I'm Mirroring on the AO3

[brightknightie]

I am slowly mirroring my fanfiction on my AO3 account.

I've archived my fanfiction on my own fansite since 1999, and I have not given permission for others to archive my work elsewhere in many, many years.  (Everywhere that I know my stuff is up outside my editing access, I have asked to have it taken down. Please don't rush to tell me where my

Comments

[pj1228]

>I am slowly mirroring my fanfiction on my AO3 account.<

I'm currently doing the same. I'm also using the opportunity to edit some of my older stories with regards to paragraphs and comma or whatever other folly I notice to have committed in my early days of writing. Parallel, I'm changing the design of my website for each story and upload the new edited version.

I've also started with the tales written for FKFicFest 2010 and 2011. So far, the tales focusing on Lacroix and Janette and the classic tales (gen) are completed. I'm currently working on the NN. Then follow the UF and the Val stories. It's amazing how much has accumulated since I started writing in 2003.

>I'm loading old stories with the current date as the publishing date, leaving them that way for a few days so that they get an opportunity to show up at the top of lists, and then winding the publishing date back to their real vintage for the correct progression. I've also contemplated how to solve the dating back issue. I realized if I changed the date to the original

[brightknightie]

>"I realized if I changed the date to the original, nobody will notice that the story is there."

They will notice when they search or filter on the characters, relationships and other tags that match your story. But yes, not until then!

>"So I decided to stick with the current date and add the information when it was originally written to each story."

I am also including the origin and revision dates in the summary. However, my sense of organization cringes at the idea of archiving my stories permanently out of order. My FK fanfiction dates back to before cancellation, and some of the early stuff is... giddy? fluffy? childish? at any rate, different from what I write and read now. I've gone through distinct phases.

I don't suppose that any readers really care about such details -- they're being generous with their time and attention, regardless -- but those details still matter to me.

[greerwatson]

"However, my sense of organization cringes at the idea of archiving my stories permanently out of order."

I agree.

There is also the (minor?) point that, when deciding whether a fandom is "rare" or not, the people who run Yuletide look at places like AO3 to see how many stories have been uploaded that year. They do not, however, count as "this year" old stories that have been copied over, provided the date is clear. I doubt they check the notes.

Quite a lot of people are crossposting their fic at AO3. Others have given up websites altogether and put their stories on their LJ or DW journal. So far, I'm resisting the urge. (Apart from the FK Fic Fest stories, that is; and that's for your sake and the fest collection's sake.) I want people to go preferentially to my website: I put a lot of time and effort into choosing the graphics for each story individually, picking ones that reflect the mood or theme in some way. There's no way to transfer the art to AO3; so, as far as I am concerned, that's that

[brightknightie]

I did not know that Yuletide's managers looked at how many stories were uploaded in the current year; that would indeed be a consideration.

I had thought that they looked only at the total number of stories per fandom archived on the AO3, which worried me for FK's inclusion last year, considering that early AO3 adopters tended to be of a fannish demographic group that includes FK and HL fans. Of course last year was their first AO3 year; I may have misheard about last year, or things may change this year.

>"There's no way to transfer the art to AO3"

We cannot archive graphic art on the AO3, but we can include it in stories there by inserting the code for the images in with the text of the story, just like on any webpage. I did it with one of mine; I got the idea when I saw Mackiedockie do it on one of hers.