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Commenting 101

Lesson 1: Find your catchphrase

"This was great!"

"Thank you for this <3"

"Loved this."

When in doubt, comment your catchphrase.

When you feel too tired/sleepy/overwhelmed/at a loss for words, just write 1 sentence down and you're done! The goal of this is not to be perfect. In fact, forget about perfect! Forget about needing your comment to be special, or that the author might not appreciate such a short comment. We're taking baby steps here and the most important thing you can learn this week is that something is better than nothing.

So start with something generic. Pick something short and sweet. Use one of the examples above. Leave it on every fanfic you read.

Let me repeat that for the people at the back:

Leave it on every fanfic you read.

Leave it at the end of that chapter you're reading. Comment on that fic you just opened. Just write those 2, 3, 4 words. Tell them LLF sent you. That we made you do it. Even if it doesn't feel great just leaving such a short sentence, do it. You can change it for the next fic. But start.

Start with something, even if you're not 100% happy with it. Don't worry about not getting it right the first time. You can iterate and change it up in the next fic or chapter you read and comment. And you can keep changing it up until you get something you're happy with. Even if it doesn't work out this week, there's next week. This will be your go-to sentence. Something that you can use without thinking. So keep it stupid simple.

Now, once you've started, you can stop and hit post on your comment. The only learning for this lesson is that you write something and develop a catchphrase for yourself this week. You can leave more than just your catchphrase in a comment, but it must be included in your comment.

And that's it!

I'll be asking how the week goes for you next weekend, and if you need more help getting started, my ask box is open.

Remember:

When in doubt, comment your catchphrase.

Something is better than nothing.

Goal of the week:

Leave your catchphrase on every fanfic you read.

And for the 10% of you who always leave a comment, I have a question for you:

Important announcement! Dragons are real, alive and well. Ok so hear me out, a dragon is just a winged creature with scales. (Fire breathing is not a requirement because there are elemental dragons among other types so not all dragons breathe fire.) Do you know what else is a winged creature with scales? Butterflies and moths. Therefore, according to our formula for dragons, both butterflies and moths are modern day dragons. You might be thinking to yourself, "I didn't know that butterflies and moths have scales." Well my dear friend they do, their wings are covered in scales which leads me to my next point:

Tinkerbell and the Great Fairy Rescue taught us this as kids and we just didn't realize. In the Great Fairy Rescue the fairies are painting the butterflies wings. One of the butterflies gets spooked and flies away before the wings are fully painted. Underneath the paint the butterfly is white. Guess what? If you touch a butterfly, you run the risk of rubbing off it's scales. When the scales come off, white wings are revealed. Honestly, this might be proof that faries are real too.

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk :))