Hello everyone <3

I know I have been away for another century and I’m truly sorry for anyone who would have wanted me to be here more. However, that’s not the reason why I’m posting this blog today. There’s an issue that’s been bothering me for a while and recently, a good friend of mine has experienced the same thing.

It’s about commenting. I definitely 100% want to encourage every reader out there to leave a comment on at least one of the stories they’ve read. And if you’re being generous, please leave a comment on at least one of the stories of every author you’ve read stories of. Please, a big, massive please. Because as a writer on AFF, and let me be clear about this, we (usually) don’t do this for money or anything, but we put a lot of time and effort into it.

Looking at myself as an example, I haven’t posted anything during this century long break because I’m insecure about my writing. I’ve written a lot and I’m satisfied with nothing. A lot of time has gone into that and when I’ll eventually post again, it might very well be that I’ve spent days, weeks or even months on a single chapter. That’s… worth a comment right? If people read it and even like it, that’s worth letting the author know c:

Now I personally don’t have any complaints in that area because I have a very good amount of commenting readers and I am so, so grateful to all of you who do! <3 It’s the reason why I keep trying in the first place. Well the second place, because the first is that I love writing.  

But here comes the flipside. I believe that comments should make an author – especially on a site like AFF where money isn’t the main concern – happy to continue writing. And I love the simple comments telling me that the reader liked or even loved the chapter or story. And I love the constructive criticism, asking me if I could maybe improve on this or that because, say, the kiss was very unexpected because I hadn’t set the mood right. Or maybe telling me I ended the story so abruptly it felt a little unfinished. Those are things that we, as authors, can work on, things that benefit us. Things that will help us grow and at the same time, continue loving to write.

And then there are comments that ruin everything. I write mainly fantasy stories with all my hybrids and whatnot, and so does my friend. Recently, someone told her that certain things were impossible, while, especially in the fantasy genre, the writer is god. We can do anything we please, we make the rules, because that’s what writing is all about. Not only did this reader tell her that what she was saying couldn’t possibly happen (while my friend put a little bit of research into it and nothing was impossible about it) she also basically told her to rewrite the entire thing because it’s not good enough.

That is not the job of a reader. That is the job of a beta reader, which my friend hadn’t asked for. I’m stressing this so much and writing this entire blogpost because she’s now in a deep pit, feeling depressed and insecure. Not just about her writing, but basically everything. She keeps thinking she’s not good enough, can’t even get back into writing because she fears it will only be riddled with flaws. And of course she wants to become a better writer and improve on her storytelling, but it’s a whole different thing to cut someone down with words than to help build them up.

I guess what I want to say with this whole rant is, yes please give us something we can work with, but also… choose your words a little carefully. I’m not saying all writers are sensitive, but I know a fair few who are. And especially because we’re here as hobbyists who love what we’re doing (and free for readers to read), please don’t take that joy from us. When (if?) we’ll eventually get into professional writing with publicists and all of those, we’ll get enough torture and harsh words already.

If you feel like something is off in the chapter, maybe ask the author what they were trying to say? Maybe ask why a certain character is behaving in this or that way, instead of telling the author that the character can’t possibly do that because he’s, I don’t know, always such a nice guy. If you could have a normal conversation with the author about it, they can explain to you their choices for certain things and at the same time, they’ll realize that their way of sharing it might not have been as effective as they hoped it would be. Then we can learn and grow and as a reader, you could have a little more insight in the author’s thoughts. Which I think is also nice.

Thank you for reading his entire, massive rant and I hope that you’ll also understand how important you are as a reader to a writer! <3

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Edit; the friend I'm talking about here has decided that she wanted to write about it herself as well so I want to share that with you too. You can find it right here