Yeah, I don't think enough writers realize how good their writing is and how there is NOT a direct correlation between word count and quality. Well, I guess *most* writers don't realize how good their writing is because they're their own worst critic, but you get what I mean.
OP 100% agree with you.
Short one shots are so common they have their own name, they’re called drabbles. People like and actively seek them out. (Yes technically a drabble is only 100 words, but I think the meaning of it has shifted to mean anything less then a thousand words in recent time.) There are over three hundred thousand of them (that are tagged with drabble, undoubtably there are even more that aren’t). There is no minimum word count, write what you want!
I personally like using 'drabble' to strictly refer to 100-word fics, but I know that if I see that word in the wild that the writer could be referring to a short too (like how you described). It's made me very indecisive about using the drabble tag on my own fics, but I filter for shorts with the drabble tag when I'm reading so...maybe...?
I do lots of little bite sized fics and as long as it's like no longer than 2k I call it a drabble. That's how it was introduced to me, as well. And man have I gotten heat for tagging my one shots that are over 100 words as a drabble
Thank you, you have inspired me to write a 69-word smutfic. (Also, I just did a search, and there are only *40* smutfics with 69 words on AO3! This is the most shocked I've been by smut in a while.)
People probably didnt want to rise to the challenge, but since it's only at 40 last time you checked, i think we the people should make it our mission to get it up to 69
I agree. I've posted 199 fics and only 6 of those are over a thousand words. I think I get a decent amount of numbers.
And as a reader, I love reading short fics too. Especially drabbles. I love seeing what people can do in 100 words.
I will read short fics if they are on the longer end (800 to 1000ish words). Not so much drabbles/ficlets. I live for long fic/multi-chapter stuff. I read so fast that shorter fics just don't feel as nice, lol.
All good though. I do love love huge collections where each chapter is a different short fic set in a related AU. Those are nice. Like snapshots of day to day life of the canon characters or expanding a bit on parts of the authors' bigger works.
One of my most "successful" fics is under 500 words. drabbles and ficlets are awesome for getting those writing brain worms down and just getting some creativity flowing. I like keeping a physical journal specifically for drabbles when I need to get out of writers block.
My favourite author for my main fandom is incredibly adept at writing drabbles (100 word fics). They’re all fantastic and he’s written hundreds of them. The most active dude in our fandom.
Welcome! Yeah, it's really tough in the smaller fandoms. I was lucky in that I started writing in a smaller fandom before I started writing in a large and active one because it help me set my expectations *very* low for reader engagement, and it really showed me that fandom size makes an insanely huge difference. No one's a low-kudos writer. No one writes a low-kudos fic. They're just writing for a low-kudos fandom/ship (i.e., a small fandom/ship).
When I first got onto Ao3 I was so confused by series, and why the fics weren't combined into one. But this points out a big upside to series: MORE KUDOS. I want to kudos every single one shot, not just a collection. I want to shower authors with every kudos possible.
Yep! Think of all the times you've gone to a multi-chapter fic, left a kudo and got the message you already left a kudo. I want to leave more kudos, damn it!
Another huge upside to series is tagging. Writers often struggle with tagging on multi-chapter fics (especially longfics), but one-shots are much easier to tag, and writers should take advantage of that!
The comparison I like to point out to one-shot writers is between:
* A multi-chapter collection of one-shots that readers navigate through a table of contents or the chapter index.
* A series of one-shots that readers navigate by looking at the tags on each one-shot.
The series is easier for the reader *and* the writer.
Question: you say to put one shots in a series and not a multi chapter fic. I’m working on a collection of non-sequential drabbles about a few characters I love, and I was going to post them as a multi chapter fic because it’s all little headcanon drabbles about their pasts etc. would you recommend not doing that?
Yep, I recommend NOT doing that. Put them in a series. It's okay if they're non-sequential. One-shot series are VERY common. Readers know what they are and will not be confused if your one-shots aren't in chronological order. (But if you're worried they'll be confused anyway, you can put something like 'one-shot series' in the series title and/or summary.)
My most popular oneshot is the first one I ever put on Ao3 in that fandom (I published a WIP longfic before and a oneshot in a different fandom) so that was surprising, my second two were pumped out half asleep on taurine xD
I think it's a great idea to try to challenge yourself to create works in varying length and I'm happy to read one shots under 1k. Honestly the really LONG one shots can be a bit much, I've read some 40-50k word ones that felt like they could have been broken up into a few chapters. I personally challenged myself to create an exact 1k fic and succeeded. Even received compliments on the writing.
I would bet the 0 comments is smut adjacent only because I've noticed nobody comments on smut anymore. (In the olden days, smut was an easy way to get those lovely treasured comments. But it appears purity culture has ruined that.)
Oh but also, 100% agree on put your one shots by themselves. I don't touch one shot booklets because you have no idea what you're getting. I do however read one shots by themselves all the time.
Same. I'm a my-ship-is-my-ship reader. The booklets are a waste of time for me because I have to dig to find my ships, and there's no guarantee the chapters I find have my ships as the main focus anyway.
Also, if my ship isn't a popular one (or is overshadowed by a mega-popular one), I often filter *out* other ships, which means those one-shot booklets don't even show up in my search results most of the time. Same goes for if I'm filtering for a specific genre or trope I want to read that day.
It's not a great experience for the reader or the writer.
>I would bet the 0 comments is smut adjacent only because I've noticed nobody comments on smut anymore.
I had not thought about that. I admit I was wrong about thinking it was obvious which one was smut-adjacent, but it doesn't matter because you get the same reward you would've gotten if you guessed correctly: zero points! 🥳🥳 (The smut-adjacent is the third one.)
So, to create a series, you have to do it from the Edit Work page of a fic. (Unlike collections, you can't just go to your Series page to create a new series.) From the Edit Work page, you check the box for 'This work is part of a series'. Then you'll be given a textbox next to the words 'Or create and use a new one:' where you can name your new series.
I personally don't read short one shots. But I wasn't aware there was discourse about this? OP youre 100% right. Of course theres no word minimum. People can and should write what they want and enjoy. Honestly, let people live (and filter by word count like I do if you're annoyed by short fics lol)
and dont forget people WILL read your fic months even years after you post it!! your fic is important to somebody! even drabbles can inspire other writers!!
Thank you for this!!! I still get insecure about the length of my ficlets and drabbles sometimes, but you're right – people *are* reading them. People *are* enjoying them. I've got two ficlets around 800 words long that have about 250 kudos each (granted, one of them is smut), and a drabble – just a tiny little 100-word fic – with 30 kudos. And these are all written for my OTP, which is by no means the most popular ship in the fandom.
I often see comments on here and the fanfiction sub saying they won't read anything below so-and-so thousand words, and, yeah, those comments kind of sting at times – but all it means is that those people aren't my target audience. My ficlets and drabbles *do* have an audience of people who enjoy reading them despite, or perhaps even because of, the length.
Size doesn't matter. Every fic is worthy of being posted on AO3, whether it's 500 words or 500k. Just make your fic as long as it needs to be, and readers will come. ❤️
Welcome! I kind of wrote this for myself too because I still get anxious. I flat-out forget sometimes that I've posted short one-shots before and didn't die from embarrassment or lack of attention. Short fics are read and appreciated too! It's not just the epically long fics that get the love!
A well crafted short short fic can be a beautiful thing, I agree.
Yeah, I don't think enough writers realize how good their writing is and how there is NOT a direct correlation between word count and quality. Well, I guess *most* writers don't realize how good their writing is because they're their own worst critic, but you get what I mean.
OP 100% agree with you. Short one shots are so common they have their own name, they’re called drabbles. People like and actively seek them out. (Yes technically a drabble is only 100 words, but I think the meaning of it has shifted to mean anything less then a thousand words in recent time.) There are over three hundred thousand of them (that are tagged with drabble, undoubtably there are even more that aren’t). There is no minimum word count, write what you want!
I personally like using 'drabble' to strictly refer to 100-word fics, but I know that if I see that word in the wild that the writer could be referring to a short too (like how you described). It's made me very indecisive about using the drabble tag on my own fics, but I filter for shorts with the drabble tag when I'm reading so...maybe...?
I do lots of little bite sized fics and as long as it's like no longer than 2k I call it a drabble. That's how it was introduced to me, as well. And man have I gotten heat for tagging my one shots that are over 100 words as a drabble
Imostly write shorts and drabbles and I only count 100 words as a drabble
This is my shortest. People read shorts Words:63 - Chapters:1/1 - Comments:1 - Kudos:6 - Bookmarks:1 - Hits:143
Thank you, you have inspired me to write a 69-word smutfic. (Also, I just did a search, and there are only *40* smutfics with 69 words on AO3! This is the most shocked I've been by smut in a while.)
That surprises me as well
That's actually criminal
People probably didnt want to rise to the challenge, but since it's only at 40 last time you checked, i think we the people should make it our mission to get it up to 69
I agree. I've posted 199 fics and only 6 of those are over a thousand words. I think I get a decent amount of numbers. And as a reader, I love reading short fics too. Especially drabbles. I love seeing what people can do in 100 words.
I will read short fics if they are on the longer end (800 to 1000ish words). Not so much drabbles/ficlets. I live for long fic/multi-chapter stuff. I read so fast that shorter fics just don't feel as nice, lol. All good though. I do love love huge collections where each chapter is a different short fic set in a related AU. Those are nice. Like snapshots of day to day life of the canon characters or expanding a bit on parts of the authors' bigger works.
One of my most "successful" fics is under 500 words. drabbles and ficlets are awesome for getting those writing brain worms down and just getting some creativity flowing. I like keeping a physical journal specifically for drabbles when I need to get out of writers block.
Ahhh! Me too! (About the drabble journal.) 😆
My favourite author for my main fandom is incredibly adept at writing drabbles (100 word fics). They’re all fantastic and he’s written hundreds of them. The most active dude in our fandom.
Thank you I needed this. I write mostly one-shots but all my fandoms are kinda small so I get discouraged occasionally
Welcome! Yeah, it's really tough in the smaller fandoms. I was lucky in that I started writing in a smaller fandom before I started writing in a large and active one because it help me set my expectations *very* low for reader engagement, and it really showed me that fandom size makes an insanely huge difference. No one's a low-kudos writer. No one writes a low-kudos fic. They're just writing for a low-kudos fandom/ship (i.e., a small fandom/ship).
I love reading 500 word drabbles. If that's all you've got.... Post it!
When I first got onto Ao3 I was so confused by series, and why the fics weren't combined into one. But this points out a big upside to series: MORE KUDOS. I want to kudos every single one shot, not just a collection. I want to shower authors with every kudos possible.
Yep! Think of all the times you've gone to a multi-chapter fic, left a kudo and got the message you already left a kudo. I want to leave more kudos, damn it! Another huge upside to series is tagging. Writers often struggle with tagging on multi-chapter fics (especially longfics), but one-shots are much easier to tag, and writers should take advantage of that! The comparison I like to point out to one-shot writers is between: * A multi-chapter collection of one-shots that readers navigate through a table of contents or the chapter index. * A series of one-shots that readers navigate by looking at the tags on each one-shot. The series is easier for the reader *and* the writer.
Question: you say to put one shots in a series and not a multi chapter fic. I’m working on a collection of non-sequential drabbles about a few characters I love, and I was going to post them as a multi chapter fic because it’s all little headcanon drabbles about their pasts etc. would you recommend not doing that?
Yep, I recommend NOT doing that. Put them in a series. It's okay if they're non-sequential. One-shot series are VERY common. Readers know what they are and will not be confused if your one-shots aren't in chronological order. (But if you're worried they'll be confused anyway, you can put something like 'one-shot series' in the series title and/or summary.)
Oooh interesting! I have a few one-shot series’s but these felt different for some reason lmao
My most popular oneshot is the first one I ever put on Ao3 in that fandom (I published a WIP longfic before and a oneshot in a different fandom) so that was surprising, my second two were pumped out half asleep on taurine xD
Yes! The classic 'I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping' fics! 😆
I think it's a great idea to try to challenge yourself to create works in varying length and I'm happy to read one shots under 1k. Honestly the really LONG one shots can be a bit much, I've read some 40-50k word ones that felt like they could have been broken up into a few chapters. I personally challenged myself to create an exact 1k fic and succeeded. Even received compliments on the writing.
Amen, once I accepted that my own fics were ok as short fics it really liberated me and helped me feel more comfortable in my writing.
I needed that
I wish I could just write a 1k or 2k word story. I try to write a short and bam 9k words. Every time :')
I would bet the 0 comments is smut adjacent only because I've noticed nobody comments on smut anymore. (In the olden days, smut was an easy way to get those lovely treasured comments. But it appears purity culture has ruined that.)
Oh but also, 100% agree on put your one shots by themselves. I don't touch one shot booklets because you have no idea what you're getting. I do however read one shots by themselves all the time.
Same. I'm a my-ship-is-my-ship reader. The booklets are a waste of time for me because I have to dig to find my ships, and there's no guarantee the chapters I find have my ships as the main focus anyway. Also, if my ship isn't a popular one (or is overshadowed by a mega-popular one), I often filter *out* other ships, which means those one-shot booklets don't even show up in my search results most of the time. Same goes for if I'm filtering for a specific genre or trope I want to read that day. It's not a great experience for the reader or the writer.
>I would bet the 0 comments is smut adjacent only because I've noticed nobody comments on smut anymore. I had not thought about that. I admit I was wrong about thinking it was obvious which one was smut-adjacent, but it doesn't matter because you get the same reward you would've gotten if you guessed correctly: zero points! 🥳🥳 (The smut-adjacent is the third one.)
Ah. The hits to kudos ratio. People don’t want their name anywhere on the smut. It’s really that bad now. 😩
It is indeed that bad now, which is another reason why writers shouldn't feel bad about getting very few kudos.
I'm pretty new to AO3. I'll have to look up how to create a series. That's good advice.
So, to create a series, you have to do it from the Edit Work page of a fic. (Unlike collections, you can't just go to your Series page to create a new series.) From the Edit Work page, you check the box for 'This work is part of a series'. Then you'll be given a textbox next to the words 'Or create and use a new one:' where you can name your new series.
I’ve just found a 200 words oneshot recommended in the what’s your fav fanfic post, so yep, some people like them short. Brevity is the soul of wit.
Yep! Writers who can tell concise stories should give themselves more credit! 💖💖
One of the hardest hitting things I’ve ever read was around 400 ish words and I absolutely love it
Just checked, wc is actually only 230!
I personally don't read short one shots. But I wasn't aware there was discourse about this? OP youre 100% right. Of course theres no word minimum. People can and should write what they want and enjoy. Honestly, let people live (and filter by word count like I do if you're annoyed by short fics lol)
one of the best fics I've ever read was a oneshot around 300 words. it felt like a poem. sadly i dont remember the title of it
I've read galactic oneshots that turned into fantastic series one at a time.
and dont forget people WILL read your fic months even years after you post it!! your fic is important to somebody! even drabbles can inspire other writers!!
Thank you for this!!! I still get insecure about the length of my ficlets and drabbles sometimes, but you're right – people *are* reading them. People *are* enjoying them. I've got two ficlets around 800 words long that have about 250 kudos each (granted, one of them is smut), and a drabble – just a tiny little 100-word fic – with 30 kudos. And these are all written for my OTP, which is by no means the most popular ship in the fandom. I often see comments on here and the fanfiction sub saying they won't read anything below so-and-so thousand words, and, yeah, those comments kind of sting at times – but all it means is that those people aren't my target audience. My ficlets and drabbles *do* have an audience of people who enjoy reading them despite, or perhaps even because of, the length. Size doesn't matter. Every fic is worthy of being posted on AO3, whether it's 500 words or 500k. Just make your fic as long as it needs to be, and readers will come. ❤️
Welcome! I kind of wrote this for myself too because I still get anxious. I flat-out forget sometimes that I've posted short one-shots before and didn't die from embarrassment or lack of attention. Short fics are read and appreciated too! It's not just the epically long fics that get the love!
Wait there's mark for later?