Archive of Our Own, or AO3, is one of the biggest names out there for fan art. Fan fiction, which has long been a frontier of sexual and erotic literature, is among the site’s offerings. The AO3 website gives this succinct explanation of what they do: “The Archive of Our Own offers a noncommercial and nonprofit central hosting place for fanworks using open-source archiving software.”
The Hugo Award
Although fanwork has been the subject of debate in terms of its acceptance among genre fiction enthusiasts, the Hugo Award is a major signifier of legitimacy and brad acceptance. This was the first Hugo Award ever given to AO3, and one of its founders, Naomi Novik, had this to say about the significance of the occasion:
All fanwork, from fanfic to vids to fanart to podfic, centers the idea that art happens not in isolation but in community. And that is true of the AO3 itself. We’re up here accepting, but only on behalf of literally thousands of volunteers and millions of users, all of whom have come together and built this thriving home for fandom, a nonprofit and non-commercial community space built entirely by volunteer labor and user donations, on the principle that we needed a place of our own that was not out to exploit its users but to serve them.
Read the full statement here.
The Top Sexual Fics on A03
To celebrate, here are the top 5 sexual fics on Archive of Our Own right now. Each one has tens of thousands of views and lots of comments.
“Relief Next to Me” – A fic involving One Direction
“She” – This tale is set in the universe of “The 100”
“Soft Hands, Fast Feet, Can’t Lose” – Another steamy One Direction story
“Fall Asleep (Fall For You)” – This series is set in the universe of Bangtan Boys
“Not Your Disney Romance” – Last but not least, a story set in the world of the TV series Teen Wolf