My personal opinion is that you should never offer unsolicited critical feedback to people, and you should only offer it publicly at all under specific circumstances. Why?
- Very few people actually know how to give ‘concrit’. They think it just means saying there were surface errors, or they didn’t like how someone was characterized. That’s not concrit. That’s not useful, at all. That’s an amateur review from someone with little to no relevant expertise.
- Especially where it regards fanfiction, you can’t know who you’re speaking to. You can’t moderate tone or intensity of criticism based on their experience and relative skill level. It’s possible that harsh or even moderate critique could make them stop writing forever. Why? What is the point of taking away someone’s joy in that manner? So that the commenter can feel satisfied that they corrected them? That’s cruel and childish.
- Usually fanfiction is published in only one place— maybe three or four, at most. Why should authors be expected to put up with negative criticism in the ONLY place their work is available? Are published authors expected to attach one star Goodreads reviews to their bookjackets?
- If you genuinely wish to help someone improve their writing, you can do so by speaking personally with them and offering your help. The assertion that criticism from a stranger whose opinion they don’t value and whose qualifications are unknown is going to make them better is disingenuous. If someone is sincere in their desire to assist an author in progressing on their writing journey, they should demonstrate that through investing appropriate time and effort. Otherwise, there are many places to complain away from the author’s sight. The only thing accomplished by doing so in front of them is making them feel bad— and if that is someone’s intent, that’s reprehensible.
Anyway. I’ve never gotten useful concrit in my comments or my bookmarks, and I expect I never will.
For something to truly be constructive criticism, you have to know what the creator’s intentions were with the piece (were they trying to have it be romantic? comedic? angsty in-depth character exploration?) and you have to know what their writing goals are (to eventually publish professionally? to get into a zine for the character they love? to just have fun and enjoy themselves?) and you have to know something about their background/experience with writing, as well as having a relationship where the person trusts you to give feedback to them that might be difficult for them to hear. Reading a stranger’s fanfic on the internet, you aren’t likely to know what their goals/background are, and you certainly don’t have a relationship of trust with them where they’re likely to listen to your feedback and internalize it and not find it rude or demoralizing.
published erotica: the parts that aren’t purple prose about vanilla sex are occupied by dithering and made up problems
fanfiction on ao3: the parts that aren’t sharp, clear prose about scorching kinky sex are occupied by tightly plotted suspense and slam-bang action
published erotica: not interested in the 99% of the market that’s heterosexual? that’s fine, we also have tender white middle class lesbians and slutty white middle class gay men!
fanfiction on ao3: one trans partner? both partners trans? genderswaps? how about a loving long-term threesome that does heist capers? we’ve got non-gendered angels, hermaphroditic aliens – some of whom lay eggs, if you’re into that – oh, and have i mentioned the robots –
published erotica: there, i put in a vampire, i’m such a genre rebel
fanfiction on ao3: i sent the avengers to hogwarts with the winchester brothers, i fear nothing on earth or heaven and only one thing in hell which is that my laptop will overheat in the fires of abaddon so i’ll have to write the sequel longhand
In January and February 2019, our research group did an interview study on how fanfiction authors seek feedback for their fiction. We interviewed 29 fanfiction authors and learned about their insights on feedback and relationship with feedback providers. In this blog post, we are going to talk about our findings on the impact of public comments, and the particular positive outcomes of comments that contain specific thoughts and insights.
Comments Are Generally Valued
Fanfiction authors appreciated public comments on their works. “All I want for Christmas is comments, if you liked it please let me know,” (P2) one of the authors we interviewed once wrote in her author’s note. All kinds of comments are welcomed as long as they are conveyed in a friendly and respectful tone.
Concise positive comments, such as “wow”, “amazing”, “awwww this is so cute”, though simple and maybe not that informative, are still valuable to authors. Those comments “tell you that you’re hitting the right emotional chords, that you’ve been on the right track” (P21). “That’s really helpful.” One author said:
“If there’s a session where you’re getting absolutely none of that, that might prompt you. Like okay, I meant that to be really eliciting a certain emotional response and it wasn’t getting it, so that might also be a sign to go in and kind of work on that” (P21).
Comments Help New Authors Enter the Community
Comments were especially valuable to new writers in the fandom. They made authors feel welcomed in the community, and helped authors learn about community norms and writing styles. One author told us that when they posted their first work in a new fandom, comments helped them get connected in the new community:
“You enter into new fandoms, you’re writing for a new audience and you don’t really know anyone… I don’t really know the rules of this particular fandom and I don’t really know what people are going to think of my stories is going to fit. And that initial bit of support and positive feedback to get that on early works, and to feel, okay, I’ve just sort of arrived in this in this fandom, and in this community, but people are making me feel welcome, and making me feel like what I’m writing is valued and appreciated by people” (P1).
Specific Comments Are Particularly Appreciated
While in general all kinds of comments were welcomed, almost all of the authors we talked to expressed particular appreciation for comments in which the reader expressed opinions and thoughts about particular aspects of the story. One author talked about how she formed a personal practice to write substantive comments when reading others’ fictions:
“I try to copy certain lines while I’m reading and try to leave a substantial comment… and say I really liked your story because of ZYX…I do both because I’ve been writing fanfiction for a long time and I know it’s fun to have substantial comments. I do it because that’s what I like and I know it can make someone’s day” (P29).
Authors recognized the effort that readers put into substantial comments, so they regarded receiving those long specific comments as an honor:
“You don’t write a big long comment like that, if you’re not affected by something. Because it’s hard enough to get readers to click the Kudos button and just give me a little heart, let alone write a comment, let alone write a long detailed comment whenever that happens” (P14).
Specific Comments Recognize Authors’ Effort
Many authors mentioned that receiving long and specific comments made them feel that their effort had been recognized. When they were proud of a part of their story in particular, they liked to hear about whether the emotion and thoughts that they tried to convey impacted readers in the way they expected.
“It just feels great when I spent so much time working on something and working on a particular detail, I absolutely love hearing someone’s reaction to it, like, what specifically they liked about it… It’s great getting those compliments but I want to know about their experience living in the story that I’ve created” (P2).
“The most interesting and in depth sort of feedback, people really seem to connect with the characters and the characterization of the story and the writing of the story, which I really, really like. It’s very satisfying when you put a lot of effort into something and they actually noticed and they’re like, and they comment on it like, oh my God, the way you wrote this, the flow of it, the thing… that’s my own kink, hearing people say that they understood what I was writing and that they understood what I was going for” (P14).
Specific Comments Teach Authors about Writing
Being able to hear what the audience thought about their fiction was not only a joyful experience to fanfiction authors, but also a valuable learning opportunity. Authors learned from specific comments about whether their writing style and the direction of the story worked for their readers. Some regarded specific comments as feedback for parts of their writing that they were not sure about. One author told us they endured writer’s block when writing a certain character in their story. When they received positive comments on that character,
“they were commenting on my characterization for the character. And I was like ‘oh, thank you god,’ because I struggle with this particular character a lot” (P20).
The author was able to validate their writing from comments that specifically pointed to a characterization.
Specific Comments Connect Readers and Authors
Another important benefit of specific comments was that it fueled connection with readers. Specific comments elicited discussion between authors and readers. As one author said in the interview:
“I like having comments that are thoughtful and trying to analyze what I wrote, and are picking up what I put down basically… I usually respond to the comment and say thank you, and if they left analysis I talk back and forth” (P29).
These back-and-forth discussions lead to further connections outside the specific story.“I’ve made friends with a lot of people who started out just commenting on my fics a lot. You end up commenting back, and start talking” (P13). In some cases, these connections developed into later beta reading relationships and friendships. “Most of the people that I sent work to… they’ve made comments that are the right sort of comments I suppose…” one author said while telling us the story of meeting her beta readers,
“and so I sent work to them after that sort of built up a bit of a relationship by then so that I know what sort of person they are and what sort of comments they might make… I know that if I sent it to them, they will be looking for the sorts of things that I’m looking for them to look for. The comment that they’ve made tells me that they’re reading it the way I want a beta reader to read it” (P26).
Summary
Our findings about public comments suggest that it is more than valuable for fanfiction authors to receive comments, especially comments that provide thoughts and insights on specific aspects of the story and writing. We suggest that encouraging exchange of specific public comments will be beneficial to fanfiction communities.
We are actively posting blog posts about other findings from our interview study. Check out our blog later for more findings!
Specific comments can be tiny. A favorite line, any little thing that resonated, really. They are all precious.
(I feel like I’ve been bad about answering comments with my random long thoughts. Like this one. That’s unfair to the readers and self indulgent. I can’t stop myself doing that, yet.)
Discussions of concrit are popping up again, including variations on the well-worn statement “If you don’t accept concrit you don’t want to improve as a writer.” In my experience as a fanfic writer, the most helpful, the most *constructive* comments I’ve gotten were constructive compliments, comments that told me in detail about something I got right.
From what I’ve gathered talking to other fanfic authors and my own
experiences, many of us aren’t convinced our stories are 100% perfect when we post them, and what we are usually most in need of is not being humbled. It’s very, very useful to hear about what one got right, where one’s strengths are, ideas for developing those strengths further.
So if the goal is to help each other become better writers, I think constructive compliments might be useful.
but like who started the idea that fanfiction writers are somehow bothered by enthusiasm for their work???? cause i see posts all the time like “do writers really want to talk with us about their fics? Do writers really want long comments? I dont want to bother them” and i just think its absolutely ridiculous????
ofc i want to talk to you about it, and would love to hear you go on about it. i took time out of my real life to write this stuff down so we could all share these characters!!! the idea that you’re bothering a fanfiction writer, a fellow nerd, is absolutely crazy
Personally I attribute at least part of this to the shift of fandom onto Tumblr platform. Because of the way Tumblr works, multiple replies and reactions can get cluttered and overwhelming really fast, so leaving replies and feedback can be awkward. I have actually seen ‘tumblr etiquette’ posts going around scolding people for adding commentary onto posts when they reblog it! Actually discouraging people from reacting and adding their own words! If any of this attitude spills over onto fanfic posts and reblogs, no wonder readers are shy about adding their own words to an author’s posts.
Dear fans on tumblr:
WE, THE AUTHORS, REALLY WANT TO HEAR YOUR COMMENTS.
I love AO3 to pieces, but there is one feature I always felt it was lacking, which fanfiction.net has. That is the ability to go directly to the most recent chapter of a multichapter work.
But today I discovered how to do it!!! You can click on the first chapter number that is underlined (e.g. 2/2) at the bottom of the fic listing with the word count, comments, etc. I don’t know if this is a new feature or I’ve just been missing it all this time. But I am unduly excited about it.
Just a tip in case there was anyone else around who didn’t realize you could do this.
but like who started the idea that fanfiction writers are somehow bothered by enthusiasm for their work???? cause i see posts all the time like “do writers really want to talk with us about their fics? Do writers really want long comments? I dont want to bother them” and i just think its absolutely ridiculous????
ofc i want to talk to you about it, and would love to hear you go on about it. i took time out of my real life to write this stuff down so we could all share these characters!!! the idea that you’re bothering a fanfiction writer, a fellow nerd, is absolutely crazy
Personally I attribute at least part of this to the shift of fandom onto Tumblr platform. Because of the way Tumblr works, multiple replies and reactions can get cluttered and overwhelming really fast, so leaving replies and feedback can be awkward. I have actually seen ‘tumblr etiquette’ posts going around scolding people for adding commentary onto posts when they reblog it! Actually discouraging people from reacting and adding their own words! If any of this attitude spills over onto fanfic posts and reblogs, no wonder readers are shy about adding their own words to an author’s posts.
Dear fans on tumblr:
WE, THE AUTHORS, REALLY WANT TO HEAR YOUR COMMENTS.
okay but remember when Fool’s Gold was abandoned because the authors felt too pressured to continue it? so like, how much excitement is too much excitement
I’m going to try and answer this in general terms, but the answer is, you can’t know. What feels pressuring and stressful to one author might feel invigorating and inspiring to another. My personal opinion is that if an author feels too pressured to continue a story, it’s more about them and what’s going on in their head or their life more generally than about any concrete level of engagement. An author could conceivably feel pressured by a single enthusiastic comment. Conversely, an author could also feel demotivated by not receiving a single enthusiastic comment. Because you as a commenter cannot control what the author is feeling when they read your comment - what their past experiences, underlying psychology, and other factors in their life are contributing to that moment - all you can do is be kind and genuine in your interactions, and respond accordingly to any cues they give. If they reply indicating they’re feeling excited and inspired by your comment, you can leave more! If they respond indicating they’re feeling stressed and pressured, you can back off.
Trying to mind-read people (especially without ever actually interacting with them) is impossible. I think this post is primarily about making assumptions like ‘my comment will bother them’ before even making the comment. Don’t harass people, don’t pester people repeatedly for updates or demand to know how long it’s going to take them to finish, but a genuine ‘I loved your story, and here’s why’ is almost never going to be too much (and if it is, they can turn off comments).
but like who started the idea that fanfiction writers are somehow bothered by enthusiasm for their work???? cause i see posts all the time like “do writers really want to talk with us about their fics? Do writers really want long comments? I dont want to bother them” and i just think its absolutely ridiculous????
ofc i want to talk to you about it, and would love to hear you go on about it. i took time out of my real life to write this stuff down so we could all share these characters!!! the idea that you’re bothering a fanfiction writer, a fellow nerd, is absolutely crazy
Personally I attribute at least part of this to the shift of fandom onto Tumblr platform. Because of the way Tumblr works, multiple replies and reactions can get cluttered and overwhelming really fast, so leaving replies and feedback can be awkward. I have actually seen ‘tumblr etiquette’ posts going around scolding people for adding commentary onto posts when they reblog it! Actually discouraging people from reacting and adding their own words! If any of this attitude spills over onto fanfic posts and reblogs, no wonder readers are shy about adding their own words to an author’s posts.
Dear fans on tumblr:
WE, THE AUTHORS, REALLY WANT TO HEAR YOUR COMMENTS.
As a writer, I second this, call the motion, get a unanimous response from all writers and it’s carried. To be clear, there’s pretty much nothing worse than feeling like you’re writing into a vacuum or black hole where no one reads your stuff and nothing much better than a long enthusiastic commentary about what a person liked and why and could they ask a question and maybe discuss a perspective - and I’ve made a LOT of GREAT friends all around the world that started out just like this, with a comment on a story. If you don’t want to reblog, then send a note or an ask to the writer to share your comments. We live for these kinds of comments, this feedback that what we wrote touched someone. Tell us we made you laugh or cry and we’ll be thrilled and forever grateful. But if leaving a long comment is too much, takes too much time, a simple ‘I really liked this,’ or ‘thanks for writing this’ is also treasured.
I also think part of the hesitation comes from the massive stigma the outside world places on fannish enthusiasm. Readers are hesitant to talk to creators because they’re afraid of being seen as overenthusiastic or somehow weird.
I noticed this when I started writing and getting comments like “not to be weird but I love this” or “I didn’t comment on the other works in this series because I didn’t want to seem creepy,” and I realized that readers were intimidated by me. ME. HAVE YOU EVEN SEEN ME. But it’s exactly the way I’ve felt with authors whose works I admired.
So let me say this loud and clear:
AUTHORS ARE FANS TOO.
ARTISTS ARE FANS TOO.
ALL FAN CREATORS ARE FANS TOO.
We are the LAST people in the world to judge you for how or how much you like something and the first to understand and appreciate your enthusiasm. Because the way you love things? That’s the way we love things too. And if the things you love are the things we made, that is the greatest compliment in the world.
but like who started the idea that fanfiction writers are somehow bothered by enthusiasm for their work???? cause i see posts all the time like “do writers really want to talk with us about their fics? Do writers really want long comments? I dont want to bother them” and i just think its absolutely ridiculous????
ofc i want to talk to you about it, and would love to hear you go on about it. i took time out of my real life to write this stuff down so we could all share these characters!!! the idea that you’re bothering a fanfiction writer, a fellow nerd, is absolutely crazy
Personally I attribute at least part of this to the shift of fandom onto Tumblr platform. Because of the way Tumblr works, multiple replies and reactions can get cluttered and overwhelming really fast, so leaving replies and feedback can be awkward. I have actually seen ‘tumblr etiquette’ posts going around scolding people for adding commentary onto posts when they reblog it! Actually discouraging people from reacting and adding their own words! If any of this attitude spills over onto fanfic posts and reblogs, no wonder readers are shy about adding their own words to an author’s posts.
Dear fans on tumblr:
WE, THE AUTHORS, REALLY WANT TO HEAR YOUR COMMENTS.
