#fic things

[inferno-ontherocks]

What it looks like: I've abandoned my fic

What's actually happening: It consumes my thoughts every single day. The urge to write gets stronger but my putty brain just. won't. let. it. happen.

[jackwolfes]

the idea of user subscriptions on ao3 is so bonkers delightful to me. like you are a whole person that wants to be notified every time i share something new??? 🥺💗💓✨🥰😭 i love you and am kissing you on the forehead 💖

[candlewaxandp0lar0ids]

How to Leave Comments on Fanfiction

So, I recently made a poll to know if people might find it helpful to have a list of things they could talk about when leaving comments on fanfictions, be it on Ao3 or on here. A majority of people were interested in seeing the post so, well, I'm making it. I started writing and posting stuff online when I was a teenager, on a website where leaving constructive criticism was the norm. It's by far the place where I've gotten the most feedback and it was an incredibly formative experience for me as a young writer — and it taught me how to leave detailed comments.

Writing comments doesn't necessarily come easy. It's something that you may need to learn how to do, but the good news is that you can learn how to do it, so don't worry if you don't know what to say at first. Hopefully this list will give you some pointers on how to do that.

This is more or less the list I go through when I want to leave a detailed comment. Even if I don't have a specific idea at first, I'll go through the steps and I never come out empty-handed.

Comment etiquette:

What became apparent with the poll I made was that a lot of people worry about how they'll be perceived by the writers if they leave a comment. Now, obviously, writers aren't a monolith, but 99% of the time writers will be thrilled that you took the time to leave a comment to let them know what you enjoyed in their fic. I cannot stress this enough. We're not going to judge someone based on a positive comment they leave.

As it stands, on Tumblr and Ao3, it's seen as rude to leave negative feedback, unless the author has explicitly asked for it/agreed to it, so that's what I'll be going over here. Since quite a few writers did say on that post that they would like to get constructive comments as well, stay tuned, I'm trying to get something together to do that for authors. Other than that, you're good to go.

The main ways to let an author know your thoughts on a fic on Tumblr are:

reblogging a fic with your thoughts underneath it

reblogging with your thoughts in the tags, which is often less formal

leaving a comment as a 'reaction'

sending in an ask if they're activated on the blog (which means you can stay anonymous, if anon asks are allowed)

Reblogging means that your followers will see the post as well, and is therefore really appreciated on Tumblr.

As a note, you may find different systems work for different fics! Maybe leaving tag rambles works for you when commenting on drabbles, for example for me it's the system I use to leave comments on smut.

General advice:

Everything I'm saying in here is for people who want to be able to leave longer/more detailed comments and don't always know where to start. If, for whatever reason, you're not comfortable or you don't have time to do it at the moment, a simple "I love the fic, thank you for writing it" always goes a long way for an author.

The key thing to keep in mind if you're trying to find something else to say, I think, is to try making the comment specific to the fic you're leaving it on. It shows the writer what you took away from the fic and the fic's strong points, which is both meaningful and helpful to an author.

Comments don't have to be long to be meaningful. Don't stress about writing a ton; a one-sentence comment highlighting the fic's humor or how emotional it made you can be incredibly impactful.

With this out of the way, I'll go through things you can talk about in a comment, starting with what I think is the easiest and moving on to things that could require more thought. You don't have to do all of that. You may never use some of the things on that list. Leaving comments should not be a source of anxiety. So take what you want from the list, maybe come back to it if you need more inspiration, and don't worry too much about it :)

Favorite line(s) : pull from the fic to let the author know what your favorite line was. If you wish, you can expand on that by saying why it was your favorite: did it make you laugh? Did it make you feel something specific? Did the author nail the characterization with it? Was there some incredible metaphor? Did you find it beautiful or poetic even if you can't go into detail? Is there one line in particular at the beginning of the fic that hooked you in and made you want to keep reading?

All of that is very valuable for a writer to know. Some of my favorite comments I've gotten were a list of a reader's favorite lines from a fic with one or two sentences to explain why they liked them, so don't hesitate to do that more than once if you can!

Emotions:  if there’s one thing I know about writers, it’s that we’re thrilled when we’ve made you cry. So tell us: how did the writing make you feel? Did you laugh out loud? If you did, was it the dialogue, or the narrator? Did it make you cry? Which part? Could you relate to one of the characters? Did it make you feel seen? Did the fluff make you feel all fuzzy inside or did the angst twist knots in your stomach? This isn't an exhaustive list, and emotions are great to draw from when you're leaving a comment!

Favorite element of the writing: Is there one thing in the writing that struck you as being particularly good, or what was your favorite thing to read? Is the author a master at writing dialogue? Are their descriptions so good you could see the whole scene? Are they really good at getting in a character's head and describing their emotions? Were you hooked from the start and couldn't stop until you reached the end?

Characterization: Now, this might be less instinctive, but if you've been in a fandom for a while, you'll probably be able to identify these things fairly easily. You can tell the author if you think they've nailed one aspect of a character. Did you have a favorite character in the fic? What did you think of them? Did the author manage to capture their voice? Was the attitude spot-on? Which parts of the character, if you can name them? Were there aspects of the character you particularly enjoyed? Did the author shine a light on something you hadn't considered or on something you don't think is highlighted often enough? Is there one thing from the fic you can actually picture/hear a character doing/saying in your head?

Style: I'd argue this is the hardest part, and you shouldn't feel bad if it's not something you can really comment on. As someone whose first language isn't English, I know I struggle with it. Style can be perceived as the way the author's voice comes through in the text. It can come through in punctuation, in the way sentences are formed, in the choice of the words themselves. If, when you read, you feel something intangible that doesn't fit well in the other categories, it just might be the author's style.

Here are some things (non-exhaustive list, of course) you could say about an author's style: it can be direct, straight to the point. The author doesn't bother with ornaments. Every sentence feels impactful. Maybe the writing feels intense. You're overwhelmed by the characters and their feelings and you feel truly engulfed in the story. Maybe the style is light and airy. It's so easy to read you don't even notice you are reading. Maybe the writing is intricate. Going through it is like piecing a puzzle together, sentences are foreshadowing and metaphors reveal deep truths about the characters. Maybe the style is rich. While not always the easiest, it's a pleasure to read through it, the author has a wide vocabulary, and you might want to compare it to a well-written novel.

If you identify specific elements of that style (metaphors, interesting use of punctuation, etc.), don't hesitate to point them out and let the author know you enjoy them!

That is it for this post, hopefully it doesn't look too daunting — again, you absolutely do not need to do all that in any comment, but maybe going through this list can help you leave comments for authors you enjoy.

I like to end my comments with 'Thank you for writing and sharing this with us', so I'll tell you thank you for reading, I hope this was helpful, and please consider reblogging if you'd like to save this or if you think it could help someone else!

As a bonus, my friend @elidebrey and I (but mostly her) made a 'checklist' for commenting, to help remember all this if that's something you'd like, so use at will!

A big thank you to @elidebrey, @yoongihan and @antoniorhinothethird for their precious opinions on this ♥

[thebreadvansstuff]

You smile all the time ('cause how can you not show it?)

By thebreadvan / @thebreadvansstuff

Complete ✓

Chapter I | Chapter II

Explicit | 9.5 k

════════════════

Harry’s eyes unwillingly slip up to the doctor, scanning his features and the focused crinkle between his brows. His jaw looks sharp, especially when he clenches it, pearly teeth biting into his bottom lip. Harry admires the stubble growing on his cheeks, and the impressive cut of his cheekbones, and – the blush blooming from his cheeks down to his neck.

Harry blinks away, hoping he hasn’t been caught staring or made the man uncomfortable, but Dr. Tomlinson clears his throat and his leg starts bouncing beside Harry’s chair. Harry looks up again, and finds his face twisted into an undecipherable grimace.

“Uhm,” Dr. Tomlinson stammers, “Could you hold your tongue still for me?”

Harry stops breathing when he realises.

He is licking Dr. Tomlinson’s fingers.

<<>><<>><<>>

Or, Harry never liked dentists, until now.

════════════════

Beta-ed by @parmahamlarrie and @enchantedlandcoffee

[ri-afan]

Okay, keeping with ghosts fighting to socialise and teach, we have Halfas Danny and Jason! Except they don’t know shit.

Or maybe Danny knows what’s up, but Danny might also have forgotten?

I want Danny running from Red Hood (“because it’s Red Hood! Crime Lord of Crime Alley! I may be dead, but I still like my head where it’s at!”), Red Hood giving chase because he thinks this guy feels shady in his area, popping up everywhere, and if he’s got nothing to hide then why’s he running? (“I swear to god, Dick, he was right there! Where the fu—?”)

Inadvertently, this teaches Red Hood to use more instinctual ghost stuff for haunting, like pulling in your aura and invisibility.

[all-or-nothing-baby]

*begging on knees* PLEASE PLEASE i implore you to stop using "the older man" and "the taller of the two " and "the blonde" etc unless being older or taller or blonder is actually r e l e v a n t to the characters or story! JUST USE THEIR NAMES IT'S FINE

[velvethopewrites]

You ever just go through an author’s body of work, fic after fic and like want to cry because everything is just so good and you know that this author has got you and you trust them implicitly to take your heart on a wild ride of angst and pining and love and happy feels?

Yeah.

Seriously, bless fic writers. We owe them so much.

[young-royals-confessions]

Okay, here's a question. What is something that you see over and over again in YR fics and you never ever get tired of it?

For example, I always enjoy when one of their brains short circuits and the only thought running through it is simonsimonsimon or willewillewille

[chiqelatasblog]

Hi guys, I need your help and opinion regarding my recent fic featuring Reader x Lin Kuei trio. I'm considering whether to start each chapter from one of the trio's points of view or to stick with the reader's point of view for every chapter. I'm feeling stuck and unable to start writing the next chapter because of this dilemma. 😫 Any opinions on this matter would be greatly appreciated!🙌🏻

[inferno-ontherocks]

Absolute alphabet soup

[frownyalfred]

I think authors underestimate how many people reread their works/chapters.

That’s why, when I’m rereading WIPs or old works, I always leave a comment. Just a little hey, I’m rereading this and it is still great goes so far, actually

[fizzigigsimmer]

Whenever I read "little apartment" fics, where Steve strikes out on his own and shares a room with Robin or Billy and gets some menial job, AND HE KEEPS the Bimmer I am just.... 😂 he's about to start turning tricks to afford a grilled cheese! SELL THE CAR.

[itsclydebitches]

Friendly fandom reminder to stop leaving unsolicited advice in fic comments.

I’m battling my first winter cold, and it’s been a long Thanksgiving day, so I was really excited to see a comment email pop up for an old fic of mine. Except that instead of connecting with me over the story, this reader took the time to express how much they hated a particular chapter, how it ruined the entire collection, and things would have been oh so much better if you’d never offered me this free, totally optional content. They then had the gall to claim that they were going to do the right thing and hit the back button and I had to explain that no, they didn’t. They left an unasked for comment instead.

Not to be all kindergarten teacher on main, but if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. Obviously, the exception to this are writers who explicitly ask for feedback on their stories, but outside of that I am begging for people to remember that this is a very personal, time-consuming hobby offered to readers for free and intimately attached to those feelings of community. Fandom is not a workshop where readers take on the role of instructor, offering ‘tough love’ in the name of improvement; it’s your classmate sliding a hand-written story across their desk and excitedly offering you the chance to take a peek. Ignoring the first ten pages you loved only to respond with, “Um, this particular page sucks” is not going to help you make friends -- or help that classmate write more in the future. Leaving comments like that is a sure-fire way to ensure the fandom has less fic overall, not more of the fic you, one individual with non-universal tastes, specifically want.

[thebreadvansstuff]

Bluer than velvet were her eyes (softer than satin were her thighs)

By thebreadvan / @thebreadvansstuff

Girl Direction | 12.3k | Explicit

════════════════

Harry hums a melody absentmindedly as she works, bent over the sewing table, when the bell above the door chimes suddenly, announcing the arrival of a customer.

Mid-stitch, Harry glances up.

“Good morning,” comes the woman’s feathery voice.

Harry should probably welcome her, say something, anything, but she’s captivated by her slow and powerful walk, the click of her leather knee-high boots. With the needle hovering above the fabric, Harry slides her eyes up thick thighs, the maroon blazer that ends just above them, and the black knit dress that engulfs the woman’s figure, stretching obscenely around her bust.

Jesus Christ.

_____

Or, Harry should probably stop obsessing over her customer’s boobs, but fate can’t keep her away from Louis.

════════════════

Beta-ed by @enchantedlandcoffee

[justtothesea]

oh, here's a sexy little tip for all my ao3 desperados! if you have access to any ao3 fic links via external bookmarks (like pinboard) or rec lists, wherever, you just need the actual url of the fic – you can paste the url of that fic into the wayback machine and access it that way.

this won’t really work if the fic is site locked, but if it's public it works a treat ✨️