Here's A Secret: One Comment And Kudos Winds Up A Crank In My Brain And Slowly Fills Up My "write Next

Here's a secret: One comment and kudos winds up a crank in my brain and slowly fills up my "write next chapter" bar

Hi! Just a thing I wrote in honor of Comment Day. Maybe you might want to read/share it?

Every writer I have never known a writer is always happy to get positive feedback, but some readers believe if they leave kudos or a comment, they’re bothering the writer. Here’s a comparison that might explain why that isn’t the case.

Imagine that the fanfic is a play, and the author has worked really hard on the whole thing: costumes, scenery, the plot, characterization, everything. It’s opening night. The stage manager (AO3) gives the author the headcount (hit number) of the audience (the readers). The writer is now able to imagine 10 or 100 or 1000 people sitting in the audience, watching what they have created. While a big number is fantastic, most writers are thrilled anyone wants to see what they’ve made.

When the play is over, the writer comes out to take a bow.  One hundred people are in the audience.

Two people clap (left a kudos).

Everyone else gets up and walks out in silence.

Obviously, the writer is happy these two people clapped, but they’re also thinking, “Did… did the other 98 people hate it? Were those pity claps? Was it that bad?”

That’s what’s happening on AO3. A fantastic single-chapter fic will get over a thousand hits and wind up with maybe 5 to 10% of those readers leaving kudos. The other 90% could include people re-reading, and numbers get more complicated with multichapter fics since readers can leave kudos only once.

But essentially, a lot of readers see a fic as being more like a movie, where the audience just leaves at the end. It’s even harder for an “older” fic (“older” can sometimes be applied to fics posted only a month ago), where the “play” has been running a while, the author is still there doing everything, but now people decide since it’s not new, there’s no point in showing they liked it.

Maybe one in a hundred readers, sometimes fewer, leaves a written comment. This is like hearing someone in that theater cheering. If it’s a piece of feedback that’s more detailed than a keysmash or an “I like this,” that person is giving the author a standing ovation. And if someone recommends the fic somewhere, maybe saying so in a comment, it’s like getting a rave review on the cover of the New York Times!

All of these are happy things. Kudos, comments of any length, recs, all of them make an author’s day shiny and happy. They’re absolutely fantastic! No writer is bothered by anyone doing these things.

Maybe you’re still thinking, okay, I can see I’m not bothering the writer, but does just writing “I really enjoyed this fic” do anything?

Yes. Because there are the other, less happy responses. Some comments might be demands, making the comment less about thanking the writer and more turning it into a to do list for them. Some authors see their work has been bookmarked only to realize it has a note like “this is awful” or “TLDR” or “started okay but was stupid by the end.” The default for bookmarks is everyone can see them. Finally, anyone who has written fic for any length of time has dealt with flames. These aren’t constructive criticism; they’re flat out abuse, ranging from name calling to highly detailed insults that are the exact reverse of a long, happy comment. Authors look in their email, see someone has commented on their fic, and are thrilled, only to read the comment and be told they are worthless, stupid, untalented. Everyone gets these sometimes, and writers should ignore them, but most of us have sometimes cried over them. Picture that same theater full of silent people, with one or two people clapping, and suddenly someone stands up and starts booing and hurling rotten tomatoes on stage. Readers might not even know it’s happening since writers usually delete those comments. But they still sting.

Kudos and compliments are not annoying anyone. Flames, on the other hand, are awful. The difference is the polite reader who chooses to say nothing out of shyness backs away from doing something that will make the writer happy, while the rude reader actively goes out of their way to make the writer unhappy.

I’ve been in fandom quite a while. Interaction has dropped since the old days, and it’s even dropped off over time at AO3. I’m not sure why, unless it’s that readers regard hits as being like views on TikTok. Since TikTok’s algorithm chooses what will show up more often in people’s feeds based on views, that makes some sense there, but AO3 doesn’t do that. There is no popularity contest writers are winning through views. Unless you tell them, they may think you hated what they wrote and that the flames are the genuine overall reaction.

The moral? If you love something, or even like it, show the writer some appreciation. The second it takes to leave a kudos might make them feel happy the whole day.

Comments and Kudos are probably some of the best gifts to give your favorite artists and storytellers (they’re free and easy too!)

Me reading a qt novel in wattpad: *Peacefully absorbing the plot*

Random commenter: *Calls the MC selfish for bullying the ML even though she's just trying to follow the plot and die at her destined time to go back to her real mother.*

Me:😊💢

Also random commenter: *Criticizes the MC for mourning and feeling bad for the ML's bullies even though she actually got closer to them over the years because she's pretending to be one of the villains.*

Me: Let's see you mingle and be friendly to people for years just to be a bystander as they die or get exiled!😊😊😊 Even if those bullies were bad people, its human nature to unconsciously open their hearts to people who were amicable and nice to them for years even if its wrong!! MC wasn't defending them, trying to save them, or making excuses for their actions, she's mourning for them!

Also-also random commenters: *Cursing and getting angry at MC for not respecting the mom of her original body even though said mom had a mother and daughter sold to a brothel because of a piece of bread that they stole because the mom abuses the servants and doesn't feed them.*

Me: Right. Sure. FINE. Mc is wrong for not being a righteous robot.

Guess she should fight against her fate with all her might and save everyone and everything with the power of sunshines and rainbows.

Yep, this is going in the fic.

KRS's Bounty Headcanon

I recently read chapter 14 of "In an Instant" TCF fanfic by Messy-Haired-Bum, and this moment gave me a pause:

“There’s a bit of an adjustment period,” [Kim Rok Soo] decides to be somewhat truthful, “The bounty’s a bit of a surprise, there.” “Bounty?!!??” Deruth’s voice goes up two whole octaves. ““Surgeon,” “Team Leader,” “Advisor,” etcetera. Kim Rok Soo has many titles.” The current Kim Rok Soo grins a bit wryly, “In the underground, the price for the “Oracle”’s head is 100 million won.” […] “And you- you aren’t afraid? At all?” Cale* is frustrated. Why is this grown-ass man having so little sense of self-preservation? […] “Who do you think put that bounty there?” Kim Rok Soo laughs. “The reason why the “Surgeon” was so effective is because nobody knew about him before it was too late. Once the element of surprise wore off and they went to ground, though, Kim Rok Soo figured that to root out the rot, he might as well use the embarrassing title for something. […] When I take the reign, they already have this whole system set up for the inevitable assassins and their equally inevitably exposed employers! I just see no need to fix what’s not broken, that’s all!”

Me, reading this, immediately having flashback to THIS scene in chapter 533 of TCF when Cale was posing as Naru von Ejellan:

Choi Han felt the back of his neck getting cold for some reason. He subconsciously gulped and asked. “…What are you planning on doing?” Pat, pat. Cale brushed the cookie crumbs off his fingers before nonchalantly responding. “I am going to suggest at the grand assembly that we immediately attack and get rid of Cale Henituse.” ‘Hmm? What?’ The Dragon and the swordsman’s eyes opened wide.

You know.... it does sound like it isn't the first time Cale pulled this sort of thing off 😂 I mean, what better way to get rid of all potential assassins targeting you than hire them yourself and set them up to fail??🤣

Thanks a lot for the headcanon, @messy-haired-bum! I absolutely 100% believe this was the case: KRS set up his own bounty in Korea and got rid of all the assassins stupid enough to sign up for it 👏

Electric chair.

Whoever invented "open in app" links that redirect you to the app store instead of actually opening the app even when you already have the app installed on your phone should be involuntarily turned into a beanbag chair

This is the realest description of Cale istg

Cale is the type of guy to doom the narrative back, but shits his pants when his kind butler offers him a refreshing lemonade

I thought I was on wattpad??

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