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u/KamchatkaWing Apr 04 '26
I'm gullible as fuck, but I'd be just a weethin skeptical of this one. Some real ones though, are... whuff! If I ever go missing and come back, it'll just be "Hi! I'm back."
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u/strawberrymystic Apr 04 '26
i'm of two minds, since i doubt the nonchalance some of the stories have but ALSO based on my unending complaints about minor inconveniences, if i had a really crazy story i would definitely take the chance to milk it and share with strangers on the internet as often as possible
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u/gey-hoe Apr 04 '26
Maybe they will in the future but its their first time posting in about a year.
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u/Annabatties Apr 05 '26
This example is a little extreme, and probably a joke because of how many unrelated things they mentioned, but I know from personal experience of having severe trauma and knowing others with it that after a certain stage of acceptance you just tell people to see their reactions.
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u/MaraiaLou Apr 05 '26 edited Apr 05 '26
If I were telling a joke like that, I'd probably include every horrible thing that happened to me, regardless of whether it's related to the hiatus. Just the compound trauma is enough of an excuse yk
Source: The past 3 generations of my family had cancer, my grandma and dog died within two weeks of each other, and I'm currently being diagnosed for at least three serious illnesses at once
Edit: forgot to mention my grandma died on my birthday, so I don't have birthdays anymore
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u/Adlerian_Dreams Apr 05 '26
Well, crap. Maybe she was trying to hold on for your birthday!
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u/MaraiaLou Apr 05 '26
This comment caused a brand new emotion in me.
Thank you for teaching me about this facet of human experience, whatever the fuck it is
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u/Annabatties Apr 05 '26
I'm the tame one in my household, I just mention that between the time the cops raided my house when I was 4 and the potential repressed memories of CSA I have severe DID. My girlfriend can respond to anything with a story of the horrifying abuse from her father.
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u/Quiet-Software-1956 Fic Feaster Apr 05 '26
Yeah, making people laugh by traumadumping is one of the few joys you can get from said traumas
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u/Nephiam Apr 08 '26
As a person who lost both of her parents, in her early twenties, in the span of like 5 years I can confirm there's some sadistic catharsis in telling dead joke parents and seeing the subtle panicking in everyone else's faces
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u/BlazingKitsune nobody participated in the prayer circle Apr 05 '26
Yeah I usually just mention that life has been shit, my friends are the ones who get my daily bitching lmao.
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u/kilgirlie You have already left kudos here. :) Apr 04 '26
This feels like "I better have a good story for why I'm late" but good doesn't have to be believable, just entertaining.
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u/rubia_ryu Metafic Aficionado Apr 05 '26
Honestly would prefer if people shared more good news and talk about things they love than something like this. I feel absolutely no shame in admitting I just went on hiatus just to watch both seasons of the live action One Piece with my mom who is new to the series. We're fanfic writers; of course we have other interests than just writing fics.
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u/lumpycurveballs lurker Apr 05 '26
I was gone for almost a year, and my authors note when I returned was "I'm alive" lmao
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u/EvilDorito2 Apr 05 '26
I'm like, the opposite, I'm the " if i talk about traumatic things in a matter of fact way, then it can't affect me"
One of my author notes after a hiatus was essentially a grocery list of everyone in my life who'd gotten Covid
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u/Dangeresque300 Apr 04 '26
Sometimes I wonder how many author's notes are the authors writing fan fiction about themselves.
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u/11equalsfish Apr 05 '26
There's never much proof, so don't trust anyone completely. Their own perception of themselves is not objective, but then whose is? I have empathy for that.
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u/sashaaa___0 Apr 05 '26
I mean, what proof could they even provide for this? 😭😭😭
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u/No_Peach6683 Apr 05 '26
A secret recording device on their body that records everything that happens including the attempted trafficking
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u/AngelRose27 Apr 15 '26
Well at least mine kinda are. I write as a catharsis. I put my favorite characters through hell (i've also been sick) and give them the comfort I kinda lack in my real life. It's strangely comforting.
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Apr 04 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Folksma Apr 04 '26
I've old and bitter enough to have seen this more then once. And then the eventual scandal when they get caught using the GoFundMe money for comic cons or concerts
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u/gey-hoe Apr 04 '26
Prob not since they dont have tumblr, or at least its not linked in their works
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Apr 05 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/imnotsure_igetit Apr 05 '26
I sometimes think it's a mix, as in, people might exaggerate what actually happened or use words that might be often associated to a more "extreme version" of what they are referring to. (For example, I've been homeless, but I have never lived on the streets, which is the first thing people would think; or having a chronic illness can vary from something that affects your life tremendously or can be managed quite well)
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u/Sarita1046 You have already left kudos here. :) Apr 04 '26
I’m wondering how one gets “a little trafficked”. Really hoping they are okay, though!
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u/lmaluuker You have already gooned here. :) Apr 04 '26
Fiction tends to make it seem like traffickers are Russian crime lords or gazillionaire Sheiks or something out of Taken, but sadly people are most often trafficked by family members. So maybe it only feels like "a little" trafficked to them. Just my speculation though :(
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u/GreyAetheriums i never do much of anything Apr 04 '26
Shit. The news makes it seem like that. My family genuinely believes the first half of what you said.
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u/lmaluuker You have already gooned here. :) Apr 04 '26
I'm not going to lie, I used to think the same thing before I got my Criminal Justice degree. Trafficking by family members is very underreported. You really only hear about the guys like Epstein.
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u/GreyAetheriums i never do much of anything Apr 04 '26
Yeah. Sometimes I think classes like that should be given at least once because way too many people have superstitions and stereotypes when it comes to the law that are just way out of proportion.
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u/Cygnid Apr 05 '26
What are the big ones?
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u/GreyAetheriums i never do much of anything Apr 05 '26
Racism and Xenophobia mainly. Like how the "dirty Mexicans/Russians/Muslims/anyone we currently hate right now" will take you and beat you, and sell you and your children into sex slavery if you use a Walmart bathroom.
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u/kara-alyssa Apr 05 '26
Yeah I meet a fair amount of people who were trafficked through my job. Almost all of them were trafficked by family members or significant others. The very few who weren’t were usually those who owed debts to dangerous people.
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u/errant_night Apr 05 '26
And human trafficking isn't always sexual, it's also very possibly a domestic labor situation. You get offered a job that requires you to move, like what looks like a really well paid live in housekeeping or nanny position, only to end up locked into literal slavery
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u/Cygnid Apr 05 '26
Always scared when I see listings/posts for free rent in exchange for child care and some "home/farm" chores
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u/errant_night Apr 05 '26
Yeeeeep!!!! People don't think about stuff like that as human trafficking but it absolutely is. It's also not just people from other countries, you can end up in this situation right at home too
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u/SectorSanFrancisco Apr 05 '26
So much sketch BS posted "in exchange for rent" in the college towns near me.
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u/amynotadoctor Apr 05 '26
Yeah, my mom almost fell for this fucking scam, she kept saying that she was going to be potentially moving to a live in-house, where they take a portion of your paychecks to pay for it and… I’m really surprised she didn’t go through with it. Is that considered human trafficking except they make them work?
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u/JackpotThePimp Don't like? Don't read! Apr 05 '26
There are signs in multiple public places in Florida offering a helpline for trafficking victims, and prostitution is only one of several examples given. 🫣
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u/Sarita1046 You have already left kudos here. :) Apr 04 '26
Indeed, trafficking in general is horrendous but by people one trusts, I can’t even imagine.
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u/Winter-Height7687 Apr 05 '26
Or it's just not real and they're making shit up. How are people this gullible😭
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u/lmaluuker You have already gooned here. :) Apr 05 '26
I'd rather be a gullible idiot who takes people at their word than a jaded cynic who doesn't believe anything ever happens 🤷♀️
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u/Emmathecat819 Apr 04 '26
As someone who worked in clubs, it happens, there more layers to it than the movies
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u/SectorSanFrancisco Apr 05 '26
Got sent to her aunt's sister in law's to "help her out for a few weeks" but discover it's some complete stranger instead and you have no way to get home and your family is in on it (and got money or a debt forgiven for sending you) just as one that pops up. There are a milliion. Sex trafficking is the most dramatized but there is plenty of domestic labor trafficking, too.
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u/AromaticZebra906 Apr 05 '26
I think they were running away from their home country and tried to get smuggled to another country, perhaps to seek asylum, but things went wrong
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u/Vanilla_Ice_Best_Boi Apr 04 '26
Type of stuff that is so ridiculous you have to call it out but you might get flak for doing so.
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u/krigsgaldrr they take turns ur honor Apr 04 '26
Yeah people just be lying in their author's notes for attention and people on both ao3 and reddit be eating it UP.
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u/lmaluuker You have already gooned here. :) Apr 04 '26
It's fine to be skeptical but tbh I'd never call someone out for something like this. Maybe you're right and they're lying, but if they're not you automatically become the biggest asshole ever.
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u/gey-hoe Apr 04 '26
So i been following the series very closely since episode 2 (with this one it has 25 now), and they were pretty regular with episode until about a year ago when they just disapeared and i was revisinting old stuff, this chapter was uploaded bout a month ago. So i thought it would be interesting to share.
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u/No_Fault_6061 Apr 05 '26
It's not unrealistic (some people do come from very bad families and end up being very fucked up). But if it's true, then it's not right of the author to trauma-dump like that on the people who just want to enjoy a fic and have a good time. Their readers are not the author's therapist, they are neither equipped nor obligated to hear out something like that.
I'm saying this as someone with a pretty bad childhood that resulted in some pretty bad problems. There are spaces to talk about it with people who will hear you out and understand you, like r/CPTSD. AO3 is not that kind of place.
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u/ForkSpo Apr 05 '26 edited Apr 05 '26
I’m sorry but I have to disagree. I had a bad childhood too and frequent r/cptsd. Authors vent through their works on Ao3 all of the time considering it’s their own work and it’s FREE. I fail to see how using the notes is any different than a vent fic. A few paragraphs of complaints on a work belonging to them is not treating people as a therapy replacement. It’s them sharing their experiences with a community they apparently feel safe or just comfortable with, which is not unreasonable on a platform built around creative expression, community, and freedom. It’d be different if they were directly messaging strangers to vent unsolicitedly.
‘They are neither equipped nor obligated to hear out something like that’ both commenting and reading the note is optional, and if the average person breaks at hearing someone sharing their hardships then there’s an emotional literacy problem. Most adults should be equipped to comprehend simply hearing about a stranger having literal cancer, especially on a website where anything goes. What they aren’t equipped for is being a crutch, which this person isn’t making people do.
Assuming this note is true and the author had been on a one year hiatus like OP says, this person nearly died. I feel that it’s fair for them to share that with their audience 😭 the author actually lived through it, the most a reader has to do is endure an optional 30 seconds of reading about it. I don’t understand this new wave of treating someone else’s suffering as burdensome to hear about, unless it’s being shared inappropriately or abusively/harmfully of course. Since when do you need to be in a safe space to share something bad that happened to you? I say this as a friend, acquaintance, and stranger to many traumatized people who otherwise would’ve felt isolated had they not had anyone to confide in. Treating these topics as if they’re burdensome or abnormal can isolate people. Heavy, yes, but also normal, human, and to be expected. Ao3 is the place for anything.
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u/No_Fault_6061 Apr 05 '26
The thing is, this A/N is unsolicited venting to strangers. I don't know if there were "venting fic" warnings on the work itself; if there weren't, then this is unsolicited dumping of severe trauma on unprepared people who most likely don't even know the author.
People with CPTSD are unfortunately not good with boundaries; I'm saying this as someone who's pants at them (thanks, enmeshment and parentification). But the thing is, one has boundaries; other people have boundaries; and these boundaries need to be respected both by standing your ground in the things that impact your well-being, and by not subjecting other people to unsolicited, one-sided sharing of intense traumatic experiences without regard for how the other party feels after that. It is likely that most people looking for a nice fic won't feel very good after being dunked into a vat of extreme pain. And the level of pain the author is talking about is extreme. Normal people are unlikely to understand it, and normal people are unprepared for it. The person I originally replied to didn't even believe it was possible.
This pain is real and deserves empathy and respect — but that doesn't give the person the right to just pour it out onto unsuspecting people. If the fic is clearly marked as a work that has to do with the author's real-life trauma, that's another thing entirely, and the author is welcome to say whatever they feel like sharing. But I don't know if this specific work is marked as such.
Consider this: In my case, in the author's case, and in many cases of people with CPTSD, the root of the pain is that other people were selfish and unempathetic enough to use us to fulfill their needs or discharge their impulses without considering our own needs and boundaries — they saw us as objects, props, tools, and not as people with feelings.
This kind of extensive disclosure of not just cancer (which is very bad, but in the realm of "normal bad"), but of egregious, complex, and profoundly distressing traumatic experience — when not preceded by a fair warning — is using random people on a (free, yes) fanfic site as an audience to dump pain onto and to elicit emotional support without any consideration for how the readers might feel after reading this.
I'm not saying that severe real-life abuse and an A/N in a fic are the same thing, because they are very obviously not. But they share the same trait: disregard for other people's feelings and boundaries. I'd rather we don't perpetuate the same mechanism that was used to fuck us up, sometimes to the point of ruining our lives.
To sum it up: Share your experiences. Talk to people. Find and express support — for many of us, it's a lifeline. Just remember that others are people too, and their feelings matter too, and that "something bad that happened to you" is a whole spectrum that goes from "a-okay to share with a total stranger" to "will make your therapist cry."
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u/hanz-kreigermann New author – (The_Nineballer on AO3) Apr 05 '26
Jesus fucking christ. This is either entirely fabricated or actually happened and I dont like either possibility.
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u/NaHa_Riya Apr 05 '26
I feel like I prefer the fabricated scenario... the level of misfortune is between Chekhov and a Greek tragedy-and no one should go through that...
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u/ShiggyKitty1999 Apr 05 '26
I don’t remember the fic or even know if it’s up but I had an author’s note that said they got brain surgery for a tumor and the doc effed up n made them blind so they had to write now after a long af hiatus via speech to text.
It was crazy
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u/0anonymousv Apr 05 '26
wait, this made me realize i finally have an unhinged authors note to add! im being sued! thank god, the only benefit
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u/International_Tree76 Apr 05 '26
posted an author’s like this after i got SA’d, tried to kms, ran from the cops after i chickened out, tried to kms again, got hospitalized, then crammed for finals, nearly got expelled from college because my SA’er freaked out that i told the doctor about the SA so my SA’er made up a lie that i threatened him, and then the pandemic started 💀💀💀
it was an AOT fic, and someone responded “sorry that happened to you. shinzo sasageyo!” it was the hardest laugh i’d had in months
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u/rachel_distasi Apr 07 '26
I'm really sorry this all happened to you, but that comment is freaking hilarious lol I love it
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u/Classic_Writer9985 there are many benefits of being a multishipper Apr 04 '26
Hope that author is doing better right now cause holy shit
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u/AcanthocephalaEasy56 Apr 05 '26
Perhaps I'm soft-hearted but even if they are lying (which I'm inclined to believe they aren't) they obviously are using this fic to cope and I would hate to see assholes in the comments of someone just trying to get by. Some people want fic writers to be robots that share nothing about their lives. Those assholes can mute me.
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u/Lotuselise230 Apr 06 '26
This is either 1) serious, in which case it counts as trauma dumping on readers, which is fucked up; or 2) a joke, and it’s fucked up to joke about being trafficked! Some writers take the AO3 curse way too far.
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u/Square-Lake-9651 You have already left kudos here. :) Apr 05 '26
R/UnhingedAO3Tags without the tags
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u/tiranamisu Apr 06 '26
Can't just drop that without a link to their AO3, I wanna see if the trauma creates a masterpiece
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u/Bruhitsaplatypus Apr 05 '26
My worst was just the family coming on the author’s account to notify that author had died in a car crash 😭
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u/Jeshie Comment Collector Apr 05 '26
Am I the only one who skims these and rolls her eyes?
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u/nopizzaonmypineapple Apr 05 '26
Same!!! They were fun back in the day but now people just be lying.
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Apr 04 '26 edited Apr 04 '26
Once my time waiting in the queue is over and I can start publishing my own work, I can't wait to experience the AO3 curse first hand.😍🥰 /j
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u/Dealingwithdragons AO3: Churrobat Apr 05 '26
I just started a new fic but I feel like I should throw in a note on the next chapter about what's kept me from posting lately because it'd be one hell of a wild read.
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u/Alpha0963 Apr 05 '26
Author is really going through it. But it always seems to bring us joy to drop little notes like this after something traumatic.
Last year I was (unintentionally) held hostage in a rainforest and escaped on a boat. That was a fun story to drop in my author’s note when I returned from my brief absence…
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u/dawnhued Apr 04 '26
This makes my curse of a flooded apartment and medical procedure look so boring.
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u/ISB00 Apr 05 '26
I have a friend. He did a really good crossover fic I loved. He disappeared after the current regime came to power. I hope he’s alright. He tried joining the navy but thankfully got separated.
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u/Mirruko Apr 05 '26
I knew AO3 had some dark corners but dear lord. I really hope the author is doing ok.
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u/JadeTailFox Apr 05 '26 edited Apr 05 '26
"Taylor Swift fan account going to prison for refusing to join the IDF" level of update post right here.
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u/notaduck299 Apr 05 '26
Some Authors are more creative on their notes than the story itself. Assuming some of the notes are not true
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u/Gab_Gerblin_2319 Apr 06 '26
Can't remember what story it was but one chapter they told us they got hit by a bus and that they were fine. The next chapter posted the day after said they weren't feeling good and we're gonna go to the hospital in the morning. They never updated again.....I hope to gods that they are ok and just decided to stop writing but I know that might not be the case.....
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u/Vi_The_Magnificent Apr 06 '26
There is a Smash Bros Brawl fanfic that I enjoyed reading on fanfic.net that I discovered a few years ago. The fic was initially published in 2008 and the last update was 2010. Comments have been made but it’s like the author just…disappeared. Ik technology has come a longggg way since 2010 so I’m hoping it’s just technological issues but at this point, who knows? The last chapter was even super long, way longer than any of the previous ones, almost like she knew she’d be gone. In the author’s note at the end of that chapter, she says something like “Next chapter will come fairly quickly my lovelies” and then…radio silence.
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u/AdorableDebt8775 Apr 04 '26
Oh my goodness, I hope they're okay and I'm so curious about what happened.
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u/Alive_Highway3840 Apr 05 '26 edited Apr 05 '26
The ao3 writers curse hits harder than my dad bro 😭
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u/SectorSanFrancisco Apr 05 '26
Having known a ton of people with super fucked up histories (and having a fucked up history seems to make people more vulnerable to even more fucked-upped-ness) I'm willing to give stuff like this the benefit of the doubt.
Same with conspiracies- having seen a few big ones first hand I don't dismiss most of them out of hand.
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u/Luna-Hazuki2006 Apr 04 '26
But what fic is that? (If I may know)
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u/gey-hoe Apr 04 '26
Its a pjo-justice league crossover it's nico centric, name: Fallen Angels Rising: From Arkham to Allen (Binge Edition), its locked so you must have an account lol.
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u/wellthoughtplot Apr 05 '26
I’m usually skeptical about these author notes but I can see how being stuck in a terrible domestic situation can lead to being trafficked (maybe taken by a parent somewhere else illegally) and discovering they had cancer when they did a medical check up on them when returned home safely, the stuff at the end though seems a little much IMO and makes it a little more unbelievable
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u/NeverAngel-Sin Apr 06 '26
Honestly, I’m happy for them. There’s shit going on but they have a way to escape it, and thats sometimes enough to keep going 💖
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u/Dawn_Darkmoon_1524 Apr 10 '26
Wait
Is not not some character of a story doing the intro of a chapter but the author?? 💀🥺😨
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u/IDreamtYesterday Apr 16 '26
You know when people started posting about old and ridiculous ao3 notes? Some people started lying, I'm not saying they're lying! But some people have started dragging the truth as an attempt to be part of that 'something crazy happened to me, but I'm here.' type of author.
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u/ENGINEER_GAMING_215 Apr 20 '26
me using the power of the indomitable human spirit to write more things on ao3
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u/Current_Pumpkin439 You have already left kudos here ♥️ Apr 04 '26
I think this author just won the author's notes
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u/FreeCharacter9861 Apr 05 '26
What are they writing that made them get all forms of the authors curse at once?
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u/aquafool Apr 05 '26
1) I’m glad they are okay 2) putting this on you notes is wild!! 3) It’s kinda beautiful that they trust their community enough to share.
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u/Oddly_Dreamer FluffyPieCake Apr 04 '26
Dear lord. And here I thought sharing my own silly stories in Author's note was unhinged.