On commenting: A weirdo pessimist's tale?

[dagas_isa]

Just thinking, I guess. It seems weird that I find the lack of commenting on Ao3 to be a feature not a bug.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I like comments. Spontaneous comments can make my day and make me feel like less of a freak for writing the stories I do, but I also do like the idea of being able to post something for people to read and not worry about the types of comments I'm going to get. Or not get. If I want a quick shot of attention for my works, I know what to do and where to go.

Comments aren't really a huge motivation for me, for quite a few reasons:

1. I write with the full expectation that I'm not going to get comments.

a) What I write tends to be both incredibly niche in appeal and incredibly varied in scope. Small fandoms, rare-pairs, femslash, etc, and I don't really appeal to specific niches consistently enough to get a following.
b) I fully acknowledge my mediocrity. Or rather, I actually believe I'm a good writer, but I lack the patience for self-editing and the inclination to regularly find people who can beta before I post, and I understand what even a basic revision can do to the quality of a fic. I consider myself fortunate to not be publicly held up as an example of the badfic writer who should just go away before she's killed by collective back-buttoning. =P

2. I'm actually incredibly picky about the feedback I want to receive.
a) I'm fine with constructive criticism, praise, squee, lone emoticons, etc. I like engaging over stories, and knowing people thought it was worth leaving feedback on.
b) But...at the same time, there's a lot of comments that either prove that the story has missed the target, or where a critical aspect to the premise of the story gets challenged (and not in a 'this doesn't make sense as you've written this' but an 'I like this completely opposite thing that isn't your story better'). Oh, and the faily comments. And then there are some where it feels like the reviewer is disclosing something about themselves that I don't really want to know.
c) I'm also really, really uncomfortable with "Why don't you do more x?" types of comments, even if 'x' is something I do on a regular basis.

3. At this point, I find the idea of having more fics to read be more motivating than comments.
a) No matter how good, comments don't make a community.
b) I want fic to read.
c) Liar Game fandom, I'm looking at you.
d) Please?

Comments

[rodo]

Hmm, I think point 1. applies to me as well (except for the fact that I generally do get my stuff betaed).

I'm also one of those people who would probably be discouraged from writing if I received a lot of 2. a) feedback. A lot of positive feedback could lead to writer's block because I would fear that the next story won't be as good even though the readers expect me to deliver something that meets the quality of the previous story.

[dagas_isa]

2 a. would also include criticism, too, not just praise, but lots of praise does the same thing to me too. Or makes me scared to do something different.

[amaresu]

I'm very much with you on #1. I'm not entirely sure what I'd be writing if I was writing to encourage comments, but I suspect I'd write a lot less and have a lot less fun. I jump around far too much to get a dedicated following and I'm really average. Any comment I get is lovely, but it's not my motivation.

I really get where you're coming from on #2 as well. I recently wrote a fic that got a spat of comments asking for a sequel and that was just really awkward. I get that they want more, but it felt invasive. IDK.

Comments aren't the end all and be all of writing and the focus on them always makes me feel odd. Like maybe I should care more, but if I did I wouldn't write half of what I do.

[dagas_isa]

Comments aren't the end all and be all of writing and the focus on them always makes me feel odd.

Same here. I wonder if all the complaints about comments come from people who started out getting a lot of comments, so they're not quite used to them coming in a trickle.

Course I think if I really cared about comments, I should have stopped writing a long time ago.

[amaresu]

I think maybe there's such a focus on comments that people feel like they need lots of comments in order to be an Actual Fanfic Writer or something. Comments are weird. If you complain about not getting them you get yelled at and you get told you're lying if you say you really don't care.

Course I think if I really cared about comments, I should have stopped writing a long time ago.

Exactly. Or at least I'd never had written in a lot of small fandoms.

[unsettledink]

Er. Have some random rambling from someone you don't even know!

That's an interesting way of looking at it I hadn't considered, but I'm intrigued now. There is something a little appealing about posting somewhere to be *read* but not feeling any pressure of comments.

I - as much as I love comments, I really don't write for them. I enjoy them more for the discussions that can get started, and those tend to be only barely seated in the actual fic. If everyone stopped commenting today, I'd still write and post the damn things, because they're not about to stop writing themselves.

1. I actually find myself getting more comments in rare fandoms/pairs. Possibly because of a general "omg I can't believe I found fic of this!", but that brings with it a ... mixed feeling, of how much of the enjoyment is based on the actual fic/writing, and how much is just because of 'it exists!'. So there comments become double edged.

2. ...I have a feeling my fic reaction comments might fall into the 'missed target' or 'tmi' categories. I tend to flail about wildly all over the place when I really like something, and while some people like that, it's probably a bit too much for many others.
As for receiving comments ... I don't think I've had any that make me sit back and pause. But then, I haven't been writing in fandom long.

(sort of reading up thread) I wonder if part of the obsession with comment habits is due to the fact that it seems (in my very limited experience) that when a fic is enjoyed, people talk about it amongst themselves - rec it to each other or in general posts - but don't say a thing to the author. That divide is curious, and odd. (or maybe it's just me)

[dagas_isa]

A good portion of my fic is rare fandoms/pairs, with a "omg it exists" vibe. For the most part, it doesn't bother me, because then I at least know people are enjoying and appreciating what I'm writing. Though then, there's maybe a sense of obligation to continue writing a fandom/pairing even if it's just one I'm not terribly into.

I get most of my comments on FFN, so I've got a lot of...well, there's a reason I really only post "normal" fics there and put my more niche stuff on Ao3.

I wonder if part of the obsession with comment habits is due to the fact that it seems (in my very limited experience) that when a fic is enjoyed, people talk about it amongst themselves - rec it to each other or in general posts - but don't say a thing to the author. That divide is curious, and odd. (or maybe it's just me)

Maybe. On the rare times I get recced, I've usually gotten a comment from the person, but I really place a higher value on the recs than I do on reviews, and it's more of the type of attention I really like, since it's more on something I've created than me as an author.

[unsettledink]

Oh, I'm glad to see people enjoying it. It's just my brain, being it's usual fretful self.

I … am too lazy to post fic at ff.net. *facepalm* Which is a terrible excuse. I automatically code as a write for html, and I have to change all of that and my scene breaks as well, and yeah, too lazy. Although I did get a nice response to the very few I did that for.

Yeah. I've just found it odd, quite lately, to run into a fair number of people who rec but don't leave a comment, which I'd never really seen as much of before.

[goodbyebird]

No matter how good, comments don't make a community.

I would disagree with this point. If there's no communication, where's the community? Granted, it's only one aspect of it, but if there's no interaction or feedback, the sad fact is that a lot of people will eventually drift away.

[dagas_isa]

It might be more accurate to say that comments alone don't make a community, at least from my personal experience. But then, my major fandom lacks a lot of people who create raw material where as the few people who do create generally get at least some feedback.

For me right now, it's the lack of fellow creators that's making me drift away from my pet fandom, not the lack of comments. I could see it being different in other types of fandoms or for different people, though.