Challenge: It's Something We All Can Do

[black_sluggard]

Apologies to mods in advance. I hope it's acceptable for me to share this here, and I'm not quite sure how it should be tagged. It isn't quite a fanfiction challenge, but it's a challenge that I feel could benefit fandom in general:

I'm hardly part of Five-0 fandom. I've written one story, barely seen a couple episodes, and only read fic for it from

Comments

[mindymakrutu]

This is a great idea to put this out there. This is already my policy. Being an longtime ff author, I *never* read without commenting. Frankly, I think it's rude not to. I agree that there is always something to say to acknowledge the effort a fan has put in and the love they must have for their subjects in order to create something original.

I admit I stopped writing for my last fandom partially cos interest dwindled (including mine). And while I have *loved* writing for Castle and Beckett...people don't seem to read/comment much on new authors in this LJ community. It is very discouraging.

Point is, writing is only half the fun. Sharing it is the other half. "Castle" wouldn't be as fun if they all just played amongst themselves. But they don't. They write it out, create it with care and film it before putting it out there to be judged. And there is bravery in doing that with any creation, big or small.

[black_sluggard]

Yeah. I can't make the claim at "never", but I'm definitely trying.

My favorite part of any fandom I've ever been in has always been those moments of exchange, where you get to encourage, inspire, and be inspired in the dialog that happens around someone else's works or your own.

And it's even harder when your focus is outside of the main pairing (and especially when you're writing outside of canon, like me). Sure, there are probably a lot of other people that want to read what you're creating, but it's a lot easier to put the energy into that writing if they let you know it.

[mindymakrutu]

It's actually a really easy habit to get into when you are already a writer. Cos you just remind yourself of how much feedback means to you an it's rare that you get a writer who doesn't reply with their thanks.

My favorite part of any fandom I've ever been in has always been those moments of exchange, where you get to encourage, inspire, and be inspired in the dialog that happens around someone else's works or your own.Totally, couldn't have said it better

[black_sluggard]

Yeah. There used to be a really strong little community around the Ryan/Esposito ship, but it's dwindled a lot. I know in several cases it is because many of the writers and the fans running the comms have had real life snatch them away to some degree, but the silence for those of us still writing is really very frustrating.

I may not comment on every fic I read, but I do comment on every fic for that pairing, even if I didn't really enjoy it. It never hurts to tel an author that it's good to see a new face. And, of course, if I do like the story I tend to gush. It's like Kevin Smith says. It costs nothing to encourage an artist.

Or, you know, in some cases, enable them. :)