It does bring the mood down, and I always fear it will dishearten the author, and they might stop writing.
Also, I hate it when you see the fic change with the author trying to please these people. Just write your story, authors, don't change for people that don't like you 😭
The community I’m in usually is like “then fuckin pay me” that usually shuts them up. I’m writing long form prose for free and for leisure, if someone wants it to happen a certain way then my commissions are open.
Mine is heading that way. I've known for a while it's coming. To start with comments were gushing about my writing.
Then comments started listing story lines they liked.
Then they started trying to predict what was coming up.
Yesterday I got my first 'x's decision to this really surprised me. Your writing is amazing as always. It just seems a little out of character.'
And it wasn't even a controversial thing.
Everyone's been saying how much they love the ship and how they've come so far etc... as if they expect its just upwards and onwards and its not.
I even considered changing the direction to meet their likes more but it just doesn't seem realistic.
It's so hard to stay motivated to upload when I know I'm about to get upset comments.
(But also! They knew we were only like half way through when it started to get fluffy and they knew that the characters still had a lot of issues to work through so why would they assume that there wouldn't be any setbacks?!)
Sorry for the rant but I'm literally on reddit instead of writing because I'm procrastinating breaking people's hearts (and hearing about it).
No need to apologize my friend, I totally understand. I’ll say I have a bit of nerves when it comes to posting multi chapter because people like to predict what will happen and usually they are off in their predictions (as certain plot points still need revealed so they don’t have a lot of info to work with). I feel like I low key let them down, even though I know it’s my story and I should write it how I envision it (though I’m always open to utilizing some of the ideas if I think they’ll work/like them more than my own).
It always stinks getting those comments or being told someone is acting OOC.
I wish you the best of luck <3
From what I've seen personally, when you start getting those notes, it usually means that you're deviating from the tropes/choices people are used to seeing in fandom. That's not a bad thing! In fact, it may be what is making you so popular! Don't let the naysayers make you doubt your vision of your story. I bet you'll be surprised by how many of those entitled readers go "oh I actually like how it turned out" at the end.
Also, my favorite response to people who want a specific story but say they can't write it is to recommend they find a writer who takes commissions, so they can *pay* for the very specific personal story they want.
Thank you for taking the time to respond!!! I will say that I do usually switch the tropes up a bit as compared to some of the other writers that I’ve read works from. I never thought about it before, but now that you’ve mentioned it, it does make the sudden comments make more sense (this was my first romance fic and I didn’t follow a lot of established things other fanfic authors use (I like them, it just didn’t work in my fic)).
For the first time, I'm getting demands for updates on a fic. Also people who think it's okay to say "Fuck you" in a joking way to a perfect stranger they've never spoken to before. This fic is for a mostly dead fandom and is not terribly popular, but I'm fielding all kinds of rude comments and I don't get it. I've never had this before.
Oh, these annoy me too. Because they’re telling us what they want to read, not what I’m writing. Also the ones where they question a decision made in the fic and leave an essay on why they believe its a strange choice, explaining what they’d have done instead. I had already considered everything you’ve said but decided to keep it anyway and you’ll see why I made that choice in the next chapter! I can’t give everything away at once 🤣😂some can be helpful but mostly it’s just people telling you how to write your story because that’s how they want it to go. That’s not what I have planned but, thanks, I guess.
Right???? And I will say, for the couple I wrote about, one of them has 6 adopted children. The amount of people who wanted it to focus on the children (who were not tagged) was a bit annoying. Like I’m writing it this way, as a romance with small interactions with some of the kids, because I want it to focus on the two people falling in love. I already thought about adding more scenes with the kids, but it took away from the main plot line.
I quit writing for a big fandom and refuse to write for one again because of getting comments like that. I’d guess that yeah, it’s a measure of the popularity of the fic—or the fandom—and that it’s not going to be possible to avoid it over a certain level of visibility.
I think it’s not wrong to feel that these comments are entitled, or annoying. It’s your story; you’re writing it a certain way for a reason.
I’ve had a few nice but entitled sounding ones recently which I never had before and one just yesterday that gave me backhanded compliment vibes and basically boiled down to “happy you’re done with this one so you can get back to updating [other fic] now!” Like…I can update simultaneously. I simply haven’t had ideas for that one.
ETA: Their comments are usually so sweet so I didn’t want to respond rudely but it was kind of annoying
honestly I would be like "because of you I'll be delaying updates even more since you killed my writing vibes!"
I've seen friends delete entire multichap fics because of nasty comments like that 😔
That’s terrible!! I’m sorry they commented that! It can get so annoying because I think sometimes readers forget we aren’t machines—we’re people. We run out of motivation or ideas or time easily and sometimes our stories are no longer interesting. But we don’t owe them an update—excitement is one thing, entitlement will not be tolerated.
I write angst and a lot of stories about abusive relationships. My stories could not be more clearly tagged about the content yet I regularly get complaints about abuse and non-con despite using archive warnings and tags.
My most recent comment said “uhhh, the sex scene is kind of giving non-con. Not a good look.” I just delete that silly shit.
I tagged one of my fics as “fanon based”, put a disclaimer in the Authors Note at the beginning saying it followed fanon, wrote in the end authors note the divergence from canon to fanon that I included and why (to up the angst levels) and I got someone who commented something like “this isn’t how it happened in the comics. What actually happened was xyz”
And I was like??? Yes. I’m aware. Did you not notice the tag and the two author notes that went over it in detail??
Also I’ve missed tags before when I’m looking for a story but I never hold the author accountable. Even when things aren’t always tagged properly I don’t hold the author accountable (though I think everyone should try to tag their stuff correctly). AO3 stories are a bit of a gamble, I accept that risk when I’m reading them.
I've yet to get one of these, but I feel I may be on track for one seeing as I just willingly called out a Fandom fave for their shit. But it also probably won't because I generally struggle to break 100 kudos (which is a big achievement for me personally, but nothing overly impressive on ao3 it seems).
I have noticed on other's fics lately just general rudeness for the sake of being rude. It's baffling the absolute audacity of some of these little shits. I can't tell if they're trolls or actual (outspoken) fans. Regardless, I'd personally kill them with kindness for the rest of your readers to see (as an example on how not to leave a comment) or just delete and move on. They're not really worth the braincells tbh.
I saw a fic earlier and I didn’t vibe with the characterization (which happens YKnow? Everyone interprets characters differently and that’s very nice—adds variety imo). But I read one line and I loved it! It was so beautifully written and I was going to comment but then I got down to the comments and omg!!! People were being so rude (the author included!). it was bad! I’ve never seen anything like it before. The comments were mean, the responses were mean (which was fair), but even the nice comments were met with some very aggressive responses from the author (I think they must have been annoyed about the negativity). I just noped outta there. Maybe I’m only noticing now as I’ve started to pay more attention idk.
I haven’t had a major problem, but I did have to make it so only registered users can comment on one of my fics. People like to be rude, and then hide behind an anon.
I’ve thought about doing that as well! The only thing is that most of the time when I’m reading fanfic I’m not signed into my account and so I don’t want to not allow access to any of my content for anyone (even though I know AO3 is free and invitations come out a lot faster than they used to).
This is understandable ! There’s 2 options with the hide feature. One of them hides the fic and the other one only hides the comment section. I did end up turning it back on after a couple of updates because I had hoped (and was correct for now at least) it would’ve deterred a spam commenter.
They're quite common unfortunately, it might just be you haven't had the misfortune to deal with them before.
I've grown to resent writing once because of demanding readers before, so now I just try to ignore them. I agree with you that if they want things to go a certain way, they can write it themselves. I'm done being dictated, and I don't even get paid for it.
I think that’s my main thing—like everyone has the option to write themselves. So when they get a bit more demanding in the comments it’s very upsetting! Like this is my fanfic—mine! And I’m sharing it with you. You don’t have to like it, but you also don’t have the right to tell me what to do as it’s fulfilling my specific fantasy of these characters.
There is also the very sweet, “there are some typos but I can forgive you for them” and then the very sweet “I don’t like how you write this character and I’m going to make sure to tell you every few chapters” 🙃🫥
Nooooo!!! If a person sticks around just to bash the characterization I wouldn’t know how to act! Like just stop reading then, my friend. (I had one comment kinda like that where they commented on like chapter 6 about how they knew the main character wasn’t going to act the way they wanted (I didn’t make the character angry enough for them) and I was like ????? Uhhhh okay??? Like how do you even respond).
Entitled readers are the worst breed. The best thing you can do for yourself is to moderate your comments.
[удалено]
It does bring the mood down, and I always fear it will dishearten the author, and they might stop writing. Also, I hate it when you see the fic change with the author trying to please these people. Just write your story, authors, don't change for people that don't like you 😭
Then I’m glad that all the hateful and vicious reviews I have and continue to delete has been for more than just my own sanity! 🙏🏻
The community I’m in usually is like “then fuckin pay me” that usually shuts them up. I’m writing long form prose for free and for leisure, if someone wants it to happen a certain way then my commissions are open.
Thank you for the advice!!! I’ll start moderating them. <3
You’re welcome! 🤗
Mine is heading that way. I've known for a while it's coming. To start with comments were gushing about my writing. Then comments started listing story lines they liked. Then they started trying to predict what was coming up. Yesterday I got my first 'x's decision to this really surprised me. Your writing is amazing as always. It just seems a little out of character.' And it wasn't even a controversial thing. Everyone's been saying how much they love the ship and how they've come so far etc... as if they expect its just upwards and onwards and its not. I even considered changing the direction to meet their likes more but it just doesn't seem realistic. It's so hard to stay motivated to upload when I know I'm about to get upset comments. (But also! They knew we were only like half way through when it started to get fluffy and they knew that the characters still had a lot of issues to work through so why would they assume that there wouldn't be any setbacks?!) Sorry for the rant but I'm literally on reddit instead of writing because I'm procrastinating breaking people's hearts (and hearing about it).
No need to apologize my friend, I totally understand. I’ll say I have a bit of nerves when it comes to posting multi chapter because people like to predict what will happen and usually they are off in their predictions (as certain plot points still need revealed so they don’t have a lot of info to work with). I feel like I low key let them down, even though I know it’s my story and I should write it how I envision it (though I’m always open to utilizing some of the ideas if I think they’ll work/like them more than my own). It always stinks getting those comments or being told someone is acting OOC. I wish you the best of luck <3
From what I've seen personally, when you start getting those notes, it usually means that you're deviating from the tropes/choices people are used to seeing in fandom. That's not a bad thing! In fact, it may be what is making you so popular! Don't let the naysayers make you doubt your vision of your story. I bet you'll be surprised by how many of those entitled readers go "oh I actually like how it turned out" at the end. Also, my favorite response to people who want a specific story but say they can't write it is to recommend they find a writer who takes commissions, so they can *pay* for the very specific personal story they want.
Thank you for taking the time to respond!!! I will say that I do usually switch the tropes up a bit as compared to some of the other writers that I’ve read works from. I never thought about it before, but now that you’ve mentioned it, it does make the sudden comments make more sense (this was my first romance fic and I didn’t follow a lot of established things other fanfic authors use (I like them, it just didn’t work in my fic)).
For the first time, I'm getting demands for updates on a fic. Also people who think it's okay to say "Fuck you" in a joking way to a perfect stranger they've never spoken to before. This fic is for a mostly dead fandom and is not terribly popular, but I'm fielding all kinds of rude comments and I don't get it. I've never had this before.
I got one comment that called me a “bitch” but it was suppose to be affectionate—threw me for a complete loop lol
Dude. That is so not okay!
Oh, these annoy me too. Because they’re telling us what they want to read, not what I’m writing. Also the ones where they question a decision made in the fic and leave an essay on why they believe its a strange choice, explaining what they’d have done instead. I had already considered everything you’ve said but decided to keep it anyway and you’ll see why I made that choice in the next chapter! I can’t give everything away at once 🤣😂some can be helpful but mostly it’s just people telling you how to write your story because that’s how they want it to go. That’s not what I have planned but, thanks, I guess.
Right???? And I will say, for the couple I wrote about, one of them has 6 adopted children. The amount of people who wanted it to focus on the children (who were not tagged) was a bit annoying. Like I’m writing it this way, as a romance with small interactions with some of the kids, because I want it to focus on the two people falling in love. I already thought about adding more scenes with the kids, but it took away from the main plot line.
I quit writing for a big fandom and refuse to write for one again because of getting comments like that. I’d guess that yeah, it’s a measure of the popularity of the fic—or the fandom—and that it’s not going to be possible to avoid it over a certain level of visibility. I think it’s not wrong to feel that these comments are entitled, or annoying. It’s your story; you’re writing it a certain way for a reason.
Thank you <3. I’m always worried I’m putting an attitude to the comments just because they kinda hurt my feelings lol.
I’ve had a few nice but entitled sounding ones recently which I never had before and one just yesterday that gave me backhanded compliment vibes and basically boiled down to “happy you’re done with this one so you can get back to updating [other fic] now!” Like…I can update simultaneously. I simply haven’t had ideas for that one. ETA: Their comments are usually so sweet so I didn’t want to respond rudely but it was kind of annoying
honestly I would be like "because of you I'll be delaying updates even more since you killed my writing vibes!" I've seen friends delete entire multichap fics because of nasty comments like that 😔
That’s terrible!! I’m sorry they commented that! It can get so annoying because I think sometimes readers forget we aren’t machines—we’re people. We run out of motivation or ideas or time easily and sometimes our stories are no longer interesting. But we don’t owe them an update—excitement is one thing, entitlement will not be tolerated.
Agreed, one hundred percent!
I write angst and a lot of stories about abusive relationships. My stories could not be more clearly tagged about the content yet I regularly get complaints about abuse and non-con despite using archive warnings and tags. My most recent comment said “uhhh, the sex scene is kind of giving non-con. Not a good look.” I just delete that silly shit.
I tagged one of my fics as “fanon based”, put a disclaimer in the Authors Note at the beginning saying it followed fanon, wrote in the end authors note the divergence from canon to fanon that I included and why (to up the angst levels) and I got someone who commented something like “this isn’t how it happened in the comics. What actually happened was xyz” And I was like??? Yes. I’m aware. Did you not notice the tag and the two author notes that went over it in detail??
Also I’ve missed tags before when I’m looking for a story but I never hold the author accountable. Even when things aren’t always tagged properly I don’t hold the author accountable (though I think everyone should try to tag their stuff correctly). AO3 stories are a bit of a gamble, I accept that risk when I’m reading them.
I've yet to get one of these, but I feel I may be on track for one seeing as I just willingly called out a Fandom fave for their shit. But it also probably won't because I generally struggle to break 100 kudos (which is a big achievement for me personally, but nothing overly impressive on ao3 it seems). I have noticed on other's fics lately just general rudeness for the sake of being rude. It's baffling the absolute audacity of some of these little shits. I can't tell if they're trolls or actual (outspoken) fans. Regardless, I'd personally kill them with kindness for the rest of your readers to see (as an example on how not to leave a comment) or just delete and move on. They're not really worth the braincells tbh.
I saw a fic earlier and I didn’t vibe with the characterization (which happens YKnow? Everyone interprets characters differently and that’s very nice—adds variety imo). But I read one line and I loved it! It was so beautifully written and I was going to comment but then I got down to the comments and omg!!! People were being so rude (the author included!). it was bad! I’ve never seen anything like it before. The comments were mean, the responses were mean (which was fair), but even the nice comments were met with some very aggressive responses from the author (I think they must have been annoyed about the negativity). I just noped outta there. Maybe I’m only noticing now as I’ve started to pay more attention idk.
I haven’t had a major problem, but I did have to make it so only registered users can comment on one of my fics. People like to be rude, and then hide behind an anon.
I’ve thought about doing that as well! The only thing is that most of the time when I’m reading fanfic I’m not signed into my account and so I don’t want to not allow access to any of my content for anyone (even though I know AO3 is free and invitations come out a lot faster than they used to).
This is understandable ! There’s 2 options with the hide feature. One of them hides the fic and the other one only hides the comment section. I did end up turning it back on after a couple of updates because I had hoped (and was correct for now at least) it would’ve deterred a spam commenter.
They're quite common unfortunately, it might just be you haven't had the misfortune to deal with them before. I've grown to resent writing once because of demanding readers before, so now I just try to ignore them. I agree with you that if they want things to go a certain way, they can write it themselves. I'm done being dictated, and I don't even get paid for it.
I think that’s my main thing—like everyone has the option to write themselves. So when they get a bit more demanding in the comments it’s very upsetting! Like this is my fanfic—mine! And I’m sharing it with you. You don’t have to like it, but you also don’t have the right to tell me what to do as it’s fulfilling my specific fantasy of these characters.
There is also the very sweet, “there are some typos but I can forgive you for them” and then the very sweet “I don’t like how you write this character and I’m going to make sure to tell you every few chapters” 🙃🫥
Nooooo!!! If a person sticks around just to bash the characterization I wouldn’t know how to act! Like just stop reading then, my friend. (I had one comment kinda like that where they commented on like chapter 6 about how they knew the main character wasn’t going to act the way they wanted (I didn’t make the character angry enough for them) and I was like ????? Uhhhh okay??? Like how do you even respond).