Avelera

salt-of-the-ao3:

whenas-in-silks:

mehay1:

mikkeneko:

starspangledsteve:

but like who started the idea that fanfiction writers are somehow bothered by enthusiasm for their work???? cause i see posts all the time like “do writers really want to talk with us about their fics? Do writers really want long comments? I dont want to bother them” and i just think its absolutely ridiculous????

ofc i want to talk to you about it, and would love to hear you go on about it. i took time out of my real life to write this stuff down so we could all share these characters!!! the idea that you’re bothering a fanfiction writer, a fellow nerd, is absolutely crazy

Personally I attribute at least part of this to the shift of fandom onto Tumblr platform. Because of the way Tumblr works, multiple replies and reactions can get cluttered and overwhelming really fast, so leaving replies and feedback can be awkward. I have actually seen ‘tumblr etiquette’ posts going around scolding people for adding commentary onto posts when they reblog it! Actually discouraging  people from reacting and adding their own words!  If any of this attitude spills over onto fanfic posts and reblogs, no wonder readers are shy about adding their own words to an author’s posts.

Dear fans on tumblr: 

WE, THE AUTHORS, REALLY WANT TO HEAR YOUR COMMENTS. 

As a writer, I second this, call the motion, get a unanimous response from all writers and it’s carried.  To be clear, there’s pretty much nothing worse than feeling like you’re writing into a vacuum or black hole where no one reads your stuff and nothing much better than a long enthusiastic commentary about what a person liked and why and could they ask a question and maybe discuss a perspective – and I’ve made a LOT of GREAT friends all around the world that started out just like this, with a comment on a story.  If you don’t want to reblog, then send a note or an ask to the writer to share your comments.  We live for these kinds of comments, this feedback that what we wrote touched someone.  Tell us we made you laugh or cry and we’ll be thrilled and forever grateful.  But if leaving a long comment is too much, takes too much time, a simple ‘I really liked this,’ or ‘thanks for writing this’ is also treasured.   

I also think part of the hesitation comes from the massive stigma the outside world places on fannish enthusiasm. Readers are hesitant to talk to creators because they’re afraid of being seen as overenthusiastic or somehow weird.

I noticed this when I started writing and getting comments  like “not to be weird but I love this”  or “I didn’t comment on the other works in this series because I didn’t want to seem creepy,” and I realized that readers were intimidated by me. ME. HAVE YOU EVEN SEEN ME. But it’s exactly the way I’ve felt with authors whose works I admired.

So let me say this loud and clear:

AUTHORS ARE FANS TOO.

ARTISTS ARE FANS TOO.

ALL FAN CREATORS ARE FANS TOO.

We are the LAST people in the world to judge you for how or how much you like something and the first to understand and appreciate your enthusiasm. Because the way you love things? That’s the way we love things too. And if the things you love are the things we made, that is the greatest compliment in the world.

❤