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 itâs on a personal website, a blog, or an archive. Whether youâve read it a hundred times before or youâre 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 donât see comments as a transaction. Theyâre not a price paid for reading a fic. We see comments as an interaction, a way of building relationships. Comments are a courtesy, not a currency. [x]
Fandom is a relationship between dozens,hundreds, thousands, maybe millions of fans, and the only way for the greater fandom relationship to function, is for those fans to interact. 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).
As one of our favorite blogs, @ao3commentofthedayâ, said: [x]
âComment if you can, but donât be bullied or pressured into it. A comment should be written in the same spirit as the fic itself: wanting to reach out to other people who love the same fandom as you do. Itâs not easy to do that, I know, and I donât hold it against you at all if you canât.â
Be kind to your fandomsâ writers.
Please note that this challenge is to âcomment on every fanfic you read and enjoy in the month of January.â As our fandom forebears were fond of saying, âDonât like, donât read.â For FaFiCoWriMo, we have taken that one step further by saying, âDonât like, donât comment.â
No matter how well-intentioned, critique is useless unless it comes from a place of trust. Unless you know an author personally and they have specifically asked for your critique, please keep it to yourself.
It costs zero of your currency and zero of your time to not be a jerk.
If you do find yourself unable to comment on every fic (for whatever reason), remember this: we forgive you, zero judgement. [x]