For me, fanfiction is entirely self-serving. I write what I love, and I love to write.
I write when I find time, adding chapter after chapter to my beloved seven-part book series that has reached over one million views across three platforms. I started it because I was bored in lockdown and wanted to read about a character in a TV show I was watching. Not because anyone asked or because it was trending at the time. Back then, I wrote for me.
It wasn’t a coincidence that other people saw it. I uploaded the books to Wattpad, Tumblr, and AO3 as I needed an archive, somewhere to store my X Reader without using 30GB of storage on my phone. I got views quickly, and every time someone commented, I chased the high of becoming an authority in a very niche fandom – ranking first out of thousands of stories with the same tags.
Five years later, my updates have slowed down despite my best efforts. I had oodles of free time in college when I started my fic, but during university, I realised I don’t have spare afternoons to devote to tapping on my laptop. I have to work. I want to see friends. Life got in the way.
I’m grateful for every click, comment, and kudos. The idea that people actively want to read what I write in my bedroom makes my heart feel all fuzzy. Thank you to those who do. But to those who flood my comment section and inbox with ‘please update’, ‘next chapter’, ‘are you dead?’, back the fuck off.
Unfortunately, being a functioning human being with responsibilities and hobbies outside of my online persona isn’t a good enough excuse for some of my readers. I want to stress that the vast majority are sweethearts, sending their love and appreciation from America to Nigeria to Australia, and even Mongolia. But there are a few bad apples spoiling the rest, and I’m getting fed up with their incessant spam.
I appreciate that my writing is apparently so good that people are beside themselves with anticipation for what happens next. It’s every author’s ambition to draw that sort of reaction, but there’s an etiquette to fanfiction – an unspoken rule of give and return.
I give you the fanfiction. You return engagement. Thus, the author and reader are both fed to continue the story.
However, I feel like this rule has been forgotten.
Gone are the days when someone would finish the first arc of my series and gush about what made them feel joy, what made them feel sad–how they hope my pillow is cool on both sides at night and how they can’t wait to read more. I welcome those kinds of comments with open arms. Now I’m lucky if I get a push of the kudos button, let alone a message.
Some people seem to think it’s their God-given right to receive an update if they ask for one. They take the time to type ‘more, please. Now’, and think that will inspire me to keep going. Let me tell you, it doesn’t. Fanfiction starts to feel like a chore when you’re working to other people’s deadlines.
I didn’t start writing to please others, but now that I’ve found a community, I want to talk to those in it. I don’t want to fling chapter after chapter into the aether, only to receive nothing back. Tell me what you liked. Tell me what you didn’t like. Show me a sign of life beyond your greed for my time and creativity.
It takes hours to finish a chapter. I still work, and I still want to see my friends. I’m trying to fit fanfiction in between, but I’m not going to put in all the effort if all you can be bothered to reply with is… “you need to post more”.
As a fanfiction author, I don’t owe you, the reader, anything. This is my hobby. My series. Something I love to do – for free. I decide when to write, what I will write, and who gets the pleasure of reading it.
So, dearest reader, take what you’re given, when you’re given it, and be grateful. Take the time to like, share, and comment. Draw me some fan-art or create a moodboard. Send a DM about your theories about my ship. If you ask nicely and renew my energy and excitement for the fandom we share, you’ll get that update you so desperately crave.