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

[captain-tulip.livejournal.com]

Here via daily_snitch, and I definitely think that if people feel the burning need to leave criticism for a fic, they should at least wait until the author posts it to their own journal.

I think it's inappropriate to point out flaws in gifts, especially anonmyous ones. If your friend got a new pink miniskirt for Christmas, you'd never say, "Boy, I'm glad I didn't get that - I'd look terrible, and look at the design! It's shocking!" In the same way, I feel it's inappropriate to say "Bottom!Harry didn't work for me, and I feel you had some major plot flaws..." Well, it wasn't actually written for you, it was written for a recipient who requested very specific things, some of which may have been difficult to work around. Almost like a tailored suit - there's no point pointing out how it would never fit your measurements because, well, it wasn't made for your measurements.

I'm not someone who's against constructive criticism - in fact, in that no-so-recent wank, I was all for it. But there's a time and a place, and anonymous gift exchanges are not one of them. Especially because, if the author is anything like me, and they've worked their arses off to please their recipient, they really don't want to hear from people who didn't find it to their liking. Move on, and be glad the recipient got what they wanted. Go chase down the author and offer some con crit once you find out who it is, if you must - but don't be tainting the spirit of SmutChristmas! :)