fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3498 ]

This was going to be a secret but it got way too long.

For the first time I recently commissioned a few fanfictions. I've always been really interested in that idea, and decided finally to try it out.

All told I ordered 3 fics. Two of them went off without a hitch, the commissioned fics were great, and the authors were very courteous and informal while still being professional and delivering their product promptly.

The third fic? ...Not so much. When it came time to change something in the fic, all of a sudden the author basically starting giving two word responses, and skillfully evaded answering my questions about possible commissioning for a future fanfic.

I commissioned them because they're a fan of the same fandom I wanted the fic from, and I liked their other work well enough. It was pretty obvious from the beginning that they weren't thrilled with taking on my commission (it wasn't anything "weird", or anything kinky, just pretty rote-by-the-numbers smut built around a specific plot premise) despite them saying "oh no it's fine, not a problem". Everything went fine even though it took around 2 weeks when they quoted me "10 days at most". Alright, whatever, I know you can't push the writing muse and I never bothered them once during that 2 weeks. They voluntarily sent check-ins.

But when it came time to fix that one little thing they added in during the smut that really bothers me, and makes me not enjoy said smut? It's like they closed themselves off completely. They changed the requested item, but it was kind of obvious they were looking for just praise and adulation. I'm going to be really honest here too since it's my secret. Remember how I said it was obvious the author wasn't exactly jumping for joy at my request? It really, really showed in the fanfiction. They basically copy-pasted my request verbatim (including dialogue that I made *clear* was a guideline and not something I wanted them to include without changing) and wrote around it. They didn't bother elaborating on anything, or making it their own. I gave a fairly wide berth for originality and even encouraged them to pad it how they liked. My revision amounted to like...one paragraph in a $50, 8000+ word story.

It honestly made me feel like shit. It makes me not want to commission fanfiction anymore. It was kind of hard to open myself up enough to commission someone about fairly private fandom fantasies of mine, and I really wish the author had been more up-front in the first place if, even as tame and vanilla as it was, that it wasn't their thing, instead of delivering a sub-par product with so little thought put into it. :(

I'm sorry this is so long. I just apparently really needed to vent. I try so hard to be a pleasant person to get commissions from, and this has just kind of shaken me up.

(Also, I didn't mention the fandom because it's a semi-small fantasy fandom that I feel like could be easily identified if I elaborated. Sorry.)

QUESTIONS TIME:

Is this...normal for fanfiction commissions? Did I just run into a grumpy bitch? How do you make yourself feel better after a commission goes sideways? :/

Fanfic commission are pretty rare I'd say.

Man, on another note, I wish people would commission me :(

But, I think you had a shit experience. Don't think you'll get your money back, but hey, you should not bother with this person again.

I'd wager it really is someone who needed the money, but had neither the motivation or the time.

AYRT

Oh I wasn't planning on asking for my money back. They did deliver the product, sub-par and obviously barely thought-through as it feels.

I forgot to mention too, the only reason I went through with commissioning them after it felt like maybe they weren't very enthusiastic about the commission was because I had to remind myself not everyone is going to be "oh yay! :D Awesome! Glad to work with you!", and everybody has different personalities. She even went so far as to say "I've already got some ideas for this" to try and...put me at ease I guess.

I wish I'd listened to my gut on this one. :/

(Also, honestly while I feel really bummed out now and probably am going to take a break for a little bit from commissioning people, I honestly wish more authors would open up for commissions! I would be all over some of my favourite fic authors if they offered monetary commissions!)

I feel like a lot of fanfic authors (speaking as one myself) feel like they can't/shouldn't ask for commissions, just cause its more of a controversial subject in fandom, historically.

I agree.

Same. I'd actually enjoy commissions, because I like writing for someone, and lord knows I could use the cash.

there's that, yeah. that's a big thing.

but also, as another fanfic author? I can't write on a deadline. I can't write for other people. I only write for me and if other people like it, great. so trying to put it out there and get paid for it would just end in me ruining a lot of people's days (weeks, months, and years).

Yup. I mean, money's tight enough right now for me that I'm collecting bottles and cans to recycle so I can buy toilet paper.

$50 for 8,000 words? Gimme!

But it's been drilled into me from the earliest days: fanartists can do commissions, but fanwriters are the scum of the earth if they even suggest they might try it.

OP

It wasn't even 8,000 words lol it was 4000, I have no idea how my finger slipped from "4" to "8". I even sent through a $10 tip. I really strive to treat the people I commission right, and that I don't view them as a writing/art machine. Which is probably part of the reason I'm so angry and disillusioned by all this. I have multiple failsafes to ensure the people I work with aren't being pushed to draw/write something they hate. I ask multiple times if they're positive, and let them know there are no hard feelings if they back out due to conflict of interest.

The fic in question was pretty much run-of-the-mill romance and smut with some very vanilla "kink" points to hit (like "first time" "slowburn" type kinks), and even then I always offer "if this is something you don't feel like you want to do, please tell me".

It kind of pisses me off that the author kind of ignored all that and still got funny when I asked for something small to be revised. :(

AYRT

I forgot to reply to this part:

But it's been drilled into me from the earliest days: fanartists can do commissions, but fanwriters are the scum of the earth if they even suggest they might try it.

Fuck people who act like that. It makes me sad how few people offer fic commissions. If you feel like you're capable of writing fic on commission, do it if you want to. There are absolutely people like me out there who jump at the chance to commission people. And people who act like fanartists taking commissions for other people's (licensed) characters is "okay" but a fic author taking commissions for the same thing is somehow evil scum...they're dumb as dirt, seriously.

Oohhhhh yeah. I mean, I take writing commissions, and have taken fanfic commissions before, but it's not something I do often, in part for that reason. (The other part is I often don't know the fandom, and writing for a fandom I don't know can vary from 'pain in the ass' to 'MORE ASS AGONY THAN A FIRST TIME YAOI.')

It was only $50 for a 8000+ word story? Damn. Sometimes writing for me is like pulling teeth, so I would have definitely charged way more.

But honestly, at least for me, I wouldn't commission fanfiction because well, things like this can happen. At least with fanart, what you see pretty much is what you get. (Although I have had a couple of fanart commissions end up not being what I wanted them to be.) Writing can be very... I dunno, subjective? I mean, art is subjective too, but you can tell someone really enjoyed writing something more than drawing something. (At least, I feel like I can.) So to pay someone to crank out a story for me? I'd be prepared for it to kind of feel like how you're feeling, OP.

Sorry you had a bad experience.

AYRT

No, actually it was like 4000+ words, I have no idea how "8" got in there. Lol no, if it were 8000+ words I doubt it would even be finished yet for me be complaining.

As for not commissioning fic...that's the thing. I am actually very easy-going with this sort of thing. I even encouraged for most of the fic to go wild with their own interpretations. When I mean that the revision I asked for was like less than a paragraph, I mean it. The ONLY reason I asked was because they happened to write in a pet peeve of mine. The way the author closed up about it and started not evening deigning to reply in full sentences is ridiculous and completely unprofessional. Without getting into specifics, just because it's pretty obvious they happened to "headcanon" a character being one way during a scene I requested...frankly, it doesn't matter, they're not writing the fic for themselves, and being honest, I kind of made it clear from the beginning what I had wanted. It's honestly such a tiny, trivial thing that if I weren't afraid of outing my tiny fandom with it I would just list what the actual issue was, because it's hilariously small in the grand scheme of things.

I don't know, it's all just kind of a headache-inducing clusterfuck.

Maybe if you want to try again, try finding out if the author took commissions before and see if you can ask a client how they were to work with.

Sounds like that person shouldn't be taking commissions, because this is unprofessional. When you agree to take money for your writing, the muse is no longer the boss of how fast revisions get done. It's a job. If you can't deliver, don't take commissions in the first place.

I think you should let the author know that while you're not asking for your money back nor do you expect it, you aren't happy with the end product and how the editing was handled. And be honest with anyone else who asks, too.

AYRT

Honestly, this fandom is so small that I'd fear being labeled the "bad guy", you know? And that it would ruin chances of future commissions (not with this author, but with other people). No matter how nicely I were to word it, I have a feeling being like "yo, this was...really kind of bad, and I know you weren't that into writing it in the first place and I really feel like maybe you shouldn't be doing commissions unless you're going to be alright with taking direction from your commissioners, it's unprofessional to clam up and act stand-offish when asked to remove and/or reword something because you accidentally stumbled upon a pet peeve"...I get the feeling that this author would complain, and I would end up looking unreasonable in the end. :/

I don't know. I definitely agree with you, and I know I really should do this, it's just...ugh, small-fandom politics, you know? :( I'm definitely being chicken.

That's unfortunate and I'm sorry, then. I don't have enough experience with fic commissions to know if this is normal or not, but since 2 out of 3 commissions went well for you, there's hope?

If you feel you can, vote with your dollar. Commission more from the authors who were professional and did a good job, and sing their praises to fandom about how much you liked your fics. (Assuming that you did sincerely like them.) Don't mention the unprofessional author at all, unless someone asks you directly. Then respond in private, with slight reluctance and a great deal of diplomacy that while you did indeed commission a fic from them, you didn't feel that they were enthusiastic about the job for whatever reason, and that the end result was such that you cannot recommend them.

AYRT

This is a great idea, and probably the route I'm going to end up taking. Thank you. (I would absolutely commission more from the other two authors as well, but real life issues are beating them both pretty hard right now and I don't want to bother them. I basically cold-called some authors and they happened to agree to write for me, they aren't even technically "offering commissions", I find it kind of silly that two people who weren't even offering the service ended up being ten million times more pleasant than the person putting themselves out there for commission.)

Is this...normal for fanfiction commissions? Did I just run into a grumpy bitch? How do you make yourself feel better after a commission goes sideways? :/

There haven't been many fanfic commission opportunities in my fandoms. The only major one I took part in was a fundraiser, a charity auction, which I won at $75. The fic writer - my favorite author in the fandom - said they were eager to do at least 3 fics based on my prompts (I provided several ideas so there'd be options in case some of them just didn't work out), offering to do a series of mini-fics based on multiple prompts. I left them to it, and a month later they produced one short fic that was very loosely based on the most generic prompt of the lot. It wasn't what I'd hoped for, to be honest, but that was OK because they said they had another story in progress and a third that was plotted out. Then - nothing, except for a brief exchange several months later where they said there wouldn't be anything else coming, adding that they would avoid taking on such commitments in future because writing under pressure was difficult.

What bothered me most wasn't so much that they bailed, it was the feeling of disappointment that there were other drafts that never materialized. Of course - hello Murphy's Law - the prompts that I was secretly dying to see realized were the ones that didn't get written to. So yeah, my expectations were raised, then dashed. I might've been content with the one fic if it hadn't been for that.

Luckily the money itself went to a good cause, so I was able to rationalize the hell out of that one, and that helped a lot. I also tried to remember that sometimes a feeling of being obligated can strangle one's inspiration. I've known that one myself, so I could understand what the writer was getting at.

I later did a mini-commission that was also based on a private, very informal fundraiser ("pledge something to help my buddy pay for her cat's surgery and I'll do a ficlet to you") - it involved another writer, btw - and that one went swimmingly (they actually filled my perverse little prompt even though it didn't push their buttons at all). So, I can't say I swore off commissions forever. But I did vow that I'd only do a commission if it involved support of a worthy cause. That way something good comes of it no matter what, even if the fic is disappointing, or non-existent. As it happens, I haven't spotted any charity-related commissions in my fandoms since then, so...

AYRT

Honestly, while I'm very sorry you had such a shitty time too, this makes me feel a little better. Fic commissions seem like such a small minority (this was one of the only authors specifically offering commissions for my tiny little fandom, the other two were literally the internet equivalent of cold-calling, and hilariously enough those ones worked out awesome despite the authors not explicitly offering "pay me for writing" commissions), it felt kind of lonely, and I had no one else to really vent to. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one.

Truthfully when I commission fics I try to be very lenient. I have certain notes I want hit, but beyond that I always offer authors to let their muses run wild. I'm also very up front about the fact that I don't want an author to take a commission of mine if they don't like the premise. I say up front that I would rather an author back out of the commission, because I loathe the idea of making someone write something they hate. (A friend of mine does this with all her commissioned works too and she says it's gotten her out of some potentially disastrous commissions when an artist or author just says "yeah, you know what, it's nothing against you, I'm just creatively tapped out right now and I appreciate you saying that, I don't think I can do it at this moment".)

I guess what really bugs me is a)she lied the entire time going "oh this is completely fine, so many ideas, awesome" basically the entire time she wrote the fic. Of course when I get the PDF file and it's like she somehow managed to take my 2 paragraph prompt and couple lines of dialogue and basically just add filler to it instead of actually...writing an actual piece of fanfiction...I don't know.

b)The part that really pisses me off though is the stupid stand-offish attitude after I asked her to fix like a paragraph. It's like the fanart equivalent of being told that they made Sailor Moon's tiara gem color blue when it's supposed to be red and them having a giant hissy-fit over it. The issue was so tiny, and she ended up making such a fuss over it. :/

I really strive to be a patient, easy-to-work-with kind of gal. I was ready to accept that maybe her writing style just didn't mesh that great with my prompt, and truthfully if she had been more courteous about changing things I wouldn't even have an issue. It's just the combined disappointment of having a very "blaaahhh" end-product that felt like she just ran my prompt through a 4000-word filler machine, plus her acting offended and childish when I asked for a tiny revision.

I'm surprised at how disappointed I am over this. :(

ayrt

I think it's entirely reasonable that you felt, and still feel, disappointed. In my case (and it sounds like yours, too?), basically I was hoping that at least one of my weird little niche ideas could be turned into a fic by someone else, and I was SO EXCITED that I'd won the bidding and was about to have my prompts filled by a writer I regarded as among the best in my fandom. What I got back was... so much less than that, a short fic that was fundamentally standard juggernaut-pairing fare. Aside from illustrating generally how tricky commissions can become, it also confirmed for me that when you are unlucky enough to have fringey tastes, you really cannot count on getting them indulged - no, not even if you pay for it. For better or for worse, fandom does run on tram lines most of the time. Your best bet (as people will so often tell you, sigh) is to write it for yourself.

Like you, I'd have vastly preferred it if my author had 'fessed up at the beginning to say that their muse had bailed. Disappointing, but not the same brand of disappointing that comes with what feels like a close brush with what you had wanted, and getting continual feedback that suggests it's actually imminent - until suddenly it isn't.

Re: the response to your correction, I hear your frustration. That bit reminds me of an experience I had with a fan artist I was paired with on a challenge. I sent them the fic I'd written and it was their task to illustrate whichever scene(s) they liked. Two of their pictures contained factual errors (for example, the one scene that was specifically set outside at night, to the point where the characters could only make out silhouettes of each other? illustrated with them standing under a blazing sun in full daylight), then got snippy when I asked for it to be fixed. Never mind artwork quality or personal taste, all I wanted was for the illustrations not to contradict the actual fic! Like you, I tried hard to be patient, non-judgmental and flexible, and oh, how I strove to be tactful in asking for a change. In my case at least the fixes got made, but not without the artist complaining about it :-(

So all I can say is, you do have my full sympathy. I don't know what the answer is - maybe fanwork exchanges, where you post prompts and also do fills on someone else's prompts? At least it's given structure and reinforcement by a fan community, and there's usually a moderator to help nudge things along - maybe even a pinch-hitter or two if your partner can't come through. Honestly, I think that's a better option. (Still not ideal, though, since there's no guarantee anyone will pick your prompt.)

I think if the person wasn't enthusiastic about your prompt *at all*, they should have politely declined and/or you should have withdrawn your commission. Sucks to get that kind of an outcome, that's too bad.

But go with your two happy-making commissions, and just be more careful in the future.

My advice, as someone who's written fic for commission before, is to look for writers who've written pieces that are close to what you're looking for, especially for porn fic. It makes it more likely that they'll be comfortable writing what you want, and that you'll be pleased with the finished product. And if they seem really unenthused about your request, back out before you have an agreement finalized. Do it gracefully, if you want to leave an option to attempt another commission from them, but trust your instincts. There's a chance you'll be passing up a chance at a fic from an author who you've just read wrong, but that's better than paying for a dud someone's going to struggle and resent their way through.

(Note: This isn't meant to let your writer off the hook - if they didn't want to write your prompt, they should have said up fron that they weren't interested/comfortable writing it, or contacted you when they realized they couldn't really do what you want beyond regurgitating your request in the middle of a fic. They were wrong for not being honest about their ability to meet your request, and doubly wrong for getting pissy over being asked for an edit. But they're not here, and being more selective might help you avoid getting stung again by someone who doesn't really comprehend how commissioned fic is supposed to work.)

[ SECRET POST #3498 ]

Re: I had a writing commission go sideways, and I just really need to vent.

Re: I had a writing commission go sideways, and I just really need to vent.

Re: I had a writing commission go sideways, and I just really need to vent.

Re: I had a writing commission go sideways, and I just really need to vent.

Re: I had a writing commission go sideways, and I just really need to vent.

Re: I had a writing commission go sideways, and I just really need to vent.

Re: I had a writing commission go sideways, and I just really need to vent.

Re: I had a writing commission go sideways, and I just really need to vent.

Re: I had a writing commission go sideways, and I just really need to vent.

Re: I had a writing commission go sideways, and I just really need to vent.

Re: I had a writing commission go sideways, and I just really need to vent.

Re: I had a writing commission go sideways, and I just really need to vent.

Re: I had a writing commission go sideways, and I just really need to vent.

Re: I had a writing commission go sideways, and I just really need to vent.

Re: I had a writing commission go sideways, and I just really need to vent.

Re: I had a writing commission go sideways, and I just really need to vent.

Re: I had a writing commission go sideways, and I just really need to vent.

Re: I had a writing commission go sideways, and I just really need to vent.

Re: I had a writing commission go sideways, and I just really need to vent.

Re: I had a writing commission go sideways, and I just really need to vent.

Re: I had a writing commission go sideways, and I just really need to vent.

Re: I had a writing commission go sideways, and I just really need to vent.

Re: I had a writing commission go sideways, and I just really need to vent.