Uzumaki Haruka

So you want to interact with a fanfiction author

Great! I’m glad you want to reach out and start a conversation with the many creative, giving people who take time out of their busy lives to pen the stories that have captured your imagination. This post is going to cover leaving reviews, giving constructive criticism, and a few do’s and don’t’s.

If you like a fic, leave a review! You can do this a couple different ways.

Reblogging with tags. Every single creative person I know, be they writer or artist or musician, religiously stalks the tags when people reblog their work. Tags are an amazing way to communicate with a creative, especially if you’re shy about sending them a message directly or are afraid your comment will go unnoticed in their inbox.

Don’t know what to say in the tags? Think about the moment you decided you were going to reblog this piece instead of just hitting the “Like” button. Was it a particularly well done piece of dialogue? A description that made you feel like you were a part of the story instead of just reading it? A scenario you’d never considered before but changed the way you thought about [character a, situation b, or fandom c]? There’s a reason you’re taking time to reblog instead of like, so let them know why! Not every reblog needs to be a tag flail.

Alternatively, you can send the author a message. Fanmail if you’re shy and don’t want your adoration made public. Sometimes, if I don’t have time to tag a fic the way I want for whatever reason, I’ll like the piece and then shoot the author a fanmail or an ask telling them what I liked. This is also acceptable. Who doesn’t like getting mail? Crazy people who don’t use social media, that’s who.

Ok, but wait. What if you DON’T like what the author has done with their fic? What then? Yes, there are options.

Option #1: You ignore the fic. You neither like nor reblog the story. You and the author both move on with your lives. You may choose this option at any time. It is not necessary to let the author or anyone else know you have chosen this option.

Option #2: Ask the author why they chose to go that route. Politely. We’ll go over what that means later.

Option #3: Give constructive criticism. Now. Be careful with this one. Creatives are sensitive people. Make sure the author is open to it before you go barrelling into their ask box. If you message me, even on anon, saying, “Hey, I just read your latest fic and I have some concrit I wanted to run by you. Is that ok?” that is perfectly fine. If my answer is yes, go for it. If not, see Option #1.

What is concrit? Glad you asked.

This is concrit: “I totally get the vibe you were going for with that scene, but I was a little confused about the angles of the body parts. I don’t think you meant for them to be doing xyz there. It just took me out of the moment a little.”

This is NOT concrit: “You’re actually not very good at writing smut. You should probably just let [other person] write it and stick to what you’re good at. Which is not smut.”

What’s the difference? In the first one, you acknowledge what you think the author was going for. You explain what has you confused. You explain how you interpreted it. And then you leave a way for the author to contact you to respond to the concrit. You could be right. Maybe the author’s beta was having an off day and missed that awkward elbow maneuver. Maybe they don’t have a beta.  Or maybe it’s you that’s missed something. The second example is rude. This criticism is not designed to help the author. It is designed to tear them down and discourage them.

Some people adore concrit. Some people only want it before they publish a piece. Some don’t want it at all. None of these are wrong.

SIDE NOTE FOR AUTHORS: If you ask for concrit, do not be upset, offended, or throw a tantrum when someone sends you a respectful message. You did not want concrit. You wanted to ask for concrit and revel when no one sent you anything. Those are not the same things. Concrit, when given correctly, is designed to make you, the author, a better writer.

Ok, let’s go back to Option #2 now. Where you liked the piece overall, but the characters are acting a little wonky. Something’s not quite right, you think. You don’t really have any concrit, but you want to say something. Here’s what you can do, especially if the author is posting a work in progress.

Acceptable: “Hey! I just read the latest chapter of [amazing story you’ve been following since day one]. I’m enjoying the story so far, but this last one has me a little confused. Why did [character a] do [this]? I feel they would have done [that]. Am I missing something?”

Not acceptable: “Your latest chapter was a big disappointment. I feel like you just don’t know the characters anymore. There’s no way in hell [characters a and b] would be [doing xyz]. I’m sorry, I’m unfollowing you.”

In the first example, you let the author know you like their work. You are making an attempt to understand their vision. You give them a specific example of what’s bothering you. You acknowledge that there may be things coming that you aren’t aware of yet. In the second, you’re an asshat who is wasting bandwidth. The tone has shifted from commenting on the story to commenting on the author.

And here are a few general DO’s and DON’T’S:

DO tell an author you are excited to read the next chapter.

DON’T send an author a message saying only “update soon” less than five minutes after the new chapter was posted.

DO speculate on what’s going to happen next.

DON’T tell the author how to write their story.

DO ask your author how the writing process is going.

DON’T ask your author why they haven’t updated yet.

DO send your author love.

DON’T send your author anon hate.

THERE ARE NO PROFESSIONAL FANFICTION AUTHORS. (We’re not gonna talk about she-who-must-not-be-named of the fifty shade variety). Every single fic author has a job, family, friends, school, religion, other hobbies, or sleep equally vying for their attention. Respect their time, respect their work, respect them as human beings, and we’ll all get along fine.

What I love about Anime:

It goes from this:

To this:

To this:

And then this:

Kise Ryouta

Friends for ever?

Weren’t we meant to be together,

like for forever.

What happened,

that could break this friendship,

tear it apart,

like it was out of paper.

I know we’ve made mistakes,

but can’t they be repaired?

Can’t they be forgiven?

Can’t they be forgotten?

It looks like,

they can’t.

But please!

Be smart!

Don’t forget me!

Come back!

I don’t want to die lonely.

Without you by my side.

God, this looks so amazing, i wanna live there

Original story Idea, I guess?

Or it could just be an AU.

So, what I've written down so far:

Supernatural beings, ghosts and monsters, gods and guardians and everything humans believe in, all exist on another plane on this earth parallel to ours, which interacts with ours and yet is unseen by the gaze of a mere human.

The beings are birthed into existence, by the belief of a human that this being exists.

Their existence is fuelled by the belief of humans and by the emotions the humans feel towards them. They all have emotions they thrive on.

There exists a simple rule as to how strong one of these beings is. The amount of humans that believe in it, the strength of emotion they feels towards it and the time a human spent believing in it are all factors which determine the strength of their soul and the power stored in it.

Of course there are different kinds of fuels for the strength of these beings.

Take for example, gods and deities. These beings thrive on love. The stronger the love for them, the stronger they are. The longer a human has loved them, the stronger they are.

Or take for example, the nightmares, the monsters hidden under the beds and in the closets of children. These monsters thrive on fear and horror. The stronger the fear of the monster, the stronger it is. And the longer it can gorge itself on that fear, the stronger it is as well.

And then, of course, the only beings who diverge from this rule, the nonentities.

Beings who are not born of belief, but called into existence by the most desperate calls of help from a human. When a human, at their breaking point, reaches out to the cosmos with their fractured soul, reaches out for anything, everything and the nothing out of pure desperation. And no being on the planes of this earth answers their cry for help.

That is when a nonentity is born into being.

They are born as white wisps, at the core of their soul the need to help, fix and protect and the call of the one who birthed them. Their form takes shape as time goes by and as they answer more and more pleas.

Their first act on earth is to vanquish what brought their bearer to their breaking point. In this they have no choice.

After the act they may regret it, for mayhaps it was a fundamentally and morally wrong thing to do and their bearer was truly at fault.

Take for example, a lover who has dedicated their whole life to their partner. And this partner grows weary of their unhealthy dedication bordering on obsession and breaks their heart. This brings the lover to their breaking point, for their partner was their whole life. And their love and dedication turns into betrayal, anger, desperation and a thirst for revenge.

And so, a nonentity is brought into existence and they vanquish what brought their bearer such pain. And after, the being realises it erased a human, whose soul was clean.

The existence of a nonentity is not one of joy. The cries of the desperate echo in their soul. They feel their grief, pain and despair.

After their birth act, they continue their mission of following the cries of help, lest the screams in their soul drive them mad.

But after this first act they can choose on which cry to act on and avoid harming the innocent.

But their existence will always be one of pain, guilt and blame.

They are glitches in the system. Not born of it and yet part of it. Outside of the natural order.

I apologize for any grammatical, vocabulary or pacing errors, I only wrote it down quickly and read it over once

You’re welcome

Drug

You're like a drug, like this cigarette in my hand

My personal little drug,

but every time I draw my cigarette,

my lungs hurt,

that's what my love to you feels like

I’m not going to say goodbye because I’m not ready to accept that what we had is really over. Even though our love was toxic, I cannot seem to rid of the posion that still remains in my strung out heart.