OK! (This is all about fanfics) I’m an essay commenter, and I’ve seen a bunch of posts talking about sample sentences for smaller comments and what you can do to step into commenting if you’re shy or don’t know what to say, and those are great, those are wonderful, and if I could easily find them I would put a link to one or more here.
But, I’ve not seen that many dissecting how to write longer comments, and I know that it would’ve been helpful for me when I was in between the “I do comment, but it’s only a sentence, I want to do more” and the “I must write every thought I had during this fic and take an hour on one comment for one chapter” (both are extremes, obviously you can do as much or as little in commenting as you want, I want to make this clear, this is not a “you need to write longer comments” this is a “this is how I personally write longer comments to be used as a resource if anyone wants it”)
@callmerose0 (you said you’d want to see this when I mentioned doing it so tag for you)
Everything is under the cut because I get rant-ey
Alrighty! Let’s go!
Beginning:
I always start with a keysmash. Every time, with little fail. (Genuinely, I know what my first ao3 comment was and it started with a keysmash, if you take anything out of this, take keysmashes) It helps me get the AAAAAAA that I feel when reading and the nerves of writing a comment out. It also shows how much I feel about the fanfic while allowing me to write in understandable language for some other parts of the comment.
Next, I give an overall thought sentence or two. It can be the first thing that comes to mind or just more screaming about how wonderful the fic is. It can be a favorite part or a little detail you love so much.
Middle part 1:
Trying to start at the beginning of the fic or chapter, I take note of an event that gave me a clear reaction. If it’s a shorter fic or chapter this may be something as small as the characters saying a goofy line or something larger with more events it could be an action or event.
Write out what event it was, and what your reaction or thoughts were. This can be done is one or multiple sentences and can look like anything from screaming for <20 words to yapping about it for 200+
Do this again and again until you run out of memorable events.
you have officially gotten through the main portion of an essay comment, congrats!
Middle part 2:
Go back and skim through the fic/chapter, making sure that nothing slipped your mind and there wasn’t anything else you wanted to talk about.
I’m not a live commenting person and prefer to describe rather than copy paste quotes, but I hear that style of commenting works for some people, try it out!
If there are other comments, read those too! Build off the other people in the community have been saying, it may spark something in you!
End:
I always end my comments with: “(sometimes blah blah blah) thank you so much for [writing and sharing, this wonderful fic, etc]! <3 <3 <3”
You can do something similar (or feel free to copy paste that, I’m not here for gatekeeping, spread the love to the wonderful authors we all adore) but I personably think a thank you is a nice thing to end on :)
General / other stuffs:
this is more idiosyncrasies that I wanted to expand on
I describe this in a very play by play way, but these middle steps can look really loose in practice and just end up with “AGGHHSIDHAKHDOSH I LOVE WHAT YOU DID WITH [insert event or character here] I FEEL SO MUCH ABOUT THEM IM SO NORMAL I PROMISE” or “[insert character] I love you but please, [insert character] please
I am a worrier, take note of this and continue. I tend to not say things like “can’t wait for another chapter!” I am not a fan of saying “can’t wait” because i think of it a little as a little impatient, and in my head I know it’s probably a me thing because I don’t see people complaining about that phrase but y’know, worrier. I tend to go with “I loved this so much, super exited to see whatever you do next!” It shows the same effect and tells the author you’ll be back if they continue the fic, but doesn’t say “can’t wait”. (I just don’t like that phrase)
Italics! I love love love italics, but ao3’s italic system isn’t the most intuitive for new readers. Here is the link to the Archive’s FAQ page about how to format HTML.
You can also theorize! Or yap about their world building if that’s more your style!
Add personal voice! I have so much more fun writing like how I talk, and if you’re having fun writing the comment, isn’t that a massive plus?
Describe what you’re doing while reading!
I can’t think of more at the moment, but may be back, hope it was at least an interesting read!
