AI product · Product strategy · North America · 2026

Vaniloom

AI fan-fiction platform · product rethink

An AI fan-fiction product that stalled in its first round. I helped rethink who it's for, what it should be, and how writing with it should feel.

Product
Vaniloom, an AI platform for fan fiction, powered by FicQuill
My role
Redefined the product and rebuilt its strategy through extensive research and data analysis (North America market and strategy)
Grounded in user needs, led narrative optimization and designed the structure of model input and output (narrative structure definition and optimization)
Team
Vaniloom founding team
North America market & strategy 1 · Narrative structure 2 · UI/UX design 3 · Engineering 3 · Marketing & community 2
Timeline
Team formed May 2025 · MVP launched Sept 2025 · Review and rethink Sept 2026
Status
MVP live and maintained; repositioning done, validation under way

Everything on this page comes from my own work on the project. The research and data are shared with the team's permission.

Jingwen Lijingwenli.com/vaniloom
00 · At a glance

The rethink in four numbers

Fan fiction is a space for human creativity
92%

of fan readers and writers surveyed agree

AI for ideas vs AI writing it all
65% vs 10%

Writers accept one more than six times as often

On finding out AI was used
58%

felt deceived

North American fandom platforms
0

cover writing, community and supporting writers in one place

Source First three: [1] academic survey. 92% = Q48_7, 145/157; 65% = Q42, 47/72; 10% = Q41, 9/90; 58% = Q21, 90/155. Fourth: platform review in Finding 07, a qualitative judgment. Method Shares as reported in the paper, unweighted. 65% and 10% come from two different questions; they are shown side by side, not combined.

The story in five steps
Problem

Misread users

Assumed users wanted more content; 1,222 sign-ups, under 15% back after a week

Insight

Fic is a gift

A story matters because someone put time and care into it. One-click text fakes the gift

Decision

Writer-led

Node-based writing plus a community. Don't compete with ChatGPT on raw generation

Market

North America first

Fill the gap between AO3, Discord and Ko‑fi

Measure

Weekly posts

With "writer decision share" as a guardrail against AI-written growth

01 · Context

What Vaniloom is

An AI platform for fan fiction, built for readers and writers whose tastes are too niche for the mainstream: the rare pairing, the obscure fandom, the trope nobody else is writing. Under the hood, FicQuill breaks a story into reusable "assets": characters, tropes, settings and beats.

Who

Fan readers and writers, mostly young women, drawn to niche fandoms and pairings

When

An idea they can't finish; a pairing nobody writes; a prompt to play with friends

What they use today

AO3 to read and post, Tumblr and Discord to talk, general AI tools to generate text. None of it connects

Project timeline
Jun 2024

GaGaDuck starts

an earlier product for women in China

Aug 2024

2,400 sign-ups in two weeks

invite codes gave both people a free day

May 2025

Vaniloom team forms

turns to North America

Sept 2025

MVP launches

seeded on Reddit

Dec 2025

Investor exits

product team disbanded; slow maintenance

Sept 2026

Review and rethink

where this case study starts

May–Jun 2026

Planned: paid tier + new content model

test the business model

Source: Vaniloom internal review (2026-04-25)

02 · Problem

Why version one stalled: four symptoms, four causes

Version one in numbers · as of April 25, 2026
Registered users
1,222

since the Sept 2025 launch

Daily actives
10–30

recent daily active users

Day-7 retention
<15%

new users back after a week

Visit → sign-up
≈0.4%

seeded with sample posts on Reddit

K-factor
≈1

steady with zero promotion since November

Source Vaniloom internal review (2026-04-25), team-reported. Reading Acquisition is weak (0.4%) and so is retention (<15%). But with no promotion at all, the K-factor has held around 1: the people who stay bring new people. A small core loves it; the product just isn't keeping enough of everyone else.

The team's own diagnosis

1. Text quality: keeping characters in character is what makes or breaks the fantasy. The moment a character feels off, it falls apart. 2. Community and UGC: fresh content is what keeps people coming back. 3. Interaction and product form.

What version one assumedMisreadWhat was really going on
Treated the product as an erotica gimmick

"Spicy" levels and kink tags were core story fields; a landing-page draft read "Personalize YOUR Erotic Story"

Wrong read of fandom
Fan fiction is about reimagining characters and relationships

Adult content is one genre among many, not why people come

Chased one great story in one click

"Enter a premise, AI writes the story instantly"

Wrong read of need
Users want the joy of writing, not a finished product

A one-off story ends when you finish reading. The process is what brings people back

Looked like every other AI writing tool

No reason not to just use ChatGPT

No edge
Competed on generation quality

That's the model companies' home turf

Fandom sees AI writing as plagiarism

The community pushed back by default

Backlash
"One line in, finished story out" hides the writer

In a gift economy, that reads as a fake gift

Evidence: Vaniloom's internal review (2026-04-25) and the research in section 03.

03 · Research

Six methods, from "what is fan fiction" to "what's missing in North America"

Literature

Fandom history and theory: Jenkins, Hellekson's gift economy, Dream of the Red Chamber sequels, Comiket

Done
Academic survey

IJHCI 2026 fandom survey: 157 people, including 90 writers

Done
Platform data & policy

Public figures and AI rules from AO3, LOFTER and Jinjiang

Done
Cases & competitors

LOFTER's AI backlash, FanLib, Sudowrite, Character.AI

Done
Survey (ours)

English and Chinese; North America is the main sample, China the comparison

In progress
Interviews

6–8 fan writers, with a concept test

In progress
Background · Where fan fiction comes from

The platforms keep changing. The reasons to write don't.

Research question Fan fiction has changed medium many times, and AI is just the next one. Which needs never changed? Those are what an AI product can't break.
Method I took 7 moments across China, Japan, the UK and the US and checked each against four candidate constants: ● holds, ◐ partly holds, ○ doesn't hold.

1796ChinaRed Chamber sequels
1885JapanKenyūsha
1893UKHolmes
1967USSpockanalia
1975JapanComiket
2003ChinaJinjiang
2009USAO3
Medium
Copies · prints
Dōjin magazine
Periodicals
Mailed zine
Convention
Lit. website
Archive
Started by readers, not rights holders
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Built around canon characters
●
○
●
●
●
◐
●
Circulates among fans
◐
●
◐
●
●
◐
●
The reward is recognition, not pay
◐
●
●
●
◐
◐
●

Coding is my qualitative judgment; the evidence for each moment is listed below.

Evidence for each moment
1796 · About 200 sequels to Dream of the Red Chamber, most rewriting its tragic end; printed and sold by bookshops, often under pen names1885 · Kenyūsha self-publishes Garakuta Bunko. Original literature, but the origin of the word dōjin1893 · Readers protest Holmes's "death" and write pastiches; Conan Doyle brings him back in 19031967 · Spockanalia, edited by women Star Trek fans, mailed out; readers answer with letters and zine trades1975 · The first Comiket; about 80% of attendees are women, and zines mostly trade near cost2003 · Jinjiang is mostly original romance and danmei, with fan fiction as one category; paid chapters come later2009 · AO3, run by fan volunteers, non-profit; the only rewards are kudos and comments

Takeaway "Started by readers" holds at all 7 moments, the strongest constant. "Built around characters" and "circulates among fans" mostly hold. "Recognition, not pay" loosens on paid web-fiction sites, which is exactly where China and the US split (Finding 06). For an AI product: change the medium, but don't start the story for the user, don't break the characters, route work to fans, and make money through giving back.

Source Red Chamber sequels: [8] Zhang Lei (2019) and Rmzxw (the "about 200" count is Zhao Jianzhong's); dōjinshi and Comiket: [8] Wikipedia, Moegirl, Kenyūsha's 1885 magazine; Holmes: Know Your Meme and other compilations; Spockanalia: [8] CSU Fullerton archives; Textual Poachers: [7]; Jinjiang: [8] Wikipedia; AO3: [2]. Method Events placed to scale by year; 1885 is the first well-documented Meiji-era dōjinshi.

From constants to design · each one is a hypothesis to test

These are hypotheses drawn from four fan fiction histories (China, Japan, the UK and the US), not conclusions. Each one lists where it comes from, what it would mean for the product, and which research tests it later on.

MotiveHistorical evidenceIf true, what it means for the productHow we test it
01A gapReaders feel the story isn't finished
About 200 sequels to Dream of the Red Chamber, most rewriting its tragic ending; readers protested Holmes's "death" in 1893, and Conan Doyle brought him back in 1903.Start writing from the gap ("I want to read this, but no one has written it": rare ships, AUs, what-ifs), not from "write a story."Finding 01: share of writers who write ships or relationships outside canon
02Loyalty to characterWhat matters is getting the character right
"OOC" (out of character) is a serious criticism in fandom; Jenkins describes fans as active re-creators, not passive readers.The AI's first job is keeping characters in character, not fancy prose. Characters should live as structured nodes, not inside a prompt.Finding 01: "exploring characters" as a motive; the internal review lists character consistency as problem one
03Kindred spiritsWritten for people who get it
Dōjin literally means like-minded people; Spockanalia (1967) and Comiket (1975) were both channels fans built for each other.Finished work needs a path to people who get it: small communities by ship, share cards, a Discord cold start, not a public feed.Finding 07: scattered platforms; round-two sharing and return metrics
04The giftA story is a gift
Hellekson's gift economy: fic moves by giving, receiving and giving back. FanLib tried to commercialize and shut down in 2008 after fan pushback; AO3 stays non-commercial.A one-click story "took no effort" by gift logic, so the writer's decisions need to be visible. Reader support is framed as giving back, with no paywall on reading.Findings 03 and 04: attitudes to AI and worries about authenticity

The design principle this points to (to be tested)If these four hold, the value of fan writing is in the effort that goes in, not the text that comes out. So Vaniloom doesn't compete on generating better text. It competes on making the act of writing more fun, and on making that effort visible.

Finding 01 · Why writers write

Characters and relationships drive it, not output

Why writers write fan fiction (pick all that apply, n=90)

Exploring characters
86.7%
Non-canon pairings
76.7%
Expanding the world
61.0%
Building writing skills
61.0%
Connecting with fans
56.6%
Easier than publishing
43.0%

Source [1] Q32, writers only (n=90). Counts: 78 / 69 / 55 / 55 / 51 / 39. Method Share = count ÷ 90, one decimal place. Multiple choice, so the bars add up to more than 100%.

So whatThe top reasons are all about the process: exploring characters, pairing them up, expanding the world. They map straight onto Vaniloom's character, pairing and AU nodes. Let AI do those for you, and the fun is gone.

Finding 02 · How far AI can go

The closer AI gets to writing it for you, the less writers accept it

AI uses writers find acceptable

65%Story ideas
36%Editing
31%Plotting
10%Writing the whole story
0
50%
100%

Source [1] Ideas, editing and plotting: Q42 (n=72 writers who answered; ideas 47, plotting 22). Writing the whole story: Q41 (n=90; 9 in favor). Method Rounded to whole numbers. The two questions have different samples and wording; they share one axis only to show the trend, not as a single ranking.

What role writers see for AI (n=90)

No role
40.9%
Assistant
27.7%
Competition
16.7%
Co-creator
5.5%

Source [1] Q39. Counts: 36 / 25 / 15 / 5. Method Shares as reported. The paper says "over 17%" for competition, but 15/90 is 16.7%; the chart uses 16.7%.

So whatAI belongs at the level of ideas and structure. The writer keeps the writing and the decisions. This backs the node-based design and the "writer decision share" guardrail.
Finding 03 · How fandom sees AI

Many say no, but about half say "it depends how"

Each square ≈ 1% of respondents (n=156)

Opposed43%
Cautious but open26%
Depends on how24%
Other7%

Other includes unsure (3.9%) and excited (1.3%). 83.6% of those opposed are writers.

Source [1] Q44 (n=156). Counts: opposed 67, cautious but open 41, depends 38, unsure 6, excited 2. Method Rounded to 100 squares (43 + 26 + 24 + 7). Reported counts add up to 154; the 2 unreported answers are counted in "Other".

So whatThe purple squares are about half: these people care how AI is used. Vaniloom doesn't need to win over the opponents. It needs to earn this half through design.

Finding 04 · Concerns and red lines

The worry is authenticity. Transparency is the floor

Top concerns (n=156)

Loss of personal touch
78.2%
Flood of low-quality work
73.7%
Ethics
68.6%
Misses the fandom spirit
68.0%
Loss of the writing journey
51.9%

Source [1] Q51 and Q36, open-ended answers coded by the authors. Method Shares as reported. Coded by hand; one answer can fall into several themes.

Authors should disclose AI
86%
Less interested once they know
66%
Felt deceived on finding out
58%
AI hurt their fandom interactions
39%

Source [1] 86% = Q48_2, 135/157; 66% = Q22, 103/156; 58% = Q21, 90/155; 39% = Q29, 40/103 (only the 103 who answered). Method As reported; 39% is 38.8% rounded.

So whatThe core complaint is "I can't tell who wrote it." So transparency is a precondition, not a feature: 01Show the writer's decisions02Label how much AI was involved03Never train on the community's work

Finding 05 · A real case from Chinese fandom

LOFTER: how one AI feature drove creators away

2021

AI story event

Rough output; users mostly joked about it. No real backlash

Early Mar 2023

AI art tool launches

Creators suspect their work trained it; they delete posts and accounts

Mar 7

Platform responds

Says it used open-source data; offers ¥10,000 per infringing image

Mar 8–16

Pulled and apology

Feature removed; a creator protection plan bans posting AI content as original work

Source [4] Reports from IT Home, Gamersky, Huxiu, Lanjinger and Jiemian. Method Built from report dates. Reports give the removal date as either March 8 or March 10, so it's shown as a range.

So whatIn a community built on original work, the issue isn't just what AI can do. It's whether creators were told, and whether they were respected.

Finding 06 · English vs Chinese fandom

Same fandom culture, different rules

English · AO3Chinese · LOFTER
Nonprofit, volunteer-run

11.14M users, 17.88M works

Platform
Commercial, owned by NetEase

150M+ registered, 13M creators

No money, at all

No paywalls, tip jars or even Ko-fi links

Money
Gifts unlock bonus content

Tipping writers you love is already normal

AI works allowed

5,000+ works tagged as made with generative AI

AI rules
Stricter

LOFTER bans AI as original work; Jinjiang can lock chapters or ban from rankings

Maximum inclusion, no pre-screening

Ratings and warnings let readers choose

Oversight
No rating system

AO3 has been blocked in mainland China since the 2020 "227 incident"

Source AO3 users and works: [2] AO3 homepage (accessed 2026); AO3 money and AI policy: [2] official posts; 5,000+ AI-tagged works: [9] Ellipsus; LOFTER size: [5] company profile (self-reported, undated); LOFTER gifts: platform feature notes; Jinjiang: [6]; 227 incident: [6]. Method Rounded. Limits AO3 counts registered users and LOFTER self-reports registered users; dates and definitions differ, so the numbers aren't directly comparable.

The team's earlier China product: GaGaDuck (2024)

Built for women in China, fully paid, with a one-hour free trial at sign-up. About 500 seed users came from Weibo and Xiaohongshu DMs into WeChat groups, then invite codes that gave both people a free day drove referrals: 2,400 sign-ups in two weeks. Chinese fans will pay and will bring friends. The team later disbanded for lack of resources.

Source Vaniloom internal review (2026-04-25).

Conclusion: launch in North America, Chinese fandom secondNorth America · firstMore open to AI, but anti-commercial norms mean writer support has to live on our own platform and feel like a gift.Chinese fandom · secondAlready tips writers, but the bar for AI and content rules is higher, so it makes more sense once the model is proven.

Finding 07 · The North American market

North American fans bounce between three kinds of platforms

① Write & archive
AO311.14M users · no money
Wattpad~94M community · mostly original
② Talk & hang out
Tumblrdiscussion, meta, fan art
Discordservers by fandom, ship, character
③ Support writers
Ko-fi0–5% platform fee
Patreon10% for new creators
Vaniloom puts ① writing, ② sharing and ③ support in one loop

Source AO3: [2]; Wattpad's ~94M is total community size, monthly actives not disclosed: [9] TechCrunch; Discord server types: [8] Fanlore; Ko-fi and Patreon fees: [9] official pages and reporting. Method Wattpad and Tumblr monthly-user figures online vary widely and mostly come from unverifiable stats sites, so they're left out.

Where writers can get support
AO3
Not allowed
Ko-fi
0–5% fee
Patreon
10% fee
0%6%12%

The story lives on AO3; the support lives somewhere else. Readers have to click away, and writers run two places.

Source AO3 non-commercial policy [2]; Ko-fi 0–5% [9]; Patreon 10% for new creators since August 2025 [9]. Method Platform fees only, not payment processing.

Competitive map
Writer-led ↑
↓ AI-led
Tool
Community
Sudowrite
AI fiction tool
AO3
no AI tools
Vaniloom
writer-led + community
ChatGPT
general chatbot
Character.AI
chat with characters

QualitativeBased on how each product works; not measured data.

Character.AI
20M monthly users

About half women, half Gen Z or younger. The demand is real, but people are chatting, not writing stories they can sign

Sudowrite
2023 backlash

Writers revolted after its long-form generator launched; one called it a tool "for people who hate to write"

FanLib
2008 shut down

Tried to commercialize fan fiction; fans saw it as treating community like a commodity

Source Character.AI: company figures via [9] PYMNTS; Sudowrite: [9] Gizmodo, Jason Sanford; FanLib: [7] Transformative Works and Cultures.

Direct competitors the team tracks

AI story generators: RedQuill, MySpicyVanilla, SmittenStories AI interactive fiction: Character.AI, AI Dungeon, Joyland Web fiction and audio: Dreame, Episode, Wattpad, Pocket FM

Play 1 · Channels

Seed with small Discord servers built around rare pairings and characters

Play 2 · Money

Offer the writer support AO3 can't, framed as giving back, not paying

Play 3 · Message

Say "make writing more fun." Never say "we'll write it for you"

Play 4 · Edge

Give what Character.AI can't: a story that's yours

Finding 08 · Node-based AI writing tools

Plenty of node-based AI writing tools exist. Almost all are built for professional output

I mapped 10 tools that organize AI writing with nodes, canvases or structured story settings. The pattern is consistent: most serve game studios, narrative designers and working novelists, and their goal is shipping content faster and more consistently. Tools for hobby writers either have no nodes (just cards plus AI continuation) or have nodes but no AI.

Gap: hobbyist + nodes + AI← Linear / cardsNodes / graph →Hobby funPro outputarticy:draft XArcweaveCharisma.aiRivetFlowithSudowriteNovelcrafterNovelAIAI DungeonTwine (no AI)VaniloomHas AINo AI

Diagram · tool positioning (drawn by me, qualitative). Horizontal: how writing is structured, from linear to node graph. Vertical: main users, from professional production to hobby. Positions come from each product's own site and docs, not a scored benchmark.

ToolStructureWhat the AI doesBuilt for
articy:draft XVisual flowcharts + narrative databaseAI Extensions for dialogue, barks and preview images via OpenAI; can be switched offNarrative designers at game studios
ArcweaveNode-based branching narrative editorContext-aware assistant for generation, classification and QAGame dev and interactive narrative teams
Charisma.aiStory-graph nodesControlled generative improvisation inside an authored graphGames, training, brand experiences
RivetGeneral-purpose LLM node IDEWires models, prompts and logic into runnable graphsDevelopers building AI apps
FlowithChat canvas: every turn is a nodeBranch from or cite several nodes to keep generatingKnowledge work and content production
SudowriteStory Bible (structured settings)Drafting, expanding, rewriting; priced by AI wordsNovelists and screenwriters
NovelcrafterCodex wiki + planning viewsPulls Codex details into prompts; many model providersSerious long-form authors; steep learning curve
NovelAILorebook: keyword-triggered entriesContinues the story, simulates character interactionHobbyists, fan fiction, roleplay
AI DungeonStory Cards + text adventureImprovises the story from player actionsHobbyists and roleplayers
TwineNode-based interactive fiction (free, open source)No AIIndie and hobby creators

Sources Each product's site and docs: articy.com (AI Extensions), Arcweave docs and G2 listing, docs.charisma.ai, rivet.ironcladapp.com, Flowith docs, Sudowrite and Novelcrafter sites and reviews, docs.novelai.net (Lorebook), AI Dungeon help center (Story Cards), Twine (Wikipedia). On the research side: a CHI 2025 study on node-graph writing support and a 2025 arXiv node-based multimodal storytelling system, both still prototypes. Method Structure and target users summarized from public descriptions only; no hands-on testing or scoring.

Built for pros vs built for hobbyists
For pros: better outputFor hobbyists: the joy of writing
Core goalShip usable content faster and more consistentlyMake people want to keep writing, and enjoy it
What success looks likeVolume, speed, consistency, export to engine or publisherComing back for the next chapter, sharing it, getting a response
Why nodesManage complexity; one source of truth for the team and engineersTurn each choice into something to play with; choosing is the fun
Where AI sitsThe more time it saves, the betterOffers an idea when you are stuck; take over too much and the fun and ownership go
Learning curveCan be steep; users invest like in pro softwareHas to work in a minute: defaults, templates, random prompts
Where output goesManuscripts, JSON, game enginesStory cards, social feeds, readers' comments and gifts
How it paysPer seat or per AI wordCommunity and reader support for writers
Vaniloom's choice—North star: stories posted per week. Guardrail: writer decision share

Takeaway Handing pro-style nodes to hobbyists isn't enough. Hobbyists don't use nodes to manage complexity; they use them to play. So Vaniloom has fewer nodes in fandom's own language, keeps AI in a single node, and makes the graph itself shareable.

04 · Insights

Three insights, each with evidence and a hypothesis to test

Insight 01

Process over output

86.7%

of writers write to explore characters

Hypothesis If AI writes for them, users won't feel the story is theirs, won't post it, and won't come back

Insight 02

Writing is choosing within limits

65% vs 10%

accept AI for ideas vs for the whole story

Hypothesis Turning choices into visible nodes is easier than a blank box, and makes the writer's part visible

Insight 03

Community is the fuel

73%

see fan fiction as a social community for writers

Hypothesis The business is readers supporting writers, not tool subscriptions

Source [1] 86.7% = Q32, 78/90; 65% = Q42, 47/72; 10% = Q41, 9/90; 73% = Q48_4, 115/157. Method As reported. Hypotheses are inferences from the evidence, not yet tested; see section 08.

05 · Decisions and trade-offs

What we chose, and what we gave up

Positioning

✓ Tool + platform

The tool is the way in; the community is the value

Tool only / community only

Cost: building both at once makes the cold start harder
Competition

✓ Compete on experience and community

Things general tools won't do

Compete on generation quality

Cost: no easy "best AI writer" pitch
Interaction

✓ Node-based writing

Every decision the writer makes stays visible

Blank prompt box / pure chat

Cost: a few more steps than one-line generation
On-ramp

✓ Quick + Advanced modes

Progressive disclosure

A single mode

Cost: users need clear guidance on which to pick
Distribution

✓ Share out, bring readers back

Fans already share everywhere

Closed platform

Cost: hard to track traffic from other sites
Money

✓ Readers support writers (as gifts)

Fits the gift economy

Tool subscriptions

Cost: slower revenue, depends on community size
The core loop
01

Create

The tool makes writing fun

02

Share

Story cards go out to Tumblr, Discord, X and TikTok

03

Return

Readers follow the story back

04

Support

Readers give back; new readers start writing

↺ New writers start creating, and the loop speeds up
06 · Solution · 1 / 3 Strategy

Not more content, but a better experience of writing

Version one competed on output: type a prompt, get a story. Research showed this is not why fans write. 86.7% write to explore characters, and writers accept AI for ideas far more than for the whole story (65% vs 10%). More generated text did not bring writers back; it made the story feel less like theirs.

Strategy: Vaniloom does not compete on how much the AI can write. It competes on how good writing feels, and on what happens after a story is finished.

Strategic choiceWhyWhat we don’t doHow we measure
Raise the joy of writingProcess over output (Insight 01)One-click full storiesSelf-rated fun; share of writers who keep writing
Keep the writer in controlWriting is choosing within limits (Insight 02)AI that writes the whole passageWriter decision share (guardrail)
Close the loop with communityCommunity is the fuel (Insight 03)A closed tool with no sharingReturn visits; K-factor above 1

North-star metric: weekly writers who continue a story they started. Guardrail: writer decision share must not fall as AI features are added. The next two parts follow from these choices: core features make writing fun, and community features bring writers and readers back.

06 · Solution · 2 / 3 Core features

From typing prompts to playing with nodes

This part answers one question: how does “a better experience of writing” become product features? We worked down from the strategy: what the writer needs at each moment, which feature answers it, and which metric tells us it works.

Writer momentNeedFeatureMetric
StartingA blank page is hard to beginMaterials as cards; Quick modeTime to first passage
Shaping the storyMake choices, not promptsNode-based input; a wire is a decisionCombinations per session
Getting feedbackKnow right away if it’s funA few-second animated previewWrites the next passage
Staying in controlThe story should feel like theirsAI limited to one node; visible creation trailWriter decision share
Coming backA reason to returnUnlocked branches and badges7-day return
Vaniloom · Story deskMaterialsText snippet"Late whenever it rains"Hand sketchCharactersABTropeReunion in the rainAvoid⊘ No breakupDrop it in, wire it upACharacter ABCharacter BReunion in the rainHand sketch✎ Instant previewDrop a material in to preview3-second animated beatStory stateA ♡ B bondChapter map✦ New branch unlockedAfter the rainWriter decisions7AI fills2①②③

Diagram · the end-state interaction concept (drawn by me, not a real screen). Drag text snippets and hand sketches onto the desk and connect them; the AI instantly makes a few-second animated preview, and the story state updates. Underneath it's still node logic: every card is a node, every wire is a writer's decision.

How the animation serves the writing experience

① Plays only after the drop

The animation appears only once a material lands in a node; an empty node just says “Drop a material in to preview”. The writer sees what they placed turn into a scene, which lowers the barrier of the blank page.

Test: do writers go on to the next paragraph after their first drop?

② Preview, not ghost-writing

The few-second storyboard helps the writer see the scene; it doesn’t produce finished prose. The writer still writes, which keeps ownership and decision share.

Test: decision share, and how much AI fill gets rewritten

③ Linked state · every combo has consequences

After the preview, the bond rises, the chapter map lights up and a branch unlocks. Small instant rewards, like a game, make people try one more combination.

Test: combinations per session, return rate

These are design hypotheses still to be tested, not shipped results.

Turning writing into a game · four mechanics
01 · Collect

Materials are cards

A line, a sketch, a character can each be saved as a card. Collect as you go; no need to plan the whole story first.

Ties to "a gap": start from what you wish existed
02 · Combine

A wire is a decision

Connect characters, tropes and sketches. Combining is the creative act, and every choice stays on the desk.

Ties to "loyalty to character": characters are cards and can't be broken
03 · Instant feedback

See it in seconds

Every connection gets a small animation or a filled-in passage from the AI, so you know right away if the combo is fun.

Ties to "the fun is the process": fast feedback, small and frequent rewards
04 · Unlock

New branches and badges

Changes in the bond unlock new branches. Finish a chapter and turn the desk into a card to share.

Ties to "kindred spirits" and "the gift": the work is seen with its making
Still in design · which "transformations" actually make writing fun

The picture above is a direction, not a spec. The exact inputs and outputs aren't settled: what users put in, and what the AI gives back, is something we have to test. We broke the options into a set of transformations and test them one by one.

Transformation (input → output)HypothesisHow we test itWhat we watch
One line → 3-second animated beatSeeing the scene makes people want to keep goingA/B in the prototype: with vs without the previewWhether they write the next passage
Hand sketch → scene descriptionDrawing is an easier start than writing6–8 writers sketch first, compared with writing onlyTime to start; self-rated fun
Character cards + trope → 3 openings to choose fromChoosing is more fun than a blank boxOptions group vs blank-input groupWriter decision share; sense of ownership
Wires / bond changes → bond meter, new branchesGame-style feedback brings people backToggle the feature in the Discord beta7-day return; stories posted per week
Finished passage → share cardBeing seen makes people write againWith vs without one-tap cardsShare rate; return visits from off-site
One line → AI writes the whole passage (control)Lowest fun and ownershipBaselineBenchmark for every group above

What we keep Only transformations that raise self-rated fun and the share of people who keep writing, without lowering writer decision share. Anything that just produces more text while the writer does less is out.

Design rationale · why the nodes work this way
DecisionThinkingEvidence
One setting, one node

Characters, ships, AUs, tropes and warnings are already fandom's tag language. Nobody has to learn a new concept; each node says what goes in it.

Finding 06 · tag culture
AI gets one node

Writers accept AI for ideas, not for writing it all. AI is limited to a single "fill a passage" node, and the writer's wires decide what it reads and where it goes.

Finding 02 · 65% vs 10%
A wire is a decision

The fun is in exploring characters and relationships. Connecting a wire, swapping a trope, unplugging a setting is the play, and every choice stays on the graph.

Finding 01 · 86.7%
Branch and go back

The goal isn't one great story in one click. Any step can sprout a new branch or be rewritten, so writing stays a process you can repeat.

02 · wrong read of need
Nodes are the data model

Character, relationship and event nodes map straight to universe assets (nodes and edges). They can be reused across stories and give the model structured input for staying in character.

AI & data design
Decisions stay visible

The worry is not being able to tell who wrote it. The graph shows exactly what the writer decided, and can appear on the story page as its creation trail.

Finding 04 · transparency
Stage 1 · nowInterim

Quick mode

Catch an idea in one line and start right away

→
Stage 2 · nowInterim

Advanced mode

Lay settings out as form fields: prompt, characters, AU, avoid list, model and memory

→
End state · in developmentGoal

Story desk

Node logic underneath, a playful desk on top: drop in materials, wire them, get instant animations, unlock branches

The story desk is where this ends up, but it takes engineering longer to build. Quick mode and advanced mode are interim steps: ship something simpler first, get user feedback fast, and learn which nodes and connections people actually need.

Principle 01

Writing first

Tools are always one step away

Principle 02

Progressive disclosure

Show things only when they are needed

Principle 03

Clear hierarchy

Notion-like for writing, Medium-like for reading

Principle 04

Instant feedback

Generating, saving and publishing states are always visible

06 · Solution · 3 / 3 Community

From “finished” to “seen, then continued”

Version one stopped at “generate a story,” and finished work stayed on the site. Community features close the loop and drive return visits: create → share → return → join in → support → create again. Each step maps to a user problem from research, one design decision, and one metric to track.

Finished storyShare panelVisibilityCopy linkPreview imageVaniloom.comReddit / X / Facebook1200×630Vaniloom.comInstagram1000×1000Vaniloom.comPinterest1000×1500Vaniloom.comTikTok1000×1778Tap the footer → back to the story → sign up / keep writing

Diagram · how sharing is structured (drawn by me). Cards are drawn to each platform's real ratio; the fixed footer brings readers back.

StepUser problemDesign decisionMetric
01Story cards

A finished story has no shareable “face,” and long text doesn't travel on social media.

One tap makes a full-text card, or a “story name card” with only the title, characters/ship, tags, warnings and a one-line summary.

Share of finished stories that get a card

02Share panel

Sharing takes too many steps, and writers worry about who outside the fandom will see it.

The panel holds three things: visibility, copy link, create preview image. Choose who can see it first, then how to post it.

Panel opened → share completed

03Platform sizes

Fandom lives on many platforms, each with its own image size, so users crop by hand.

Preset templates per platform: Reddit / X / Facebook landscape 1200×630, Instagram 1000×1000, Pinterest portrait 1000×1500, TikTok 1000×1778. Templates mix random elements, and text turns into an image in one tap.

Shares by platform; template use rate

04Return

Images spread off-site, readers can't find the original, and the traffic stops there.

A fixed Vaniloom.com footer on every image; link previews are always 1200×630 so they show in full inside a post.

Visits from off-site; return → sign-up (baseline: visit → sign-up ≈0.4%)

05Join in

New users face a blank page, don't know what to write, and never start.

Events (a “Horror Box” challenge, OC relay prompts) and The Itch: one line of premise a day, finished before midnight. A reason to write, and a deadline.

Event participants; first-story rate; D7 retention (baseline <15%)

06Support

Fandom pushes back on monetization, but writers still want to be recognized.

Reader support is framed as a gift back to the writer, not tips or subscriptions. No paywall on reading.

Writers who receive support; how often supported writers keep writing

Goal: each writer brings in more than one new writer (K-factor from about 1 to above 1). These metrics are the tracking plan we set; round-two results haven't been measured yet.

Source Vaniloom's live community features; share panel and platform-size templates in the Figma files; baselines from the internal review doc (2026-04-25).

AI & data · my narrative structure work

Designing what the model reads, and what it writes

The team designed a content standard model: a universe is a reusable template of assets, and a story is a work built from those assets. Think of it as a graph database of nodes and edges.

Asset · universe

World setting, characters, relationships (edges), events and character–event links (edges). Many stories can reuse them

Instance · story

One user's work, like "Harry Potter's isekai adventure": which assets it uses, how they fit together, and its own settings

On top of that, the narrative system treats each chapter as a step in a looping Markov process. The next chapter depends only on the current state, not on an ever-growing transcript.

Story state

Character snapshots, pending events, the relevant relationships, world and story settings

Retrieval

Only what matters for the next chapter, instead of the full history

Narrative control

World state, foreshadowing to pay off, this chapter's tone and goal

User

Long-term preferences, cross-story memory, this request and chosen tags

Next chapter

Written, then the state updates for the next round

Why it matters: characters and settings live as structured data, which directly serves character consistency; and sending only the filtered state cuts the context cost of long stories.

Source Content standard model and narrative system design in Vaniloom's internal review (2026-04-25).

How the data model changed · May 25, 2026 update
Version one · a flat, one-off story

One story table held everything: four fixed character slots (A–D, name plus setting), plus elements, universe, kinks, a spicy level and a model choice. When the story ended, so did everything in it. Characters couldn't be reused.

New · a world that keeps growing

Universes, characters and events become standalone assets, linked by relationship edges between characters and between characters and events. A story is just one way of putting them together. The same world can be continued, written by someone else, or turned into roleplay or a game.

Source Vaniloom internal system documentation (data model and feature list, including the 5.25 update).

Eval · In character

Human scores from 1–5 against the character card

Eval · Respects limits

Rule checks plus spot reviews

Eval · On voice

Writer ratings plus blind comparisons

Eval · Usefulness

How much generated text survives editing

Next: from stories to more formats
Live

Stories

Today's core feature

In design

Roleplay

Uses character assets only, like character-card chats

In design

Games

Character cards with plug-ins: progress bars, stats, mini-maps

Source Vaniloom internal review (2026-04-25). All three share the same assets, which is the point of the content model.

07 · Metrics

How we'll know the rethink worked

North star
Stories posted per week

"Posted," not "generated": posting means the writer is willing to put their name on it

Baseline (April 2026): 10–30 daily actives · day-7 retention <15% · visit → sign-up ≈0.4%

The current system already logs user events, so daily actives, retention and funnels can be measured without building a new pipeline.

Writers
  • Weekly active writers
  • Stories per writer per week
  • The Itch participation
Readers
  • Visits from shared cards
  • Week-2 reader retention
  • Reads and interactions per reader
Ecosystem
  • Share of writers who get support
  • Readers who become writers
  • 30-day writer retention
Writing funnel
Opens the writing tool
Finishes a first node
Finishes a story
Posts it
Shares it elsewhere

IllustrativeBar widths are not real data; baselines come from validation.

Guardrails: growth of the right kind
Writer decision share

Nodes set or edited by the writer ÷ all nodes. A direct measure of "the story is theirs"

Edit rate on AI text

Share of AI passages the writer changes or rewrites. More editing, deeper involvement

Content safety

Share of stories reported or blocked. Community trust is everything

08 · Validation plan

Testing three hypotheses, riskiest first

Phase 1 · Qualitative

Interviews

6–8 North American fan writers, recruited first from current users, the official Discord and r/vaniloom, plus writers who refuse AI

Tests Insights 01, 02
Pass if most rank fun or ownership above writing faster
Phase 2 · Prototype

Usability test

The same prompt, written once with nodes and once with a blank box

Tests Insight 02, the two modes
Pass if nodes score higher on fun and ownership, without a clear drop in completion
Phase 3 · Beta

Discord beta

One or two servers built around rare pairings, recruiting writers with 1–5 years of experience first

Tests Insight 03, north-star baseline
Pass if a steady group keeps coming back, and shared cards bring in new people

Why newer writers [1] Section 5.1.3: chi-square and Mann-Whitney tests on Q41 and Q43 by years of writing show writers with 1–5 years accept AI significantly more (e.g. Q43, χ²(7)=17.581, p=0.014). Method Cited from the paper; not recalculated.

09 · Risks

Risks

"AI = plagiarism"

Nodes make decisions visible; story pages show the decision trail and label AI use; we never train on community work

Community norms

North American fans dislike commercialization and AI ghostwriting: support lives only on our platform, and the message is only "more fun"

Content safety

Ratings and tags, age gates, and checks at both generation and posting

Copyright

Positioned as a transformative-works community, following fandom norms, with a clear takedown process

Cold start

Become essential in one or two niche fandoms first, then expand

Model cost

Structured input and output cut wasted generations; Quick mode uses a lighter model

10 · Reflection

What this project taught me

01

What users say ≠ what they want

"More content" was the surface. The real motive was the joy of writing and being seen

02

The edge isn't the model

It's the workflow, the data structure and the community built for a specific group of people

03

If I did it again

Write down hypotheses and how to test them earlier, and start with a round of quick interviews

Beyond fan fiction

The emotional gap AI creates is a wider problem

An AI teammate takes the edge off competing. Talk to a virtual partner long enough and you lose interest, because it can't give you what talking to a real person does. Knowing a story was AI-written makes people stop reading. It's the same thing each time: much of the value comes from knowing there's a person on the other side.

Cost

People's time is limited, so effort means something

Choice

They could say no, so a yes counts

Stakes

Both sides have something on the line

Being seen

Another mind gets you, and you feel less alone

Research In a 2023 Duke study, the same AI-made paintings were randomly labeled "human-created" or "AI-created." Human-labeled works were rated higher on liking, beauty, profundity and worth, and perceived story and effort shaped the gap. [10]

My design principleDon't make AI more human. Bring the human back:01AI is the pen, not the author02Make effort visible03Use AI to connect people, not replace them04Tell “I want a result” apart from “I want a relationship”05Choose transparency over realism

Credits
Product
Vaniloom and FicQuill, by the Vaniloom founding team
Team
1
North America market & strategy
Me
2
Narrative structure
Me
3
UI/UX design
3
Engineering
2
Marketing & community
My work
Redefined the product and rebuilt the product and North America strategy through research and data analysis, including the direction for the creative philosophy, node-based interaction, and community and sharing features. Grounded in user needs, optimized the product narrative and designed the model input/output structure (narrative structure definition and optimization).
Year
2026
Appendix A · Survey

Fan writer and reader survey (English and Chinese)

Sample

50+ responses; North America first, China for comparison

Channels

Fandom Discord servers, Tumblr, r/FanFiction; LOFTER and Xiaohongshu

Length

About 5 minutes, 13 questions; options match the academic survey so results compare

Q1In fandom, you mostly: read / write / both

Q2How long have you read or written fic: under 1 year / 1–5 / 6–10 / 10+

Q3Where do you read or post (all that apply): AO3 / Tumblr / Discord / Wattpad / LOFTER / Weibo / Xiaohongshu / other

Q4Why do you write fic (all that apply): explore characters / non-canon pairings / expand the world / practice / connect with fans / other

Q5What's your favorite part of writing? (open)

Q6Where do you get stuck most (all that apply): starting / moving the plot / keeping characters in character / prose / finishing

Q7Have you used AI to help you write: often / sometimes / tried it and stopped / never

Q8Which AI uses are OK with you (all that apply): ideas / organizing worldbuilding / outlining / continuing a passage / editing / writing the whole thing

Q9If you choose the characters, the relationship and where it goes, and AI only fills in the prose, would you post it under your name? (1–5)

Q10As a reader, when would you still read a fic that used AI (all that apply): clearly labeled / the author led / it's good enough / never

Q11Where do you usually share fic? (all that apply)

Q12How would you support a writer you love (all that apply): comments / recs and reblogs / tips / commissions / buying zines or merch / money shouldn't be part of fandom

Q13What's your biggest worry about AI in fan fiction? (open)

Appendix B · Interview guide (30–45 min)

Interview guide (30–45 min)

TopicQuestions
HabitsHow did your last fic start? What happened between the idea and posting it? Which part was the most fun, and where did you almost give up?
MotivationWhy do you write fic? Would you still write if nobody read it?
AIWhere in the process do you use it? When does it stop feeling like your work?
Concept testLook at the node-based prototype. First reaction? Whose story is it if you write it this way?
CommunityWhat response do you hope for after posting? Have you ever supported a writer? How?
Appendix C · Data sources and methods

Where every number comes from, and how it was handled

The data falls into four types: Surveyresults from a peer-reviewed paper; Platformofficial sites and announcements; Pressnews and industry reporting; Internalthe team's internal review; Qualitative / illustrativemy analysis or a sketch, not measured data. Our own survey and interviews are still running, so there is no first-hand data here yet.

DataTypeSource and original scopeMethodLimits
Motivations, AI acceptance, attitudes, concerns, transparency (Findings 01–04, insights, summary)Survey[1] Alfassi et al., IJHCI 2026. Online survey, May–July 2024; 489 raw responses, 332 removed as likely bots, 157 valid (90 writers, 67 readers)Shares and counts as reported; recalculated as count ÷ question sample where needed, to one decimal or a whole numberConvenience sample; 63% North America, 23% Asia; 74% English as first language; sample sizes vary by question (72–157)
New vs experienced writersSurvey[1] Section 5.1.3, chi-square and Mann-Whitney testsSignificance cited directlyCorrelation, not causation
Data model before and after, event trackingInternalVaniloom internal system documentation (data model and feature list)Structure summarized onlySecurity and implementation details left out
Version-one metrics, diagnosis, technical design, GaGaDuck, competitor listInternalVaniloom internal review (2026-04-25)Quoted as writtenTeam-reported, as of April 2026; later changes not included
AO3 users, works, fandomsPlatform[2] AO3 homepage live stats: 11,140,000 users, 17,880,000 works, 79,270 fandomsRounded to millionsRegistered, not active, users
1M+ Chinese works on AO3Platform[2] OTW post, October 2025Quoted—
AO3 gender mixSurvey[3] Rouse & Stanfill, 2022 AO3 user surveyQuotedRecruited via Twitter, Reddit and Tumblr; not random
LOFTER size and agePlatform[5] Company profile: 150M+ registered users, 13M creators; 2020 report citing third-party data: 88% under 25QuotedSelf-reported and dated; no reliable gender data
Character.AI 20M monthly usersPress[9] PYMNTS, reporting company figuresQuotedSelf-reported, not audited
Wattpad ~94MPress[9] TechCrunch correction: total community size; monthly actives not disclosedLabeled as community sizeMonthly-user figures online are unreliable; not used
Ko-fi and Patreon feesPlatform[9] Ko-fi official page; reporting on Patreon's August 2025 pricingPlatform fees onlyExcludes payment processing
LOFTER case, 227 incident, Jinjiang policyPress[4] [6] multiple outletsDates cross-checked; ranges where reports differSecond-hand accounts
Fandom history timelineLiterature[7] [8] scholarship, archives, encyclopediasPlaced by year"About 200 sequels" is one scholar's count
Competitive map, platform roles, "0 platforms"QualitativeBased on how each product works—A judgment, not a measurement
Funnel widthsIllustrative—Shows structure onlyNot real data
References

[1] Alfassi, R., Cooper, A., Mitchell, Z., Calabro, M., Shaer, O., & Mokryn, O. (2026). Fanfiction in the Age of AI: Community Perspectives on Creativity, Authenticity and Adoption. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 42(5), 3062–3094. arXiv:2506.18706

[2] Archive of Our Own homepage stats (2026); AO3 News: 11 Million Users (2026-06-19), non-commercialization policy (2025-06-28), AI and data scraping post; OTW membership drive (2025-10).

[3] Rouse, L., & Stanfill, M. Over*Flow: Fan Demographics on Archive of Our Own. Flow Journal.

[4] LOFTER AI controversy coverage: IT Home / iFeng Tech (2023-03-07), Gamersky (2023-03-08), Huxiu (2023-03-13), Lanjinger (2023-03-15), Jiemian.

[5] LOFTER company profile (Digitaling); LOFTER user interest report (2020); LOFTER 2020 annual showcase and RISING program.

[6] China Writers Network, "AI enters web fiction" (2025-02-26); Li, M. Digital Fandoms and the 227 Incident. The China Quarterly, 2025; Fanlore: 227 Incident.

[7] Jenkins, H. (1992). Textual Poachers. Routledge; Hellekson, K. (2009). A Fannish Field of Value: Online Fan Gift Culture. Cinema Journal, 48(4); Transformative Works and Cultures papers on FanLib and the gift economy.

[8] Zhang Lei, "The Great Tradition: Dream of the Red Chamber and Late Qing Fiction," Academic Monthly, 2019(9); Rmzxw (2019-12-05); Fanlore: Spockanalia, Discord, Ko-Fi; CSU Fullerton archives; Wikipedia: Doujinshi, Danmei.

[9] PYMNTS (Character.AI); Gizmodo (Sudowrite, 2023); Jason Sanford, Genre Grapevine (2023); TechCrunch (Wattpad); Ko-fi official page; Patreon 2025 pricing coverage; Ellipsus (AO3 generative AI tags).

[10] Bellaiche, L., et al. (2023). Humans versus AI: whether and why we prefer human-created compared to AI-created artwork. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 8, 42.