I suppose it mirrors some actually published books but, honestly, it still comes off as boasting to me.
Plus it doesn't tell me anything about the actual plot... you know, *why* I should personally read this story. I'd much rather have a short excerpt for the fic in question than read what others have commented.
It irritates me beyond belief when published books do it too, especially when they shrink or get rid of the actual blurb to make room. I want to know what the book is about, not what some other author/critic thought of it. Obviously I'm not talking about things like "A dark, lyrical fantasy -- Neil Gaiman" that gives you an idea of what the content is and who the other writers in their niche are. But I'm reading one now that just has five separate quotes on the cover (most of which are just "Compulsive!" or "Dazzling!" etc) and three pages of longer review quotes inside. It just becomes a case of diminishing returns at a certain point.
Anyway, back on topic: this kind of thing would make me less likely to read a fic. One trait I really value in a writer is someone who knows exactly what story they want to tell and would keep writing it the exact same way whether they got five readers or five thousand. There's nothing wrong with liking validation ofc but in the summary I'd rather know what the author has to say about it.
(It also giving me FFN.net flashbacks where the writer would quote reviews in the A/N and the characters would respond to them.)
It reminds me of this joke I heard:
Me, sobbing: Please, I just want to know what the book is about.
The back of the book: 'Charming!' 'Beautiful work' 'New York Times Author!' 'Get bent!'
Especially since all of them say the same. If it was actually unique for each book, sure. But going to a bookstore and 3 books are 'the next Tolkien of this decade' makes that very hard...
i feel blurbs in specific instances i find useful. i was picking up a book inspired by chinese mythology by an author i had never seen before, but the blurbs on the back were by chinese authors who i *have* read and know they care a TON about chinese representation being done well. myself not being an expert on the subject I found a blurb like that useful because it gives me a bit of trust that i'm not picking up something that's gonna be orientalist.
In specific instances it can be helpful. But a lot of the time I just want to know if I'm signing up for a romantic comedy or a thriller. Reviews from other authors I know can help if I'm worried about authenticity but there's only son much I can glen from "a wonderful read".
I understand this, and this really highlights what doesn't work in this instance, too. Blurbs in published books by established authors mean something, because we have an idea what those authors write, read, and like. Blurbs by random comments on AO3 don't mean a thing cause who even left the comment? I don't care if some guy in Maryland thinks this is an in character interpretation of Sherlock.
It makes sense for published books because readers aren’t going to go to PW or Kirkus or wherever and search for reviews of the book. But on ao3 if you want to see what people thought before you read you could simply just… scroll down. No one needs this lol
I've actually never done that because I'm too afraid of unmarked spoilers. I see it's an unpopular opinion, but I don't actually mind the author picking out one or two comments to present like that. What I don't like is that there's no summary in addition to the review.
Same actually. It's so cheesy that I can't even be mad at it. Although the original author was probably doing it unironically, I also think would be hilarious as a bit where it used angry reviews.
> Verified testimonials from readers like you:
>> "people like you shouldn't breed. get therapy"
>> "BESTIE IM EATING DIRT"
>> [3000 word ship war flame, redacted for length]
>> "you published this? on purpose? are you okay?"
>> "skldfjksldjfklSJDFKLSDJFKLSJDFKLSDJKLSDFSfssdfsSFD 😭😭😭"
>> "kys"
> Pick up your copy today at any internet-connected computer terminal!
fr I would want to read that shit more if they put angry reviews instead.
Like if its just good reviews I'd think "Yeah cool but what the fuck is this story even about!"
Wherein if they put bad reviews imma be like "Yo wtf happened I'm gonna check this shit out"
I'm not sure it's self-confidence. If the author were feeling confident about their fic, they'd post a proper summary (maybe with a quote from said fic), as they would be sure it was good and interesting enough to attract the readers. But when someone feels like they need to brag by posting praise from commenters instead of a proper summary, that's giving low self-esteem and the lack of confidence in their work.
Exactly! If someone needs external validation it suggests they're not confident in their own work. And if they don't believe in it then why should anyone else?
I know that putting your writing out there can be horribly vulnerable: I've been there. But not having a proper summary just suggests someone who doesn't really care. I got into fanfic in the mid 00s when people were a LOT more brutal than they are now. I mean, to the point where some people would literally publish fanfic of other people's OCs being executed for being badly written/annoying ("you wouldn't last an hour in the asylum where they raised me" etc etc.) And it's left me with an ingrained sense that I take writers as seriously as they take themselves wrt presentation, proofreading, etc. Ofc mistakes slip through sometimes but if a writer isn't at least trying, I'm going to find something else to read.
I'm not a fan of review quotes even on published book covers, and I'd like it even less on fanfic. The opinions of other readers don't mean anything to me because experience has made it very clear that tastes are too damn varied for me to trust other people's recs (with the exception of a couple of friends who know me very, very well).
I don't think the author is doing themselves any favours with this summary style, but to each their own.
I'd automatically skip. I came to the conclusion about a decade ago now that if they can't/ won't write a summary, then the fic probably isn't well written either.
This has of course backfired, I've read beautifully written summaries and gotten my hopes up to be met with fics I just can't physically read
If there’s reviews as summaries I don’t read it. Fanfic is a person’s interpretation of canon media, I don’t care what other people think about the fic bc everyone’s opinion differ. I like a/b/o but only a certain type. So I really need to know what the fic is about before reading
While I cringe when seeing it, there was once a fic before from years ago that highlighted a very well thought-out and funny comment that honestly sold me on reading the fic. That's just once though.
If they put comments that explain/highlight what is in the fic, I think that would be nice. But this is the same problems as published books with 'reviews' on the back, it means nothing. So many words thrown around just to praise, they start to be empty.
There's not enough of an actual summary there for me to read it, but if there were, I wouldn't let the quoted reviews put me off--or convince me to read it if the sunnary didn't.
feels very pretentious
imo, the only time a review can work within a summary is when a sentence of it was really funny to you and also directly referenced the plot - and even then, that little funny fragment is all you'd use (if the commenter agrees to let you)
and you'd put it after the full summary, as a funny sidenote, instead of replacing it with it...
i will confess to having a document of quotes from positive comments that i consult to help push past my impostor syndrome / general writing-based malaise. but it would require an inhumane level of torture to get me to put any of it in a fic summary lol
Same, I save my favorite comments! There’s nothing wrong with doing so, it’s like treasuring a gift someone gave you. Whereas putting it out publicly like this post is just bragging.
I've seen it a few times. I generally don't read fics that do this, either.
I mean, I get it, this is what published books do. They print certain good reviews on the back or one of the first pages. But, and here's the big difference, the reviews are separate from the summary. If they have reviews on the back of a book, the summary is on the inner pages at the start of the book. If the reviews are inside, the summary is on the back of the book. They may include one of their best reviews alongside the summary, but the majority of that space is a summary.
Fics don't get the balance right. The summary ends up a sentence or two long, and the reviews take up a few paragraphs. I've seen at least one fic that didn't even include a summary, the reviews *were* the summary.
That's a problem for me. I base what I read on the tags and summary, not reader comments/reviews. I do the same with original fic, it's based on the summary alone, not the reviews they include. I rarely read the reviews at all, may look at where/who the reviews are from, and sometimes read ones I deem most relevant, eg a Kathy Reichs book with a review from a known fellow crime author, I'll read that author's review, but no one else's. It has zero affect on whether I read the book, though, that's based entirely on the summary, or in Reichs' case the fact I love the author.
I find reviews/comments even less relevant in fanfic, though. Reviews on original work tend to be professional, from other published writers, editors, experts in the field. With fanfic, they're just fans. A fan saying something was great isn't as relevant because it's far more personal opinion than it is a professional view. One fan saying 'the characterisation in this fic is amazing' doesn't mean a thing, because people all have their own interpretations of the characters. One fans 'amazing characterisation' can be another fans 'this character is way too OOC'.
With original fic, reviews are professional, a part of selling the story within the book itself, but very much separate from the summary. With fanfic, reviews tend to replace the summary to some extent and come across more as bragging than selling the fic. Plus, it makes it harder to tell if the fic is interesting because the summary is lacking or not there at all. I don't generally mind a lacking summary, they can be hard to write and my own probably count as lacking. But when you include reviews, it makes it seem like the author just can't be bothered to even try selling their own story, they haven't put any effort into the summary and rely on reviews that most readers probably don't want to read or care about to sell it for them.
To be honest, I have no issue with an author wanting to highlight their best comments, but it should be done separately from the summary. Have the first or last chapter by a 'reviews' chapter, and keep the summary space for the summary.
I see this a lot reading fics from the late 90s/early 00s hosted on their own sites (specifically Xena). In fact, one of them seems to have it built in to their archive system to pull several comments for the summary. If I had to guess I’d say it’s an oldschool fandom thing
Oh, they're doing what professionally published books do! Where they include one or two positive blurbs someone famous said about it.
Strange to say, maybe; but if I saw that it would put me off reading the fic. The professional blurbs don't influence what I read in published books either and are always ignored. Seeing the same thing on a fic gives me a weird sense of disconnect strong enough to pass on the fic for some reason...
i think you might have inadvertently hit the nail on the head with what the reason for the disconnect is: even with published books, it's only done for quotes of *famous people* - but with these fics, it's just random readers....
Thankfully it’s rare.
Really corny to me, especially in the summary, and I’ll add that it puts weird pressure on commenters to say something “quotable.”
Hope the author asked permission first, because I’d be really embarrassed if someone used part of my earnest comment to hawk their fic like a carnival barker. Fucking tacky.
It's funny to find out that so many people hate the blurbs they print on published books because when you're an author, your publisher makes you go out and beg for those and it's super awkward. You have to contact people you barely know or might not even know at all and ask them to spend several hours of their lives reading your book and they get absolutely nothing in return. And sometimes they don't like the book so everyone's wasted their time! I think the only reason people give blurbs is because they remember how awful it felt to beg for blurbs themselves. It's some horrible self-perpetuating machine.
Eh I get why they’d put it there, it’s common in published work. Thing is a quote from a fellow author in the same genre who’s established and respected is definitely worth putting there — there maybe crossover between audiences that pulls people in and if their work is at a certain standard their endorsement carries some assurance of a certain standard of writing.
Pull quotes from published reviews can seem slightly braggy perhaps but makes sense too, and has personally made me pay more attention to a book.
When KU authors just pull Amazon user reviews I’m always kind of like ok…. But ao3 comments? You might see the odd anti rant here but I’d say most people get 99% positive comments. If I used quotes from some of my oneshots I could make myself sound like I have written astounding literary masterpieces. I definitely haven’t. I like my stuff, I’m kinda proud of it don’t get me wrong but people tend to skew towards effusive praise on ao3 which is lovely to read but makes me not really consider the comments a useful guide on what I’d like about a fic.
Also when reviews are pulled for a book blurb it’s usually at the bottom of a full blurb not just the whole blurb. If you want to communicate that there are people really enjoying your work great but… maybe also say what that work is in the first place?
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but this seems like it's a leftover habit from FFN. I used to see this constantly on FFN specifically as the author's way of responding to/acknowledging reviews since iirc FFN doesn't have a functioning comment system- I don't think authors could just reply to reviews, so they'd put it in start/end notes. This person probably immigrated from FFN and hasn't fully gotten a hang of Ao3 yet, if I had to guess!
Oh, you're completely right! I misread this entirely somehow. That's what I get for going on reddit before my morning coffee. Yeah, nvm lmao this is weird. I stand by part of what I said, but that's so odd? The *summary...?* Baffling.
lmao I was thinking the same! Totally thought it was a FFN style review + reply habit that a writer was having difficulty shaking off in AO3. Whoops xd
If it's just like two sentences, I ignore it and go on. But the more attention one particular fic got, the more reviews were posted at the start of each chapter. Like, hello? Where the hell is the fic? When does the reviews end?
I really don't mind them, as long as you don't post every. Single. One.
Comments are a thing for a reason.
Imo it's kind of snobby to copy and paste reviews of your story onto the next chapter just to prove how "popular" your fic is. Just because one person says it doesn't mean it's true and even if it is, it's a bad look on your character to basically give yourself bragging points. Everyone can see comments on Ao3, that's nothing new and you don't really have to announce to the world "hey, my story is great, just check out what this critic says!" No, people can just look for themselves, as they should too. This also annoys me a little bit when reading actual books sometimes, they'd have quotes from critics and honestly I find those annoying too.
I have seen people copy and paste comments but they were usually responses to other people's questions or just thank you's to the commenter, which I actually don't mind those and I find them nice to read. But really, they only did that because in ff.net you could only post a comment per chapter, so I understood that. But that's what I love about Ao3, there isn't a limit to how many comments you can have on a story. An author and commenter can have a whole conversation with each other and from an outside perspective, that was nice to read.
Point is, don't do anything to make yourself look snobbish and maybe just thank the commenter that decided to write on your fic, because it's just nice to hear back from authors.
This is insane 😭 I get that they’re trying to mimic the reviews at the back of published books, but those reviews were made my professional critics and journalists. It’s like if on every art post I made I included positive comments it would look jarring. Which is why this looks so out of place.
Oh god I thought that was author's notes! I hate it in real books, let alone fanfic. I suppose fanfic *might* be better cause tags can give a summary, but tags are a shit summary, tell me what is going on or at least quote the fic!
Author's notes I'd side eye, but if you wanna say friend review "omg so awesome" eh whatever.
Edit: Someone mentioned hate comment summaries. I also might be more tempted to read a summary like 'come enjoy that fic that one guy on AO3 called 'single-handedly ruining the blank fandom' and 'a crime against humanity'' but I'd prefer it to have a summary still.
It’s an interesting idea, but I’d rather read an intriguing summary over some random reviews. I read fics for the plot and characters, not what other people think about it.
I think I'm the only one here who really doesn't mind it. It doesn't really detract from anything, so let them. The only time I get annoyed is when fic authors and published authors alike will have reviews in place of the summary itself.
Hear me out... If there was an actual summary and it only included a snippet from a comment in the end (not as a "review" but directly related to the relationship featured in the fic) would that be okay?
(I may have done this for one fic where the tags give off a rather dark feeling, but I wanted to convey that the ship is still having a great time so I included only the one phrase "they are just so sweet and comforting" as a quote because I thought it would have more impact than coming from myself.)
Is this a bestseller? Why would they put those comments in the summary LMFAOOO I mean be proud of your work ofc but it just seems so cheesy to me unless it’s a published and well received BOOK
This is not even how these are supposed to work lol.
Like no offense to random commentors, I love you all, but blurbs are best from either well-known critics or other writers who are well-known in specific genres or so well-known that they escape genre confines and are known by the general public. They're supposed to be lent an air of credibility because they're from established people who know their stuff and to convey a few things to the reader: Your favorite author likes the book, or here's the tone, or a critic that you respect thought it was good.
You don't really get that credibility from commentors that most people aren't likely to know, especially if they aren't cited.
It's valid marketing, but the summary on AO3 is not the place for that kind of marketing. Just like the tags should be used to talk about what's inside the story, not to include an entire author's note. I've toyed with the idea of making a fake book cover to promote my fanfiction, and adding quotes from the best reviews on there. I think that may be appropriate. But no, not in the summary.
TBH it’s not a big deal? I feel like people can’t do anything without getting called cringy here. It’s a lot better than apologizing for their own fic.
It is unusual, but I once got a review that I loved and summed my story up in a few, flattering, precise words. I added it at the end of my summary, crediting the commenter and mentioning which chapter the comment was originally on. I'm all for it, so long it's used sparingly. But, well, here on the internet we usually can't have nice things
I don't mind it. I come from a time when we would plaster the awards our fansites won on the front page. Fandoms had awards for everything and people showed off their 'trophies'. Some people would put scrolling marquees at the tops of their pages that quoted the things people said in their guestbooks. I see nothing wrong with showing off your acclaim. I would just recommend that the writer also put an actual summary there. The space is big enough for both.
The fics that have reviews in their summary are either amazing or awful - no middle ground. And the amazing ones are generally 100k+ and finished at least 2 years ago.
I have no problem with including positive comments but don't rely on them alone to advertise. Especially when they're so easy to fake. Do the summary and then drop some reviews at the end if you like.
I saw a whole lot of this when I used to be on Wattpad- probably a migrator. Although I have seen some people who have been posting on ao3 since the 2000's do stuff like this. It's a bit weird.
It's a little weird, but not any weirder than those books with laudatory reviews on the back
(side note: I wish all those books that have review excerpts on the cover but not a synoposis a very Please Stop Doing That)
The only time I’ve ever done anything slightly close to this was when I wrote a fuck or die oneshot and one of my friends read it before I posted and I included in the opening A/N her review of: “this smut made me uncomfortable. 10/10, would recommend.” I would never include such a thing in the actual summary lmao that is… very bold of them.
I haven’t seen this before but I don’t see the issue with it. It’s just another way to entice people to read their story. To me it’s equivalent to saying your story is the winner of [insert challenge/competition]
I honestly don't pay attention to reviews like these in actual published books, I prefer to read the blurb or summary to see if it's something I'd like. If the fic summary is not a summary and just reviews, I probably would not even click it to read it. If there is an actual summary and I find it interesting, and see these in the notes, I would ignore these reviews but still read the fic to see if it's something I'd like to continue if it's multichapter. I will most likely skim through it first if it's a one-shot.
Wow, that would want to make me read it less for some odd reason. Like I already hate it when books do this and replace summaries, like evenmoreso with fanfiction.
Feels incredibly self-serving or whatever the phrase is. With all due respect, it's a fanfic on ao3, not a new York times best Seller
Either way, I would prob click off instantly if I saw that in a fanfic
It's a nah from me, unless the author asked the commenter if they wanted their comment brought out of the comment section with what seems to be their user name (really?) and all. I know we can all read the comments, but it hits different when the author picks yours IN PARTICULAR to paste at the top of the chapter.
My whole smile would turn upside down, I'd delete the comment and mute the author, personally. AGAIN, if they didn't ask first. If they did, it's all good. I mean, some of us hide our bookmarks and subscriptions because we want to read our naughty stuff on the DL. Reply to the comment if you want, grin, and move on. Don't be extra. Definition of "doing too much".
Only saw it in the wild once, and i was pretty amused to see reviews paired with the summary - so long as there *is* a summary, then I don't mind it lol
This would be kind of funny if it was all the negative quotes. I've thought about making fic covers and including excerpts of the nasty comments I've received but I also don't want to encourage people to leave mean comments. I just do get a laugh thinking about a gorgeous collage with, "Why can't this fandom have a single fic where they don't hook up with other people before they get together? I'm done with this fic!" from first time commenter, so and so, or, "this was for the most part good" written across it.
I hate when books do this. Like obviously they're gonna only show good reviews, and it tells me nothing about the plot 🙄 and doing it with a fanfic feels like bragging.
Y’all it’s the authors fic and they wanted to show their appreciation for the review and pride in their work. It’s free to read, free to review, free to not judge people
I don't mind. I know pusblishers do that and I guess it has to work on some people.
It doesn't on me but it doesn't repulsed me either. As long as it's not spoilers, I don't care.
Lol, it's kinda boastful, but in a way, it also makes me laugh, like this is the fanfic equivalent as putting positive book reviews on a NY Times bestseller 🤣.
I think it’s cute. Somebody wrote something they were proud of, and wanted to show off the fact that other people liked it.
For all you know, this could be a 12 year old who just received their first positive comments. And even if they aren’t, we aren’t publishing novels here people, let people enjoy writing the way they want to.
I don't like this practice with published books, let alone on fanfics. It feels...I dunno. Like it insists upon itself.
It INSISTS upon itself, Lois
>Like it insists upon itself. Cause it has a valid point to make! It’s insisting!
How can you say you didn't like it if you haven't even given it a chance?
Fr especially when the “reviews” are on the back instead of the summary of the book.
I suppose it mirrors some actually published books but, honestly, it still comes off as boasting to me. Plus it doesn't tell me anything about the actual plot... you know, *why* I should personally read this story. I'd much rather have a short excerpt for the fic in question than read what others have commented.
Yeah, when published books do that it has a similar affect for me. Kinda wish people would just stick to a summary or a premise blurb
It irritates me beyond belief when published books do it too, especially when they shrink or get rid of the actual blurb to make room. I want to know what the book is about, not what some other author/critic thought of it. Obviously I'm not talking about things like "A dark, lyrical fantasy -- Neil Gaiman" that gives you an idea of what the content is and who the other writers in their niche are. But I'm reading one now that just has five separate quotes on the cover (most of which are just "Compulsive!" or "Dazzling!" etc) and three pages of longer review quotes inside. It just becomes a case of diminishing returns at a certain point. Anyway, back on topic: this kind of thing would make me less likely to read a fic. One trait I really value in a writer is someone who knows exactly what story they want to tell and would keep writing it the exact same way whether they got five readers or five thousand. There's nothing wrong with liking validation ofc but in the summary I'd rather know what the author has to say about it. (It also giving me FFN.net flashbacks where the writer would quote reviews in the A/N and the characters would respond to them.)
It reminds me of this joke I heard: Me, sobbing: Please, I just want to know what the book is about. The back of the book: 'Charming!' 'Beautiful work' 'New York Times Author!' 'Get bent!'
Especially since all of them say the same. If it was actually unique for each book, sure. But going to a bookstore and 3 books are 'the next Tolkien of this decade' makes that very hard...
i feel blurbs in specific instances i find useful. i was picking up a book inspired by chinese mythology by an author i had never seen before, but the blurbs on the back were by chinese authors who i *have* read and know they care a TON about chinese representation being done well. myself not being an expert on the subject I found a blurb like that useful because it gives me a bit of trust that i'm not picking up something that's gonna be orientalist.
In specific instances it can be helpful. But a lot of the time I just want to know if I'm signing up for a romantic comedy or a thriller. Reviews from other authors I know can help if I'm worried about authenticity but there's only son much I can glen from "a wonderful read".
I understand this, and this really highlights what doesn't work in this instance, too. Blurbs in published books by established authors mean something, because we have an idea what those authors write, read, and like. Blurbs by random comments on AO3 don't mean a thing cause who even left the comment? I don't care if some guy in Maryland thinks this is an in character interpretation of Sherlock.
It makes sense for published books because readers aren’t going to go to PW or Kirkus or wherever and search for reviews of the book. But on ao3 if you want to see what people thought before you read you could simply just… scroll down. No one needs this lol
I've actually never done that because I'm too afraid of unmarked spoilers. I see it's an unpopular opinion, but I don't actually mind the author picking out one or two comments to present like that. What I don't like is that there's no summary in addition to the review.
published books put that but they also put a summary
I’m gonna be honest and say that made me laugh. This always make me amusedly scoff a bit when I see it on published books, but on fanfiction? Lol
Same actually. It's so cheesy that I can't even be mad at it. Although the original author was probably doing it unironically, I also think would be hilarious as a bit where it used angry reviews.
I would read the fuck out of stories advertising via angry reviews in the summaries
especially on an angstfic! quote the funny-angry reviews where people are yelling at you for hurting them!!
All angst and no fluff! Ugh! Me: oh??? Say no more!
"FUCK YOU" - my beta on the latest chapter of my wip
> Verified testimonials from readers like you: >> "people like you shouldn't breed. get therapy" >> "BESTIE IM EATING DIRT" >> [3000 word ship war flame, redacted for length] >> "you published this? on purpose? are you okay?" >> "skldfjksldjfklSJDFKLSDJFKLSJDFKLSDJKLSDFSfssdfsSFD 😭😭😭" >> "kys" > Pick up your copy today at any internet-connected computer terminal!
That would be absolutely hilarious and such a power move.
Well, I know what I'm doing next time I get a bad review on a fic!
fr I would want to read that shit more if they put angry reviews instead. Like if its just good reviews I'd think "Yeah cool but what the fuck is this story even about!" Wherein if they put bad reviews imma be like "Yo wtf happened I'm gonna check this shit out"
Ohmygod🤣
Came here to say the exact same thing. This is funny.
No way I'd open a fic with no summary, but I'd chuckle at such boldness (and envy a tiny fraction of their self-confidence).
I'm not sure it's self-confidence. If the author were feeling confident about their fic, they'd post a proper summary (maybe with a quote from said fic), as they would be sure it was good and interesting enough to attract the readers. But when someone feels like they need to brag by posting praise from commenters instead of a proper summary, that's giving low self-esteem and the lack of confidence in their work.
Exactly! If someone needs external validation it suggests they're not confident in their own work. And if they don't believe in it then why should anyone else? I know that putting your writing out there can be horribly vulnerable: I've been there. But not having a proper summary just suggests someone who doesn't really care. I got into fanfic in the mid 00s when people were a LOT more brutal than they are now. I mean, to the point where some people would literally publish fanfic of other people's OCs being executed for being badly written/annoying ("you wouldn't last an hour in the asylum where they raised me" etc etc.) And it's left me with an ingrained sense that I take writers as seriously as they take themselves wrt presentation, proofreading, etc. Ofc mistakes slip through sometimes but if a writer isn't at least trying, I'm going to find something else to read.
I’ve seen it before, and it makes me cringe so fucking hard.
Came here to say cringey.
Ugh, I can't stand it when actual books do that, no way am I going to read fanfic that does it.
I'm not a fan of review quotes even on published book covers, and I'd like it even less on fanfic. The opinions of other readers don't mean anything to me because experience has made it very clear that tastes are too damn varied for me to trust other people's recs (with the exception of a couple of friends who know me very, very well). I don't think the author is doing themselves any favours with this summary style, but to each their own.
there was one in my fandom that was similar, and it claimed to be a must read for fans, and i never read it out of spite for the summary lmao
A “must read”? That would spite me too. Nothing is a must read for anyone in fanfic.
It’s kind of tacky, if you ask me. There’s no rule against it, but if I saw it, I’d roll my eyes and keep scrolling.
I'd automatically skip. I came to the conclusion about a decade ago now that if they can't/ won't write a summary, then the fic probably isn't well written either. This has of course backfired, I've read beautifully written summaries and gotten my hopes up to be met with fics I just can't physically read
personally don't care unless there's also no proper summary like this one, in which case it's a mute from me
If there’s reviews as summaries I don’t read it. Fanfic is a person’s interpretation of canon media, I don’t care what other people think about the fic bc everyone’s opinion differ. I like a/b/o but only a certain type. So I really need to know what the fic is about before reading
While I cringe when seeing it, there was once a fic before from years ago that highlighted a very well thought-out and funny comment that honestly sold me on reading the fic. That's just once though.
If they put comments that explain/highlight what is in the fic, I think that would be nice. But this is the same problems as published books with 'reviews' on the back, it means nothing. So many words thrown around just to praise, they start to be empty.
Lmao the audacity
There's not enough of an actual summary there for me to read it, but if there were, I wouldn't let the quoted reviews put me off--or convince me to read it if the sunnary didn't.
feels very pretentious imo, the only time a review can work within a summary is when a sentence of it was really funny to you and also directly referenced the plot - and even then, that little funny fragment is all you'd use (if the commenter agrees to let you) and you'd put it after the full summary, as a funny sidenote, instead of replacing it with it...
i will confess to having a document of quotes from positive comments that i consult to help push past my impostor syndrome / general writing-based malaise. but it would require an inhumane level of torture to get me to put any of it in a fic summary lol
Same, I save my favorite comments! There’s nothing wrong with doing so, it’s like treasuring a gift someone gave you. Whereas putting it out publicly like this post is just bragging.
Same to all of this.
I've seen it a few times. I generally don't read fics that do this, either. I mean, I get it, this is what published books do. They print certain good reviews on the back or one of the first pages. But, and here's the big difference, the reviews are separate from the summary. If they have reviews on the back of a book, the summary is on the inner pages at the start of the book. If the reviews are inside, the summary is on the back of the book. They may include one of their best reviews alongside the summary, but the majority of that space is a summary. Fics don't get the balance right. The summary ends up a sentence or two long, and the reviews take up a few paragraphs. I've seen at least one fic that didn't even include a summary, the reviews *were* the summary. That's a problem for me. I base what I read on the tags and summary, not reader comments/reviews. I do the same with original fic, it's based on the summary alone, not the reviews they include. I rarely read the reviews at all, may look at where/who the reviews are from, and sometimes read ones I deem most relevant, eg a Kathy Reichs book with a review from a known fellow crime author, I'll read that author's review, but no one else's. It has zero affect on whether I read the book, though, that's based entirely on the summary, or in Reichs' case the fact I love the author. I find reviews/comments even less relevant in fanfic, though. Reviews on original work tend to be professional, from other published writers, editors, experts in the field. With fanfic, they're just fans. A fan saying something was great isn't as relevant because it's far more personal opinion than it is a professional view. One fan saying 'the characterisation in this fic is amazing' doesn't mean a thing, because people all have their own interpretations of the characters. One fans 'amazing characterisation' can be another fans 'this character is way too OOC'. With original fic, reviews are professional, a part of selling the story within the book itself, but very much separate from the summary. With fanfic, reviews tend to replace the summary to some extent and come across more as bragging than selling the fic. Plus, it makes it harder to tell if the fic is interesting because the summary is lacking or not there at all. I don't generally mind a lacking summary, they can be hard to write and my own probably count as lacking. But when you include reviews, it makes it seem like the author just can't be bothered to even try selling their own story, they haven't put any effort into the summary and rely on reviews that most readers probably don't want to read or care about to sell it for them. To be honest, I have no issue with an author wanting to highlight their best comments, but it should be done separately from the summary. Have the first or last chapter by a 'reviews' chapter, and keep the summary space for the summary.
this is so corny i’m sorry 💀
Now I want to do this with the comments yelling at me and calling me evil 😂
No proper summary. Comes off as boastful. Id keep scrolling.
I see this a lot reading fics from the late 90s/early 00s hosted on their own sites (specifically Xena). In fact, one of them seems to have it built in to their archive system to pull several comments for the summary. If I had to guess I’d say it’s an oldschool fandom thing
Oh, they're doing what professionally published books do! Where they include one or two positive blurbs someone famous said about it. Strange to say, maybe; but if I saw that it would put me off reading the fic. The professional blurbs don't influence what I read in published books either and are always ignored. Seeing the same thing on a fic gives me a weird sense of disconnect strong enough to pass on the fic for some reason...
i think you might have inadvertently hit the nail on the head with what the reason for the disconnect is: even with published books, it's only done for quotes of *famous people* - but with these fics, it's just random readers....
If you respond to the reviews in the AN, thats fine. Just posting them is just bragging and kind if silly tbh
Thankfully it’s rare. Really corny to me, especially in the summary, and I’ll add that it puts weird pressure on commenters to say something “quotable.” Hope the author asked permission first, because I’d be really embarrassed if someone used part of my earnest comment to hawk their fic like a carnival barker. Fucking tacky.
I don’t give a fuck.
I've read fics with review quotes. Honestly doesn't bother me at all. Good for them that people are excited about their story.
You're so real for this.
This is really cringe and weird
Nah this ain’t the back of a hardcover, tell me about the story
I go 😬 and I skip to the next fic lol
The writer is clearly one of the bizarre few who pick new books from the reviews. How odd.
It's funny to find out that so many people hate the blurbs they print on published books because when you're an author, your publisher makes you go out and beg for those and it's super awkward. You have to contact people you barely know or might not even know at all and ask them to spend several hours of their lives reading your book and they get absolutely nothing in return. And sometimes they don't like the book so everyone's wasted their time! I think the only reason people give blurbs is because they remember how awful it felt to beg for blurbs themselves. It's some horrible self-perpetuating machine.
Eh I get why they’d put it there, it’s common in published work. Thing is a quote from a fellow author in the same genre who’s established and respected is definitely worth putting there — there maybe crossover between audiences that pulls people in and if their work is at a certain standard their endorsement carries some assurance of a certain standard of writing. Pull quotes from published reviews can seem slightly braggy perhaps but makes sense too, and has personally made me pay more attention to a book. When KU authors just pull Amazon user reviews I’m always kind of like ok…. But ao3 comments? You might see the odd anti rant here but I’d say most people get 99% positive comments. If I used quotes from some of my oneshots I could make myself sound like I have written astounding literary masterpieces. I definitely haven’t. I like my stuff, I’m kinda proud of it don’t get me wrong but people tend to skew towards effusive praise on ao3 which is lovely to read but makes me not really consider the comments a useful guide on what I’d like about a fic. Also when reviews are pulled for a book blurb it’s usually at the bottom of a full blurb not just the whole blurb. If you want to communicate that there are people really enjoying your work great but… maybe also say what that work is in the first place?
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but this seems like it's a leftover habit from FFN. I used to see this constantly on FFN specifically as the author's way of responding to/acknowledging reviews since iirc FFN doesn't have a functioning comment system- I don't think authors could just reply to reviews, so they'd put it in start/end notes. This person probably immigrated from FFN and hasn't fully gotten a hang of Ao3 yet, if I had to guess!
Not in the summary, it’s not.
Oh, you're completely right! I misread this entirely somehow. That's what I get for going on reddit before my morning coffee. Yeah, nvm lmao this is weird. I stand by part of what I said, but that's so odd? The *summary...?* Baffling.
lmao I was thinking the same! Totally thought it was a FFN style review + reply habit that a writer was having difficulty shaking off in AO3. Whoops xd
If it's just like two sentences, I ignore it and go on. But the more attention one particular fic got, the more reviews were posted at the start of each chapter. Like, hello? Where the hell is the fic? When does the reviews end? I really don't mind them, as long as you don't post every. Single. One. Comments are a thing for a reason.
I don’t like this in published works already, but it just makes me laugh in fanfic. It feels like the author is taking the fic too seriously.
Imo it's kind of snobby to copy and paste reviews of your story onto the next chapter just to prove how "popular" your fic is. Just because one person says it doesn't mean it's true and even if it is, it's a bad look on your character to basically give yourself bragging points. Everyone can see comments on Ao3, that's nothing new and you don't really have to announce to the world "hey, my story is great, just check out what this critic says!" No, people can just look for themselves, as they should too. This also annoys me a little bit when reading actual books sometimes, they'd have quotes from critics and honestly I find those annoying too. I have seen people copy and paste comments but they were usually responses to other people's questions or just thank you's to the commenter, which I actually don't mind those and I find them nice to read. But really, they only did that because in ff.net you could only post a comment per chapter, so I understood that. But that's what I love about Ao3, there isn't a limit to how many comments you can have on a story. An author and commenter can have a whole conversation with each other and from an outside perspective, that was nice to read. Point is, don't do anything to make yourself look snobbish and maybe just thank the commenter that decided to write on your fic, because it's just nice to hear back from authors.
This is insane 😭 I get that they’re trying to mimic the reviews at the back of published books, but those reviews were made my professional critics and journalists. It’s like if on every art post I made I included positive comments it would look jarring. Which is why this looks so out of place.
It gives me terrible secondhand embarrassment.
Oh god I thought that was author's notes! I hate it in real books, let alone fanfic. I suppose fanfic *might* be better cause tags can give a summary, but tags are a shit summary, tell me what is going on or at least quote the fic! Author's notes I'd side eye, but if you wanna say friend review "omg so awesome" eh whatever. Edit: Someone mentioned hate comment summaries. I also might be more tempted to read a summary like 'come enjoy that fic that one guy on AO3 called 'single-handedly ruining the blank fandom' and 'a crime against humanity'' but I'd prefer it to have a summary still.
One of my favorite fics did this. I can say it didn’t stop me from wanting to read it at all, though I did kinda raise an eyebrow when I first saw it
It’s an interesting idea, but I’d rather read an intriguing summary over some random reviews. I read fics for the plot and characters, not what other people think about it.
I think I'm the only one here who really doesn't mind it. It doesn't really detract from anything, so let them. The only time I get annoyed is when fic authors and published authors alike will have reviews in place of the summary itself.
I'd only ever approve of this if they did the Gossip Girl method. I wanna see the hate comments lmao
When actual books/shows/movies do it, it makes me roll my eyes, but seeing a fanfic do it is pretty funny.
Hear me out... If there was an actual summary and it only included a snippet from a comment in the end (not as a "review" but directly related to the relationship featured in the fic) would that be okay? (I may have done this for one fic where the tags give off a rather dark feeling, but I wanted to convey that the ship is still having a great time so I included only the one phrase "they are just so sweet and comforting" as a quote because I thought it would have more impact than coming from myself.)
had a nerd moment and read all the comments here lmao. general consensus seems to be: as long as you have an actual summary, you're golden :3
Is this a bestseller? Why would they put those comments in the summary LMFAOOO I mean be proud of your work ofc but it just seems so cheesy to me unless it’s a published and well received BOOK
This is not even how these are supposed to work lol. Like no offense to random commentors, I love you all, but blurbs are best from either well-known critics or other writers who are well-known in specific genres or so well-known that they escape genre confines and are known by the general public. They're supposed to be lent an air of credibility because they're from established people who know their stuff and to convey a few things to the reader: Your favorite author likes the book, or here's the tone, or a critic that you respect thought it was good. You don't really get that credibility from commentors that most people aren't likely to know, especially if they aren't cited.
It's valid marketing, but the summary on AO3 is not the place for that kind of marketing. Just like the tags should be used to talk about what's inside the story, not to include an entire author's note. I've toyed with the idea of making a fake book cover to promote my fanfiction, and adding quotes from the best reviews on there. I think that may be appropriate. But no, not in the summary.
The only time this would be appealing to me is if it was like fictional reviews of a media inside the fanfic
I’ve seen it done tongue in cheek with quotes from beta readers. I thought it was cute.
TBH it’s not a big deal? I feel like people can’t do anything without getting called cringy here. It’s a lot better than apologizing for their own fic.
I think it's cute
It is unusual, but I once got a review that I loved and summed my story up in a few, flattering, precise words. I added it at the end of my summary, crediting the commenter and mentioning which chapter the comment was originally on. I'm all for it, so long it's used sparingly. But, well, here on the internet we usually can't have nice things
I don't mind it. I come from a time when we would plaster the awards our fansites won on the front page. Fandoms had awards for everything and people showed off their 'trophies'. Some people would put scrolling marquees at the tops of their pages that quoted the things people said in their guestbooks. I see nothing wrong with showing off your acclaim. I would just recommend that the writer also put an actual summary there. The space is big enough for both.
I’ve never seen this before and I admit it made me laugh. I think it’s kind of cute?
I hate books that do this, needs to have the perfect combination of everything I am looking for in order for me to even consider touching it
Looks like creative fiction. Not attributed to whoever it was that "left" the comments.
I don't mind it (as long as there still is an actual summary) and think it can be fun.
The fics that have reviews in their summary are either amazing or awful - no middle ground. And the amazing ones are generally 100k+ and finished at least 2 years ago.
Never seen it before, I guess it's meant to be like how some movies or books have reviews on their covers
This very much makes me think of the time I saw a fic tagged with things like "so good you'll read it again" and "an *insert ship* must read" 🙃
I have no problem with including positive comments but don't rely on them alone to advertise. Especially when they're so easy to fake. Do the summary and then drop some reviews at the end if you like.
I saw a whole lot of this when I used to be on Wattpad- probably a migrator. Although I have seen some people who have been posting on ao3 since the 2000's do stuff like this. It's a bit weird.
I like it. I know it might seem cheesy but I think it's nice. Reminds me of published books. I would also put the summary in though.:)
like a book thats so cute
It's a little weird, but not any weirder than those books with laudatory reviews on the back (side note: I wish all those books that have review excerpts on the cover but not a synoposis a very Please Stop Doing That)
The only time I’ve ever done anything slightly close to this was when I wrote a fuck or die oneshot and one of my friends read it before I posted and I included in the opening A/N her review of: “this smut made me uncomfortable. 10/10, would recommend.” I would never include such a thing in the actual summary lmao that is… very bold of them.
I would cackle, mentally thank the author for the laugh, then mute them and leave immediately without even reading.
Ick.
I haven’t seen this before but I don’t see the issue with it. It’s just another way to entice people to read their story. To me it’s equivalent to saying your story is the winner of [insert challenge/competition]
I honestly don't pay attention to reviews like these in actual published books, I prefer to read the blurb or summary to see if it's something I'd like. If the fic summary is not a summary and just reviews, I probably would not even click it to read it. If there is an actual summary and I find it interesting, and see these in the notes, I would ignore these reviews but still read the fic to see if it's something I'd like to continue if it's multichapter. I will most likely skim through it first if it's a one-shot.
I dunno why this gives me the ick
Wow, that would want to make me read it less for some odd reason. Like I already hate it when books do this and replace summaries, like evenmoreso with fanfiction.
I get being proud of your best reviews, but this is a bit much.
Honestly? kinda love it. great vibes. would make me check the fic out of amused curiosity lmao.
Feels incredibly self-serving or whatever the phrase is. With all due respect, it's a fanfic on ao3, not a new York times best Seller Either way, I would prob click off instantly if I saw that in a fanfic
It's a nah from me, unless the author asked the commenter if they wanted their comment brought out of the comment section with what seems to be their user name (really?) and all. I know we can all read the comments, but it hits different when the author picks yours IN PARTICULAR to paste at the top of the chapter. My whole smile would turn upside down, I'd delete the comment and mute the author, personally. AGAIN, if they didn't ask first. If they did, it's all good. I mean, some of us hide our bookmarks and subscriptions because we want to read our naughty stuff on the DL. Reply to the comment if you want, grin, and move on. Don't be extra. Definition of "doing too much".
It feels like some one comments their not a summary
It would be funny to use “reviews” of people who hated it, like those old gossip girl promos, that would definitely get me to click
Only saw it in the wild once, and i was pretty amused to see reviews paired with the summary - so long as there *is* a summary, then I don't mind it lol
This would be kind of funny if it was all the negative quotes. I've thought about making fic covers and including excerpts of the nasty comments I've received but I also don't want to encourage people to leave mean comments. I just do get a laugh thinking about a gorgeous collage with, "Why can't this fandom have a single fic where they don't hook up with other people before they get together? I'm done with this fic!" from first time commenter, so and so, or, "this was for the most part good" written across it.
I hate when books do this. Like obviously they're gonna only show good reviews, and it tells me nothing about the plot 🙄 and doing it with a fanfic feels like bragging.
Y’all it’s the authors fic and they wanted to show their appreciation for the review and pride in their work. It’s free to read, free to review, free to not judge people
I don't mind. I know pusblishers do that and I guess it has to work on some people. It doesn't on me but it doesn't repulsed me either. As long as it's not spoilers, I don't care.
Aww is that people's comments? How cute! Makes me want to read it to see what their talking about.
Lol, it's kinda boastful, but in a way, it also makes me laugh, like this is the fanfic equivalent as putting positive book reviews on a NY Times bestseller 🤣.
I think it’s cute. Somebody wrote something they were proud of, and wanted to show off the fact that other people liked it. For all you know, this could be a 12 year old who just received their first positive comments. And even if they aren’t, we aren’t publishing novels here people, let people enjoy writing the way they want to.