Wow some people really want me to stop writing that fic altogether yeah? Not only are you all apparently entitled to updates every three days, I should also step the fuck up on the comment replies because it’s not like I need to work or sleep
listen here, assholes. WRITERS OWE YOU NOTHING. THEY WORK THEIR ARSES OFF AND ENJOY AND SUFFER THIS FUCKING HOBBY WHICH THEY THEN SHARE WITH YOU FOR NOTHING.
I WILL EXPLAIN SLOWLY WITH AN EXAMPLE YOU CAN UNDERSTAND.
Imagine a street where a thousand knitters have gathered to knit. They put their stuff on the table, a bazillion garments. They’re there for you to take with you, if you want. You can pick, by the way, nobody makes you get anything. If you want it, it’s there. If not, walk on by.
So imagine you see a sock and think “oh nice” and pick it up to take it with you. What do you do? WHAT DID YOUR MOMMA TEACH YOU TO SAY? Say “Hey, thanks!” — that’s the KUDOS button for you. Now, if you’re minimally polite, and aware of how much thought and work went in every fucking stitch, you can even say something about the colors, the stitching, the design, the finishings. You can say “I like your stuff! Keep knitting!”
The knitter hears you, smiles to themselves, keeps knitting. Working on that fucking second sock you’re waiting for, in the middle of work, life, not feeling great about the design, having second thoughts, suffering from dropped stitches and loss of confidence. They keep knitting.
What you do NOT do? Go poke them. “Hey I said this was really nice, why don’t you say thank you or something? you’re so entitled omg”
ooookay. That knitter whose sock you just took? Is one of the top ones in that street. She gets a bazillion punters. She’s been there like 5 years. She has like 45 nice comments on their knitting (chapter) today alone. They can stop their work to say thank you (again and again and again) or try to find something nice and a bit different to reply to your comment, and sometimes they really feel up to it and have the time to do it, and sometimes they don’t.
In any case, THEY DON’T FUCKING OWE IT TO YOU. THEY DON’T OWE YOU A THING. YOU ALREADY GOT THE FUCKING SOCK.
SO. As a knitter, when someone goes to my inbox with:
a) “when will you finish the next one?”
b) the colors are fucking awful. I feel personally attacked.
d) this would be so much better if you had not done this that and the other
e) your knitting supports abuse/paedophilia/incest go die you piece of shit.
that is an attack. That SURE makes me stop my fucking knitting, lift my eyes from the work, and tell that person what I think of them their manners and their entire worldview. Thank god, it’s not 45 of them, just the odd one, I can make time for that. And I will, so that maybe the next person who picks the fucking sock and is thinking of saying anything remotely like the above, they will know that this shit doesn’t go unanswered in these parts. Taking it lying down it’s BAD FOR MY HEALTH. I SURE FUCKING AM GOING TO MAKE TIME TO REPLY.
BUT THAT’S JUST ME. what would YOU do, person?? do YOU write fic?? at all??
FOR THE RECORD, I try to reply to thoughtful comments, the kind that go beyond “nice update, thanks!” and elaborate a bit, or have questions, or whatever. If I have time. If I’m feeling up to it. It’s not that I feel like I’m above or whatever, it’s just I don’t feel copypasting 40 times “thank you!” will be of much use to anyone. I think people will assume I read that and smiled about it and felt good. I appreciate it. Maybe I should copypaste “thank you!” as many times as it takes, i don’t know. Maybe I am rude and entitled. In any case, that’s the deal. If you don’t like it, nobody fucking makes you pick up my socks.
okay i’m tired. Back to work.
That commenter is not being the person Mr. Rogers knows they could be.
I have loooooong resisted writing about this because I feared it would sound like the ultimate douchebaggery to complain about something having anything to do with getting reviews, and people reacting with emotion to something I wrote.
But you know what? I’m done. I’m going to complain about it.
Do you have. ANY IDEA. How many times I have been told to fuck off, told “I hate you,” told a wide variety of hostile-sounding things because of “Alone on the Water?”
Tonight’s quote, the one that really sent me over the edge:
I hate you. I hate myself. I hate the internet. I am weak, I am empty, and all that I know is that I. Hate. You. I am finding it hard to breathe, and I can’t see.
Thank you, Spawn of Satan. Stratch that, you are something worse than Satan.***off.
Yeah, okay.
Before you dogpile me, I am 100% aware that this person is saying this because the story affected them. In the weird world of Tumblr opposite-speak hyperbole, this is a GOOD review. But reading those words with my own two eyes still doesn’t feel great.
When you post about how Chris Evan’s latest photoshoot is ruining your life and you hate him, when you really mean the opposite, Chris cannot hear you saying that. I CAN FUCKING HEAR YOU. I see and read every single review on this story, and all the other stories. I hear it every time someone tells me to fuck off and die, that they want to kill me, that they hate me SO MUCH because they’re crying SO HARD.
Great. I’m glad the story worked for you. Can you not fling those words at me? Maybe? If it were once in awhile, whatever. But it’s every. damn. day.
I hate saying this because I should be happy that people are still reviewing with such frequency a story I wrote eight years ago. And I am. It’s gratifying to know the story still finds new readers.
I can think that and still not be thrilled to be told to fuck off on the reg.
I legit know people who have quit writing entirely or at least left entire fandoms, based on this kind of review. It isn’t cute. It isn’t good. Words have power and it is never ok to treat writers like this unless you have their explicit permission that they are pleased to be met with this kind of sarcastic or hyperbolic review.
I’ve got to disagree with you there, anon. I was an English language instructor both overseas and in Canada for 14 years and lemme tell you? That’s not the case.
When we read a language, we’re recognizing words and interpreting meaning. When we’re writing, we have to actively choose words and put them together in some sort of grammatical form. They two skills are related, but they aren’t the same. I can read Korean just fine, and I know how to write all of the letters and combine them together, but when I try to form a sentence? Everything is in the wrong order and I’m choosing words that are impolite or incorrect for the context or both.
I’ve learned a lot of languages in a lot of different ways, from growing up in a bilingual community to studying languages in school to immersing myself in another culture overseas and I 100% understand the nerves of someone not only trying to write in a language they’re not completely comfortable in but trying to do so in a way that doesn’t come across as rude.
Your level of English language mastery is clearly very very high and the people reading your fics might have a very different level than you do. Native speaking readers don’t comment because of anxiety or worry or any number of other reasons. Non-native speakers just have one more anxiety to add to the rest.
If I were presented with this problem from a reader, you know what my response would be? Leave it in your native language! Maybe it’s just me, but I’d get a kick out of that, and with things like Google Translate, I could probably get a fair approximation of what you’re intending to say.
One of my favorite comments was in Spanish (which I happen to know, but even if it were in a different language, let me tell you, I’d be just as flattered and excited that someone took the time and effort to read in their non-native language and then comment) So. Cool.
I actually did get a comment in Spanish the other day. I can infer from French, but I don’t speak a word of Spanish. So, yeah, Google Translate to the rescue, and it was a wonderful comment and I loved it.
I would be so excited to try to translate a comment from a reader. Please comment no matter how! If it is a happy comment I am a happy author!
If you ever doubt whether you should leave a comment on a fanfiction you loved or not, please keep in mind that the only reason why I wrote and published 170k words of fanfiction over the last year is that every time I posted something, every time I updated a fanfiction, someone left a comment on it. Those comments included things like just a simple “Loved it!”, people writing down everything that has happend in caps, people yelling at my characters, and all sorts of thoughts people had after reading my stories. All of those comments are valid and great and I appreciated the hell out of every single one of them.
So yes, you should definitely leave a comment, because they will make the writer’s day and more comments = more of the content you loved.
if you want concrit, ask for it. if it’s not requested, don’t fucking leave it
IMO if someone asks for con crit and you have any place to send it other than a comment on the fic, that’s where it should go. The comments section isn’t critic’s fuckin corner; it’s squee-town, population: excited to be here
Beltainefaerie's Flights of Fancy 