AO3, old fandoms and such

[sholio]

Yesterday I finally got the rest of my older fanfic uploaded to my AO3 account. Since very little of the SGA stuff is on there right now (and it's a pretty low priority for me right now, given that my SGA stories have their own site) it gives a somewhat skewed impression of which fandoms I'm active in ...

It was kind of fascinating to go back through those old stories. I made myself adhere to a strict policy of "no rewriting and no warnings for crappy writing/fangirl Japanese/blatant POV errors" because otherwise it's a slippery slope that leads to madness. *g* Still, even though some of them are a bit wince-inducing to me now (and angsty, oh my god, the ANGST; wee!friendshipper was such an emo little thing) there's also quite a bit in there that I'm awfully proud of. Sand and Light, the first novel-length fic I ever wrote (in Trigun fandom, ten years ago), is still one of my favorites of everything I've written. I kept getting sucked into re-reading chapters as I uploaded them. Sure, there are things I'd do differently now -- lots of things. But I'm still happy with that story. (And I ran across a rec for it not more than a year ago, so people still read it. *bounces*)

Also, trying to figure out how to apply the warnings system in some fandoms is hilariously difficult. Do you use death warnings if you're writing for a series in which characters die constantly in canon, there are about a half-dozen loopholes to bring them back, and one of the main settings for the series is the afterlife?

ANYWAY. The main reason why I did this (so that I didn't have to do it later and annoy people) is that AO3 finally has Subscriptions, like ff.net's Author Alerts! You can click on the "Subscribe" button on an AO3 author's homepage and get email alerts when they post something new. *bounces* Right now, I don't think there are any authors I'm interested in that I'm not following on LJ or DW (I'm hardly reading any fic right now, to be honest) but I expect I will be getting lots of use out of this in the future. :D

This entry is also posted at http://friendshipper.dreamwidth.org/322553.html with comments.

Comments

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

I've been uploading my SGA fic and it's churned up a lot of mixed-emotions about what I wrote as well, most of which lean toward me wanting to crawl into a hole to hide.

But I'm really loving AO3. It's so much easier (and safer) to navigate.

[sholio]

haha, yeah, exactly. One reason why it took me a long time to get most of my older fic uploaded is that an awful lot of it makes me cringe. On the other hand, I know that one person's trash is another person's treasure; I would hate to deprive someone of a favorite story (or insult the poor story in its own headers) just because it's not up to my standards anymore. It was the best that I could do at the time, after all. And it's not like all the stories I write now are models of perfection either.

I like AO3 a lot! A couple of people on my flist have said that their browsers won't let them navigate it properly; I hope the AO3 developers fix whatever is causing the problem, because I think it's probably going to be my main backup archive now that I'm not really uploading to ff.net anymore. And it's becoming my main go-to place when I get into a new fandom, especially small fandoms.

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

I actually have edited my really old Vampire Chronicles fic as I've uploaded it (which is why I still have a handful of fics I haven't uploaded yet). Most of it is just small stuff like punctuation or replacing the occasional "the other man" with a character name, but a couple of them I edited quite a bit, cutting out whole scenes and rewriting some scenes to make the POV consistent. I figure if someone really wants to read the originals, they're still up elsewhere on the net.

[sholio]

*nods* Yeah ... I really went back and forth on how I wanted to handle it. One of the problems is that a lot of my older fic is in fandoms that I've completely moved away from -- I can no longer channel the characters easily, and no longer remember what I was trying to accomplish with the stories. I delayed a long time on uploading some of these old stories because I was reluctant to post them as-is (some of them don't reflect particularly well on me as a writer anymore), but I didn't want to edit them and I couldn't really figure out what to do about it.

I guess I went with the don't-edit option because, well, I was never going to get them uploaded if I didn't, but also I think they're interesting as snapshots of where I was as a writer ten or eight or five years ago. On the other hand, I can totally understand editing and polishing those older stories into a better and more readable shape. It's six of one, half a dozen of the other ...

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I kind of wish now that I hadn't started editing them, but now that I have most of them edited, I feel like I can't just post the rest unedited! XD But it's taken me years to get them up on my website/AO3 because of this. I put up all the ones that were short and/or didn't need much/any editing. Then I've been working on the longer ones and the ones that need the most editing and sometimes I go for months and months without touching them... But I believe this year will be the year I really get everything edited and up in one place!

[leesa_perrie]

Oh, early fics, how much do you maketh me cringe!! *bg*

Well, not all of them, just most!! But I have a strict 'do not rewrite' policy that only allows the odd grammar correction, or word if I've used a British term instead of an American one, as I agree with you that that way lies madness!!!

Considering the angst levels in my fic, even newer ones, I'm sooo glad I never got into fanfic writing until my mid-30's!! I'd hate to think how angsty my teenaged stuff would have been!!!!

[sholio]

LOL, I remember what my teenage non-fanfic stuff was like -- ANGST and WOE and EMO all over the place. *g* By the time I got around to fanfic, I'd at least managed to tune it down somewhat ...!

[flingslass.livejournal.com]

Don't edit the old stuff, it shows the path of learning you have travelled.

[sholio]

Yeah, that's one of the reasons I'm leaving them alone (even if it is a little embarrassing to have my path of learning hanging out for all to see! *g*).

[saphirablue]

It's also very interesting as a reader to find old fics and re-read them: Do I still like them like I used to? Are they still the same kind of story I like to read? Is the story as good (or bad) as I remember?

It's also interesting to see what an author has written in the past (have the ways of author and reader already crossed and a favourite author is rediscovered under a new username?) when you read them in a fairly new fandom. :)