Why am I having to repeat myself on so many subjects lately?
If you don’t like a story....
No, seriously. I mean this in the utmost seriousness. If a writer writes a story that you don’t like, or there’s some detail you don’t like. Don’t comment on it. Don’t tell them how they did bad, or troll them, or try to make them feel guilty for writing the story in a way you don’t enjoy.
For every ‘you’, who didn’t like it, there are a dozen or more people who:
had their world view changed
were exposed to something new that gave them a better perspective on things
found a new pairing they thoroughly enjoy
found a new writer whose style they really like
got validation in the form of better/more diverse representation that’s more similar to them/their unique life experiences.
Not every story we read will be tailored for us, and that’s okay. I have a diverse circle of writer friends - some of them prefer monogamous ships (not my jam), some of them prefer pairings whose character combinations aren’t my favorite, some of them write about experiences that I can’t understand because I’m outside of their minority group as someone from a different ethnic or cultural background.
I don’t always like all aspects of all of their stories, but for every ‘me’ who reads them and it doesn’t click for me, there is a ‘someone else’ who loved them. And it’s okay that those stories aren’t totally for me. I can always wait for the next story that might be. Or just enjoy the parts of the story that I liked. But it isn’t my job to police them into creating things that aren’t what they want.
If they’re labeling, tagging correctly, and adding appropriate warnings to their stories, it’s my job to self-police. Meaning if they wrote a story and I wasn’t really that into it, unless they ask me for criticism, it is my solemn obligation as a consumer of the free media they create to keep my god damned mouth shut.
Because chances are high, that while it didn’t reach me the way I hoped, I’ll be damned if I kill their creativity with vitriol in some kind of misguided revenge for them not writing a story tailored to me. There are enough of them out there for me, and I can enjoy one of them instead.
TL;DR: Don’t spit on someone’s work because it wasn’t written for you when they’re posting (or spirits forbid), selling a work written for them/someone else.
