Can I just say, after reading a fic that had it and suffering through it – if you’re a fanfiction writer, or a writer in general, then please, for the sake of your (possible) czech readers, use any other angel name than Zadkiel.
“Zadek” literally means “butt” in czech and I am tired of reading about the adventures of the Ass-angel ok
Fanfic authors: READ THE WHOLE FUCKING PAGE
THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT AND VALUABLE LESSONS YOU CAN LEARN AS A WRITER. I SAY THIS AS A READER AND A PROFESSIONAL GENRE EDITOR.
*opens fanfic*
fanfic: i
*closes fanfic*
*opens fanfic*
Fanfic: you-
*shoots laptop with a gun several times*
Me, coming back to my WIP after not writing for months: I hope I’m still welcome here
My characters, who I endlessly torture: Bold of you to assume you were ever welcome here
We need a name for the shock-trauma that comes from reading a long fic, chapter after chapter, barely pausing to eat let alone pay attention to what chapter you’re on, and then scrolling down to click a button that isn’t there. There needs to be a word for the way all of the emotions you’ve been carrying that were hurtling forward with you as you read non stop, suddenly crash into a wall around you. There needs to be a word for the way you’re abruptly unbalanced and lost. There needs to be a word for how you futilely attempt to refresh the page, even though you know the next chapter won’t appear.
There needs to be a word for this dammit.
And I have a suggestion:
WiP-lash
YOU PUNNY BASTARD
Ow.
Do you think Naomi Novik ever looks at AO3
sees some incest mpreg
and whispers to herself “I never wanted this.”
No. 🙂
Murphy’s law, applied to fanfics.
– The fic starts out great, nice style, language, captivating summary. It’s unfinished and has been abandoned since 2013.
– The fic is complete, nice style, language, tons of kudos speak for themselves. It’s about your NOTP.
– The fic is about your OTP, it’s complete, it’s kinky as hell. The plot is absolutely dumbass.
– The plot sounds great, it’s about your OTP, it’s complete. The characters are horribly OOC.
– Everything is perfect in this fic, starting from the first letter and ending with the last full stop. It’s exactly 800 words long.
– The fic’s word count is a six-figure number, it’s about your OTP, characters are compliant with your head-canon. It’s dull and boring as seven hells.
– The beginning is enthralling, everything’s great, the plot, the style, it’s long and it’s even about your OTP. It features something that makes you close the tab as soon as you open it, like father/daughter incest or mpreg or some other squicky thing.
– Everything is perfect in this fic, the length, the characters, the language, the style, you forget you’re reading fanfic, thinking it’s a masterpiece of true literature, you cry tears of joy and write a huge review full of gushing love and then rush to the author’s profile to read every other thing they’ve written. It’s their only work.
Wonder which I fall under, haha.
Okay, so this is a loooong post because Summergen was so amazing that my recommendation could just be the masterlist. But maybe some people wanted some actual pointers, so these are my faves from this summer. There are a lot and honestly I probably missed a few (it’s hard to remember with so many great fics!)
artherra 