Fanfic Bookclubs and sharing comments
I've seen a few posts about how fics are being read in private discords and the author never even knows (no comments, no kudos, nothing).
I wanted to share about the fanfic bookclub that I'm a part of because I think it is run really well. It's super fun, and we do share with the author, and I feel like it creates a lot of positivity in the community.
Our Discord has a Bookclub channel with a link to a Google Form document where any discord member can submit links to fics. In our case, since our server is dedicated to a specific ship, we have a rule that the fic must be about that ship, and also that the fic must be complete.
A random number generator helps pick the next fic. A meeting’s chosen fics may include: 1) a size-able one shot, 2) multiple short fics, 3) a few chapters of a longer fic, with subsequent meetings on subsequent chapters, or 4) a few chapters of a longer fic plus a very short fic. There is a little juggling required based on fic lengths to figure out how many to fit in a week, but our thoughtful mod only bases it on fic length, not on submitter, title, author, or tags.
We read fics of all different ratings, but we understand that some members have tags/tropes they don't like. Members simply choose to attend or not attend based on the tags and based on their availability. Easy peasy.
We meet once a week. Timezone can be a problem, and definitely it is not a time that will be accessible for everyone. We initially tried to have two meetings to accommodate all timezones, but did not have enough attendance. But like with all global things, we just do our best.
The conversation focuses on the positive. Things we loved, things we thought were clever or funny or such delicious angst. There may be general conversation about how frequently we see this headcanon in fics (and that's a fun thing), etc. There may be some questions like "I found this confusing...what did this mean?" but there is no critique.
(The conversations often include some readers pointing out themes or easter eggs or some interesting details that others may have missed…truly, it is so fun)
One person volunteers to take notes the old-fashioned-way..typing! Not via AI or any other recording. The notes do not show who said what, so that people can feel comfortable speaking.
Sometimes the author joins if they are able to, which is super fun! If the author is not a member of the discord, we may invite them, especially if anyone knows them, but we don't actively reach out because we don't want the author to feel overly pressured. But we are always extra excited to have an author join.
Since we intend to share our discussion with the author, we keep all the notes positive and focused on the fic. We do not put anything that came up in conversation that is not relevant (like if we talk about other fics or HCs outside the fic).
The notes are posted into the author's comment box in ao3.
janainaart
yousharknotpass
theartofmadeline
dededos
