coaltide | Merry Crisis

Entry tags:

2022

Merry Crisis

On the 7^th night of Hanukkah my vindictive author gave to me....

yuletide |

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every year I love my fic and every year it is like pulling teeth to say so. how is commenting so hard why am I so bad at receiving presents

This year I'm so tired that I'm giving myself a lot more hours after my initial "AHHHHH" comment.

My Author: Here, I have lovingly crafted a story that is everything you desire, even though you are weird and putting all your likes in will alienate the other potential readers. It took weeks. Merry Christmas.

Me: T H A N K

urgh yes I have reached the point where I feel guilty not having done it so I'm about to sit down with an extra tab open to pull all the things I liked in a reread, but, like, why can't they just telepathically know this? why must I put it together in a way that doesn't accidentally sound sarcastic or ungrateful

I have two gifts and I like them both!

...so of course it's time for me to obsess over whether one or the other of the comments I wrote sounds less enthusiastic and therefore my authors might think I only like one of the gifts and not the other.

I got one fic that was absolutely delightful in every way, one fic that was. fine. and one fic that I think they put a lot more work into tailoring exactly for me that's fun but a bit awkwardly written. I have no idea how to comment on all three fairly.

Pull quotes. Do three to four pull quotes for each and none of them will notice the difference.

You don't have to pretend to like all gifts equally, coalie.

It's not so much a question of equally as fairly. If I'd gotten only one I'd have happily squeed all over it but now I have to worry about comparisons.

What do you mean by "fairly" in this context, if not "I want to look equally enthusiastic about all three gifts"?

Coalie, if I knew the answer to that, I'd have no need to sit here and whine about it.

If you figure it out, please share! I'm in the same boat: one fic that was good and fine, and a treat that was exactly what I've always from this fandom and more.

I wouldn't try too hard if you're actually positive about both. One time I wrote my recipient two works - the longer one first, then the one that struck with a bolt of inspiration later. They were lovely about both but clearly liked the second one more, and I agreed with them! It honestly made me appreciate their first comment more - I felt like they were being generous about how they read it, but also sincere about their overall response.

Slightly different perspective, but my recipient has two fics in the same fandom. The other one has spag issues, some odd character choices, and seems unfinished. Mine is longer, finished, beta read, and matches more of their like list. The recipient gave us very similar comments, and I honestly hadn't expected that to feel as disheartening as it did.

Argh, now I'm worried that you are one of my authors. If you are, don't worry coalie, I actually did like yours best.

Exactly this. My gifts deserve long and thoughtful comments, and I want to go back and reread them carefully and pull out all the things I loved, and I want to do it soon so my authors aren't kept waiting and wondering if I liked what they wrote. But writing even one good comment takes me ages, nevermind writing multiple comments that all express my enthusiasm equally!

I got a positive comment from my recip very early on and two more comments random people soon after and nothing else since. Extremely bratty but I want more comments. People liked the fic and told me so but somehow it is not enough.

I feel like there's always a bit of a feedback dead zone after the initial rush. You get one subgroup of people who really try and read and comment on a ton of stuff within the first 24 hours, but once they're done it all goes quiet for a few days before other people get round to it.

SC

Thank you that’s a great point!

My fic is so fucking good, but it is also so fucking long that commenting on everything in it that I love is a trial.

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Merry Crisis

ouch my diamond shoes

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