Category Archives: Fanfiction

FANFICTION READERS AND REVIEWS

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Fanfiction readers, good reviews vs bad reviews, different types of readers and reviews. Readers behaving badly.

Today I want to talk about fanfiction readers and reviews they leave. The last time I posted about fanfiction authors misbehaving and how that chosen behavior sometimes causes blowback.  I called out some of the things authors do that provide a disservice to their reader base.  Then they get angry or upset when they get bad reviews.

Today, plan to call out misbehaving readers and their reviews.

Obviously, this post isn’t about all fanfiction readers.  Most readers are careful of their word choices.  Most readers go out of their way to support their favorite authors. To these readers, I can 100% say that we authors appreciate and respect you.

However, several types of readers don’t.  If you fall into one of the following categories, then this post is for you.

Grammar Police

These is the type of fanfiction readers actively searches for mistakes in a story. Then you point them out to the (amateur) author in your review.  You make notes of every missing comma, period, or misused word.  Then, you highlight each mistake in an open review for anyone to see.

If you think you are helping the author, I can tell you that you are NOT.  All this does is openly humiliate the author in public. Pointing out ANY mistake … be it a missed or misused word, punctuation issues, or plot holes, should be done through a private message with the author.  Taking your criticism of the technical aspects of the story to a PM shows RESPECT to the author and the time he/she spent crafting the chapter.

IF the author replies that they don’t want or appreciate your ‘help,’ please respect their request.  The author isn’t interested in bettering his/her skills.  Continuing to offer ‘unwanted edits’ even in a PM will only anger and frustrate the author. In this situation, as a reader, you have two choices.  One – quit reading and move on to another story. Two – continue to read and overlook the mistakes. 

Fanfiction Readers who want to be authors

These type of fanfiction readers try to dictate the story’s plot and what the character should do.

I can promise that no author writing fanfiction wants to be told how to write their story.  The author has, most likely, already plotted the story and knows how they want it to play out. Telling the author what YOU want the characters to do in THEIR story is incredibly frustrating for an author.  If you have all these ideas for characters, then try your hand at writing your own story instead of trying to dictate how other authors write theirs.

I don’t want to hear excuses like … but I’m no author … or … I don’t know how to write.  Creating a plausible plotline is the hardest part of writing.  All the technicalities of writing can be learned. Plenty of free sites exist that will teach you how to write.  Once again, I will tout the benefits of The Critique Circle.   Or check out your local library or community college for writing classes or books. 

Now, if you don’t WANT to go through all this, that’s fine, but don’t force your ideas on others to write for you.  It’s unwanted and rude!

The Airport Reader

This is the reader who decides several chapters into a story that they no longer like something about the story.  IMO … you need to back out and move on to something else.  Instead, the airport reader will write a scathing review, turning the situation into some big announcement of their departure. 

The comment usually includes a statement declaring how disappointed the reader is with the author’s choices.  How they loved the author’s other stories, but this story disgusted, appalled, shocked, (insert word choice here)… and they can’t bring themselves to continue reading.  They make this announcement as if a plane is departing.  

IMO … there are two reasons for a reader to make such an announcement.  One, the reader feels so self-important/entitled that they think the author is writing just for them.  Two, the reader is intentionally trying to hurt the author’s self-esteem.  

Newsflash!  As an author, I can say that most of us don’t care if you’re unhappy with the direction our story is taking and we’re not writing the story for you specifically.  We write for ourselves first. If other’s enjoy our stories that’s a wonderful bonus.

However, we are not the only authors in any particular genre/fandom. There are thousands of other stories that will most likely fit your criteria for reading.  So, please don’t bother announcing your departure. It’s not needed.

The Story/Chapter Spoiler

This kind of reader is usually enthusiastic and excited about a story.  They also happen more in comments posted on links in Facebook-type groups.  They mean well (in most cases), but in their excitement they don’t consider other readers.  This reader overshares pertinent chapter/story information that leads to spoiling the anticipation for other readers.

It’s extremely frustrating for other readers to have a fresh chapter spoiled for them before they can read it.  It’s also disheartening to the author, who spent hours writing and perfecting the chapter. 

What is a good Review?

I’ve mentioned several bad types of reviewers. So, what is considered a good review? This is a review where you leave your thoughts on the chapter in a way that shows excitement without giving away spoilers. Don’t be afraid to address what you liked about a chapter.  IE: ‘I loved how Character X took responsibility for his/her actions.’   

Or show your enthusiasm by speculating what might happen next.  IE: ‘I wonder if Character X will finally take the next step? Will Character Y get in the way and prevent it from happening?’

Giving a good, well-thought-out review takes some work by the reader.  However, putting in the work shows authors you enjoy their stories, respect their time, and support their efforts. 

If you don’t want to leave that kind of review or don’t have the time, then something as simple as saying … Great chapter. Can’t wait for more.’ will work.

In Closing

REMEMBER: Reviews are optional. 

If you’re not enjoying the story, STOP READING!  Nobody but you can force you to continue reading, and nothing good will come from remaining in that negative space. Backspace out of the story and move on.  There is no need to be mean or cruel to the author.

Above all else, remember the old saying.  ‘If you don’t have something nice to say, then don’t say anything.’   Because honestly, no review is better for an author than receiving a bad review.  Especially for something they’re spending hours pouring their hearts into, and you, as the reader, are getting to enjoy for free.

Next time, I will discuss the topic of FF trolls and the failure of FF sites to protect the authors.

Let’s talk about Fanfiction

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Authors of Fanfiction, (FF), Fanfiction, Plumverse, Readers, AO3, story summary, story description, writing

Today I want to talk about fanfiction (FF).  Specifically, authors of fanfiction.

People who choose to write fanfiction are brave souls for putting themselves out there for the world to see. These authors write fanfiction for a myriad of reasons.  Some use it as a form of therapy.  Others write fanfiction because they love the characters of a book, TV show, or movie and see them in other scenarios outside of canon.  Still, others write FF because they don’t want the stress of dealing with a publisher and marketing that comes with writing original fiction. Yet, they still enjoy the writing process.

As an author, I fall into the third category. I’ve previously published original fiction but found the process stressful and eventually burned out.  In addition to my original stories, I’ve been writing fanfiction for decades. It’s invigorating to have the freedom to write what I want when I want.  Still, even writing fanfiction, I have developed a loyal reader base and, as such, feel a responsibility to that base to be as clear and transparent as possible with my work.  

For me, that means trying to give my followers the necessary information about my story so they can decide if they want to read it.   

Story Summary/Blurb

One aspect that is the same between original fiction and fanfiction is the story summary.  Now the one in fanfiction (depending on your platform) requires fewer words for the summary(blurb).  However, fanfiction offers additional options for further defining your story. Over the years, I wrote in Emergency! Fanfiction and Wrestling Fanfiction. Recently, my interest shifted to Stephanie Plum fanfiction, so, I’ll use it as an example in this post.  

 In both AO3 and fanfiction.net, the additional options include the following:

~ Genre (Adventure, Alternate Universe, Angst, Crime, Drama, etc….)

~Characters (Example: Stephanie Plum, Carlos Manoso, Joe Morelli, etc….)

~Rating (How spicy the story is or if it includes violence)

~Story length

~If the story is complete

A03 also provides content warnings for specific topics that might trigger a reader.

In addition, the plum fandom contains certain kinds of readers. (Babes = Ranger/Stephanie HEA, Cupcakes = Joe Morelli/Stephanie HEA, Tart= OC/Stephanie pairing).  Some readers don’t care about the pairing.  Others are diehard in what they want to read. 

I see more and more authors opting not to use these additional tags.  Why?  From what I’ve ascertained, the thought process of many authors is less information will force more people to read their stories.  The problem with this thinking is readers may be searching for a certain type of story.  Without a clearly defined summary, including pairing, genre, etc…the reader is going into a story blind.

Now, I’m not saying that an author has to give away the ending of a story. However, if the story is marked ‘Romance’, it’s reasonable to assume the story will end with a HEA. However, not using the tags or character pairings leaves readers wondering if they should take a chance on reading it.

Sadly, when the story doesn’t meet the reader’s expectations, that reader becomes upset about spending their valuable time on a story that didn’t meet their criteria.  The reader then leaves a negative review. The result of this negative review is an angry author.

Give and Take

I know quite a few authors who believe they don’t ‘owe’ readers anything regarding the stories they write ‘for free.’  This might be true, but the author’s lack of respect for the reader’s time and preferences is clear, and in this situation, the readers do not ‘owe’ the author a good review.

Much like any other situation in life, this IS transactional. The author writes a story, and keeping the reader in mind provides a good summary and proper tagging/info. With the proper information provided, the reader can choose to take a chance(or not) on the story. This transaction should most likely end with a positive review. This ending makes everyone happy.

When a story doesn’t meet a reader’s expectation, that reader has every right to write a negative or unhappy review.

Yes, it’s easy for authors to want to make the argument to ‘just don’t read the story’.  However, that logic is frustratingly irrational and, in this author’s opinion, quite honestly, dismissive. Again, this is just my opinion, but if authors don’t want to do the minimum to aid the reader in making an informed decision on what to read, they get what they get. 

As an author who is also a reader, I fail to understand why it is such a big deal for some authors to provide this information. If I see authors acting this way I will avoid reading their stories. 

Another type of author that I avoid reading is an author who holds their chapters hostage, until they receive a predetermined number of positive reviews. This is a guaranteed way to ensure I stop reading. I will purposely back out of any story where I see the author say that he/she won’t post the next chapter until he/she receives an ‘X’ number of positive reviews.  It doesn’t matter how good the story is.

As an author, I can say that we all enjoy receiving positive reviews.  It feeds our delicate egos and affirms that we are good at what we do.  However, coercion or bribery isn’t the way to go about it.  

IT IS NOT THE READER’S JOB TO STROKE AN AUTHOR’S EGO.

Authors who do this should take a long, hard look at their story.  If the only way you can get reviews is to use this tactic, maybe something is wrong with how you write your story.  Is the plot disjointed? Not proofread and filled with typos and punctuation errors?  Are you head-hopping without any indication of POV? Are the characters not properly developed or lacking in some way?

My advice would be to take some time to better your craft.  There are plenty of free sites to learn more about writing and hone your skills. A great one to look into is Critiquecircle.com. Otherwise, authors should prepare for the occasional (unwanted) critique or advice from a reader. This doesn’t mean the author has to consider the critique or advice. Delete it and move on if you don’t want it or disagree, but it is unfair to get angry with a reader if you haven’t done your part to the best of your abilities.

On the flip side, if you’re an author who uses fanfiction as therapy and is not interested in receiving critiques or advice on your stories, please let the readers know your position. While it won’t keep all the negative reviews away, it might help to minimize them.

You can do this in the summary or by making an author’s note at the beginning of the story’s first chapter.  Let readers know that they’re welcome to leave a review if they enjoy the story but that you’re not interested in critiques of your work or advice on how to get better. 

Whatever their reason is for writing and posting FF, authors need to remember that if you choose to put your work on the internet, where anyone can read it, there will be keyboard warriors who will ignore your requests/notes.  Unless you post only on AO3, where comments can be shut off completely, you should prepare to take the bad with the good. Remember the phrase ‘Misery loves company’ and take those critiques and nasty comments with a grain of salt.    

While this post may not seem like it, I do support my fellow authors.  I didn’t write this with the intent to shame or name.  Instead, I wanted to educate and offer easy ways to help prevent some of the increasing discourse and animosity within the FF community.

In a situation such as FF where it’s a give and take, I think Aretha Franklin said it best: RESPECT

Next time, we’ll dive into readers behaving badly.