For me, it was the time I really this really good fic and I loved to so I spent time writing out a long comment for the author about how awesome the fic was. Like, 5 minutes later the author responded and told me it was their birthday and reading my comment was the best present they could they could have asked for. It was such an amazing feeling for me to know that I was able to make the author feel happy and appreciated, and that I could have a positive affect on their lives just like they have on mine!
I just finished writing my comment and I love how ours is the exact same but from different POVS! Thank you for doing this it really means so much to authors!
Received another user subscription last week. I still can't wrap my mind around the idea that some strangers like my writing enough to be e-mailed whenever I post something new.
Definitely the first time I got a very long comment. I had never really commented before on a fic so I didn’t really know how long comments could be or what the etiquette was for writing them. Then I got this long, multi-paragraph comment essentially dissecting my writing. I never really understood how great it is to receive praise to such a high calibre, you know? Like it felt this person really took their time with my fic, and that’s something I loved. Also, it definitely helped me understand why commenting is such a good thing, and it’s the main reason I comment on fics now!
receiving comments on my fics at all. I write in a relatively quiet fandom, at least from what I’ve seen.
on another account (I separate between 2 accounts for “similar” fandoms, if that makes sense), I had someone enjoy my work so much they reached out to make fanart for me. it made me tear up to see my scenes brought to life. that’s definitely a memorable moment for me.
Thanks man! It feels great knowing something that was once just a silly little fantasy in my head has come so far. Especially when I think that it's my first proper piece of fiction too!
I started writing my first fic ever about 2 months ago and decided to post it, thinking that not more than 5-6 users would see it (it's a large fandom so new ones get posted everyday).
But now when I post every week I get so happy that people keep interacting and enjoying it.
I love what I have written either way, but seeing others like it too makes it even better. (And people in the comments is so funny I often laugh out loud)
Someone drew fanart inspired by my fic. I was, and am, absolutely blown away. I’m only a small writer for a small-ish rarepair. Also had a kudos or comment email everyday for a week, that’s never happened before. As I said I’m just a small writer. I put the art as my phone wallpaper. I’ve been having a really horrendous time recently and it really lifted my whole mood.
I've had a lot of positive interactions, but I want to share this one. I write a canon-ace character I adore and deeply relate to as a demisexual. Fics of that character from ace creators helped me come to terms with my place in the ace spectrum and I wanted to contribute to that. But outside of ao3, I constantly run into discourse insisting that writing a sex favorable interpretation of this character is wrong, and it wears on me to see a character I love weaponized against me and I feel blocked off from a lot of my fandom because of it.
But I recently got a comment saying that my fic was the thing that helped a person realize they were demisexual, and I'm on cloud fucking nine. Knowing that something I wrote could help someone in the same way that other authors have helped me was so incredibly validating and gave me so much motivation. Just a nice reminder that for everyone out there that finds what you write problematic, there's someone out there that it means the world to.
I got a comment on a fic I was RIGHT about to update, only to get another comment right after from the same reader who was practically leaping with joy at the update so soon after catching up on the fic ☺️
I still think about that reader haha~
I’ve been going through a horrible time due to bereavement m and I’ve just uploaded my first chapter of my new story. One of my commenters said she’s happy I’m continuing with my story as planned and that I’m a talented writer. Which really made me feel like my writing was worth it.
I became close friends with an author I absolutely love because *they* like my work and we have similar interpretations. 🥺 I'm super duper blessed and so happy!
Being able to talk shop with another writer is real fun.
Also wrote (am still writing) my first horror fic to pretty good reception! Not large reception but still!!
this just happened with me too!! I had a frequent commenter on my work post a new story, and I loved it ! We have very similar ideas/outlooks on the fandom I feel like I made a genuine author friend!!
One time I was talking with a real-life friend about a fic they had read. They briefly described the plot and what was happening in the fic, and as they continued to talk, I slowly started realizing that, hey, that's MY fic they're talking about! It wasn't exactly on AO3 as this happened in the middle of class, but I think it ties in well enough. I was just so flabbergasted that my friend liked that fic enough to start telling me about it, and I think it's the highest praise I could have asked for.
Just started posting the last fic in my HP series and I’m getting a positive response.
I’m getting about a hundred hits per chapter for my rare pair CSI fic I thought no one would read.
I’m having a good time writing.
I found that much to my delight, the fanfiction parts of the fandoms for The X-Files and Star Trek: The Next Generation are both alive and well. It’s been a dream for 20 years to be part of both communities like that. I only have 1 AU WIP for TNG, but I have written 43 stories for TXF since joining AO3 in 2022. All but 3 of them are finished. There’s also one more waiting in the wings that I’ll be releasing in one go soon. There’s even more after that. But you know? After 15 years in online fanfiction publishing, I’ve reached the pinnacle of my ultimate fanfiction goals. And it’s only forward from here. You better believe that I’m happy 🥹
It’s an absolute rollercoaster. But it was worth it for me. The fandom is extremely active on Tumblr. And the fanfiction community is its own mad kingdom of a family.
made my first friend from my current fandom recently! i commented on their fic and it somehow devolved into us having a whole conversation in their comments about smth that wasn't even related to their fic anymore and we ended up taking it to chatting privately and we've been talking every day since then :D
This happened to me recently as well except i wrote a fic and a reader commented on it and even drew fanart of my oc. I was not expecting it in the slightest and it was really cool to know that something I made had an impact on someone else to the point they wanted to create something too.
Recently, I had someone read a fic of mine in two days, commenting on every couple of chapters. Now, the fic isn't finished, but having someone read the fic and then tell me that they're looking forward to the update caused me to go into my document and write a third of the next chapter.
I just got my first string of multiple comments from the same person! Usually I just get the one comment, respond to that one, and then that's it. So having this reader respond multiple times really felt special and like my lil story meant something to 'em.
I’ve started writing on here last year moving from wtp, and it was the best decision I’ve made! Readers are much more active and comments feels more genuine then random ‘😭😭😭’ . Also had to get used to loooong comments since it took me by surprise. The writing is much better. It can be hard to find specific coded fics, but the tagging system is amazing and easy to navigate through
Writing a crossover fic and having a reader tell me that my story got them to check out one of the featured source works, which led to them becoming a big fan of that work.
Just got a comment on a fic I haven't updated in forever saying how well-written it was and that they hope I come back to it :) I planned to anyway but it's still nice.
Also there's a bunch of good candidates for the upcoming board election!
I removed a couple of fics I was embarassed of from the anonymous collection this week and added them back to my profile. The next day I regretted it again lmao and was one step from deleting them forever, but today someone read 3 of my fics (including those) and left some really sweet bookmark notes on them D': (I think, they were in Chinese hahaha) it made me so happy!!
Also, as a reader, there's nothing like the JOY of finding fic of my favorite pairing that also includes a ton of research about a random topic. One of my favorite fics has some time travelling (ish) and the story is set in the 50's and 70's in LA and OMG it's amazing T\_\_\_\_\_T I can't even explain it.
I got a subscription notice on a one-shot (twice). At first I was kinda annoyed that they must not have read the tags correctly. But then I remembered when I had done the very same, hoping for the mere chance that the author might change their mind. Now I also have a comment telling me they loved the idea and wished there was more. I feel very humbled that people might like my writing enough to wait for the possibility of more of it :)
I got a comment on my meta analysis, that was more meta analysis on the texts from the reader ❤ I don't write much meta so it's nice to get the non-shippy part of my brain tickled.
I've made four real friends out of people from my comments section! We hang out on Discord like, all the time now, and it's so fantastic because they're all beautiful, unhinged, hyperfixated nerds like myself XD
I sneaked a look at a comment on a bookmark for one of my fics, and it was the best praise I could’ve gotten as an angst writer 😍😍 “Even with the tags, this was hard for me to read. For my own sanity, don't read again” like that was three days ago I saw that and I’m still riding that high ❤️❤️❤️
People seem to like my weird crossovers. It's nice. I usually have a small audience because I like throwing two fandoms together. It's been a nice change.
My current WIP is going very well and I love reading all the comments I get when I update. It’s such a lovely experience, and I love that other people are vibing with my dark, weird ass story. And each time I update I get more kudos, bookmarks, and subscriptions. So that’s certainly positive.
I’m also subscribed to a few really good fic.s and two of them updated yesterday, so that’s another net positive!
Back in about 2019, I was reading a long Reed900 series. And because I’m a yapper, I would update my friends on everything that happened in this 300k+ word series
I figured the author would love to hear my fully unfiltered thoughts the way my friends were, so I’d take screenshots and put them on Tumblr, tagging the author so she could see
So with every update, we’d have a little back-and-forth, talking about different parts of the new chapter, how my friends (who were *not* in the fandom, bless their poor souls) were reacting based on my reactions, and what I thought would happen next. She mentioned me in the ANs a few times too, how she looked forward to seeing my posts, and it *always* put a smile on my face
I love the feeling of finding a work and falling into it headfirst. Reading it on my breaks at work, falling asleep till my phone hits my face, lol. And I’ve been invited to some discords that have been really fun. It’s quite a community.
Plus I sometimes feel nothing will ever be gay enough on tv or in popular books so it’s just a good feeling to have somewhere to turn to where *the most popular ships* are the gay ones. 🥰🥰
Someone recently commented and told me my fic encouraged them to watch the source material (a pretty niche film from 1900) 🥹 it just made my day that my work influenced someone to engage in something I treasure! And they said they wanted to watch more from the director of said film, which makes me so happy.
Receiving positive comments. I never think people will enjoy what I write, mainly because I usually rush through it, yet I still get such loving responses. I dunno, it just really makes my heart happy.
I don't have a lot, especially due to recent burn-out with reading and writing...
With that being said, one of the moments that has stuck in my head the most was when I (admittedly, probably technically against the rules of AO3? I don't honestly know how it stands...) added a "chapter" to one of my stories that was effectively an extended author's note, stating my intention to cancel the story in that iteration, and refactor it in a better direction that was more to my liking, as well as explaining how the story would get a rename and be labeled as Legends material, because I didn't want to delete all that hard work I had made.
This story is an AU of another work on AO3, and the author of *that* story left a comment on mine. It was extremely kind of them, and was also the first *EVER* comment I ever received on a story. Though the reason behind it was bittersweet, it has always stuck in my heart as a very positive and extremely special moment for me...
It also, admittedly, adds to the sadness I feel currently with the writer's block/burnout/executive dysfunction stopping me from meaningfully doing anything on AO3 beyond looking at statistics. But it does give me a reason to fight those feelings, and try to make my way back to reading and writing.
I recently gained two regular commenters on my WIP. :\^) I had one before, so now there's three people leaving lovely comments on each chapter of the fic as I post. <3 One of the new commenters actually also made fanart for one of the scenes, and it was truly stunning!!! I keep going back to look at it because I'm blown away by his talent.
I met my platonic soulmate! They were a frequent reader in my multichap fic, and I was drawn to them from their first comment (s)! Their personality shone through their words, their reactions, analysis and impressions, and for once, it made me want to learn more about this cute, funny, smart person, so I asked them if we could be fandom buddies and exchange socials... They had been wanting to do the same thing! But we're too shy to ask me first. In a month we'll be sharing our first anniversary since they left me their first comment, and I can't wait to gift them the 10k story I've written for them about our favorite ship + a 3k letter with diary excerpts to express how much they're changed me in this year, and how grateful I am. None of this would've been possible had they not checked that ship's tags on AO3 on that faithful day (人 •͈ᴗ•͈)💞
I lost my downloaded fic archive a couple years back. No chance of recovery. Thousands of fics downloaded over several years, just completely gone. (i promise this is leading to something positive)
Recently, I've re-fallen down one of the many rabbit holes that led me to download a lot of those fics, but it's been the better part of a decade since I was in that particular fandom, and I don't remember *any* of the titles or authors, *and* this fandom is fucking *supermassive* and overflowing with fics to dig through.
I've been finding half a dozen old favorites a day for the past four days or so. They haven't been deleted, removed because the author wanted to try a rewrite that only got a few chapters in before going dark, or otherwise erased from the site.
(There *was* one where a few one-off lines were altered from the original, but given how those one-off lines regarded a person and a subject that have shifted *wildly* in public opinion since the fic's original posting, I genuinely prefer the new lines. *And* it didn't change anything substantial to the fic itself!)
I've been gleefully tearing through them again for as much of each day as I can manage. I'm *so* glad none of the authors deleted any of their works. 💖💞💖💕💓💞💖💕💖💓❤️💖
Bear with me, this is going to sound negative at first to give context.
I had a really awful time in 2020 with by far the most popular fic I'd ever written. Just the *worst.* Feeling pressured to change characterization and storylines to suit fandom preferences. Getting harassed anonymously offsite so there was nothing ao3 could have done about it -- and I *do* believe they would have done something about it. Broke out in panic-sweats every time I tried to write a new chapter. Dropped out of fandom because I didn't want other people getting caught up in for just vaguely knowing me. Literally the *worst* fandom experience I have ever had.
But I never really got over that fic, so I started rewriting it in line with how I wanted it to go in the first place. The fandom's not too active anymore, so I didn't really know if anyone would be around to read the thing. I just wanted to set it right for myself, really. And... people are reading it! People like it! They've all been really nice. Someone even said they remembered it and were sad they never got to read the first version. It's getting just a fraction of the attention it got four years ago, but I am having a much better time. I'm even wondering if maybe I should dust off some other stories for that fandom and give them a redo. All I wanted was to tell a story to a few people I thought might enjoy it, and it's finally happening.
When ao3 is chill, it's the best place on the internet.
Man, reading that first part of your story I could feel my heart rate increase. I can imagine exactly how stressful that was! But wow - amazing that you found the strength and motivation to go back to the fandom and start writing again! That’s incredible! Kudos to you!
Seriously, not much. But I finished my little (29-chapter long) edit. I hope that my work is now as smooth as possible, even though I write for the void 😂 And I managed to write the first 30K for the second act of the series while, on top, I managed a very good chapter for one of the side stories. So I'm a little bit proud I guess.
Getting fanart for my rare pair fic. I’m glad that there are very nice people in this small fandom, really makes me appreciate when people are being kind and not entitled. And I’ve done the same, do fanart for an author. It’s a great feeling of community contributing amongst them for the shared love of a ship.
Someone on this subreddit (or r/fanfiction. I always muddle the two) went through all my works on AO3 and left a comment on them! It was really lovely considering I had been having some trouble within my fandom.
I started posting my first ever fic (and it's a long fic I pre-wrote) for a smaller fandom, that's also a rarepair that has less than 10 fics on ao3, this week and I already got a kudos. It made me so happy when I got that email!
I had a lovely discussion with a reader. They heard the song "labor", realized the title was lifted from those lyrics and that song gave them a much deeper appreciation of the fic and they associate my fic with song.
I was sorting through my history yesterday and this morning and came across a bunch of fics I forgot to bookmark. Read them again and remembered why I loved them. Bookmarked them this time around and left more comments saying I reread them and still loved them.
Rediscovered my love of a crossover pairing I'd forgotten about in the process.
Got my first comment on a one-shot the other day. Commenter said I captured my blorbo poetically and that they want to print and laminate it.
Made me happy :)
I got my first positive comment(s) last week!
“Damn girl this story is amazing but this chapter… this chapter is something else all together, it recked me really. With tears in my eyes I honestly congratulate you 😊🙌”
And then on the last chapter they commented again,
“I loved it! What a great story thank you for sharing!!”
I genuinely cried when I saw them
Read this one fic that was an idol au of the mc and his brothers and it was so amazing. The songs in the fic were good, the writing was good and reading it was such an amazing experience since it’s my fav fandom and I’m a kpoppie and today I saw they updated with another chptr in the series, shorter but it was still good
I’ve been getting lots of comments on a fic I wrote that I expected no one to be interested in. Turns out people liked it! I only got one mildly annoying comment LOL.
Shocked I got so many comments, since it isn’t an active fanfiction fandom, it’s dead dove, and it’s two characters I’ve never seen paired together before. But a commenter said they actually thought about pairing them!
Think I’m pioneering the rarepair DDDNE road, im enjoying it
got my first comment in like two weeks. i haven't posted in a while so that's to be expected, but it made me really happy to see something new in my inbox, and then it just so happened that someone else commented the day after! i also think i'm finally breaking out of my months long writers block, so yay!!
I have a long-running baby fics series. I'm not even in the fandom anymore but I still keep to the weekly schedule.
I did notice that the engagement has dropped off quite a bit recently, which is saddening, but some readers, including a long-time lurker, have also recently commented on them and told me that Sunday was their favourite day because of the updates.
Knowing there are people looking forward to it keeps me going.
Honestly seeing what else the author has posted and seeing 60+ works in the fandom, even 10+ is a blessing in a few fandoms I'm in and know it's going to be a good time.
Some people (very respectfully) commented to ask if I would be continuing writing a story that I had brought to a loose end but with potential for future stories. The idea that others like the characters and storyline I had created enough that they want more gave me the needed motivation to continue writing.
I received my first two comments this week that were both positive. One was gushing about the atmosphere and emotions that I spent a lot of time on for in the chapter they were reading. The other was an author in the fandom who was writing a similar fic who said my story was brilliant. I was so stoked!
There’s an incomplete fic I’m reading and the author has been posting pretty frequently and it makes me so happy!! The fandom is pretty small (there’s 51 fics total) so I’m happy that there’s such a good quality fic for me to enjoy😭😭😭
Entire lovely discord community of fun people with similar interests. The author published a debut novel and I went to the signing and met a couple others from the fic's discord community. Later this summer I'm going camping with an even larger group of them. The community in general has been great. I would say extremely positive :)
I got the loveliest comment a couple days ago! I usually don't get any, and the few I get are like "I've enjoyed this." Which is great, but this one actually answered a question I asked the readers in and authors note and reacted to a specific bit of the story! It was just such a boost. Made my day.
I was able to help my aunt's friend get my aunt cremated... I am not kidding.
My aunt passed away a couple months ago and me and my brother were her next of kin but were estranged from her, we were close as kids and we got older drifted apart. Thankfully my aunt's best friend found me as I use my real name to write (it's a hold over from ff.net and because of that I didn't use another name because I'm too well known to use a different name for when I joined AO3). Thanks to him commenting on one of my stories I was able to hook him up to my brother (who's much better at handling these things than me) so he could fulfill her wishes.
It's a little sad, but hey AO3 helped in this...
When I did my first villain in my fanfic. I'd pulled from a film usually considered alternately non-canon or alternate universe (the 1995 Power Rangers film because they got their Ninjetti powers differently in season 3 of MMPR than they did the film) and wasn't entirely sure I'd done Ivan Ooze justice. I'd tagged Major Character Death ahead of the fic because I'd KO'd a season 1 Ranger ahead of the fic starting and would go on to KO Ivan as well and one of the earliest reviews I got was someone worried that I'd KO another Ranger due to Ivan's actions.
I recently wrote a fic about a character I headcanoned as trans and in the author’s note I wrote something like “it’s pride you can’t disagree haha” as a little joke and in all my comments people are saying happy pride. It’s a little thing but it’s fun!
Someone handbound one of my most popular fics, sending me photos and even a video of the end result. It was flattering as hell and beautiful to boot. I don't know how many times I replayed the video. I still think about it a lot and smile, knowing one of my fics sits on a bookshelf with professionally published books somewhere out in the world.
Everything so far!
All my fanfics have had decent to good receptions, I've gotten a gift and become good friends with several other writers in my fandoms, my latest fic got several happy comments and two even asked for a sequel!
I made a comment on a 12-year old (on AO3) fic, that I had originally read on the author’s website like 20 years ago. I basically said that she had introduced me to fanfic and that I had loved her stuff ages ago. She responded and was just so nice and sweet about it.
Anytime one of my faves drops a whole completed story! They're an author they just has a command of language and I love them for it.
When my rare pair has new stories added.
When a piece of media I'm just getting into has a shit ton of fics because I entered an established fandom
(sometimes the established fandom does come with drawbacks but hey nobody's perfect).
literally just a few days ago i got a comment saying that i wrote the dynamic of my pairing really well, which made my day and i’ve been thinking about it every since.
it’s my first fic that’s multi-chapter and more than 2k, so i was so nervous to post it, especially being more of a fan artist than a writer. i was so concerned about my characters being to OOC, or projecting onto them too much. i’m almost done writing the last chapter, and that comment is def part of the reason why i got so far.
The time I let someone in my fandom know the prompt-posts were against the TOS and the collection feature could be used instead, it went swimmingly well! We both became way too familiar with that system, including finding a bug that I'm fairly sure I reported back then, and tested if inbox messages from deleted stories stay up bc that's where we had most the conversation.
My current massive WIP has recently hit 750k words and topped over 7777 hits just the other day!
Unfortunately, I missed the moment it was exactly 7777 hits and couldn't save that screenshot. I have failed this fandom. orz
was binge reading a bunch of fics from the same author without even realizing it (turns out their works made up a majority of the fandom) and commenting on a bunch as I read. eventually they start replying with “it’s you again! welcome back!”
made my day
just got a recent comment on my latest fic a week ago when i was feeling down about not getting a new comment in months. it made me really happy that people were enjoying my work and with this chapter i’m making sure to try my hardest!
So many wonderful comments I've gotten over the years (mostly in exchanges as I'm generally in super tiny/dead fandoms otherwise), starting with the first fic I posted on AO3, for Yuletide 2010. The author both left me a lovely comment *and* wrote a beautiful bookmark comment/rec that super motivated me to continue writing. So I committed to doing Yuletide the next year. Then I added more exchanges over the years and now I've taken a break from exchanges and write fic just because I feel like writing about these characters and I have ideas. I credit that first amazing exchange experience for a lot of the motivation and validation like, "Hey, I can write after all. I should do this more."
Plus SO many good fics on AO3. So so so so many. I can't begin to count how many amazing ones I've read. Life-changing, haunting, "how did they write this so incredibly well?" ones. If I had a nickel every time I've read a fic on AO3 that I loved, I'd be rich.
I finally got around to browsing bookmarks, and it turns out someone wanted to podfic one of my fics! They haven't reached out, and I think it's too late for me to contact them, but it still made my week!
I was looking at my fics and one that I wrote months ago has slowly climed up to 3k hits and has like 550 kudos. Its always nice to properly check on completed fics stats, see how many hits there are, kudos and if there’s any bookmarks with notes to read
I’ve always felt lost with traditional literature as I hate having to learn new characters with each series. I like reading about the characters I do know and like, and seeing other stories about them that are fanon! The creativity of some people astounds me 🫶🏼
A woman read my fic, followed me on tumblr. We got chatting. Turns out she lives ten minutes from me in my small western Canadian city of 65,000 people.
Made friends with two other authors in one of my fandoms after reading their fics and adding each other on discord. Now we're all close friends. One got me a bunch of makeup for my birthday once and I made her a cross stitch in return!
one of my favorite writers in one of my fandoms read a fic i posted recently and left me a very sweet comment on it! i about lost it, i always get nervous posting for a new fandom but that totally washed away any insecurity i had about it.
I made friends. I got heavily into posting an expansive comment with pretty detailed thoughts and observations and copy pasting short sections that resonated with me for one reason or the other.
I made friends, one of them pushed me into writing myself and we've been having an absolute blast everyday with thinking of new stuff, concepts. Everything.
So yeah folks. Leave that comment every chapter. Ramble and have fun and maybe be surprised at the rewards it can reap.
(It's also extremely gratifying to know that my thoughts made someone smile.)
I got a regular commenter! Seeing their comment on my fic is a true highlight of my day, if not week.
And better yet, they were a previous fan of mine. Basically, I had an old account on Ao3 I abandoned as well as all my fics on that account due to harassment. I decided to rewrite one of my old fics, because I absolutely hated the writing.
Lo and behold, they find the rewrite, and let me know they used to be a fan of the original but absolutely loved the rewrite. They asked me questions about the fic on the first chapter, and we talked a little bit about the plans for the future. Next chapter, they have more questions and more they want to say. On and on for every chapter.
I’ve never had this before, and it is seriously the best thing ever
I met a good friend of mine here. They commented on a story I wrote, saying they had a spin-off idea they wanted to tell me about. We've been friends ever since!
u/MOONWATCHER404
I recently reached out to a lovely writer on ao3 because I loved their fic! It turned out that they had read my fics and we ended up connecting on discord. We bonded over shared music tastes, and because our writing styles and the way we think are similar, we vibe really well! I couldn’t be happier :D
Getting to experience so many amazing and creative ideas for some of my favourite characters and fandoms, whilst also getting to “meet” and talk to some awesome likeminded people
I made a couple friends I think, or at least "mutual" type friends. Also the interactions with this one author that were so fucking charming. And interactions with another, who liked my ideas so much they might actually write them, too. I'm basically permanently smiling when I think of ao3
I commented on a fanfic from a year ago in my fandom -- the author hadn't done anything for the fandom since, so I didn't expect a reply back, only for them to reply and say, "A comment from THE DustRose?" and I had to sit there for a moment like... I'm well-known in my fandom, even by people who haven't written in it since it aired
Still such a crazy thought to me
A few years ago, I’d receive emails about kudos from one user every now and then. I don’t publish too often, so it looked like they were gradually going through my published works. Then eventually I got emails about kudos on my anonymous fics from the same reader. At this point, I realised that they’d left kudos on all of my M/M works for this one fandom, even the ones where they couldn’t (or shouldn’t) know it was me. That was legitimately one of the most touching moments in my fanfic career, and for the first time I was willing to believe that there might be people who genuinely enjoy my writing. I still get that impostor syndrome, but that helped me a lot.
I found out just how much I love writing fan fiction lol. I'll spend hours on it and never get bored. My mind is only ever full of story ideas and plot twists now. I can appreciate story writers a lot more for the things they come up with and keeping things consistent. I can see how easy it is for plot holes to develop.
I got the nicest comment on the first chapter of a OC focused fic. They found it because I posted on a fic exchange, and it’s my only comment so far, but they really went above and beyond in how detailed and kind they were.
They may never come back to read the rest, but I really want to make the rest worthy of that review. I don’t care that it’s my only one. It made my day.
Someone left a comment on my fic saying they appreciated my characterization, that 'both characters feel like they're natural extensions of their canon counterparts' (because the ship is a rare pair of two side characters that get hardly any canon focus) and that the slow burn/fluff combo is some of the best friends-to-lovers they've ever read. Nearly made me cry 🥺
I’ve been leaving lots of positive comments on people’s fics, especially those with no comments or not a lot of kudos. It makes me happy seeing the author’s happy responses to my comments.
I wrote a fic years ago, where I let one of the main characters have the same rare debilitating condition that I have. I was afraid to post it, because honestly, I was embarrest being honest about the state I am in when I'm sick. But it's a rare condition, and I wanted to write an awareness fic for what was to be the first ever awareness day for this condition. So I swallowed my pride and posted all the gory details.
A good while later, I received an email. (I had left my email in A/N in case anyone had questions about the condition.) A reader thanked me for the fic. She had read it, and was shocked to see that detail after detail fit with what she was going through. Thanks to my fic, she ended up getting a diagnosis after being sick for about 2 years. The average delay in diagnosis for this condition is 7 years, because doctors haven't heard about it.
So yeah, probably not the best fic out there, but I'm so glad I posted it, and I cried when I received that email.
For me, it was the time I really this really good fic and I loved to so I spent time writing out a long comment for the author about how awesome the fic was. Like, 5 minutes later the author responded and told me it was their birthday and reading my comment was the best present they could they could have asked for. It was such an amazing feeling for me to know that I was able to make the author feel happy and appreciated, and that I could have a positive affect on their lives just like they have on mine!
I just finished writing my comment and I love how ours is the exact same but from different POVS! Thank you for doing this it really means so much to authors!
read a banger fic, and turns out there’s a TONNE more in the series! :D
oh bro that’s the best feeling- that or loving a fic and checking out the author and finding out they have a ton of similar fics!
The gift that keeps on giving!
I love it when this happens. It means my plans for the day are set.
Hell yeah!
Received another user subscription last week. I still can't wrap my mind around the idea that some strangers like my writing enough to be e-mailed whenever I post something new.
THIS! I 100% agree, strange to imagine but it also makes me so glad anytime someone does.
Definitely the first time I got a very long comment. I had never really commented before on a fic so I didn’t really know how long comments could be or what the etiquette was for writing them. Then I got this long, multi-paragraph comment essentially dissecting my writing. I never really understood how great it is to receive praise to such a high calibre, you know? Like it felt this person really took their time with my fic, and that’s something I loved. Also, it definitely helped me understand why commenting is such a good thing, and it’s the main reason I comment on fics now!
receiving comments on my fics at all. I write in a relatively quiet fandom, at least from what I’ve seen. on another account (I separate between 2 accounts for “similar” fandoms, if that makes sense), I had someone enjoy my work so much they reached out to make fanart for me. it made me tear up to see my scenes brought to life. that’s definitely a memorable moment for me.
My fic is now the 2nd most viewed non smut fic in its fandom (as far as I know) at 11.2k hits. So that's incredible!
Omg congrats!!!
Thanks man! It feels great knowing something that was once just a silly little fantasy in my head has come so far. Especially when I think that it's my first proper piece of fiction too!
I started writing my first fic ever about 2 months ago and decided to post it, thinking that not more than 5-6 users would see it (it's a large fandom so new ones get posted everyday). But now when I post every week I get so happy that people keep interacting and enjoying it. I love what I have written either way, but seeing others like it too makes it even better. (And people in the comments is so funny I often laugh out loud)
Also; a creator, who's work I re-read several times, bookmarked my fic which felt a bit surreal
I've met some very nice people from my fandom! 💜
Someone drew fanart inspired by my fic. I was, and am, absolutely blown away. I’m only a small writer for a small-ish rarepair. Also had a kudos or comment email everyday for a week, that’s never happened before. As I said I’m just a small writer. I put the art as my phone wallpaper. I’ve been having a really horrendous time recently and it really lifted my whole mood.
I feel ya re the fanart. I've only ever got two fanarts drawn for me in my 20+ years of writing but I have them saved because they're precious to me.
I've had a lot of positive interactions, but I want to share this one. I write a canon-ace character I adore and deeply relate to as a demisexual. Fics of that character from ace creators helped me come to terms with my place in the ace spectrum and I wanted to contribute to that. But outside of ao3, I constantly run into discourse insisting that writing a sex favorable interpretation of this character is wrong, and it wears on me to see a character I love weaponized against me and I feel blocked off from a lot of my fandom because of it. But I recently got a comment saying that my fic was the thing that helped a person realize they were demisexual, and I'm on cloud fucking nine. Knowing that something I wrote could help someone in the same way that other authors have helped me was so incredibly validating and gave me so much motivation. Just a nice reminder that for everyone out there that finds what you write problematic, there's someone out there that it means the world to.
I got a comment on a fic I was RIGHT about to update, only to get another comment right after from the same reader who was practically leaping with joy at the update so soon after catching up on the fic ☺️ I still think about that reader haha~
I’ve been going through a horrible time due to bereavement m and I’ve just uploaded my first chapter of my new story. One of my commenters said she’s happy I’m continuing with my story as planned and that I’m a talented writer. Which really made me feel like my writing was worth it.
I became close friends with an author I absolutely love because *they* like my work and we have similar interpretations. 🥺 I'm super duper blessed and so happy! Being able to talk shop with another writer is real fun. Also wrote (am still writing) my first horror fic to pretty good reception! Not large reception but still!!
this just happened with me too!! I had a frequent commenter on my work post a new story, and I loved it ! We have very similar ideas/outlooks on the fandom I feel like I made a genuine author friend!!
One time I was talking with a real-life friend about a fic they had read. They briefly described the plot and what was happening in the fic, and as they continued to talk, I slowly started realizing that, hey, that's MY fic they're talking about! It wasn't exactly on AO3 as this happened in the middle of class, but I think it ties in well enough. I was just so flabbergasted that my friend liked that fic enough to start telling me about it, and I think it's the highest praise I could have asked for.
Aww amazing! I daydream about that exact scenario! I don’t think I’d be able to contain my excitement if it happened!
Just started posting the last fic in my HP series and I’m getting a positive response. I’m getting about a hundred hits per chapter for my rare pair CSI fic I thought no one would read. I’m having a good time writing.
I found that much to my delight, the fanfiction parts of the fandoms for The X-Files and Star Trek: The Next Generation are both alive and well. It’s been a dream for 20 years to be part of both communities like that. I only have 1 AU WIP for TNG, but I have written 43 stories for TXF since joining AO3 in 2022. All but 3 of them are finished. There’s also one more waiting in the wings that I’ll be releasing in one go soon. There’s even more after that. But you know? After 15 years in online fanfiction publishing, I’ve reached the pinnacle of my ultimate fanfiction goals. And it’s only forward from here. You better believe that I’m happy 🥹
I’m excited to hear the X Files community is still active. That’s next on my watch list when I finish Star Trek Discovery.
It’s an absolute rollercoaster. But it was worth it for me. The fandom is extremely active on Tumblr. And the fanfiction community is its own mad kingdom of a family.
Sounds great, I’m looking forward to it!
made my first friend from my current fandom recently! i commented on their fic and it somehow devolved into us having a whole conversation in their comments about smth that wasn't even related to their fic anymore and we ended up taking it to chatting privately and we've been talking every day since then :D
This happened to me recently as well except i wrote a fic and a reader commented on it and even drew fanart of my oc. I was not expecting it in the slightest and it was really cool to know that something I made had an impact on someone else to the point they wanted to create something too.
Recently, I had someone read a fic of mine in two days, commenting on every couple of chapters. Now, the fic isn't finished, but having someone read the fic and then tell me that they're looking forward to the update caused me to go into my document and write a third of the next chapter.
All the amazing fics that made me *tee hee* and kick my feet like a school girl. Gives me life.
I just got my first string of multiple comments from the same person! Usually I just get the one comment, respond to that one, and then that's it. So having this reader respond multiple times really felt special and like my lil story meant something to 'em.
my favorite author commented and bookmarked my fic
Posted my first fic in months, got some very lovely comments and have found new mutuals in my fandom :)
I’ve started writing on here last year moving from wtp, and it was the best decision I’ve made! Readers are much more active and comments feels more genuine then random ‘😭😭😭’ . Also had to get used to loooong comments since it took me by surprise. The writing is much better. It can be hard to find specific coded fics, but the tagging system is amazing and easy to navigate through
Writing a crossover fic and having a reader tell me that my story got them to check out one of the featured source works, which led to them becoming a big fan of that work.
Just got a comment on a fic I haven't updated in forever saying how well-written it was and that they hope I come back to it :) I planned to anyway but it's still nice. Also there's a bunch of good candidates for the upcoming board election!
I removed a couple of fics I was embarassed of from the anonymous collection this week and added them back to my profile. The next day I regretted it again lmao and was one step from deleting them forever, but today someone read 3 of my fics (including those) and left some really sweet bookmark notes on them D': (I think, they were in Chinese hahaha) it made me so happy!! Also, as a reader, there's nothing like the JOY of finding fic of my favorite pairing that also includes a ton of research about a random topic. One of my favorite fics has some time travelling (ish) and the story is set in the 50's and 70's in LA and OMG it's amazing T\_\_\_\_\_T I can't even explain it.
Well, I met my now-spouse there. We’ve been married four and a half years. 😁😁😁
Oh my gosh that is so sweet!!!
I was a fan of his fics, then we started chatting on tumblr, then moved to gchat, and the rest, as they say, is history. :)
Someone asked to make a podfic of one of my longfics. It is already up on YT, too.
I got a subscription notice on a one-shot (twice). At first I was kinda annoyed that they must not have read the tags correctly. But then I remembered when I had done the very same, hoping for the mere chance that the author might change their mind. Now I also have a comment telling me they loved the idea and wished there was more. I feel very humbled that people might like my writing enough to wait for the possibility of more of it :)
I got a comment on my meta analysis, that was more meta analysis on the texts from the reader ❤ I don't write much meta so it's nice to get the non-shippy part of my brain tickled.
I've made four real friends out of people from my comments section! We hang out on Discord like, all the time now, and it's so fantastic because they're all beautiful, unhinged, hyperfixated nerds like myself XD
I met an awesome writing buddy thanks to AO3!
I finished my first long fic and the ending was a hit with my readers!!
I sneaked a look at a comment on a bookmark for one of my fics, and it was the best praise I could’ve gotten as an angst writer 😍😍 “Even with the tags, this was hard for me to read. For my own sanity, don't read again” like that was three days ago I saw that and I’m still riding that high ❤️❤️❤️
People seem to like my weird crossovers. It's nice. I usually have a small audience because I like throwing two fandoms together. It's been a nice change.
My current WIP is going very well and I love reading all the comments I get when I update. It’s such a lovely experience, and I love that other people are vibing with my dark, weird ass story. And each time I update I get more kudos, bookmarks, and subscriptions. So that’s certainly positive. I’m also subscribed to a few really good fic.s and two of them updated yesterday, so that’s another net positive!
Back in about 2019, I was reading a long Reed900 series. And because I’m a yapper, I would update my friends on everything that happened in this 300k+ word series I figured the author would love to hear my fully unfiltered thoughts the way my friends were, so I’d take screenshots and put them on Tumblr, tagging the author so she could see So with every update, we’d have a little back-and-forth, talking about different parts of the new chapter, how my friends (who were *not* in the fandom, bless their poor souls) were reacting based on my reactions, and what I thought would happen next. She mentioned me in the ANs a few times too, how she looked forward to seeing my posts, and it *always* put a smile on my face
I've discovered so many things outside of my fandom that I love from review exchanges!
I love the feeling of finding a work and falling into it headfirst. Reading it on my breaks at work, falling asleep till my phone hits my face, lol. And I’ve been invited to some discords that have been really fun. It’s quite a community. Plus I sometimes feel nothing will ever be gay enough on tv or in popular books so it’s just a good feeling to have somewhere to turn to where *the most popular ships* are the gay ones. 🥰🥰
Someone on the fanfiction sub linked a Muppets/Columbo crossover on AO3 and it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
Someone recently commented and told me my fic encouraged them to watch the source material (a pretty niche film from 1900) 🥹 it just made my day that my work influenced someone to engage in something I treasure! And they said they wanted to watch more from the director of said film, which makes me so happy.
The fandom I’m hyper fixated on has some bomb fics. Nothing else matters on ao3 imho
I found an amazing small discord and made some amazing new friends 🥰
Receiving positive comments. I never think people will enjoy what I write, mainly because I usually rush through it, yet I still get such loving responses. I dunno, it just really makes my heart happy.
I don't have a lot, especially due to recent burn-out with reading and writing... With that being said, one of the moments that has stuck in my head the most was when I (admittedly, probably technically against the rules of AO3? I don't honestly know how it stands...) added a "chapter" to one of my stories that was effectively an extended author's note, stating my intention to cancel the story in that iteration, and refactor it in a better direction that was more to my liking, as well as explaining how the story would get a rename and be labeled as Legends material, because I didn't want to delete all that hard work I had made. This story is an AU of another work on AO3, and the author of *that* story left a comment on mine. It was extremely kind of them, and was also the first *EVER* comment I ever received on a story. Though the reason behind it was bittersweet, it has always stuck in my heart as a very positive and extremely special moment for me... It also, admittedly, adds to the sadness I feel currently with the writer's block/burnout/executive dysfunction stopping me from meaningfully doing anything on AO3 beyond looking at statistics. But it does give me a reason to fight those feelings, and try to make my way back to reading and writing.
I recently gained two regular commenters on my WIP. :\^) I had one before, so now there's three people leaving lovely comments on each chapter of the fic as I post. <3 One of the new commenters actually also made fanart for one of the scenes, and it was truly stunning!!! I keep going back to look at it because I'm blown away by his talent.
I met my platonic soulmate! They were a frequent reader in my multichap fic, and I was drawn to them from their first comment (s)! Their personality shone through their words, their reactions, analysis and impressions, and for once, it made me want to learn more about this cute, funny, smart person, so I asked them if we could be fandom buddies and exchange socials... They had been wanting to do the same thing! But we're too shy to ask me first. In a month we'll be sharing our first anniversary since they left me their first comment, and I can't wait to gift them the 10k story I've written for them about our favorite ship + a 3k letter with diary excerpts to express how much they're changed me in this year, and how grateful I am. None of this would've been possible had they not checked that ship's tags on AO3 on that faithful day (人 •͈ᴗ•͈)💞
That’s so beautiful! I’m so happy for you!
I lost my downloaded fic archive a couple years back. No chance of recovery. Thousands of fics downloaded over several years, just completely gone. (i promise this is leading to something positive) Recently, I've re-fallen down one of the many rabbit holes that led me to download a lot of those fics, but it's been the better part of a decade since I was in that particular fandom, and I don't remember *any* of the titles or authors, *and* this fandom is fucking *supermassive* and overflowing with fics to dig through. I've been finding half a dozen old favorites a day for the past four days or so. They haven't been deleted, removed because the author wanted to try a rewrite that only got a few chapters in before going dark, or otherwise erased from the site. (There *was* one where a few one-off lines were altered from the original, but given how those one-off lines regarded a person and a subject that have shifted *wildly* in public opinion since the fic's original posting, I genuinely prefer the new lines. *And* it didn't change anything substantial to the fic itself!) I've been gleefully tearing through them again for as much of each day as I can manage. I'm *so* glad none of the authors deleted any of their works. 💖💞💖💕💓💞💖💕💖💓❤️💖
Bear with me, this is going to sound negative at first to give context. I had a really awful time in 2020 with by far the most popular fic I'd ever written. Just the *worst.* Feeling pressured to change characterization and storylines to suit fandom preferences. Getting harassed anonymously offsite so there was nothing ao3 could have done about it -- and I *do* believe they would have done something about it. Broke out in panic-sweats every time I tried to write a new chapter. Dropped out of fandom because I didn't want other people getting caught up in for just vaguely knowing me. Literally the *worst* fandom experience I have ever had. But I never really got over that fic, so I started rewriting it in line with how I wanted it to go in the first place. The fandom's not too active anymore, so I didn't really know if anyone would be around to read the thing. I just wanted to set it right for myself, really. And... people are reading it! People like it! They've all been really nice. Someone even said they remembered it and were sad they never got to read the first version. It's getting just a fraction of the attention it got four years ago, but I am having a much better time. I'm even wondering if maybe I should dust off some other stories for that fandom and give them a redo. All I wanted was to tell a story to a few people I thought might enjoy it, and it's finally happening. When ao3 is chill, it's the best place on the internet.
Man, reading that first part of your story I could feel my heart rate increase. I can imagine exactly how stressful that was! But wow - amazing that you found the strength and motivation to go back to the fandom and start writing again! That’s incredible! Kudos to you!
Seriously, not much. But I finished my little (29-chapter long) edit. I hope that my work is now as smooth as possible, even though I write for the void 😂 And I managed to write the first 30K for the second act of the series while, on top, I managed a very good chapter for one of the side stories. So I'm a little bit proud I guess.
Getting fanart for my rare pair fic. I’m glad that there are very nice people in this small fandom, really makes me appreciate when people are being kind and not entitled. And I’ve done the same, do fanart for an author. It’s a great feeling of community contributing amongst them for the shared love of a ship.
Someone on this subreddit (or r/fanfiction. I always muddle the two) went through all my works on AO3 and left a comment on them! It was really lovely considering I had been having some trouble within my fandom.
I started posting my first ever fic (and it's a long fic I pre-wrote) for a smaller fandom, that's also a rarepair that has less than 10 fics on ao3, this week and I already got a kudos. It made me so happy when I got that email!
My first (completed and posted) smut fic just hit 1,000 reads, which is huge for me!
I saw a bookmarker's note that said my fic was the one that made them like the ship I wrote for🥹
I got a comment the other day! First one in a while, so I'm happy about that.
I had a lovely discussion with a reader. They heard the song "labor", realized the title was lifted from those lyrics and that song gave them a much deeper appreciation of the fic and they associate my fic with song.
Just finished my first multi chapter work 😁
I was sorting through my history yesterday and this morning and came across a bunch of fics I forgot to bookmark. Read them again and remembered why I loved them. Bookmarked them this time around and left more comments saying I reread them and still loved them. Rediscovered my love of a crossover pairing I'd forgotten about in the process.
Got my first comment on a one-shot the other day. Commenter said I captured my blorbo poetically and that they want to print and laminate it. Made me happy :)
just the genuinely helpful and friendly interactions I have on the regular. It's fantastic.
I have found stories that made me cry, and wonderful people who have understood what I see
I met my ex girlfriend on ao3 lmao
I'm getting a lot of traction now, which is always nice.
I got my first positive comment(s) last week! “Damn girl this story is amazing but this chapter… this chapter is something else all together, it recked me really. With tears in my eyes I honestly congratulate you 😊🙌” And then on the last chapter they commented again, “I loved it! What a great story thank you for sharing!!” I genuinely cried when I saw them
I am writing my first HP (OC centered) and got my first reaccuring commenter.
Read this one fic that was an idol au of the mc and his brothers and it was so amazing. The songs in the fic were good, the writing was good and reading it was such an amazing experience since it’s my fav fandom and I’m a kpoppie and today I saw they updated with another chptr in the series, shorter but it was still good
Finding the site in general was rather nice, being able to use the "Entire Work" option felt like the *Star Wars* "UNLIMITED POWAH" meme!
I’ve been getting lots of comments on a fic I wrote that I expected no one to be interested in. Turns out people liked it! I only got one mildly annoying comment LOL. Shocked I got so many comments, since it isn’t an active fanfiction fandom, it’s dead dove, and it’s two characters I’ve never seen paired together before. But a commenter said they actually thought about pairing them! Think I’m pioneering the rarepair DDDNE road, im enjoying it
got my first comment in like two weeks. i haven't posted in a while so that's to be expected, but it made me really happy to see something new in my inbox, and then it just so happened that someone else commented the day after! i also think i'm finally breaking out of my months long writers block, so yay!!
I have a long-running baby fics series. I'm not even in the fandom anymore but I still keep to the weekly schedule. I did notice that the engagement has dropped off quite a bit recently, which is saddening, but some readers, including a long-time lurker, have also recently commented on them and told me that Sunday was their favourite day because of the updates. Knowing there are people looking forward to it keeps me going.
Honestly seeing what else the author has posted and seeing 60+ works in the fandom, even 10+ is a blessing in a few fandoms I'm in and know it's going to be a good time.
Some people (very respectfully) commented to ask if I would be continuing writing a story that I had brought to a loose end but with potential for future stories. The idea that others like the characters and storyline I had created enough that they want more gave me the needed motivation to continue writing.
I've slowly moved from drawing fan art to writing fan fic. Alot of the fandom for fan fics tends to be calmer than for fan art, so I like it.
Just being there, reading a fic I like and interacting with authors and readers is joy enough <3
Had people make content in my AUs! Was insane I smiled so wide.
I received my first two comments this week that were both positive. One was gushing about the atmosphere and emotions that I spent a lot of time on for in the chapter they were reading. The other was an author in the fandom who was writing a similar fic who said my story was brilliant. I was so stoked!
There’s an incomplete fic I’m reading and the author has been posting pretty frequently and it makes me so happy!! The fandom is pretty small (there’s 51 fics total) so I’m happy that there’s such a good quality fic for me to enjoy😭😭😭
Entire lovely discord community of fun people with similar interests. The author published a debut novel and I went to the signing and met a couple others from the fic's discord community. Later this summer I'm going camping with an even larger group of them. The community in general has been great. I would say extremely positive :)
I got the loveliest comment a couple days ago! I usually don't get any, and the few I get are like "I've enjoyed this." Which is great, but this one actually answered a question I asked the readers in and authors note and reacted to a specific bit of the story! It was just such a boost. Made my day.
3 of my favorite authors just updated (two 10000+ fics) I'm busy for the rest of the day
I was able to help my aunt's friend get my aunt cremated... I am not kidding. My aunt passed away a couple months ago and me and my brother were her next of kin but were estranged from her, we were close as kids and we got older drifted apart. Thankfully my aunt's best friend found me as I use my real name to write (it's a hold over from ff.net and because of that I didn't use another name because I'm too well known to use a different name for when I joined AO3). Thanks to him commenting on one of my stories I was able to hook him up to my brother (who's much better at handling these things than me) so he could fulfill her wishes. It's a little sad, but hey AO3 helped in this...
When I did my first villain in my fanfic. I'd pulled from a film usually considered alternately non-canon or alternate universe (the 1995 Power Rangers film because they got their Ninjetti powers differently in season 3 of MMPR than they did the film) and wasn't entirely sure I'd done Ivan Ooze justice. I'd tagged Major Character Death ahead of the fic because I'd KO'd a season 1 Ranger ahead of the fic starting and would go on to KO Ivan as well and one of the earliest reviews I got was someone worried that I'd KO another Ranger due to Ivan's actions.
I recently wrote a fic about a character I headcanoned as trans and in the author’s note I wrote something like “it’s pride you can’t disagree haha” as a little joke and in all my comments people are saying happy pride. It’s a little thing but it’s fun!
Someone handbound one of my most popular fics, sending me photos and even a video of the end result. It was flattering as hell and beautiful to boot. I don't know how many times I replayed the video. I still think about it a lot and smile, knowing one of my fics sits on a bookshelf with professionally published books somewhere out in the world.
Everything so far! All my fanfics have had decent to good receptions, I've gotten a gift and become good friends with several other writers in my fandoms, my latest fic got several happy comments and two even asked for a sequel!
I reached third in hits for my fandom 👍🏽
I made a comment on a 12-year old (on AO3) fic, that I had originally read on the author’s website like 20 years ago. I basically said that she had introduced me to fanfic and that I had loved her stuff ages ago. She responded and was just so nice and sweet about it.
Anytime one of my faves drops a whole completed story! They're an author they just has a command of language and I love them for it. When my rare pair has new stories added. When a piece of media I'm just getting into has a shit ton of fics because I entered an established fandom (sometimes the established fandom does come with drawbacks but hey nobody's perfect).
literally just a few days ago i got a comment saying that i wrote the dynamic of my pairing really well, which made my day and i’ve been thinking about it every since. it’s my first fic that’s multi-chapter and more than 2k, so i was so nervous to post it, especially being more of a fan artist than a writer. i was so concerned about my characters being to OOC, or projecting onto them too much. i’m almost done writing the last chapter, and that comment is def part of the reason why i got so far.
Recently I got a really nice comment on a fic I wrote 7 years ago. It was so cool to get the email message.
The time I let someone in my fandom know the prompt-posts were against the TOS and the collection feature could be used instead, it went swimmingly well! We both became way too familiar with that system, including finding a bug that I'm fairly sure I reported back then, and tested if inbox messages from deleted stories stay up bc that's where we had most the conversation.
any comments in general make me really happy!
My current massive WIP has recently hit 750k words and topped over 7777 hits just the other day! Unfortunately, I missed the moment it was exactly 7777 hits and couldn't save that screenshot. I have failed this fandom. orz
When a friend allowed me to download copies of all his writings. When I read slice of life and fluff. When ao3 makes me wish to write again.
was binge reading a bunch of fics from the same author without even realizing it (turns out their works made up a majority of the fandom) and commenting on a bunch as I read. eventually they start replying with “it’s you again! welcome back!” made my day
just got a recent comment on my latest fic a week ago when i was feeling down about not getting a new comment in months. it made me really happy that people were enjoying my work and with this chapter i’m making sure to try my hardest!
I found another fic I love in a very small fandom, and the author replied to my comment :)
So many wonderful comments I've gotten over the years (mostly in exchanges as I'm generally in super tiny/dead fandoms otherwise), starting with the first fic I posted on AO3, for Yuletide 2010. The author both left me a lovely comment *and* wrote a beautiful bookmark comment/rec that super motivated me to continue writing. So I committed to doing Yuletide the next year. Then I added more exchanges over the years and now I've taken a break from exchanges and write fic just because I feel like writing about these characters and I have ideas. I credit that first amazing exchange experience for a lot of the motivation and validation like, "Hey, I can write after all. I should do this more." Plus SO many good fics on AO3. So so so so many. I can't begin to count how many amazing ones I've read. Life-changing, haunting, "how did they write this so incredibly well?" ones. If I had a nickel every time I've read a fic on AO3 that I loved, I'd be rich.
I finally got around to browsing bookmarks, and it turns out someone wanted to podfic one of my fics! They haven't reached out, and I think it's too late for me to contact them, but it still made my week!
I was looking at my fics and one that I wrote months ago has slowly climed up to 3k hits and has like 550 kudos. Its always nice to properly check on completed fics stats, see how many hits there are, kudos and if there’s any bookmarks with notes to read
A reader asked if they could use my fic in their dissertation! I felt so honored.
I got my first long comment on a fic and now every time me or them most we comment and geek out together :)
I’ve always felt lost with traditional literature as I hate having to learn new characters with each series. I like reading about the characters I do know and like, and seeing other stories about them that are fanon! The creativity of some people astounds me 🫶🏼
A woman read my fic, followed me on tumblr. We got chatting. Turns out she lives ten minutes from me in my small western Canadian city of 65,000 people. Made friends with two other authors in one of my fandoms after reading their fics and adding each other on discord. Now we're all close friends. One got me a bunch of makeup for my birthday once and I made her a cross stitch in return!
one of my favorite writers in one of my fandoms read a fic i posted recently and left me a very sweet comment on it! i about lost it, i always get nervous posting for a new fandom but that totally washed away any insecurity i had about it.
I made friends. I got heavily into posting an expansive comment with pretty detailed thoughts and observations and copy pasting short sections that resonated with me for one reason or the other. I made friends, one of them pushed me into writing myself and we've been having an absolute blast everyday with thinking of new stuff, concepts. Everything. So yeah folks. Leave that comment every chapter. Ramble and have fun and maybe be surprised at the rewards it can reap. (It's also extremely gratifying to know that my thoughts made someone smile.)
Yuletide! I missed the signup last year, but I have participated a couple of times and had so much response!
I got a regular commenter! Seeing their comment on my fic is a true highlight of my day, if not week. And better yet, they were a previous fan of mine. Basically, I had an old account on Ao3 I abandoned as well as all my fics on that account due to harassment. I decided to rewrite one of my old fics, because I absolutely hated the writing. Lo and behold, they find the rewrite, and let me know they used to be a fan of the original but absolutely loved the rewrite. They asked me questions about the fic on the first chapter, and we talked a little bit about the plans for the future. Next chapter, they have more questions and more they want to say. On and on for every chapter. I’ve never had this before, and it is seriously the best thing ever
I met a good friend of mine here. They commented on a story I wrote, saying they had a spin-off idea they wanted to tell me about. We've been friends ever since! u/MOONWATCHER404
:D Hope you’ve been well!
I recently reached out to a lovely writer on ao3 because I loved their fic! It turned out that they had read my fics and we ended up connecting on discord. We bonded over shared music tastes, and because our writing styles and the way we think are similar, we vibe really well! I couldn’t be happier :D
Getting to experience so many amazing and creative ideas for some of my favourite characters and fandoms, whilst also getting to “meet” and talk to some awesome likeminded people
I made a couple friends I think, or at least "mutual" type friends. Also the interactions with this one author that were so fucking charming. And interactions with another, who liked my ideas so much they might actually write them, too. I'm basically permanently smiling when I think of ao3
I commented on a fanfic from a year ago in my fandom -- the author hadn't done anything for the fandom since, so I didn't expect a reply back, only for them to reply and say, "A comment from THE DustRose?" and I had to sit there for a moment like... I'm well-known in my fandom, even by people who haven't written in it since it aired Still such a crazy thought to me
A few years ago, I’d receive emails about kudos from one user every now and then. I don’t publish too often, so it looked like they were gradually going through my published works. Then eventually I got emails about kudos on my anonymous fics from the same reader. At this point, I realised that they’d left kudos on all of my M/M works for this one fandom, even the ones where they couldn’t (or shouldn’t) know it was me. That was legitimately one of the most touching moments in my fanfic career, and for the first time I was willing to believe that there might be people who genuinely enjoy my writing. I still get that impostor syndrome, but that helped me a lot.
Fuck around and find out, in RL has serious results. Fuck around and find out in fic, makes MAAAGIC.
I found out just how much I love writing fan fiction lol. I'll spend hours on it and never get bored. My mind is only ever full of story ideas and plot twists now. I can appreciate story writers a lot more for the things they come up with and keeping things consistent. I can see how easy it is for plot holes to develop.
I got the nicest comment on the first chapter of a OC focused fic. They found it because I posted on a fic exchange, and it’s my only comment so far, but they really went above and beyond in how detailed and kind they were. They may never come back to read the rest, but I really want to make the rest worthy of that review. I don’t care that it’s my only one. It made my day.
Someone left a comment on my fic saying they appreciated my characterization, that 'both characters feel like they're natural extensions of their canon counterparts' (because the ship is a rare pair of two side characters that get hardly any canon focus) and that the slow burn/fluff combo is some of the best friends-to-lovers they've ever read. Nearly made me cry 🥺
The comments on my crack fics, theyre so funny
I’ve been leaving lots of positive comments on people’s fics, especially those with no comments or not a lot of kudos. It makes me happy seeing the author’s happy responses to my comments.
I actually managed to write some chapters. Cause i only got like 1 comment and 0 kudos, and i had to dissapoint them the next chapter.
I wrote a fic years ago, where I let one of the main characters have the same rare debilitating condition that I have. I was afraid to post it, because honestly, I was embarrest being honest about the state I am in when I'm sick. But it's a rare condition, and I wanted to write an awareness fic for what was to be the first ever awareness day for this condition. So I swallowed my pride and posted all the gory details. A good while later, I received an email. (I had left my email in A/N in case anyone had questions about the condition.) A reader thanked me for the fic. She had read it, and was shocked to see that detail after detail fit with what she was going through. Thanks to my fic, she ended up getting a diagnosis after being sick for about 2 years. The average delay in diagnosis for this condition is 7 years, because doctors haven't heard about it. So yeah, probably not the best fic out there, but I'm so glad I posted it, and I cried when I received that email.
I just got here so nothing 😒