another reminder that what you put in your public bookmarks on ao3 is public, meaning anybody can see them, including the authors.
all of this. heavy on âthe fastest way to discourage fandom writers is by rating/assigning numerical value to fanficsâ. also the âbut donât you want to get better?â argument is so exhausting to me. because if us fanfic writers want to âget betterâ at our hobbies, the things we do out of love, and if we want constructive criticism, we will either directly ask for it (so if we didnât ask, keep your opinion to yourself) or we will go to our trusted friends, whose opinions we actually value, for their feedbacks.
because more often than not, the unsolicited constructive criticism random strangers give us isnât even constructive criticism but what these people personally want to read. so hereâs the thing, us fanfic writers write for ourselves first and foremost. we appreciate people who read our works and show us support, but weâre writing and sharing our works for free â itâs our hobby and passion, our source of comfort, something we do as a form of self care, itâs not a job we are paid to do â so weâre not writing to please anybody but ourselves.
you donât go up to a stranger you see in public, tell them what you dislike about their clothes and how they can âdress betterâ then defend your actions by claiming you âhave the rights to criticize their clothing because they are in publicâ.
if you like our fics, cool. if you donât like them, thatâs fine. you can find something else to read. or, better yet, you can WRITE THE THING YOU WANT TO READ YOURSELF, nobody is stopping you. but keep your unsolicited criticism to yourself if we didnât ask for one.