Not To Be Controversial Bc I Know This Is Likenot In Line With Shifting Opinions On Fanfic Comment Culture

not to be controversial bc I know this is like…not in line with shifting opinions on fanfic comment culture but if there’s a glaring typo in my work I will NOT be offended by pointing it out. if ao3 fucks up the formatting…I will also not be offended by having this pointed out…

‘looking forward to the next update’ and ‘I hope you update soon!’ are different vibes than a demand, and should be read in good faith because a reader is finding their way to tell you how much they love it. I will not be mad at this.

‘I don’t usually like this ship but this fic made me feel something’ is also incredibly high praise. I’m not going to get mad at this.

even ‘I love this fic but I’m curious about why you made [x] choice’ is just another way a reader is engaging in and putting thought into your work.

I just feel like a lot of authors take any comment that’s not perfectly articulated glowing praise in the exact manner they’re hoping to receive it in bad faith.

fic engagement has been dropping across the board over the last several years, and yes it’s frustrating but it isn’t as though I can’t see how it happens. comment anxiety can be a real thing. the last thing anyone wants to do is offend an author they love, and that means sometimes people default to silence.

idk where I’m going with this I guess aside from saying unless a comment is outright attacking me I’m never going to get mad at it, and I think a lot of authors should feel the same way. ESPECIALLY TYPOS PLZ GOD POINT OUT MY TYPOS.

Cassius to Darrow ngl, the amount of romantic undertones PB added was insane, especially in the audiobook

Just a dumb idea I had a while ago, thought I’d finally post it. Rest in peace king 👑

Everytime I see posts like this I get filled with such profound sadness

Cause you know who has the same brainrot as you? The same unhinged feelings as you after you've read the fic? The person who always wants to scream about the fic with you?

THE PERSON WHO WROTE IT

I never used to leave comments but since I got into the habit of commenting on everything i enjoy it's been incredible. Especially when the author gets back to me about it and we get to have a discussion of what other ideas they had. One writer replied to my comment with a 5 paragraph essay detailing the Floorplan of the building the characters lived in and it was incredible

Anyways this is all to say that if you find a fic that just makes you want to scream from the rooftops, leave a comment saying that to the author and maybe they will join you and you can scream incoherently together

In the spirit of encouraging people to comment on fanfics while also making it easier to do so, I feel obliged to share a browser extension for ao3 that has quite literally revolutionized the comment game for me.

I present to you: the floating ao3 comment box!

From what I've seen, a big problem for many people is that once you reach the comments at the bottom of a fic, your memory of it miraculously disappears. Anything you wanted to say is stuck ten paragraphs ago, and you barely remember what you thought while reading. This fixes that!

I'll give a little explanation on the features and how it works, but if you want to skip all that, here's the link.

The extension is visible as a small blue box in the upper left corner.

(Side note: The green colouring is not from the extension, that's me.)

If you click on it, you open a comment box window at the bottom of your screen but not at the bottom of the fic. I opened my own fic for demonstrative purposes.

The website also gives explanations on how exactly it functions, but I'll summarize regardless.

insert selection -> if you highlight a sentence in the fic it will be added in italics to the comment box

add to comment box -> once you're done writing your comment, you click this button and the entire thing will automatically copied to the ao3 comment box

delete -> self explanatory

on mulitchapter fics, you will be given the option to either add the comment to just the current chapter or the entire fic

The best part? You can simply close the window the same way you opened it and your progress will automatically be saved. So you can open it, comment on a paragraph, and then close it and keep reading without having the box in your face.

Comments are what keep writers going, and as both a writer and a reader, I think it's such an easy way of showing support and enthusiasm.

I relized I mixed my numbers up lol- still nice to get the extra answer though!

29 for the ask game?

this excerpt is from a vampire AU I wrote in about 2022, I never got around to publishing it cause I got an idea for a better vampire fic I do plan on releasing and this one has been sitting in my notes app for a long time, I will probably maybe post this to the scrapbin, not sure yet though. (Probably good I never got around to it, cause it would have needed a rewrite anyway now)

Tommy needed something sweet like a donut or a pastry, so he decided to go to the best place on earth, Nikki’s bakery, but he wanted to see his new friend so he went to the alley to see Tubbo 

“Hi Tommy,” Tubbo says

“Hi, Tubbo want to go to the bakery with me?” Tommy asks

“Um, yeah!” Tubbo says already vibrating with excitement 

“Pog!”

As they walk through the door the aroma of baked goods “Hey Tubbo, who’s your friend?” 

“Hi Nikki, that's Tommy” 

“Well hi Tommy, what do you boys want?”

“A hot chocolate!” they both say 

“Ok, take a seat,” she says with a smile, a couple of minutes later Niki comes out with 2 hot chocolates “Here you go” 

“Thank you,” Tommy says as he takes a sip, Tommy's brow furrows “This tastes odd,” 

Tubbo looks at Niki, eyes wide, and minutely shakes his head no 

“Oh sorry, Tommy that must have been dark and not milk chocolate in there, I'll get you another,” she says as she takes the mug from Tommy 

“So, why did you want me to come here?” Tubbo asks 

“Well, I wanted company,” Tommy replies 

“Has anyone ever told you that you're clingy?” 

Tommy gasps in mock offense “How dare you call me clingy” 

Tubbo laughs “So, um I want to ask you somethi–“ 

At that moment three of the people Tubbo never wanted to see in his lifetime walked through the door: Philza Minecraft, Technoblade, and Wilbur soot, some of the most famous vampire hunters ever, cruel people known for killing any vampire and anyone associated with vampires, humans included so Tubbo was immediately worried for Tommy and obviously himself

Tommy breaks his train of thought

“So what did you want to tell me Tubzo?” 

“That-um, you are an amazing friend” 

Tommy smiled “Thanks, that’s really kind of you”

 He hoped Tommy wouldn’t do something stupid, for both their sakes