Look, if you ever doubt that fanfic authors REALLY HONESTLY DO want to get comments from you if you liked their work, even if it’s just a quick “this was great!”, then consider this:
last week, for the first time in years, i finished something that I felt good about publishing, in a fandom/ship where it was bound to get some attention. It was 800 words of introspective fluff, but it was WRITING.
I have gotten four comments on it. Just four, that’s it.
Four comments and I feel more motivated to write than I have in probably five years.
Never ever think that your comments will be a bother, or that just saying “I loved this so much omg!!!” or incoherently keysmashing isn’t “enough” of a comment to bother leaving.
WE LOVE TO HEAR YOU SAY YOU LOVE OUR FIC, AND IT LEADS TO US WANTING TO WRITE MORE FOR YOU.
It’s a win-win.
Leave comments on fic you enjoy, even if you don’t think you have much to say.
I promise the author will appreciate it.
I feel the exact same way. Even if i haven’t posted my writing and just share it with family or friends, any comment or reinforcement encourages me to continue.
When i show someone my writing, it’s very personal to me because it’s as if i were stripped right then and there (not literally) and they could see every bit of me. Most people don’t understand, maybe even some writers, but writers especially should understand what i’m trying to say.
If i show someone or let them read one of my stories and i ask how they thought of it, sometimes they don’t think about what i feel like when they reply with “it was good” or “cute” or “it’s alright”. Yes- those could be compliments but the manner in which they express those words can effect someone like me; a personal writer.
I don’t get many compliments on my writing, but when i do they mean the world to me and i’d love to shout out to the world that I am a writer.
People who are out in the world who write fanfictions are writers, too. It doesn’t matter how good of a writer you are, or how you compare to others, it matters that you feel confident in yourself to be one and have the audacity to continue with your work.
Your art!
Writers love (by what i’ve heard of) to read compliments for their work and their audience should try to contribute with it. Try a little.
The smallest compliment can help writers get so far into their work. :)