I think it’s time for me to come clean about this. I kinda became addicted to Reddit, but most importantly, reddit stories. It became part of my routine to listen to podcasts that read reddit stories. NGL it’s really enjoyable, but there is always some people that debates if the stories are true.
Then I tried it once. I created a throwaway account and posted a made up story. It gained a lot of traction and nobody even commented about it being fake.
It was supposed to be a one time thing, but then another idea for a story pops up in my head, I create another throwaway with a temp mail and write that another story.
Overtime it became a habit. I’ve posted tens of fake stories, maybe over a hundred. With updates even. I also learned to develop different styles of writing and formatting so people wouldn’t notice they were written by the same person, me.
Some of my stories got into the podcasts I listen to daily. Its always exciting to hear my own stories being read by someone else.
But I realize that this is not healthy anymore. I could develop so many of these stories into short stories or novels. I’ve learned a lot and improved my writing, these are compelling, engaging, even gut-wrenching stories that I think people would like to read if they were books.
It’s time for me to stop this and start writing fiction for real.
Another reason why I should quit it, it’s because I fucking hate the mods, some of my best stories has been deleted for bullshit reasons, or I just can’t find the right sub to post them. But I gotta say, engaging with people in real time is part of the fun of it.
I don’t want you to think everything on reddit is fake, and I don’t care if some posts are fake or not, I have so many fucked up real stories in my family that no reddit story ever even came close to be as fucked up as real life and would be tossed aside as fake instantly. Reality is weirder than fiction.
Thanks for reading my confession. I’ll go out, touch grass, and start writing fiction.
BTW, I only post fake shit on Throwaway accounts, I’ve never done that on my real main account, and I never lie IRL. Maybe that’s why it felt so exciting early on.
You must log in or register to comment.
We’ve found them. The AmITheAsshole submitter.
You got me. I am actually the real account for all of this. I thought I would make a fictional post explaining that all my stories were fictional, but they were all actually real. I hope we can start a blank slate from now on. I’m afraid I’m gonna have to come clean. I am not actually the person with the original account making a fictional account to explain my real stories that turned out to be fictional but are actually real (but in reality aren’t). I am the former /r/jailbait moderator Spez.
Honestly good on ya mate. Creative writing can be a fantastic outlet and you should absolutely start trying to write short stories.
yeah, who woulld do that? lol
Nice story bro, but I know this is fake as shit. You only wrote fake stories once here. This one. Can’t fool me.
Plot twist: All of this is made up.
I start under the assumption that every reddit post is 100% fiction and work from there. Especially on subs like TIFU or Amitheasshole.
Would be fucking great if we could not do that, though.
Don’t worry about it. I always assume reddit stories are fake anyway.
Wait, you really though “AITA: I slept with my sister’s boyfriend” wasn’t fake? (Before they banned quasi porn submissions, lol)
How do we know this isn’t a fake story?
Any specific sagas you want to admit to? Im legit curious now, lol.
And the saga of the mom who didn’t let her teenage daughter hang out with her older friends, but I can’t find that one right now.
I’m glad you’re coming clean. I kinda hope that you go back and delete the fake stories, or at least make clear they’re works of fiction.
Why?
Because people are stupid. They hear an urban legend about a psycopath putting razor blades in apples and all of a sudden no one can have anything but individually wrapped candy during halloween. People overemphasize anectodes to establish political views or actually make policy changes. Academics troll reddit for evidence to support theories. And “news” “reporters” pull stuff from Reddit and report it, often as fact. If it implicates criminal activity or child abuse, that might cause authorities to get involved needlessly.
Maybe your stories aren’t such that they would impact policies, or change political views, or impact lives. I’m sure some of it is just harmless fun (though, when I’d participate in forums like AITA with fake posts, it sure did annoyme), and to some extent, people should be smarter about responding to shitposts. “Throwaway because my friends know my main account” should be a big, red flag. And I’m glad you got to work on your writing skill and voice. I hope you can use it productively in the future, and I wish you the best of luck. (But think about deleting or editing your posts!)
What kind of stories did you submit? I spent way too much time on BestofRedditorUpdates and at least half of the time you spend realizing stories are fake. I’m wondering if I read any of yours
Only 2 of my stories got into BORU and both are kinda recent.
IF you ever wanna totally come clean, you should share which stories specifically you shared. I’m curious to see if people caught on they were fake or not and how
I can’t believe somebody lied on the internet :(
I rarely engage with Reddit stories but when I do, I treat stories in popular-ish subs as discussions about hypothetical scenarios: “if this were to happen then what would you think of it?”
I completely stay away from threads that are clear rage baits, and they are easy to spot.
I’ve always wondered about that. I wonder what portion of Reddit stories are creative writing exercises. Could we make a community here for fictional stories set irl?
I’d guess even if it’s not that many of the total, most of the highly upvoted stories I expect to be fake.
If you’re writing fiction, you don’t have to have something interesting actually happen to you, you can just write whatever you want, and make it as dramatic as you want. Huge advantage over true stories.
Would be nice to have a community like that here on lemmy for creative writing, there I could just write and post my future stories.
