#but i just dont have the spoons to be an active participant in writing/reading right now

[threadbaresweater]

would you still love me if I said I've lost interest in reading fanfic?

[consistentsquash]

Hi CS, I love reading your meta comments on fics and the healthy conversations they start. Can you share some tips for writing comments like those or longer comments in general?

Hiya! <3 Sorry for the seriously late answer. Real Life things and not much time for fandom now.

Really great to hear you like my meta comments!

I get psyched out if I am thinking about writing a long comment because analysis paralysis. I just need to set a timer for like 30 min, start quoting lines from a fic and then it kind of works out. Writing meta comments or longer comments is a lot of work. So it helps me a lot if I can break it down into some parts.

Loving the fic - Of course you can write long comments for fics you don't really vibe with. But for me personally I need to love something a lot to get into the zone. I don't really write long comments on fics I don't 100% love. Of course you can love something and find flaws with it when you analyze it.

Big themes - Any fic has got themes. Sometimes they are really easy to identify as a trope. Some authors work with the same themes in their fics. Tbh I don't really know how to identify these if I haven't read the author's longer works. But once you get those you can use them to write your comment.

Interesting things - a lot of times you can point out something the fic does which is pretty different from what the fandom trend is. It doesn't need to be a big thing. It can be just omg you made Crozier taller than Fitzjames. Noticing something outside the normal pattern helps a lot to write longer comments.

Google Docs- AO3 doesn't really have a lot of good tools for folks who want to bookmark lines in a fic. So if I want to write a long comment a lot of times I copy the fic into Google Docs to help me quote lines. This is a lot of work. Reason for my next point :D

Motivation - One thing that really helps me with writing longer comments is understanding my motivation. Because motivation is everything for me when I don't have the spoons. For me I am more likely to write meta comments if the fic is seriously underrated. I am talking <20 kudos here because there are lot of fics like that which are far more brilliant compared to the fics which get the most recs/most kudos and I really want those authors to stay in fandom because they are writing new/creative fics I love. HP fandom and a lot of other fandoms really dont love those fics like they deserve. But anyway, that's my motivation. I want there to be interesting movies outside the big three studios so I support movies outside those three way more and write reviews for them. Same logic for fic with me. I want there to be new/interesting/creative/experimental fics and I don't want those authors to be discouraged by fandom trends so I save my longest comments for those.

Fandom etiquette - Also one more thing. I don't do meta comments if I don't know for sure the author's preference on that type of comment. I feel like a lot of times folks can get super critical for no reason in fic comments and think they are doing the right thing but that's kind of missing the whole point of fanfic as a fun activity/fandom as a fun community. Of course there are folks who want to use this as experience for profic or get better at writing in general but unless the author is soliciting it I don't really go there. You are on Tumblr so you probably either write yourself or get to see a lot of author blogs. So maybe you already know how sensitive folks can be because fic writing is a seriously creative activity and whenever you are doing anything creative and sharing them with other people it makes you feel super vulnerable. Anything you are sharing with the world can make you feel vulnerable. So definitely respect the author's boundaries. They are not AI they are just another person with emotions and lots of creativity they are sharing <3

Get the vibe - you know the thing about lurking before participating? You don't really need to do that. But for me I am super self-conscious so I generally lurk on a couple of fics to get the vibe of an author before commenting. Some authors are going to totally nerd out with you if you identify themes in their works. Others probably not so much. People like different things.

Burnout - Of course this isn't something I can do for every fic I read so I just save it for the most underrated fics which profoundly changed my life and that type of thing. It can be pretty hard because sometimes writers can get sad if readers don't comment on their new fic after commenting on their old fic or readers comment longer comments on other authors fics and that type of thing. Of course that's totally valid. But I need my own boundaries to motivate me without feeling burned out. This part is kind of hard for me because people pleasing and guilt problems but the boundaries are important because it's not my job to make everybody feel valued for the amazing fics they write. Other commenters are going to do that.

Do it for yourself - Anything you do in fandom you got to do it for yourself. Write for yourself is the big one. But same goes for comments. Sometimes you write the best comment of your life and you don't get a reply or you get a reply which really gives you the vibe they didn't like something you said. It happens! But you got to write comments for yourself which means you have to accept that happens and move on. You know what I mean?

Sorry about long answer but it's amazing that you want to write longer comments. Go for it <3 Hope you have lots of fun with commenting. Definitely lmk how it's going <3