A Mess

“my cheeks turned pink in embarrassment” → “my cheeks heated in embarrassment”

“his hand ran through my hair” → “his hand ran over my head/hair”

“her bright pink pussy” → literally anything else

stop using mood boards of only white couples/children (heavy on this one)

using children names like eveleigh ann (do i need to explain..)

her hair was put in a messy bun/her long silky hair…

Respectfully, I know it’s just fanfiction, but if you’re going to write reader insert fics then do the bare minimum of making sure it’s actually inclusive and not white coded. Many of us shouldn’t read an x reader fic and imagine a white woman every single time. Stop taking criticism from bipocs, saying your writing is not inclusive, as hate. Let go of the mindset that having a bipoc in your writing means they have to go through some racial struggle or you must talk about their culture (a lot of bipocs don’t know their culture/where they came from). It shouldn’t make you uncomfortable to write them in your stories, we’re normal people too. If it does maybe a reflection is meant to be had. Like i said, it’s just fanfiction and it’s supposed to be fun, but some of y’all are purposefully exclusive and still tag your writing wrong.

Because someone might as well!? And look at this. Look. At. This.

Does this look right to you??

These are just the last three fics I wrote. I appreciate the likes, believe me I do, but you have to understand. Likes do nothing for content creators. It’s the reblogs. Because that’s how you find shit on your dashboard. Through reblogs. Not likes. This isn’t twitter or tiktok or instagram. This is a website that’s run by the reblog system.

Reblogging helps content creators put their stuff out there. Why do you think so many people stopped writing fanfic and creating beautiful fanart and edits? It’s because they put in hours of work and don’t get nearly enough notes for their masterpieces. Yes we do this because we enjoy it but like...some validation won’t hurt. A boost of confidence here and there might be all someone needs to finish whatever thing they started and left.

REBLOG YOUR OWN WORK.

A - If I’m in love.

B - Who the last person I talked to on the phone was.

C - How long it’s been since I’ve kissed.

D - If I have a preference for boys or girls.

E - How many holes I have in my ears.

F - Give me any options, like ‘hot or cold?’

G - The last person I said ‘I love you’ to.

H - The last person I hugged.

I - The last time I felt jealous, and why.

J - Are you insecure. What about?

K - What my full name is.

L - If I have siblings.

M - If I forgive betrayal.

N - If you want to know how I treat my friends.

O - If I like my school.

P - What kind of music I like.

Q - What the last party I went to was, and when the next will be.

R - For me to tell 10 of my curiosities.

S - 2 habits.

T - 5 things I love unconditionally.

U - How many texts I send daily.

V - 3 big dreams.

W - An idol.

X - If I’ve done something I regret very much.

Y - If I like my town and why.

Racism against subban specifically

I’ve read all kinds of posts both from writers and readers lamenting about comments on fic. Authors are upset when they don’t get any, readers don’t know what kinds of comments to leave, etc. And it finally clicked in my brain why I think a lot of people don’t bother writing comments. 

And this is what it boils down to:

Writers do not want praise.  We just want to talk about our story. 

I can’t speak for everyone obviously - but I think the majority of writers don’t care so much for the “omg you’re a brilliant writer!!” comments as much as we just want to hear your thoughts on the story. Even if it’s just your thoughts as you’re reading of “oooh x happened! I can’t believe y said this! What’s going to happen now that z has happened?!” We literally just want to talk about what we’ve written like you would with a friend about a tv show. We’re not out here demanding praise like some entitled narcissist. 

While praising our writing skills or writing style is appreciated, it doesn’t need to be said on every fic and every chapter that you read. If you regularly comment on someone’s work that’s telling enough that you like our technique. Readers shouldn’t feel pressured to have to praise a writer’s abilities every time they want to comment. 

In the grand scheme of things, talking about the fic/chapter is actually more helpful to us writers instead of spewing praise. It’s the same with artwork. As nice as it is that people tell me “wow your art is so pretty!” it’s a LOT more useful to me to get comments like “I love their expressions!” or “the lighting on this is gorgeous!” because then I know WHAT people are liking about it. If no one ever comments on my backgrounds, I now know what to improve. If most people comment on liking the expressions, I now know the strong points of my art and can use it to my advantage to make even better art in the future. 

The same goes for fic. If multiple people tell me they liked a certain part of the story I now know that things similar to that are a hit. It’s feedback I can use to improve the story and give my readers more of what they want. Without that I have no idea what they like about the fic.

Talking with a writer about their story also gives them inspiration!! Nothing gets us more in the mood to work on a fic than to have people wanting to talk about it. A lot of times just talking about one of my fics with someone will give me that push to continue working on it. Getting a comment that just says “great chapter” or “you’re a great writer” doesn’t do much to motivate us to continue that particular fic. But if you talk about the story and the characters it gives us motivation to continue working on it, may even give us ideas for future chapters. I would hope that those of you with “comment anxiety” find this approach so much easier than trying to praise the writer every time you read.

So that fic the author hasn’t updated in forever that you’re dying to read? Talk to them about the fic and the elements of the story! It will make the writer want to talk to you about it and will get their mind thinking about it, hopefully inspiring them to continue where they left off. Fics that are left in silence are more likely to be abandoned or even deleted because nothing feels worse than putting your heart into a story to have no one say anything about it. 

However, this really resonates with me as a writer and I wanted to share, especially because I know there are those of you who want to engage but just don’t know how or what to say, and I think this could help!

First and foremost, I love stories. Sometimes I have more fun spitballing about story ideas than actually writing a story lol. 🤷🏻‍♀️

As much as I truly appreciate any comments, reblogs, asks, or engagement I get on a fic—even specifically praise—I positively geek out over your reactions to the story.

Comparing this to how you would fangirl with friends over tv/movies is spot on. I’ve always done that, my whole life, been a fangirl and absolutely geeked out over my favorite stories across various mediums, and that’s why I love engagement here so much.

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lifeline: 1-800-273-8255

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