what would you have me do?

we're running out of scenarios I fear

This has been a PSA.

I’m trying not to reblog posts on this blog but I feel that this is important to post here.

on a related note:

And for the people asking “Well if you don’t support it irl then why would you like it in fiction?!” Because when it’s happening irl real people are suffering and dying and that’s horrible and I’d never want that. But when it’s fiction, when no real people are being hurt or killed, it’s interesting to explore the experience, the effects it may have, and to an extent experience the emotions involved without actually having to experience the horrible thing. You explore scary, dangerous things from a safe distance.

Because it’s how stories work.

Because it’s how stories work.

Someone understands me

THAT’S LITERALLY WHAT I DO EVERY NIGHT TO FALL ASLEEP

Every night dude, every night and sometimes I even dream about it…sighs!

This is how I write my stories

I did this since I was a kid. It’s normal, yes? 

I can’t remember a time I didn’t tell a story in my head to get to sleep. I can’t get to sleep without doing that!

current fan creation landscape is kinda like if you went to a party with a homemade cake and everyone takes a slice and silently thumbs up at you with no attempt to start a conversation except for occasionally some guy sits in the corner with a tape recorder critiquing the cake as though he was a restaurant critic and another guy is handing the cake to an uber driver like "yeah i need you to find a restaurant that makes cake like this so i can have more of it" and the only person that's talked to you in 30 minutes is a very sweet little guy who was like "hey i liked your cake" and then ran away apologizing for bothering you the moment you said thank you.

someone brought a cake analysis robot to feed the cake into to determine the exact ingredients and supposedly it can spit out the exact same cake. and if you're like dude. what. then they're like well if it bothers you you should have made more cake. i'm hungry and i deserve cake. and you're like dude we're at a party.

Three months later you find out that fifty people locked themselves in a room to discuss how much they loved your cake and how they wished you made more. None of them ever told you.

so for the love of god. please tell people you liked their cake and don’t feel embarrassed about it. because then they will make more cake.

It's fanfiction it doesn't have to be perfect it doesn't have to be accurate this is a hobby you're doing this for fun it's okay if it isn't perfect and polished you're doing it for fun [talking to myself in the mirror]

"This fic was ai generated—" Cool, so lemme block you real quick

i immediately thought of this

tv show idea: it’s a keep up with the kardashian type show but they have to keep the fact that they are the batfamily a secret from the camera crew that follows them around all day.

“Okay, whose turn is it to cause massive drama so all of the camera crew is pointed at them?”

“Call Steph, it’s been a while she since just casually walked into the house. Jason, put some food in the fridge with your name on it. We’ll tell her to steal your fake leftovers and you two can fight about the leftovers.”

“Ooh, brilliant.”

She goes to steal the fake leftovers but takes his real ones by mistake. When the argument starts, she thinks he’s hamming it up for the camera until he pulls the fake ones out of the fridge and shouts “You were supposed to steal these ones!”

Steph realizes she messed up but refuses to apologize and in fact says “ok then hand me those and I’ll eat them too” which he disagrees with, more drama ensues, and Jason tries to hide the fake leftovers leading to them having a chase around the manor with the (well-sealed) container. Eventually, a camera man asks why Jason wanted her to steal the fake leftovers and he just says “it’s been too long since we had a good shouting match, shouting matches are bonding moments in this family. And fake shouting matches for the camera on this show help boost your ratings anyway.”

They leave the whole thing in. They end up with an entire episode called “The Leftover Mishap” and it’s just the entire argument and Jason’s side interview. Plus at the end a clip of Steph saying to the camera “I regret nothing.” She’s got a massive grin on her face

I’m writing this fic now!! Chapter 1 (aka episode 1) is halfway done!

Chapter 1 is up! It’s called Watching Waynes (check the pinned master post on my page!)

Me trying to leave a comment on a fic I love but not knowing what to say

There should be a fanfic writing game called the showrunners challenge where someone writes a story and partway through someone else can play things like "actor leaves after 4000 more words" or "topic now too politically sensitive due to unforeseen world events" or "lost rights to that reference"

I need this to be a real game right the hell now

I do not have the energy do do a full layout right now b/c it is kickstarter season and I am under water, but here's a prototype that can be solo-played (you can also have a friend just pick from the lists if you want that pvp feeling.)

Showrunner's Challenge By Runawaymarbles (also sorta by sprintingowl)

Begin writing a fanfic. It is a feature length television program being watched every week by thousands. There is no plan. The industry is in shambles. The writer's room is barely hanging on.

At the end of each chapter, roll a d12.

1 Everything at once. Roll twice, use both. If you get this again, keep rolling. Your only way out is to stop getting 1s. 2 Product placement! The next chapter must center (and subtly promote the features of) a product belonging to the most recent brand you've seen. 3 Fan favorite. Your most recently mentioned character (or named object) is now beloved by the audience. You must give it a bigger part in the story, a special destiny, or an important new romance or friendship. If you get this twice for the same character or object, the adoration cools and you must go back to treating the character or object normally. 4 Executive meddling. You must change to a different genre. You cannot go back to a genre until you have changed genres three times since then. 5 Audiences are craving more coziness. The next chapter must be completely low stakes and set you at ease. 6 Audiences are craving more suspense. The next chapter must take place entirely in a single location, ideally just a single room, and build tension with every exchange of dialog. 7 Audiences are craving more action. The next chapter needs to involve at least one extended fight scene, and the weapons must be the last three objects mentioned. 8 Audiences are craving more romance. The next chapter needs to involve a deep, sappy confession of either love or admiration between two characters that have not previously been romantically involved. 9 Go to the most recent line in your fic that references a brand. Due to ongoing legal action, that brand cannot be mentioned again, but you score 1 audience point every time you allude to it in a way that paints it in a negative light. 10 The two most recently mentioned characters' actors have, IRL, gone through a VERY messy divorce or friend breakup. You cannot put them in the same scene, but they must both remain relevant parts of the show. If you get this with the same two characters again, they reconcile. 11 The most recent negative event (stabbing, poisoning, banishment to jupiter) is now the center of a very real IRL news story. You must immediately pivot away from all plotlines involving it and, if possible, also find away to apologize for even thinking to include it without breaking character. 12 The most recently mentioned character's actor has decided to leave the show. You must write them out in the next chapter. If you are brave, also roll a d12. 1--6, they were well loved and their sendoff must be as flowery as possible. 7--12, they were despised by the cast and crew. Mulch them.

You win if you can complete the fic in a state of relative coherency.

Alternate Game Mode: TV Digest Version

Don't write full chapters, just summaries of what happens in each chapter.

Alternate Game Mode: Realism Edition

Start your fanfic with your own telling of the first episode of an existing show, then proceed from there.

We know many of you have seen NaNoWriMo's recent statements on generative AI...

Well, we have too—and that's why we've made the decision to retract our sponsorship of NaNo.

Your support and belief in human creativity, transparency and collaboration mean everything to us, and we're committed to staying true to that. Thank you all! 💙

You can read our full statement here.

The Ellipsus team xo

ao3′s orphaning option is cool and a good idea but mostly very fucking funny. i posted this work for fun when i was younger and i still want people to be able to come back to it if they liked it, but now im an adult professional and i dont want it attached to my name. whats the word for that? umm, anonymously posting? no. i want something that indicates i murdered this story’s parents 

technically the story’s parents faked their own death and disappeared to go have an office job, and that’s even funnier

I, of mostly sound body and spirit, request that if I’m ever to die, someone post a new work on my AO3 that says “sorry, she died, ongoing stories postponed forever” because don’t I want my fanfic buddies to think I ghosted them. Amen or whatever you say in a will.

This was written as a joke, but for those who don't know, this is an actual optional service that AO3 provides called Fannish Next of Kin.

Still obsessed with Arthur Conan Doyle’s letter to Bram Stoker gushing about how wonderful a book Dracula is, but particularly how it makes such a good template for leaving fic comments, so I’m gonna to a BREAKDOWN:

Next time you don’t know what to say on a fic you enjoyed, just use the ACD method~

"you should be at the club" I should be working on my fanfic

petition to make it a fanfic writing club

My therapist just told me my problem is that I need to write more fanfiction.

This sounds fake but the logic behind it is actually really interesting? She said obsession with a new fandom triggers quick dopamine release when we consume all this related content--it's easy and addictive.

What we're NOT getting is that 'slow dopamine' that's more sustainable and engaging. That's the kind we get from DOING things that take effort but are ultimately rewarding.

So like, she suggested that writing fic and making fanart are ways to balance the quick dopamine of watching a show/reading fic with the slow dopamine of working at something that takes effort.

Moral of the story is you should engage in the process of creation around your favorite things. You'll feel better for it.

Oh.

OH.

It's so frustrating as a fanfic writer to know that so many people want to screw us over.

People who aren't in fandom spaces, who aren't fanfic writers, who don't give a single fuck about the way fandom works or about being respectful to fanfic writers decide they can constantly try to profit and commercialize our work.

From secondary apps making people pay for an app to access fics that are FREE, so the writer gets less traffic, views, kudos, comments, and of course none of that app money.

And now book binders are stealing fics to bind for people. Literally stealing fics, not asking the writer, not caring about anything except making money off of some one else's work.

How is that fair. How is it fair that so many people keep coming in to steal our work? Fanfic writers cannot get paid to write, unlike fan artists taking on commissions, without being slapped with lawsuits. That's fine because most writers do this for the love of their fandoms.

Writers put in so much time, hours and sometimes years of work into writing, they do this for free, they share it for free, because they love the fandom, and instead of just leaving fic writers alone people are constantly walking in and going "omg what if I stole this and made people pay me for it?" Sincerly who the fuck do they think they are? They aren't smart when they try to swindle people. All that will happen is writers will start to pull their fics offline. They'll go back to sharing fics among a small group of trusted friends in private servers.

This is why people leave fandoms, this is why fandoms die and all those fun free fics go away.

Hope your greed was worth it. Assholes.

Edit to add: I completely forgot that Chat AI scrapes off fanfics too. People need to stop leeching off writers and stealing their works.