mottlemoth:Gods grant me the megalithic balls of those people who only comment on something to...

mottlemoth:

Gods grant me the megalithic balls of those people who only comment on something to say, “I’d have preferred this story to be different.”

Your fanfiction authors aren’t waiters in a fancy restaurant. You can’t request they shuffle off back to the kitchen and ask the chef to make this dish here but more like you prefer.

Your fanfiction authors are friends who’ve brought homemade dishes to a free potluck supper. 

If you try something and it’s too spicy, move on. If you try something and think it’s overcooked, move on. If you take the foil off something, have a sniff and think, “Hoo boy, not for me,” don’t go find the person who made it so you can tell them. Just zip it, move on, and have something else from the table. There’s plenty to choose from.

“But I’m trying to help you improve your skills.” No, Karen, you’re whining because you like sausage rolls and I brought lamb madras. Shut the hell up.

Omg yes! So much yes to this post! The notion stems from the idea that if they didn’t like some specific thing in the story, it’s because you’re a bad writer. It doesn’t occur to them that it might just be perfectly sound writing, but it wasn’t a choose-your-own-adventure, so they feel at liberty to castigate the author over it. This free dish to a potluck analogy is spot on!