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

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

It depends on what the concrit is.

If it's something objective (like grammar), or something where you really feel the structure of the story might benefit, I'd wait until after the reveal and then email the author privately, or even leave a comment, depending. I've had mentions of typos made, and that doesn't bug me in the least, but anything more than that....

Overall, I kind of feel "move along" is the best response, but if it's something objective that's really nagging you, and you're giving it to help the poster become a better writer, delaying that part of your response until after the reveal might be the best strategy.