#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.

[essayofthoughts]

Genuinely, I think one of the most fun and crunchy things about any character is

How far they will go for things they want

What they will do to get things they want

Things they won't do, no matter how much they want what they'd get in exchange

Because these things tell you some very important things about the character, namely their limits, their price, and their absolute No's. (And it lets you create some really REALLY crunchy conflict)

[the-rollerchloster]

fanfic: rearranging SUBTEXT into BUTTSEX

[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 ♥

[kame-writes]

Does everyone relate, or is this just a me problem?

[frownyalfred]

saw a post on the ao3 subreddit that made me remember…

your smut/NSFW fics don’t necessarily have bad ratios, they’re just content that people are much more likely to:

be nervous about attaching their username to by leaving kudos

visit multiple times

privately bookmark

privately share only with friends/closed discord channels

leave kudos as a guest (if at all)

(you shouldn’t put too much stock in hit to kudos ratios, but that’s another post)

[chaos-and-sparkles]

Watched Deadpool and Wolverine and it made me mentally ill so I had to go write (smut)fic about it. Bless this gay ass movie and that one comic fit ;]

[fallenneziah]

When your Google doesn't fucking understand you and deletes the wrong document from your writing folder forever and now the 3k+ document of hate fucking for your fic is lost to a void that you can never enter. And thus you must start over and put your frustration and rage into two men fucking for a second time.

Ugh!!! I might just start editing the first portion of the fic and then just get it out for those interested. Not to mention work is being a pain in my ass and making writing slower.

[daughterofdrearburh]

“But it’s hard because there’s only anecdotal evidence about you,” Caitlyn blurts, and her heart is racing so fast she can’t feel anything underneath its hysterical thrum, not the embarrassment that threatens to encroach or the sudden, hot liquidity of her stomach. “I mean, nobody's actually ever spoken to you.”

Violet stills. She seems to be chewing on the inside of her cheek as she studies Caitlyn’s face, her eyes uncannily clear and sharp. After a long moment, she says, “Until now.”

-

Caitvi D.E.B.S au my beloved!!!!

[inferno-ontherocks]

Absolute alphabet soup

[duskt1lldawn]

Chat how do I write sun's voicebox glitches

[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.

[thedevilinmybrain]

hey how many wips do u have in store for us? or is there just one for now.. sorry ive not been up to date lately alsooo can u give us some of ur favourite fics cause.. if i cant read a devilinmybrain fic then i might as well read something devilinmybrain likes yk

hi honey. i have one solid wip but i have a few other ideas drifting around in my head. i kind of messed myself up because i finished a big fic (200k+) for another fandom and so now i'm slowly slinking back to the larry one.

in terms of favorite fics, i am notoriously bad at keeping track of fics i read but i've answered this before and these are the ones i always recommend:

young hearts on the chase by daffodilsforlou Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover by lovingstheantidote

You Can Lay Your Hands On Me by abaddxns

hike up your skirt (and show your world to me) by Brooklyn_Babylon fallin' and laughin' at the drinks we spilled by enbyharry Looking to Drown in Your Ocean by abaddxns we'll play hide and seek to turn this around (give me love like never before) by wankerville I’ve Kissed Honey Lips (Felt the Healing in the Fingertips) by loveroflou

I'm sure I missed a ton but here is a good start.

[frownyalfred]

do u ever reread your own fic and realize you were actually kind of funny