There Should be an Universal Update your Fanfic Day
Where every author either updates all ongoing stories (including the ones on hiatus) or posts a shit load of OneShots. This should be a thing
Tell you what, OP.
I work 45 hours a week. I keep house to the best of my ability. I take care of two dogs. I have to bike to and from work, which eats up another hour of my day every day. I have autism, anxiety, and depression. By the time I get home I’m physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted.
You want that day of updates? PAY ME FOR IT.
Pay me for the research, the writing, the editing. Make it possible for me to pay my bills via my writing. Because I write for FREE, and nobody really leaves reviews anymore, so I don’t even get that satisfaction. I am a voice screaming stories into the void for pretty much nothing.
Fanfiction is a gift. Not something you are entitled to. It is a gift of time, commitment, thought, imagination, love. I have been writing since I was ten years old–that’s 17 years–and the entitlement has grown as the acknowledgement has shrunk, to the point that as much as I love to write I have considered leaving fanfiction forever.
This sounds just plain spoiled and thoughtless, and I’m disappointed to see it on my dash.
Wow, OP, way to make me feel like even more of an asshole for all the fics I currently owe people that I haven’t had time to write in between my mother having cancer and my school/work schedule.
I think OP’s idea is a good one BUT like these reblogs are saying we need to also have support and appreciation for writers. People hardly review fics anymore or talk to the writers about their work, so the process of writing feels alienating and thankless on top of unpaid. How about having a fic writers appreciation week for your fandom? Thanking your favorite fic writers with regular reviews and/or promoting their fics on Tumblr? Making gifsets and graphics for them so that the work feels community based instead of isolated. There’s just so many ways we could be supporting and helping fic writers to ensure they can produce the content we love
Writing any kind of free fiction is literally a thankless task. Why not have an international Thank The Writers Day?
You can go around to all your favourite fics and put in some genuine thanks instead of “I love this write more”.
Guaranteed, it would net you better chances of getting more fic.