Some poor soul (or perhaps multiple souls) has been googling “upset by lack of comments on my fanfiction” and evidently has ended up on my blog over twenty times. And I do talk about fanfic a lot, but I’ve never given any tips on it. So, for the reference of whoever keeps googling into the abyss–and as sort of an homage to agony aunts–I present to you How to Get More Comments–The Complete Guide.
First off, I’m going to presume you’re using Fanfiction.net. Because unless you’re writing erotica why the hell would you use anything but FF.net?
A good summary is essential to get comments. If your summary says “A pair of friends have an adventure…lol I’m not good at summaries 
!” then no one will read your story. A summary is your first impression–read the back of books and see how they give you both a plot overview and a bit of suspense to make you want to read the book. Also, your summary needs to have perfect grammar and spelling. Even if your actual story is written great, a poorly written summary will turn off 90% of readers.
Check your rating. In FF.net, an M-rated story won’t show up in the listing unless a user is specifically looking for M stories. Don’t rate your story as Mature unless it is absolutely necessary (because of explicit sex, violence with lots of gore, or a very, very high level of swearing). In the majority of cases, a T+ rating is just fine.
Watch the trends. Fanfiction tends to have zeitgeists. For months, no one will write a “Bella married Jacob instead!” story, and then suddenly there’s ten of them. Before you start your story, take a look at the listings and make sure you’re not doing the same thing as a dozen other people.
Don’t annoy your readers. I suppose this is kind of a general catch-all, but I’m running out of column space so I’ll have to be brief. Use correct grammar–if you don’t most people won’t read past the first paragraph. Write in the correct format (after you upload a doc look at it in the ‘Edit’ tab to make sure it appears correctly) and try to give decent-sized chapters, like 700 to 2500 words.
Finally, be a good author. Upload on a consistent basis–don’t leave people waiting a month or two or three for another chapter. If you get a bad review or a flame, don’t spaz about it in your next update, just ignore it.
And remember: you’re not going to get hundreds of hits with your first post. It takes awhile. Instead of panicking, keep at it.
Lastly (which I guess is “finally” x2) a note to writers working in languages not native to them–its probably worth it to run your chapters through a native-speaking beta reader. You can find one through the beta reader profiles. Even something that is technically correct can sound off to a native speaker, and its these tiny things that are hardest to catch.
Best Wishes, Dearies!
~Auntie Geek
Nice advice, lots good apply to non-fanfic as well
A good read, thank you!
-Vera
Thanks for the comment! I think a lot of fanfic authors who don’t get many comments forget that they have to have basic good writing along with a really good idea.
I’ve always hated those summaries where the writer says “I’m not good at summaries” or “please read and review” or “look inside for a better summary”. When there’s a whole pile of fanfics to go through, there is no way I’m going to click for a supposedly better summary. That’s just sloppy.
Exactly! My thought has always been “Well, if you’re not dedicated enough to think up a good summary, how good is this story going to be?”
(I probably should have had “tell people if your story is slash or a crack!fic” in that paragraph too, but oh well)
You’ve made some great points here and not just for fanfic writers (I think bloggers will find this very useful as well).
Thank you for sharing
I actually hadn’t thought about that, but you’re right. Blogging and fanfiction actually are quite a lot alike. Huh.
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I agree with everything you say above (especially regular updating) except you didn’t say ‘ask for reviews.’ I used to be one of the authors who thought she was above asking for reviews. If the work is good, it should speak for itself, right? Until I noticed that really poorly written stuff was getting way more hits and reviews than my carefully thought out and well-edited work. I started asking for reviews. Not begging, but just adding a small, “If you like it, please leave a review
” at the end. My reviews probably quadrupled from what they were, and sometimes they were really only “thank you for writing!” or the ever present, “update soon!” but at least it was acknowledgement.
I feel that part of the general problem with the ff.net community specifically is that it has become SUCH a site for consumption and not production. Most of the people who visit there now are there to read and not to contribute. I’ve been there for over ten years, from its earliest days and it has not always been so. In the past few years, though, I’ve noticed that the majority of the users who favorite me are not themselves authors. In fact they probably don’t write at all, because I see lists on their profiles of 434, 1200+, 2500+ favorite stories without a single work from them contributed to the site. When I see that their profiles are little more than extended bookmarks for the stories they like, it makes me feel that they don’t know what an author struggles through and how much even a “thank you for sharing” can make someone’s day.
Anyway, that’s a lot of information, but I wanted to share another perspective, too.
I was going to put something in there about politely asking for reviews, but I was hesitant to because I didn’t want to create more of those people who say things like “I won’t update until I get 5 reviews.” That drives me absolutely nuts. But I guess I should rely on the word ‘polite’ to explain *not* to do that, huh? I’m thinking of doing a “Tips for Fanfic Writing” post, maybe I’ll stick it in there.
As to the FF.net population, I have also noticed the discrepancy between the number of readers and the number of writers. It does mean more potential reviewers than potential competition. That said though, I think the non-reviewing reader problem really depends on what universe(s) you’re writing in. The one I usually do is a smaller universe with an older-trending readership. From what I’ve seen the large or young-trending universes will in general have a harder time getting good-quality reviews. I don’t know if it’s that many readers are ignorant of the realities of writing; I think it’s more that a casual reader skims a story, favorites it if they like it, and generally don’t think much more about it.
Thanks for the comment! It’s always great to receive an interesting and thought-out one.
Reblogged this on Passionate Reads and commented:
Great advice for getting the RIGHT kind of attention for fanfic…or ANY kind of fiction!
-Shannon
Thanks for the reblog!
I like that… ‘fanfic hive mind’…
My first, and only, fanfic writing effort is a Snape/OFC and must fight the droves of Hermione/Snape for attention.
Some of the Harry Potter listings share the crap out of me too, since one of the places I’m archiving is adultfanfiction.net. There’s some really outrageous stuff on there. I prefer to think of mine as erotic romance with elements of kink, but some of the stuff on there you need asbestos eyeballs to read, not to mention a very strong stomach.
I found your blog through reblog from Passionate Reads, by the way, in case you’re keeping track…
I have a dear, sweet friend who wrote an explicit Harry/Snape mpreg with elements of Ron & Hermione…um…shall we say “non consensually playing” with Harry. Now I am frightened of her.
And its good to know that reblogs work!
I’m always pleasantly surprised when I get a review, but I don’t get overly upset if I don’t. I can still see the number of hits I’m getting and can usually tell when people are coming back for more. I try to add a chapter once a week, if possible, but on some archive sites, you’re in queue and it can take a while to be validated.
You’ve got some good advice. I would only add that I write something because it’s the subject matter I want to write about, whether it’s trending or not. While I like the idea of getting a lot of hits and reviews, it isn’t essential to me because I’m not doing it for money or fame, I’m doing it out of love for the characters, and because I enjoy it.
The thoughtful reviews I do get, which point out something the reader noticed from the story, are reviews that I do treasure, and sometimes give me ideas that branch off into directions I hadn’t thought about before.
By the way…whoever is spamming you is a jerk!…
Yeah, I sort of wonder about the type of person who repeatedly Googles “upset about lack of reviews.” They seem rather impatient
I use reviews to gauge how much people liked a chapter, but the only ones I really look for are the ones that point out specific aspects of the story. “Good job!” just isn’t very helpful.
I agree that you should always write what you want regardless of trends–my problem is that there are always several ideas in my head, so if I see that a similar one is really popular right now I’ll do something different. (Like pairings. For some reason there’ll be 5 Harry/Hermione stories all at once, and then they’ll all go away and it’ll be Harry/Draco. Its like a fanfic hive mind. Then again, the Harry Potter listings just scare me in general
)