#they're like AUTHORS ARE SO ENTITLED AND MEAN AND DEMANDING AND RUDE AND-

[altschmerzes]

one of the wildest like, tertiary characters in my online experience is this one really pissy asshole who pops up every so often on posts about comments on ao3 who is like, really really really upset about how there's a generally accepted fandom etiquette rule that you shouldn't just dump unsolicited criticism on people's fics. this person insists this is ruining fandom, obsessively replies to blogs like longlivefeedback whining at them about it, and insists it is uh. everyone else. who is sensitive and entitled. it's amazing to me every time i'm reminded they exist, but they just keep showing up lmaooo.

[singsweetmelodies]

With all respect and love, I absolutely love your fake dating au. If I had to choose an update between that and the kissing fic (or anything else really) I would always choose the fake dating au. There is so much potential! Please tell me you plan on updating and finishing it? If you’re not, can you at least share with us the fic plans so we can have some closure about it? Would you consider letting another author adopt the gif to finish it if you won’t? It really is a Piarles must-read. I hope I can learn the ending!

but see, anon, you DON'T get to choose. only i get to choose, and i have chosen to update the 2023 kisses fic. 😌

... you know, i debated for a long time if i would even bother answering this ask, or just delete it right off the bat. because in my opinion, this is an incredibly rude, insensitive and entitled thing to send to any writer. it was ONLY A FEW DAYS AGO that i talked publicly about how important it is to remember that writers are humans, too, not machines, and to please treat us like humans. and yet here i am again.

i'm going to answer this one more time, and i'm going to answer it in detail, and then in future if i get any asks in this vein, they WILL be deleted without any interaction. you guys are making me consider turning off anon asks entirely, which i really don't want to do, because the other half of my anons are SO very lovely!! but i also have had enough of waking up to rudeness and blatant entitlement in my inbox.

so. why exactly is it that i think this ask is so entitled and insensitive? didn't the anon say "with all respect and love" and compliment my fic at the start of it?

yes. yes, they did. but the thing is, saying "with all respect and love" doesn't mean you can then proceed to be rude to me and it's all fine. that's like me saying "with all due love and respect, i have decided to delete the fic entirely." the fact that i prefaced it with "love and respect" does not make what i did later alright. (although in this case, it WOULD be alright regardless of whether i prefaced it with "love and respect" or not, since it's MY fic and i can do what i want with it.) this anon, on the other hand - this anon has no right to demand anything of me. i am a fanfic author and i do this for free. it is not my job. i have no obligation to do any of this. which means that nobody out there, really, has any right to demand performance from me. (lmao can you tell i have been deep in the law textbooks lately) but the point stands! i don't owe you anything at all.

yes, you can ask me nicely, and i can choose to reply if i want. (hell, if you ask me nicely, i'd probably LOVE to write things for you!!) but you don't get to DEMAND updates from me. and "tell me you plan on updating and finishing // can you at least share with us the fic plans so we can have some closure" is not asking nicely. that's demanding. YES, anon gave me a compliment and they said "with all respect and love." but they're STILL demanding performance from me, and that's not okay. the anon is making it sound like i owe you "closure" (even though this is a work of fiction, not a break-up you're going through, and i think the word "closure" is a VERY dramatic one to use.)

once again (because apparently i LITERALLY CANNOT emphasise it enough) i do not actually owe you anything. i, katie singsweetmelodies, owe you NOTHING. i do not owe you updates or fic plans or whatever the case may be. i might choose to share them with you, yes, but on my own schedule, since they're MY creations made in MY free time.

right. got that off my chest. gosh. NOW! one other thing that i want to make very, very clear before i end this off - i do not give my permission for anyone to "adopt" my work or to write a continuation of it. i am the one who's put in the hours to write all the setup we have so far. i'm not letting someone else benefit off that. if you so badly want a fake dating fic with the conclusion already ready, then you are more than welcome to put in the hours and create it from scratch yourself. but for someone else to take over my work and take it in a direction i probably won't even like? no. absolutely not. permission emphatically NOT granted.

anon: i'm sorry if you feel that this reply is unnecessarily harsh. but this could not have come at a worse time for me, because i really did talk about the importance of treating writers like people just here, just a day or two ago. needless to say, it really struck a very bad chord with me to get an ask like this right after i took pains to explain, publicly, why these kinds of asks are not okay.

i really am happy that you are enjoying the fake dating fic. and i do appreciate that you tried to tell me that, even though the way you did it was completely out of line. i hope that this answer won't... preclude you from enjoying the fic in the future? or something? i'm not sure, to be honest. the whole thing has left rather a bad taste in my mouth.

but one thing i will say to anyone reading this: i know it's been a long time, but just bear with me. i mean it when i say that there will be an update eventually. no, i can't tell you when. i'm not even going to try and give you a schedule, because like i said, i'm a human and not a writing machine. but the fake dating fic is very close to my heart, and i want to see it finished someday just as much as you do. ❤️

(P.S. - if anyone was very worried reading the first part of this answer: NO, i am not actually going to delete the fake dating fic!!! i was just using a very dramatic example, lmao. the fake dating fic is one of my favourite things i've written, and despite the slight... mess... about its updates recently, that's not going to change anytime soon. 💙)

[sparklingchim]

two asks from me in a span of 24hs, who would have thought? but i had to drop by to boo that anon 🍅🍅🍅🍅 who complained about how ego season is constructed. it's clearly meant to be a fun project for you, darly, and i'm sure you're also working on it as a sort of "palate cleanser" for ylm, which even though it must be great to work on, i'm sure it can also be emotional (we, as readers, are moved, so how could you not, as the author, be moved by the story as well?). if you don't wish to do much of an exploration into emotional complexity that's valid, and as i said in my previous ask, anything you do is appreciated. to the anon, maybe ego season is just not the story for you; darly has plenty of other fics that you might find more to your taste, and if not, a whole platform chock-full of jk fics! i'm sure you didn't mean to come off as mean but still! darly's always been intentional about her fics and if she's not interested (whether now, or at all) on developing the story in a more emotional sense, it's her choice and not all fics have to be a rollercoaster ride. sometimes it can just be fun and a reprieve

take care, anon, and i hope you find a story more to your liking

and to my darly, lots of love as always!

bloom 💐

bloom my bestie !!! yeah, i don't think they meant to come off as mean, but then again, it baffles me every time i read asks like that bc they're so demanding n seem so entitled. esp when i have more asks sitting in my inbox with negative n rude undertones :') but anyway, thank u for the sweet words !! love u so much bloom <3

[redundant2]

Valentine Low's book Courtiers, Part 2: Tiaragate

Interesting excerpts from the book, Part 2

Much has been said and speculated about in regard to the tiara worn by Meghan at her wedding to Harry. Here is what Valentine Low had to say about "Tiaragate" in his book, which was published before The Queen passed away:

"Being a royal would always mean dressing up -- and for the women, that meant jewellery. The Queen would sometimes lend pieces to existing and incoming members of the royal family. It was a gesture of welcome and support, but it could lead to problems."

"In the months before Harry's wedding to Meghan Markle in May 2018, Meghan was told that the Queen would lend her a tiara for the big day, just as she had done for Kate Middleton seven years earlier. An appointment was made in February for Meghan to look at a shortlist of appropriate tiaras at Buckingham Palace. Accompanied by Harry, and under the watchful eye of Angela Kelly, the Queen's dresser, who is also curator of the Queen's jewellery, Meghan opted for Queen Mary's Diamond Bandeau Tiara. So far, so good. Despite some confusing reports, there was no row about which tiara Meghan could have. She got her first choice. It was what happened afterwards that was the problem."

"Wearing a tiara is not a straightforward business. Hair and tiara have to be considered together, and Meghan needed to be sure her hairdresser had an opportunity to rehearse before the day itself. Unfortunately, on the day that her hairdresser, Serge Normant was in town, Angela Kelly --who has a very close relationship with Her Majesty and is an influential figure at Buckingham Palace -- was not available.

Serge Normant, Meghan's wedding hairdresser

"And if Angela Kelly was not available, neither was the tiara. In Harry's view, this was Kelly being obstructive, plain and simple. According to Finding Freedom, a decidedly pro-Harry and Meghan account of the couple's life together, Kelly had ignored repeated requests from Kensington Palace to set up a date for a hair trial. And Harry was furious. 'Nothing could convince Harry that some of the old guard at the Palace simply didn't like Meghan and would stop at nothing to make her life difficult,' wrote the book's authours, Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand."

(I ... don't think this book quote means what the authors meant it to say. Maybe they meant to write that Harry felt the old guard at the Palace were out to block Meghan, and nothing would convince him otherwise? Tell me Finding Freedom wasn't edited well without telling me...)

"But there is another version: that it wasn't a snub, and that Harry and Meghan were naive at best, entitled at worst, to expect others to jump to their command when they hadn't even bothered to make an appointment. As a source told the Mail on Sunday:"

"'Meghan demanded access to the tiara. She didn't make an appointment with Angela, but said, "We're at Buckingham Palace, we want the tiara. Can we have it now please?" Angela essentially said, "I'm very sorry, but that's not how it works. There's protocol in place over these jewels. They're kept under very tight lock and key. You can't turn up and demand to have the tiara just because your hairdresser happens to be in town."'

"This did not go down well with Harry. He tried to get what Meghan wanted by ringing others to put pressure on Kelly to bend the rules, and in the course of his less-than-diplomatic efforts is said to have used some fairly fruity language. Whether Harry swore at his grandmother's aide, or about her, is not clear; either way, it is probably language that Kelly, the daughter of a Liverpool docks crane driver, has heard before. She is a forthright individual, who has not earned the nickname AK-47 for nothing. But she wasn't impressed. She reported all this to the Queen, who summoned Harry to a private meeting. 'He was firmly put in his place,' a source said. 'He had been downright rude.'

It was a very simple lesson: don't mess with AK-47."

From the book Courtiers by Valentine Low, pp 125-126.

Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth II, American Vogue editor Anna Wintour and Angela Kelly, the Queen's dresser.

This is a great book, and I highly recommend reading it. It's chock full of interesting anecdotes. There is quite a bit more interesting info about Angela Kelly, who seems to have been somewhat sidelined since the Queen's passing. I do hope that Kelly did get the grace-and-favour home that the Queen had promised her for life, as she seemed to loyally protect the Queen at all times.

In regard to the tiara worn by Meghan at her wedding to Harry, some have speculated that it was a replica of Queen Mary's Diamond Bandeau, with moissanite gems instead of real diamonds - due to the way the light reflected on the stones. Would be interested if anyone has further thoughts or expertise on that theory, if you'd like to share.

I'll share more in subsequent posts about Angela Kelly, and of course, about the courtiers' version of events surrounding Harry and Meghan.

[renthony]

#legit some of y'all are so entitled#most of these fan artists are doing this for fun#same with the fic writers#they don't get paid#unless someone commissions something#but y'all are still out here being super entitled about that person catering to your personal taste#they're a person too!#they have their own tastes and preferences!#also don't just go into someone's inbox and demand that they update fics#especially when they've already publicly posted about needing a break#*side-eyes everyone demanding updates from a winx club fic author*#also when you do that on anon doesn't that just feel so entitled?#like you don't even have the decency to ask off anon?#or do you just know that it's rude and you don't want it traced back to you?

I don't disagree with your tags, but to clarify: I am 100% talking about original works and the source material that fandoms form around. People get it in their heads that the writers and artists and performers behind their favorite blorbo are the rich bigwigs in the studio exec office, but they're not. They're human beings, likely being underpaid and horribly exploited.

This is about the writers' room on your favorite TV show. This is about the character designers. This is about the voice actors. This is about the storyboard artists. This is about the sound designers. This is about every member of the production and creative teams.

They're human beings, too, and entirely too many people think that it's okay to blatantly harass and bully them on social media just because, oh, well, if Thing is popular, clearly Thing is made by rich influential people that they're allowed to bully for fun.

People are allowed to dislike something. They're even allowed to hate it, and talk about how much they think it sucks. But when they start directly tagging the artists, blasting their hate directly in all the places the creators can see it, and just being nasty? It's shitty. It's mean. It makes artists not want to make art anymore. And it's true for the artists making your blorbos just as much as it's true for fan artists. No artist likes being directly tagged and told, "hey, your art sucks and I think you should do it my way instead."

If I went and read reviews of my book on Goodreads and got upset at a negative one, that's my own fault for seeking out the criticism. But if someone tags me on Twitter to tell me all about how they think my writing is lazy, I should redo the entire thing, and they could do it better? That's not acceptable. It wouldn't be acceptable over a fanfic, but it's not acceptable over my original fiction, either.

The curse of modern fandom is that it has allowed fans to get even closer to artists, but they won't view the artists as people.

Human limits, human mistakes, human feelings, human needs, are never ascribed to artists, and when other fans rightfully point out, "hey, humans are making this, maybe don't harass them or demand they cater to your personal tastes," it gets shut down under, "uh, people who make popular mainstream things are automatically Public Figures who are also probably rich, so eat the rich and destroy artists over every perceived minor fault. <3"

Even though there's, y'know, a really big strike currently going on because those artists are very much not rich or influential or in control of the bullshit.

[zorlok-if]

A Gentle Reminder

I always try to keep things positive, but I saw something tonight which really upset me and felt the need to say this.

For most writers, interactive fiction stories are free passion projects. Hobbies which we engage in simply because we want to. Writers should never feel bad if they aren't finding the time to write or meeting deadlines that they've set for themselves. By the same token, people have no right to demand content or complain about how long it takes to produce something.

There are some people who write at a breakneck pace or who are able to make a living just writing IF, but readers can't hold all writers to the standards of outliers. Sometimes writers don't have time to write, no matter how much they may want to. Writers should never feel guilty for this and people shouldn't try to make them feel guilty either. Sending authors rude anonymous asks is not productive and I imagine they aren't particularly satisfying for the people who ask them. All they are is upsetting to those who receive them.

If the goal of an ask is to spur a writer to complete work faster, being negative and demanding is not an effective way to accomplish this.

If there is any way to help a writer produce content faster - and again, if - then it's by supporting them and cheering them on. Not anonymously making them feel bad for not creating something at a speed that's to your liking.

If you want to encourage a writer to write, then support them.

You can do that through nice asks, reblogging their posts, sharing their stories with friends, rating their games highly (if they've released them), or even tipping them on ko-fi/supporting their patreon (if they have one). Positive interaction - in general - works wonders. Let them know how excited you are, share your positive comments with them, or just gush about whatever thoughts you have on their game. That's how you help motivate people. Not by trying to make them feel bad. If you're uncomfortable with the social aspect of this, that's what anon is for.

But, if people are nice to an author, that doesn't mean they're owed anything. It might still be a while before readers see more content, but that's no reason to stop being supportive. Again, these are free projects that writers choose to share.

Writers don't owe anything to anyone but themselves.

Now there are times for criticism if it's constructive or warranted, but entitled complaints are neither of these things. Don't be negative if you don't have to be. It doesn't help anything and it's not a productive use of anyone's time.

Being kind and respectful doesn't cost anything. It's just a choice. You can either choose to upset someone or choose to make someone's day and, with that, help make our community a better place.

To the vast majority of readers who already support authors and respect the content that they create, thank you. We appreciate you so much. If you want, try challenging yourself to be even more vocal and outspoken with you support. It will only help.

And to any writers reading this who may be feeling bad about project timelines, you have no reason to be. Complete your work however you need to at whatever pace works for you and your life. You're wonderful and talented and valid no matter how fast you put out content, how much interaction you see, or what someone says. You are creating art and that is something to be immensely proud of. Keep doing whatever's best for you. The vast majority of us support you with no expectations. ❤️

[evanescent-tranquility]

Comment Etiquette

Hey guys I have a little bit of a vent. It's probably preaching to the choir, considering who my followers are, but I have to say it...

If you leave a comment either here or on AO3....

Don't just say 'update soon' or 'please update' or 'when are you updating'?

Firstly, you're not even telling the author you enjoy their story, or encouraging them, for me and several other authors it's in fact the exact opposite of encouraging. The language just seems demanding and rude.

It's like the equivalent of someone bringing cookies to work, because they were generous and felt like sharing, and then having someone walk up and demand to know when they're bringing in cookies again. This without even saying thank you or giving any sort of compliment to let you know you appreciated their time and effort.

Instead try saying things like 'I really loved this, and I hope you update soon' or 'I'm really looking forward to seeing what you do with this'

It conveys the same thing without feeling like you're making a demand.

Don't comment just to say you're no longer going to read/follow because you no longer like the story/their writing for whatever reason.

It's just flat out rude and entitled that you feel the need to announce yourself. The writer probably wouldn't have even noticed if you no longer read their works, or followed them. The only reason you'd tell them is to draw attention to your leaving, and to try to make them feel bad about it.

Please don't waste your time or theirs.

Don't make demands of the author or tell them you don't want to see something in their story.

It's absolutely okay to leave comments mentioning ideas like 'oh have you ever considered this' or 'oh what if the story went this way' those are fine, and so long as you're polite whether the author accepts your suggestion or not, more than welcome.

However, don't ever tell an author 'don't write this' or 'you shouldn't do it this way' because frankly, it's not your place to decide what they do or don't write. It's not your story, and your opinion is just one of the many people reading, it's not the be all end all of opinions.

The biggest one I get is, 'please include smut' or the opposite 'please don't write any smut' or 'don't write this specific type of smut' insisting that it will somehow ruin the story. If you don't like the smut part of it, don't read it. Most stories including my own have proper tags and are labeled as Explicit or Mature for a reason.

Smut is almost never essential to a story's plot either, so there's no reason you can't just skip over it!

Sorry if this was long and a bit of a rant, but if you can't tell I'm a bit frustrated. I know a lot of people mean well with their comments, so I hope this will educate those that do mean well! I hope you're all doing well today, drinking lots of water and staying safe! 😊💖

[rosemary-is-in-pesterquest]

ooh! I have thoughts on Eridan!

okay so, to me, Eridan ties into this thing that homestuck has going on with a lot of its more morally grey characters... the question of how responsible young people are for their negative qualities and actions, and where the age threshold for personal responsibility is.

the characters in homestuck all straddle this line between being young enough to consider them victims of the forces that influence them, while also old enough to understand what they're doing and how it affects others... especially because a lot of these kids come off as really smart for their age, and very precocious. we've all been through phases in our lives that make us cringe, not because we're ashamed of something harmless, but because we recognize that we had absorbed something harmful, and took longer than we wish we had to unlearn it. it could be as simple as being kind of a jerk in a misguided attempt to seem cool, or as dramatic as actually hurting someone in an attempt to remedy one's own insecurities by putting down others to seem better by comparison... but how far can you push that before people aren't willing to forgive? before people abandon the notion that better guidance and more appropriate role models could reform someone? and it's especially interesting when you consider how old homestuck's core audience might've been when they first encountered this story, and how it affected their perception of the characters if they saw them as peers, rather than as children from an adult's perspective.

so to talk about Eridan, I wanna frame this in terms of his classpect, because it actually goes a long way towards contextualizing his behavior. Eridan is a prince of hope, meaning that he destroys hope or uses hope to destroy... and this can be seen in practically every conversation he has. if Eridan is contacting someone, it is because he expects something of them. advice, or consolation, or a solution to a problem he's having... it's always something. when he contacts Kanaya, he wants her to auspistize between him and Vriska. when he contacts Feferi, he wants her to give him encouragement, and maybe date him when he asks. and in every case, the way he demands these things by being rude, whiny, or self pitying, makes people reluctant or unwilling to give him what he expects. he destroys what he hopes to obtain.

it goes deeper than that though. Eridan has absorbed this ideology of sea dweller superiority from living on Alternia... and he actually takes it way farther than it even makes sense to. the aristocracy on Alternia use the lower class for all sorts of menial work that they feel entitled not to have to do themselves. they might have the ability to freely cull individual low bloods for any reason, but eradicating all land dwelling trolls would leave a lot of unpleasant yet necessary tasks with no one to do them. I don't think Eridan actually wants to live in a reality where sea dwellers have to pick up the slack of doing things like sanitation work, or construction or something... but another concept that is heavily tied to the hope aspect is delusion. Eridan is exaggerating. he's trying to agree with Alternia's ruthless class structure so hard that it's actually kind of absurd. but Feferi calls him on that... she says she thinks that he self sabotages on purpose. because he knows, at least in some capacity, that the consequences of getting what he "wants" would actually be really uncomfortable to live with.

so not only is Eridan's goal to destroy... it is also a false goal that he constantly undermines. and all of his waffling between grandstanding and self pity destroys his romantic prospects, which are what he actually seems to want the most.

if you look at the way Eridan pursues relationships, he actually makes a lot of logical sense, but not a lot of emotional sense. he's idealized the act of perfectly filling the relationship requirements of each quadrant. he wants Feferi to be his matesprit, which is purely based on the fact that she's high enough on the hemospectrum to be an appropriate match in terms of status. he wants Vriska to be his kismesis, and Kanaya to be their auspistice, and there are hints that Karkat might've been someone he was considering for moiraillegience, though it wasn't emphasized as much. and there you go! his goal is specific, but it's based more on ideals than on the actual needs and feelings of the people involved, and it's totally self centered... he always wants them to cater to his own needs. the reason why he gets as nihilistic as he does on the meteor, is because all of his endeavors to achieve these relationships are falling through. he feels like he has no hope of mending his existing connections, because he still only sees them in terms of people either giving him, or not giving him, what he wants. but the rest of their race is dead. as the last twelve trolls in existence, they only have each other as romantic options. and as Eridan gets more and more desperate, he gets more and more demanding, which is the exact quality that drives everyone away from him to begin with, and it culminates in him having a "if I can't have what I want then nobody can have any of their hopes either" meltdown.

to backtrack a bit, I wanna reconsider questions such as, when is a kid old enough to be held responsible for their own negative qualities? like... when are you comfortable with ceasing to blame environmental factors? when are they just a bad person? is it after they've refused a certain number of chances to make better choices? when do they reach an age, or level of bad behavior, that makes you think they can't be helped to reform from these negative qualities? where does an adult lose their patience for the idea that a kid is just a victim of their upbringing?

obviously Feferi is Eridan's peer, but these are basically the questions she grapples with when she talks to Eridan. it's like growing up next door to a kid whose parents have some aggressively wrong-headed political stances. as you grow, that kid might mirror their parents' way of thinking... and by the time the two of you are in your teens, it's hard to ignore how much of a jerk that kid is becoming. but you've seen them at every step of their development. you know where it comes from. maybe theirs is the dominant political belief in the community, even if your own parents aren't like that. maybe you wonder if you would've agreed with them if you grew up under their circumstances. you've felt the pressure, but you haven't lived in it like they have, and maybe if they just had the chance to grow up under different conditions, they wouldn't be this way. and you are aware that you could be an influence on them... maybe they need you to help them see another perspective. you always got along so well as kids. when did things even change? and that's kind of where I imagine Feferi is at when we're introduced to her and Eridan. it's a crossroads between believing that you might still matter enough to them to change their outlook, and the persistence of their ingrained beliefs. it's tiring to do that kind of work, over a long period of time, to minimal results. when is the appropriate time to give up? in this way, Feferi's own hopes for Eridan fade over time. she says at one point that she was mainly acting as his moirail so he wouldn't try to underfeed her lusus and kill the land dwellers that way. she's not sure how serious he is, and she can't take that risk. deep down, I'm pretty sure Eridan knew he was never actually going to commit a genocide... but his need to grandstand, and legitimate belief in his caste superiority, had convinced Feferi enough that she still felt obligated to manage him as though he was a real threat.

these characters are thirteen years old. they're right at the edge of childhood and adolescence... right at the age where children aren't quite so innocent. they want to assert themselves. they aren't mature, so there's a lot of responsibility that they still shouldn't be trusted with yet, but they've become aware enough to feel like that's demeaning, and to want to be taken seriously. in an effort to make people acknowledge them without looking down on them, they'll try just about anything. they don't have the experience to know what they're doing yet, so it doesn't always work in their favor, and that's frustrating. you can see bits and pieces of this in homestuck's characters. like with the way they try to paint themselves as an authority on something, or shit talk each other in order to emphasize their own strengths. it's a really interesting theme, because homestuck pushes some of these young characters really far in terms of how bad the things they've done can be, or how much their lived experiences have taught them that what they're doing is acceptable. they can be really self aware in some ways, and come off as really childish in others. it's hard to know what you'd do about them in real life... and your answer changes depending on your own age and perspective. it's a really cool gray area to poke around in, and homestuck is excellent at it.

wtf I like Eridan now

[oloreaa]

im not going to say i havent read rd because i have consumed all the current chapters but i got the fuck out of dodge when it gained a # on tiktok cause it was starting to give me after vibes (you know what harry styles fic thats been turned into a movie). However i did check the authors blog and she has seen more and more hateful things in her inbox with already isnt a fun thing but as far as im aware Rd is her comfort fic and shes only online to post the chapters and post updates, reblog some stuff but shit I feel like the people read rd are the ones that get weirdly fussy when you have a different opinion (as weve unfortunately seen).

I did follow a fanartist (on tiktok) who did do alot of art for rd and the majority of it had a white reader and someone did reach out and ask if the artist had considered creating a piece were the reader was poc/bipoc and the artist responded with a simple no then went on the post a tiktok saying that people were complaining over her interpretation of 'sweet girl'. Im sorry but the balls on that artist to completely disregard poc/bipoc voices and to call it complaining. Na i got out so quick cause an artist like that doesnt deserve the engagement they get if theyre going to disregard poc/bipoc opinions as complaining.

Whats this thing where people are substituting an fic for another when the original hant been updated? i mean go consume other content while waiting for an update yh but dont go tell the writer that their fic is keeping you tied over until the new update on another fic. What thats just fucking rude, harmful and a confident kicker specially for the smaller writers on this hellsite.

Im sorry sorry about the seemingly never ending ask and Im sorry that those hatefully/bitter people on anon feel like they had enough balls to come for u for having a difference in opinion. I do propose yeeting the hate/negative anons, just throw em as far as you can. Love you tho, your works beautiful and i wouldnt change you or your work for the world.

Hey Blue!! I really wish nothing but the best for the writer because no one, absolutely no one deserves hate anons. They're absolutely horrible and suck the joy out of everything, and I really hope that they can still find solace in their fic. No one should have their comfort taken away by entitled people, and it's not fair for them.

That artist should really be ashamed for being that tone deaf, especially since I cannot imagine that the readers of colour have been unreasonably demanding or invaded their space for it with hateful comments, like entitled white readers occasionally do.

Thank you so much for this ask and for your encouraging words, I appreciate them a lot!❤

[bananannabeth]

Have you seen lesbabeths's posts about fic writers asking for reviews? I know you like getting reviews, what do you think of what they're saying? I think they're being harsh on writers who put a lot of effort in to sharing stories for free.

I just went and read them, and I can see where Fee’s coming from... Honestly, I’ve never given it much thought from the perspective of a reader before, which is obviously selfish and dumb of me. I’m sorry for any posts I’ve written or shared that have ever made anyone feel guilty for not commenting. 

I get a lot of feedback on my fics. It’s amazing how enthusiastic my readers are, and I am beyond grateful for every single one of you who has ever left a kudos/favourite, a comment/review or sent me an ask about anything I’ve written. Hearing your thoughts is what inspires me to keep writing, and half of my fics wouldn’t even exist in the first place without your prompts or discussions. I owe you a lot.

So I can definitely see how it can seem rude and ungrateful of me to reblog those posts complaining about how scarce reviews are. I’m sorry for that.

When I reblog them, I’m thinking of two things; 

1. I know that I am lucky. I know that I am in the minority. Not every fic writer gets as much feedback as I do; not every writer gets any feedback. So I reblog those posts for them, because I know the difference a single comment can make to someone’s confidence.

or

2. I’m thinking of those people who demand updates. Who send in prompts with no pleases and thank yous, who send threats and deadlines - ‘update or else!’ - or who just don’t engage with the finished product at all, who treat fic writers like machines. More often than not, these are the people I’m thinking of as I read those posts. The ones who ask for something and then, when they get it, can’t even be bothered to send feedback about it. Or the people who read and really enjoy a fic, who add it to their update notifications and eagerly wait for a new chapter but who don’t let the author know simply because they can’t be bothered. Yes, you’re entitled to that. Yes, you don’t owe me anything. But it’s just not very nice.

I know that not everyone is going to agree with me on that. And I realise now that my motivations aren’t clear from the reblogged posts alone. It was obvious to me that I wasn’t talking to people who have anxiety issues about leaving feedback, but that wasn’t explicit and that isn’t good enough. I’m sorry for that.

I don’t want people to feel guilted or pressured into leaving feedback on something they don’t want to, or something they didn’t enjoy.

But I will continue to ask, politely, for reviews. I don’t mean to sound demanding or ungrateful of people who lurk and read silently, but if you don’t have anxiety or something else that prevents you from leaving feedback, though, please consider doing so.

I know that posting fic doesn’t guarantee feedback and interaction with others. I know that fandom culture is all about putting yourself and your work out there for the hell of it and that you’re not owed anything in return. I’m sorry if I’ve ever demanded anything of my readers, because I do truly appreciate you simply taking the time to read my stuff, whether you lurk or you send extensive feedback.

But when real life responsibilities are getting in the way, if I don’t think anyone is reading a fic, I’m not going to give it priority. If something’s not getting feedback, it’s not going to be updated. So you leaving comments and reviews is a win-win; it boosts the writer’s confidence and it ups the odds of you getting to read another chapter.

I know that I haven’t done a great job of expressing myself here. I know that there’s probably a bunch of contradictions, and I’m not sure, really, how to simplify my point of view to something concise and coherent. 

My perspective on fandom is that it’s all about interacting with other people who love the same things you do, and so even though I respect people’s rights to not leave feedback on fic, I don’t really understand why you wouldn’t leave a comment on something that you enjoyed reading. 

Basically, I suppose, readers don’t owe writers anything. Writers are not entitled to reviews and comments simply by virtue of sharing their stuff online. But, by that same logic, readers are not entitled to writers’ work if they discontinue it due to lack of feedback.