By the way, fanfiction isn't the place for reviews or criticism.
When you're a published author, it's like you're preparing a meal in a food competition. You expect a rating and to be told what worked and what didn't to improve your craft and embark on your career.
When you're a fanfiction author, it's like taking some of your free time to enjoy the process of baking cookies and then offering them to someone to be kind.
If you take a cookie from the plate, you don't spit it out and tell them it sucked.
Unless the writer asks for your opinion, you can keep it to yourself.
Adding this to clarify, and you don't have to agree with this by any means, I cannot force you to, but the reason Ao3 and Fanfiction isn't the space for criticism and ratings...is that it is a fan space created by fans for fans.
It isn't school.
It is a space where people with the same interests can congregate and enjoy the same fandom.
When you think about commenting on an fanfic authors fics, don't think if it as fishing around in your pocket to give them a compliment.
Compliments are nice. Most everyone likes compliments.
"I like your character development."
"You paint wonderful imagry."
Those are comments that are compliments. Speaking for myself as a fanfic writer they're nice, but they're not what my fan heart craves.
I want engagement with my readers.
The best comments I get aren't talking about my skill as a writer, but what just happened in the story because you and I (the reader) are already fans of the world created.
Comments like:
"NOOOOOOOO!"
"Did she actually just do that?"
"EXCUSE me?!?!"
None of these comments are compliments and none are critical. They are emotionally aligned with the story. They are engaged and with this engagement we create a little community in this tiny little space we get to call ours.
I cannot stop people from saying cruel things, but I can inform those people of the "dangers" so to speak when people treat fandom spaces like Ao3 as if it's Goodreads.
Writers, who write for themselves and offer it to you out of kindness, can decide that if people are just going to spit out their cookies they don't need to post about them anymore and that is how fandom spaces die.
If you don't like the flavor of cookie they made, or you're allergic to one of its ingredients...don't eat the cookie. Put it back for someone else to enjoy and then go find the flavor you do like.
I see this a lot, so I want to say something about it. You don't need to add a disclaimer onto your opinions regarding antagonists.
When you say, "I like Tigerstar, even though he's xenophobic, and a facist,"
Try this instead, "I like Tigerstar," Then, list what you liked about him.
Has anyone else noticed the 'mid-arc' creep, in the books? Like, the arc will be really good, until part-way through at like, book three or four where it just starts getting bloated with unecessary filler to pad out a book or two before the finale?
Gonna try again 🔥🔥
OREMO is so easy to use!
Cthulhu Vocaloid, here we come!
Even with John stating outright that she's conventially attractive, I still picture Lilith as looking more like Jeff the Killer than Morticia Addams, lmao.
I know I don't usually mention things that I dislike about the books but probably one of the all-time "that was dumb," moments that I think about fairly often is the outcome of the Firestar and Bramblepaw " trust " arc that happens in the first series.
They have this whole arc where Firestar goes from being afraid of Bramblepaw to gradually accepting him.
And then— the Erin's ruin it by deciding that Firestar named him Brambleclaw.
Yes— Nothing says, "I trust you," like naming Bramblepaw after his father.
This father, mind you.
It makes the entire first arc relationship between the two, moot. Honestly one of the worst writing decisions the Erin's have made.
Is it a safe space to say this ,,, Sol is the most nothing Warrior Cats character.
He was just there to pad for pages, until we finally got to the reveal. I wanted to smack him with toy hammers every time he showed up.
Our protagonists had much better things to do than stare at the silhouette of a guy on a hill who predicted one thing one time, and then just bloated the arc with his nonsense.
He was just a loser who knew nothing about the three's parentage, or their destiny.
And he sucked— and I think he's boring—
Maybe it's a carry over from my time on Deviantart, but it stresses me out to not be able to sort my blog. Wdym I have to have my posts and reblogged posts in the same place?! That's absurd.
I really like your warrior cat opinions. I want to hear more. Get controversial. Make the warriors fandom gasp and clutch their pearls.
OMG. My takes are not that spicy, I swear! It's just that, coming from other fandoms, the Warriors fandom— is like— conservative, I guess, is the right word.
During the month I've been here, I've seen—
>a JPN Twitter fan of Warrior Cats get shit on so hard by the ENG side of the fandom for drawing Ferncloud x Dustpelt ship art that they deleted their art and issued an apology for having made it.
>the Warriors Wiki implode on April Fools' Day because the jokes were 'too offensive' for Twitter users to handle.*
(*The jokes were Smudge being a fat cat, which he is, he's plump, and a Cinderpelt getting hit by a car joke).
>that the fandom anthropomorphizes the characters to an insane degree.
For instance, one of my favorite Super Editions is Crookedstar's Promise. I love Shellheart and Rainflower, and their whole dynamic. And especially Shellheart's talk with Crookedjaw at the end of the book.
But, saying you like Rainflower (I ship her with Lakeshine, BTW) is apparently a big no-no, unless you slap a big, 'I know she's evil, I disagree with her actions, and hate her guts, what a bad mom' sticker over your post because, if you don't, you're 'abelist'.
Crookedjaw is a fictional character, they'd compare me 'liking' his mother to me being discriminatory against disabled people in real life. Like, that's somehow on the same level to them.
>that Bluestar is apparently controversial and widely hated because she named 'Brightpaw' Lostface. I seriously didn't see this one coming. I love Bluestar and she's part of why I revisit The Prophecies Begin so often.
She's so compelling, and her character arc moved me deeply when I first read it. But, any and all discussion I see about her, when she's mentioned in passing, or brought up in a comment thread— is all about Lostface! And how 'abelist' Bluestar was, and how, her being senile 'I guess *grumbling noises* excuses it' (my impression of comments I've received on Reddit).
>that Nightheart is sexist and 'misogynistic'– But, is he? Really? How do you get there. What are the mental gymnastics you are doing to get there. That's insane to me.
>That certain ships are bad because—
*Whitetail was Onestar's apprentice.
*The cats you're pairing together have any level of shared blood, for any reason.
Even if it's through a family tree that's been released half a decade or more after the book said characters were originally from.
*Fireheart was too old for Cinderpelt and she was his apprentice.
*Hawkfrost / Ivypool is unhealthy— which apparently isn't a ship dynamic in the fandom, at all. (If it's unhealthy you just aren't allowed to ship it. Period.)
*Dustpelt was interested in being mates with Ferncloud when she was still Fernpaw.
etc. etc.
>that feathers are culturally insensitive to Native Americans so everyone is banned from using them in their designs. Because— I guess— someone said not to.
Does the fandom know that not everyone is from America? The writing team is from the UK. I'm American, but I just am. speechless.
Anyway— I could definitely add more to this post, but I'll spare you. I've carried on now for waaay too long. Thank you for your ask!
Living in America is so bleak. Every other post on my dash is asking me to donate to someone or other to help them cover their bills. And they're all Americans.
Literal shithole country. I hate living here, what the fuck.
The second I even so much as glanced at the sonas on WC JPN twitter, I realized I could get as "out there" with my designs as I wanted to and that I wasn't limited to "natural designs".
Don't know why it happened that way, but here's my new sona. I guess. Pyramidhead JK. Sandwind.
So, anyway, lesson learned, your WC sona can be whatever you want it to be design-wise. Go nuts guys.