Aug
21st
2019
August 21st is the Fanfic Writers' Appreciation Day · 4:17pm Aug 21st, 2019
Hello everyone! Today, let's all celebrate fanfiction writers, and be good to them. 
Here are some ideas what you can do to make things nicer for your favorite authors!
- Comment on fics. This is a big thing! Thumbs-ups and faves are good, but nothing beats comments from the readers. It doesn't have to be deep or thoughtful, just saying you're liking the story, or that the recent chapter hit you in the feels, or you're wondering where the author's taking things next is well enough!
- Blog and share. The feature box is small and fickle, and a lot of worthy fics go by with little attention. Posting reviews and/or recommendations every now and then, to draw attention to good stuff, is very valuable! You can use your user page to list worthwhile stories, too.
- Make fanart / fanfic / other stuff. Get creative! Few things are cooler to a writer than finding out they've inspired someone else to create something!
- Support the writers if you can afford it. A whole lot of us fanfic readers and authors are poor, so if -- and ONLY if -- you can afford it, throwing a few bits in their direction via Ko-fi or Patreon or whatever would be welcome. Again, if you're poor yourself, don't fret about this! There are a million other things you can do instead.
Well, this is getting a signal boost once I get home. All excellent ways to help your friendly neighborhood fanfic author.
5109497
Thank you! I found about the day on tumblr, and decided this is a good time and place to share it.
Yeah! Give us money!
Because it's the reason why we do this! 
5109675
Depends on the comment.
Long, thoughtful, thought provoking, and editing suggestion (depending on author), very much welcome.
Long comments starting flame wars, being dickish, or just talking about the dinner you last month? Not as much.
~Skeeter The Lurker
5109679
Well, obviously everyone has their own preferences. But speaking for myself, I love detailed feedback. It doesn't have to be pure praise, either -- though let's be honest, most of us writers are vain and want to be told we're great. But some of the most helpful comments I've ever received have been mixed praise and (constructive!) criticism.
Also: if you downvote one of my fics, please don't be afraid to comment and say why. I'd far rather have a downvote with an actual reason than a drive-by one with no explanation.
5109688
Gods, YES. A five line comment will make me happy for three hours, but the ones that are several paragraphs long I sometimes get will leave me walking on air for weeks. Seeing other people theorize and wonder and analyze gives me life. Praise is absolutely wonderful, but it's like candy. It's delightful, it's delicious, but an in-depth commentary is a whole meal, it's nourishing.
(On the other end of the spectrum, harsh-but-fair swaths of criticism is more like eating your vegetables and washing it down with cold medicine. It's good for you. You know it's good for you. But you're not gonna enjoy it.)
Nice thoughts.
5109748
This is probably the best analogy for comments I have EVER heard.
5109782
5109748
Agreed!
5109512
Money is sadly necessary for the authors to continue functioning and producing more ponyfic!
More seriously, of course nobody does fanfic in the hopes of money (or if they do, they will quickly be disappointed). But like I said, a lot of writers are dirt poor -- students, un- or underemployed, depressed, whatever -- and a few dollars is a very tangible show of appreciation.
5109675
If you ask me, long comments are awesome! And I believe this is the general consensus among writers.
5109748
Om nom nom!
5109676
I'm gonna be the weird one and say that I even appreciate long comments which start flame wars (sometimes, anyway). On one of my early stories, several readers got into a fairly heated argument over whether or not something a character did was justified, which went back and forth for over fifty comments, and it legitimately kept me entertained for weeks. It was probably the most engaged and invested I had ever seen people be in something I'd written. I almost felt sad when one of them directly questioned me for more information which settled the debate.