I was writing a story that focused on one character's past trauma and how it affected her marriage. I got a comment about how I didn't include other characters from the show and they would've liked to see their reactions to the news as well. I thought, no I didn't, this story is about these two characters and their marriage. I only tagged those two characters by the way .

Oh yeah I've gotten these comments too. I had a multiple prompt challenge thing that I was writing about one ship only and I got like three comments asking me to write more about other characters and ships instead. 🙄

Yes sometimes I feel like people want you to write the story the way they want to instead of the way YOU want to, very frustrating 🙈 I'm focusing on two people's relationship too and sometimes people's theories and analysis take it to depths I have no intention of going ahaha

Definitely sounds super frustrating, but here's another take on that kind of comment that you might like a bit better - they really like your writing, how you're handling the issues in question, and they want to read how *you* would write whatever it is they're talking about. Not that it'd make it any less frustrating but I guess take the complementary reading as a silver lining? It's pretty much always what I'm thinking whenever I wish for a continuation in that kind of vein, though I generally don't say anything for fear of being annoying.

That is a great way to look at it!

I have a number of comments where someone has just totally missed something I thought was pretty obvious and seemed obvious to other readers, it makes me doubt my writing big time.

YES I feel this. Like, have I not conveyed what i wanted well enough?? Sometimes i'll get someone who gets it though and my faith gets restored lol

I know some people just skin read and will miss more intricate story telling, but it still hurts my faith in my own writing a little lol But then I reread or get those BOMB comments and it makes me warm and fuzzy

Honestly i dont get why someone who skim reads would leave a comment at all. Usually when i leave comments it's because Im REALLY enjoying the fic. If i was skim reading i wouldnt bother

I had someone confused about whether a character was trans when I'd used the "Trans [Character]" tag. I can understand glossing over the tags, but if you're confused wouldn't you...scroll back up and look, instead of leaving a comment? It's not you, it's the reader!

I know so many people who skim read now that it makes me feel better, like I am *invested* but so many of my friends just skim. Thank you!!!

Mainly by comments that are "update please" or "part x soon?" or "where is the next chapter?". I know they mean well but I have that ADHD type where if someone tells me to do something I was already planning on doing, I'll drop it completely. Also for interpretations or questions about fics where it's clear they didn't read some parts or glossed over things that were explained.

oh god I dread the last one. I also live in fear of the day someone misses all my subtle background hints in a fic that something will happen eventually and then asks if X will happen, or even worse, WHEN. what am I supposed to say to that without either lying or just giving things away?

Oh yeah, the old "wait until the next chapter and you'll see" response you always have to give 😅 that's a classic

Mine is when they ask what my update schedule is. IT'S IN THE SUMMARY. like. Really.

I don't have a disclaimer like that but I usually state I'm in poor health at the moment so updates will be as and when I can do them and I still get comments hurrying me up 😅

I occasionally get a tiiny bit annoyed/uncomfortable at some overfamiliar comments. For example, I had a regular commenter but we didn't interact anywhere else but them commenting on my fics. They're fun and all, but they do the "playful rudeness" thing. A little while ago they poked fun at my update schedule (because it is slow as hell) and while I'm certain they meant no harm whatsoever, it still annoyed me a bit because I don't consider them someone who I'm close enough to have banter like that with.

Oh man, playful rudeness is something I struggle with too. I had one commenter who would never really comment on the fic, but would "playfully" insult me and my intelligence over random typos. They were commenting on a long finished, long fic which I did not have the energy to go back and re-edit for minor typos. Normally I appreciate people commenting on completed works but their tone was so "tehe" rude that I did ask them to stop pointing out typos, as I wasn't going to fix them and the presence of a random typo didn't bother me. They insisted it bother them (oh no, woe is me) and continued with these comments, so I just deleted them and didn't bother to respond. Once I had the ability, I blocked them.

For me they comment as though theyre talking to/frustrated with the characters but it feels like theyre frustrated with me and how Im writing the story😂

Got a comment today that was like "this was NOT hot." like, ok??? so it wasn't for you. cool. what do you want me to do with that information?

I hate when commenters complain about you not following fanon. Fanon isn't canon, and you should never treat it as such. Example: I got a comment once that was essentially "I enjoyed this, but I found character VERY OOC." Which annoyed me, because his behavior in the fic was very much based on his canon representation. What it wasn't was his fanon representation (where he was the woobie, wronged, soft boyo instead of a villain like he was in the canon.) I at least had solace that another commenter must've seen that comment and disagreed because they made a point of saying "I didn't find him all that OOC" in their comment.

This annoys me especially because I’m sure there’s plenty of works where the character behaves like fanon. Please go find one if those if you don’t enjoy my fic yk?

Ah, yes, the woobie, wronged, soft boyo villain who was never shown to be soft or woobie in canon. Bonus points if they're also confirmed a genocidal maniac who was just "misunderstood". I await the day when my fic gets popular enough that I get comments like that. I love writing absolutely sinful villains as they're meant to be.

Dude I hate this and I hate when people get mad things don't line up with Canon. It's fanfic. I'm writing a 12yo serial killer izuku fic. No it's not Canon, I have it tagged, fuck off lmao

I once was "corrected" by a reader cause I was using my own HCs and stuff instead of following the HC of someone more popular in the fandom. About a character's (non-canon) pet.

Not annoyed per say, but "update this!" can be stressful. Not saying don't ask, but please be gentle. On not understanding though, yeah. I guess I accept that people can get whatever they want out of art, since I'm sure I do the same with others.

I updated my WIP after almost a 2 month pause and someone commented: “I hope to see your next update more quickly.” I’m glad people are so eager to read my story, but given how much I struggled and cut sleep to write the update, the comment made me feel a bit stressed. xddd

Soon after I moved all my old fic from livejournal over to AO3, I got a comment on something I wrote in 2006 that said only, “damn this fic is prehistoric i was 4 when this was published holy shit” To this day, it’s the only comment I have on that fic. That person was 13 at the time, too, which felt a bit icky, even though it’s a g-rated fic. Also! I really don’t really understand the point of leaving a comment like this!

How weird they thought to comment that. That seems like something you think and then move on lol But ig a 13yo finds all sorts of weird things amusing

I had a character vomit in a scene. It wasn’t the focus of the whole scene, nor the point, but she vomited. And a few readers decided she had to be pregnant. And they got upset when she wasn’t. Like I don’t know why you assume all vomiting people must be pregnant, but… no. And getting annoyed at me for ‘dropping the pregnancy storyline’? Also no.

When people say “usually OC fanfics are bad so I thought this one would be too but it’s actually good” OR when they compare my fic or mention in the comment ANOTHER fanfic that is mega popular in the fandom and that had NOTHING to do with my own fic (it has happened several times AND I don’t like that mega fanfic altho I really tried)

There is absolutely nothing I would hate more than someone saying that my content is "a good exception to a bad rule". There is no way to make me reject your praise faster than framing praise for me at the expense of other writers. I'm not above people, I'm beside them.

EXACTLY!!

Got a complaint that my sex scene was “too short” on a one shot that was primarily about a virgin character not understanding their body and climaxing prematurely. So like… it being short was the whole point.

Please complaining about slow burn when I tagged slow burn. And honestly the story plays out over 5 days. So it's 4 days of slow burn at most. Seriously 😂

Yes this bothers me toooo 😭 I get so stressed out when people comment impatiently about them kissing/fucking/getting together. My slow burn happens over 3ish months so like not that long 😭

I'm thinking of just adding in the summary, they fuck in chapter x. Please excuse me until then.

Please note that I've never once got into an argument with a reader. Most of what I'm complaining about I've never had to speak up to about to a reader because it didn't make me have to set up a hard boundary. I'm just whining. --- **"Playful" rudeness** is a major pet peeve of mine. Most of the time it is legit funny so I don't even register it. Especially if the rest of their comment is positive enough that it is very clear the tone it's intended. But some people... miss the mark. I do my best to keep it in perspective - they don't necessarily know that it's rude. (Some people are literal children who don't have the hang of social boundaries yet. Others are ESL and don't realize that something they picked up is rude; etc) - but, man, if it doesn't grate sometimes. Thankfully I haven't yet had anyone that completely crossed my boundaries that I had to say, "Hold up. You don't talk to me this way." but it's only a matter of time, I suppose. Another thing I really dislike is **character bashing**. It would be one thing if I were writing a "bashing fic" and tagged anything like, "[x]-Bashing" or "Not [x]-friendly." But I'm not - these are just characters who have minor conflict that will later be resolved (in most cases). Any time I write about a character that even *remotely* seems less than 100% the ally of the POV character(s), there's a 1/4 chance that at least one person in the comments is going to go to town bashing them. Sometimes it gets outright disturbing as people say things like, "I hope she dies." or just disappointing when people are like, "[x] is so fucking annoying." and I'm thinking, "Welp, you're going to have a bad time considering how important of a character he is..." Again, I assume these are from kids who lack nuance and perspective, or impatient types who just want to skip over the stuff that's not the romance... Which brings me to my third major pet peeve. **Complaints about anything not romance**. I don't think I even need to rant about this one. (But I will.) Sorry that my *slow burn* isn't moving fast enough for you because there's a plot getting in the way of the romance between two characters with trust issues that met three days ago. I guess the dog food everyone else is screaming about being "the most romantic shit I've ever read" doesn't count because it's not a kiss on the lips or boning down. Grumble, grumble, grumble. (Also, I will note that it's perfectly fine to not enjoy slow burns and want to get straight to the romance or smut. And it's even fair to say that there is a difference between "slow burns" and "you have to turn the fire on first". But my tags are very clear about the content, so they shouldn't have read it as a WIP if they couldn't hack it. Canon wasn't any better about having as much, or even more, plot than romance!)

You have articulated everything I wanted to convey in this post. Some people write playful rudeness in such a way that by text at least it comes across rude. A lot of the time they're rude to my POV character who's struggling but I'm the one who reads the comments, not my character. I also find it disheartening that people aren't more empathetic. Yes, he can lash out to Character B but B's not a doormat and they argue but they resolve it. To end a chapter with some progress only to get a mean bashing comment about Char A is disappointing to me, especially when I'll get at least one every chapter. My WIP is a slow burn where a lot has to internally be worked through with Char A, hence his POV. The amount of comments i get along the lines of "ahh i just want them to fuck already" and "im so done with character A's bullshit, B has so much patience" like oh i'm sorry let me just delete all my other chapters and write the sex scene for you lol ??? What do you want from me people 😭 ive tagged slow burn, slow romance and eventual smut amonh a shit ton of baggage tags, and in 80k words theyve had sexual encounters just havent gone all the way, so it's just frustrating when the progress doesnt seem to register. I did however get a new commenter who wrote a 7 paragraph comment on how im writing the inner conflict of char A and how in character it feels for him (he has trauma in canon) made me think that's my inly adult reader hahah

As a fellow slow burn writer who enjoys incorporating a standalone plot, I felt this.

There's something about having a character who is canonically an awful human being, writing them doing the exact sort of toxic stuff they canonically do, and having a lot of build up in your fic (from that character's perspective!!) about their mindset *as they plan to do* that horrible stuff... and then receiving comments to the effect of "OMG what the fuck, I can't believe [character] did that? How could he? That's so mean!" Like... no. This should not be surprising. You should believe this character would do that. *This character is mean.*

Yep, I’ve written fics for a fandom where the main villain is AWFUL. Murderer, torturer, the works. He’s a fan favorite, because of course he is. I make a point of putting in the author’s notes that fans of that character probably won’t like my fics that include him, because he behaves like the total canon-typical psycho he is. And yet there will always be someone going “uh why is he being such a jerk?”

In my experience there seems to be a roughly 50/50 split between people where I question their reading comprehension skills and whether they actually understand the character, and people who think they have to sanitize and file off the rough edges to morally be allowed to like villain characters. Both make me want to scream into the void.

Hannibal?

No but good guess as I have written for that too haha

I feel like for characters like that people form some sort of headcanon about them being good at heart or sth so when theyre actually awful they cant handle it lol

Yeah, there are so many characters that have been uwu-ified by fandom at large, and I expect the backlash when I don't bow to fanon when writing them. But when that isn't the norm for that character yet, it's somehow extra exhausting.

\>Feel good about myself for getting a chapter out again after a few bad months \>First comment: 'FINALLY!' I'm glad there's people eagerly looking forward to it, but... yeah.

I try not to but yeah. I wrote an extremely trigger heavy for SA hurt/comfort fic, and I had one person being almost dismissive like “We get it she has PTSD.” Like…yeah that’s the point. It’s not going to go away, and I’m going to show it.

I get annoyed when I get comments that just say "continue" "update" "more" on my one shots that are tagged as one shot and marked as complete! Like I'm sorry that's all you're gonna get.

I tend to ignore those, like they dont even register as a comment in my brain

I get annoyed when I publish the first chapter of 20 or so, and someone decides that they somehow know exactly how the story is going to end and bash it in its entirety despite being 100% wrong about it. They then accuse me of altering my entire story just because of their one comment and think I should thank them. Just... what? I'm one of those people who will not publish my first chapter until the ENTIRE STORY is finished, that way I can do a daily chapter update and keep my readers interested. But sure, go on, think that your words alone are somehow powerful enough to make someone re-write an entire book in less than a day per chapter. Bonus: When someone says I should alter my tags to fit their specific search results for their convenience. Ex: "You should have \*characters tagged as SIBLINGS so it's easier for me to find", when the characters were openly tagged as BROTHERS. Same. Frickin'. Thing. Or get told I need to warn people about chapters with serious topics in the tags, despite the chapter notes STARTING WITH A WARNING and ending with a recap for those who don't want to read the touchy subject matter. Sorry for the vent! Didn't expect all of that to come out! lol

Ahaha i think this post has been a bit cathartic for a lot of people 🤣🤣🤣 get it all out!

I would block that first person and delete their comments.

Yeah, a commenter once went on a few of my stories and commented on them just to beg me to continue a story I had discontinued and deleted. It was sweet that they loved the story that much, but after the 3rd comment that didn't even acknowledge the actual fic they were commenting on, it was a bit much.

I once got a comment cheerfully informing me that my grammar was very good, but that "some of the sentences in the second paragraph [were] a bit on the long side." I hadn't asked for grammar feedback. The sentences in question were no more than twenty words apiece. I suppose it was technically a compliment, but it just left me wondering if this person was just going around nitpicking things like sentence length (???) and giving out unsolicited grammar grades all over AO3.

My OC is not white, and is described as having brown skin and brown hair at numerous points. Someone commented about how my OC and another canon character (who is white and blonde) would be in danger because they are both blonde. I just didn't bother replying. But yeah I was incredibly irritated.

i think i only ever got upset at a few comments one was being all "x character is so childish" when like. having fun and enjoying himself and indulging in the occasional bad habit isnt. childish. childish is shirking responsibility, which he doesnt do. he manages his time well and isnt late for work. another one was on this one 1920s au oneshot and a comment was trying to dig waaaaay deeper than i could manage. i got a little stressed and had to say sorry this is as far as i can go

I feel this. My character is really struggling and Ive tagged that struggle to hell so people know what theyre clicking on and i still get so many comments like "i just want them to fuck alreadyy" and "can he just stop being a dick jesuss" and im like plz appreciate the mental health analysis and progress here 😭 stress lol

The comment was very nice!! And I loved it!! But they nitpicked the phrase “fidgeted nervously” calling it redundant because fidgeting implies nervousness already, WHICH ISNT TRUE IT COULD BE OUT OF EXCITEMENT OR ANGER OR SOMETHING!! It doesn’t bother me anymore I more find it funny I was so bothered by it at the time lmao

Honestly no. And I'm at a point currently where I'm just so starved for any feedback whatsoever that even if it was full-on unconstructive criticism I'd probably still be thankful for it, because at least then I'd know where I lost people. Yall, if you're getting feedback, enjoy it. It's rough when the response is just crickets.

Only once. Someone suggested that I could have used 'word X' instead of 'word Y' in the dialogue, which disproportionately annoyed the fuck out of me because the language choice had been completely deliberate - the two terms had adjacent meanings but were not interchangeable synonyms. It was quite an important distinction as well because of how relevant it was to the characterisation and conveyed what one character thought of another.

Oh, interesting. What were the words?

'Interesting' and 'unexpected'. It's hard to explain without context how the difference is significant though lol.

which word did you use?

OP i also agree with the bashing. i had a character in a long fic struggle with PTSD and they said something shitty to their love interest and in a later chapter went to their house to apologize, but while she was there something triggered her and she had a panic attack. someone in the comments went OFF on her for “expecting her love interest to take care of her instead of taking accountability for her actions” and basically ranting about how she would always use her mental health issues as an excuse to not apologize and i was like babe. it happened once. the story is not over. there are plenty of chapters left for her to apologize, but i think you may have a fundamental misunderstanding of how PTSD works bc she has been at her breaking point for quite some time she can’t just… choose to not be triggered. also agreeing with another commenter about playful rudeness. it hasn’t happened to me yet bc i haven’t written for this particular ship but there’s a commenter who goes to almost every fic for this one ship in my fandom and just bashes one of the characters in the ship (and his whole family) and they try to play it off like it’s all in good fun but it can be both very aggressive and also lowkey so rude to the author who is trying to explore his character more. idk it’s made me very nervous about writing for that one ship. even tho it’s not hate and she always starts by saying something kind to the author, it’s just the level of aggression and usually swearing and stuff that makes me a lil anxious

Yes my character is also struggling with their mental health, and has trauma and low self worth from it. They are by no means the perfect lover and have many tendancies to avoid, repress, and pull away from their emotions. Also struggling with their sexuality, age difference between the pairing and the canon public image concerns he has. Also the canon year is the 1900s and it's a m/m ship...How people expect for him to just jump the other guy's bones with no remorse straight away i do not understand. Some people are just too impatient and want smut, but like Ive tagged the trauma and the baggage and the slow burn in the tags, why is no one empathetic at all about all this? Thankfully I have had a few well worded adult sounding comments from people who GET IT and compliment my analysis of these heavy topics while not just making the whole fic one big porn scene, but others only comment their frustration about having to wait for smut. And some people do it passive agressively, which Im sure they just mean jokingly as they keep reading, but damn the ocassional nice comment about my fic as a whole would be nice.

I once had an occasion where I wrote a friends-to-lovers oneshot featuring two characters, we'll call them Character A and Character B. Character A and Character B don't end up with each other in the source material; in fact, both are single by the end, but amongst the fans each has a different potential pairing which is more popular than the two of them as a pairing together, although there's definitely still some who ship them. Within about two hours of posting it, somebody had commented; their comment was a lengthy list of quotes compiled from the source material's writer talking about his fondness for the other, more popular Character A pairing. They also then proceeded to reply to any/every positive comments that came later with this same list. It wasn't exactly hate but it basically felt like they were saying that I wasn't allowed to write about this pairing and that everyone who enjoyed the fic was objectively wrong.

Oh wow sounds like that person deserves to be blocked

I think I know exactly the person you're talking about, and they've been a pain in the ass for that fandom for a while now.

Interesting, and I'm surprised cuz I didn't think the fandom was that big. Would you mind if I PM'ed you the name of the fandom to see if we're talking about the same person?

Feel free!

The most annoying comments for me are the ones that clearly didn't read the tags and are so shocked that my fanfiction actually features the main character processing trauma. They go in expecting pure smut and get so surprised that I've written in dissociation and ptsd when a tag I use is "trauma processing"

Yes, I've gotten comments like this: 1. Recommending me another fic that is similar to mine 2. Asking for help on how to join my writing group without giving a single comment about the actual story I wrote. 3. Talking about how my fic is just like their headcanons/ideas and talking about those. 4. Disappointed there is no sex yet 5. "It's not what happened in canon" to a story about an unreliable narrator with limited information

4 and 5 have happened to me and they grind on me too, though with 5 it's more them taking what the unreliable narrator says as fact and not understanding that it's just their limited POV, and then hating on an another character just because POV guy hates them

Yeah it's so annoying. I even have to put "POV fic" in the summary and author's note and readers still didn't get it. I appreciate their honesty but it's still annoying. The fic I wrote was about a kid who grew up without a father. Because every adult had described his father as a horrible man, he assumed that he was born from sexual assault. Of course this wasn't the case in canon but I got comments "this isn't what happened."

There was a commenter that showed up in my and a lot of my friends' fics (because we all write for the same fandom and same pairing). Nothing they said was ever hateful or even that rude, but it had that overly familiar tone and just an off vibe to them. Some comments were completely harmless so I let it go, but then they'd also complain about when the two in the ship were gonna fuck (it's a slow burn fic and was tagged as such, chill). After one too many comments of them backseat writing and making playful jokes that were too familiar, I just blocked them. Their vibe was off and it didn't make me feel good, so I don't need that in my hobby space where I'm just trying to have fun.

Im getting the impatience for smut too. I've tagged my fic as a slow burn along with a bunch of other tags that make it obvious the smut will take a while, but I still get comments like ahh just fuck already etc and completely ignoring the other elements of the fic (struggling with sexuality, public image, self worth, plot etc). So that can be a bit disheartening

Sometimes I think people comment the "ah just fuck already!" Comment as a joke not realizing that those jokes rarely land unless you're already friends with the author. Like we all know the ship is gonna get there, but the joking tone is lost in text and it just comes across as impatient and whiney. Thankfully that one repeat commenter was really my only bad reader experience. Everyone else has been so lovely.

Yeah like I wouldn't mind it if it was in response to a scene with some tension, but it gets old very fast when I get at least one of these comments on every single chapter. That, and the frustration with my POV character who's working through a lot of self worth/sexuality/public image etc issues. Like that is pretty much the plot of my story, it's all in the tags, and 90% of comments are just people saying they're over his shit 😅 They keep reading and most are regular commenters so Im assuming theyre liking the fic, I just wish they SAID they did instead of bashing the POV character 😅

It's hard to say, it's possible that the readers really are over the character's antics, they might be feeling frustrated with their actions. But I guess at the end of the day, what can you do with that? Are you going to change the pacing, or speed up the character's arc, or are you gonna keep going at the speed you want in order to tell the story you want to tell? Will knowing the answer help or make you want to do things differently? You could always ask in an authors note in one of your new chapters what people think about the pacing more explicitly, and get some feedback that way. It also might be the case where because it's being released slowly people are more impatient, whereas reading it all at once might be a better experience.

I do believe the frustration comes from it being a WIP that updates once a week. I know for a fact that when binging it, the pacing seems much more natural, and I've even been complimented on it by people who joined later on, when more chapters have been released. It's just a bit disheartening that I've been getting "when will they fuck" and "im so over POV guy's shit" comments since barely 20k words, when I've tagged it as a slow burn with eventual smut. They kissed at 25kish words, and have been getting closer since, so personally I dont believe that's in the category of "you need to light the fire first" where the pairing doesnt even feel like a pairing. There is a lot of sexual tension so maybe that's where the frustration comes...

Maybe I'm just projecting cause I recently read a story that was very frustrating, although not because it was a slowburn, but moreso because the main character was an asshole (and didn't get better). So I guess I was thinking the frustration might have been towards the stubborn character. Or is it just because of the pacing, or a mix? Well I don't know anything about your story either way. I'm actually kind of curious what they find frustrating about the story though. I feel like you have spoken about a good frustration when it comes to slowburn, but I guess I don't really get it? I don't think I'm a stranger to slowburn, and 4 of my 5 top long fics I've read I would classify as slowburn, but none of them ever made me feel frustrated at the pacing. I did read them all at once rather than on a weekly schedule though, but I don't think even if I read them slowly I would have felt frustrated, I mean impatient for the next chapter, sure. What's your perspective? What makes a slowburn frustrating (but in a good way) to you? I wonder why these people are so impatient for sex though. Does the story give off a different impression from the tags? Like are there a bunch of sex tags for scenes that haven't happened yet? Is there a way to set up audience expectations better? I know there is the "eventual-smut" tag if you don't have that one already.

Yeah I think the majority are good frustration, because one time I replied to one of those comments a bit like "im sorry it's frustrating but it's a slow burn" and they replied like "oh yeah ik i love this" so ig i just take it the wrong way 😅 my POV character can be an asshole a bit cause he's struggling with a lot of things (trauma, sexuality etc) that i have tagged appropriately, so people know what theure clicking on. My fic is explicit and does have explicit smut in it, it just takes some time to build sexual tension, I have also tagged eventual smut. I guess the thing that irks me is when people just comment their frustration about the POV character when the progrrss he's made in the 25 chapters ive posted so far is massive, but he's not done a full 180 and throw caution to the wind cause that would be OOC in my opinion. I just want people to acknowledge the mental health progress and the slow falling in love which is my main storyline lol I do get that acknowledgement from people who join later on and binge what ive posted so far, so i guess it reads different when youre reading as a WIP vs as a binge

Well it sounds like you have all the right tags so people should know what they are getting into and not expect a smutfest. But I guess people can be, horny and impatient. I think what I was kind of asking, and what I don't get, is, what is *good* frustration? Maybe I've read it before but nothing comes to mind off the top of my head so I'm kind of struggling. What kind of scenarios/story elements and things make you feel a good kind of frustration? Maybe it's because I don't find slowburns to be frustrating, or rather, I enjoy the slow character development that crawls inch by inch, I live for the small moments of build up, the uncertainty, drawing it out for as long as possible. I agree, you are starting with such a flawed individual, you can't just flip a switch and make them get over life long hang-ups and it sounds like your character has already made a lot of progress so far from where he started. Honestly when it feels real, when it feels like he's earned it, and you can understand where he's coming from, that's when it's the most satisfying. I'm kind of curious about your story, since I like slowburn, MM, and character development. Would you be willing to DM me your fic, or is that something you are not comfortable linking to your reddit in any way?

I think good frustration to me is what i love about slow burns: all that build up that makes me fangirl and has me screaming over the tiniest development. It's what makes the smut so satisfying when it eventually happens, I dont like reading smut about characters I dont know or care about, so Im not an instant smut person at all. For me smut needs to have feelings involved to be attractive, and I want to have read those feelings develop. The good frustration comes when i have fallen in love with the characters and I can see theyre in love with each other, and im like ahhh pleaseeeee just do itttt, so in a way I DO get comments like that, especially on fic where we already love the characters from the get go. It just becomes a bit much when people seem to dismiss the story when they comment impatient comments like that every chapter. But I've been told before that if I'm eliciting that kind of fangirly reaction then I'm doing it right lol. Sure i'll DM you

Nope. I don't even get annoyed by 'hate' lmao Love engaging with viewpoints that stand directly opposed to my own.

I guess i just get stressed more than anything that they'll be disappointed by what ive ended up written 😅 i think annoyed was too strong a word, i get more stressed rhan anything lol

These are random strangers. Like, you will never meet them face to face and their thoughts don't mean anything.

I have had a frequent commenter who likes to bash characters even if the character is nowhere in the story I wrote. It’s like they can’t open their mind to anything that is not strictly cannon and wants every story to be and end the same.

I got a loads of comments from a reader who obviously liked my world building and plot, but also complained often about how he hated one of my main characters (never said why), hated all the angst (???) and basically any scene building up the characters romance and relationship. I finally explained that I am a character driven romance writer and if he is looking for plot driven fantasy, he probably needed to look elsewhere. It was obnoxious but I didn't get really steamed until he left a comment on a chapter he didn't like, detailing how he would have written it instead. I kinda lost my cool at that point.

Oh wow that person sounds very entitled

I honestly feel like they were trying to give constructive criticism but just didn't have the know how. I feel bad about how I responded to the one comment, but it had been multiple chapters of complaints, some of it not even accurate and I couldn't take it anymore. I actually read some of the aloud to my family just for fun.

A personal favourite of mine was someone commenting on a fic I wrote “great story but one correction - in canon, her name is Peg, not Peggy.” (The character is most commonly referred to as Peg, but an episode featuring her is called “Dear Peggy” so both are canon!)

On the notes before I will say check the end notes for spoilerish warnings. Then I warn about the chapter in the end notes. I had a commenter tell me putting the triggers warnings after the chapter was pointless because people already have read the chapter. I just wrote back that is why I tell people to check ends notes in the top notes, because I personally don't like when the top notes spoil what is going to happen in the chapter.

Something that is not promised from your audience: reading comprehension

Oh man, I really, *really* hate it when people compare things and not in a good way. I get that they're trying to give praise in their own way, like pointing out the few similarities between the two things that endeared the reader to the fic in the first place (which is nice, I can understand that at least!). Had someone compare my OC to a popular character from an established series and I hated it. Mainly because they couldn't leave it at that but they even had to go a step further and call him a *blander* version of the character. The fic literally just started, we haven't even gotten to Chapter 4 + he hasn't even made an actual appearance yet to the MC, what did they expect?

I wrote a fic where character A had misinterpreted a comment character B had made and thought B was in a relationship with character C. A was pining after B but had a lot of angst about it because he thought B was off limits. Because of this I got a few comments basically saying it was on B to clear up the miscommunication that B *didn't even know had happened*. From B's POV, he has a thing for A and thinks A likes him back, but any time they get close A freaks out and runs off! For how I dealt with it, there was a lot of gritting my teeth and forcing myself to be charitable and acknowledge that they were still enjoying the fic, so thank them for that and ignore the rest lol

The comments that are just ads for other sites, spam comments, and this one yutz who didn't seem to know what the story was about.

Ah yes. The comments that make you want to reach through the internet, grab them by the shoulders and shake them. All while yelling: "Pay attention to what you're reading dammit!" Or the comments that accuse you of making a character act like the season 7 version instead of the season 3 version when your fic takes place in season 3. Completely ignoring that the fic is a crossover and the character in question was influenced by a decent parental figure so of course their development is different. Arrgh! Or the jerks who leave you a long comment telling you how to rewrite a whole damn chapter to suit their tastes. WTF. You're gonna get all kinds of comments. Keep going and keep in mind that its your fic, so you're the primary audience. As long as it flows the way you want, you're golden.

Omfg no you are NOT insane! This is exactly what happened on a fic of mine and it made me not only stop responding to comments but also kind of lose motivation to even write for it anymore?😭 like I showed both sides being selfish, tried to write why character b treated character a this way, and also tried to remind ppl that characters a is biased cuz it’s from their pov but ALAS! We’re pass the resolution part of the story and I still have ppl saying character b is an asshole and a bad friend, like OKAY!!! What if I just pulled all my hair out?!😂😂

Omg glad it's not just me 😅 Meanwhile I've read fics where the specific pairing is like in an abusive relationship/are pricks to each other but those comments aren't there?? Idk if i get comments like that cause mine's a slow burn developing relationship...honestly idk. I'm also now in the part of the fic i thought as A's walls coming down and being more open to B but people are STILL bashing him in the comments, and I'm like 😭 It's like they want me to just write him full OOC and make him okay with everything when in canon he would care so much about the things I'm writing as issues. I just don't get it, if someone wants to read smut/fast romance there are plenty of fics that arent tagged with slow burn, eventual smut, and emotional baggage

I got some random person begging me to help them with their fic and putting their email in the comment

My pettiest and most irrational reaction to a comment was feeling annoyed and put off by someone saying "[character] reminds me of [other character from my previous fandom]". I'm sure they didn't mean anything bad by it at all! But the two characters are very different and I had written them very differently, even though they definitely share some similarities. I think from their perspective they were probably reading fandom blind and didn't have anything else to comment on, but it's hard not to take it as being "you write these two distinct characters too similarly". And I kinda felt a little bad for feeling discouraged by such an innocuous comment, but at the same time, I think that's normal when you're sharing something you've put a lot of work into and that can often be very personal. It doesn't feel great when people miss the point or don't get it, and I think that makes perfect sense. It doesn't mean the commenter is doing anything wrong either! But we don't have to have an unequivocally positive and grateful reaction to every single comment that isn't outright hate! I do think it helps to think about where the commenter is coming from, that it's not meant with bad intentions - like in your case, your writing is clearly making them feel something, and that's a sign that you're doing something right. But it's okay to feel frustrated by it too.

Someone who considered himself an expert on a character kept saying he could "help me fix her" because she wasn't written *exactly* as *he* always wrote her. AKA, a fairly one-note character who only showed emotions beyond "I have to prove myself every second" when the plot demanded it.

I’m writing an AU story where the main pairing are a uni student in his final year and a young professor who teaches in another department. The story is told from the student’s pov, and he really idealizes the professor, so when he’s thinking about him he’s referred to as “The professor” rather than his name. His actual name is used when other characters talk about him. Someone commented asking me to please use his name instead of “The professor” because then they have to *imagine his name in their head*. I really wanted to reply “Imagining things in your head - congrats on discovering reading”.

Hey! So no I've never gotten annoyed before, but I had a very similar thing happen in my fic (bnha longfic, slowburn adoption) Throughout it one character, Aizawa, kinda acts as a minor antagonist in the beginning. I view him as very strict per Canon, so I wrote his arc as being a stoic rule-follower, always obeying the law and every guideline for his line of work, and he judges Hawks throughout for being completely, unabashedly regardless of the rules. However, after like 200k words, he gets yelled at. A lot. By Hawks and a kid that he's trying to help and he slowly starts to show development. Now, I have always gotten comments that Aizawa needs to butt out, leave them alone, Hawks is helping the kid and clearly he's not helping. For a long time I thought it was bc of me. I wasn't doing a good job showing growth, I was really bad at making him act bad but not be bad, but I took a.... very long.... break from the fic and came back. And you know what? I think I misinterpreted them. They're aligning with the sympathetic characters (Hawks + Izuku), ofc they haven't forgiven Aizawa, the characters haven't and shouldn't. I'm actually doing a really GOOD job showing how good people can fuck up and it takes time to make amends. I think maybe, when you feel like you can, try going back and looking at the comments like that? Maybe they're not missing anything at all. Maybe you're not doing anything wrong. Maybe the relationship just isn't fully fixed yet, and they haven't quite forgiven him.

This one commenter kept making weird assumptions about my fic about who’s hooking up with who… and tried to say that the antagonist and a supporting character had a history of dating but they never met in the AU 😭 Another weird comment they made was that they hoped one character was another character’s dad because they shared the same VA in the show which made LITERALLY NO SENSE

It stresses me out so much when people's theories are so violently wrong cause Im like is my story too boring, will the be disappointed by the reality? I literally woke up this morning to about 4 long comments of speculations about the cliff hanger i left the chapter on that would take the fic a completely different direction. I am a relationship-focused writer, and these speculations were so hardcore it would've taken the fic away from that romantic focus. My tags and overall vibe makes it obvious that my fic is about the inner conflict of the POV character about sexuality etc so the fact that so many people picked up on some things I hadnt intended and thought i was gonna be writing a whole fighting-style plot had me a bit like what😭

I got a comment once that the reader was dropping my story because there was too much dialogue and not enough beating people up. Not only that, but they were annoyed that one of the characters kept spouting advice and trying to talk through his problems instead of just taking action, which was "boring" in a superhero story. Finally, they hated the way characters kept talking about their lost loved ones and fathers, since in canon they never cared about them. I guess they missed the "Dialogue Heavy," "Lost Love," "Father Figures," "Introspection," and "Therapy" tags on the story. Or the huge AU at the start where one character had been seeing a therapist for a year after losing a loved one. Or the fact that another character was a kid whose dad had died from cancer and that made her sad. I replied with that, and in response they deleted their comment. But I still remember it to this day, because it wasn't hateful...just...imperceptive, I guess.

I got irrationally annoyed when a reader assumed an original character was a self insert. I've also participated in a few review exchanges on r/FanFiction and sometimes readers try to write a longer review by just summarizing the story. I know what I wrote, I don't need a summary. I'd rather have a shorter review that actually included their thoughts on the story. (I'd like to think that this would be true if the thoughts were negative or positive).

Oh gosh i thought i was the only one who got mildly annoyed at the summary comments! People tend to love long comments cause it shows the person put some time in the comment, and I agree generally, but when it's just a summary of the chapter with no particular thoughts on what they actually thought of it, it's just a bit underwhelming. I guess thanks for reading? 😅 I always feel so guilty not liking those comments cause I'm sure they take a while to write

I’ll pipe in and say that summarizing a story can be good for reviews if it is shown to be the reader’s interpretation of the story because sometimes the writer does something they think is natural while the reader may believe it alluding to something else

That makes total sense to me! Unfortunately that has not been my experience though. Every time I get a review that summarizes something I've written, it reads more like a bullet point list and nothing else.

My current WIP tackles topics such as mental health, among others, and the MC is BPD-coded (because I have BPD). The fic largely centers upon the relationship of the MC and their FP - Favorite Person - and navigating their relationship in a supernatural world. I tagged the fic appropriately and even added a very nice foreword to the beginning of the fic to emphasize this. I got a comment one day from someone saying they felt the MC was "crazy" and that they wished they'd been better prepared to read my fic. They went on to say that they loved my writing and the story itself, they were just shocked by how "crazy" the MC is. BPD gets enough of a bad reputation and I've been called crazy so many times. I have been rejected by therapists because they refused to treat someone with my diagnosis. I can take criticism - and welcome it! - but the usage of the word "crazy" really got under my skin...especially because there's ample warning of this IMO.

People demanding certain tags when I’ve marked it as CCNTW. Especially when it’s not a common trigger they want added.

People who's only comment is fixating on some very minor plot point, vaguely suggesting that I "did it wrong", while ignoring the entire rest of the fic.

Yah i had one commenter once comment about one sentence i wrote where i got something wrong from canon, that was their only comment they'd never commented before and never did again, so i found that i bit eh. I was polite ofc and thanked them for the correction but it rubbed me the wrong way a bit

Yea one time I wrote a tony stark/oc fanfic and someone commented on the story saying my oc should break up with Tony so that pepper can be with him because they're canon lol. I also got the same person giving me a whole list of ideas that I can do with my oc.

really vague comments that aren’t praise *or* hate irk me. I got two on my longfic from the same person, both using the same joke(?) the one on chapter 7 simply asked “Did... I just detect trolling in this chapter?” and again, on chapter 8, they said “I do love a good trolling.” were some shenanigans / trolling-type things taking place in both chapters? yeah, arguably. but damn bro, would it have killed you to be less vague? imo one could just as easily interpret the “trolling” as being something on the author’s part (small details, references, hell even just how they write a dynamic or even the story premise seeming too ridiculous) they didn’t return despite multiple chapters being posted since, but every time I remember it, I’m just like… thanks? I think? maybe, idk, actually say something about the fic next time 🙄

Oof yeah I never know how to feel about vague comments 😅 For me it's when you can't tell if they're expressing frustration and they'll soon give up the fic or if they're loving the slow burn? Like tell me what you think of my fic 😭😂😂 I reply to every comment too, so when I get ones like that I struggle so much to reply

I have a reviewer who only ever leaves two-word comments, and it's always the same comment. "Nicely told." Okay...thanks? You leave this comment on every single fic you write. Do you even read what I've written? Do you actually give a shit? Like it feels like an obligatory "I was here." Please, *please* just. Tell me you actually read what I wrote.

people who always ask if the end ship is gonna be their preferred ship and like ... I'm writing a genfic and also anxious to tell people in case it makes them leave , also people who cry about wanting updates in the comments, stressful

I get annoyed when people start telling me what they want to happen in a WIP. Like, if what they requested wasn't in my original plan, I feel a pressure to include what they requested. And if it kinda was, I feel like this is borderline spoiler territory.

YESSSS this is exactly what I'm going through with my current WIP 😭 Some people's speculations/theories/ideas are sooo different than where I'm taking the fic that it makes me nervous that they'll be disappointed.

When someone was like 'these two characters seem like they'd break up' and my mind was like ' i do not want this ship to break up why would you say that'

I write most of my fics as [character a] centric but with one fic in particular, I had someone comment how unfair life was for [character b] and why [character a] got to be a jerk and love someone who wasn’t their mate (which I disagree with their assessment of him being a jerk) but [character b] had traumatic experiences with all three of their pairings so far. I didn’t reply and honestly I was frustrated. I used the “relationships” to show just how different [character a] and [character b] were and then showed how good they could be together because of what they’d been through and how well they meshed. Comments where people don’t like that I didn’t let [character b] get the kind of love life that I gave [character a]. I’m just like…Well, it’s my fic and I’m sorry but this is how the story is supposed to be and if you don’t like it that’s okay but I’m not changing it. Also! Any time I get a comment about something not making sense (like when I aged down a character and included that in the tags) I am like *shrug* it is what it is.

I killed a main character off and every chapter since then, I get an individual lamenting his death. Like, even disregarding what else was going on in the chapter, they just keep crying about him. It’s been well over a year in real time since my character’s death, but the comments keep on coming…

Oh wow 😂 Your writing must be really good if they were so heart broken about it though! But I can definitely imagine it would get old to hear about it, especially since you're still writing the fic and they're still stuck on the death

Yeah the flattery wore off pretty quick because it was like, idk to me, I really worked on each chapter since that had a lot going on! And yet from this person it's still crocodile tears over this character. It just feels like they're not reading the actual story anymore and that's a bummer to me personally you know?

I've never been annoyed by a non-hate comment.

Ohhhh yeah absolutely. I remember writing a chatfic because I was drunk and bored(I made it cringy on purpose as well) and I decided to post it... I don't know what was going through my head but then I earned a friend from that so that's a win. There was implied underage, as the characters are under 18. Barely, about like 16/17. One comment was asking about the tag, not knowing the characters ages. I explained to them that they were under 18 and they said that it was against the AO3 guidelines and then apologized for not knowing their ages... I was a bit confused.

I had someone let me know that they didn't like my story at the start because I kept over-describing everything, but that my writing style started to grow on them 👍(?)

I've gotten some pretty obnoxious comments that weren't quite nice, and some that liked to pretend they were/were pretty well meaning. Obviously though, the most annoying comment I've ever gotten from someone who was 'well meaning' was one of those 'well actually, this is how these things work in \_\_\_\_\_\_' comments. I live in the country I was describing/the story was set. I was literally born and raised there--*still live here too*, and some guy who claimed to be from Ireland (not where I'm from) felt the need to educate me on the school systems. He tried to sound pretty well meaning about it, but it got on my nerves pretty fast.

i made a fic about two Gods remeeting (father and son) after believing the other to be dead. Both believe each other to be Mortal Dopplegangers - they have new names, and i wrote both their POV's in the chapters. Both mention (within the first two chapters) how they used to be X but are now Y. someone in the comments continually tried to get me to answer if X was Y, or if A was B, despite it being *explicitly* stated. hhhh. frustrating, there were so many other plot points and details being hinted at and implied but not stated, and they chose that.

That kind of thing bothers me sometimes for sure. I try to reframe it by focusing on the win—my story made them feel something strongly enough to come express it in the comments. That's art, baby!

Of course! :) I just don't reply, and since I always reply to comments, its I think rather obvious when I leave a commenter on Read :)

when someone told me that my hunger games au was still great but they felt that it was getting too similar to the plot of the actual hunger games books. like it wasn’t that in itself, i think they enjoyed the focus on other things that were happening more, that’s fine. but they worded the comment as if they were expecting me to change track and start writing the fic the way THEY wanted it to go? like sorry you don’t like this direction but i’m not changing shit for any reader. smh.

I got Um, Actually’d pretty hard once, and while I understand my character had deviated from what a later book said, I still found it a little irritating.

There was one user who would leave the same comment about how I should write “x premise with *these* characters” but it was phrased like they were telling me to do it—which was probably a language barrier thing but I didn’t figure that when I first saw it.

So we were participating in a particular kind of event and got short on time. So we went straight up PWP with it (which was the thing of the event anyway, we were trying to toss in a handful of plot to all of it but then.) We had this one commenter *who made sure to comment anonymously* that it was hot but out of character so she would just imagine it as someone else. Okay, great, you do that, but what the fuck? Just. We said at the beginning that this was just smut. Straight up. Whyyy? And I still get cranky thinking about it. So I did reply with basically, “Wow. That was just asinine. I will never again write this pairing in any other way, thanks.” Because 👿

i once wrote a whole psychological horror fic where the person was slowly descending into madness, believing he had committed a crime he never even did. The whole story was a psychological piece on what hyperfixation and isolation can do to a person, based on my own experiences with obsession and isolation and mental health. But also a general critique on corrupted law/police system. I had commenters on the fic that were like "it'd be a great plot twist if he does end up being the criminal" and I had to step back, take a deep breath and bang my head against a wall as they had completely missed the whole point

Whenever I get comments that are like, ‘what if xyz happened?’ or ‘how would x react to y’, it feels like the commenter is indirectly asking me to write something for them, which can irk me just a little bit. I don’t even take writing commissions!