Kudos+

[schneefink]

I don't comment on every fic I read, but I try to leave a lot of comments, and when I can longer ones. I like it, it's part thank-you, part that I enjoy talking about fics I liked, and part that it makes the authors happy and I like that too. (The fewer comments a fic gets the more I try to leave comments of my own.)

The downside is that I have a huge backlog of fics I still want to comment on and feel to various degrees anxious/guilty about if I don't. It's the worst with fics that I love so much that I want to write longer comments but that takes time and often a reread, and WIPs where I usually comment on every chapter – if I don't comment on a particular chapter or leave a much shorter comment than usual, will the author think I hated it? A few times now I stopped commenting on a WIP because I didn't get around to commenting before the author updated once and then told myself I'd catch up and then that never happened, and knowing that that's dumb doesn't help.

Prompted by me spending too much time today commenting on fic instead of doing something actually productive. This is one of my brain's favorite activities to pretend I'm not procrastinating.

Comments

[goodbyebird]

♥♥♥♥♥

[schneefink]

<3

[naye]

I... do this too!

But I only read a handful of WIPs, so I can't even imagine how stressed you must get about it!

As a writer I absolutely don't mind if someone doesn't leave a comment on one chapter and then comes back later with another comment? ALL COMMENTS are good comments! :D But when I read I try to do so when I have the time to also comment. (And I have a small backlog of things I have read but haven't commented on, and I do guilt vaguely about them...)

[schneefink]

So many WIPs! And stories from series/authors I subscribe to! (When it gets to "no don't update yet I haven't got around to commenting yet - wait, shit, no" it's going wrong.)

[naye]

Yeah, I subscribe to just half a dozen of stories, and even then it gets to the point where I'm like "can't read new chapter haven't commented on last one..."

Good luck finding a way of managing this that lets you enjoy the stories to their fullest without anxiety!

[schneefink]

Oh well I wouldn't go that far, I always read the new chapter ^^
Thanks :)

[hokuton_punch]

Oof, I feel that. I try to be good at commenting, but - often I'm so bad at coming up with things to say, even if I really enjoyed it... /o\ Sometimes ESPECIALLY if I really enjoyed it or was totally blown away.

[schneefink]

Yes! Sometimes especially with real good stories because I'm not sure what to say, but because they're so good I feel even worse about not saying anything.

[beatrice_otter]

If I don't comment on a fic right after I've read it, I'm not going to remember what I wanted to comment about, and probably not going to be able to come up with anything better than "I liked it" without re-reading it.

[extempore]

I agree.

Also, this is one of the "I have limited time" things. I read a lot of fanfic and I know I will never be able to comment on them without having to pretty much give up my job. Is it fair to the author who spent probably a long time writing it? No. But at this point I really have to go with "life isn't fair, deal with it". They have fun writing it, after all, otherwise what's the point?

I do take the time to comment on stories that have really captured me, though, but other than that a Kudos will have to suffice.

[schneefink]

If I was any good at time management and setting priorities I would probably handle it like that too. Unfortunately I'm really not.

[extempore]

Perhaps one possibility to cut the list down is to not read WIPs? I don't read WIPs, ever, if I can help it, because I *hate* unfinished stories with a passion.
That would at least remove the WIP-dilemma you mentioned in your post. (I do have WIPs subscribed - AO3 - or bookmarked, so when they are finished I can have a go at them.)

Setting priorities and sticking to them ist pretty much one of the hardest things in life, for almost everyone (me included). =/

[schneefink]

I love reading WIPs! Getting updates always makes me happy, and even if left unfinished most of them are worth it. It would already help to stop reading stories when I realize I don't like them that much - I'm working on that...

[extempore]

and even if left unfinished

That. Right there. Biggest frustration for me. All the work and no payoff in the end. *shudders*

It's like: why did I invest so much of my time and emotion in reading this when the author coulnd't even be bothered to finish it? Therefore: no WIPs for me.

[schneefink]

Yeah, that's another problem sometimes - but when I'm procrastinating anyway, it's pretty much just a good excuse to reread stories I liked ^^

[genarti]

Oof, yes, this describes me perfectly also. (I say, casting a guilty glance at several tabs that've been open for uh weeks or months.)

[schneefink]

Oh man, if I had them all open in tabs... I usually save the notification emails or add them to the "mark for later" list.

[duskpeterson]

Honestly, I'm always astonished when readers post more than one comment to a multi-chapter work. Not sure that helps since you already know that your brain is trying to weird you out. :)

[schneefink]

I have even left multiple comments on multi-chapter works after it's been completed - very rarely though.

[duskpeterson]

You are the sort of dedicated reader that writers love. But don't burn yourself out! And don't get embarrassed when you do 999% above the call of duty, rather than 1000%!

[michelel72]

I have posted only one WIP in my entire fanfic career. (Getting it through beta took far, far, far longer than I had planned.) There were a total of five chapters, and someone commented at length on the first four chapters ... but not the fifth. And yeah, I worried that they hated the resolution! (They later came back and left a lovely comment on the last chapter -- they'd just forgotten.) So, unfortunately, yeah, I get why you'd worry about that. :(

I used to comment on stories, but I somehow lost the ability to come up with anything more coherent to say than "I liked this", and I figure a kudo connotes that just as coherently with no pressure for comment replies. It's a shame, though, because some lovely relationships came out of commenting on fics, back in the day ....

[schneefink]

I only ever posted a WIP once and it was a very short one in a small fandom, so sometimes I'm not sure if authors of popular fics in bigger fandoms even remember the names of their commenters, but when the audience is smaller it's more obvious.
(I was confused for a moment because I remembered you have multiple chaptered fic, until I realized that multiple chapters can be posted at once. It's Sunday morning.)

Leaving longer comments for me was a matter of practice - and sometimes I just resort to copying my favorite passages and keyboard smash, but I think it gets the point across okay ^^

[naye]

Just seconding that quoting a favorite passage and/or keyboard smashing is how I do most of my reviews and so far I've had no complaints! (As a writer I absolutely adore an "ARRFGGGHHHH" or seeing someone single out a sentence I've written. Absolutely can't go wrong with that!)