bironic

You may recall that on the first day of September I woke up to find some reviews in my inbox of my very first House fic from back in April. Over the past few weeks, I've continued to discover the delight of receiving unexpected comments on various "older" pieces of fanfiction. Someone dropped by just last night to say that one of my stories is one of her favorites of its type; she just hadn't gotten around to leaving a comment. She said (and I hope she doesn't mind if I quote her), "One of these days I'm going to just go around trying to catch up and review all the House fic that I read and liked and failed to review."

Now it's almost the end of the month, and I have a cunning plan for all of us. To bring things full circle and share the joy of surprise feedback with others, I would like to declare the start of

COMMENT ON NEGLECTED FAVORITE FICS WEEK

We all have them: fics we've read and re-read, fics that make us laugh or cry or clench our teeth or squirm (for several reasons), fics with spectacular characterizations or beautiful passages, fics with images we just can't shake—but for whatever reason, we never left a comment on them. Maybe we didn't know what to say, or didn't have time to leave feedback, or felt silly saying something when the story had been up for so long, or didn't bother because there were "so many" other comments already, or didn't know what kind of lasting effect it would have on us, or hit the "back" button after reading because the story was posted somewhere other than LiveJournal. Maybe we keep meaning to but somehow never get around to it.

Well, this is the week to remedy that. From now until next Monday, October 9th (Columbus Day here in the States, Thanksgiving in Canada, I think), I challenge you to go back to some of those stories and leave a comment. Whether it's one fic, or two, or five, or twenty—whether you write a sentence, two sentences, a paragraph, or half a page—tell those authors how much you've enjoyed their work. Use this as an excuse if you feel awkward.

Think of it—if you take a few moments to review one story a day from now till then, you'll have brought a little jolt of unexpected happiness to ten people. Even if you take the time to tell just one person you're still thinking of their story months or years after it was posted, you'll surely be brightening their day. Make someone happy, ease your conscience: everybody wins.

So hop to it, people! And spread the word if you think this is a good idea. There's still lots of time left to get other people involved and make fandom that much of a happier place.

Many thanks to fallen_arazil for the graphic. Feel free to copy text and/or image (no hotlinking, please) or link back here in your journal or comment or wherever else.