An Open Letter To Fanfic Readers

An open letter to fanfic readers

Do not leave criticism in fanfic comments. Even if it’s constructive. Even if you’re “just being honest.” This is not traditional publishing, and you should not treat fic in the same way you treat traditionally published works. AO3 comments are not Amazon reviews.

If you want to offer the author criticism, please follow the steps below:

Contact the author to see if they even want your criticism (their vision and intention might be different than yours; this isn’t for-profit publishing, so there’s a chance the author has no desire to make their fic anything than what THEY want it to be. Moreover, unless you’re some kind of literary genius, it’s possible that they might not give a fuck about your opinion)

If they do, provide it in a private forum so that they have the opportunity to accept or reject your criticism outside the public grounds of AO3 comments (what I mean is: CRITICISM IN COMMENTS IS FUCKING HUMILIATING)

Do not be offended if they don’t accept your criticism

Thank them for their time and for listening to you speak your peace

Some additional notes:

Do not leave negative criticism/hate/wank on a WIP (or, see above: ever). Some people are enjoying the story and negativity might (will) make the author fall out of love with what they’re writing such that they don’t want to finish it. Also, you owe it to the author, who is writing FOR FREE, to hear them out to the end of their story in case they end up fixing what you were criticising. 

Do not leave a comment telling the author why you stopped reading the fic. The author isn’t going to fix it and it’s just going to make them sad and feel shitty. Seriously, these types of comments are everywhere and they help NO ONE.

If you read something in a fic you don’t like, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD JUST STOP READING IT. Please don’t let yourself believe that the way you see fic is the way fic ought to be. Everyone likes different things. It’s okay to exit silently. It’s the polite thing to do. 

Do not point out OOC. Ever. Period. End of story. Interpretation is the entire point of fanfic. If you don’t like someone’s interpretation, DO NOT READ IT. You’re not the IC Police.

Avoid backhanded compliments. Please don’t start a comment with, “To be honest I hated this at first, but…” or anything similar. If there is an insult in your comment that is turned positive somehow, it is still an insult, and it is still hurtful.

Please please please, I am begging you, readers of fanfic, to take into consideration that fanfic authors are not celebrities, even if you think they’re super popular and amazing writers and you get hearts in your eyes when they acknowledge you. If you cut them, they will bleed. If you talk to them, they will listen. If you tell them they suck, they will believe you.

Be kind to fanfic authors. They do what they do because they love to do it. Don’t take that away from them by leaving tactless or rude comments.

HOW AMAZING IS THIS?! THEY’RE GORGEOUS! AHHHHHHHHHHH!

harry’s first attempt at flirting with draco in 8th year did not go very well

happy valentine’s day to these disasters 😌✨ 

based on this post 

Part of me deeply wonders if Sirius Black hated Snape enough to attempt to murder him via werewolf (however you want to slice his motivation, the end result would have been murder, maiming, or chronic disease) because Snape didn't know his place.

Snape, a desperately poor Northern boy, didn't defer to Potter. Sirius Black deferred to James Potter from the first, but Snape didn't. It was a coddled lordling up against the laborer's son and the trade laborer's son basically said 'Up yours, arsehole'.

And I wonder just how much that rankled, that this unkempt, poorly socialized scholarship student didn't know he was to bow and scrape to the Old Etonians? That he wouldn't accept their inherent superiority. How much of this was based in classism?

Note: I'm not super anti JP or SB. I just would rather not deal with their more rabid fans. I also find the class constructs of the Wizarding World fascinating. And if I got something wrong about classes because I'm not English, please correct me.

Omg, @crazyconglasses thank you for the tag! I love merfolk, and this was so much fun! Of course it’s going to look nothing like me in actuality because where’s the fun in that when I could look like THIS:

I’m gonna tag @triggerlil, @sunnyeclipses, @welpslytherin, @withgreatelan, @moondraconis​, and anyone else who sees and wants to be a sea creature!

Live out your most fabulous mermaid dreams with this new picrew.

Tagging @slytherco @shealwaysreads @p1013 @eva-eleanore​ @tackytigerfic​ @caroll-in​ @sitp-recs​ @stavromulabetaaa​ @fw00shy​ @onbeinganangel​ @lqtraintracks​ @fangqueen​ and anyone else who wants to play!

Music Shuffle tag game

I was tagged by the lovely @mydearestprongs. Thank you so much for including me. I love tag games! Sorry it took so long. Life’s gotten a bit hectic lately. 

Rules: Put your music on shuffle and list the first 10 songs that come up, then tag 10 people.

Summer - Joe Hisaishi

In Your Eyes - Ben Abraham

Lost and Found - Lianne La Havas

There’s No Way - Lauv ft. Julia Michaels

I’ve Got You Under My Skin (cover) - Ben l’Oncle Soul

Lovely (cover) - Daisy Gray

Everything Has Grown - Colouring

Refuse - Kevin Garrett

Hard To Love - Hamzaa

Train Wreck - James Arthur

I’m gonna tag some random friends and mutuals, and any of y’all that see this and wanna play by all means please do. I’m always looking for new music, and what could be more fun than trying out the stuff people I know like? 😄

Anyways, @triggerlil, @blue-rose-smalls, @eletriptan, @bronwenackeley, @manixzen, @withgreatelan, @avaeryn, and any of the rest of you, my gweebs most especially, let’s see it! What are you listening to?

To critique or not to critique (of the unsolicited kind)

Spoiler alert: I firmly belong to the not camp.

A post just crossed my dash that put the worst taste in my mouth. I don’t want to reblog it, but I do want to address the contents because I think the subject is super important.

The post basically boiled down to: fanfic writers are thin-skinned babies “these days” because no one can take constructive criticism. In “my day” we all sent page-long critiques like the dedicated heroes we were! It made us better writers! Moreover, if I didn’t like something, I told the writer all about it! It was my job!

Hold up, what?

I’ve been posting fanfic online since 1998. Twenty years. Pre-archives. And “in my day” we had betas if we wanted/needed/asked for them (whose critiques didn’t have an audience). We said “concrit welcome” if we actually wanted constructive criticism. We did not show up unannounced to point out a work’s flaws because that is rude. Look, I am an editor. People pay me real money to edit things for them. I would rather cut off my own fingers than burst into someone’s comments and start “critiquing” their work without being asked first.

Here’s something that needs to be addressed: fanfiction is real writing, yes, but it is, by its nature as something that isn’t monetized, a hobby. As in, a thing people do for fun. A thing that hopefully brings both authors and readers joy! The story an author posts is a gift; how dare anyone rip a gift apart in front of the gift-giver and all the other party attendees? How entitled and ungrateful can you be? Fandom is not a frigging battleground where authors learn to harden themselves for war. It’s a hobby. Done out of love and enthusiasm. 

Yes, some fanfiction writers (certainly not all!!) aspire to be original fiction writers. They may use fanfiction as a training ground. They may want or benefit from constructive criticism. Still, they have to ask. They have to start the conversation. I know (think?) it’s harder to find betas these days, but it’s always worth asking around if real critique is what you want. Put “concrit welcome and even begged for” in the author’s notes and hope someone takes you up on it. 

Some fanfiction writers with original fiction aspirations still don’t want criticism about their fic. Fic may be their fun-writing outlet. It may be about instant gratification (and there’s nothing wrong with that; we’re not in the business of denying ourselves pleasure out of some moral superiority here. It’s fandom). It may be the place where they post to get around their fears of showing things to others. It may be the place they take risks they wouldn’t in their original work because the stakes are lower. When you work on your original writing all day, every day—often putting that work through far more vigorous and exhausting paces than fanfic sees—the last thing you want is someone showing up during your time off to point out a frigging comma splice or shift in POV.

The point is unless someone asks for critique, you don’t know what’s going on with them. Maybe fic is the only fun thing they have in their lives. Maybe they’re writing in a different language. Maybe they are 14. Or 82. Maybe they’ve never written fiction of any kind before and this is their baby step forward. Maybe fic is just escapism. Maybe they are depressed or anxious as hell and criticism is going to push them over an edge. Fandom belongs to everyone. Not just people deemed “good” or “perfect” or “permitted” or “thick-skinned.” People don’t need to be saved from grammar mistakes or poor turns of phrase or even plotholes so wide a semi could drive through them. Authors sure as hell don’t need to be told when a reader just doesn’t like something. There is no fandom police force in charge of perfection. If critique is so important to you, advertise your willingness to beta. If you do not like a story or think it’s “bad” hit the freaking back button. 

Unsolicited criticism is not helpful. Maybe you just catch someone off-guard and startle them. At worst, you may totally shatter someone’s self-esteem while they are partaking in a hobby they 100% do for fun—and not in pursuit of some unattainable perfection.

Don’t ruin a stranger’s day or week or hobby because you “know better” and somehow think you need to prove it. You don’t.