medieisme:
florahart:
jmathieson-fic:
lavvyan:
kansouame:
laadybugtrash:
crazyassmurdererwall:
the-real-tc:
crazyassmurdererwall:
nice comments on their fic, even if it’s just a smiley face or a “loved this!”
kudos on their fic
people who come into their askboxes to talk about their fic
photosets made for their fic
fic rec lists with their fic
fan art made for their fic
playlists made for their fic
Gonna have to disagree with the “even a smiley face” part. A smiley face is not a review. It takes zero effort to leave one. Maybe some younger, just-starting-out tween writers are cool with that, but old curmudgeonly ones look at such stuff as a waste of time, especially if you get a “Review Alert” and find out it’s a single emoticon. So no, fanfic readers, smiley faces are not the best thing to drop into a review section.
What reallymakes fanfic authors happy is when you take the time to kindly inform your favorite author whyyou enjoyed reading what they wrote. Remember: You’re never under any obligation to leave a review, either, so don’t let an author “bully” you into saying something.
I had a reviewer that, for months, left only smiley face reviews. I would get a new review from her every few weeks. It’s the only reviewer I’ve ever had who’s done this, and at the time, I thought it was a bit odd.
And then one day I got a message from her. A pretty darn long message, actually, where she complimented my work and in depth. She also thanked me for helping her work on her English. It turns out her first language is actually Spanish, and she was learning as she was reading my stories! She simply didn’t feel comfortable communicating to me in English, so she waited to personally give me a review until she felt more confident in her skills. But in the meantime, she didn’t want me to think she didn’t appreciate what I’d written. That’s amazing and incredibly thoughtful!
That’s why I never look down on any comment I get. I never know who’s reading on the other side. Do I love in depth comments and reviews? Absolutely. No question. I adore them! But having been in fandom for quite a while - I’ve been writing in fandoms since 1998 - I’m also aware that not everyone feels themselves capable of that as a reader. And I never want to dissuade someone from leaving whatever comment they can.
:)
Dear Writers:
The first three are awesome points and we all should show our love. BECAUSE WE DO LOVE YOU!!. However, it would help all of us who do transformative
works, Art, podfics, graphics, etc… if you had a blanket permission in your
profile allowing others to play in your wonderful worlds. (Some of us are shy and it’s harder than you think to ask) This information is for podfics but it can be
used for any work. Go Here!
A smiley face is not a review. It takes zero effort to leave one. Maybe
some younger, just-starting-out tween writers are cool with that, but
old curmudgeonly ones look at such stuff as a waste of time, especially
if you get a “Review Alert” and find out it’s a single emoticon.
Look, by Tumblr’s standards, I’m old. I’m certainly curmudgeonly at times. And I couldn’t disagree more with this.
Give me your emoticons. Give me your larger-thans and your threes. Give me your zero-effort comments that consist of nothing but a smiley or an “awesome!” or a sadface or a meme. Give me whatever you can afford to give.
Because I don’t write fanfic for the literary praise. I write it to make people feel something. There is no greater honour than for you, yes you, to take whatever energy or coherence or time you have to let me know a story of mine did make you feel happy or thoughtful or a little sad but you’re okay now.
You don’t have to heap praises upon me. It’s just beautiful to know you’re out there.
:)
I’m a crochety old fandom grandma, as curmudgeonly as they come. I’ve been writing fanfiction since before the Internet was invented, and posting my fanfiction online since before the Internet had pictures. I also have severe social anxiety that (unlike most people’s social anxiety) manifests through mediated communication, i.e. email and phone, rather than in person. So I’ll read a *great* story in my fandom, about my otp, written by one of my very favourite authors, who is also one of my friends, and be completely incapable of leaving more than the single word “Awesome!” as a comment.
I don’t want any of my readers to ever feel bad for not being able to
leave more than a single word or a smiley-face or a keysmash.
And sure, I love it as much as the next writer when I get a long, in depth comment, but please, *please* ignore anyone who says leaving just a smiley face is somehow ‘wasting the author’s time’.
If, as a writer, you’re writing fanfiction for the comments/reviews/praise rather than for yourself and for the love of the characters and story, then please get off my lawn ;-)
Seriously. If you think smiles are a waste of time, I kind of don’t know what to say about that, but smiles are great. So are any other kinds of comments people want to leave (except spam about how my neighbor Jessica made $9359 a week a home click this link to see how, but I mean.).
But for real. You (person several posts up, not person who I am reposting) just said that making someone smile is a waste of your time? Oh, okay. I’ll refrain from reading your work, then. Cool.
Seriously a comment is awesome, but hell, if it’s just a smiley face I am still going to run around the proverbial room with glee.