I Really Don't Think Akutagawa Forgot Who Atsushi Was. When He Said "Who The Hell Are You?" I Think He

The collective anxiety spike and panic we get takes a while to go down. We must comfort our brethren through the after shocks.

Every time AO3 starts trending on Tumblr and it’s NOT down I always get worried. Like what do you mean it’s not down??? What are we all doing here, then?

You know this was supposed to just be a silly fun AU

I don't know how I got to the point of expanding everything to the point of introducing constellations to the religious system and creating an all new craft type

Also my computer is infected with loop critters. This doesn't have anything to do with the AU I just thought it was fun :P

If he had one wish.

It would be this.

For you to smile happily every Halloween.

For you to cheer and scream and be merry with joy.

You might not remember him.

And he remembers too late.

But he wishes these feelings never leaves you every Halloween.

And he hopes you remember him fondly.

Somewhere deep inside.

For as long as you smile on Halloween, he’ll always be alive.

maybe your fanfic doesn’t have to change someone’s life maybe it can just brighten someone’s day for a bit

Reblog this if you would not only accept, but welcome fan art, moodboards, etc. of your fics

All of these used to be so common for people to show their appreciation of different fics and authors, and I think it’s a shame people don’t do it anymore. I love seeing fan work for my fics!!

how to have a healthier relationship with your stats page

1. Understand what stats can tell you - and what they can’t

AO3 stats tell you whether or not another user clicked something. That’s it. Hits tell you whether a user clicked the title of your fic. Kudos tell you that a user clicked the little ❤ at the bottom of the page. Comments tell you that a user typed something into a box and then hit the comment button. 

Stats do not tell you why a person did any of those things. They also don’t tell you why a person didn’t do them. You know why you do those things yourself, but there are many types of people in the world and we all have our reasons why we do things. You can’t assume that every other user of AO3 uses the site the same way you do. 

Stats are not a reliable way to find out if you’re good at writing. They’re not a way to tell if you are loved. They have nothing to do with the quality of your work or your worth as a person.

2. Don’t compare yourself to others - or yourself

Because stats are not a reliable way to judge quality or skill or the effort you put into a story, comparing your stats against another author will also not tell you which of you is the “better” author or which of you has a “better” story. They can tell you which story was more popular, but popularity itself has very little to do with skill or quality. 

This is also true of your own work. Chances are very real that the story you’re most proud of is not the story with the best stats. Don’t let one story’s relative success or failure affect how you feel about another’s. 

3. Focus on things you can control instead of things you can’t

Once you’ve posted your story, the reaction to it is out of your control. It will get however many hits, kudos, and comments other people decide to give it and you can’t do much about that at all. 

What you can control, however, is the work you put into the story before you post it. Celebrate statistics like word count or time spent writing or the number of WIP you’ve managed to finish. Those are all numbers that are in your control, that you have the power to alter and affect. 

Find something in every story that makes you happy. It doesn’t have to be the whole fic. It could be one particular characterization, a scene, or a line. Maybe you wrote a particularly funny joke or a really moving description or a hot love scene. 

Highlighting positive emotions and being proud of your own work will make you less reliant on the opinions of other people. You’ll develop more confidence, and that will help you avoid the stats spiral in the future. Finding motivations inside of yourself is much more reliable than getting motivation from people who might or might not continue to provide it.

4. If you can’t ignore stats, avoid them

The first time I had an unhealthy relationship with my stats page, I ended up quitting fic entirely for about a year. I still wrote, I just didn’t post anything on AO3. I couldn’t trust myself not to focus on the numbers and make myself crazy, and so I didn’t allow myself to look at them at all. 

The second time I found myself starting down the stats spiral, I knew the signs and I was able to pull myself out of it. I stopped looking at my stats page, but I was able to continue posting work. I still refreshed the page for the first day to see the hits/kudos/comments but after that first day I only returned to the fic in order to post a new chapter or answer another comment. 

There are tools you can use to help you avoid stats. This AO3 skin hides stats entirely. This code hides hits. Here’s one for hiding kudos with additional instructions on how to hide any stats you choose. 

5. Be your own cheerleader

When it comes right down to it, the reason why we focus in on stats is because we’re looking for reassurance. We want to know for sure whether we’re a good writer or not. Unfortunately, our stats are never going to tell us that. 

A lot of us are also told by others that being proud of something we’ve done or liking something that we’ve created is boastful or bragging or other negative personality traits. But there’s a difference between bragging about how good you are and acknowledging your own skills. 

Give yourself permission to like your own work. You might never get that permission from someone else, so you need to take that on yourself. 

Start talking to yourself the way you’d talk to a friend of yours who was working on a fic or a piece of art or doing anything else that requires time and skill. You wouldn’t tear them down, so don’t tear yourself down. Build yourself up. That positive self-talk can be difficult at first, but it’s a habit that pays off over time. 

6. Know that I’m proud of you

It takes courage and strength and determination to have an idea and then to act on it. It’s easy to think. It’s a lot harder to write things down. No matter whether you post your story online or you keep it to yourself. No matter whether you get a thousand hits or a dozen. You’re still amazing, and I’m so glad you took that leap ❤

Yeah you're right. It WOULD be pretty fucked up if you were a swan but you were raised by ducks and you grew up never seeing another swan or even knowing that such a thing as a swan even existed so you just thought you were a duck with something super wrong with it.

I keep hearing everyone go [insert fandom] is allergic to happiness!!

HAVE YOU SEEN ISAT

ALL THE OTHER FICS I CAN EASILY FIND A CUTE FLUFF THING IF I SEARCH

BUT FINDING ONE FOR ISAT IS LIKE GOING INTO THE WARZONE

NEED FULL ARMOR OR ELSE A SEARCH FOR COMFORT ENDS IN YOU SOBBING AT 2AM

OK because the game thing doesn't work with how I want the timeline in this AU to work, and since it's an AU, I'm gonna change it up and pretend you can totally read the Sad Diary before finishing the friendquests.

The story reason? Siffrin is a curious and stubborn child who says screw trauma I wanna figure this out so touching the spoopy star book it is!

Currently creating an ISAT AU because why not

ANYWAYS HEAR ME OUT

what if, when Siffrin loops back during the suspicious event in Act 4, he instead loops all the way back to the beginning, and Odile is now stuck in the loops with them?

Odile freaks out when she's back in the shop, and books it to where Siffrin is napping yelling for him. Siffrin, meanwhile, just woke up and is very confused. They hear Odile and turn around to see her staring at him. And he just looks horrified. Because Siffrin just trapped his family in here with him.

Smash that mf reblog button if you stoically ignore all labelled washing instructions and everything your mama ever told you about laundry and just send those bastards hurgling around in an overfilled tub to meet either death or glory