Silvershadow1711 - Crux Of What?

マンチカンのココ王子とユナメル姫

Yes. You have no idea how much every single comment means to a writer. I cannot tell you how disheartening it is to see a fanfic with dozens, if not hundreds of comments, and then look at my paltry reviews. The only fics I've even gotten reviews on are my 32 chapter, 44k+ word epic (and almost half of them were complaints), and my sexy yandere oneshot. When I realized the only thing people deem worth their time to comment on are hastily written smut fics, it makes me want to just throw my hands in the air and quit. Guess what- if I didn't want feedback, I wouldn't post this stuff online.

The only real feedback I ever got was people complaining, and I even appreciated that (not when it was annoymous, tho, because that made it hard to respond) because it let me gauge what the readers thought. When no one says anything (or gives a one sentence review like "this is good"), I have no fucking clue what to think. Do they like it? Hate it? Was there some characterization that wasn't clear? Is anyone even READING this, or did they just stop in, read one paragraph, then say fuck this shit? Another thing is, lots of readers of fanfiction tend to gravitate towards the stories with the most reviews, because if so many people are leaving comments, it MUST be good. If you like something someone writes, leave some reviews so other people can notice it to.

I started posting fanfiction dreaming I could be like my favorite authors, with people leaving insightful, uplifting reviews every chapter and dying to know what happens next. Now, posting chapters is just another tedious chore for me, like waking up. I have so little drive and motivation now that if I didn't have a backlog of completed chapters, I'd just stop posting all together. And on ao3, kudos are okay, but comments mean much, MUCH more. If you could take the time to read something from begining to end, surely you could take a few more seconds to tell the author if you enjoyed it or not.

Why Commenting On FanFiction Is Important

Alright kids, Boo here with a hopefully non-arrogant PSA.

I’m a writer of FanFiction because I like it and it’s my preferred genre (also a great way to receive feedback on writing that I can use on originals, bref). But like with most artistic work posted online, I have very little feedback.

When I was in a slightly writing rut, I cranked one shots left and right, nothing out of the ordinary. But instead of people commenting with their thoughts and good feedback, they just gave me requests.

I don’t think I could ever put into words what that felt like, but I’ll try (the irony of being a writer). It suddenly felt tiring, being a writer, and very quickly I stopped writing altogether. I only ever showed my friend what I wrote and left it at that. I haven’t published anything for a while after. It felt like people were treating me like a mule wanting me to do work for them, and I just wasn’t up for that. I lost my will to write, and then I began to think, “If I post something else other than what was requested, will people even read it?”

Then you get the infamous comments, “You haven’t forgotten about my request right??? Here’s another.”

That just adds anxiety and guilt. I’m purposely ignoring the comments to save my own uncreative ass, at least that’s what it feels like.

After weeks of convincing myself that my stories are worth sharing no matter how many people read them, I started writing and publishing again while working on some longer pieces. Slowly it got better.

Now this week, I remembered I joined another fanfiction platform, and realized I had never published anything on it. I had an idea, and so I started writing. It didn’t come out as I imagined it would, but I was so proud? Like, I started feeling happy about what I created again. Like genuine happiness that I haven’t felt in months since my last published work.

A few hours later, I get this comment:

I cranked out three 3k stories after reading this.

In four days.

It never happened before, and I don’t know how many times it will happen again. It was one comment, but it gave me so much fighting spirit that I think I’m on my way to regaining my initial writer mindset.

Fanfiction writers depend on feedback as a validation that their stories matter to people. If you’re wondering why your favourite author hasn’t updated/posted in a while, ask yourself, “Did I do everything that would convince them to continue writing this?”

Honestly, this is why I just don't post multichapter fics until I've completed (that means written, proofread, edited, proofread, rewritten, and proofread again) at least 20 chapters. I honestly am not sure why other people don't do the same. It's YOUR story- feedback from the audience is secondary at best, and should not influence you too greatly if you have a clear vision of what to write. I wrote the five chapter prologue as well as 15 chapters of the main fic before I even created an account. I was done with my first fic and working on my second before I had posted half the chapters. Even now, I've just posted chapter 8 of my current fic and am writing chapter 22.

Why do I make such a backlog of chapters? Because shit happens. You get sick, you get fired, you have no idea what to write (I have been working on ch22 for more than a month because I have no idea where I'm going with it). When you build up a fanbase, I honestly think they deserve a little consistancy. People who are actual fans of your work will understand if shit happens and you need a hiatus (especially if you actually TELL them that's what's happening so they don't think you've abandoned the story they've become invested in). Think about how upset and disappointed you get when a game or movie you were really excited for is delayed.

Back when I used to read a lot of fanfics, my favorite author would tell her loyal fanbase whenever there was going to be a delay, so we would know why there was no update (she also responded to longtime reviewers like myself in every chapter, but that's a different subject).

TL;DR- if you want a work of yours to be popular, then prepare for people who treat it like something popular- hungry for/demanding more. This is FAN FICTION. You are not on a schedual, people. You don't have to have chapters on your editor's desk every week. Write a sizeable chunk of your story, a few chapters at least, and then... wait. Don't post it online as soon as you hit save. Just wait a few days, maybe a week. Reread it, see if you still like it (chances are you won't). Do your rewrites and editing BEFORE you hit submit. Why are you all in such a rush? If your answer is "I have to post before the fandom moves on!", then you're clearly just in it for the reviews and really don't care what people are saying just as long as that number gets bigger.

Writing is a process that often undergoes heavy edits… that includes responding to feedback. 

Reblog if you are a fanfiction author and would like your readers to put one of your fic titles in your ask + questions about it

1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?

2: What scene did you first put down?

3: What's your favorite line of narration?

4: What's your favorite line of dialogue?

5: What part was hardest to write?

6: What makes this fic special or different from all your other fics?

7: Where did the title come from?

8: Did any real people or events inspire any part of it?

9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

10: Why did you choose this pairing for this particular story?

11: What do you like best about this fic?

12: What do you like least about this fic?

13: What music did you listen to, if any, to get in the mood for writing this story? Or if you didn't listen to anything, what do you think readers should listen to to accompany us while reading?

14: Is there anything you wanted readers to learn from reading this fic?

15: What did you learn from writing this fic?

Liara be like, "Yeah, that's right; this is mah man right here. I snared this perfection; feast your eyes and be amazed at his masculine perfection~"

I love this ship.

Smol chibi bebes.