Fictor Vrankenstein

These poems written by trans men in the 1980s have got me emotional tonight.

before concert ~

Please, for the love of god, please don’t be this person. No matter how long it’s been since an update, no matter how many unfinished stories are sitting on their account, no matter what - do not be this person.

Not only is it insanely rude, but you also do more damage than you think be being such a self-entitled ass about something someone created for free and for fun. “This author” can see what you say.

I also got a glowing compliment on a fic and went into a flurry of writing, suddenly inspired, then by happenstance got a nasty, impatient comment on that same fic a few days and moved onto writing a different fic that didn't have that associated annoyance.

Like. I am writing for fun. For me. I reread and enjoy my fics all the time because they're exactly the story I want to read. I get the same enjoyment out of a fic wither or not anyone else ever sees it or knows it exists.

I'm sharing it for fun too.

The thing is most authors I know try so hard to focus only on the positive reviews and such, but negative and hurtful comments linger in people's psyche for a long time and are hard to expunge. The childhood rhyme about words not hurting is, quite honestly, bullshit. Words can do quite a bit of damage.

I'm a lot more comfortable deleting comments and blocking users now (at least on the sites that allow that), but even with those tools it can be hard to let go of the really hurtful comments.

I'm sorry to all the others who have dealt with this sort of bullshit. May we all find our creativity despite the harms we've encountered. May we find the strength to keep going and the spite to say fuck you to the assholes of the universe.