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newcomers2025-04-15 10:43 pm
ysabetwordsmith) wrote in newcomers2025-04-15 10:43 pm
How to Post Fiction or Other Writing on Dreamwidth
A friend asked me about how to post fiction or other writing on Dreamwidth. Lots of people don't post their content here, just a thumbnail description and a link to it on some other service. This is very frustrating to readers who aren't on that other service and thus can't see the content. Therefore, it's best to post content here, and then you can crosspost it wherever else you want for wider exposure. There are plenty of people who do this, in various approaches. I encourage posting whole creative content here, so let's explore some ways of doing that.
How you post fiction, poetry, or other creative content depends in part on what and how much you make. The more of it you make, the more you will need a detailed system of organization and navigation.
There are a variety of post formats in use. You may use whatever format you wish in your own blog. For inspiration, look for the fannish communities that recommend or post fanfics. They usually have a guide on how to format a post. You can find them viafandomcalendar or this topical list of communities under things like Fandom or Fantasy.
Okay, some tools and options ...
* Put the title of your story, and chapter if it's a longer piece, in the title of the post. Some folks also include the source canon, characters, etc. for fanfic.
* At the top of the post, put other descriptive material that won't fit in the title but helps readers understand the content to follow. This is another place that people put the title, series, characters, word count, etc. If you put the chapter count here, you can include links to those other posts. Here is a sample header inspired by the posting template onallbingo:
Title:
Author:
Fandom:
Prompt:
Medium:
Size:
Rating:
Warnings:
Summary/Preview:
Notes:
* Content notes, warnings, etc. are optional but a useful value-added service. You can hide these behind a graybar to avoid spoilers. You may want to start with warnings that are common across many platforms such as character death, nonconsent, etc. Discuss with your audience what kind of warnings they want. Mine wanted "asking for help and getting it" so that's a standard for me, but I haven't often seen it elsewhere. Most people put content notes in the informative header above the cut, then the story or chapter below the cut.
* Use cuts. This keeps a long post from cluttering the page. Put a descriptive header above, then the cut, so people can click on it to read more.
* You can use basic HTML code in comments and posts for things like links and italics. There are also some fancier code tricks that some people do. Here's a guide to HTML and CSS for Dreamwidth. These are tools you can use to format your post.newcomers has many resources about how to do things on Dreamwidth.
* Short works typically fit in one post. For longer material, you will have to think about logical breakpoints to make separate posts. Then you will need some sort of organization so readers can find the other posts.
* You might include a menu in the header above each installment, with links to the other installments, so that readers can find the rest.
* If you write a lot, it's a good idea to make a landing page, master list, or master post that introduces a series or genre or however you want to batch things. Reference this in each installment so people can find it. Some writers also make that kind of post "sticky" so it stays at the top of their posts, or they put in their Links List.
* Think about tags. They let you organize your work for later reference. Some people chuck it all under "Fanfic" or "Poetry" or whatever, which is fine if they also post a lot of other things. Other folks have a blog that is mostly or all creative writing, so they might have a tag for each series, or characters, etc.
* Another option is Memories. These let you create a shorter set of important posts using tags, but only the ones you save as Memories will appear there, not the whole list of posts with that tag. You can up up to 5 tags on a Memory. You can add Memories that are not in your own blog, too. This is how some people organize their writing for readers to find.
* If you write exactly in sequence and won't want to add stuff in the middle later, then you might like to use a navigation box to help people page through the series.
* You can have a certain number of icons based on your account type. Some people use these to mark posts of a given type, genre, character, etc.
* Some people have an organization structure on a separate website that has better features for that purpose.
* If you want feedback, tell people that. Some writers don't and will get nasty about it. Discuss what kinds of comment you do and don't like.
Here are some examples from my own writing:
I use tags, but because I write a ton of different things, it's just Fiction, Poetry, etc. rather than individual series. I do have icons for some, but not all, that I use on their posts.
I put a header with information about the story or poem at the top, any warnings, then the cut.
Here is a recent poem with a header, short warning, and cut:
Poem: "The Philosophy of the Sandwich"
My March Meta Matters Challenge post lists my meta, and here is this year's new one that uses a menu type header:
Meta: "Why We Need Fanifestos" Part 1: The Importance of Fanifestos
I use landing pages for some of my bigger projects. Love Is For Children (The Avengers) has one. That series is a mix of fanfic and poetry. Entries have a mix of different header styles so you can see a variety. The chaptered ones have a menu for finding the other chapters.
My author website has more organizational materials. My Work has the pulldown menu for things like Serial Poetry, Shared Worlds, and so on.
How you post fiction, poetry, or other creative content depends in part on what and how much you make. The more of it you make, the more you will need a detailed system of organization and navigation.
There are a variety of post formats in use. You may use whatever format you wish in your own blog. For inspiration, look for the fannish communities that recommend or post fanfics. They usually have a guide on how to format a post. You can find them via
fandomcalendar or this topical list of communities under things like Fandom or Fantasy.Okay, some tools and options ...
* Put the title of your story, and chapter if it's a longer piece, in the title of the post. Some folks also include the source canon, characters, etc. for fanfic.
* At the top of the post, put other descriptive material that won't fit in the title but helps readers understand the content to follow. This is another place that people put the title, series, characters, word count, etc. If you put the chapter count here, you can include links to those other posts. Here is a sample header inspired by the posting template on
allbingo:Title:
Author:
Fandom:
Prompt:
Medium:
Size:
Rating:
Warnings:
Summary/Preview:
Notes:
* Content notes, warnings, etc. are optional but a useful value-added service. You can hide these behind a graybar to avoid spoilers. You may want to start with warnings that are common across many platforms such as character death, nonconsent, etc. Discuss with your audience what kind of warnings they want. Mine wanted "asking for help and getting it" so that's a standard for me, but I haven't often seen it elsewhere. Most people put content notes in the informative header above the cut, then the story or chapter below the cut.
* Use cuts. This keeps a long post from cluttering the page. Put a descriptive header above, then the cut, so people can click on it to read more.
* You can use basic HTML code in comments and posts for things like links and italics. There are also some fancier code tricks that some people do. Here's a guide to HTML and CSS for Dreamwidth. These are tools you can use to format your post.
newcomers has many resources about how to do things on Dreamwidth.* Short works typically fit in one post. For longer material, you will have to think about logical breakpoints to make separate posts. Then you will need some sort of organization so readers can find the other posts.
* You might include a menu in the header above each installment, with links to the other installments, so that readers can find the rest.
* If you write a lot, it's a good idea to make a landing page, master list, or master post that introduces a series or genre or however you want to batch things. Reference this in each installment so people can find it. Some writers also make that kind of post "sticky" so it stays at the top of their posts, or they put in their Links List.
* Think about tags. They let you organize your work for later reference. Some people chuck it all under "Fanfic" or "Poetry" or whatever, which is fine if they also post a lot of other things. Other folks have a blog that is mostly or all creative writing, so they might have a tag for each series, or characters, etc.
* Another option is Memories. These let you create a shorter set of important posts using tags, but only the ones you save as Memories will appear there, not the whole list of posts with that tag. You can up up to 5 tags on a Memory. You can add Memories that are not in your own blog, too. This is how some people organize their writing for readers to find.
* If you write exactly in sequence and won't want to add stuff in the middle later, then you might like to use a navigation box to help people page through the series.
* You can have a certain number of icons based on your account type. Some people use these to mark posts of a given type, genre, character, etc.
* Some people have an organization structure on a separate website that has better features for that purpose.
* If you want feedback, tell people that. Some writers don't and will get nasty about it. Discuss what kinds of comment you do and don't like.
Here are some examples from my own writing:
I use tags, but because I write a ton of different things, it's just Fiction, Poetry, etc. rather than individual series. I do have icons for some, but not all, that I use on their posts.
I put a header with information about the story or poem at the top, any warnings, then the cut.
Here is a recent poem with a header, short warning, and cut:
Poem: "The Philosophy of the Sandwich"
My March Meta Matters Challenge post lists my meta, and here is this year's new one that uses a menu type header:
Meta: "Why We Need Fanifestos" Part 1: The Importance of Fanifestos
I use landing pages for some of my bigger projects. Love Is For Children (The Avengers) has one. That series is a mix of fanfic and poetry. Entries have a mix of different header styles so you can see a variety. The chaptered ones have a menu for finding the other chapters.
My author website has more organizational materials. My Work has the pulldown menu for things like Serial Poetry, Shared Worlds, and so on.
At the risk of sounding stupid...
I don't want my writing to be indexed by third party search engines or worse, scraped for generative AI training. I just want to be findable by people who are already here.
Re: At the risk of sounding stupid...
Everyone (Public)
Access List
Private (Just You)
Custom Filter
The community options for making a post:
Everyone (Public)
Members
Administrators
Posting access to a community may be:
Everyone (even nonmembers)
All members
Select members
Which is odd, because I know I've seen references to settings like "registered Dreamwidth members" or "logged in Dreamwidth members" but I can't find them right now. :/
Re: At the risk of sounding stupid...
no subject
Thoughts
Lots of people post fanworks here. Some include boilerplate notes that it is for fun and not for profit.
>> Is it allowed to post all kinds of fic content on here (even adult stories), <<
DW offers an "adult" rating option for individual posts and for blogs or communities. If you wish to post pr0n then those will helpful for that purpose.
>> and is there a big threat of getting sued if I do?<<
No idea, but people post such content frequently and it seems to be fine.
>> posting on AO3 gives some protection against that stuff. I don't really want to use the site anymore though. <<
Yeah, I bailed after they changed the user agreement.