anon memes - because my flist gets hurt
and it's me again...
since a few people on my flist are hit by this stupid thing called spnanonhaven , I feel the need to address this quickly.
I went over there to check out what they say about my fic, and I think I got lucky, because it wasn't much. There was one review that actually seemed to be okay in the way that the person posting this was talking about good and bad stuff. With some of the bad stuff I agree, with some other things I only have a different opinion. But most of the comments are utter, useless crap.
The thing is: Anon memes like that are violating the one rule I think we all agree on when it comes to fanfiction: We comment on stuff we LIKE. Not the stuff we didn't like. Just like my grandmother used to say: If you can't say something nice, say nothing at all (well, you know, in german ;P).
It's totally stupid to comment the stuff you didn't like (I'm not talking about pointing out little things like mistakes or wrong facts - I'm talking about not liking the plot, the style, the writing...), because that would mean anyone the person commenting did expect something from the writer that wasn't fulfilled. Well, newsflash: Nobody here in fandom has the right to expect anything from another writer (excluding stuff said/ not said in the story header). It's FANfiction. We're not payed to do this, we're not asked to do this, we're not forced to do this. We write because we love it, we share, because we want to see how you guys think and feel about this, we want to share, we want to give something back and we want to be a part of this. That's it.
If the story sucks, well, the lack of comments will tell us enough. But this way, we will be determined to make it better next time, we will work extra hard and extra long to write a better story. A negative comment? That one pushes us right off the horse and maybe we will never write again.
You know, if I'd comment on all the stuff I didn't like.... I mean, think about how many stories you actually really like. There are not too many, right? But that doesn't mean that the story I don't like isn't one LOVED by everyone else. In fact, I have an example. You all know the Sick Verse right? Well, I don't like that story. But I don't like it because it's simply not my thing (I have a thing with characters with low self esteem). So clearly, that is my own problem and nearly everyone in fandom loves that story to pieces. So why the Hell would I tell the other that I don't like the fic?? It simply makes no sense. She didn't write it for me, she wrote it for herself and shared it with us. She doesn't owe me anything, so clearly she doesn't owe me to write a fic I like.
So, please, writers, don't read that stuff and especially, don't let it get to you!!! Concentrate on the people who love what you do and don't care about the rest!
and jeez, of course, once I start ranting, it gets this long again. Sorry! ;P