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Embracing Original Works
Mar. 26th, 2026 08:40 pmFirst of all, I'd like to ask anyone who's gotten access to do tag wrangling here on SquidgeWorld - we're still flailing from the AO3 downtime. We've got over 10,000 tags between Characters, Relationships, and Freeform tags still yet to be wrangled. And if you're interested in being a wrangler, let us know!
Second, we know there are quite a lot of people who not only write fanfiction, but original fiction as well - fiction that is not tied to a fandom. Because of this, we have created a standalone fandom of "Original Works", which you can think about more in the concept of "Movies and Film" and "TV and Streaming Video." This is the "parent" collection, and (as of Sunday when we perform weekly maintenance), will appear along as one of the lists of Fandoms on the upper left menu. Under "Original Works", we have created multiple types of works available for tagging purposes. When creating an original work, you have the following options available, along with a little explanation:
Original Works - Diaries and Journals: This is where you can create something with your own personal thoughts. Almost like a blogpost or such.
Original Works - Epistolary and Letters: Writing the letters between two lovers? This is where those would go.
Original Works - Essays and Meta: Think of this as the, "I'm here to convince you to watch more science fiction shows" or "Here is what action movies get wrong about female characters" and the like.
Original Works - Guidance and Instructions: I don't think this will get quite much use, but you never know. Things under this "fandom" are truly instructions, like "How to save money in THIS economy" or the instructions I wrote on how to implement the OTW code to bring a new archive online.
Original Works - Long Form Prose: Basically, something longer than a short story. A few chapters of a work you've created. Think "novella" which is one or more chapters, and 17,500 to 40,000 words.
Original Works - Lyrics and Music: As it sounds, maybe you've written some music and want the lyrics posted somewhere. Or you've rewritten the lyrics to a popular song. This is where you'd document it.
Original Works - Novel: If you've got an original idea and want to write a novel, use this one. These typically will be multi-chapter and have at least 40,000 words
Original Works - Poetry: Write some original poetry? Use this fandom.
Original Works - Screenplays and Scripts: Screenplays, scripts, and plays have very particular writing styles with dialogue, actions, and stage direction amongst other elements.
Original Works - Short Form Prose: This is a quick short story, or in terms of book size, a novellette. Those range anywhere up to 17,500 words.
Original Works - Others [Unlisted]: This is the catch-all if something else here doesn't fit. This is where most of the existing Original Works were documented under.
Per our policy on original works in the Terms of Service, point 7, these works CAN have Ko-Fi and Patreon links. Just FYI. All other links for Ko-Fi, Patreon, and the like that are intended for fanfiction-based works are not allowed.
If you have questions, please let us know! And as for now, back to tag wrangling.
Second, we know there are quite a lot of people who not only write fanfiction, but original fiction as well - fiction that is not tied to a fandom. Because of this, we have created a standalone fandom of "Original Works", which you can think about more in the concept of "Movies and Film" and "TV and Streaming Video." This is the "parent" collection, and (as of Sunday when we perform weekly maintenance), will appear along as one of the lists of Fandoms on the upper left menu. Under "Original Works", we have created multiple types of works available for tagging purposes. When creating an original work, you have the following options available, along with a little explanation:
Original Works - Diaries and Journals: This is where you can create something with your own personal thoughts. Almost like a blogpost or such.
Original Works - Epistolary and Letters: Writing the letters between two lovers? This is where those would go.
Original Works - Essays and Meta: Think of this as the, "I'm here to convince you to watch more science fiction shows" or "Here is what action movies get wrong about female characters" and the like.
Original Works - Guidance and Instructions: I don't think this will get quite much use, but you never know. Things under this "fandom" are truly instructions, like "How to save money in THIS economy" or the instructions I wrote on how to implement the OTW code to bring a new archive online.
Original Works - Long Form Prose: Basically, something longer than a short story. A few chapters of a work you've created. Think "novella" which is one or more chapters, and 17,500 to 40,000 words.
Original Works - Lyrics and Music: As it sounds, maybe you've written some music and want the lyrics posted somewhere. Or you've rewritten the lyrics to a popular song. This is where you'd document it.
Original Works - Novel: If you've got an original idea and want to write a novel, use this one. These typically will be multi-chapter and have at least 40,000 words
Original Works - Poetry: Write some original poetry? Use this fandom.
Original Works - Screenplays and Scripts: Screenplays, scripts, and plays have very particular writing styles with dialogue, actions, and stage direction amongst other elements.
Original Works - Short Form Prose: This is a quick short story, or in terms of book size, a novellette. Those range anywhere up to 17,500 words.
Original Works - Others [Unlisted]: This is the catch-all if something else here doesn't fit. This is where most of the existing Original Works were documented under.
Per our policy on original works in the Terms of Service, point 7, these works CAN have Ko-Fi and Patreon links. Just FYI. All other links for Ko-Fi, Patreon, and the like that are intended for fanfiction-based works are not allowed.
If you have questions, please let us know! And as for now, back to tag wrangling.
