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How (not) to comment on fanfics
So let's say you read a story, really enjoyed it, and want to tell the author how much you enjoyed it! What you DON'T want to do is make the author unhappy, angry, or dread your name popping up in their inbox.
1. Best feedback!
Basically you can't go wrong with all variations on:
- This story was great!
- I really enjoyed this story.
- Thank you for writing this!
- I loved the part where [thing that happens in story]
- Quotes of your favorite bits from the story. (Authors love having favorite bits quoted at them. Trust me on this.)
- Very nice!
- ♥ ♥ ♥
- I liked this.
- You nailed the character dynamics.
- The character voices are great; it really sounds like them!
.... and so forth. Long comments are always loved, but just a simple "Great story!" will do very nicely and make your author happy. If you want to leave long thinky feedback, authors LOVE comments (well, at least I do) that talk in depth about the choices made in the story, the way the characters dealt with things that happened in the story, cute or funny bits, how you felt about the ending, and so forth. But short is also fine; don't feel bad about just saying "Great!" or "Fun!" and leave it at that. We like those too!
Personally, I also love comments pointing out typos, canon inconsistencies, talking critically about my storytelling choices, etc, but not everyone does; you should query via PM before offering concrit to someone if you're not sure.
And when in doubt, there is always the Kudos button on AO3.
2. May not be taken as you intend: complimenting the story by obliquely comparing the source canon unfavorably to it. (Although, see also this thread in the comments where there is a great deal more discussion of this, which is making me think about the issue a bit differently!)
Okay, I freely admit that this may be an unusual pet peeve. As with concrit, some authors probably don't mind; I'm sure some love it. But my Jennifer Keller days in SGA (and now with Peter and various female characters on White Collar) has given me with a general dread of this kind of feedback. It's not really one comment like this, it's the gloomy inevitability of a bunch of them, especially when writing about an unpopular character.
The thing is, I know that people mean well, and in these examples (all based upon actual feedback), the unfavorable comparison is slight enough that I don't think most people even thought of it as that unfavorable. And I certainly don't want to single anyone out and make anyone feel bad for having said something along these lines. This sort of feedback is not the worst thing ever, but is perhaps best saved for stories where you know that you and the author are on the same page about the show's writing or the portrayal of Character X, because otherwise you're basically saying "I think your story is very OOC" and that's not really as much of a compliment as one might hope for.
Examples:
- I wish the writers wrote [x] like this.
- I would really love [character x] if they were written on the show like you write them!
- This is the version of [character x] I fell in love with in season one.
- This brings back what I used to love about the characters.
- I wish this part of the show actually had happened like this.
Basically: I know people mean well with this kind of thing, and most authors probably don't mind (or may like it), but please be aware it may be taken as less of a compliment than you intend. Again, knowing the author agrees with you on whatever point you're making goes a looooong way toward avoiding an accidental insult. If the author thinks that Character X's portrayal on the show is inconsistent and misogynistic, then they will probably like hearing that they've done it better; but if they love Character X on the show and tried to write her as faithfully as possible, then it's not very complimentary to hear that they've failed.
3. Don't EVER do this unless you know the author agrees with you: talking in detail about qualities you dislike in the show or the character.
If you know the author is on the same page with you about this -- if the two of you have talked about it, or if they've just recently written a post on how much they hate the writing this season -- then go for it. Otherwise, this is basically the feedback equivalent of coming into someone's squee post and harshing on it. Don't do this. Or, at least, don't be surprised if you get snapped at if you do. Because you are being rude.
Such as:
- I would rather have your version of [character x] than the abusive caricature on the show.
- I don't know why the writers have made [character x] such an obnoxious bitch this season.
- I hate how awful [character x] is. [goes on for a paragraph about how awful Character X is]
- [Character x] is so nasty and emotionally manipulative, I don't know why everyone else puts up with him.
- The writing is horrible this season; I wish [your story] was how things had happened instead.
- This story reminds me of the show I used to like, before this season ruined everything. [goes on for a paragraph about all the many ways the show has been ruined]
I'm going to pick on one particular comment as an example of the latter sort just to indicate that I'm not being hypothetical with these examples. From a sweet, character-positive h/c episode tag to the most recent White Collar episode, may I present the following comment: ....your story makes me feel better, because Peter was being nice instead of incredibly emotionally abusive. Even though Peter doesn't know Neal heard, it will have a dramatic impact on Neal's psyche that Peter basically told Jones that he regrets taking Neal on. I don't like this emotionally abusive cycle Peter is on.
I've gotten a few of these too. Unless your objective is to make the author await your username in their inbox with the joyous anticipation normally reserved for dentist visits and large spiders in the bathroom ... do not do this.
The above is totally subjective and non-definitive, obviously. And most of the feedback I've gotten lately has been absolutely lovely! But this sort of thing was a big reason why I left SGA fandom, and seeing it happen in White Collar is very sad.
1. Best feedback!
Basically you can't go wrong with all variations on:
- This story was great!
- I really enjoyed this story.
- Thank you for writing this!
- I loved the part where [thing that happens in story]
- Quotes of your favorite bits from the story. (Authors love having favorite bits quoted at them. Trust me on this.)
- Very nice!
- ♥ ♥ ♥
- I liked this.
- You nailed the character dynamics.
- The character voices are great; it really sounds like them!
.... and so forth. Long comments are always loved, but just a simple "Great story!" will do very nicely and make your author happy. If you want to leave long thinky feedback, authors LOVE comments (well, at least I do) that talk in depth about the choices made in the story, the way the characters dealt with things that happened in the story, cute or funny bits, how you felt about the ending, and so forth. But short is also fine; don't feel bad about just saying "Great!" or "Fun!" and leave it at that. We like those too!
Personally, I also love comments pointing out typos, canon inconsistencies, talking critically about my storytelling choices, etc, but not everyone does; you should query via PM before offering concrit to someone if you're not sure.
And when in doubt, there is always the Kudos button on AO3.
2. May not be taken as you intend: complimenting the story by obliquely comparing the source canon unfavorably to it. (Although, see also this thread in the comments where there is a great deal more discussion of this, which is making me think about the issue a bit differently!)
Okay, I freely admit that this may be an unusual pet peeve. As with concrit, some authors probably don't mind; I'm sure some love it. But my Jennifer Keller days in SGA (and now with Peter and various female characters on White Collar) has given me with a general dread of this kind of feedback. It's not really one comment like this, it's the gloomy inevitability of a bunch of them, especially when writing about an unpopular character.
The thing is, I know that people mean well, and in these examples (all based upon actual feedback), the unfavorable comparison is slight enough that I don't think most people even thought of it as that unfavorable. And I certainly don't want to single anyone out and make anyone feel bad for having said something along these lines. This sort of feedback is not the worst thing ever, but is perhaps best saved for stories where you know that you and the author are on the same page about the show's writing or the portrayal of Character X, because otherwise you're basically saying "I think your story is very OOC" and that's not really as much of a compliment as one might hope for.
Examples:
- I wish the writers wrote [x] like this.
- I would really love [character x] if they were written on the show like you write them!
- This is the version of [character x] I fell in love with in season one.
- This brings back what I used to love about the characters.
- I wish this part of the show actually had happened like this.
Basically: I know people mean well with this kind of thing, and most authors probably don't mind (or may like it), but please be aware it may be taken as less of a compliment than you intend. Again, knowing the author agrees with you on whatever point you're making goes a looooong way toward avoiding an accidental insult. If the author thinks that Character X's portrayal on the show is inconsistent and misogynistic, then they will probably like hearing that they've done it better; but if they love Character X on the show and tried to write her as faithfully as possible, then it's not very complimentary to hear that they've failed.
3. Don't EVER do this unless you know the author agrees with you: talking in detail about qualities you dislike in the show or the character.
If you know the author is on the same page with you about this -- if the two of you have talked about it, or if they've just recently written a post on how much they hate the writing this season -- then go for it. Otherwise, this is basically the feedback equivalent of coming into someone's squee post and harshing on it. Don't do this. Or, at least, don't be surprised if you get snapped at if you do. Because you are being rude.
Such as:
- I would rather have your version of [character x] than the abusive caricature on the show.
- I don't know why the writers have made [character x] such an obnoxious bitch this season.
- I hate how awful [character x] is. [goes on for a paragraph about how awful Character X is]
- [Character x] is so nasty and emotionally manipulative, I don't know why everyone else puts up with him.
- The writing is horrible this season; I wish [your story] was how things had happened instead.
- This story reminds me of the show I used to like, before this season ruined everything. [goes on for a paragraph about all the many ways the show has been ruined]
I'm going to pick on one particular comment as an example of the latter sort just to indicate that I'm not being hypothetical with these examples. From a sweet, character-positive h/c episode tag to the most recent White Collar episode, may I present the following comment: ....your story makes me feel better, because Peter was being nice instead of incredibly emotionally abusive. Even though Peter doesn't know Neal heard, it will have a dramatic impact on Neal's psyche that Peter basically told Jones that he regrets taking Neal on. I don't like this emotionally abusive cycle Peter is on.
I've gotten a few of these too. Unless your objective is to make the author await your username in their inbox with the joyous anticipation normally reserved for dentist visits and large spiders in the bathroom ... do not do this.
The above is totally subjective and non-definitive, obviously. And most of the feedback I've gotten lately has been absolutely lovely! But this sort of thing was a big reason why I left SGA fandom, and seeing it happen in White Collar is very sad.
no subject
I suspect whether or not most authors appreciate comparisons like that depends a lot not just on the quality and consistency of the canon, but also on the tone of the canon (do a lot of well-written but horribly distressing things happen, as in Game of Thrones?) and on the kind of fic it is (though not always - back in 2009, Marvel comics canon had become so unrelentingly grim that people were quite literally reviewing deathfics with "I wish this had happened in canon instead of the current storyline").
If a fic is openly labeled "fixit fic" or isn't labeled as such but still has characters avoid some terrible canonical fate and instead get a happier ending, authors are probably going to be more amenable to "I wish canon had happened like this" comments. I personally have gotten a lot (well, for smaller fandom values of 'a lot') of "I wish this was canon" comments on fixit fics that resurrected characters that canon had killed off, and suspect most of those were less bashing of canon and more expressions of affection for the killed-off character.
no subject
One thing that came up over in the LJ comments, too, is that fic comments, like fic itself, are in a larger dialogue with the fandom, which is influencing the kind of comments people leave and the way the author reacts to them. For example, I don't think I had a particularly bad reaction to the first couple of "I wish X in canon was like X in your fic, because I can't stand her in canon but I love her here!" comments that I got on a certain character. It was the gloomy predictability of knowing that my cheerful 1000 words of X/Y fluff was going to generate a ton of comments along those lines, combined with the fact that I was one of the few people in the fandom defending her, so the "... X is badly written but your X is much better" comments started to feel like a value judgment on my tastes, even when I knew (on a rational level, anyway) that they weren't meant that way. Saying something like "Usually I think X/Y is a terrible pairing but ..." or "I hated season 4 but this fic is pretty good anyway" or even the milder "This is much better than canon; I wish you wrote for the show!" implies a lot of things about the commenter's fannish allegiances (whether we WANT it to be that way or not) -- sometimes only because it's easier to make that kind of comment about fannishly unpopular characters or unpopular plot twists without fearing backlash. (I remember once being warned by one of my betas to change a particular scene that showed a certain very popular character in a bad light, because she was worried I'd get a lot of hate for it. As it turned out, I didn't change the scene and no one said anything about it ... but it stuck with me as a really clear example of how some characters receive WAY less criticism in fandom, because people always stand up in defense of the popular characters -- while less popular characters are open season.)