I like to think that Johnny slowly sways when he stands. He can stand still, almost like heβs paused, but if heβs comfortable he sways slightly.
Everyone in the gang can tell too, Ponyboy watching Johnny present in class and watching this boy absolutely freeze in front of everyone. He feels so bad.
i swear to all the gods aboveβ JUST BECAUSE SE HINTON SAID THERE WAS NO CANONICALLY GAY CHARACTERS IN THE OUTSIDERS DOESNT MEAN WE CANT SHIP THEM!! like jk r*wling did the same thing, guess what?? IT DIDNT STOP THE HARRY POTTER FANDOM?!
ok, what im trying to say is when i talk about outsiders ships, some people/a few of my friends arguments always start with that tweet from se hinton. like ok i get it, but please spare me the trouble of having to explain fandoms and headcanons to you. fandomsβ most of the time, will ship characters together even if it isnt canon/implied.
sorry for ranting, i saw this pin abt hating on outsiders queer ships and it pissed me THE FUCK off. like stop hating and go take a shower (Β¬`βΈΒ΄Β¬)
yes willow has a fuckass bob but in michelle's eyes it's an elegant french-model-like ethereal bob like this
Reminders for new ao3 users (in no particular order):
- filter your searches like you would on a library website or in an online catalogue
- donβt post placeholders, fic searches, or recommendations as fics. DONβT! Itβs against ao3 TOS
- there is no algorithm. ao3 sorts by date posted/updated unless you filter with specific search criteria
- ao3 is a non profit. that means it doesnβt sell ads to make money β it only survives on donations. this is why it can show you so many fics without ever flashing an ad or pop up at you!
- report fics that break TOS when you see them (I.e., placeholder fics, searches) to help other users navigate better
- the tag βdead dove, do not eatβ doesnβt equate to gore/awfulness automatically. it is a complementary tag that enhances current tags. E.g., if the fic is tagged βgoreβ and βdead dove, do not eatβ the author really wants you to mind the gore tag
- most fandoms have a variation of βno beta, we die like (x character)β and they all link back to the βNo betaβ tag
- publishing a new fic sometimes means it wonβt show up in the fandom/pairing tag for a few minutes
- subscribers receive update emails at different times, depending on when you update/publish your fic. thereβs no good way to predict when an e-mail will be sent β it can be in 30 seconds, or two hours later
- some fics are restricted by authors to those with ao3 accounts only. if you see a blue lock in the upper right corner, that fic is only visible to logged in ao3 users
- you can block commenters now! this didnβt use to be a thing
- updating a fic just to stay at the top of the pairing tag/fandom tag is a dick move. unless youβre legitimately editing or adding chapters, this just annoys readers and fellow authors, and people will skip over your fic
- make sure that you tag your ships correctly, both romantic and platonic. Putting an β&β between a pair of names means that the ship is platonic. Putting a β/β between the characters means its romantic. For example: βGreg & Steveβ = platonic. βGreg/Steveβ = romantic. They are NOT interchangable.
- if your fic includes original character/s or reader insert or y/n or etc, then TAG THOSE IN THE CHARACTER TAGS. Not just in the relationship tags!! They are characters in the story, so include them in the character tags. Failing to do so means people who want to find fics with those tags wonβt be able to, and people who want to exclude fics with those tags wonβt be able to.
- NEVER EVER EVER ADD A LINK TO A PATREON OR KO-FEE ACCOUNT OR ETC. Ao3βs entire legal protection hinges on the fact that no one is making money from fics. If you start commissioning fics or linking to a monetary platform, you are in breach of the Ao3 terms, risking legal action, and risking ao3 as a whole. There are loads of authors/companies who WILL sue if they think youβre making money off their intellectual property.
- seconding what OP said about Dead Dove Do Not Eat. It doesnβt automatically mean βgoreβ; it just means βheed the tags.β It means βHey yeah when I tagged this as [thing] I was NOT fucking around, ok? Only read this fic if youβre OK with reading [thing].β
additions from someone who has posted way too much on this site please listen to me:
- there are no best times to post but generally sunday and monday are a good zone for traffic
- you must double check and make sure the publication date matches the day a chapter is posted or it wonβt show up on the first page of updates. sometimes you have to physically edit the posting date multiple times for this to be fixed.
- on that note: artificially editing your publication date so your fic shows up at the top when you havenβt added a chapter is the dickest of moves and will make you a pariah. do not do this. yes everyone will notice.
- editing existing chapters doesnβt count as updating a fic and wonβt change the publication date.
- ao3 usually adds weird spaces after italics if you copy and paste in your writing pre-formatted. it doesnβt add these until after youβve saved a draft or posted so you have to re-edit.
- check the βadd space after paragraphβ option in your word precessor of choice to avoid having to delete an extra space between all your paragraphs on ao3.
- when you add a second chapter to a one chapter fic, your original start/end authors notes will now be appended onto the notes of every chapter unless you move them to the now extant first chapter notes sections. this is confusing, but youβll see what i mean.
- to post on anon: add your fic to the anonymous (anonymous) collection. itβll take up to fifteen to minutes to show in the tag once posted. itβll show up (to you) as AUTHOR NAME: fic title. no one else sees it this way. it will never show up on your own dashboard unless you go to your stats page. if you ever de-anon, all your subs will get an email about it as if it were just posted.
- if you update multiple fics at once, ao3 will group the updates into one email.
- to transfer a fic to a new ao3 account: make a new account, make the new account a co-author, remove the old account as co-author.
- you cannot mention money changing hands for fic on ao3, ever. donβt say commissions. say a fic was requested if you must say anything. your fic can get taken down for this.
- reply to comments or never complain about engagement in fandom.
- per that: EVERY TIME YOU EDIT A COMMENT, THE AUTHOR GETS A NEW COPY OF YOUR COMMENT IN THEIR EMAIL. we can see all the edits. be aware.
- tagging is both a warning and an enticement, do so accordingly. you really donβt need to tag things that fall outside that unless you want to.
- on that note: please donβt do the βshort fics for 300 different fandoms in one ficβ thing. no one wants to scroll past that. i mean you can but it just makes it harder for people to find the thing youβve written that they want to read.
- if you are really bad at summaries just think of it as a movie tag line and donβt say youβre bad at summaries. donβt neg your own fic.
- re all the questions i saw in replies: fic searches are people looking for specific fics. i donβt know what the fuck a placeholder fic is but these arenβt fanworks and you canβt post them. you canβt post discord links or rp requests or complaints about fandom. you can post fanart and meta essays. thatβs allowed.
- βRead by Authorβ tag is not a tag to say that you proofread the fic. It is specifically for podfic, saying that the fic is read outloud by the author
- Remember the Block and Mute feature. Block means that someone cannot interact with your works. Mute, however, means you will not see the personβs works in the search. If you donβt want to see fics by a specific author, mute them.
- Basic html works in comments. If you want to add an image, use <img src=βURLβ> with the image url replacing URL. Keep the quotation marks.
- Comments are not for critique. Unless the author specifically asks for critique, you are a jerk if you start pointing out everything you dislike. It doesnβt matter how vile you think the content is. If you donβt like it, just back out without saying anything.
- If you do not want a work attached to your account at all, you can Orphan it. When you Orphan a fic, you can no longer edit it or delete it. This cannot be undone. If you just want to be anonymous, use the Anonymous feature described above.
- If you wish to make a collection of fic that includes all of the fic you have read, consider making a collection of your bookmarks instead. Not every author wants their work to be in a million collections, but you donβt have to ask permission to make a collection of bookmarks.
- The βInspired Byβ option is great if you draw inspiration from another authorβs fic. And it helps give credit to other amazing fanfic writers.
- Fic can be downloaded in many different ways. If you want to download a fic and use it like an ebook, go for the EPUB version. But all versions have their merits.
- No fanfic author in existence is going to be upset that you made fanart.
βBlanket permissionsβ AKA a writer saying if theyβre cool with people making podfics/translations etc are usually going to be in the writerβs profile tab. When in doubt check there.






