Writers, by our nature, are creative souls. We have a desire to share a part of ourselves with the world, so we do. But one of the things that sucks about being creative is that we’re pretty good at imagining that we’re actually terrible. We have doubts. We tend to wonder if we’re “good enough” and we measure ourselves against the accomplishments of others.

Fanfic writers write for the joy of creation. We create things without pay simply because we love the material and we love to write. We want to share our worlds, our pain, our joy, with others. We just want to have fun.

Imagine you enter a bakery and they’re having an expo. All cake, cookies, brownies, and muffins are free. You can eat as much or as little of anything you want. Some of the bakers are professionals, others are amateurs, but you can’t tell because they’re all in the same chef coats. You try a cake. It’s not for you. You think it could use more chocolate flavor and the frosting is too sweet, but it’s moist. Do you look the baker in the face and tell them how /you/ would have made the cake? Do you criticize them for their lack of sprinkles? Even if you’ve make cake before and you /know/ how to make cake? Probably not, because that would be rude, and no one wants to hear critique while they’re in public where other pastry samplers could hear you describe how bad this cake is. Next, you try a cookie. It’s a damn good cookie. It’s warm and soft and just perfect. You eat two, then four, then six. The baker smiles at you, clearly waiting for something. Do you just walk away? No, that would be rude. You should at least thank them and compliment their cookies.

One week, you try blondies from one baker. You love these blondies and you say so. Every week you get a blondie, until one week the baker brings pie. You ask what happened and the baker tells you they wanted to try something different. But you hate pie. Do you yell at them? Do you demand they stop making pie and make blondies again? No, that’s rude. The baker does not owe you blondies. You don’t try the pie and you move on. One baker likes to bring quiche. You don’t think quiche belongs in a bakery, but a few people seem to like it. Do you tell the quiche maker they have no place in the expo and that they should take their stupid egg pie and leave? No. That’s rude. You mind your business and leave.

Fanfic is dessert. It’s not something you’re owed, no matter how accustomed to getting it you have become. It’s being shared with you, for free, simply because the authors love to write it. If you don’t like it, or don’t like the fact that an author is trying something new, you don’t have to say anything. There are other desserts out there for you to try. If you think your advice could benefit an author and you /must/ tell them, try to approach them away from public comments and rec lists. No one wants to have their flaws laid out for them in public, where other readers could be turned off by a bad review. (And just because you found flaws doesn’t mean someone else is going to think the same way you do.) And the author doesn’t have to listen to you. Advice can be taken or ignored. They can turn you down if they don’t want to listen. And, if you like something but never tell the author or never even say thank you, they’ll start to feel used.

Please remember there is a human being behind every work of fiction you read. A human who wants to share their world with you, and being rude can easily break their spirit. We are not machines. All we ask is for a little respect and courtesy. Don’t give unsolicited advice. Don’t get mad at us for following our writer whims. Tell us if you like what we do.

Please. The only think fanfic writer get out of this is a thrill and a thank you. If you take the thank you away and replace it with criticism, especially criticism that isn’t constructive and/or unwanted, the thrill dies. And if we don’t get a thank you and there’s no joy in it, why should we continue?