Let me put it to you this way: do you ever get tired of hearing people tell you they love you?
Don’t feel like you have to write some huge long treatise of analysis and compliments to make an author happy. You can genuinely just tell them you liked the thing and leave it at that. If you want to “customize” your comment in some way, pick one line or moment from the chapter that you liked best and say, “My favourite part was ___”
At that point, the author on the other end of the comment will be ecstatic because not only did you take the time to leave them a comment, you named a part of the thing you liked. It’s entirely possible that that was their favourite part, too.
If all you can think of to say is, “this chapter was great!” say it. They’ll be glad to hear it. Anything more than that just increases the wattage on their already huge smile 🙂
Dear Anon,
I published a fic a little while ago and it has, to this day, zero comments. Maybe it is bad, maybe it just didn’t find its crowd, I don’t know. Another fic got four comments in rapid succession after it was published and all four said some variation of “I love this so much!”.
Guess which one keeps me writing. Guess which fic I keep writing for.
Dear Anon,
Like you I struggle with feeling bad because most days I can’t think of anything to say besides, I love this/great fic/chapter…. when I comment. Sometimes for some fics I do have more to say and I’m unshy enough to really babble about what I loved but mostly I say this is a great fic with various superlatives.
I’m also a writer. Sometimes my fics don’t get any comments and non of them really get a lot… But I love each and every I love this fic variation just as much as I love long detailed reviews! Because both tell me that someone liked my work enough to leave a comment… Someone likes my writing and I’m not just shouting into the void when I write fluffy or angsty stories about my otp’s falling in love.
So feel reassured that for every this fic/chapter was good/great/fantastic/brilliant there is a real live author behind the screen smiling.
^ every comment feels like this, and I feel like this about every commenter
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