Care and Feeding of Fanfiction Authors

Care and Feeding of Authors

To cut to the heart of matters, authors need feedback!

Writing fanfiction can be hard, thankless work. Especially writing adult fanfiction. That's because fanfiction targeted towards adults hits a much smaller audience than general fanfiction. Only a certain percentage of people in our fandom even read fanfiction, and fewer still read adult fanfiction. So the target audience for works hosted here is somewhat limited.

I think it might be a common misconception that fanfiction authors get inundated with e-mail. Well, not necessarily, but I think that most non-authors out there think authors get some feedback. And that's the problem, a lot of us don't get any feedback whatsoever! I have fanfics that I have written and have been viewed thousands of times with no feedback, either good or bad. A lot of it is because people tend to pass the buck on those types of matters thinking again, that someone else will send feedback. Not true. Secondly people feel their feedback might be inadequate. That's also not true, even a one sentence e-mail saying someone did a great job can suffice to spur someone on.
I found that while contacting these masses of authors, some of them had never received feedback previously on the works in question. Things that had been posted on the internet for 8+ years without a peep from the masses. That's enough to discourage most anyone.

Now, some authors do get continuous feedback, and I've got nothing against them because they have earned it. The usual cause is that they are cross-over authors, i.e., they write both adult and non-adult fanfiction and their fan base follows their works. Or they write lengthy, multi-chapter continually updated works. People stumble across them and want to see them finished, need to see them finished so they continue to praise the author to keep things moving.

Those two scenarios only account for a small number of the stories here. Most stories are underappreciated. Think about it, the longer works here can take a few hours to read. I'm sure you as a reader have watched Hollywood blockbusters that you found horrid and wished you hadn't watched. But somehow a fanfic here might prove even more entertaining. Someone spent dozens, sometimes hundreds of hours crafting it, and in the end might only get one or two e-mails of praise and one scathing review for improper grammar.

Regardless, the point of all of this is simple. Appreciate your local fanfiction author. E-mail them and tell them how much you like or hate their story. Authors thrive on feedback and many authors out there with only one story to their name are victims of lack of feedback, they just never felt inspired to continue. So, take the time to write that e-mail, send several. Authors are talkative people, and they usually like to share their ideas and explain their stories. And who knows, you might even inspire them to do a sequel to your favorite story. I've already done the hard work, all the e-mails are valid for most of the authors. I've tracked them down, all you have to do is spend a few minutes on your computer.

The gift of feedback is the greatest gift you can give as a reader!

-RVincent