Go Tokyo Your Experience
Have you ever tried to express your love directly to the author after reading your favorite novels, comics, or appreciating illustrations? Or, do you usually choose to keep such emotions hidden deep in your heart? Japanese light novel writer Toshiyuki Hizen mentioned the phenomenon of frequent lack of communication between authors and readers.
He believes that from the author’s perspective, they often hope to receive more feedback from readers. However, readers often hesitate to express their opinions directly. This situation may ultimately lead the author to mistakenly believe that their work is not appreciated, thereby losing the motivation to create and leaving readers feeling regretful. Next, let’s explore together how to solve this problem.
The lack of intersection between the author and the reader
Author: ‘Please give feedback!!’
Reader: (This work is really interesting)
Author: ‘Please give feedback!!’
Reader: (Indeed very interesting)
Author: ‘Please provide feedback!!’
Reader: (Although I dare not say it out loud, I will always support you)
Since there has been no response, I won’t write it
Reader: “Although I have never said it before, I have always supported you
Fei Qianqian Jun’s work “Qingyun 駆ける” also reflects this phenomenon.
He discussed on social media the situation where authors and readers are unable to reach an intersection when sharing their thoughts. Fei Qianjun pointed out that many authors hope to hear feedback or thoughts from readers to motivate themselves to continue creating. However, he noticed that readers often tend to suppress their emotions in their hearts and dare not express them. Moreover, the more readers are urged to express their thoughts, the more they seem hesitant to respond.
Another light novel writer, Sasaki Mirrorstone, also expressed his views on this phenomenon. He believes that one of the reasons for this situation is that the term ‘feelings’ appears too noble to readers, making them feel that they must be lengthy, in-depth, and formal in order to be called feelings. Therefore, Sasaki Mirrorstone suggests that the author reduce the difficulty of reader feedback.
“ I think the requirement of ‘please give me your thoughts’ makes people feel that the threshold is too high. I have previously stated that if you find it interesting, simply reply with the emoji ‘(゚∀ °) o 彡 °’. Subsequently, the number of replies I received significantly increased, and the comment section was filled with ‘(゚∀ °) o 彡 °’. I strongly recommend this method&# 8221;
Sasaki Kagami’s approach has been appreciated by many authors and readers.
Here are some reactions:
“ That’s a good idea, I also want to try this method. If you find my work interesting, please use ‘(゚∀ °) o 彡 °’ to give feedback&# 8221;
Additionally, some have mentioned that this situation may be related to education in Japan.
Because many people are taught from a young age that writing reflections requires a thorough understanding of the content of the work and refining it into a composition of about 300 words, which makes writing reflections very difficult. This makes it difficult for the author to fulfill their simple wishes of ‘so interesting!’ and ‘fantastic!’.
Through this approach, we can see that writing brief feedback or using emoticons can alleviate the burden on readers in terms of expression, thereby promoting communication between authors and readers.
‘Thoughts’ really make people feel that the threshold is very high. For example, I can only write things like’ fantastic ‘.’
Overall, expressing love for a work does not require complex words. Sometimes, short words or simple emojis are more likely to bring the author and the reader closer together, bringing joy and motivation to both parties. So, dear reader, have you ever stopped moving forward due to the threshold of your thoughts? Using simple “like” or emoticons to express your feelings may be exactly the way you need it.