#Comment Exchange

[comment-exchange]

We've barely had any submissions lately and I'd love to see some new ones in our inbox.

Do you have any under-appreciated fan works that could use more comments and attention? Why not submit them here so more people see them?

All types of fanworks are welcome as well as all fandoms. I'm looking forward to your submissions!

#comment exchange #fandom #commenting #fanficton #fan art #fan works #writers on tumblr #artists on tumblr #get comments

[francostrider]

Fanfiction and the International Audience

If I were to choose between Archive of our Own or Fanfiction.net, on the surface it’s an easy choice. AO3 is a much more user friendly experience, with less middle management required between a word document and putting it on the website. But if there is one thing FF.net has over AO3 it is metrix.

Obviously, AO3 does record how many hits a story gets. But FF.net goes into far more detail. It will show you how many individuals looked at it, how many times individuals took a look, what day and what country they are from. And if you split it into chapters, those same metrices are applied to each one. So, you can be pleasantry surprised on some days, seeing that someone has read through each chapter, and therefore the whole story. AO3 only tells me how many people have clicked on it at some point, not what chapters they read or how many times they looked at it.

Since very few people want to comment or review anymore, this is the closest thing to a measure of success in the fanfiction community that I can really grasp. My stories are not pornographic or even romantic (a bit of a disadvantage in said community) nor are they really subversive or primarily comedic. Burial of Nightmares, my Soul Calibur fanfiction, is a book adaption of Soul Calibur III and it does not really do anything particularly weird.

But seeing the international audience I have built up over the last couple of years is still encouraging. According to the metrices, most of my readers are from the US, but not exclusively. I had readers from Italy, Australia, England and even countries I never heard of, namely Bhutan. Someone in Bhutan, a neighbor to China, decided to sit down and read Burial of Nightmares the whole way through and that is really cool. I’m literally read from either side of the globe.

Of course, there are quite a number of readers who stop at the first chapter. This happens in both video games and books. If you don’t click with the story at first, you’re likely not going to finish it. But what strikes me are occassions when someone just decides to read one of the later chapters, namely the ending two. I’ve found that when someone decides to just go back to a chapter and not the whole thing, they tend to look at the ending.

So, I’m going to into spoilers a bit here, so if you are interested, read Burial of Nightmares by FrancoStrider before going further. It is on both AO3 and FF.net. While you’re at it, please comment! 

But anyway! What I try to do with the ending is give hope. I wrote this during NaNoWriMo 2020, and I felt, through one of my favorite games, I needed to be uplifting. I wanted to give the kind of hope Soul Calibur III gave me when I was a teenager.

The Soul Edge is destroyed for good, Siegfried (and most of the heroes) survive, and Nightmare is turned to ash. Siegfried confronts a wounded Zasalamel and kills him. Salia forgives Siegfried and welcomes him back to their old mercenary company. Mitsurugi and Taki bury the hatchet, Sophitia brings Aeon Calcos’ ashes back to his Spartan homeland, and Kilik and company head back home.

And then we go to the modern day, with Zasalamel’s latest reincarnation. He is about to meet a world leader and mulls over the last few hundred years of human history. Despite two world wars and plagues and every evil mankind concocts, he tries to see the hopeful side of humanity to bring hope in return. Instead of the self destructive nature of his actions, he has opted to be a guide, a library of wisdom for the leadership of the world. He is no fool; wars could start from nothing. But despite this, he wants to build a foundation for future peace.

Fast forward two years after writing this, the pandemic has died down (though it has not completely gone away), but Putin decided to start another unnecessary war with Ukraine. And maybe the ending is a bit naive, and maybe we’re screwed either way. “Jumping the gun a bit,” someone might think.

But this morning, I discovered on the metrix that someone from Russia decided to read the ending one more time. Not the rest of the story, just the last chapter, after all the fighting had been done. I do not know who this reader is, but I can’t help but imagine what they are going through. This is a land where, currently, dissent is met with being thrown out a window. A land whose ruler is making every excuse to kill not only Ukraine civilians but sacrificing a whole generation of his own. And that’s not even going over the ripples this has left all over the world.

Before anyone asks: Yes, someone from Ukraine has read this story as well. At least one Russian and one Ukrainian have read the ending of this same story. Maybe they, too, play the games as teenagers. Or perhaps they are teenagers now, discovering the series through Soul Calibur VI. I’ll probably never know. 

I wonder if I succeeded in giving hope. That was the whole point of this story from the first day of its rough draft. I wonder if they sought comfort during this time. Or maybe they read through the rest and never got to the last chapter until now. Either way, if I have given someone hope on the other side of the planet under oppression comfort during this time, I will say that I succeeded as a writer.

Some people may scoff at an international community. But an international community is how we view each other as human. It is how we see what we have in common and how alike we are. It is how we share stories like these and find that someone else across the world can find the same beauty.

Right now, the world is torn between the xenophobic old guard sending kids to die and the internet community sharing stories and fiction. For myself, I’d rather see a library of silly, off the wall, pornographic fanfiction entries read by the entire world than another oscar-bait war drama about bloodshed no one needed. I hope it’s that easy a choice for most of us.

I did not write this story because everything was fine. The pandemic was still going, and this was before the vaccines were released. My parents and I nearly came to blows. We had just gotten through a hopeful but painful election. I wrote because I needed a voice of hope. Not some nihilistic downer with delusions of depth or some pop singer whining about celebrity drama. I needed characters who have seen Hell and escaped. I needed to show people, especially a younger audience, that someone is mad enough to imagine a world after these woes.

And I imagine kids from Russia, Ukraine or Iran (or anywhere else for that matter) want to see past horrors as well.

#fan fiction #soul calibur #russia #ukraine #iran #Burial of Nightmares #AO3 #comment exchange #international community

[bawdybean]

On schedule!

Spent last night and today finishing up going through the tags and speed reading bits of the fics to try and find the best works for the perfect commenters! We have a list! Assignments announced tomorrow!!! Get your fingers ready to comment!

#witcher 3 #witcher wild hunt #the witcher #the witcher fandom #witcher rarepair comment exchange #rarepair love #witcher rarepair #rarepair #comment exchange #show those fics some love #fandom #witcher event #the witcher netflix

[kiaraalazulu]

Pyrrha Dve Appreciation <3

#tlt #the locked tomb #nona the ninth #nona #ntn #pyrrha dve #pyrrha #tlt fanart #myart #my art #this was my piece for the tlt holiday exchange #people have been very nice on the ao3 comments thanks to everyone<3

[ninjago-drabbles]

Agenda

#tell me im wrong :( #anyway if yall are actually down for that bruise exchange pls comment or message so i can gauge participation! #bruiseshipping #lego ninjago #ninjago #jay walker #cole #jay x cole

[yukipri]

Another mini Din & Paz

Probably shortly after Din joined the covert.

~~

PLEASE DO NOT REPOST, EDIT, TRANSLATE, OR OTHERWISE USE MY ART. To share, please reblog! Reblogs and comments greatly appreciated!!!

❀ You can see the rest of my art through the Masterpost pinned to the top of my blog!

#YukiPri art #Paz Vizsla #Din Djarin #the Mandalorian #PazDin #Mandalorians #Star Wars #Artists on Tumblr #fanart #OP/Artist comment: To be clear I don't necessarily think that Paz is the comforting type #at least outwardly #He probably noticed Din sniffling and laughed at him and called him a crybaby #and was about to walk away when he saw other kids also calling him a crybaby #scared off *those* kids #and then reluctantly came over #drops a blanket on Din #gives him one gruff head pat while looking the opposite way #and then plunks himself down far enough that he can pretend he's doing something else #but close enough that he dissuades anyone from intruding and Din doesn't feel alone. #No words are exchanged. #Paz is a dude who expresses how he truly feels via actions not words #at least when he was lil

[dropthedemiurge]

Love for Love's Sake | Things You Didn't Notice #4 | Fight with Homophobes

Honestly, I wanted to dissect these scenes right away but then we got the rest of the show uploaded and the emotions overshadowed me. But now we're diving into informal Korean speech, swearing and slurs! It's going to be a fun post, let's go :D

Disclaimer: I'll be writing down both English and Korean slurs strictly in educational manner, obviously.

"Fuck. You two are always so fucking close together. (to Myungha) Are you also a faggot (homosekki)? Wow, Kyunghyun's skills are so good." "Why are you so vulgar? What's wrong with being homo?" "You're really crazy. Are you criticizing me?" ... (Myungha kisses Tak Junho) " Ah fu— You damn faggot!" "We both kissed. I'm not the only one who's homo. You're homo too~" "You did it yourself, you faggot!" "Ah, our Junho keeps saying 'homo'. Tss, slurs are forbidden." "Shut up, you faggot." "If you call me homo one more time, I can steal your lips for real. (Junho is silent) Ha, afraid you'll be robbed?"

Honestly, I like the translation in subs this time, I just wanted to give you a more technical version (and to show you the difference, because in Gaga subs the f slur is also used by Myungha but it's not exactly that)

So, as far as I noticed, the slur in Korean is a derivative from the term "homosexual" - thanks to the similar sounding, it became "homosekki" (from sekki - asshole, bastard, bitch etc). This is the word Junho keeps using in almost every sentence. And the socially accepted common term is now "gay" (at least, the cast and couple from Korean reality dating show "His Man 2" refers to themselves as 'gay' and not 'homo').

Myungha uses the original term, just "homo", which also gained a negative connotation but doesn't include a 'sekki' swearword. So he keeps saying "homo" to talk back in the language Junho used, only less derogatory. We'll see later but it's amazing, because both Myungha and Sangwon confidently used this word about themselves (Sangwon even went further and proudly reclaimed the slur itself).

Still, Myungha did threaten gangster Junho not to even call him "homo" or any similar terms. And here's the moment which made me laugh: in the next scene with Sangwon, Junho was angry ranting about Myungha, but he caught himself using the slur "homosekki" and quickly changed to the modern and neutral term "gay". LOL

Which is what Gaga subs failed to show it to us. Again, let's see more technical translation:

"I'll go after Tae Myungha and Ahn Kyunghoon soon, just so you know. Those fa– Those gay bastards must die. That fucker Tae Myungha kissed me in the lips, shit. Isn't it fucked up? It was disgusting." (Sangwon, pouting) "Wow, really? It must've been nice." "Jeez, you asshole. You're not a victim so you dare talking shit." "I'm being serious, though?" (Junho, appalled) "What the hell are you talking about? You're not a faggot." "I am a faggot, though?"

One, why is it so funny that the first reaction Sangwon had, hearing about Myungha kissing someone in a fight, was: awww :( i wish it was me :((( you so lucky :((

Second, it's hilarious how the gangster ends up the ONLY person who ever uses nice and modern term "gay" once in this show because our protagonists both hit him back with the derogatory terms (Sangwon even attached the slur to himself, when he only liked girls before falling in love with Myungha at first sight, what a legend).

Let's wrap it up with slurs and check out another small detail: informal speech in Korean.

(Sangwon to Myungha)"Why would we fight here?" (Yeowoon to Sangwon)"Hey, watch your tone (don't use informal speech)" "Was I talking like that with you?" "Talk curt (informally) only with me." "I'm already being curt (talking informally) with you."

This one is definitely a cultural thing that always gets lost in translation (but "being curt" is a nice way of putting it). There are two general styles of speech in Korean: Formal (존댓말, jondemal) and Informal (반말, banmal). Of course, it's a lot more complicated in the language, but I'll paint briefly the differences that are pointed out in the scene.

I talked in previous posts about properly addressing your senior in korean (usually by title/position). To convey respect to your senior, you also use 요 (yo) at the end of the sentences – and both Sangwon and Yeowoon talk politely to Myungha. UNTIL Sangwon uses the rude version of a question, without polite ending ("Why would we fight here?"), to which Yeowoon protests and tells Sangwon that it's banmal, informal speech, and he should only use it with him.

Because with your friends, same age people (Yeowoon and Sangwon in this case) or people younger than you, it's normal to use their names with different intonations (Think Myungha's "Yeowoon-ah, Yeowoon-ie") and talk informally.

(Yeowoon to Myungha) "I asked who it was." "You're being curt (that's an informal speech)".

Fast forward – Yeowoon loses patience and demands Myungha "I asked who it was", question without polite ending as well. To which Myungha cheekily says "that was an informal speech", reminding Yeowoon of his own remark to Sangwon.

Fast forward again – and now I have to take back my previous statement from another post that Yeowoon never called Myungha by his name because I found the rare case of him doing it xD

"Tae Myungha is so frustrating." "You're speaking informally more often these days."

Again, a youngster! calling his senior! by his own name! Not using the polite ending! The horrors of informal speech. He's not being too rude but he's sulking therefore he's rebelling. Though I can swear, again, Yeowoon hears Myungha's scolding and resorts back to speaking politely, and from now on, he'll keep using 'senior'.

If you survived until the end of this post, congratulations! The second half probably wasn't needed but in case you're learning Korean or you want to know why these seemingly normal phrases are being considered "curt" out of nowhere, I hope you understand it now a little bit better :)

// Previous messages translation + other language moments here //

#love for love's sake comments #watch me writing my own course Learning Korean with Kdramas on tumblr #but that fight dialogue scene was just perfect i couldn't resist #the exchange and usage of different terms was funny and the scene was hilarious on its own #sangwon and myungha are my heroes #love for love's sake #love for love's sake meta #bl meta #korean bl #korean drama #love supremacy zone #dropthemeta #korean language #linguistics #language

[elitadream]

You know which character I've been thinking about a lot lately?

Luigi.

The brother who is often belittled, disdained, brushed aside, misjudged and forgotten. The one that gets mocked and laughed at for his anxiety, who is never taken seriously and who is hardly ever given an ounce of respect; yet endures astounding pressure and lives his very own battles all the time.

The challenges that Mario face on a regular basis as the main protagonist are huge, and his efforts deserve to be fully acknowledged. But I find that there's a very special sort of strength residing within the younger brother which shines differently and sets him apart from everyone else.

To me, he's very much like a bottomless pond or a calm sea. The sort of thing one would feel inclined to underestimate, only- there's no way to predict what lies beneath the surface. Their hidden might and riches go unsuspected, hence why they are twice as striking when finally revealed. 🎇💚

#all the discussions and wonderful works surrounding the body swap has made my love for this character grow tenfold #The poor man goes through so much #and is SO much braver than he imagines! #Reflecting on this has given me the boost I needed to finish a piece I had left aside for months and almost abandoned #Big thanks to everyone who has commented and contributed to these exchanges over the past few weeks 🙏✨️ #thoughts and ramblings #Luigi #Super Mario Bros

[n0brainjustvibes]

ah, yeah, this quote will do numbers on the tumblr

#I've seen this type of exchange in so many Writing Prompts #need to go back and comment 'read brothers in arms' on all of the #damn. replacing Miles in particular is a special kind of torture #and not just because of the physical alterations required #the vorkosigan saga #brothers in arms

[saetoru]

my fav trope is tumblr mutuals to lovers actually

#𑁍 — tee talks. #slow burn 100k words #started off as mutual in laws #eventually became mutuals #started commenting on each others posts #exchanged discords #then phone numbers #now boom #theyre lovers #whys this deadass me and mich

[comment-exchange]

Tumblr Holidays

We’ve had the comment first rule suspended for a number of tumblr holidays in the past, but I tend to forget about them until the last minute and then it’s too late to make a post about it, so I’m implementing that the comment first rule is suspended on all the tumblr holidays on the following list:

January 24th (End of Tumblr Live)

February 15 (International Fandom Day)

March 15th (Ides of March)

April 1st (April Fools)

April 25th (the perfect date Miss Congeniality)

April 30th (it’s gonna be may)

May the 4th (Star Wars day)

October 3rd (Mean Girls)

October 31st (Halloween)

November 5th (Destiel and general chaos)

November 15th (AO3’s birthday)

December 31st & January 1st (to new beginnings)

On these days you do not have to provide a link to a work you commented on to submit something to the Comment Exchange.

I know I missed some, these are mostly just of the top of my head. Please send in suggestions for other tumblr holidays that should be part of this list.

#comment exchange #tumblr holidays #fandom #fan works #transformative works #fanfiction #fanart #podfic #filk #fan edits #mod info

[lil-shiro]

Fernando Alonso/Lance Stroll ✧ 2.3K ✧ Rated E (explicit)

“I am waiting.” He slips on a pair of worn sweats, an old Williams hoodie, and goes down to the front. “How the fuck did you get a motorcycle anyways?” Or, when you’re in love with a beautiful boy, but you can only tell him underneath the moonlight, so you throw rocks at his window after midnight

Written for @f1playlistficexchange Gifted to @chaoticnandovibes <3 Inspired by: Quarter Past Midnight - Bastille Read here

#ft. Fernando's tiny scooter!! #strollonso #my fics #f1 playlist exchange 2024 #kudos and comment appreciated #my asks and dms are open to wax poet #f1 rpf

[francostrider]

I would just like to take a moment to celebrate 300 hits! Yes, there are only 10 kudos and a couple of comments, but I will take my wins where I can!

#soul calibur #fan fiction #ao3 #comment exchange

[princessanneftw]

Princess Anne talks about where she was best at athletics, with a telling comment from her nephew Prince William, on The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast.

#I really only wanted to gif this for the little look between them in the last gif #it’s so cute! #and he clearly knows his aunt very well #it’s a lovely exchange I think #and william’s comment lol #imagine her trying to beat him in races when he was smaller and not wanting to give up #I need some home videos immediately #princess anne #princess royal #prince william #prince of wales #british royal family #brf #auntie anne #gbr

[wren-of-the-woods]

I've been seeing a lot of posts lately talking about how no one comments/reblogs/replies/etc anymore, and, as someone who comments regularly on a lot of fanworks, it sometimes makes me wonder if my efforts are worth anything. Then I remember how much happiness I get from comments on my own work/posts and how much the community of fandom can matter, and I remember the power that can be found in spreading joy instead of disappointment.

So -- to everyone who comments on fanfiction: thank you. You make the writing process worthwhile and so very rewarding. You make people happy every day.

To all the people who reblog art and gifsets and meta and anything else with enthusiastic tags: thank you. You make people smile and promote interesting conversations and make being on Tumblr so much more fun.

To anyone who sends people asks about their works, whether it's unprompted or part of an ask game: thank you. You give people reasons to talk about things they love and feel like a part of a community.

To the people who makes reclists: thank you. You give us more to read while showing the author how much their work is loved and appreciated, benefitting so many people.

To everyone who organizes events and groups and blogs and dedicated to fandom: thank you. You build community and love and excitement so effectively and it's wonderful.

To all the authors and artists who respond to comments and build community: thank you. You make people smile with your work and then again with your response.

To everyone who contributes to fandom and community in all the other beautiful, varied ways that I can't even begin to list: thank you. You are why we're here.

And, finally, to every writer, visual artist, gifmaker, cosplayer, maker of edits, writer of meta, or creator of art in any other form: thank you. Your work is wonderful and you make fandom what it is, regardless of who sees your art or how much response you recieve.

Keep going, everyone. You are a part of something beautiful.

#wren talks #fandom #writing #fanfiction #ao3 #tumblr #writerblr #i get tired of seeing posts like 'things used to be so much better and no one comments anymore' #or 'no one reblogs things on this site these days' #it's such an oversimplification #like. of course people reblog! i reblog!! i am people! so are my mutuals and they also reblog! #LESS interaction doesn't mean NO interaction and saying it does erases the efforts of people who do interact #also this can vary SO much depending on your fandom and ship and how long you've been around and so many other factors #like the commenting culture in the silm fandom is incredibly different from that in the witcher fandom #star trek is closer to witcher but there're a few major differenes #can't speak for other fandoms but i'm sure there are other significant differences #and they also change over time #anyway all this to say that i think encouraging people works way better than complaining #and at its core fandom is an exchange of love #that should be based in positivity #but this got long whoops #hopefully it's vaguely coherent #ok tag rant over now lol

[sonicenvy]

I was inspired by a post that I saw here that I was tragically unable to reblog because it suddenly disappeared from my dash on mobile when it decided to do a refresh to create this event. Essentially what the Fic Read & Comment Exchange is is a way to share fics that you love with others and encourage everyone to comment on fics. This is going to be shared here on tumblr AND on r/fanfiction. This is open to any and all fandoms.

Here's how it'll work:

You'll fill out the two forms, the reader preference form and the fic submission form. You cannot participate unless you fill out both forms. So I can make sure that you've filled out both forms, please be sure to use the same contact info on both forms.

I'll continue to accept submissions for the exchange until April 30, 2024.

After April 30, 2024, I will go through all of the submissions and pair everyone who's participating with TWO fics. You'll receive your two fics via the contact point you specified (here on tumblr, via email or through your reddit). These should go out some time during the first week of May. If you filled out the forms and don't receive a contact by May 12, 2024, please feel free to DM me and let me know!

Once you've received your "reading list" you'll need to go off and read the fics you got. For each fic, make sure to leave at least ONE comment on the fic. The comment should ideally be thoughtful, at least 2-3 sentences in length and address something specific about the fic (ie: lines, character interpretations, plot, worldbuilding, mood/tone, etc.). This is not an invitation for concrit. This is about the positive power of comments.

The Rules:

Do NOT submit ANY AI generated fic. AI generation of fanfiction stands in complete opposite of what fandom and fic writing culture is and should be, and generative AI tools are built using stolen creative works, and uncompensated labor of creatives. I will ban you from this exchange if I see you do this.

Please only submit fics that are hosted on either ff dot net or AO3. Do not submit fics on wattpad or other sites.

You MUST fill out BOTH forms to participate.

You will submit FOUR fics. Three of them MUST be fics written by someone who is NOT you. You are allowed to submit ONE fic that you wrote -- but be sure to indicate if a fic was written by you in your form. Try to submit less popular, less interacted or less well known fics, so we can share the love far and wide.

Please fill out both forms by April 30, 2024. Any submissions after 4/30/24 will not be counted.

This is not an invitation for you to provide concrit or to harass anyone. Do NOT provide concrit in your comments.

If you are submitting one of your own fics, please look over your fic before submitting it to make sure that your fic is properly spaced, uses paragraphs, and (if on AO3) uses the AO3 delimiter objects rather than a line of characters to delimit section breaks. These things ensure maximum accessibility and readability of your fic.

Have fun! Commenting on fic is fun, positive and helps build community. It supports the fic gift economy and fights against the "content creator" and "consumer" roles.

Let me know if you have any questions! Please share this event (and this post) far and wide, because this event will only be successful if there are participants!

#fic read and comment exchange 24 #fandom events #fanfiction #fic #fanfiction events