Keeping your formatting when you post from google docs to ao3

I’ve seen weird scripts and shit? You don’t need to do that, I promise! This takes, like, five seconds at most. It’s literally two steps long. 

Step one: After you type the very first sentence of your fic, highlight it, and then go into the spacing menu and click on “Add space after paragraph,” like so: 

Yay! Now when you hit return you go to a new paragraph with some space between. And maybe you wanna add some italics! Some bold! Let’s say your fic now looks something like this: 

Beautiful. 

And let’s say you’re done with your fic and you’re gonna post it to ao3! Fucking sweet. 

Step two: When you get to that magical ao3 post page, at the top right of the box where you put your fic, there are two magical buttons, and you’re gonna click the one that says “Rich Text” like so: 

And now, go back to google docs, “select all” and copy your fic, and just paste that it into the box on ao3: 

It kept all your formatting! Sweet! And if you do want to mess with it at this point, there’s all those little commands at the top there, very similar to the ones in google docs. 

Okay! Time to publish this thing. I mean I’m not actually publishing it, just previewing it, but still, this is what it would look like if I did: 

HURRAY! It kept all my formatting. There’s not weird huge gaps between my paragraphs, either. 

I went into detail in this post just to make it as clear as humanly possible, but seriously: you don’t gotta bother with html unless you want to! Use the tools ao3 already has! 

Please please do reblog this for you and your fic-writing friends. It doesn’t have to be complicated. 

EDIT, BECAUSE I SEE THIS SO OFTEN: 

“But I get weird spaces after italics!” 

Just highlight the punctuation when you highlight the text to italicize it.

So if you’re writing “I can’t believe she did that!” and you want to italicize the last word, you include the exclamation and quotation mark

So it’s like “I can’t believe she did that!”

instead of I can’t believe she did that !“

THE AUDACITY OF THEM TO SAY THIS, FUCK NETFLIX FR

I’m just gonna jot down some quick thoughts that may or may not end up being not quick thoughts.

1) I don’t know anything about The Show Fans warning about the book exchange but I’ve also been offline a lot recently so I clearly missed something. I’d definitely like to hear about it though cause I didn’t get voted Most Opinionated in high school by NOT being nosy.

2) Being upset about the word inclusive is wild to me. It was an exchange that welcomed all interpretations of Jaime and Brienne–book, show, modern, cracked out AUs, whatever. Imaginary offense seems apt here but I’d argue the same description could be aimed at the umbrage taken with the word. Pointing out that something happening in inclusive isn’t just a way to point an accusing finger and the exclusive thing, though it can be. It’s also an apt description though as it was an inclusive exchange.

3) I mean yes, show fans dominate the tag but it inspired more content. The show revitalized the Jaime and Brienne tag and it became a hugely thriving tag with tons of amazing fics from all canons. It wasn’t dominating in a “fuck these book readers” way. The show brought fans, like it or not. Nik and Gwen brought fans. Also yes, a lot of writers tag all the GOT/ASOIAF tags. I think we all, regardless of what brought us there, have to scroll through work that doesn’t interest us. It’s just part of how being in a fandom works, and yeah it sucks sometimes but so be it. But that’s also how I found a random Harry Potter fic I loved so it balances out for me.

4) Honestly I wasn’t offended at a book canon exchange because I also love the books. I was considering joining until I read the character guide and realized that our interpretations of Jaime and Brienne, and what makes their ship so great, were vastly different. I didn’t throw a tantrum or meltdown or vomit though. I only talked lighthearted shit in DMs like an adult.

5) Honestly the part of this post I hate the most is the dogpiling comment. I watched that entire conversation happen on Discord and it wasn’t dogpiling. It was a back and forth, reasonable discussion with many people on each side. A mod of the server asked that people rec fics (during an exchange) without being passive aggressive because it could be considered rude to the writers or giftees. One person took offense to the request because they had recced a fic with the words “It’s a show fic but…” and since the mod had received numerous messages about similar things, she took the time to say “hey from now on when we rec fics, we can just include what canon/genre they are, or specify the things we liked.” Some people took that as an attack, others took it as a request to be more (TW) inclusive. It spiraled into a long, mostly respectful discourse which honestly just made me think about how widely varied perspectives and sensitivity levels are. I just took it as a “Hey some people are being hurt by this, unintentionally, so can we try and be mindful?” My knee jerk reaction to that is “yes, of course” not “I wasn’t being mean!” but again, people differ.

6) I don’t know that I have a point to any of this. I love the books, and I love a lot of the show. I love Nik and Gwen. I love Jaime and Brienne, in most any form (including the one where they’re rabbits). I love a lot of the people I’ve met through this fandom. I hate show fans who shit on book canon fans and I hate book fans who shit on show canon fans. The books gave me “I dreamed of you” and “so he did” and so much more. The show gave me “It’s yours” and “Rise Ser Brienne of Tarth” and so much more.

7) I think book fans feel possessive of the ship because it got drowned out in show fics. I think show fans feel invalidated because of the caveat so often attached to their show canon works. I’m grateful for the show fics drowning the tag because it went from a handful of fics to thousands and saved my 2020 in a big way.

8) If you think Jaime is mean and cruel, then I don’t care which canon you like because we are reading and watching a different man. If you think the most important thing about Brienne is that she’s ugly and is hyper aware of it, same applies.

Look, I was staying out of this little tantrum, but I will address two things:

(1) The show fan “warning” was someone sharing a link to promote the exchange and then saying “Fair warning, this has stringent characterisation rules you might want to check out, it’s too intimidating for me but others might be interested!” And I was interested. (Because, spoiler alert, I have written reasonably well-received book canon fic!) And then I looked at the criteria, decided that “Run your characterisation past us!” was not the sort of thing I was interested in, and didn’t sign up.

(2) The inclusive shit is SENDING me. I used the word inclusive FOR TWO REASONS: (A) because it is open to all fanworks, and (B) because every exchange I run has people messaging me saying “I’ve never done an exchange before, am I welcome? Is it okay? I’m really nervous, is there critieria?” Inclusive covers both of these in a way that saved me a shitton of drafting time. The only thought I gave A Little Island of Light was setting a schedule that was more inconvenient for me so that I did not overlap with their posting window as a courtesy–The Festive Fest was around the same time because it was an established festive season exchange–only to have that window shift back at the last minute.

my god some of yall are the most patronizing, passive aggressive little shits in all the asoiaf fandom. popping into an exchange mod’s dms to talk shit on anon. unprovoked, just had to shit on the exchange. snarking about her spelling when english is not her first language. hopping on to say your piece although alas you didn’t want to get involved in this “little tantrum.” oh you ignore your children’s tantrums but you’ll deign to entertain this one. spare me the handwringing. you want to talk about gatekeeping and inclusivity? yall push people out of fandom spaces on the regular and then claim you did nothing of the sort. no where in the exchange guidance did pon or ell say you had to run characterization by them as though they were the content police LOL they were just saying hey if you aren’t as familiar with the book materials and you want to get some support or clarity, we’re here for you. but understanding that guidance for what it is, and not perceiving it as some kind of attack or barrier of entry, would take a) reading comprehension and b) the broadness of mind to know that not everything in fandom needs to be by you or for you

and, since you’re vagueing me in the tags: that person was not bullied into deleting her comments. she did that all on her own after I, one person, questioned the intentions behind them. I do have the screenshots though if you’d really like to debate that. 

So I don’t know who you are, but since you included the line about ignoring your children’s tantrums, I’m assuming this was directed to me as well as Firesign below. Not the patronizing, passive aggressive little shits part since we weren’t being anon in DMs, though to be fair I can definitely be both patronizing and passive aggressive depending on the circumstances and my mood.

Now, as for hopping on to say my little piece (and I’m only speaking for myself, not Firesign), of course. I was going to scroll past it but the dogpiling line was clearly about the event on discord and since I was there, I felt well within my rights to comment. I did used to ignore my children’s tantrums because there’s no sense in giving someone a reaction when that’s what they’re wanting. It’s the same reason I don’t answer rude anon DMs or if I do, I try to do it without being angry.

I keep hearing about show fans bullying book fans out the fandom and I’m genuinely wanting to know who, and when. Also the “yall push people out of fandom spaces” is that a general yall or a yall as in me and Firesign? Because I’d definitely like to know who I pushed out. Now if it’s a general show fan thing then I’m sure it’s probably happened, just as show fans have been pushed out by book fans I’m sure.

I have no problem with having a Book Canon Exchange. I enjoy the books a good bit, and I don’t think anyone takes umbrage with that. It’s no different than having a spooky season exchange or a festive fest or a smut swap: these characters, this general sort of thing. The only issue I had with it was that I hated the character guide but again–talk shit in DMs with your friends is my preference for handling it.

As for the last point, about the warning, yes I’d love to know because as I’ve said, I’m one nosy bitch and have no clue. I’m all ears.

I’m guessing the vague tagging thing was directed at Firesign because my tags were pretty straightforward. It’s pretty late for her though so she may not be online to let us know.

Anyway, my points 1-8 still stand. I just figured this was for both of us and I don’t like to leave things unaddressed.

Word of advice to any young people entering fandoms for the first time: every fandom has assholes, often multiple shades of them.

Curate. Your. Fandom. Experience.

Best advice I can give you. Leave discord servers where there’s toxicity. When you realize someone has blocked you on Tumblr that you’ve never really talked to, be grateful. J/B Fandom has been great for me because I found my people and pulled them close. Find people that love the characters for the same reasons you do. It helps.

Well I was blocked before I could respond to Tru so I'm going off memory here. Forgive me if I forget anything.

- The implication wasn't "excuse me you don't know me, don't respond to me." That'd be idiotic online in general but in particular when we're in in the same sphere, discussing the same topic. It was meant as a "have we interacted before? Is a past conversation coloring this one?"

- The answer to that is a half-assed yes, I guess. You talked about the Making The Nine thing (which I still maintain was rude as well as pointless) but I don't recall you ever discussing it in the server. Could be wrong since it's been a year.

- I went back and re-read the conversation and still don't see a dogpiling. I saw someone who was very enthusiastic about commenting on fics take a mod request and turn it personal, and then when people said they were sorry she was hurt and it was a general request due to the ongoing issue, she stayed upset. And despite several DMs with people assuring her that yes they don't care for recs with the caveat, that they knew she didn't mean anything by it and appreciated her, there was never any budging.

- I dont particularly care who agrees or disagrees with either of those assessments. I'm open to discussion and debate about most anything, but this entire issue stems from the fact that people have different perceptions and sensitivity levels. For a bunch of writers, online communication seems to be a struggle for us lol.

- The warning thing--yep literally never saw any of that so thanks for feeding my nosy nature.

- I feel like there was something about ilikeblue's friends accusing someone (was it pontiacbandit?) of plagiarizing something? Which I vaguely remember though I can't get over the irony of being offended that pontiacbandit was falsely accused of copying someone's work.

- Gdi I know I'm forgetting something.

- I dont know. Anyway. Making the Nine still sucked. Disagreeing opinions and open dialog isn't a dogpile. The young comment wasn't directed at you because you could be 19 to 60, no clue, but more advice for people new to fandom experiences. I think you called me condescending which I'm perfectly fine with since again different sensitivities and perspectives.

Ok end of response to True. Different point below.

One of my very favorite writers (and friends) in the fandom has been a fan of the books and a long-term JB shipper. She began writing fic when the show fucked up their ending so horribly. She's written book canon and show canon and canon divergence and modern AUs. She loves both show and books, and most of all she loves JB. And genuinely if every person in the fandom was as kind as her, there wouldn't be divisions like this.

And lowkey? Nah high key-- I think a lot of the people who are huge dicks about the books aren't mad about "their" tag being drowned out. I think they're mad that their small little club got integrated and some of the writers in the S8 fallout got very popular.

Maybe that's not very polite but I said my friend was the kind one, not me.

I’m just gonna jot down some quick thoughts that may or may not end up being not quick thoughts.

1) I don’t know anything about The Show Fans warning about the book exchange but I’ve also been offline a lot recently so I clearly missed something. I’d definitely like to hear about it though cause I didn’t get voted Most Opinionated in high school by NOT being nosy.

2) Being upset about the word inclusive is wild to me. It was an exchange that welcomed all interpretations of Jaime and Brienne–book, show, modern, cracked out AUs, whatever. Imaginary offense seems apt here but I’d argue the same description could be aimed at the umbrage taken with the word. Pointing out that something happening in inclusive isn’t just a way to point an accusing finger and the exclusive thing, though it can be. It’s also an apt description though as it was an inclusive exchange.

3) I mean yes, show fans dominate the tag but it inspired more content. The show revitalized the Jaime and Brienne tag and it became a hugely thriving tag with tons of amazing fics from all canons. It wasn’t dominating in a “fuck these book readers” way. The show brought fans, like it or not. Nik and Gwen brought fans. Also yes, a lot of writers tag all the GOT/ASOIAF tags. I think we all, regardless of what brought us there, have to scroll through work that doesn’t interest us. It’s just part of how being in a fandom works, and yeah it sucks sometimes but so be it. But that’s also how I found a random Harry Potter fic I loved so it balances out for me.

4) Honestly I wasn’t offended at a book canon exchange because I also love the books. I was considering joining until I read the character guide and realized that our interpretations of Jaime and Brienne, and what makes their ship so great, were vastly different. I didn’t throw a tantrum or meltdown or vomit though. I only talked lighthearted shit in DMs like an adult.

5) Honestly the part of this post I hate the most is the dogpiling comment. I watched that entire conversation happen on Discord and it wasn’t dogpiling. It was a back and forth, reasonable discussion with many people on each side. A mod of the server asked that people rec fics (during an exchange) without being passive aggressive because it could be considered rude to the writers or giftees. One person took offense to the request because they had recced a fic with the words “It’s a show fic but…” and since the mod had received numerous messages about similar things, she took the time to say “hey from now on when we rec fics, we can just include what canon/genre they are, or specify the things we liked.” Some people took that as an attack, others took it as a request to be more (TW) inclusive. It spiraled into a long, mostly respectful discourse which honestly just made me think about how widely varied perspectives and sensitivity levels are. I just took it as a “Hey some people are being hurt by this, unintentionally, so can we try and be mindful?” My knee jerk reaction to that is “yes, of course” not “I wasn’t being mean!” but again, people differ.

6) I don’t know that I have a point to any of this. I love the books, and I love a lot of the show. I love Nik and Gwen. I love Jaime and Brienne, in most any form (including the one where they’re rabbits). I love a lot of the people I’ve met through this fandom. I hate show fans who shit on book canon fans and I hate book fans who shit on show canon fans. The books gave me “I dreamed of you” and “so he did” and so much more. The show gave me “It’s yours” and “Rise Ser Brienne of Tarth” and so much more.

7) I think book fans feel possessive of the ship because it got drowned out in show fics. I think show fans feel invalidated because of the caveat so often attached to their show canon works. I’m grateful for the show fics drowning the tag because it went from a handful of fics to thousands and saved my 2020 in a big way.

8) If you think Jaime is mean and cruel, then I don’t care which canon you like because we are reading and watching a different man. If you think the most important thing about Brienne is that she’s ugly and is hyper aware of it, same applies.

Look, I was staying out of this little tantrum, but I will address two things:

(1) The show fan “warning” was someone sharing a link to promote the exchange and then saying “Fair warning, this has stringent characterisation rules you might want to check out, it’s too intimidating for me but others might be interested!” And I was interested. (Because, spoiler alert, I have written reasonably well-received book canon fic!) And then I looked at the criteria, decided that “Run your characterisation past us!” was not the sort of thing I was interested in, and didn’t sign up.

(2) The inclusive shit is SENDING me. I used the word inclusive FOR TWO REASONS: (A) because it is open to all fanworks, and (B) because every exchange I run has people messaging me saying “I’ve never done an exchange before, am I welcome? Is it okay? I’m really nervous, is there critieria?” Inclusive covers both of these in a way that saved me a shitton of drafting time. The only thought I gave A Little Island of Light was setting a schedule that was more inconvenient for me so that I did not overlap with their posting window as a courtesy–The Festive Fest was around the same time because it was an established festive season exchange–only to have that window shift back at the last minute.

my god some of yall are the most patronizing, passive aggressive little shits in all the asoiaf fandom. popping into an exchange mod’s dms to talk shit on anon. unprovoked, just had to shit on the exchange. snarking about her spelling when english is not her first language. hopping on to say your piece although alas you didn’t want to get involved in this “little tantrum.” oh you ignore your children’s tantrums but you’ll deign to entertain this one. spare me the handwringing. you want to talk about gatekeeping and inclusivity? yall push people out of fandom spaces on the regular and then claim you did nothing of the sort. no where in the exchange guidance did pon or ell say you had to run characterization by them as though they were the content police LOL they were just saying hey if you aren’t as familiar with the book materials and you want to get some support or clarity, we’re here for you. but understanding that guidance for what it is, and not perceiving it as some kind of attack or barrier of entry, would take a) reading comprehension and b) the broadness of mind to know that not everything in fandom needs to be by you or for you

and, since you’re vagueing me in the tags: that person was not bullied into deleting her comments. she did that all on her own after I, one person, questioned the intentions behind them. I do have the screenshots though if you’d really like to debate that. 

So I don't know who you are, but since you included the line about ignoring your children's tantrums, I'm assuming this was directed to me as well as Firesign below. Not the patronizing, passive aggressive little shits part since we weren't being anon in DMs, though to be fair I can definitely be both patronizing and passive aggressive depending on the circumstances and my mood.

Now, as for hopping on to say my little piece (and I'm only speaking for myself, not Firesign), of course. I was going to scroll past it but the dogpiling line was clearly about the event on discord and since I was there, I felt well within my rights to comment. I did used to ignore my children's tantrums because there's no sense in giving someone a reaction when that's what they're wanting. It's the same reason I don't answer rude anon DMs or if I do, I try to do it without being angry.

I keep hearing about show fans bullying book fans out the fandom and I'm genuinely wanting to know who, and when. Also the "yall push people out of fandom spaces" is that a general yall or a yall as in me and Firesign? Because I'd definitely like to know who I pushed out. Now if it's a general show fan thing then I'm sure it's probably happened, just as show fans have been pushed out by book fans I'm sure.

I have no problem with having a Book Canon Exchange. I enjoy the books a good bit, and I don't think anyone takes umbrage with that. It's no different than having a spooky season exchange or a festive fest or a smut swap: these characters, this general sort of thing. The only issue I had with it was that I hated the character guide but again--talk shit in DMs with your friends is my preference for handling it.

As for the last point, about the warning, yes I'd love to know because as I've said, I'm one nosy bitch and have no clue. I'm all ears.

I'm guessing the vague tagging thing was directed at Firesign because my tags were pretty straightforward. It's pretty late for her though so she may not be online to let us know.

Anyway, my points 1-8 still stand. I just figured this was for both of us and I don't like to leave things unaddressed.

Word of advice to any young people entering fandoms for the first time: every fandom has assholes, often multiple shades of them.

Curate. Your. Fandom. Experience.

Best advice I can give you. Leave discord servers where there's toxicity. When you realize someone has blocked you on Tumblr that you've never really talked to, be grateful. J/B Fandom has been great for me because I found my people and pulled them close. Find people that love the characters for the same reasons you do. It helps.

I'm just gonna jot down some quick thoughts that may or may not end up being not quick thoughts.

1) I don't know anything about The Show Fans warning about the book exchange but I've also been offline a lot recently so I clearly missed something. I'd definitely like to hear about it though cause I didn't get voted Most Opinionated in high school by NOT being nosy.

2) Being upset about the word inclusive is wild to me. It was an exchange that welcomed all interpretations of Jaime and Brienne--book, show, modern, cracked out AUs, whatever. Imaginary offense seems apt here but I'd argue the same description could be aimed at the umbrage taken with the word. Pointing out that something happening in inclusive isn't just a way to point an accusing finger and the exclusive thing, though it can be. It's also an apt description though as it was an inclusive exchange.

3) I mean yes, show fans dominate the tag but it inspired more content. The show revitalized the Jaime and Brienne tag and it became a hugely thriving tag with tons of amazing fics from all canons. It wasn't dominating in a "fuck these book readers" way. The show brought fans, like it or not. Nik and Gwen brought fans. Also yes, a lot of writers tag all the GOT/ASOIAF tags. I think we all, regardless of what brought us there, have to scroll through work that doesn't interest us. It's just part of how being in a fandom works, and yeah it sucks sometimes but so be it. But that's also how I found a random Harry Potter fic I loved so it balances out for me.

4) Honestly I wasn't offended at a book canon exchange because I also love the books. I was considering joining until I read the character guide and realized that our interpretations of Jaime and Brienne, and what makes their ship so great, were vastly different. I didn't throw a tantrum or meltdown or vomit though. I only talked lighthearted shit in DMs like an adult.

5) Honestly the part of this post I hate the most is the dogpiling comment. I watched that entire conversation happen on Discord and it wasn't dogpiling. It was a back and forth, reasonable discussion with many people on each side. A mod of the server asked that people rec fics (during an exchange) without being passive aggressive because it could be considered rude to the writers or giftees. One person took offense to the request because they had recced a fic with the words "It's a show fic but..." and since the mod had received numerous messages about similar things, she took the time to say "hey from now on when we rec fics, we can just include what canon/genre they are, or specify the things we liked." Some people took that as an attack, others took it as a request to be more (TW) inclusive. It spiraled into a long, mostly respectful discourse which honestly just made me think about how widely varied perspectives and sensitivity levels are. I just took it as a "Hey some people are being hurt by this, unintentionally, so can we try and be mindful?" My knee jerk reaction to that is "yes, of course" not "I wasn't being mean!" but again, people differ.

6) I don't know that I have a point to any of this. I love the books, and I love a lot of the show. I love Nik and Gwen. I love Jaime and Brienne, in most any form (including the one where they're rabbits). I love a lot of the people I've met through this fandom. I hate show fans who shit on book canon fans and I hate book fans who shit on show canon fans. The books gave me "I dreamed of you" and "so he did" and so much more. The show gave me "It's yours" and "Rise Ser Brienne of Tarth" and so much more.

7) I think book fans feel possessive of the ship because it got drowned out in show fics. I think show fans feel invalidated because of the caveat so often attached to their show canon works. I'm grateful for the show fics drowning the tag because it went from a handful of fics to thousands and saved my 2020 in a big way.

8) If you think Jaime is mean and cruel, then I don't care which canon you like because we are reading and watching a different man. If you think the most important thing about Brienne is that she's ugly and is hyper aware of it, same applies.

since it’s pride month, throwback to this beautiful cover and this wholesome interaction between two icons

🍾 NL East Champs x 5, October 4, 2022 🍾

Josh Watson via TikTok

it has never been so clear to me that there are queer people in the writer’s room.. i have never seen such a clear representation of the feeling of community and seeking out others who are like you. it’s what feels so incredible about this show <3

Oh, this gave me chills. Art can be such a powerful way to make a point in ways to people that otherwise might not be reached.

Yeah, so this was posted by “Change the Ref” which means this was created by the parents of Joaquin Oliver, who died during the Parkland shooting. Since then, they have done many powerful, heart wrenching pieces like this. They tricked NRA members into giving a graduation speech in front of empty chairs, each chair representing a child lost to gun violence. They used AI to make a video of their own dead son talking about how he died of gun violence. Joaquin once wrote an essay for school regarding gun violence and they hand delivered that essay to an NRA endorsed politician. They made 3D printed statues of Joaquin as well.

I have a lot of respect for what they do, but their raw grief and anger is clear in every single piece. I can’t imagine what they’re going through, but I hope they are able to find peace someday…

Jess McCready & Lupe Garcia