[ SECRET POST #5567 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #5567 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


01.



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02.
(image is from The Story of Yanxi Palace)


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03.
[image is from One Piece]


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04.
[Mo Dao Zu Shi/The Untamed]


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05.
[Centaurworld]


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06.
[Hogwarts Legacy]


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07.
[How I Met Your Mother]
















Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 34 secrets from Secret Submission Post #797.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Wow, this showed up right after I spent a whole weekend watching my tumblr timeline flood with "writers are leaving the community because no one engages and it's discouraging".

I feel so conflicted. Part of me understands how discouraging it can be to get little engagement, but I couldn't help but feel a little bitter that most of the writers who were caught up in the "PLEASE REBLOG, LIKES ARE USELESS" discourse were BNFs. Easy for them to say with their multiple fics with hundreds or thousands of likes, but the 100 reblogs is discouraging.

I get if there is literally little to no engagement, but I feel like the fandom is generally active? I don't know what to tell writers who get upset that their fics don't get "big numbers". Like, how much are you looking for? (legit, cuz I don't know how much is "good" and how much is a "failure") I'm excited if one of my fics gets ANY attention at all (outside of trolls, hate and spam). Yes, it is discouraging a bit and it makes me sad if a fic I really liked and hoped would get big numbers doesn't, but IDK. I mainly began writing and posting fics because I wanted to share stories I created when I got into the fandom. Like...IDK, am I too far into my pretentious artsy side that I forget the social side to fanfic writing?

Don't get me wrong, I've been reading, leaving comments, liking and reblogging fics, but IDK...it feels weird when everyone is demanding for more. Maybe I suck at social shit. The whole vibe felt like I was surrounded by insecure demands for more attention and sorry man, no one owes you or your fic exactly what you want.

I'm so sorry if I'm an asshole for thinking this, but it bothers me when people spend a lot of time worrying about getting the most numbers and the most followers and the most eyeballs onto their thing...I like eyeballs on my things, but I also] would rather have people who actually enjoy my things engage rather than just a bunch of people who are doing it because we gotta make all the BNFs happy that they will continue to get those big big numbers and high engagement. It just starts to feel like high school all over again. I just want to write and read fics, tell writers that I liked their fics, not be rounded up by the popular kids telling us that the social setting is turning into [XYZ] and we need to [ABC] to start making the fandom fun again.
If they want to make PSAs to get more engagement, they're free to do so but fuck, man, do I hate it. Let your work speak for itself, if it's not super popular who gives a shit? Find a new hobby in the fandom to get the clout you want then. Some of us just want to fucking write.
Eh...am I one of those entitled assholes in fandom?

[(Anonymous)]

No, I don't think you sound entitled. You do leave comments and interact, so you're holding up your end of the bargain here and you're fine. The entitlement comes with demanding huge numbers and throwing a hissy fit when you don't get them for whatever reason (and sometimes that reason is someone is known to be so wanky that people don't want to interact because you don't want to draw the attention of someone who acts like that).

The entitlement also comes in when fans expect the canon and other people's fanworks to cater to them, specifically. When the writer's own ideas for their own story don't matter.

[(Anonymous)]

(Cozy Werewolf anon)

Nope. You aren't the problem. It's actually tumblr. If likes did the same amount of work as reblogs did in all the search functions and getting posts to be popular. Plus, tumblr isn't really a site that likes long posts.

Tumblr was never met for writers or half the stuff that goes on there right now. It was a website for artists to rival instagram. And too bad for tumblr, not only did instagram win that battle, it came out just as livejournal was having major issues due to the buy out by Russia. So, art went to instagram and fandom went to tumblr.

You keep doing your part. You sound like you're doing fine.

[(Anonymous)]

Nah, you don't sound pretentious or entitled at all. Actually, I really relate to what you're saying -- when I would write, it wasn't to get kudos, likes, reblogs, etc. Like sure, that /would/ be nice, but it's not my goal. I've got a fun story (to me) that I'd like to share, esp. if there's not much of it in the pairing, so here. I hope someone enjoys! Just like I enjoyed so many pics before!

As far as engagement, I (as a reader AND occasional writer) don't feel like anyone is obliged to do anything -- that is the writer didn't have to write this and share it (but they chose to) and the reader has not obligation to comment, like, reblog, engage. It's/nice/ and appreciated when all those things do coalesce, but I don't think anyone is required to do any of it. So it's nice when someone does -- the fact you do is nice because maybe it encourages the writer, maybe it makes them smile, maybe you're connecting others to a fic they wouldn't have known! It's all great! Personally, I only comment if I REALLY liked it and need to gush about it to the author lol. But I usually kudos. Also, I'd rather have one person who genuinely enjoys the fic to leave a comment once in a while than have a bunch of engagement that I'm probably not going to be able to keep up with.

I think the real question is the intent that the person is writing with/what's their end goal and what's their personality like. If you write because you want social engagement, because you feel pride in your work and want acknowledgement, because you're lonely and want friends, because you want to be a BNF and a fandom celebrity, that's cool, it's your prerogative -- so it is with the person who wants to write because I just had this idea, here take it; the person who runs with the "I'm going to be the only person writing X, because there's only 2 X stories and I want more", or the person writing for fun, etc.. But some of former tend to lend themselves to that competition/HS/middle school BS popularity contest you mention, and I agree. To that end, I really think it's personality and end goal.