ashilrak

[ashilrak]

okay but there is something disquieting about this urge to cast fan writers as altruists. they give us all this for free!! well, no.

they’re sharing

it’s a key difference in perception. fic isn’t given. it’s shared. it’s part of a fandom community— in which readers are also an integral part.

it’s probably inevitable mission creep from the increasingly transactional nature of the internet and fandom-as-consumerism, which was always gonna happen after corps worked out how much bank there is to make from those weirdo fan people

but like. fandom is sharing. i think we’ve lost that somewhere.

[ashilrak]

i mean this in the gentlest possible way but if 75% of what you're posting for a given fandom is fuming rage spirals then maybe just maybe it's time to take a step back and consider whether or not you're actually having any fun with this optional thing you do for fun

[ashilrak]

some of you need to realize that your faves would be having unsafe bdsm sex because they don’t actually know what bdsm sex is, they just want to fuck and also kill each other. you must understand this.

[ashilrak]

Left the perpollo server before everything apparently went down, just wanted to say I think you were a very kind and responsible mod, are a visionary writer, and I wish you well always xx Take care!

🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷

[ashilrak]

writing is hard but coming up with a cunty title and catchy summary will slay even god's strongest soldier

[ashilrak]

Dude it is SO FUN and EXCITING to see a reoccurring reader. If you've commented a handful of times on an author's work, I guarantee that they recognize you. You can't imagine how many times I've excitedly informed my friends "the person with the funny cat image commented!" "- anon is back!!!!" and the friends've recognized who I was talking about because I talk about my commenters so often LOL. We love you all!!!

[ashilrak]

“we need more weird art!” but not anything that makes me feel uncomfortable or alienated or challenged. “weird art” but i don’t want to consider the perspective of anyone i might have real irrevocable differences from. “weird art” but everything must be carefully couched in the language of white middle-class american sensibilities at all times. “weird art” but it has to be picked from a list of pre-established “weird” tropes that i recognize from carefully curated lists on letterboxd.

[ashilrak]

Reasons people may decline to comment or kudos on fanfiction they enjoyed:

They consider comments and kudos transactional compensation to the author, and they don't feel that the work was good enough to deserve compensation, or they don't believe they owe compensation to fan authors in general.

They consider comments and kudos as feedback, and they don't feel that the author wants or needs feedback from them.

However, comments and kudos aren't compensation, and they aren't even necessarily feedback either.

Comments and kudos for fan authors are:

encouragement to keep writing

reciprocation of a bid for connection

interaction with your community

confirmation that they're not the only one interested in their story

Please don't consider comments, or especially kudos, purely transactional or purely a form of feedback. Comments and kudos are a way to show authors in your community that you're glad they're there.

Authors aren't "entitled" to kudos or comments, but readers aren't "entitled" to fic, either.

Fanfiction is a community, and when an author repeatedly reaches out to their community for connection only to receive silence in return it is very discouraging and can result in the author withdrawing from the community altogether.

[ashilrak]

ao3 is crazy because you'll read the most gut-wrenching 200k word slowburn that leaves you sobbing into your sweater at four in the morning and the author will be applejacksmonstercock

[ashilrak]

“Do you ship...” Buddy I will ship almost anything if I think about it too long. I love love and situations

[ashilrak]

Currently outlining a 40k vaguely fantasy au for phantom of the opera

[ashilrak]

Being a pro censorship ao3 user is so insanely cringe. Either use the (incredibly effective and well designed) filtering system to avoid seeing the shit you don't like or stop complaining. Leave the pro censorship rhetoric to Wattpad or smth

[ashilrak]

sometimes I read a radioactively bad take and just sit there like "not only do you not understand this story but you fundamentally do not understand how stories work in general, and you have never considered that your discord with every piece of fiction you come across could possibly be a problem on your end"

[ashilrak]

Ngl I totally forgot fandom discourse was a thing. I don’t care man, I have car payments

[ashilrak]

challengers wind that makes you cheat should be a fic trope like sex pollen

[ashilrak]

Writing in my head; Beautiful flowing sentences full of powerful phrases and witty dialogue.

Writing on my page: They did a thing and said some stuff. There was snark.

[ashilrak]

Hey so I just left a novel length comment on HAUNT ME THEN, and I just want yall to know my life is changed and I have shed countless tears over this work of art. If I could have this fic embedded in my brain I would, I’d do a yearly rereading of it so I can feel the stages of grief all over again, and the suffering of being a woman in greek myths. 10/10 would sob over it again <3

Thank you so much!

@mrthology and I both had our lives taken over by the fic from the moment we started to brainstorm it, so we definitely understand the feeling. Many tears have been shed over Kassandra 🩷