Example: "So I fell in love with this pairing and had to write this. It's weird and terrible. Lol! I suck at summaries! Sorry!"

Best used for no fics ever. I cannot stress this enough.

(Seriously, I am begging you, don't do this. If you're planning to use this option, rethink it and do one of the others. I guarantee you more people will want to read your fic.)

Sometimes added on to any other summary as a strange disclaimer. (srsly. don't.)

Option 8 - The Unapology:

Embrace the mayhem, embrace the deep dark depths of your soul. The opposite of The Pre-emptive Strike. A combination of The No Frills and The Trope Lure that truly gives no fucks.

You have committed crimes and you are proud of them. You know what your USP is and you're going to make sure your target market finds you. Look upon my works, ye readers, and despair!

Example: "There aren't enough tentacle fics in this pairing, so I had to write one myself!"

Best used for fics with controversial/polarising tropes with all relevant details already clearly stated in the tags.

Option 9 - The Interrogation:

What if you wrote a summary entirely in questions? What if your readers had to read the fic to discover the answers? Who knows what will happen if you do this?

Example: "What happens when Blorbo McBlorbo gets his wish and Daisy doesn't make it to the plane on time? What happens when Obrolb finds out? How will this change Daisy and Blorbo's friendship?"

Best used for... I honestly don't know. This style of summary does not vibe with me. Mystery fic maybe? Sorry guys.

Option 10 - The Multipack:

Got a bunch of shorter fics in one work? No way of summarising them all without a wall of text larger than the Great Wall of China? This one is similar to The No Frills in that you're not describing the plots themselves and similar to The Trope Lure in that often broader genres and tropes are mentioned. What links those fics? Are they all in the same fandom? The same pairing? The same challenge? Just slap that right in the summary. A chapter list with 1-2 word trope/pairing summaries can be included or not.

Example: "A collection of Blorbo/Daisy/Obrolb fics based on Tumblr prompts. Chapter 1: Regency AU Chapter 2: Werewolves vs vampires Chapter 3: Ghost!Daisy Chapter 4: Space pirates!"

Best used for (obviously) works that are compilations of fic.

Option ? - The Void:

I said The Excerpt was the quickest and easiest summary to do. I lied, well... I didn't exactly lie. What is quicker and easier than not having a summary at all? After all, that's what the tags are for.

Example:

My friend send me this link, is a series on a profile on Ao3 (tumblr) that has different tutorials to insert things to fanfics via html code, I thought I would share bc it’s really cool

Lists of tutorials:

How to make images fit in mobile browsers

This is a tutorial/live example on how to make large images fit on mobile browsers but remain normal size on desktop browsers.

How to mimic letters, fliers, and stationery without using images

This is a tutorial/live example on how to mimic the look of letters, fliers, and stationery (as well as other forms of written media) without using images. For all your epistolary fic needs.

How to make a “choose your own adventure” Fic

This is a tutorial/live example on how to create a "Choose Your Own Adventure" fic. While this has been explained before (see here), this particular tutorial shows you how to use a work skin to hide the next parts from the reader until they click through to get to them.

How to make linked footnotes on Ao3

This is a live example of how an author can create linked footnotes in their work with only a little bit of HTML and no workskins required. This is best viewed by clicking "Entire Work". While I've included the actual coding in bold and italic once you click "Hide Creator's Style", there's a more detailed explanation here.

How to change text on Ao3 when the cursor is hovering over it (or clicked on mobile)

This a tutorial/live example on how to have text change or appear once a cursor is hovering over it. Helpful for pop-up spoilers, language translations, quick author's notes, etc.

How to mimic author’s notes and Kudos/Comment buttons

Anonymous on tumblr: do you have a skin that would mimic the author’s notes and review/kudos buttons section from the end of a fic? the desired effect being that the fic could go on after the “end” of the fic, so after the author’s notes and review/kudos buttons

Here's a tutorial/live example to do just that, with some of the buttons actually functioning. I'll explain more inside!

How to wrap text around images

This is a tutorial/live example on how to align images to the left or right of the screen and have text wrap around them.

How to mimic email windows

This is a tutorial/live example on how to mimic email windows on AO3 without the need to use images.

How to make ios text messages on Ao3

This is a tutorial/live example on how to mimic iOS text messages on AO3 without the need to use images. There's also a chapter on how to have emojis displayed on AO3 as well.

How to make Customized page deviders

Bored with the default page dividers? This is a tutorial/live example on how customize your page dividers with no images needed (though I do show you how you could use images if you wanted to do such a thing).

How to make invisible text (That can be highlighted)

This is a live example how to make invisible text that can only be seen by highlighting the text. Tutorial is included in text, and you can always leave comments about questions you may have.

MOBILE USERS: Sadly, this probably won't work for you, since highlighting in a mobile browser is different than web. I've tried correcting this, but have yet to find a solution.

How to make a rounded playlist

Original coding and design is from layouttest. I make no claims for it, just tweaked it so it will work on AO3.

How to create notebook lined paper on Ao3

This is a live example of my AO3 skin that allows the author to recreate the look of lined notebook paper in their work. To learn more about it, you can find the tutorial here.

Sticky notes on Ao3 without using images

This is a live example of my AO3 skin that allows the author to recreate the look of sticky notes (aka Post-Its) in their fic. To learn more about it, you can find the tutorial here.

How to make deadpool’s thinking thinking boxes on Ao3

This is a live example of my AO3 skin that allows the author to recreate the look of Deadpool's thinking boxes in their fic. To learn more about it, you can find the tutorial here.

How to make newspaper articles on Ao3

Supercarrier: fandom flagship.  Everybody and their dog ships it.  The fandom is glutted with artwork and fic.  You cannot escape this ship.

Dreadnought: massively popular.  Nearly everybody ships it.  You can, with dedication, in theory, reach the end of the AO3 archive for the ship’s tag, but it’ll take a long time.

Cruiser: pretty popular ship.  Not everyone ships it, but everyone knows about it.  Has a good amount of fic/art, and probably multiple ask blogs.

Frigate: just plain popular.  Feels like it could use more fanworks.  New people to the fandom might not know about it, but they’ll stumble across it sooner rather than later.

Gunboat: bit of a rarepair.  It might have an ask blog or two.  A couple big name fans ship it.  Probably only takes a few weeks to get through the entire AO3 backlog, and one new fic gets added during that time.

Tugboat: rarepair.  Almost never seen except as a side pairing to a more popular ship.  You can usually get through everything on AO3 in a matter of days.  You’ve forgotten what it is to be picky about what you read.

Rowboat: less than a dozen people ship it.  You all know each other.  You exist in an endless cycle of the same five people desperately producing art and fic and one person who constantly contributes headcanons.

Raft: There’s two-to-four people who Ship It Hard and a few others who grab onto the side for safety when there’s drama on their usual flagship.

Barrel: There’s orphaned fic of it. There’s unsigned art of it. There’s headcanon asks on anon. Someone must ship it, but no one knows why or who they are. Your friend got a glimpse once before they ducked back down.

Remember the song ‘Killing Me Softly’? Good adverb. How about ‘Killing Me Fiercely’? Bad adverb.

Adverbs have the power to take an action and make it more poetic because they give it’s a human element. But it all depends on context- you have to look at the bigger picture.

To take the aforementioned example-

‘I am getting married today,’ she said smiling happily.

Creates a vastly different mental picture than-

‘I’m just going to have to kill him,’ she said, smiling happily.

Both are perfectly cromulent sentences. One paints a different picture.

Unless your reader is a jerk, they are not going through each sentence with a crimson pen to make marks for every time you use an adverb, or use an adverb poorly.

My only caution with adverb usage is that because they all end in 'ly’ you have to be conscious of creating a repetitive sound pattern with them. Which is one of the reasons I strongly advocate reading your work out loud to yourself to make sure it flows naturally.

I feel like the time has come to produce something like this:

Squick: A fic/art/concept/topic that is repellent to you, so you reject association with it and instead retreat to your personal comfortable spaces- all the while remembering that someone else’s comfort is not your own.

YKINMKATO: Also called “kink tomato.” Abbreviation meaning “your kink is not my kink, and that’s okay.” Used to explain why you are rejecting art or fic brought to you by someone else. A solid mantra to recall instead of sending flames in people’s comments

Flames: The comment equivalent of anon hate.

AMV: “animated music video” or “anime music video.” Often, this is stylized to fit a specific fandom, such as a “PMV” (pony music video) in my little pony. May also be referred to as a lyricstuck.

Filk: Combination of the words “film” and “folk,” this is a music genre, to which “fan songs” and “fan parody covers” belong. If you don’t really understand what this means, take a quick listen to American Pie, then compare Weird Al Yankovic’s Saga Begins

BNF: Big name fan. You know that one person who is just so fuckign popular in your fandom? Their art is always on your dash, everyone knows their fics? Being spoken to directly by them is basically being noticed by everyone ever’s senpai? That’s what these people are called.

DL:DR; Not unliked the teal deer (tl;dr, or “too long, didn’t read”), DLDR means “don’t like? Don’t read!” It’s a reminder that you are under no obligation, ever, to expose yourself to uncomfortable (or, squicky), or potentially harmful (or, triggering), material. Not ever. If you don’t actively like something? It’s not worth your time. Skip it.

Gen: or “genfic” “genart” etc. Fan works which contain no or very little romantic content. Often these are styled after the canon material, and may be called “episodic” ro “slice of life” in addition. 

Lemon: Work containing strong pornographic elements

Lime, or Citrus: Work containing mild or implicit pornographic elements

Sockpuppeting: The surprisingly common scenario of someone making a bunch of fake accounts/sideblogs to send themselves reviews or hate, to try to increase views or drama surrounding a work. The accounts they make are called Sockpuppets. 

WAFF: Warm and fluffy feelings. A genre of fic that exists just to be therapeutically sweet. Nowadays, usually just called “fluffy.”

Schmoop: Take WAFF and somehow make it even more syrupy. You’ll know it when you see it.

Whump: Imagine if you will, a hurt-comfort fic. The comfort might be considered WAFF. The hurt? That’s the whump.

Wapanese: When white autors pepper their anime fanfic with random, tonally inappropriate japanese words. 

Anthropomorfic: Nowadays we just call these “humanstuck” or “humanized AU.”

Wank: Wildly disproportionate drama that crops up because someone wrote/drew/did something that someone else didn’t like. Seriously, I cannot begin to express the fiascos that have come about from all this. Just… Just go look at this.

 Plot bunny: Story ideas that you probably won’t ever actually deal with, but that multiply entirely out of control, creating huge worlds in your head that you’re probably not going to write. But hey! You might! And until then they make great sideblogs/askblogs/tumblr posts.

Casefic: Fanfics that try to create an episode-like feel for procedural and crime dramas, moster of the week shows, etc.

Jossed: When popular fan theories and fanon are addressed in the canon of a series, and whoops, turns out we were all very, very wrong.

Kripked: When popular fan theories and fanon are addressed in the canon of a show and, hot damn, we fucking called it.

Secret Masters: The people who run the websites/ communities/etc that we all do our fanning on. Less relevant now that we have things like tumblr, but when everyone had to run their own archival and social sites for each fandom, it was more important to pay our respects to the strange and powerful beings that brought us all together and gave us our fannish homes. Think the staff of AO3, for example.

Ficlet: Fic that clocks in somewhere between 100 to 2.5K words.

Crossover: A piece of media in which two or more source materials are treated as the same universe. Characters from Fandom A can meet characters from Fandom B. (The Doctor Goes To Hogwarts And Meet Harry Potter!)

Fusion: A fusion takes the characters of one source material and *surplants* them into another universe entirely. Characters from Fandom A cannot meet characters from Fandom B. (Dave Strider is part of an Inception team!)

TPTB: The Powers That Be. Almost always redundantly referred to as “the TPTB.” A collective term for showrunners, actors, producers, writers, et al, anyone who is part of the team that creates the source material.

YMMV: Your Mileage May Vary. A shorthand way of saying “this is how I see it/have experienced it though I realize others might have a different perspective.”

Problem: I can’t leave kudos again.

Beginner: This is a second/third/fourth Kudos

Advanced: This is my second/third/fortieth time reading this, I still love it so much. Here are a few new things I noticed. I like the way you personally do x, y, z compared to other authors I’ve read (in this ship/genre/fandom).

Problem: I don’t know what to say :(

Beginner: Just list what you did to read this fic. “I stayed up late reading this”, “I read this on a crowded train”, “this kept me company while sick”. 

Advanced: X,Y,Z parts made me get butterflies, and I had a physical reaction to this part of the story, I squealed outloud when characters did x,y,z. I blushed at this part. I laughed out loud here. Whatever. 

Problem: I’m embarrassed to leave a comment (what if I annoy the author?)

Beginner: Short answer: you won’t EVER annoy the author (unless you’re needlessly mean) But to start, be generic, you don’t have to spill your soul in the comments section. “I liked this” “I enjoyed reading this” “nice fic”.

Advanced: This really meant a lot to me that you wrote this. This is something I feel like I’ve always wanted to read. This fic hit me in all the right places. Etc. 

Problem: I don’t know how to express myself/my experience 

1. Demand or even ask for more WITHOUT first saying something nice about the fic. If the sum total of your comment is “give me more of this” then yes, that is deeply annoying. It’s okay to say “I’’d love to see a sequel!” AFTER you praise the fic, but it is not, in and of itself, a compliment. It’s a demand. (The praise doesn’t have to be involved, just nice. “I loved this!!” is fine.)

2. “I usually hate [character/pairing/kink] but I enjoyed this!” Please don’t preface your comment by telling the author that you hate something they clearly enjoy and care about (and probably already see plenty of negative comments about, given the types of characters/pairings/kinks that attract this kind of comment).

3. Criticism unless it is EXPLICITLY asked for. Even “constructive” criticism. Just don’t, okay? The tiny percentage of people who like that will say so in the notes; everyone else HATES it. (Pointing out typos that can be fixed instantly is a grey area—I want to know so I like it as long as you ALSO say something nice; many people hate it. I would say, only do it at the end of a long comment full of enthusiastic praise, and even then if the author is a stranger it’s a gamble.)

I don’t mind this IF one of the following is true:

—people tend to be OOC in this pairing or trope, and the comment is about how you did a great job staying true to the characters and/or making the pairing/trope believable without sacrificing characterization.

—somebody not in the fandom has followed me to the fandom and is commenting that they’re literally in it for my writing. I actually consider this praise of the highest caliber because it says they’re trusting me to keep them interested—and also says they’re in my work for ME, not for a pairing du jour.

—it’s a WIP and you’re saying you don’t normally read WIPs but you were too intrigued to wait.

Advanced: Highlighted line or some commentary on element of story

I'm mostly blundering my way through this myself, but I'll give it a shot.

No matter what anybody tells you: Once you've written the book and cleaned it up for publication, the hard part's over. My sales as a self-pub author of extremely niche fiction are already way higher than I expected, and none of the work I've put into marketing has been half as much time or effort as actually creating the thang dings.

If you have the money, hire an editor. The Last Girl Scout was a self-edit (on account of I didn't and don't have the money), and while I am still very happy with it, it's nowhere near the book it could've been as a consequence--as many Goodreads reviewers will tell you.

I also recommend hiring a formatter. You can do your own formatting if you're like a nerd who knows about computers and stuff, but it's a lot of work and not everybody has that skill set. Also, like with editing, it is very very easy to overlook mistakes when it's your own work your dealing with. Here I'm gonna plug @kodyboye, who's formatted all the stuff I've sent to print and does excellent work (also fast as hell; iirc he had like 24-hour turnaround on the typescript of TLGS, which is a 600-page leviathan).

Once you've got your formatted files and cover art (which is a whole 'nother kettle of worms that I do not feel qualified to get into, I have An Associate who handles that for me), self-pub is as easy as hitting a button if you use Amazon KDP or as easy as hitting 3 or 4 more buttons if you use another service. Then you'll have a book and you'll be like "Wtf I'm an author."

(note on the above: Do not fuck w/ any service that asks you for money. Pay-to-play publishing services are 100% a scam; a publisher or publishing service asking an author to pay them is literally the same thing as your boss making you pay to come to work)

As for marketing: If you don't have the budget for paid promotions (which I don't and I'm assuming most ppl reading this don't), the best thing you can do is to Be A Person On The Internet. I'm lucky b/c I'd already developed a not-insignificant following from being a weird nerd Tumblr shitposter before I had to make a book happen, but you can speedrun that by just being generally active on your blog. In addition to whatever your regular blog content is, post samples of your work, talk about your creative process, be ready to talk about your books A Lot even on those days when it feels like nobody else is, and follow tags like #writeblr and #bookblr. (I'm also gonna tag in @thebibliosphere who is an A+ Tumblr follow and way better at this game than me)

I also very recommend joining a trade organization; I've been a member of the Horror Writers Association for a little over a year now and it's pretty great being automatically plugged into a network of other ppl in the industry.

And for broader-scope industry networking w/ people who are also very very invested in Writers Getting Paid For Their Work, I encourage (that is: beg) everybody who's even thinking about putting pen to paper to join the Freelance Journalists Union:

You’ll earn more money uploading direct to Amazon and, I think, Barnes and Noble (possibly Apple too, I’d need to check), so upload to them first, then go wide on D2D without selecting them. That will allow for global distribution with minimal effort. They’ll also send you royalty reports broken down by retailer, which is nice.

Do become an affiliate on as many platforms as you can and use those affiliate sales links to earn back some of the money places like Amazon take in fees. It’s not much, literal pennies, but any scrap of money I can claw back from Jeff Bezos undeserving hands is worth it. For paperbacks, get a bookshop.org affiliate account; they offer the best affiliate rates to authors and any sales generated through them also helps fund indie bookstores.

If you do paperbacks or any other format, you’ll need ISBNs which can be bought in bulk from Bowler/MyIdentifiers.com

Like I said as well, d2d now offers paperbacks though I’m not familiar with it yet. Otherwise, Ingram Spark is where you’ll want to look for paperbacks, though be aware they charge an uploading fee, which Amazon doesn’t (this does not make Ingram a vanity publisher; they’re a printer with global distribution and you as the self-pubber are absorbing some of the production cost). So it might be more feasible for you to just do Amazon print depending on your budget.

Also, fair warning, I am having a bitch of a time with them atm over hardbacks and quality control, so always order proofs for approval and be aware there is a cost to change files after if you need to. This is where Amazon has the edge and why many indie authors choose to print exclusively through Amazon (in case anyone is wondering).

I’m currently looking into different printers for hardbacks because I am so scunnered with the lack of quality control being shown on hardback production (glue and wax all over the case, dust jacket and even internal pages, pages falling out, etc.), but again, Amazon just launched their hardback printing, which might be more affordable to you if you want to create hardbacks. I just can’t use them for this particular project.

File formatting, as @natalieironside mentioned, is a skill, and you will need different formats for ebooks vs. paperback vs. hardback. I’ve put many a potentially good book down because the formatting was either just plain bad or so over the top it was an accessibility issue. Keep things simple. Better to be simple than illegible.

Also, read Let’s Get Dogital by David Gaughran. He really helps break down digital publishing, especially when it comes to places like Amazon where figuring out keywords and sales ranking/algorithm can feel like attempting to gain sales through planetary alignment. I own his books, but you can als get the ebooks for free on most major ebook platforms. You can find the links on his website.