I have been both a consumer and a producer of fanfiction since I was probably far too young to be doing either, so here are some of my tips on commenting on fics:
- Comment. Please. Comments motivate authors to write.
- Incoherently rambling is okay. One word comments are okay. Smiley faces are okay. I guarantee getting a notification that someone commented AAAAAAAH 😀 on a fic will make a writer smile.
- Really long comments are awesome. You want to talk about your favorite scene? Go for it. You want to talk about how much you like a character? Please. Explain how well you think this writer fits within canon, or is better than canon, or gave you a new headanon.
- Talk about how it made you feel.
- If you read something a second time, or a third time, or a fifth time, tell them. Writers love to hear that. Tell them when you stay up all night to finish a fic. Tell them that you cried. Tell them that you laughed.
- Be careful with critiques. Some authors are cool with them, some aren’t, but regardless, if you have a critique of the story, be gentle, be kind, compliment them too, remember that they wrote this and provided it to you for free, and consider not sending it directly to them.
- If you think they got something particularly touchy (sexuality, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, etc.) wrong, first check to see if they say they are that thing that you think they got wrong. If they are, don’t say anything. People are allowed to interpret themselves however they want. If they aren’t AND YOU ARE, you can consider gently letting them know, preferably with thanks for attempting representation and maybe a link to a resource that might help them (unless they’re being malicious or have a particularly egregious error, in which case don’t thank them for representing you).
- If there is one typo or mistake, let them know. if there are five, don’t. Most writers don’t want to go searching through their story to fix every typo they made at 3 am, but one thing is wrong–particularly if they wrote the wrong name–it’s not that much work to fix. They might not fix it, but you’re not putting much of an extra burden on them by letting them know.
- If you read 50k words of a fic and then comment a dissertation on all the reasons you hated it, maybe consider just…stopping reading it, instead. You didn’t pay for it. You are gaining nothing from the cost of time of reading it. Go away. Also I will tell my friends about how ridiculous you are, and we will laugh about you.
- Don’t share your life story. 9 times out of 10, we don’t care they you are uncomfortable with the idea of polyamory because your SO cheated on you and you think polyamory is like cheating and you don’t judge anyone else for participating in polyamory but you wouldn’t do it personally, so please, don’t tell us. (Fun fact, that’s a true story.)
- “I would love to read more (of this story/of this world/of your works)” is fine (unless they explicitly say they won’t write more). “Have you thought about writing more” is also fine. “Hey, it’s been a while, I love your story and hope you post more” is pretty okay. “You need to write more” is a little iffy. “UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE” is kind of aggressive. “Why haven’t you updated, you terrible person” is way out of line.
- Don’t be mean.
Agreed.
Please remember that random fic writers are not your friend. It’s incredibly inappropriate to comment on fics as if they are. “Oh my god you fucking bitch, I hate you!” is not something you say to a stranger. Neither is telling them that you just wanked over their fic. And if the writer tells you not to speak to them like that, respect it, don’t go off about ‘Internet Speak’
Commenting etiquette is important. Don’t like, don’t comment is a pretty darn good rule. Typing in all caps is generally yelling even if the words are kind. sarcasm doesn’t translate. Neither does the hyperbolic hate as love thing Tiger mentioned. Generally, just be kind.
Beltainefaerie's Flights of Fancy 