The Etiquette of Holiday fics

[geoviki]

Like all the rest of you, I'm delighting in the reams and reams of new stories and art (and this year's art is especially terrific!). There's the granddaddy, merry_smutmas, and then others like harry_holidays, hd_holidays, smutty_claus, lupin_snape.... an embarrassment of riches!

As we are encouraging each other as writers and artists, I'm trying to leave feedback as well. One thing that caught my notice, though, has left me feeling uneasy, and I wondered what your views are: In your opinion, is it uncouth to leave concrit that's negative on a fest fic? (Disclosure: this is not anything that's happened regarding my own fic, just other folk's.)

I don't see the author requesting any, for one thing. Personally, I won't do it, but then I never leave anything less than praise unless I'm asked specifically and privately. If I don't like something, I just pass it by. Which unfortunately is the same response to something I've not yet read, so the writer is never sure if I'm unhappy or just behind (if the writer even cares what I think), but there you go.

But IMHO, these stories are gifts. And I can't see criticising a gift. Am I over-sensitive? What do you authors and artists think?

Comments

[becky-h.livejournal.com]

When the author posts the story to her own website or archive account or LJ, and indicates that she's presenting the story as something she's created, that's the point at which criticism is appropriate

I agree, entirely. Until the fic is presented, name attatched, to a public space that fic wasn't written for the public TO criticise.

A fic that's published on the 'web it's published, it's out there for public consumption, it's the writer going "see what I did" and, IMO, requesting feedback.

When it's a fic exchange gift? No. It's something that was written for a single person. That's the difference for me. The audience.

Until it goes up in a comm with a name attatched, it's not there for me. I'm just a happy voyeur who needs to keep their mouth shut.