About
The Challenge: Comment on every fanfic you read and enjoy in the month of January.
Every chapter. Every one shot. Every drabble. Every ficlet. Whether it’s on a personal website, a blog, or an archive. Whether you’ve read it a hundred times before or you’re reading it for the first time. Whether the fic was posted years ago or minutes ago. Whether you sign your name or leave your thoughts anonymously. Whether your comment is paragraphs in length or a few short words. Comment on every fanfic you read and enjoy in the month of January.
The Philosophy: Comments are what keep a fandom thriving and growing.
We don’t see comments as a transaction. They’re not a price paid for reading a fic. Comments are simply one half of an interaction.
Fandom is a relationship between individuals—hundreds, thousands, maybe millions of individuals in some cases, but still individuals. For the greater fandom relationship to function, individuals within the fandom must interact with one another—ideally in a positive manner. One way to interact is by writing and reading fanfic. A writer prompts an interaction by posting their work; it is up to the reader to then acknowledge (or not acknowledge) the interaction in one of three ways.
- If a reader reads to the end of a fanfic and enjoyed the fic, they should acknowledge the positive interaction with a comment. (As well as give the fic a like or kudo.)
- If a reader reads to the end of a fanfic and didn’t particularly enjoy the fic, they should acknowledge the interaction with a like or kudo.
- If a reader does not read to the end of a fic because they didn’t enjoy the fic. They should close the browser tab and seek out a different fic.
All fanfics are read voluntarily. It is up to the reader to determine their fandom experience. As our fandom forbears were fond of saying, “Don’t like, don’t read.”
Support your favorite writers!!!
You might think that a writer is amazing and that there’s no way they don’t know that, but that’s usually not the case!
You might think that even if you don’t comment, other people will so that you don’t have to. That’s falling victim to the bystander effect! Other people might not comment either, so you should take the initiative and let them know what you think of their story!
I promise you, your favorite writer will love you if you leave a nice comment. They’ll reread the comment 20 times when they’re having a bad day. When they are struggling with continuing their writing, they will remember your comment, and how you said you really loved their writing, and they will find the strength to push on, because they don’t want to let you down; because they appreciate that there are readers looking forward to what happens next.
Support your writers guys; you’ll make someone’s entire life so much better, and you’ll be more likely to see writing from them in the future.