Entry tags:

ao3, author entitlement, bitter so bitter, deep fanfic thoughts, dogpile, everyone entitlement, fandom: the avengers, fanfic, far too complicated, kudos, misplaced anger, reader entitlement

Writing fanfic is totally like running a restaurant.
Taken from a kind anon, with some small changes made.

Ice, an author of some regard in the Avengers fandom, is no stranger to wank. A few months ago, she attached a long author's note to one of her fics that, simplified, requested readers not leave kudos (still needs caps):

"You know what? I am currently in too much fucking pain and under too much fucking stress to give a flying fuck about social conduct.

I had one simple wish — no kudos.

I keep on asking that on every fic and every fucking time on every fucking one of them, there's a person who just... what? Can’t help themselves? Well done. Thanks for reminding me, over and over again, that I must, indeed, not post my stuff and hope for a simple fucking courtesy to respect my fucking wishes."

Fail_Fandomanon and Tumblr got ahold of the story and promptly spammed it with kudos.
Since then, her fics have continued to be subject of kudosing and - in her mind- low comment counts when compared to the rest of the fandom. Thus, she decides to leave the ficdoms in a blaze of glory.

By writing a longform analogy comparing writing fanfic to running a restaurant. (Original link BALEETED, caps HERE.)

This immediately lands on Avengersanon, Fail_Fandomanon and Tumblr, and subsequently her comment pages fill up with snark. (All deleted: page 1, page 2, page 3, and page 4, with bonus fic.). There's even podfic! After trying to orphan the piece (since deleted), Ice deleted all of her Avengers fanfic, leaving her table AO3 account empty of Avengers content.

For a bonus treat, be sure to read this gem from the wank report, in which a disgruntled ex-ficwriting mousie pops up to sympathize with Ice and humblebrag about her important profic writing career, eventually declaiming all feedback-denying fanfic readers and non-pro fanfic authors as a "whiny ass bunch of freeloaders" and "doormats," respectively, who may or may not be in an abusive relationship.

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	eevee 2013-02-24 07:15 pm UTC (link)
	You spend your day in the kitchen preparing food, you're serving food, it's a one man job. So um, what about the people who actually designed and run AO3? What about THEIR feelings? Just saying. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	feenix 2013-02-25 04:28 am UTC (link)
	They don't count. Obviously, running a pan-fandom fic archive with hundreds of thousands of fics (including a massive ficfest at the end of the year) is FAR less work than describing how Steve and Tony screw. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	adevyish 2013-02-25 11:18 am UTC (link)
	Every time I read about AO3's website requirements (accessibility, mobile, skins, etc) I cry a little for their programmers. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	eevee 2013-02-25 05:35 pm UTC (link)
	Aye. Writer's (chef's?) block may be a bitch, but she's not the one scrubbing the floor in that restaurant. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

uldihaa
2013-02-25 11:30 pm UTC (link)

She's not the one repairing or replacing broken appliances or maintaining the ovens, stove-tops and the walk-in freezers and fridges. She doesn't hone the knives or make sure that the all the food prep stations are clean and ready to go. She just comes in with her supplies of protein, veg, and spices, cooks it, serves it, then leaves in a huff when nobody spontaneously bursts into song praising the food.

And this metaphor might just have gotten away from me a little bit.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	feenix 2013-02-25 11:43 pm UTC (link)
	Steve and Tony Oh, excuse me, Thor and Loki. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	sepiamagpie 2013-02-26 08:57 am UTC (link)
	Shocking twist: The events of the movies is because Thor forgot to get Loki an anniversary gift. This is why Frigga drinks. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	kijikun 2013-03-02 05:20 am UTC (link)
	This is why Frigga drinks. This needs to be macro. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	sepiamagpie 2013-02-26 08:55 am UTC (link)
	I'm confused. The rest of the internet is real people? ...oh no. (Reply to this)(Parent)

seanchaigirl
2013-03-04 06:47 am UTC (link)

And what about the original writers who created the characters and universe in which she's writing?

I love fanfic - reading and writing it - but man, it burns me when fic writers act as though they've slaved alone to create out of nothing. Any writing is hard work, but fanfic by nature includes a shortcut because there's already a basic set of characters and facts with which readers and writers are familiar. It also has a built-in audience of people who are fans of the original work.

Her analogy would be more apt if she went to Gordon Ramsay's restaurant on his off hours and messed around in his cleaned, fully stocked kitchen to make meals in her spare time/when she felt like it and gave them out for free.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

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