On fanfiction and feedback

[nuraicha]

Hello!

Today I stumbled across this post on Tumblr and I thought some of you would be interested in reading it. It's about the importance of leaving feedback to the writers so they can know people are reading and liking/disliking their stories. It's mainly applied to Tumblr (and frankly, I've tried Tumblr as a fic platform and I think it's *awful* for interacting with the writer, so I can't understand why this post has been made in the first place because, if I wrote something like this, the first thing would be: read/write in platforms that allow you/the reader to have easy means of giving you feedback... But well, that's another matter alltogether), but it has several points that I agree with and I find interesting. I especially like the point about specific feedback; yes please! There isn't anything better that knowing *exactly* what worked for each reader. Of course, you can't ask each reader to give you a complete and thorough analysis on your style (god knows I don't do that as often as I would like) but, if there's something you really liked and want to talk about, do it!

However, on the specific feedback matter I don't agree with this line: "Want to influence our next fic? Tell us what you liked about this one and I bet you it will keep showing up!". That sounded to me like if you *have to* write the things as your readers like them. Yes of course, many things can influence in your writing, but just by telling me "I loved X thing" doesn't mean I have to include it the next fic if I don't think it worked. After all, it's our story, isn't it? We can't be complete slaves of our readers.

And now I want to quote the last paragraph fully:

"We can’t do this writing thing without you guys. So thank you so much! Without readers, we’re just talking to ourselves. We love and appreciate you for reading- but we need to know you’re doing it. We need feedback like we need air. Don’t let your favorite writers suffocate! :)"

Opinions and thoughts? I would like to see what my flist thinks of this. And yes, I know I have like tons of messages in my inbox and some are comments here in my LJ that I have to reply, and some PMs, and *hides in shame* I'll get to them, I promise. I'm so sorry for being so absent and not coming back to you at all, but I usually check LJ on my phone and I don't like writing there, so I always tell myself to wait until I get to the laptop to reply to things and... Not enough time to do so. That's the reason why I mostly just read fics (and not many, sorry MS friends) and leave very short comments, because 95% of times I'm on the phone. I'm really sorry, but as you know I graduate in June *maniac laughter of horror* and I'm SO stressed.

Hope you are all okay x

Comments

[tamarelmensdorp.livejournal.com]

I so agree with you. When I first started reading here, I did just that, but I found I needed to tell how much I enjoyed reading the stories I read. That's when I first made an account here. I could log in using my Facebook account, which allowed me to leave comments. Ever since that day I've commented on every story I read. Personal posts as well.
Sadly though my comments rarely go beyond the omg variety, although I'm working on that lately.
Safe to say I love all you writers for writing great stories, or for sharing bits of your personal life with us. I will continue reading and commenting.

[eternally-cave.livejournal.com]

I totally agree! Sometimes I check my stats and see that like 30 people were on my page, but that I only got 3 comments and sometimes (at least, for me) that's quite discouraging. Lately I put polls under my fic for the people who don't like commenting, and that seems to work...
But I totally agree with what you said!!

And the ''want to influence our next fic? Tell us what you liked about this one and I bet you it will keep showing up!" part is really, really strange...

[stefanyeah.livejournal.com]

Good points indeed.

And I'm the same as you with the phone. LJ text boxes and Swype (the keyboard I use, you just swish over the letters and it magically recognises the words. If you're on Android, there are lots of shortcuts, too.) don't like each other too much…

So even if I know, how one thrives on comments, I get lazy, too.

That sounded to me like if you *have to* write the things as your readers like them. Yes of course, many things can influence in your writing, but just by telling me "I loved X thing" doesn't mean I have to include it the next fic if I don't think it worked. After all, it's our story, isn't it? We can't be complete slaves of our readers.
So with you, there. Although, there's future plot point in CC I had been unsure about was totally influenced by the readership. And it'll work out just perfectly. :D Just needs to be written…

Anyways, planned/envisioned plot is planned/envisioned plot. Conversation over.
:P

I sometimes check my stats, too, even more so on AO3. GIVE ME KUUUDDOOOOOS! I'm the Kudomonster! *munch*munch*munch*

Anyways, yes, feedback is good. Constructive criticism is good, too. Can't improve without. Please season it with soft compliments so it doesn't hurt that much. :P

[snowgrouse.livejournal.com]

This is something I've been posting a lot about recently myself, as you've seen. It's incredibly disheartening to work long and hard on a long fic and then have no fucking comments whatsoever. Especially as there's a metric fuckton of really badly-written fic in big fandoms that gets a lot of squee when the author can't even spell, and that makes me really upset because they haven't even worked as hard. Like, 5000 hits on a fic where the header is full of typos, what the fuck? Oh, I see, it's in Hannibal and has a popular kink. *sigh*

And if I only wrote what the readers wanted me to write, I'd only ever write piss-drenched underage incest daddy kink. And not a single thoroughly researched historical romance set in medieval Persia with deep insights into medieval Islamic mysticism because only five people will ever care about that:P Tough shit; I want to write about my silly Persians because they are deeper and more interesting and more emotionally satisfying than the somewhat colder and darker Torsten and Laura.

But, yeah. Comments are so important, and fuck posting fanfic on Tumblr anyway--Ao3 is where it's at.

[festive-tights.livejournal.com]

Good post! I saw that same thing on Tumblr and I think I really needed that reminder. Sometimes I feel like I don't need to comment on a fic because the author won't care what I think but I know that's the opposite of the truth! Especially since I am *just* a reader, commenting makes me feel good, like I am really doing something helpful for the wonderful writers who bring us so much joy.

Also, I think you're a fabulous commenter. I see you on almost every fic! You're so detailed and thoughtful in your comments. Don't beat yourself up so much, hon! <3 and good luck on all that work! I'm cheering you on every step of the way :D

[mercury973.livejournal.com]

Something that I have been thinking about for the past few months. I read. It's a hobby and an escape for me, but I am not a writer myself. I am no where near being someone who can give writing tips and advice. There seems to be certain people who only want constructive criticism on their works. I can't give that out. When I see posts where writers tell them only to have people take apart their stories, I will not leave feedback, even if I loved the story. LJ, Tumblr and AO3 are not writing classes. If you get some constructive feedback- great! But to demand only that is the easiest way for me to nope out of there.

Again, I'm not saying this as a fellow writer but as a reader or consumer. If I give positive feedback or just a 'hey- great job!' there is nothing worse than feeling that the writer doesn't care, which in turns makes me stop responding to their stories. I'm not asking for anything back from them but I just felt that I wanted to tell them that they have an audience and that their work was appreciated. There is nothing wrong with asking for more detailed feedback but to demand it is kinda crappy, IMO and will make me stop responding altogether.

[pwoperninjaelf.livejournal.com]

Aside from what I said on Jenn's comment...

with commenting it's always great to get comments that're detailed and tell you what especially stood out for the readers. It always makes me reflect on when I was writing and remember what made me add that bit in :3 But then comments that are filled more with "OMG"s and flailing still make me grin madly and let me know that people are out there actually reading and enjoying my stuff.

Though yes, I don't think the whole "tell me so I can use it again" thing is great... It's nice to know what people especially like, but at the end of the day I write according to whatever my brain comes up with and for the enjoyment I get in actually writing, rather than let others dictate my imagination.

As with commenting myself? I tend to always comment on anything I've read, because I know how much it means to the author... Maybe it's also to do with the fact that I'm super talkative and can't NOT give my opinion or a comment on what I enjoyed XD But yes, I also HATE using my phone to comment on LJ, even if it's a great platform for reading, it sucks for commenting! So I usually try wait till I get to a pc to comment. That's the only time I sometimes let a comment or two get away from me, purely because I forget... >_<

What I do find kinda discouraging though, is when authors then don't reply to your comment... it kinda then feels like they don't care :/ And yes, I know this sounds dumb coming from me as I still have a lot to reply to, but I always do reply... It just takes a while :P I try do it when I post the next update to that fic, I won't let myself post until I've replied to the previous one's comments..

Okay... I'm now spamming you with my rambling... see I comment toooo much X_X lol but one last thing: Irene, you always leave lovely comments ;3

<3

[dominic-james.livejournal.com]

I just agree with the importance of feedback, that's exactly why I ALWAYS leave a comment. Only under extreme conditions I don't. Or when I'm marathon reading a fic hehehe

To myself, I usually don't get much feedback and I know how it feels. It's extremelt demotivating, because it feels like no one cares what you write or sth... I don't really know how to explain. It does create a tad of jealousy as well, when you see people from the same 'generation' receive lots of feedback .... And also, one could feel left out :(