Fanfiction Writers and Feedback
| Meta | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Fanfiction Writers and Feedback |
| Creator: | Lyys |
| Date(s): | 2024 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom: | Multifandom |
| Topic: | Feedback |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Fanfiction authors and their readers mainly interact through likes and comments, two features available on all popular fanfiction posting websites.
Fandoms and the gift economy
Fanfics based on protected intellectual properties are transformative works that can't legally be exchanged for money. Fanfiction authors' motivations are thus beyond financial, and their works is put out into a gift economy. Turk (2014) writes that the "fandom's gift economy is therefore fundamentally asymmetrical: because a single gift can reach so many people". [1] Indeed, fanfiction authors aren't gifting their work to a single person, but to their fandom as a whole. On the other hand, they "receive" (have access) to the shared works of all their fellow fan creators.
Passivity and Kudos
The structure of fandom and the gift economy makes it easy to passively consume fellow fans' works. For instance, kudo ratios can give insight into the proportion of fans who read fanfiction without interacting with it. On Tumblr, hannibalsbattlebot explains this reality: "I’ve been posting fic for 20 years, and I have never in my entire life had a story stay above a 1:9 kudos to hits ratio (or comments to hits, back when kudo wasn’t an option). Usually they don’t stay above 1:10, once they’ve been around for a few weeks."[2] In other words, out of every person who clicks on a given fanfiction, it's uncommon for more than 10% of them to leave a kudo.
Comments and feedback
The considerable amount of time and effort fanfiction authors pour into their work can be met with little response. Although fanfiction authors usually enjoy their craft, they highly appreciate tangible responses such as likes, shares, and especially comments. As hardfeelingsmp3 on Tumblr puts it, "it's so gratifying to get feedback, any feedback, whether it’s a sweet tag when you reblog the fic or a long ass comment on ao3"[3]
Reluctance to comment
https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/post/169162675188/why-people-dont-comment-data-and-history-from
https://dawnfelagund.tumblr.com/post/169076996978/feedback-culture-is-dead-long-live-feedback
References
- ^ Turk, Tisha. 2014. "Fan Work: Labor, Worth, and Participation in Fandom's Gift Economy." In "Fandom and/as Labor," edited by Mel Stanfill and Megan Condis, special issue, Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 15. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2014.0518.
- ^ hannibalsbattlebot. (2017, April 3rd). You know, kudos and comments are much beloved. Tumblr. https://genufa.tumblr.com/post/159136808545/hannibalsbattlebot-shellbacker. Retrieved February 7th, 2024.
- ^ hardfeelingsmp3 (2014, December 9th). god i can’t stress this enough it’s so important to give fanfiction writers feedback. Tumblr. https://hardfeelingsmp3.tumblr.com/post/104779398368 (Retrieved February 7th, 2024)