#negative comments

I initially posted this on Reddit and I can’t stop thinking about how much this perspective would have helped me when I first started posting. So I thought I’d share it here as well in case anyone else find it helpful.

I see a lot on here about how negative feedback can set back fic authors. And I get it. I had to train myself out of getting defensive about feedback on my writing because of my job but it was difficult and shitty and there were a lot of tears involved.

I just wanted to share some things that help me feel better about negative feedback.

1) The person giving you feedback matters.

What I mean by this is, who the person is matters. Feedback from someone you know matters more than a stranger online, feedback from people who have writing expertise matters, feedback from somebody who is invested in what you’re doing matters the most.

When some random gives you negative feedback you have no idea how capable they are of making a judgement. What are their qualifications? Are they the kind of reader you’re writing for? Does it matter what someone thinks of your romance heavy fic if that person hates romance?

My best mate really dislikes Terry Pratchett. I love Terry Pratchett and I am heavily inspired by Pratchett. I can trust her to put aside her general dislike for my style of writing and give me objective feedback because I know her and I trust her.

Some stranger online hates my writing style, eh, I don’t care. To be honest, someone telling me my writing is amazing online has a limited impact of my own perception of my writing. I get that it isn’t necessarily that easy to shrug things off but practicing seeing feedback in that framework really helps.

2) Everything is terrible to someone.

I am in the incredibly lucky position of having a popular fic on ao3. It’s had a load of engagement and whilst a lot of it has been positive I still get negative feedback.

Someone will call it the best thing they’ve ever read and then immediately below that will be someone calling it unreadable.

It boils down to the fact that comments are opinions and people dislike things. A lot of time they’ll try to point to something as a reason for why they dislike something to try and make their opinion feel more objective but ultimately not liking something doesn’t mean that thing is bad.

If you want to make yourself feel better, find a fic that you love and scroll through the bookmark comments. I guarantee you’ll find a couple of ‘this is terrible why does anyone like it’ comments on every single one.

3) Constructive criticism isn’t constructive if it hasn’t been asked for

Giving feedback to someone who isn’t ready to receive feedback isn’t helpful. If someone is giving you feedback when you haven’t asked for it, they are telling you what would make your work better for them.

And you don’t know them. So what they want you to do might not match up with what you’re actually trying to achieve.

How can someone give you helpful feedback when they don’t know what you’re aiming to do?

Ultimately, someone giving you feedback isn’t trying to attack you (most of the time, there’s some proper bullshit that gets thrown at fanfic authors). And getting feedback is an inevitable side effect of posting anything online. Receiving feedback is really difficult and I hope this helps, it helps me!

———

What if you want feedback?

Plenty of people write fanfic for the joy of it and don’t particularly care about getting better at writing. But if you do want to get better there are better options then listening to strangers online.

I have an IRL friend, we both did English degrees and she is a big fanfic reader so I trust her to give me feedback.

I have other friends and family who are happy to give me a general vibe check. I’m super lucky on that front.

If you don’t have someone IRL that you trust I recommend joining fanfic discord groups, reaching out to other authors and sharing small segments of your writing for feedback. Be clear about the level of feedback you want and why you want it.

Seek out writing podcasts or lectures (I’m a big fan of Brandon Sanderson’s lectures on writing fantasy).

Do writing exercises.

Fellow writers (if this happens to you too):

Does this affect you emotionally and motivationally too?

How do you deal with this when it happens to you (if it does)?

Everyone:

That has happened to me before and it is kind of upsetting because you see that you have a comment and obviously you think that it's going to be a nice comment from a reader that is enjoying your fic and you're looking forward to it and then you read it and it's just someone with shit to say. It is really disappointing. I think that it's okay to be upset about it and it's okay to take some time before addressing the comment however you decide to do that. When this happens to me usually I will message a friend to tell them about the comment and be a sad sack about it for a bit, and also to make fun of the commenter. I guess maybe that's mean but I also think that it's wildly audacious for them to think that their opinion is so important that they need to announce it before they see themselves out. That's like being at the grocery store minding your own business and then some random person walks up, says "I don't like the selection of food that you have in your cart!" And then leaves. It's utterly ridiculous. These people are truly something else.

Anyway, as far as advice goes I don't really have much beyond it's totally okay to be upset about those kinds of comments even if they're not necessarily mean, because they are disappointing. Take some time to address your feelings about the comment before you reply back (or delete or whatever). If you have a friend that you can talk to, do that. And also just keep in mind that the things you write are not going to be to everyone's tastes, so them not liking it does not say anything about the quality of your writing or your story. It just means that it was not for them. And that is okay. They didn't need to announce it but they did and that's not a reflection on your or your talent. Try not to take it too much to heart although I know that's easier said than done

So I might be silly or I don't know...

But someone please tell me what is the point of leaving a comment like this on a fic ?

I've read hundreds of fics and some of them I truly didn't like and I never left a negative comment on any of them. I just moved on to another fic.

I am miffed. Truly. The comment:

"I love these kind of stories, but I didn't like this one at all.

It’s been awhile since I last posted, partially I’m in my final year of grad school and partially because inspiration hasn’t struck. A lot of my writing time has been dedicated to school work, so I haven’t had anything new on here or on Ao3. However, I still occasionally get comments on some of my older fics. Seeing the notification pop up that someone has left a comment brightens my whole day (side note: seriously, if you have the spoons for if, comment on fics!). It is so amazing to see people still interacting with something I wrote—engaging with the elements they enjoyed and the elements they had tensions with. I like the push and pull; it helps me grow as a writer.

That being said, I received a comment today on a fic that’s 2 years old at this point, and it was just a downer to read. It wasn’t necessarily mean or awful, it just only focused on the fact that they disagreed with the premise of the story. Which…fine? They are allowed to dislike the story, but why bother commenting if all you have to say is “I don’t like it”? Just click out.

Idk. I write fanfiction because it’s fun, I get to be silly and unrealistic, but pointless negativity makes it hard to want to write.

This whole post is probably an overreaction; for the handful of negative comments I have received, I have gotten 10x more encouraging comments/feedback. Sometimes it just feels like a black hole.

Hey guys, this is your reminder: don't do this shit.