Ao3 Comments - Blog Posts

They reassure my brain that I’m not a terrible writer😂

I love reading all of them!

AO3 Comments are SO SO SOOOOOOO important because you can only leave Kudos ONCE. You add to the hit count ONCE (every 24 hours).

So whenever someone updates their fic, the ONLY way an author knows who their regular readers are is if they comment on each chapter. And we WANT to know who's still reading.

Believe it or not, some of us think about the name that pops up constantly in the comments and go "omg I can't wait to see what they think of THIS SPECIFIC SCENE cuz I KNOW they'll say something about it!!!"

This is my favorite comment on AO3.

You may wonder, who is Kae and why is this my favorite comment on AO3? Well Kae is a MHA OC I made to replace the role of Shigaraki, since this was an AU where he ended up becoming a hero. I still needed someone to make the LOV, so I made Kae to replace Shigaraki's canon role.

The reason why it's my favorite comment? I didn't write him with the intention of bring neurodivergent. The reason why he gets those vibes is because I'm neurodivergent. I just find the fact that I accidentally made a character neurodivergent, purely because I don't understand how neurotypical's brain works to be fucking hilarious.

There are days when someone comments on every chapter of your WIP and it's the only thing you can think about for a week.

And of course I love writing for myself, but when you give so much time and energy (and a little tears too), seeing someone take the time to leave not just one, but sometimes several comments, on each of my chapters, it gives me the boost to write that I sometimes lack.

So thank you to everyone who has already left a comment on each of my fanfics, whether it's a long comment with each of your favorite parts, a linear analysis that would have made my high school French teacher proud, a keyboard smash, a comment in all caps because lowercase letters can't convey the message properly, or a series of emojis.

I cherish every comment I've ever received and I smile like an idiot when I get an email from ao3. Thank you for sharing a little piece of what's going on in my head with me for a moment and loving it as much as I do. I kiss you all on the forehead with love and gratitude and I hope your pillow is cold on both sides tonight..

As a writer, receiving long comments with quotes and rambles is the best feeling in the world. There's nothing wrong with hearts, keyboard smashes or even silent readers, but the energy boost to keep writing that some of the comments I've had have given me is incomparable.

And as a reader, I often read my favourite fanfics on my laptop with two tabs open to comment my thoughts on real time. It works great for me !

BTW i see these posts all the time like "ohhh i dont know what to comment on fics.." and every response is "keysmashes! or hearts!! anything works :3" and thats GREAT!! thats helpful!!

but: consider. if u genuinely like analyzing writing.. do u know ur just allowed to go through and quote your favorite parts and ramble abt what they mean to u and the author will LOSE IT WITH HYPE?

genuinely. i felt SO WEIRD the first time i did it.. but like. holy shit authors love it. its crack for authors. the first time i did it, it was on a fic that hadnt updated in half a year, give or take, and the author made 3 updates that month BECAUSE OF MY COMMENT.

LIKE. as an author every comment is INCREDIBLE!!! but also, dont feel like your comment has to be short or otherwise ur invasive or smth!! authors ADORE long comments more than ANYTHING.

How y’all THINK fanfic authors react when you send multiple comments on different fics: Ugh, another comment from them? Wow, I don’t appreciate how they enjoy what I write. :(

How fanfic authors actually react: OH MY GOD ANOTHER COMMENT? They must be on a marathon! I hope they read my recent whump fic and tell me what they think. Their kindness will be what drives me to finish my current WIP!!!! I WON’T FAIL YOU, NEW READER.

"Ao3 should allow multiple kudos" "I want to be able to leave more than one kudos"

COMMENT ON THE FUCKING FIC

I SWEAR TO GOD NO ONE COMMENTS MUCH NOW WHEN THE ONLY WAY TO SHOW APPRECIATION FOR A SINGLE CHAPTER IS COMMENTING AND I AM NOT HAVING THIS BULLSHIT BE LIKE TIKTOK WHERE NO ONE EVER COMMENTS POSITIVITY

FOR FUCKS SAKE JUST COMMENT ON THE FUCKING FIC YOU DON'T NEED A MULTIPLE KUDOS BUTTON YOU NEED ACTUAL WORDS

TRUST ME ON ANY WEBSITE OR APP I POST COMMENTS AND WORDS ARE 10X BETTER THAN ANY PLAIN LIKE AND WORDLESS REBLOG IF YOU LIKE SOMETHING LEAVE WORDS

COMMENT

ON

THE

FUCKING

FICS

I share this sentiment. FOR MY AO3 READERS!

I need you to understand that when I say "comments are appreciated!" I mean that I will reply to every one of them. I mean that an email with an ao3 notification has a higher priority than a message from my mother. I mean that I will have entire discussions in the comment section if you're up for it. Message me on tumblr and I will have the same discussions on an even more unhinged level. I will dissect entire personalities and ships and fictional political structures and worldbuilding with you. I will become your new best friend. You already ARE my new best friend. At the last battle, I would raise Anduril and say "For my ao3 readers" while a single tears rolls down my cheek, and dive into the fray. I would upload from beyond the grave if someone asked about the next chapter

Fanfic Bookclubs and sharing comments

I've seen a few posts about how fics are being read in private discords and the author never even knows (no comments, no kudos, nothing). 

I wanted to share about the fanfic bookclub that I'm a part of because I think it is run really well. It's super fun, and we do share with the author, and I feel like it creates a lot of positivity in the community.

What we do:

Our Discord has a Bookclub channel with a link to a Google Form document where any discord member can submit links to fics. In our case, since our server is dedicated to a specific ship, we have a rule that the fic must be about that ship, and also that the fic must be complete. 

A random number generator helps pick the next fic. A meeting’s chosen fics may include: 1) a size-able one shot, 2) multiple short fics, 3) a few chapters of a longer fic, with subsequent meetings on subsequent chapters, or 4) a few chapters of a longer fic plus a very short fic. There is a little juggling required based on fic lengths to figure out how many to fit in a week, but our thoughtful mod only bases it on fic length, not on submitter, title, author, or tags.

We read fics of all different ratings, but we understand that some members have tags/tropes they don't like. Members simply choose to attend or not attend based on the tags and based on their availability. Easy peasy.

We meet once a week.  Timezone can be a problem, and definitely it is not a time that will be accessible for everyone.  We initially tried to have two meetings to accommodate all timezones, but did not have enough attendance.  But like with all global things, we just do our best.  

The conversation focuses on the positive. Things we loved, things we thought were clever or funny or such delicious angst.  There may be general conversation about how frequently we see this headcanon in fics (and that's a fun thing), etc. There may be some questions like "I found this confusing...what did this mean?" but there is no critique.

(The conversations often include some readers pointing out themes or easter eggs or some interesting details that others may have missed…truly, it is so fun)

One person volunteers to take notes the old-fashioned-way..typing!  Not via AI or any other recording.  The notes do not show who said what, so that people can feel comfortable speaking. 

Sometimes the author joins if they are able to, which is super fun! If the author is not a member of the discord, we may invite them, especially if anyone knows them, but we don't actively reach out because we don't want the author to feel overly pressured.  But we are always extra excited to have an author join. 

Since we intend to share our discussion with the author, we keep all the notes positive and focused on the fic.  We do not put anything that came up in conversation that is not relevant (like if we talk about other fics or HCs outside the fic). 

The notes are posted into the author's comment box in ao3.

i have used ao3 for a long time but just recently made an acc cause im dumb and since beign on tumblr (im very new here like very) i've read about how important it is for authors to recieve comments so im trying to comment more and each time an author responds to me im giggling and kicking my feet in the air like a 12yo girl

Calling for Comments

@apple-sapling and I recorded an interview about Comment Exchange yesterday for a project for @voiceteam Mystery Box.

We would like to read out some comments that were left because of Comment Exchange after the interview, so if anyone would like to offer one (or more) of their comments for us to read out, please send them in. The comments can be old or new, and we won't read out your username, just the text of the comment.

You can link them in the comments here, send me a DM, or ask, or email them to comment.xchange@gmail.com

Thanks for your help!