Darcy is a great sassy sidekick. I enjoy fics where she's in a commentary position--Phil's assistant, Jane's lab gofer. But the Misunderstood Cute Geek character in a show often gets pickedup by a certain class of writer as a springboard.

Tangentially fic-related things that make your heart plummet:

Reading 6 chapters of the story where there was apparently a long gap between 5 and 6 (AO3 doesn't let you see that AFAICT). The author explains she attempted suicide after chapter 5 (one of the main characters is addicted to drugs, self-harms, and is anorexic in a long game suicidal way) and spent months in an institution afterwards, and then apologises for the delay in updates.

Of course the comments are mostly "This fic hasn't been updated recently! Need moaarrrrr......" after chapter 5, and one after chapter 6 saying "Been there, done that, don't apologise, keep on rocking."

Oh, dear, ita. That's kind of awful.

I'm also surprised to see that kind of clamor for updates on AO3; I've mostly felt it was confined to FFN.

It kinda makes me want to not even feel impatient, even though I'd never nag for an update.

I don't know if it's an SPN sea change, an AO3 one, or just in my ship, but the last month has seen a surge in "Be gentle this is the first fic I wrote" author's notes, and more frequent clarity that the person writing is writing about themselves right now in this high school AU.

Sturgeon's Law is never so apparent as when you're in an archive. AO3 has changed how I read fic, but it's also changed how often I want to stab myself in the eyes.

I occasionally make "I love this fic, hope everything is going ok for you, let me know if/when I can bring out my pom-poms to cheer you on as you write more of it," comments.

Sturgeon's Law is never so apparent as when you're in an archive. AO3 has changed how I read fic, but it's also changed how often I want to stab myself in the eyes.

So much this. I routinely bless AO3's ability to let me filter by kudos, but even that doesn't entirely safeguard against the 90%.

I think I read the comments on bad fic more than I read the comments on good, so I can get my aghast on properly. PEOPLE. What's with having different standards from me? Where does that get us?

What worries me about that is that if encouraged, you know the awful writers will be WAY more prolific than the good ones.

He said, sprinting past a 125,000-word WIP that gets updated about 8 times a day and is always at the top of the Teen Wolf tags...

What worries me about that is that if encouraged, you know the awful writers will be WAY more prolific than the good ones.

He said, sprinting past a 125,000-word WIP that gets updated about 8 times a day and is always at the top of the Teen Wolf tags...

Oh gods, yes. There's one posting updates at least once a day to 3 different WIPs in one of my fandoms.

I've gotten some good mileage out of other people's bookmarks on AO3. There's a decent chance that if I like an author I'll like fic they've bookmarked. I've hopscotched through a goodly chunk of a fandom that way.