Fanfiction Reference Works
This is a collection of AO3 works and other resources for creating fan works. (See also the Fanwork Research & Reference Guides tag.)
Some fandoms have wonderful on-line communities (e.g. The Harry Potter Lexicon and Marvel wikis) devoted to creating canon references. Many more do not, but fans still have created deeply thought out essays, maps, tables, histories, and other world building. Hopefully, you can find them here.
AO3 allows custom formatting using limited HTML and CSS (workskins). This collection has a number of formatting "how-to's" in addition to the AO3 docs below.
Note: Works added as bookmarks do not add their tags or fandoms to the collection. Please add your own works
(Open, Unmoderated)
Recent works
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Userscript to add Series [Public] Bookmarks total count to author's stats page by 𝖀𝓷ᶦ𝕔ⓞðə E Ⓜ️🅾️j̵͍̟̝̝̖̮̓ͭͨ̂̐̚ℹ️ (Charles_Rockafellor)
Fandoms: AO3 stats - Fandom
04 Jan 2026
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It's bugged me vaguely for years, though never enough that I really cared... but it hit me last night: if JS can do one thing, such as return the special kudos messages to their days of tailored glory, then it can do another, so... yeah, why not?
If you want to see your series' total number of public bookmarks in your stats page: you got it! ❤️
Full code included.
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This is a personal experiment with HTML. It is a very limited list with what I find useful.
Update: Somehow I find more and more stuff useful, so this list is not that limited (and not that private) anymore. I'll improve it with time and according to my needs. I just realized, this will never be "complete" and there is no final number of chapters.So far that's posted:
Part One: Basics
Part Two: Lines
Part Three: Footnotes and Links
Part Four: Columns and Skins
Part Five: Pictures
Part Six: Videos (and gifs)
Part Seven: Choose Your Own Adventure
Part Eight: Chapter Title
Part Nine: The Title, the Username, and Links
Part Ten: Kudos Message
Part Eleven: Newspaper Article
Part Twelve: Content Notes and Spoiler (NEW: Opacity)
Part Thirteen: Playground for Jinx (glitch text, color, table)
Part Fourteen: Text generator
Part Fifteen: Boxes (still in progress)
Part Sixteen: Vertical Text
Part Seventeen: Transition (NEW) -
Userscript to return tailored kudos thanks' and styled comments' visibility client-side by 𝖀𝓷ᶦ𝕔ⓞðə E Ⓜ️🅾️j̵͍̟̝̝̖̮̓ͭͨ̂̐̚ℹ️ (Charles_Rockafellor) for Mewsmodeus (Mewzebub), GumbaBunny
Fandoms: CSS abuse - Fandom
02 Jan 2026
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Remember when people started tailoring their kudos messages and error notices? Pepperidge Farm remembers — and so do I.
Not a site skin, but much like one: a script permitting those special messages to be seen in the work skin again.
Not much more to say: this gives you a userscript in JS that you can plug in and make things go brrrrr again (at least for yourself as a reader). I used it in Violentmonkey in Firefox. I don't speak JS (this is me dipping my toes into the water here) and am not at all familiar with the ins and outs of all of the different userscript managers, so you might need slightly different syntax or something if you use a different manager (and since I discovered last night that Chrome no longer supports Violentmonkey, and it seems that Tampermonkey and others aren't really open source, I was stuck between Skýlla and Khárybdis).
Don't Panic
Make Kudos Great Again!
* Full code included -
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Summary
Add a direct link to comment on a chapter that looks like a real A03 button!
Right now, if a user is reading in "entire work" the easiest way to comment on a chapter is to open the next chapter in a new tab, then go back a chapter, click comments, and then leave a comment. Readers who downloaded a work have even more hoops to jump though.
This is a guide to making a direct link to the feedback section so that our readers can give us some. It uses AO3's default CSS classes to piggyback on the archive formatting our reader is using, making it look like an official A03 button on the web. (CSS formatting does not carry-over if the work is downloaded, but the link will remain.)
Series
- Part 20 of AO3 Work Skins/Tutorials
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Model Station by Mewsmodeus (Mewzebub) for GumbaBunny, Charles_Rockafellor
Fandoms: Archive of Our Own
25 Dec 2025
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Summary
Is a tool for previewing and troubleshooting 3D-Kinda Models (can be used in other ways too).
Features include:
- Live (but temporary) transformations or adjustments (2 modes!)
- Model Switcher
- Premade Cuboid Models (New model(s) is coming later, much later)
- Semantics
- Fun Settings (temporary, I'll try to make it not but I don't know how text fragments (
:~:text) with id fragments (#id) work (#id:~:text=text) - Displays a warning when Creator's Style is disabled instead of being broken in pieces
The tool uses
:is(),:has(),:where(),transforms, andtransitionsso make sure to have the latest browsers that support these. Isn't it great that CSS and HTML can do this with the limitations given?
Recent bookmarks
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How to Make iOS Text Messages on AO3 by CodenameCarrot, La_Temperanza
Fandoms: No Fandom
10 Apr 2016
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This is a tutorial/live example on how to mimic iOS text messages on AO3 without the need to use images. There's also a chapter on how to have emojis displayed on AO3 as well.
Series
- Part 3 of AO3 Work Skins/Tutorials
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A mock-up of a fake article about a TV series, with CSS and HTML code and a brief guide on how to use it.
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A Discord workskin that supports most Discord-style markup. Includes layouts for channels, DMs, and Group Chats. Darkmode only.
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Bookmarked by EMERALD_CRINGE
15 Mar 2023
Bookmarker's Collections:
Bookmarker's Notes
reference sthingiies :)
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How to set up a bookmarklet that applies a saved set of filters to any works or bookmarks listing page on AO3
(Bookmarklets are a bit fiddly on mobile, but very much doable—and functional. Since I've done all the coding already, you can just follow the instructions without worrying about that. ;D)
GitHub version (more technical) || Tumblr version (with screenshots for Chrome on Android)
Bookmarked by Nightcandle
10 Feb 2023
Bookmarker's Tags:
Bookmarker's Collections:
Bookmarker's Notes
Saved Filters on AO3 by reisling
-----------------very useful and well explained. 😊
It's quite simple and easy to implement.
I tried it out with just a few filters (English, no Crossovers and no WIPs) and it works like a charm! 😀