wherein Liz reads the NFE archive and thinks about gift exchange commentary etiquette

[edenfalling]

I have been reading through this year's Narnia Fic Exchange stories with great enjoyment. I am not done yet, even though there are only twenty-five of them. This is because I try to take more time with gift exchange fics, and leave thoughtful comments.

I think I do that partly as a sort of interest payment on my normal utter failure at leaving feedback ("kudos" and "like" options are a godsend, seriously), and partly because I know that I spend the anonymous portion of such fests twitchy and nervous, wondering if people will like my work without my name attached to it. I mean, not that I have all that much name recognition to start with, but I have a little simply by virtue of kicking around various fandoms for twelve years now. There is value in being a known quantity. And I figure that if I feel nervous, at least some other writers probably do too, so I want to say, "Yes, people are reading your work and responding positively!"

This can, of course, get tricky with some stories, depending on the subject matter and the writer's skill level, but there is always something you can pick out and say, "I liked this metaphor," or "I liked how happy everyone seemed," or "You got the melancholy mood across very clearly," or "I had never thought of X that way, but you have convinced me it's an interpretation worth examining," etcetera ad infinitum. And you just shut up and don't mention the parts that are Not Your Ship, Not Your Kink, Not Your Writing Style, or whatever, unless you know the writer is okay with concrit in a public arena... which, given that the stories are usually anonymous at the time, you have no way to be sure of. So be polite. :-)

(I guess this maybe sounds like I advocate fraudulent praise as payment for participation? That's not what I mean, though. My praise can be extremely selective in focus -- I would never deny that -- but if I say I liked an element of a story, I honestly mean that I liked that element.)

Comments

[hungrytiger11.livejournal.com]

I think that is incredibly kind- and it does not sound like you are advocating empty praise. Rather, it is like you would thank someone for a gift (not that all readers are the named recipient but we are all enjoying a story the writer may not have otherwise written), so finding at least one good thing about every story seems very good.

[edenfalling]

Thanks for gifts! Yeah, that's the concept I was failing to put into words. Somebody wrote a story as a present, which they would not otherwise have written, and so I like to show appreciation for that. And I have never yet found a story I could not say at least one true and positive thing about. :-)