#some of u guys treat fanfiction like a product to consume and it's NOT

[rollercoasterwords]

hey guys btw there is actually never a good reason to loudly and publicly talk about how much u dislike a fanfic!! Like. let's break this down for a sec:

i don't like it

ok, understandable. i've dnf'd lots of fics because i didn't like them. but the people writing fanfiction are doing it for free and for fun, and you don't know anything about their lives. they could be a young writer just starting out! they could be an older writer getting back into writing after years of being unable to! they could be someone going through a rough patch whose only source of joy right now is writing their silly little stories! talking about how much you dislike a fanfic literally does nothing except hurt the person writing it. that's it. it is not productive, it is not necessary. even strangers on the internet deserve basic human empathy.

ok but i really don't like it

babe, i feel u! i'm a hater too. rant about it privately. shit on it in private messages or group chats with friends. u can dislike something without dragging its creator into the town square to throw tomatoes at them, yknow?

ok but i really don't like it AND it's popular

ok? shouting about that on the internet doesn't make you cool or special or unique. it just makes you kind of mean and, honestly, bitter. like i said before, this is fanfiction. nobody is paying for it. nobody is profiting. there is no standard that these writers are obligated to meet. clearly, other people like the work. why not let them enjoy it in peace?

no u don't understand it doesn't deserve to be popular there are better fics that deserve it more!!!

talk about those fics then!! post about how much u love them!! uplift those writers!! ur tweet or tiktok or tumblr post is not going to suddenly make a popular fic lose all popularity, no matter how undeserving u perceive it to be. if this is actually coming from a place of frustration because you feel like there are other fics that deserve more attention, then just give those fics attention.

no but it's problematic

mmm ok. let's sit with this one for a second. i want you to ask yourself--is it really, really problematic? is it perpetuating harm against a marginalized group? remember, this is fanfic; it is outside the consumer economy, and the stories it tells will almost never make it to a mainstream audience. so is the story actually hurting people, or is the author just exploring something that you're uncomfortable with? because if you're just uncomfortable, then assuming the work is tagged properly, the best course of action is to just click away. as uncomfortable as it may be, people are allowed to write stories that you might find upsetting or gross or weird, and those stories existing is not inherently harmful in and of itself.

it is actively reinforcing harmful stereotypes/rhetoric/etc

okay! ok. if you are deeply concerned because you feel that this fic is genuinely harmful, then go to the writer. leave a comment. send them a message on tumblr or twitter or tiktok or wherever. explain your situation and see what they say! nine times out of ten, i'd bet that an ao3 writer means no harm and would be willing to listen and address your concerns. in fact, they might even be grateful to you for being kind enough to make them aware of a problem and educate them on it. every ao3 writer i've ever spoken to is an incredibly kind and thoughtful person; you don't need to immediately go on the attack

the writer is unreachable/nonresponsive/not willing to address or change the problematic thing

alright. if you truly feel that this fanfiction is actively harmful and can't reach any kind of conclusion with the writer, and you want to warn others who might read the fic, then do that. do that. make a post that says hey guys btw, x thing in this fic is not a good representation/perpetuates a harmful stereotype/whatever the problem is. and leave it at that! you don't need to go further and insult the writing or the person who wrote it. that is helpful to exactly no one, and if your goal is actually to make the world a better place, then you should learn how to draw attention to an issue in a way that encourages actual dialogue instead of dog-piling and personal attacks.

anyway the next time you feel the desire to post about how bad you think a fic is, feel free to use this as a guide before u do! xoxo

#like i genuinely don't understand u guys sometimes #why do i keep seeing posts w hundreds or sometimes even thousands of likes #that are literally saying nothing except #i think this fic is bad and i don't like it #if someone was making cookies and handing them out for free and u didn't like them #would u go stand next to that person and shout about how shitty their baking skills are?? #or would u just move tf on!! #bc they are doing something nice for free!! #and if u don't want to eat it u don't have to!! #like if u post abt disliking fics u are literally just mean #im sorry but u are just mean #and not even in a fun way #i love talking shit i love hating on things!! #i do it in PRIVATE #in PRIVATE!!! #where it's fun for me but i know it won't hurt anyone's feelings unnecessarily!! #some of u guys treat fanfiction like a product to consume and it's NOT #it's a gift! #it's a piece of art that someone is giving u! #so for the love of god stop thinking like a fucking little capitalist consumer for a moment and think like a human being w empathy!! #ranting and raving #txt

[rollercoasterwords]

the “we need an atyd/choices but for wlw” always gets me because why do wlw fics need to be compared to fics about men? i love love love the hand that feeds but would never read it as the wlw version of a mlm fic. It’s special in it’s own lovely way.

your little rants here are keeping me sane and i do wish all the people who post about this on tiktok would stumble over to tumblr for a moment to understand that no one is entitled to someone else’s free writing.

oh god i do not want them to stumble over here i think they would draw and quarter me lmao

no but u are very correct honestly for me it's not even about gender like it's not so much "why do wlw fics need to be compared to mlm fics" bc i feel like that's more just a product of the only viral fics rn being about men it's more just. why are you incapable of viewing anything in this fandom outside the framework of a handful of fics that have gone viral. like don't get me wrong i love choices i love atyd i love crimson rivers BUT. we already have those stories. y'know? so what people are really saying when they say "we need atyd for the girls!!" is just "we need a wlw fic to reach levels of virality previously unheard of!!!" and it's like uhhhhhhh why. literally why. are u incapable of enjoying something if it doesn't go viral?

and i feel like the response to that is "no but wlw fics just deserve more attention!!" no they don't. sorry if that's harsh but nobody deserves attention and i think placing so much emphasis on it is not a good thing. virality isn't some ultimate goal that every fic writer is trying to reach--i mean. jesus christ, do u guys see how people treat writers when their fics go viral??? it's nightmarish!!! i think there are plenty of wlw fics out there that deserve love and respect for their wonderful writing, but nobody creating fanfiction is entitled to like. a shit ton of readers. and i think most fanfiction writers understand that, and are not writing fic with the goal of amassing a huge online audience. like i know for myself and for most of my friends who write fanfic the goal is just to create a story we like for ourselves and then perhaps attract a handful of people who like that story enough to talk to us about it as like. icing on the cake.

so to say stuff like "we need atyd for the girls" to me just translates to "we need to perpetuate the model of interacting with fanfiction wherein we treat fic as if it exists in a consumer economy, where amassing the broadest possible audience is the ultimate goal and the Highest Honor to bestow, and then creates a self-fulfilling prophecy where there are only a handful of viral fics at a time and we then feel as though there is no diversity amongst what is being written because we get stuck in an echo chamber where everyone on tiktok is just posting about the same handful of fics because they know that's what will get them views, and then people are only reading those fics because that's all they see on tiktok, and then people are only posting about those fics because that's what people are reading, and then--hey!! why is no one writing wlw!!!"

#was JUST discussing this w a friend lmao #but yeah the whole 'we need atyd for the girls!!' is just. so annoying #also that is a HUGE demand like??? #'oh is it so much to ask for a 500k fic with marylily or dorlene' YES. #YES THAT IS SO MUCH TO ASK #are u fucking insane #500k words is a monster u absolute troglodyte #jfc #ranting and raving #ask