When you feel too tired/sleepy/overwhelmed/at a loss for words, just write 1 sentence down and you're done! The goal of this is not to be perfect. In fact, forget about perfect! Forget about needing your comment to be special, or that the author might not appreciate such a short comment. We're taking baby steps here and the most important thing you can learn this week is that something is better than nothing.
So start with something generic. Pick something short and sweet. Use one of the examples above. Leave it on every fanfic you read.
Let me repeat that for the people at the back:
Leave it on every fanfic you read.
Leave it at the end of that chapter you're reading. Comment on that fic you just opened. Just write those 2, 3, 4 words. Tell them LLF sent you. That we made you do it. Even if it doesn't feel great just leaving such a short sentence, do it. You can change it for the next fic. But start.
Start with something, even if you're not 100% happy with it. Don't worry about not getting it right the first time. You can iterate and change it up in the next fic or chapter you read and comment. And you can keep changing it up until you get something you're happy with. Even if it doesn't work out this week, there's next week. This will be your go-to sentence. Something that you can use without thinking. So keep it stupid simple.
Now, once you've started, you can stop and hit post on your comment. The only learning for this lesson is that you write something and develop a catchphrase for yourself this week. You can leave more than just your catchphrase in a comment, but it must be included in your comment.
And that's it!
I'll be asking how the week goes for you next weekend, and if you need more help getting started, my ask box is open.
Remember:
When in doubt, comment your catchphrase.
Something is better than nothing.
Goal of the week:
Leave your catchphrase on every fanfic you read.
And for the 10% of you who always leave a comment, I have a question for you:
Sorry about going MIA last weekend, but I'm back with Lesson 3 💪 But before we get into it, how are we doing with describing the indescribable and commenting in general?
Has this Commenting 101 series been helpful?
Yes! The tips have helped me comment more/start commenting. More please!
It's helping a little bit, but I'm starting to not comment again.
The tips haven't helped me. I still want to comment but can't/don't for reasons.
No. The Commenting 101 series is irrelevant to me because I don't comment ever.
N/A to me cuz I already comment, but the series is helpful & should continue
Not helpful at all. LLF should spend their time elsewhere.
I just found this post and have no idea what the Commenting 101 series is.
Other (Send an ask or put in notes?)
Voting ended onMar 12, 2023
Alright. So let's talk about quoting bits of the fics and commenting on them in a comment. Personally, it's one of my favourite ways to comment because I find it easier to focus on a specific thing/sentence/paragraph/turn of phrase that I really like and gush about it to an author. By doing this, I can also focus on the bits of the story that I really really liked, and not worry about the parts that I didn't like so much. Win-win for everyone!
The one downside of this particular commenting technique is that it does take a relatively high amount of effort and is not as easy as a keyboard smash or entering a bunch of smileys and a catchphrase into the comment box. But hey. Some fics are worth it :)
So, here are some tips on how to quote while commenting:
Keep 2 tabs open.
Use a third party browser script that gives you a floating review box.
Paraphrase.
1. Keep 2 tabs open
Easier on a computer, but I've done it on mobile before. This is literally having two tabs open to the same chapter/fic as I read. When I get to a sentence or phrase that I really like, I'll copy it from my reading tab and paste it into my second tab which has the comment box open.
Sometimes I'll notate what I am thinking in the moment for that quote, and sometimes I'll leave it for the end and experience all the bits I loved again 😍. My comment at the end usually looks something like this:
"Sentence I really like"
~~ I really love how you described this character!
Everything from "Start of a paragraph/section..." to "...end of paragraph/section" is giving me life!!
"Paragraph I really like"
~~ This was perfection and made me cry 😭
and so on and so forth.
It's nice when I notate as I go, because when I'm done reading, I've got quite the comment already written and I usually just round off the comment with a catchphrase like "This was all wonderful! Thank you for writing and sharing!" and hit post, easy-peasy.
2. Use a third party browser script that gives you a floating review box.
This is not something I personally use, but the people who do have really loved it and I love the concept of it so here it is for you to try and see if it works for you!
There are a couple of scripts:
AO3 Floating Comment Box by ScriptMouse. This is a script to create a floating comment box at the bottom of the page for works on AO3. Box will be closed by default, and can be open/closed using the button in the top left corner of the window. Thanks to @memorizingthedigitsofpi for the link!
AO3 Review + Last Chapter Shortcut + Kudos-sortable Bookmarks Tampermonkey script by @ravenel. Click on the link to take you to the original post describing the tool and here's a follow up tutorial post by @bourbon-ontherocks on how to install the script. Credits to @altschmerzes and @castillon02 for the links!
I think these are only for browser on computers (so no mobile?) but please feel free to correct me in the notes if anyone knows.
3. Paraphrase
Let's be real. While Tips 1 and 2 are really just giving you tools to make commenting easier, when it gets down to it, commenting really requires you to, well, comment on something.
So what to do if you forgot to take notes as you read, didn't feel like doing it as you were reading, or found it just too hard to wrangle on mobile?
Paraphrase.
Just refer back to that one thing that caught your attention ala:
"I really love how you described this character in that part!"
"That part where you wrote about that thing that happened to that character is giving me life!!"
"That part where you that happened was perfection and made me cry 😭"
Yes, this does require you to remember and be able to point out and talk about certain parts of the fic. It can be a lot to remember particularly if it's a long chapter. So, as I've stressed in previous lessons, don't let it paralyze you. Just pick one thing you can remember and have the ability to comment on.
Remember:
Just quoting and commenting on one thing is better than nothing.
When you cannot quote, paraphrase!
And as always, when in doubt, comment your catchphrase.
If you want more help constructing a comment or validation that you're writing good comments, please send in an ask or submit a screenshot!
How are we all doing after the first week of finding our catchphrases?
I'm doing...
Great! I have one now and use it to comment on fic all the time!
I don't/forget to comment sometimes but I'm getting used to commenting more!
I'm still deciding if I like doing it. No change in my commenting habits.
I don't like it. It hasn't helped me comment more.
Hate it. Awful experience. Author berated me for it.
Other (explain in notes)
Didn't participate (yet) / I already have a catchphrase but I want to clicky
Voting ended onFeb 27, 2023
Ok! So here's step 2 to help you comment more:
Describe the indescribable
Expressing yourself if hard. Many of you indicated in the notes on the original poll that you felt overwhelmed after reading and eventually just walked away without saying anything in a comment in the fic. As a writer, I get it. Writing is hard. Expressing the chaos of thoughts and emotions in your head is hard. If you want a tip on how to handle this and how to communicate even a little bit to the human being who wrote that thing you just read and who caused all those feels, do this:
Accept that you can't describe everything.
Pick one thing to describe.
Use words if necessary.
If you use your catchphrase at the beginning or end of the comment, you got the start of a real nice comment ;)
1. Accept that you can't describe everything
Just sit with your emotions for a while. Let your thoughts be chaotic. Take a breath. It's ok to feel and think a lot of things. And much as the author would love to know all your thoughts and feelings, they understand that it's hard to write it all down on a blank space. (Trust me, they went through the exact same thing to get that fic you just read out into the world and posted.)
So what do? If you cannot pick apart and describe those thoughts and emotions, it's ok to tell the author so! You can write things like:
"I'm sorry, I have so many thoughts and emotions about this story I don't even know where to begin! Just know that I loved your fic!"
"There's so much I want to say but I can't word properly right now this was amazing!"
"Putting a placeholder here for when I have the energy to comment properly!"
For the last one, you can come back and edit your comment as long as no one has replied to it yet. If they have and you can't, just explain in the thread or write a new comment! :)
2. Pick one thing to describe
So much to say, so little time and energy. Remember our first lesson? Something is better than nothing. So. Pick the first thing you remember. Pick the last thing that set you off. Pick the thing that you've been hung up on since the middle of the chapter.
Talk about it. Try:
"There's so much about this fic, but I want to mention this one thing..."
"Person A doing that thing made me cry!"
"I loved the moment when A and B kissed!"
"That part where that thing happened made me laugh aloud!"
"I'm just a mess of emotions at the end of this fic I can't even"
Check out @dawnfelagund's 101 Comment Starters for more examples.
The LLF Comment Builder was also designed to help users learn to comment using instructional scaffolding, as well as to remove other barriers to leaving feedback such as dysexecutive syndrome, anxiety, mobility issues that make typing long reviews difficult (particularly on mobile), language fluency, and mobile commenting functionality in general. Check it out to see if it helps for when you just aren’t sure what to say.
The key is to pick one thing, and know that that is perfectly okay. Don't let not being able to say everything paralyze you and prevent you from saying anything.
3. Use words if necessary
A picture is worth a thousand words they say...😏 So go wild.
Use emojis, add gifs, and (my personal favourite) the keyboard smash.
"This fic was just asldkfjas;dlkfjsdofwekl 😭🙏💗💞💖❤️🔥💕"
Enough said, yeah? :)
Remember:
When in doubt, comment your catchphrase.
Saying something is enough, and it is better than saying nothing.
If you really can't word, just spam hearts 💕💗💕💗💕💞💖❤️🔥❤️🔥
