The Tumblr Writing Community Is Dying.

The Tumblr writing community is dying.

It’s something I’ve noticed over the past two years of using this site. It was gradual, imperceptible at first, something that most would brush off as a silly concern, or fault Tumblr algorithm for. While it’s true that Tumblr’s engine leaves a lot to be desired, I’ve noticed that even popular blogs have started to dwindle in terms of interaction or motivation. There could be a lot of reasons for this, but the biggest two I’ve noticed, experienced myself, and asked fellow writers about is this: (1) content being stolen, and (2) lack of feedback or interaction. I’ve never seen any logical person defend content being stolen, so I want to address point 2 instead.

Lack of feedback and interaction. I’m not saying this on my behalf so much as I’m saying this for friends and smaller blogs who have lost motivation to write. I was looking at my yandere writing blogs list the other day and noticed that a good majority of them no longer write. I usually update the list every few months, and by that point, more and more writers have stopped writing entirely. This isn’t a problem confined solely to the yandere fandom; in fact, there’s less writing blogs in general these days, especially ones that are active. I used to run a very popular BNHA blog with some friends, but that dissolved after our content was stolen and our followers stopped interacting as much. Out of our 8,500 followers, we hardly got 0.015% notes (~128 notes) on an average post. Tumblr is to blame for the lack of eyes seeing our posts, for sure, but that also means that at least 128 people saw one post and didn’t leave a comment or ask. We were considered a big blog; imagine what it’s like on a small blog.

My friend recently made a post that summed this up perfectly: 

“I’ve seen people say “Be grateful that people even lurk on your page.” and, while I get the message they’re trying to say, it’s more dismissive and hurtful in my opinion. Like you’re saying, “Oh your writing is mediocre, you should be grateful people even LOOK at it.”

Me personally? I’ve heard the argument that AO3 is a better place to post fanfics, and while that might be true, I’ve had friends experience firsthand the lack of interaction there too. I’ve heard the argument that interacting with some writers is intimidating (me included). I’ve heard that argument that followers might be too shy to interact. I’ve heard the argument that writers should write for themselves and not for views / likes / reblogs / etc, and while that’s ideal, it’s not sustainable for everyone. What works for one writer won’t work for another, but you know what will? Interaction.

That comment or ask that took you 2 seconds to write? We remember it. That reblog with the compliments in the tags? We remember it. Every single ‘named’ anon we get (heart anon, sunflower anon, etc)? We remember them. And the best part is? It’s actually easier to do these things on Tumblr since you have the option to send anonymous asks or make a sideblog specifically for reblogs! Trust me, whether the lack of interaction is the cause of a lack of motivation or what have you, every writer appreciates feedback (don’t be shy to offer some critique or compliments) or even a simple keyboard smash with some emojis. Even sitting down for 5 min a day per week to comment on your favorite writers’ new pieces makes a huge difference. Personally, since Tumblr’s activity feed is beyond terrible and I have over 1,500 posts, I don’t always see new reblogs or comments on my content; asks though? Always see those, can never go wrong with those. If you don’t want to reblog or leave a comment, then you can never go wrong with an anonymous ask. 

As my wise friend says: writing is an art, and in order to improve that art, we need other people’s eyes to see what we don’t.

For the sake of every writer (past, present, and future) on this platform, please share this post.

Didn't post anything Star Wars related in a while so here's something I done quite quickly!

Just a piece of when Meredith's master found out she was sneaking Abrax in(alien lizardo lol) that almost costed her life. It was accidental...long story lol. His own species chased him off the territory and he followed onto the ship and yeeah. Nevertheless, Abrax stayed with Meredith after some long discussing and stayed he did. Until the very last moments and more with someone Meredith was closest with😔

In case you want to read her wiki you are more than welcome to do so! I have a masterlist on my profile and it has most of my OC wikis I have written so far. Hope you like it!

you can only reblog this today

It's Predator (and Alien) time mfs. 😤

( i accidentally posted this on my side account 🤡 been wondering where tf the post went lmao)

Anyway! Meet Dejah! Originally she was supposed to be practice for dynamic poses and also just a fun, small self insert but everyone on IG(along with me😔) ended up liking the design to much. We had a vote and now she's a OC! She has been taken in by the Yautja to be trained in their ways. More on that coming in her biography soon!

Hope y'all like her as much as I do.

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•My IG: @/jeni.x_

It's Mrsko- Mirsko. My bad✨

Did his design real quick as a form of warm up and it didn't turn out too bad! Definitely didn't look so promising when I just started coloring him lol. The armor is heavily inspired by Set's armor in "Gods of Egypt" 👌 grrrr-

Ignore my hand writing there.

And in case you don't know, Mirsko is one of the characters in my story that I just started! You can find the first chapter in my Masterlist, it's pinned on my profile 👀 I will upload his design onto Toyhouse too, after I post chapter ||.

Decided to start fresh on Tumblr too so here we are!

Here's a piece I did like a week ago of my DC OC, Jenna! I'll be uploading her reference sheet sometime soon too! I can't wait to start uploading more here too.

A little bit about her for a start- her name is Jenna Alogrin, got involved in a mafia (i have a whole story on that ;)) and at a young age she ended up dying, got revived, a unnamed hitman organization took her in and now she's one of the best assassins. 👀

Of course I go a lot more into detail and I will admit the whole story is good, I'm still very proud of how it turned out. Quite lengthy but- good.

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•My instagram is @/jeni.x_