#i love concrit and i feel like it's important for writer growth

[writing-for-life]

Thanks so much for your thoughts (this post is old and I had like five followers back then. I’m excited to go over it again!). Long-winded stream of thoughts ahead...

I think ultimately, and I hate to say it, it’s a bit down to whether we have a growth- or fixed mindset. I’m not super into everything that Carol Dweck writes, and we also know by now that not all of it scientifically holds water, but on that, she had a point. It’s not just about being able to take criticism—it's ultimately about wanting to grow, to get better at our craft.

I totally get that sometimes, we just want the community. In that case, it’s okay to say: “No criticism if not asked for.” And I think it should be respected if an author explicitly states that. But there’s this pervasive opinion in fandom/fanfic writing that concrit is a really bad thing, and I’d just encourage everyone to question that notion if they truly want to grow as writers (and critical thinkers, btw).

I also get that criticism can feel painful, especially if we invested time and love into something. I certainly felt that when I started out (sometimes still do today), and yet again, it is something you can learn to see as an opportunity to grow. I would go as far as saying that it is not just about growth as a writer--it is also about growth as a person. Because quite frankly: We need to be able to learn the difference between helpful critique and personal attacks. If every constructive criticism feels like a personal blow, there is something deeper at work. And to say it very clearly: I am not judging it because it is real, and it is painful. However, the answer to that is not to surround us with people who only say what we want to hear. It's an avoidance tactic that exacerbates the problem in the long run. Because eventually, that illusion created by an echo chamber will collapse around us, and the pain will be a million times worse. The answer is to find support to work through whatever is painful.

You brushed on something very important when you mentioned that people aren't leaving comments, and I think you hit the nail on the head.

The problem is of course multi-layered: I think the way social media works has also played into this a bit. A lot of people these days are used to just click a like button of sorts. I am fairly new to Ao3 (more about that in a sec), but what I hear from people who've been on it for longer is that the culture there seems to have changed from lots of comments to mostly kudos as well (and sometimes, not even that). We obviously don't need to get into the fact it also plays into engagement if you happen to write for the most popular ship--it's rarely the best stories that get the most engagement (and I'm brutally honest here because I have worked with editors for most of my professional life); it's the biggest ships with the most smut, plus the writers who already have an established community around them (it's self-perpetuating). And that's totally fine, it's just how it works, so people shouldn't let that discourage them if they happen to not write for those ships, and not in a particular style.

Your writing isn't bad because no one engages with it.

But of course it can feel annoying if we see that objectively bad writing gets heaped with praise while no one gives a hoot about what is objectively good writing. I am not immune to those feelings either. But here's the thing: It's not objective. People in fandoms don't look for good writing. They look for wish fulfilment (and... smut ;)). It's a very fandom-specific thing, for instance, to have people send asks to write them a drabble. Other than seeing it as a prompt to flex your writing muscles a bit (which all writers do from time to time), this is nothing but fan-service. There is no character development, no real backstory, usually no plot, and they often read rushed (a poem can be shorter, but you can almost always tell that more thought and care went into it). But people like requesting them, and (some) writers like doing them as said fan-service (and quite possibly for the exposure/likes). And I absolutely get it. Writing and reading are, at their foundation, collaborative acts. In fandom even more than anywhere else.

But I think it would be fallacious thinking to assume that only because that side of the coin exists in fandom, we should't want to improve as writers, and that constructive criticism is somehow a bad thing.

I also think it's important to distinguish between criticising craft and content, and you already hinted at this, @violetoftheendless.

Craft can be learned and improved. Even so, there is a spectrum, and what seems objective can turn subjective. As a personal example: It took me a long time to feel at ease with my writing style in fiction, against some advice I got fairly early on. I had many editors suggest I look into writing scripts because all my works are extremely dialogue heavy. And yes, it is a fine line to walk, and when I spend time on a WiP, I tend to be a bit more balanced. But sometimes, I just hammer out an idea--I wrote my first "proper" (as in: completed and published) fanfic for NaNoWriMo last year because I needed a bit of distance from the writing I do for a living. I clobbered it together in four weeks, and I gave myself a lot more concessions than I would when I write professionally (I write fiction in my other language and work with several indie publishers, so it's good to have that distance to write fanfic in English because it feels a bit less like me. Only a bit ;)). You can't really compare what is essentially a first draft (most fan fiction is) to something that went through several stages of editing and then gets published after a year or more on the fifth (or tenth) draft.

But even though I started writing this for fun and I *thought* I cared a bit less about sticking to certain rules, and walking certain lines, I look back on it as I publish it chapter by chapter, and I often inwardly groan and go: "Bleurgh, yeah, that wouldn't have happened if this went through editing," or, "Jeez, now I know why it took me 2 years to write XYZ and only four weeks to write this half-cooked thing." So we definitely need to adjust our expectations, and our readers probably should, too. However, that doesn't mean that I don't do the really fundamental things like proofreading and some editing. And it also doesn't mean that I don't get stupidly excited if someone leaves a comment, and I honestly don't care if it's "I loved it!" or "I came across XYZ, and that doesn't seem stylistically on point because ABC." I am happy about the former, and I will critically engage with the latter. And sometimes, I will go: "Yeah, you're totally right!" and I have learned something. Other times, I will say: "I see what you mean, but I don't agree because bla bla bla." But both times, I have critically engaged with someone's input, and that can only be a good thing, and I firmly believe it makes me a better writer.

Content is obviously a lot trickier. We can like a story, or we don't. We can offer thoughts on what clicked and what didn't, but ultimately, this will always stay in the realm of subjectivity (apart from telling the reader that the pregnancy test just showed a positive, and two weeks later, the doc told you it's going to be a boy).

I do a lot of non-fiction writing in my "day-job". Much of my income comes from writing these days since I decided to only work with private clients for my sanity and forgo working for our national health service (the moral injury is real). And here, I definitely have to make a distinction between "fact/evidence based" and "informed opinion, potentially even conjecture". The reason I'm saying this is that with writing metas about The Sandman, as many of us do, we are never really in the realm on facts (unless we directly quote Neil). We are often in the realm of informed opinion, and sometimes (probably also often) in the realm of conjecture, or even completely free-floating interpretation.

What is always worth a thought though, and you have rightly pointed this out, is the real life impact of a story, or of fandom behaviours (and we have a strong evidence-base on how certain behaviours impact whole social groups or individuals). And it should be possible to say that (like in the case of anti-blackness, as an example), and to engage in ultimately helpful discourse instead of name-calling or worse. It's one of the reasons why I switched my anons off a while ago, because every time one just says something remotely critical of the fandoms favourite blorbos or ships (or the fandom itself), a barrage of messages that all seem to have been written by 12 year olds with a hair-trigger temper comes in, and I don't need that type of abuse in my inbox. I still get some of these from time to time (a few more recently--that post I talked about is still in the pipeline ;)), but people are far more reluctant to put their name down if they intend to be an arsehole about something.

We don't always have to agree. Sometimes, I read other people's take on works of fiction, authors or characters, and I agree. Sometimes, I initially feel resistance, but I check my own bias and start to think: "You know what? I think they have a point, let's look into this a bit more deeply." And sometimes, I just come to the conclusion that they don't convince me. All three are good, and I greatly lament that so many people seem to be less and less able to engage in critical discourse without getting personal.

There is a fourth option: Sometimes, we really are pooped. I save so many posts I intend to reply to, and I somehow never get round to it because the list gets longer and longer. But they usually stay in my drafts, and I don't give up hope that I will eventually catch up.

I think I better stop here, this is already far too long and not very structured. Sorry for the ramble...

The Pitfalls of Lazy Writing in Fan-Fiction

I love fan-fiction. I really do. I occasionally write some myself when I want to totally let loose. I actually write one right now for NaNoWriMo because this year, I just need some breathing space and fun instead of pushing ahead with my WiPs: You can’t pour from an empty cup and all that…

I actually think writing fanfic is good for writers because we can just enjoy the writing process without caring about tropes, and a world has already been built for us. We also don’t need to worry about Mary Sues/Gary Stus and self-insertion of the more obvious kind. It’s just fun, and the audience is generally appreciative because we share a common interest. Last but not least, it can get you out of writer’s block because there are far fewer rules to adhere to (and there’s nothing wrong with occasionally breaking rules, but like Picasso said: “Learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist”).

Having said all of this: If you are publishing your fanfics anywhere, even if it’s just on Tumblr, CARE about your work to at least a basic degree. I honestly believe that fanfic often still has such a bad reputation because many works lack that basic amount of care.

To make this clear: You don’t need to set out to create a masterpiece (what is that even?). Have fun with your writing. Don’t get into your head too much. Don’t censor yourself - there will be people out there who love your writing. Just care. And doing something as simple as getting rid of typos is caring - also for your audience.

Proofread

It doesn’t have to be a massive editing process, that’s not what most fanfic needs. However, if your work is full of typos, bad grammar and sentences that make no sense because they’re half finished or trail off into nothingness, it’s so, so off-putting. It makes me want to stop reading immediately, and that’s a crying shame because your ideas might otherwise be good. We are not talking about writing in a second language – I grew up bilingually and feel perpetually caught in “awkward-sentence-construction-hell” because of it. You might want to consider writing in your mother tongue instead if that’s the case. We are also not talking about the odd typo that slips through – it happens to all of us. I really talk about the fanfics that are absolutely riddled with them. Care – about more than just getting stuff out quickly.

Show, Don’t Tell

Don’t tell all the time. It reads like an instruction manual or an essay. If you are a very young and/or inexperienced writer, and you do not yet know what “Show, don’t tell” means, that’s okay. Look it up, try it out. It’s a process, it takes time. I sometimes still tell, too, even after all these years: It’s often just so much easier and faster. And if you do it sometimes, it’s honestly okay. What I read out there are literal walls of telling though. Practise showing – it will elevate your writing tenfold.

POV and Omniscience

A second person character (the “Y/N” we typically see in self-insertion fanfic) is NOT omniscient (very few exceptions aside, but the fanfics I read on here and elsewhere hardly ever fall into this category). Learn to be consistent with your POV: A second person MC does NOT know what goes on in other characters’ heads. They do NOT feel what everyone else is feeling. They do NOT know what the other person was up to in their absence. If you want to write these things, choose third person omniscient. Otherwise, don’t write them. They’re probably not that important, especially if your fiction is short. Simply leaving them out will improve your flow.

If they **are**important, we move on to…

Figure Out Your Beats

If there aren’t any or they are too far apart, it’s boring. If they come in too quickly, there’s no tension because there’s too much tension, if you get my drift. Even if you’re itching to get to a certain part of your story – pace yourself. If I read “two months ago, she did this, one month ago, she did that, last week…” my eyes start to glaze over. Ask yourself if that info is really necessary. If it is, write it out, build those scenes and split up your work. Learn to be patient, and your audience will become patient with you. Having to wait is good :)

I’m not a particularly patient writer and definitely more of a pantser than a plotter. I usually have strong images/scenes in my head. It’s okay to write them first and connect them later. It’s a different type of creating, but you will figure out your process with time.

Do Some Basic Research

No one expects fanfic to be hyperrealistic, but if it is set in the real world, care about figuring out things you do not yet know. Make an effort to find out how they work. If you don’t, a reader with a bit of life (or any particular) experience will immediately go: “That’s not how it works”. If you, as an example, write about pregnancies and don’t even do the most basic research on how physician appointments work, what happens when (you don’t know the baby’s sex after a couple of weeks), a woman who’s ever been pregnant will immediately go “Yeah, but no”. Writers LIVE for doing research. If research isn’t your thing, write about things you do know and understand. If your characters move in a realistic world, your writing has to reflect that.

Learn to Love Criticism

You read that right.

I obviously don’t mean the bad, troll-kind of criticism that’s just out to hurt you. That’s just gross, and I honestly do not understand how some people can be so mean. But if you are asking for opinions, take that advice. If you feel it doesn’t help your confidence, that’s also okay – then don’t ask for opinions or criticism. Keep in mind though that you won’t learn that way. If you ask for opinions, you need to accept that people will be honest.

And a word to readers/audiences as well:

You are not helping a writer if you say their work is amazing if it isn’t, and you are aware of it. Empathy is great, but just like a true friend tells you the truth, someone who believes in you and wants to see you grow will do the same. You can still enjoy it someone’s work with all its flaws, and you can let them know you do. But if you are ganging up on everyone who offers an opinion in an effort to “protect” your author, you keep them stuck. Stop being tribal - true support means helping people to get better at what they do.

[wangxianficrecs]

Hi!

Ummmm, I’m not sure how helpful this will be....but I guess I kinda feel like this is maybe a good perspective for people who are “confused” about the whole bookmarks issue? (the last anonymous post specifically)

(I also someone say that they thought the person might be “talking directly to author by using you”, and I thought this was kinda relevant?)

I recently wrote my first story for this fandom for the MDZS New Years challenge, and I mixed up a few cultural names. I had a few (I think 2 or 3) people who took the time to either A. Actually copy and paste the section of my work that had the incorrect names, and B. Tell/give me other potential names that would work.

Now, all of the people who left reviews were lovely people, and when I say “some more than others” I mean that in the nicest way (some people had it bother them less, and it was reflected in how they wrote, none of this was offensive!)

It’s important though, because I want to highlight a review that maybe wasn’t the most outwardly effusive in their praise. Although the beginning of their review sounded maybe a little condescending, when I read the whole thing I saw that they had taken the time to read and review my work so thoroughly that they caught a mistake that wasn’t even a complete sentence! (A couplet of dialogue)

Now, to relate that to the bookmarks issue - because they left me a REVIEW and not just tags in a bookmark, I responded back telling them that I had made the changes, and that I really appreciated how they had clearly taken the time to read my work thoroughly.

And guess what? They responded back! And were super nice! It turned out that they weren’t any kind of jerk (not that I thought they were, but you get what I’m saying)!

This is my really long way of saying, I think, as an author and reader who doesn’t have a lot of time, that if you are really wanting to “help” an author (or even readers) - leave a review!!! This allows authors to engage in a dialogue with you that can actually lead to change!!!

My story was certainly all the better for it :)

P.S this blog is awesome, it definitely motivated me to sign up for the writing challenge :)

Hello, good morning!  This is a great perspective, and it highlights something important:  some authors appreciate concrit (constructive criticism).  I’ll get to that in a minute, but first let me finish this paragraph by saying some authors don’t.

People write for all kinds of different reasons, and only one of them is the desire to become a better, more reader-approved writer.  So before you leave any concrit, you had best know which kind of author you’re talking to.  A simple comment asking if they take concrit or advice is sufficient, if the author isn’t one of those who says in their notes that criticism is welcome.

I think fallingsuns here is talking about comments when they say ‘review’, since they had the ability to respond.  This is an important distinction from bookmarks:  an author can respond to a comment;  they can not respond to a bookmark.

Now, on to concrit.  Once you have determined that the author is open to it, go for it!  Just don’t forget the word ‘constructive’ is part of that.  Be gentle in your suggestions and advice, whether it’s about grammar, culture, characterization, kink, whatever.  Offer to be a beta reader:  many authors want one but don’t know how to find someone.

A lot of fandom friendships start this way!  I think it’s pretty easy to stay on track if you consider the author a friend or at least a peer, rather than a faceless automaton producing your preferred snack.  And fallingsuns is right:  it often leads to better writing and an author happy in their own growth and development.

Just.  Be certain the author is open to it before you start.  And never do it where they can’t respond.  That’s all.  😊

(Also, I’m so happy that my blog inspired you to join the challenge, that’s so awesome!)

[aye-write]

Hi, Aye-write! I'm wondering if you have any advice on preparing contest submissions! (I suppose it could work for publishing submissions too) I've already put out a request for beta-readers, but there are also the jitters to tend to! I wonder if you have any tips to help writers feel more confident in their work so they can accept critiques without abandoning a story out of shame hehe

Hi nonnie! Thank you for your question, and apologies for the delay in getting it out to you, life has been whacking me over the head with a great big stick lately xP

Congratulations for taking the steps to submit for contests/publishing etc! It's a huge achievement and you should be very proud of yourself!

As for dealing with accepting critiques, that's something that I personally had to overcome so I'll share a couple of the things that helped me:

1. You are not the only one going through this Every writer, from the most popular bestsellers to the youngest of the newbies, will have gone through exactly what you are going through. Constructive criticism can be hard to take sometimes, but every writer will experience it. Every writer has had thoughts of "I'm not good enough". Every writer has worried they won't achieve their dreams. The things you are feeling are normal. Read about other writers and how they felt on their writing journey. You are not alone.

2. Think about what you've achieved What do sending to betas, submitting to comps, and querying for publication all have in common? They all require something finished. Don't forget, before you send out your work, you have completed this piece of work*. You have made something from nothing. Something exists in the world because of you. That is a tremendous achievement and is a step that so many writers don't reach. You have already done something incredible by finishing. Be confident with that.

If you can, leave your work alone for a while. A week maybe, longer if possible. Then go back and read it again. You will be reading your work with fresh eyes. You will see it more like the way a reader sees it. Distance is important with your work. Don't put your blinkers on. Take time to experience your work and enjoy it. Read it for pleasure. Gush about it to your friends. Make moodboards and aesthetics, AUs and playlists, just really enjoy it. If you love your work, that is what matters. Rejection and concrit should not have the power to take that away from you.

* - If you have not finished a work before, in any capacity, if you haven't taken a piece of writing from inception to completion, stop what you're doing and FINISH something. You will learn more from starting and finishing one short story than you ever will for starting countless WIPs and never finishing them.

3. Recognise that good feedback is there to help you We all have that little dream of giving something to someone to read and them immediately going "I love it all, don't change a damn thing". But while that's lovely and affirming, is it really helpful? Are you learning anything? Are you growing and developing your skills as a writer by only getting positive things? Humans learn and grow by making mistakes. By trying things. Maybe they don't work, maybe we adapt and try again. So we might not like that little red pen or comment box when we open up our feedback, but it's like manure. It's there to help you grow.

Now, this hinges on the possibility that you get good feedback. And good feedback is like gold dust to writers. If you find a beta-reader that gives you good feedback, for God's sake, hang onto them. If they're someone who can tell you things that you NEED to hear, if they're someone that can explain and back up their reasons for not liking something/suggesting a change, then yes, you want to keep them in your circle. But what about bad feedback? And I don't just mean feedback that is purely negative - "This is awful, this is shit, why would you write that?" - because that kind of feedback can be easily put to one side because that is not constructive, it is not helpful, and it has no bearing on your or your talent as a writer.

Bad feedback can also be about other things. And this is where picking good betas comes in. If your prose is very lyrical and flowery, and you give your book to someone who likes straightforward writing, perhaps their feedback of "make the prose simpler" is not valuable. That's a preference. Not to say that your writing is bad, it just might not vibe with them. It might not be their cup of tea. Picking a beta that vibes with your style is important. So, if your flowery prose lover beta comes to you with a concern that your prose is complex, that may be worth listening to.

And what happens if you get bad feedback? Well, nothing, really. You might lick your wounds a little bit, but here's the thing. You do not have to listen to all feedback. You do not have to do what your betas want. A good beta will work with you to create the story you want. A bad beta will try to turn your story into the story they want.

4. Rejection is not personal Rejection is not personal. Yes, it feels like it is, sometimes, but it's not. Think about it this way. Someone brings you some desserts to judge at a fair. They're all beautifully made, made with high-quality ingredients, look fantastic, etc. But the problem is... one of the desserts is made with apples. You don't like apples. So you might not give that one a prize, no matter how nice it looks or how tasty it is. It's the same with querying/publishing. Being rejected may not be any indication of the quality of your product. It's just that you gave apples and the judge likes oranges.

It is important to remember that this is just one opinion. Sticking with the dessert metaphor, next year, the judge on the panel loves apples. You submit your same apple dessert and they love it. First prize. Remember, if you are rejected, that is one opinion. And it is not about you, the writer. It is not personal. Agents/competition hosters see hundreds, if not thousands of WIPs in a year. Rejection can't be personal because they don't know you. They are judging your work - and at that, only a tiny percentage of your work.

5. Don't give up! If you are rejected, if you do get bad critique, if the voice in your head tells you that your writing is worthless, allow yourself to feel those feelings. Allow them to exist. And then pick yourself up and keep going. You are the only one who can tell YOUR stories. It is 100% okay to be sad/mad/etc., if you get a rejection but use those emotions to motivate yourself to keep going. Remember the growth mindset. It's a no this time. It's not yes yet. Every no is one step closer to a yes. It might be a no this time, but next time could be yes.

Remember: it only takes one yes.

[echodrops]

Kicking the Hornet’s Nest...

I’m procrastinating hard on other tasks, but in chit-chatting (both on tumblr and on Discord) about my stance on criticism of fanfiction, I realized that there’s a very low-hanging analogy I can make to explain my thoughts on this, so…

Uh first, please remember this is my personal blog and just my personal opinion. If you think that giving unsolicited concrit is the worst, I promise I’m not here to grab you individually, shake you by the shoulders, and try to change your minds. We can agree to disagree; I’m fully aware my opinion is unpopular on tumblr but also fully aware of the irony of people giving unsolicited criticism on a post about why unsolicited criticism is a good thing.

And second, please note that the analogy used below is only an analogy and not meant to be a one-to-one comparison–obviously the issue of vaccination is a far more critical, serious, and solemn issue and the topic of criticism on fanfiction (of all things) is not equal to a global health crisis that has cost real people’s lives. I’m drawing radical comparisons to thought processes because it’s shocking, not genuinely comparing fanfiction comments to moral and ethical world health decisions because I think those two things are equitable in importance.

Uh and third, please don’t respond unless you’re going to read it all. I'm happy to take your constructive criticism after you're finished with the whole thing. I get so tired of people rushing to my inbox after only getting half way through my arguments–90% of the time, I already addressed the thing you wanted to come yell at me about and you just didn’t make it there, promise.

So, at the risk of pissing off just about everyone who thought they respected me before this:

The current anti-concrit mindset stems from a similar logic to the one used by anti-vaxxers.

(This analogy lasts a grand total of five paragraphs or something, don’t get your jimmies too rustled.)

Most people on tumblr are happy–downright gleeful–to mock anti-vaxxers. The average anti-vaxxer is considered close-minded, self-centered, and under-educated. Although the issue of anti-vaxxing is probably more complicated than we paint it here on this website (to be fair, I wouldn’t know if it’s more complicated, since I agree that anti-vaxxers are generally stupid and don’t look into their arguments very often), almost no one on tumblr has any issue with anti-vaxxers being dragged up and down the block for their bad choices.

Usually, the logic of anti-vaxxers is understood to work something like this:

Anti-vaxxer: I don’t want to expose my child to something potentially harmful, so I am not going to vaccinate them.

Literally everyone else: You’re exposing your child to far greater risk in the long-term by not vaccinating.

Or:

Anti-vaxxer: My child doesn’t need to be vaccinated; they’re fine as they are. Those diseases aren’t a big deal anymore.

Literally everyone else: This mindset will make those diseases a big deal again.

On paper, sometimes anti-vaxxer logic works out–it is true that some children suffer very painful and awful reactions to vaccinations. It IS true that poorly made or contaminated vaccinations have killed children and will continue to do in the future. It IS true that vaccinations are painful and stressful for children in general and can even–depending on how the children respond to pain and how their doctors/nurses treat them–result in long-term phobias and health care aversion. There can be serious lasting consequences from vaccinating.

But most of us laugh in the face of anti-vaxxers. Why? Because we know that in comparison to the number of benefits, the risks are minimal. In the long-term, the number of people helped by vaccines far, far exceeds the number of people hurt.

I hope you can see where I’m going. At its core, the issue of giving unsolicited constructive criticism follows a similar pattern of short-term risk aversion. Authors who don’t want constructive criticism and choose to actively refuse it are following a similar thought process to anti-vaxxer parents:

Author: I don’t want any constructive criticism. Criticism can be painful, and my writing doesn’t need to be exposed to that.

Or:

Author: I don’t need any constructive criticism because my writing is fine as it is and I’m just doing it for fun anyway.

The general attitude seems to be that exposing fanfiction authors to unsolicited constructive criticism carries more risk than it does reward. And please be aware that I’m talking about genuinely constructive criticism here, well-intentioned and polite comments (the vaccine in this analogy), not troll comments deliberately designed to hurt people’s feelings (which would be equivalent to say, an injected contaminated drug in this analogy–no one should be okay with those).

But like anti-vaxxers who insist that the short-term risks of vaccines are more dangerous than the long-term risks of major diseases… is there really any evidence that genuinely constructive criticism, even when unsolicited, really does discourage and upset a large number of fanfiction authors? Or, more to the point of the analogy–is the number of people who would be entirely discouraged from writing ever again by some constructive criticism really greater than the number of people who would benefit from getting some (again, polite) tips for improving their writing? Which is the greater risk–being hurt in the short-term or losing out on the opportunity for growth in the long-term?

Clearly there are different opinions on this and I suspect that my opinion is heavily colored by the fact that I am older than the average tumblr user and therefore have many more years to look back on to weigh on the scales of this debate.

But I will always, always argue that the long-term benefits of helping other writers where you can far, far, far outweigh the short-term risks, for a couple reasons.

1) The world is a shitty, disappointing, stressful, and painful place. We encounter harsh criticisms every single day. Your teachers will give you poor grades. Your bosses will tell you your work isn’t up-to-par. Your friends will tell you the new top you bought and absolutely love… actually makes you look like you’re wearing a potato sack. If you’re into relationships, you’ll probably experience at least one break-up in which you hear that it’s YOU, not them, who is the problem. Your feelings will be hurt by callous comments from others an uncountable number of times. Your confidence will be shaken, if not actively crushed. I’m sorry to say it, but for almost all of us, having some miserable, anxiety-inducing and extremely discouraging moments in life is part of the unavoidable human experience. (And this is doubly, maybe triply true when we are starting out new hobbies or first entering a new field. Anyone who has ever tried to learn how to skateboard and gotten laughed at by experienced skateboarders knows exactly what I’m talking about.)

The world is full of truly awful things. And I’m not the kind of person who thinks we should just be exposed to all of them right from the get-go and fuck you and your snowflake feelings or things like that. I highly urge people to tag for triggering content and am on the record again and again telling people to block characters or ships that make them uncomfortable.

But many fanfiction authors are young authors, some of whom are posting work for public consumption for the very first time. Still more have no positive experiences with constructive criticism in the first place, and the extent of their literary criticism knowledge comes from really awful and boring high school English classes. When budding writers encounter a sudden explosion of access to readers–from having maybe one or two friends read their work to suddenly having their words in front of the eyes of thousands of strangers on the internet:

It’s disingenuous to give starting writers nothing but positive feedback. Only hearing positives about your work actively discourages change and self-reflection. It gives writers an unrealistic picture of their work that can result in far more serious disappointment and embarrassment later. When someone is awful at singing and they’re only told how nice their voice is, eventually when they sing for a more serious group of strangers, they’re going to be in for a very, very miserable time.

It’s a terrible missed opportunity for young writers to get a glimpse of what “professional” writing is like. Everyone benefits from genuinely constructive criticism–both the person getting it and the person giving it. We create young writers who are passionate about improving their writing by inducting them into the culture of planning, drafting, bouncing ideas off each other, finding beta readers, and taking others’ advice to grow their abilities, and oftentimes, one of the first experiences a person has with that process is someone spontaneously going “Hey, what if you tried this instead?” People often become inspired to become doctors and nurses after witnessing a family member experience a medical crisis–people often become inspired to become writers after receiving thorough feedback on things they have written. It’s impossible to really know whether or not you want a piece of constructive criticism until after you have heard what the criticism is, and adopting a “no unsolicited constructive criticism” policy as a whole creates an entire generation of fan writers who would miss out on opportunities for growth and inspiration.

This is waxing REALLY philosophical, but bear with me here, because this is also a well-documented concern of mine: we are entering an age in which people are no longer responsible for the media choices they make, where the internet is no longer viewed as a the equivalent of yelling into a crowd of (potentially dangerous) strangers, and the onus for protection is shifting away from self-preservation “I need to not put myself near upsetting things” to “other people have the responsibility not to expose me to upsetting things.” I’ve seen a lot of people say “If authors want constructive criticism on their fics, they can just say that in a note!” My ladies. My guys. My non-binary buddies. This is the utter opposite of how the internet functions. When you put anything on the internet, you are literally putting it before a crowd of an absolutely uncountable number of strangers and there are no rules (barring the laws of their home countries) dictating how they can respond to the things you put out there. Posting your writing on the internet is explicit consent to receive constructive criticism from anyone at any time unless you take actions to prevent that in advance. Sites like AO3 actively grant you the power to dictate who can SEE your work, comment on your work, give you the power to remove messages, screen comments before they appear, block comments entirely, or simply write in any of your notes sections that you do not want constructive criticism. (If it’s that easy to write “I want constructive criticism!” why is not seen as equally easy to write “I do not want constructive criticism!”?)

Public spaces on the internet are opt out, not opt in.

Why do many (though lord knows, not all) tumblr users easily agree to the idea of “If you don’t like a ship, you should just block it” or “If you see properly tagged content you don’t like on AO3 and you click it, that’s your own fault for not reading the tags,” but have the complete opposite mindset when it comes to constructive criticism? “I’m submitting my work in a public place where anyone can express their opinion on it… But even though there are multiple tools at my disposal for discouraging and blocking opinions I don’t agree with, it’s actually other people’s responsibility not to say anything that might upset me.”

As I said, waxing philosophical here, but this is kind of a scary mindset. The ability to enter a public space–and the internet is the MOST public space in the world–and then declare that you simply don’t want to listen to dissenting opinions is scary. I mean, this is how we get a common anti-vaxxer mindset–I don’t want to listen to your opinion because I have my source telling me I’m right and that’s all I need. “I put my work out in a public place and left it accessible to everyone, but I don’t want to listen to what everyone says about it.” I don’t mean to jump off the slippery slope, but this issue is a slippery slope in and of itself. Down this way lies a dark future. “It’s other people’s responsibility to curate my social experience for me.”

But really, after all this… I just flat out think it’s important to give genuinely constructive criticism to each other without people needing to ask for it because it just kind of sucks to see a fellow writer struggling with something and not say something about it. It’s not about feeling superior or thinking you know better than someone else; we all have our own strengths and weaknesses, and spotting something that could use a bit of work in someone else’s writing doesn’t make you a better writer, it just means that’s not your particular weakness. When someone is struggling to learn to swim, you don’t just leave them to their own devices and assume they’ll figure it out–even if they swear they’ve got it. When someone is learning to sew and you, who has sewed that exact thing before, don’t offer any advice, that’s not encouragement, it’s apathy. There will be many, many, many times in your life where you did not know you needed advice. Where you did not know HOW to ask for advice. Where you might have known you needed advice but not really wanted to admit that. Where you might have known you needed advice and been too shy to ask for help. Where a piece of advice completely from the blue changes the course of your life. Fandom as a whole–fan creators as a whole–cannot become a culture that closes the door to that vital form of communication, rejects willingness to not only uplift but also help each other grow even when we least expect it.

Anyway, I’m literally just writing this to avoid real responsibilities, but the point I’m trying to make is:

Most writers, even very young writers, will not be discouraged by polite, well-intentioned criticism. They may not like it. They may not take any of the criticism to heart, but most people, even young people, are far more resilient than tumblr (which on the best of days is a negative feedback loop that can romanticize a victim mindset because having the saddest backstory makes you immune to cancellation) wants to give them credit for, and a vast majority of writers will not be traumatized or scared away from writing by people trying to offer them genuine advice. Remember, no one here is advocating for asshole trolls who post comments like “Your writing sucks and you should delete your account.” A majority of writers, even very young writers, will be able to weather the storms and tosses of even really rudely-worded advice and recover. Sometimes it might take a while, but human beings have survived as a species because we’re really, really persevering.

(But some people aren’t! you might say. Some people really will give up writing if they’re criticized! And you’d be correct. There are people who will give up, even if all they are faced with is a single gentle, well-intentioned piece of criticism. But the truth is… People give up on hobbies for all kinds of reasons! Not every hobby is for every person! Every hobby carries with it its own challenges, its own share of risks, and its own pains. Learning a new hobby consistently requires putting yourself out of your comfort zone. Wanna learn how to ride a snowboard? You will get bruised. Wanna learn how to play chess? You will lose. Wanna learn to draw? Someone will make fun of your early drawings. You will make fun of your own early drawings. Wanna post your writing on a public platform? Someday, someone is going to say they’re not a fan.

And that leads me to address the point that just keeps coming up and coming up in this issue: People aren’t always posting their fics to improve as writers! A lot of times people are posting for just fun or for personal reasons.

Yeahhhhh bullshit. No, no, hang on–I don’t mean that people don’t have fun writing and posting fics, or that fics can’t help you through traumatic experiences because everything I’ve ever posted is basically me dealing with my own personal shit–what I mean is that there’s always an additional dimension to posting your fics on large-scale public websites. People write stories and share them with their friend groups for fun. People write characters overcoming trauma and share them with their therapists (or the friends who help to fill that role) for healing. People post their stories publicly, where anyone can respond, for validation on top of their fun and healing. There are ways to hide your fics entirely on many sites. You can leave things in drafts. If a fic is appearing as unmoderated and open to the public on a major fic site such as AO3, Wattpad, ff.net, etc., it’s because that fic’s author wants responses from others! They want views. They want subscribes. They want kudos. They want comments. There’s literally no reason to post publicly except for your work to be viewed by the public.

The fun one has writing a fic is often tied directly to the thrill of seeing a comment or kudos notification pop-up in your inbox. We love seeing people enjoy our fics–it absolutely makes my day when someone sends me a message telling me they re-read my fic for the third time.

It’s NOT fun to write something and get no response.

Writing something and getting no response is actively discouraging, actually.

So whenever someone says “They’re not writing fics to improve as writers; they’re just doing it for fun!” I have to laugh a bit–because when the concept of “fun with fanfiction” is tied so closely to the experience of having your work viewed and enjoyed by others, the fastest and surest way to increase the fun you have with your fanfics… is to improve as a writer. The more you write, the more you improve. The more you improve, the more loyal readers you gain. The more loyal readers you gain, the more excited people you have to gush about your fics with. Want a Discord server full of people willing to help you brainstorm ideas for your favorite AU? Write well, attract followers. Want fanart of your writing, probably the most fun and exciting thing I can think of as an author? Write well. Just plain old want more friends in the fandom to talk about your favorite characters and fic ideas with? Make writer friends.

People have fun writing about their favorite characters and post publicly to receive responses and validation for their creations… Responses increase the fun writers have because they make the hard work of writing worth it and give you people to keep writing for and with… Improving your writing increases the number of people attracted to your works and the number of people willing to spend time responding to them… The bigger the response you get, the more invested you become in your fics, the more fandom friends you make, and the more you want to write–it’s a process that is self-fulfilling, but also one that exposes you to criticism by its very nature. The very act of seeking responses from readers means that you’re open to responses that you don’t necessarily want to hear.

And I actually don’t mean this in the way of “If you can’t handle the heat, don’t jump into the fire.” What I mean is that it is impossible to create a world in which everyone who starts writing sticks with the hobby and keeps churning out works for us to enjoy forever. It is impossible to create a world in which no young writer will ever feel discouraged and give up. The writer you decided not to give constructive criticism to might just as easily become discouraged and quit writing because they didn’t receive enough response.

The first time you give your child a new vaccine, you cannot predict the results. Your child might suffer an allergic reaction. They might die. Every year, numerous severe reactions to vaccines do occur. But the majority of people don’t question the effectiveness of vaccines because we understand that the number of people who have severe reactions is very low in comparison to the number of people who benefit from the vaccine. The number of people who will be discouraged from writing by genuine, polite, constructive criticism is minuscule in comparison to the number of people who will either 1) benefit from it directly and be thankful you gave it, 2) not benefit but not be upset by it, 3) be mildly upset by it but then benefit, or 4) just be mildly upset by itself and then move on with life unharmed because sometimes people say things we don’t like but that doesn’t ruin our lives every single time it happens.

I’m not saying that providing polite constructive criticism doesn’t have risks, just that its risks are smaller than its benefits.

And I’ve successfully whittled enough time away with this now that I can go to sleep without guilt over the things I didn’t finish, but I started this by saying the long-term benefits outweighed the short-term risks and I feel obligated to defend that…

The long-term benefits of well-placed constructive criticism are enormous. Sometimes people need ego checks. Sometimes we need wake-up calls. Sometimes we need a gentle helping hand and didn’t even realize other people could be the help we needed. Sometimes we need a reason to get fired up–even if that reason is spite, trying to prove a critic wrong! Sometimes the answer is glaring us in the face and we don’t notice until someone else points it out. Sometimes we just plain out make mistakes. Sometimes we need a teacher because the ones in school let us down. Sometimes (oftentimes) other people bring incredibly unique perspectives to our stories that we would never have been open to on our own. Sometimes we write something unintentionally hurtful and need some gentle correction. Sometimes we could be having a lot more fun if we knew the tips and tricks others had to offer. Sometimes improving ourselves is hard but worth it. Sometimes bitter medicine is the only thing that will cure an ailment.

Shots hurt. People avoid them because they aren’t fun–what parent wants to expose their child to the painful, stressful situation of getting stabbed with needles? (What parent looks forward to the yearly flu shot themselves?)

We naturally flinch back from criticism. There are many times when we swear we don’t want it, don’t need it, can’t bear it! In the moment, it is incredibly difficult to be confronted with someone basically implying that you should change something integral to yourself–your art. No one likes to feel like they’re being picked apart for weaknesses, definitely not.

But sometimes a single comment can make a massive difference in your life–even when you didn’t want it at first.

All my life, I have been helped along by teachers, family, and friends who refused to settle for patting me on the back. The people who mean the most to me, who I most credit with getting me where I am today, are not the people who just told me I was good at things. They’re the people who told me I was good at things BUT. They people who challenged me to not just sail through life or even coast in my hobbies, content with the level I entered on–they’re the people who had faith in me and trust that I could refine my skills, could have even more fun IF I took that next step, challenged myself to go a bit harder… They’re the people who took the time not just to skim over my writing and slap a thumbs up on it, but the people who thought hard enough about it go: “This story was good, but have you thought about…”

Today, I’m a professor of English because I started writing fanfiction when I was 11 years old. Because I started posting fanfiction when I was 13. Because at 14 years old, someone–without being asked–taught me the correct way to format dialogue and how to strengthen my dialogue tags. Because at 15, someone flat out laughed to tears at a cliche metaphor I’d extended too far and I was ashamed, but they taught me something else to try instead. Because by 18, I’d received–and taken–enough unsolicited writing advice to land myself the highest paying on-campus tutoring job my university offered. Because by 19, someone challenged me to write something I told them was impossible for me. Because by 20, that impossible writing became the sample that got me accepted to grad school. Because by 21, I was furious enough at the criticism I received from my creative writing masters classmates to write a thesis so feverishly overwhelming that it inspired one of the foremost postmodern poets in the country. Because by 27, it was brutally honest criticism that gave me the gall to finally leave an abusive job and apply for a teaching position. Because by 30, I got to sit at a public literary journal volume launch and watch an entire class of my creative writing students become published authors.

And even though I joked about why I was writing this, and even though I’m really not, at the heart of it, trying to persuade any one person over to my side, I hope it’s clear how much of a labor of love this post is. How passionate I am about this topic.

This whole thing is a drawn-out plea: Please, do not let fandom creation sites become a place where no one offers advice unless it is begged for. Do not miss your chance to help someone else improve. Do not close the door to criticism that could change your life. Do not let fear of short-term discouragement prevent you from seeking long-term growth. Do not let the immediate side effects cloud your view of the global benefits.

Inoculate yourselves with good advice as a shield against the very hard future.

A dearth of criticism will not make fandom a better place. It will just make it a quieter one.

[lunapwrites]

Okay, sorry to hijack this but I saw this earlier this morning, and I needed to come back and void scream about it a bit.

THIS. EXACT. THING. is something that I've gotten into some major altercations with folks about on the servers I admin for.

There is no reason -- none -- that you should ever leave a comment like this on someone's work.

"Well I would appreciate knowing if someone didn't like something I wrote--" Hey. Are you the author of the fic you're commenting on? No? Then what you want doesn't apply here, shut up.

"But the author asked for constructive criticism--" Uh, I'm sorry what about "I didn't like the setting" in this smut you were reading was constructive?? What is the author supposed to do with that information? Rewrite the entire thing just because you, specifically, thought these characters should lay pipe in a different part of the universe for reasons unknown and (frankly) unasked for? Use your imagination, Holmes. And more importantly: shut up.

"If you didn't want to hear anything negative about your work you shouldn't share it--" Quick question: is this how you accept gifts? Like "thanks, I love this scarf! Hate the color though." Do you not know how to accept something freely given with grace? If you find yourself tempted to say something negative, learn the art of shutting the fuck up and leave it at the bit where you say "thanks for making this, I love X."

All of the above are actual excuses I've heard in defense of this behavior, and I'm sorry but none of it is valid. It's victim-blamey gatekeeping behavior, and it needs to stop.

I'm saying this as someone who actively does request Concrit on their published work. In fact, I have an applicable example here.

These two comments were posted on the exact same version of the exact same chapter of the first smut fic I ever wrote, which I had also stated openly I was using to push my boundaries and play around with my writing style and was looking for constructive criticism (as I did not, at the time, have a beta.) In both cases, the reader did NOT like how I wrote the chapter.

As with OP's comment they received, the first comment still included a compliment: they enjoyed the rest of the fic! Just not that chapter. That should make it better, right? No. It did not. I wanted to crawl into a hole and never be found. I almost deleted the fic entirely.

The second comment was EXACTLY what I was asking for. It's a normal, positive comment! But they pinpoint exactly WHY things weren't working for them in this chapter, and compared it to what WAS working for them in previous chapters. That's constructive AF! And it saved the fic, because I used that info to rewrite that chapter and, subsequently, finish writing it entirely. My faith in my abilities was restored, and the fic now sucks marginally less (it was still one of my earliest works, so... grain of salt. XD)

So it's important to remember that IF an author requests concrit on their published work, that it doesn't mean you just tell them what you didn't like and then throw some compliments in there to soften the blow. It will require actual work on your part.

BUT more importantly, know that most authors will NOT request concrit on works that are published, and you shouldn't take it upon yourself to "help" them. Literally, NO ONE ASKED.

We are out here sharing and gifting the community things we're making with, honestly, hope for maybe a pat on the head and a genuine "nice job OP." Some of us are just out here to archive (!!!) our gay little stories about our favorite blorbos so we can get them out of our heads and onto a page somewhere. Having someone come up to us unsolicited and say "cool story, but I wish it was better" is a sucker punch, because it just sounds like a backhanded way of saying "your story is bad and you should feel bad."

So uh. If you're reading through something and you notice a flaw, and you feel compelled to let the author know... err on the side of "don't."

I’ll never understand comments on fics that are like “this was good but I really didn’t like this part so it sort of ruined it a bit for me” like ok?

It really is okay to just stop after the first bit or, if that’s too complicated, I honestly think not commenting is better tbh.

I dunno, maybe I’m just being a bit sensitive today? But, like, I’ve made the choices I’ve made because of reasons and I totally understand if not everyone agrees but I guess I’m just not sure why they feel the need to tell me.

This really isn’t as dramatic as it sounds, hah, just some early morning musings.