(no subject)

[eldabe]

So.

In 2012 I wrote some fic.

It was back in Torchwood fandom, the only fandom where I actually found a platform and group of people where I felt really happy, and actually participated instead of lurked, and I made friends (most of whom I'm no longer as in touch with, although I still think fondly of them all). It was also a time of a lot of upheaval, in fandom and my own life, and I dunno. I got hit with a lot of anxiety. (Which I'm still dealing with, life is fun, maybe one day I'll have a therapist I trust enough to talk about fandom with.) And longer story very short, I never posted a few fics. Fics I'm actually quite proud of, that I have re-read and enjoyed.

One of them is a bit dated in terms of LGBTQ issues, although it's so subtle I actually wonder if kids these days would catch it. It does make me even more nervous to post, although I know I can post-date the fic and write up in an author's note. But otherwise, the fics are mostly just....fine. They're all for a fandom so old I don't think it's very active, and I should. just. post. I think about it all the time. For the past few YEARS in fact. I think about it on most Wednesdays, which back when I first got the fic mildly beta-ed, was widely heralded as The Best Day To Post On AO3 to get readers.

Huh. Maybe I should post on the worst day to get readers. Maybe that would help.

Anyway, the anxiety has been holding me back. I've posted very little fic since those days, and in some ways I also find fandom (and...the internet) a much more anxiety-inducing place.

Anyway, there isn't a point to this post. I just realized I have had these fics sitting in my "finished and unposted*" folder for a decade, probably, and thought about it again.

__

*Like I'm that organized. My fanfic notes and ideas and bits and pieces are scattered across dozens of folders and HUNDREDS of docs.

Comments

[senmut]

I can only encourage you to archive. Author Note them, back date them, but... someone, somewhere, likely needs a story that you wrote... and hasn't had a chance to stumble over it.

Signed - a writer that gets the most tear-jerking comments on some of the most ignored fics ever.

[eldabe]

I definitely teared up reading this. Thank you. I'm going to try.

[lannamichaels]

*makes encouraging noises for archive* Remember, it's an archive of our own, it doesn't really matter what the fic content or quality is, all fics belong there. I have fics I wrote that I do not like at all, but other people really like it (mystifying to me, but okay), and I know there's fics that I love that the author is meh about. You never know when someone is trying to find That One Fic and That One Fic just happens to be yours. And then when it comes up on ao3 search, it's a victory. And so even if they've never been posted before, you should absolutely post them.

If you really don't want them to ever show up at the top of dating search results or in the RSS feed, what you can do is post it with their original finish date (thus hiding it from sort-by-date), but stuck it in an unrevealed collection for long enough for 20 fics to get posted in the fandom, and then it'll never show up in an RSS feed either. And if you don't tag it, that makes it even harder to find.

[eldabe]

The thing is, I actually agree in like, theory. I am one of the people that will yell about how archive of our own is an archive for writers and there is no quality or morality policing, it all goes up. And there are fics that are still a part of my life and my brain that I'm sure the writers don't remember at all and yet they are, like, critical to me. I agree with allllll of this. But my anxiety and indecision are just...a lot?

Thank you for the tips!! I've never played with unrevealed collections before, but maybe it's worth it to try.