I really don’t understand how “without getting kudos or comments a fanfiction author is going to assume that people who clicked their fic didn’t like it” became a controversial take.
I don’t know why some people think an author should imagine, or guess that people who click their fic enjoyed it it when nobody is telling them that.
If you’re re-reading a fic constantly, or leaving it up in your tab so that it re-loads every day for a hundred days the author is not going to know that unless you tell them. They’d love to hear it. It would make their day.
And if you don’t tell them you liked their fic, there’s no reason for them to assume you did.
Writers on AO3 when they see the hit counter on their fic go up and get an email that someone left kudos or a comment: Yay! People like my story! This made my day!
Writers on AO3 when they see the hit counter on their fic go up but the number of kudos/bookmarks/subscriptions/comments doesn’t change: Oh. People are reading my story, but I guess they didn’t like it.
Writers on Tumblr when they see notifications on their story: Yay! People are liking my story! Oh, somebody left a nice comment! Oh, they even reblogged it! That was so sweet of them!
Writers on Tumblr when they see 0 notes on their story: Nobody read it.
Also, just for fun, here are the stats for my fanfic with the most hits:
Almost half of the comments are my replies, so there are actually 27 individual comments. And almost 27,000 hits. So, basically a 1:10,000 ratio.
Do you still think writers are being unreasonable?
While 27 comments may not be much when someone gets them gradually, it’s a lot to read through to make sure you’re not contributing to unintentional spam.
unintentional spam?? I’m sorry this is just such a foreign idea to me.
I promise you there are vanishingly few authors who would be upset to receive more than one comment saying the same (positive) things!
If I receive multiple emails of comments on something I write, there is an actual zero percent chance of me being upset by it. Literally would make my day, week, month. Love your authors! Comments do not have to be detailed analysis - something as simple as “<3” conveys so much. (In fact, the very first comment I got on AO3 was “<3” and I treasure it.)
Spam your local fic author with comments. You never know what could happen.
They might fall in love with you.
Happened to the Goob author. Happened to me.
I made one of my dearest friends this way. And I bet she’d be completely unsurprised to know I still have her comments saved.
I honestly don’t look at the hits on my fics because they don’t send notifications for that, so I only notice that anyone read my fic at all if they leave a comment or leave kudos. So I try to comment or kudos fics frequently because, you know, that’s the only stuff that is designed to get the author’s attention.
How do fanfic writers feel knowing that people might have been masturbating to their work?
If you’re not masturbating to my stories, what’s the fn poINT
If my shit does not make you drip, gtfo
like wtf do people really think smut authors are out here like gee there is such a huge audience of people with an ~aesthetic appreciation~ of erotica isn’t that nice jfc
Fucking seriously lmao. Who is out there publishing fucknasty sex while simultaneously assuming thatall of their readers are engaging with that content with some type of puritan intellectual detachment as the unspoken rule? That’s absolutely absurd.
Of course, there’s plenty of ways to enjoy smut. Of course people can also read or write smut with intellectual detachment as a creative exercise or a character study or for any other number of reasons. That’s not wrong, and all of that happens in fandom, which is great! I just find it bizarre when people seem positively vibrated out of their breeches about the idea that it’s not the only thing that happens.
I write porn. Of course some people are going to use it as porn! That’s why it’s there (in addition to me just having so many emotions about characters that I have to write about them getting together so I don’t collapse into myself like a dying star) !
Honestly, if no one has cranked one out at least once to something I wrote, then I have FAILED as a smut writer lmfao. Truly, that would be depressing.
I am here to implore you to remember that horny is a valid emotion.
Hardest part of writing is accepting that some people will not fucking get it & you just have to like cope with that because over-explaining it just makes it worse
I will not over-explain my art to the stupidest people on earth. I’m writing for people who know what I’m talking about. Mantra that will save you. David Lynch was right
newbie fic authors, shooting themselves in the foot: This fic is bad haha I suck at writing lol I am being mean to myself in the hopes that you will be nice to me but actually am dissuading anyone from even clicking on my fic because all I have done to advertise it is tell you why you shouldn’t read it
me: I am King Big Dick of Fanfic Mountain and I have arrived in your fandom with the Express Intention of writing my Very Favorite Fics, which I will generously allow you to read. You’re welcome.
the most annoying stage of burnout is when i want to write, and i have the urge to write, and somewhere in my skull are the words that want to be written, but they have to get through the cursed minotaur maze first and nobody remembered to bring string
