#comments matter

[neve-gallus-girl-detective]

I commented on an unfinished fic from 2020 and the writer is going to try to finish it for meeeeeee T_T

[clandestinegardenias]

Just got the sweetest comment ever on one of my fitzier fics it maybe made my entire fanfic writing career worth it, singlehanded???

[emotional-support-demon-crowley]

Comments matter...

I recently had an unpleasant fic writing experience. It came from the actual writing. It took weeks longer than it should have, mostly because I kept putting off working on it without really stopping to consider why.

When I finally tricked myself into finishing it... I think I gave myself like... minor depression? I've had the big sad before, that's a beast I know well, but the longer I live, the more I learn that the darkness comes in many varied flavors.

Anyway, this version was weird. I honestly think I just dwelt too long on the disfunction between Crowley and Aziraphale, because I really wanted to write them out of where season 2 left off, and I just ended up being really down about it all.

It left me in a weird place. When I'm actively reading it, I like all the parts of it. When I step away from it, I mostly feel the lingering sadness that got dredged up during the writing and editing process.

So this morning when I woke up to some really kind, amazing comments... I wonder if these strangers have any idea how much their words helped me.

People can really be amazing. Sometimes simple things can make a big difference.

So, yeah. Comments matter.

This was about Some Version of You if anyone is interested, although that was not the point of this post.

[silurisanguine]

Chapters: 6/? Fandom: Dishonored (Video Games), Thief (Video Games) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Basso the Boxman & Garrett (Thief 2014), Garrett (Thief 2014)/Original Female Character(s), Erin & Garrett (mentioned) Characters: Garrett (Thief 2014), Basso The Boxman (Thief 2014), Kiara Aeryn Black (original character) Additional Tags: mature themes, slowish burn, Garrett has feelings he doesn’t know what to do with

Chapter 6: Reflected Visions

Summary:

Garrett ponders of what he's realised he's feeling and the Void shows them both what was hidden from their view.

[jodeldijodel]

Lee 🥺🥺🥺🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🥹🥹🥹🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

[bloodiegawz]

so what do you guys think is on the mephistopheles playlist

[puffins-muffins]

do it for the angels 🪽🪽

every time you leave a positive comment on a fic you like, an angel gains a pair of wings

[tadfools]

You guys are commenting on the fics you read right? You’re at least leaving kudos on the Astarion smut and the pairs that have less than 20 fics for them too? You’re bookmarking stories you really like that are still being updated and ones that haven’t been touched in over a year right?

You know that even the smallest interactions are like cocaine to fic writers right? You understand how important a string of emoji hearts left behind on a chapter at three am is right?? Right????

You’re treating AO3 like a community and not a content factory….right?

[aashidoodles]

[henerich]

You can read, blacksmith’s boy?

[independence1776]

I have hundreds of thousands of words of drawerfic that are for my eyes only. Yes, I write for myself. The stories I post I do so because I want to know what you think. Fandom is community and silence hurts.

The 'write for yourself uwu' culture shift has done real damage to fic writers imo. I recently had a post on the importance of strategic commenting break containment and I'm surprised by how many strangers who rb it in agreement feel the need to reassure in the tags that they do write for themselves, but...

There is a kernel of truth in the heart of this sentiment--if you only chase stats, you are unlikely to find joy in your writing. At the same time, I think we've veered too far in the other direction.

It is only natural to want engagement and the write for yourself crowd often overlooks how communal an effort fic writing usually is. So many story ideas are born from casual discussions about h/c's and favourite scenes and what ifs and the comment box is a cornerstone of this process. Not only can the discussions in the comment box be a hub for idea generation on their own, but even when the said idea generation takes place in DMs or Discord chats, commenting is often the first/easiest way into befriending authors; it's where community building starts.

Further, the write for yourself crowd similarly overlooks that the things a writer can write for themselves are often vast and many at any given time, and relative engagement levels across fandoms/ships can play a large part in which of those ideas a writer chooses to pursue--or whether they choose to publish their finished work at all.

In sum, I don't think we need to be this apologetic as writers for wanting feedback and engagement for what we post -- writing is hard work and it's only human that we want something external out of it in turn, however rewarding the process might intrinsically be.

[parisoonic]

last ones i swear

[describe-things]

[ID: Two black and white photos of Kwame Ture/Stokely Carmichael, a young Black man, saying into a microphone with a sardonic expression, "In order for non-violence to work, your opponent must have a conscience. The United States has none, has none." End ID.]

[arcticclimes]

Something something Fitzjames and Hodgson are two of the most dandy-ish characters in The Terror but they're also two of the most dangerous; they've both been to war, both do the greatest damage to Tuunbaq using the weaponry they were trained in by the navy (Hodgson with the cannon and Fitzjames with the congreves), and Hodgson is also the one to kill the Inuit family, directly connecting the violence of imperialism with the gentlemanly facade it likes to use.

[notearsnora]

what is even happening?! 😭

[bludhavensbirdboy]

One guilty pleasure tag on AO3 that I only really seek out when reading buddie fics is the “non-sexual intimacy” tag cause like hell yeah make them mfs more codependent. Just makes sense with them. Like yeah they shower together sometimes because they think it’s more convenient, of course they go to eddies after their shifts and sleep in the same bed, they wouldn’t be weirded out if one of them initiated hand holding and it just becomes a thing for them, eddie hugging buck from the back and resting his chin on bucks shoulder so he can also see whatever buck is doing, Eddie is very much okay when buck is glued to him when they sit beside each other or when he rests his head on his lap when reading because buck is touch starved and if Eddie can help buck with that he will. There is just something about them doing all this and it not being sexual or them hiding their romantic feeling for each other and being stupid. It is just them and how they exist and to everyone else it’s weird but to them it’s just normal, they so easily accommodate each other and don’t think twice.