newsbypostcard:

i’d like to diversify the way we talk about the production and the consumption of fanworks. 

many posts on this website try to create some kind of commonly held reading & response imperative when it comes to fanfiction—rules of thumb one should follow when engaging. so far as i am concerned, the only good rule is:

prioritize kindness, especially in public.

here are the two basic reactions to a fanwork: we either liked it, or we did not. maybe we liked some of it and not other parts. fine. 

when it comes to not liking something, i believe the backbutton is a gift. we are free to abandon any fic we don’t like at any time, without constraint. i believe we should use it often and freely, and—generally speaking—keep our mouths shut when we do, unless we are trying to foster a productive conversation within the subculture. i believe there is a place for critique in trends in fanfiction or within fandoms, but i don’t feel we need to isolate fics individually to do this. 

my reasons for this: fanfiction is not a monetary industry. it influences a relatively small subset of the population. in this respect it is a subculture. no one is teaching fanfiction in schools (except a select few university courses). no website is fostering cultural critique on fanfiction (except user-run ones like this one, and maybe aja). in the literary industry (industry!), money changes hands, works undergo promotional campaigns, there are book launch celebrations, works have a more widespread cultural impact to the point of potentially influencing policy. 

these seem like sufficient reasons to me to treat fanfiction differently from a book. to me, being kind about other people’s creative labour is a priority, since fanworks are being developed and shared for no reason other than to connect people who share a passion.

let me repeat that: fanworks are developed and shared for no reason other than to connect people who share a passion.

are you here to be an asshole to someone who is trying to share their passion with you?

to repeat: i think discussion of trends in fanfiction is good and important and interesting. sharing points of view is an important part of fandom! standpoint theory, my pals—something i find kind of harmful might be an absolute saving grace to someone else. enacting cruelty against other (real, flesh-and-blood) people should be avoided. sometimes that means listening when someone else is telling you they find something harmful, and sometimes that means reconsidering your stance when someone tells you it’s helpful to them. be kind. be kind and share your passions freely, but thoughtfully.

if you read a fic and didn’t like it, backbutton out and either reflect on trends or move on. 

if you read a fic and you do like it—what do you do?

personally, i do not mind, no matter what you do.

my fanworks are developed and shared for no other reason than to connect with people who share my passion. if you read it? thank you. i hope it stays with you a while. if you left kudos? this gives me helpful data on what resonated enough with people to leave kudos. if you leave a comment? this gives me sometimes highly specific data on what resonated with people, and i can bear that in mind as i produce future works! this data helps me connect with you, the readers. my fic that is currently making the rounds has gotten threefold the attention i expected it to. i almost didn’t post my most popular fic at all, but now i know that if i write fluff, we’ll probably connect on that. this is important data, and i am glad i have it. now i understand something about what people are connecting with in my works.

my fanworks are developed and shared for no other reason than to connect with people who share my passion, and kudos and comments help me understand (a) that we are connecting, as with kudos, and (b) what we are connecting on, as with comments.

there is no moral imperative to provide me with that data. here are some possible results of not leaving kudos or a comment:

• i do not have data on what is connecting with people
• i have no indication that you did not like my fic (and thank god)
• i may believe, owing to the data that’s available, that what i am doing does not connect to people, which may lead me to abandon a work or fandom given that my fanworks are developed and shared for no other reason than to connect with people who share my passion.

again, there is no moral imperative attached to any of this. if you elect, for ANY reason, not to provide me with data—you’re not killing fandom, which is the most egregious lie i’ve seen circulated on this subject (not to get specific). i just don’t have data on your reaction! that’s literally it! and that’s fine! i still made the work, it’s still in the world, you still enjoyed it! that’s a net good. 

and, to return to my earlier point regarding prioritizing kindness—i think leaving feedback is often kind, but not leaving feedback? it’s a neutral action. you’re not being unkind. an author simply doesn’t have data on your reaction. sometimes, as when you didn’t like something, staying silent on your reaction is overtly kind to that creator. you are allowing them to flourish and share their passions unimpeded by negative data. and since that’s why fanworks are developed, that’s a net good.

not leaving feedback on a work you liked is a neutral action.

feedback helps inform an author; it can make them feel really fucking good, and that means that you can impact an author who’s done good as much as they’ve affected you. it may well encourage them to create more of the things you like. wielding the power of feedback for good is an option available to you. 

but, in my books, if you read my work and enjoyed it, we connected on a shared passion, and that’s the whole point—whether you left feedback or not.

does this all read a little sterile? yeah. i’m basically saying that readers aren’t there to stoke a writer’s feelings, which often offends a writer’s ego. almost all writers have egos. mine is massive. it’s a pain in my ass. one of my fics has so many of my strongest passions in it that i’ve pouted well thoroughly because it connected with fewer people than i expected. i’m human! check out these ego guns! a lot of the time i think i’m great at this and according to my bullshit ego, an insufficient number of people confirmed my bias! but, stripping my feelings from the reality of the situation, the outcome i’m pouting about is that i received less data than i expected. my solution to this is to stop expecting data and write for the single other person who might read my fic and connect on my passions, since, as i keep repeating, that’s the whole point of creating a fanwork.

go forth and read. we could all do to worry less, and worrying about how we read fanfiction ranks really low in the list of things to worry about organized by importance. rule one is prioritize kindness. rule two is leave positive data when you like, in any form you like, or else don’t. positive feedback, both general and specific, helps writers. it benefits our craft and our spirits. positive data may yield more creations you like in the future, but not leaving data is a neutral action. 

you’ll carry our stories into the world with you either way. that’s enough to keep me writing, ego or otherwise.