Random thoughts on fic and feedback

One of my New Year's resolutions was to leave more feedback. I'm getting better at it; I still suck at saying anything interesting, but I generally at least post a brief comment to acknowledge that I enjoyed the story and thank the author for creating it.

But what about the stories that I didn't like? Not that ones where I skimmed the first paragraph and clicked away; I mean the ones where I stared in fascinated horror and couldn't keep my eyes off. The ones where I rush to read the latest update because I want to see what new kind of jaw-dropping horror the author has come up with. I feel kind of rude, getting all excited about something and then not acknowledging the author for it.

I mean, obviously I can't say "Your story has blown my mind with its awfulness; please keep writing more because I want to see what new horror your brain can create." But maybe I could just say "Thanks; I'm enjoying this!" (not admitting that the enjoyment I'm getting is certainly not what the author intends). But then I worry that someone I know could see that I commented on that fic, and think that I actually like it, and worry that I've gone insane.

Hmm. I should probably stick with silence.

What about the stories that I'm disturbed to be enjoying? (Do other people do that, read stories that they're kind of horrified with themselves for liking?) Generally my policy is that if the writing style is amazing, I'll leave feedback based on that, and not mention the subject matter. But if the writing is just mediocre, I won't say anything, because I don't want to acknowledge that I'm reading something for reasons that kind of creepify me.

Oh, I'm angsting over nothing. I'm just kind of curious what other people do in these situations.

***

Also, I think I'm starting to understand why so many people avoid het. When I scan the who_daily newsletter, I only click on the slash pairings (unless I recognize the name of a good author).

At first, I was randomly clicking on anything that had an interesting title, but whenever it was a het pairing, nine times out of ten it wasn't a story; it was an attempt to push a shipper agenda. Y'know, "Ten was so rude and mean to poor precious Martha; he needs to grovel and acknowledge her awesomeness!" or "Rose was the most important person ever in the Doctor's life, and he'll never move on because no one could ever matter as much as her!" or whatever.

Whereas if I click on a slash fic, chances are I'll be getting an actual story, or at least a hot sex scene, rather than some biased agenda-driven rant barely disguised as fiction. (And slash in general tends to avoid that "there is one person that you are meant to be with forever" meme that makes me gag in a lot of het fic.)

Yup. I'm becoming one of those "eeewwww, het!" people.

[Cross-posted to InsaneJournal]