Ungrateful readers

[KH_Woodward]

I've noticed a really weird trend in the fan fiction world, and it's utterly baffling to me. I'm talking about the fan fiction reader who doesn't write, themselves, but seems to think that all fan fiction should be tailored specifically to their tastes. They go on public forums and post things like, "Here are the things I hate about fan fiction stories!" and then proceed to make a long list of things they dislike seeing in fan fiction, implying that these things should never be "allowed" in any fan fiction publication. These are the same people who will write reviews saying, "Ew, gross! This is disgusting, why would you even write this?" even when the story was clearly tagged.

I don't get this mindset at all. It's such a weird sort of entitlement.

"How dare these authors spend their valuable time creating stories that they don't get paid for, and then post them online for me to read absolutely for free! They should magically know what I want and write only that! It's such a waste of my time to have to scroll through stories that don't interest me! All these authors I don't like should gtfo because I DESERVE BETTER!"

Here's what I have to say to these readers:

Why do you think you deserve better? Even if the story is the stupidest thing ever written.... It's free. What are you offering in exchange for the author's hard work that's supposed to be so valuable that it will motivate them to want to write something you personally will like? Obviously it's not money, because in most cases, fan fiction readers don't make the "leap" to purchasing original fiction by their favorite authors. They're hard-core freebie-seekers. And it's sure as hell not attention, because fan fiction authors just don't really get much of that either (have you ever calculated the average review per hit ratio? It's abysmal.).

What exactly do these readers think authors get out of writing fan fiction? Are we supposed to magically know that they're reading and enjoying it, and be spiritually fulfilled by the knowledge that some schmuck in Idaho thinks we "write good smut"? Why do they suppose we are doing this, if it's not for attention or money?

Reality check: Most authors are just writing stories to entertain themselves, because anything else would be an exercise in constant disappointment. We share our stories online out of the goodness of our heart because what the hell? It's already written and maybe someone, somewhere will derive some enjoyment from it... Some of us listen to feedback if it's given, but by the time the story gets posted, we've already received our main "payment," because the fun of writing the story was the whole point for us.

Ultimately, we're writing for ourselves, not for the readers. If the readers happen to like it, that's just a nice bonus.

What some people don't seem to realize is that learning to write well is a HUGELY time-consuming endeavor that is very unlikely to ever "pay off." It's a labor of love. The very fact that anyone ever even tries to do it at all is pretty damn impressive, no matter how bad their attempts are.

Let's talk about what it REALLY takes to learn to write well, shall we? Because realistically, this is what you're expecting writers to do FOR FREE when you demand high quality fan fiction.

First, you have to spend literally years learning the nuts and bolts of your language (grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc). And just knowing what's correct isn't enough for fiction. You have to understand WHY it's considered correct, keep track of how the language is changing over time to be sure that your knowledge isn't out of date, and learn how to break the rules intelligently for artistic effect (to achieve effects such as unique voice, character dialects, etc.) Even things such as whether words are Germanic or Latin in origin is important (because Germanic words sound 'casual' and Latin words sound 'academic' and 'smart' and that makes a difference for how your work is perceived by the reader).

At the same time, you have to spend years reading and studying anything you can get your hands on. Being well-read from an author's perspective does not mean having read 100 books within your favorite genre. It means having read AND ANALYZED thousands of books, across all genres, both in fiction and nonfiction. It means reading books you don't like to try to figure out why other people like them. It means reading in genres you hate so that you can understand the perspectives of the types of people who may be the villains in your novels someday. You need to have not only read for enjoyment, but studied the structure, voice, use of dialogue, description, etc... Reading as a writer is hard work, and it takes a special kind of person to think of it as 'fun'.

And that's still not the end of it. Even a barely passable writer who has done none of this will at the very least have spent countless hours writing stories that will never see the light of day (expect perhaps in an online forum or critique group, since feedback can help writers get better...) And all of this is just the bare minimum of what is required to write basic commercial-style fiction. If you want to write something more "artistic" you have to go back and study the classics, and also keep track of what's being done in the lit fic world, so that you understand what has already been done and why it was unique or groundbreaking. Getting an MFA doesn't hurt, if this is the route you want to go (though it's by no means mandatory).

Now think about all that for a second. Knowing what is required for "good" writing, what does bitching about bad fan fiction contribute to this process? How does it help authors to write better stories (or even make them WANT to!)? It doesn't.

So let's talk about action steps.

Let's say that you really deeply do want to actually help promote good fan fiction. There are two main ways you can do it:

1) Provide substantive critiques for authors who want them.

Reviews help writers know that someone is enjoying their work, and even bad reviews can help a writer who is actively trying to get better. Hits don't count. Votes don't count. Reviews that say, "I like this, it's great!" don't count. All of these things are nice and will definitely give the writer the warm fuzzies (which is a very nice thing to do!), but it won't help them write better stories.

Here are some examples of what is helpful to a writer who is actively trying to improve:

"Chapter X made me feel ______. I liked it/didn't like it."

"I really liked the way you described _______. It was really beautiful, and did a great job evoking the atmosphere of the scene!"

"Man, that foreshadowing in Chapter 1 was really cool."

"I generally liked it, but this word wasn't used correctly. A better word might be ______."

"The way you wrote Character X's dialogue was really true to the source material. You captured his voice wonderfully."

"I was really interested in _____, but you never followed up on that. I was a little disappointed, because it was a neat idea and I was really looking forward to seeing where you went with that!"

"This line was hilarious/sexy/heart-breaking: _______. Good job!"

2) Support fan fiction authors whose work you enjoy.

Follow their work and read/review when they post something new. Let them know you like their work and want to see more of it. Subscribe to their stories if that's an option. Pay attention to whether they have published original fiction, and if they have... buy it, if you can scrape together the money! And then, tell your friends about their work.

In the end, the only truly reliable way to ensure that good artists continue to create their art is to support their career.

[DemonGoddess]

VERY good post! I completely agree, and as a non writer, if I do actually read something, I leave a review. I sure as hell won't tell the writer that he or she needs to "write this way because I say so". That drives me batty when I see it. It's INSULTING.

I think much of what you're looking at is a HUGE sense of entitlement being played out.

[BronxWench]

May I stand up, cheer loudly, and applaud until my hands bleed?

[WillowDarkling]

I wish to stand up, cheer loudly and applaud until my hands bleed, like BronxWench.

This is an awesome post, KH_Woodward, and I thank you for it.

[Cuzosu]

As a fellow writer, I can only contribute to the support already shown for this thread. Hell. Yes. Readers are an ungrateful lot, as a whole...but, and this is my personal take on it, that rareness makes finding those few wonderful reviewers all that much more enjoyable. Also, I for one would rather not have pithy reviews that show enthusiasm or disgust without listing a reason cluttering up my stories. (A few here and there are fine.) I mean, it's great that people are enjoying it...but a little depth in the review does wonders and doesn't take all that much time. Basically, pick out things that stood out to you, y'know? "This was cool!" and "I really wasn't expecting that!" are delightful for an author to read, for example.

[KH_Woodward]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way! After I got some sleep, I worried maybe I was being a bit aggressive/opinionated.

Though I do have to admit that my Muse is a bit of an attention whore. She loves seeing those "good job!" reviews... It's my logical self that looks at those and goes, "Okay, but what can I do with this?"

Gotta love the mind of a writer. XD

[KH_Woodward]

VERY good post! I completely agree, and as a non writer, if I do actually read something, I leave a review. I sure as hell won't tell the writer that he or she needs to "write this way because I say so". That drives me batty when I see it. It's INSULTING.

I think much of what you're looking at is a HUGE sense of entitlement being played out.

Three cheers for DemonGoddess! We loves good readers. /endSmeegleVoice

I think there's definitely a sense of entitlement to it. There's this concept of the "freebie seeker" as the person who not only wants to get everything for free, but feels like everything should be free, and that the world could continue to function just fine if everyone just worked for nothing. I've never known one of these people personally, so I'm curious to know if people like that apply this value to themselves... I kind of feel like they would get pretty irate if they went to work one day and the boss was like, "Oh, we've decided not to pay you for today. Shouldn't the joy of having created something be enough for you?" XD

[BronxWench]

It's even beyond being a freebie seeker. It's the notion that the world owes them something, and everyone needs to jump through hoops to provide exactly what this person wants. Even worse, the demands are frequently lacking in grammar, punctuation, or even any notion of sense. It made me quite happy to have dabbled in obscure and unpopular fandoms.

I always want to hug authors who tell such reviewers that sorry, it's their story, they will write it their way, and the reviewer is welcome to write the story the reviewer wants to read. (And then, if they're like me, they go and wonder if they were over the top saying that. )

We all love a review, though. Even those quick, "I loved it!" reviews can keep us going.

[GeorgeGlass]

It made me quite happy to have dabbled in obscure and unpopular fandoms.

If you're saying that writing in an obscure fandom means that you attract fewer reviewers of the type that KH is talking about, I'm inclined to agree. When I write fanfic, I mainly write for fandoms that are either somewhat obscure (the original ThunderCats) or that don't have a lot of "adult" fic written for them (Phineas and Ferb), and my experience with reviewers of these fics has been extremely positive. By and large, they are appreciative of my efforts, they often go into significant detail regarding what they liked or didn't like, and while they sometimes express disappointment that I didn't include some element they wanted to see, they don't harp on that or make it central to their reviews.

Certainly, there are exceptions, but usually those people just leave one-line reviews, not paragraph-long diatribes, so they don't really bother me.

I feel very fortunate that my fanfic has attracted such a good readership here. My original stuff, not so much, but I've still had several well-written reviews even there. Besides, this isn't OriginalFiction.org.

Thank you, super-reviewers. (You know who you are.)

[KH_Woodward]

To be honest, I can't say much about reviewers on AFF yet (my experience is largely on other fan fiction websites of the non-adult variety). I guess I'll find out now that I'm posting stories here. XD But I'm glad to hear that more obscure things tend to be less like this, since my tastes tend to run toward the pretty darn obscure.

[BronxWench]

I get few reviews for my fan fiction or original fiction, but they are definitely quality as opposed to mere quantity. I'll take it.

[Cuzosu]

Yes, though I feel you might want a heads up here: AFF has a fairly low percentage of people who review, though occasionally you get lucky and post just before everyone logs in and so get more views and many more reviews. Otherwise, updates/posts can be "lost" to a page further back and readers are less likely to see it. But, again, this often means a higher percentage of quality reviews as opposed to one-liners and suchlike. Like BW said: "I'll take it." I don't much bother about when I'm posting an update or new story, since my updates are often few and far between. *cough* My muse has vanished into the ether again.... I think I may have to dig out Martha Wells and A. Lee Martinez again to lure the absentee back....

And, yes, frequency of updates and/or finished/unfinished status does sometimes affect how many readers you get, too, even here.

[BronxWench]

We all tend to be picky about what we read for pleasure. That's only natural. I may read in all subdomains in the course of my work as a moderator, but when I read for pleasure (and review), it's only in subdomains and genres I find enjoyable.

I will say that I don't praise people simply because they write. That's a large part of the entitlement issue we see so much of these days. I will review a writer, as honestly as possible, and I will try to say what I liked. If I really didn't like a story, I'll try to find a constructive way to explain why it didn't work for me. But I won't toss out lauds and accolades because someone wrote something I never even read. That's condescending and entirely without merit. Would you recommend a restaurant you've never eaten in simply because it's there?

[BronxWench]

The very act of writing is, in and of itself, not praiseworthy simply because it's an outlet. Jack the Ripper found an outlet in carving up street whores. He was hunted, not praised, but it was his outlet.

If you don't bother to read what someone has written, simply praising them for writing comes across as supercilious, in my opinion.

[KH_Woodward]

Personally, the act of writing (and writing well) is so difficult and so unsupported in the general culture that I feel like it's impressive just to even attempt writing.... anything! It is most definitely worthy of praise. (I'll admit, though, I'm stingy with comments... I should work on that!)

There's a certain other thread in this same forum where someone essentially says (and I'm paraphrasing), "I once tried to write but I stopped after a paragraph, and I wish more writers would do that! Then there would be less bad fiction!" I've seen this opinion voiced time and time again, and it beggars logic.

Somehow, there's this perception of writing as an inborn talent that flows out of the writer like some kind of natural resource, and since it comes at no cost to themselves, the writer "owes" it to the world to hand over their writing. This couldn't possibly be further from the truth, and encouraging "bad" writers to stop writing only results in less good fiction being written.... because you stopped the writers who /could/ have been good from ever developing their skills as a writer.

Instead, we writers need to spread the truth that writing is a skill that is learned through years and years of hard work. New writers need to know that they have to write a lot of bad fiction before they will be able to write anything good... And unfortunately for freebie-seekers, the most efficient way to get past the "bad writing" stage is to let other people read what you wrote and see their reactions, and one of the easiest ways to do that is to post it for free on the internet. So there will always be a lot of new writers using fan fiction as a way to hone their skills, regardless of how much the readers want to bitch about it.

That all being said, my original post wasn't really directed at reviewers or lack of reviews. It was just a suggestion for redirecting the energy that some readers expend bitching about bad fan fiction.

[DemonGoddess]

Well, for my part, I know for certain my creativity does not lie with the written word. It goes in other directions. That's okay though! We all have things we're good at. Writing is NOT one of mine.

[CloverReef]

New writers need to know that they have to write a lot of bad fiction before they will be able to write anything good...

Well said. Though I'm not sure I completely agree that the act of writing is worthy of praise... (for the most part I do, it's just... the relativist in me can't take that leap with undefined circumstances). I know I personally wrote a lot of crap. When I started in the fan fiction world, I remember my friend linking me to a story she wrote with some other people. The story was in parts, poking fun at all the terrible stories in our fandom. And lo and behold, there was one of my stories roasting on chapter three. It had been a while since I had written it, so I was able to see in retrospect that it was bad, and not take the insult too seriously. My point, though (assuming I have one and am not just rambling aimlessly >_>) is just to support, really, what I quoted from you above, KH. I think most writers - at least those who started young, like I did - have a lot of crap to write out, as part of the growing process. I don't know how it is for people who begin writing as adults. Personally, I started when I was 11. Now I'm 28, and I was a terrible writer! Until about a week ago! Well, the jury's still out, I guess...

Wait, I forgot what this topic was about...

...

Oh yes, readers.

My two cents: I believe a lot of readers who don't review, simply do not know what to say. A reader said something of that nature years ago in these forums. It's understandable, but of course, a little disappointing. A simple "I liked it" would go a long way for me. Of course, more detail would go much longer, as most of you have said. But I like the clutter better than the silence. Silence, for me, is a breeding ground for insecurity. I'm not going to comment on the self-entitled readers who insult stories just on the grounds that the author can't read their minds, because I think we all agree that they just plain suck. In the bad way.

Anyway, I like your rant, HK. You made a lot of valid points. I'm slightly disappointed though that this thread didn't magically spawn a million readers to enthusiastically and constructively review all our stories. You should work on that...