[ SECRET POST #7009 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #7009 ⌋

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


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 37 secrets from Secret Submission Post #1001.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 1 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

01. https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/a86668b0e533.png

Transcript by OP

[fscom]

Every time I go through a comment drought, I always convince myself that my next fic will do better, I put even more effort in, hype myself up, and spoiler, it never does. When am I going to learn?

Secret: I spent the last year and a half pouring all my energy into making a retail length fan game for my fandom with original art and music and after releasing it... still crickets. So at this point, if that couldn't do it, then nothing can. (Yes, it's been less than a week and I'm being overdramatic, but I hoped the novelty factor would be worth something...)

[(Anonymous)]

Every time we get a secret like this one, I camp out in the replies, because seeing the sheer vitriol fanwriters get in this community for wanting comments reminds me to keep working on my original stuff rather than write fanfiction.

(Feel free to tell me how entitled I must be, or how I am probably a shitty writer! I am at the draft stage, and nothing fuels me like spite!)

[(Anonymous)]

I think we have different definitions of vitriol. It’s true that FS is generally unsympathetic to whining about lack of comments on fic. But then pretty much any situation where someone is whining is going to draw an unsympathetic response. FS also has a lot of people who have been in fandom for decades and predate the trend of writing just to get attention. But none of that is vitriolic.

[(Anonymous)]

Or people who write for tiny fandoms where getting even three comments is a huge deal.

[(Anonymous)]

Excellent comment.

[(Anonymous)]

NAYRT

FS also has a lot of people who have been in fandom for decades and predate the trend of writing just to get attention

What are you talking about? People liked comments decades ago, too.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't think it's quite the situation you describe? IME everybody sympathizes with OPs being sad about wanting comments because they like responses, and they put in effort... when that's all the secret says.

If it's a complaint about how nobody comments any more / it's everybody else's fault / everybody 'drove' them to quit, then yeah that gets negative responses to nobody's surprise? Then people go like 'everyone is so hostile to writers' without factoring all the responses are... also from writers...

To be clear: this secret isn't doing the blaming others thing

[(Anonymous)]

“Learn to write for yourself,” doesn’t seem very hostile to me. I think it’s great advice for writers who are suffering due to lack of external validation.

[(Anonymous)]

Exactly, because you can never guarantee that you'll get the specific validation that you want. External validation should be a bonus, not your entire motivation, or else you're guaranteed to be unhappy most of the time.

[(Anonymous)]

NAYRT

are suffering due to lack of external validation.

That is hostile.

[(Anonymous)]

OMG how dare you??! It's entitlement like this that's killing fandom. Writers should be doing it for the pure Art and because they love fandom. Wanting anything in return is selfish and I hope a large piano falls on you, Looney-Tunes style! Back to work and keep creating for the deserving public, you scoundrel!



j/k, good luck with your original stuff, OP!

[feotakahari]

A total of three people bought my original fiction. You may not get more validation there than fandom.

[(Anonymous)]

I’m really curious about this game! I can understand if you don’t want to link it but I am really curious if it’s for a fandom that would generally be interested in games, where you and how you released it, what the general setup involves and how many players it requires and supports.

Regardless of all that, major kudos to you because it sounds like a massive undertaking!

[(Anonymous)]

I'm curious about this game too.

It might also be all sort of marketing issues rather than a quality of game issue? People wanting to avoid downloading things, or thinking it's too long/short, or the platform it's based on, etc... it's plain and simple harder to get people to try out a game than to read a fic, unfortunately. :(

[iff_and_xor]

Ooof, that’s tough. I see so much of this with work I think is really well done. Part of the weirdness of the internet: huge numbers of people, fans of obscure things connecting, but also so easy to not get the reception you’d hoped for. I’m not sure I’ll ever have the courage to publicly post any creative work I do. It’ll just languish in my laptop files and the back of my closet. So I really respect that you keep sharing, despite the disappointment.

[(Anonymous)]

I think the thing is... even if something is really well done, that doesn't mean other people will like it. It might not be what they're looking for in that moment, they might prefer a different dynamic between the characters, they might be the sort of person who wants fluff rather than angst, there might have just been a dozen other fics posted with a similar premise so the people who like that kind of thing are already sated, there are any one of a million reasons why someone might not be interested that aren't any sort of a reflection on the actual quality of the work itself, and authors need to remember that.

[(Anonymous)]

+1.

I've been writing fanfic as a hobby for 30+ years now and the thing I have always stressed to those starting out is that what you write other people might just not want to read, and it does suck but there's not really anything anyone can do about that. No one is wrong in the situation and the issue is people often really want to lay some form of blame, when it just doesn't exist.

Like it sucks that OP has done that work with no interest, I really do feel for them, but there unfortunately just isn't a fix for it if other people aren't interested. (If it simply isn't being found that's a different issue and can be helped with finding places to link it, but that is also still a bit of a grab bag).

+1000

[(Anonymous)]

I've also been in fandom forever and the one thing that has never been predictable has been audience reception. A fic I think is kinda dumb but I posted to get my take on the ship out there is the highest-rated and people are still finding it 15 years later to say they re-read it every so often and still love it. The fic I labored to get right down to historical details? Meh, shrug. There's no magic formula, unless it's "write a juggernaut pair in a juggernaut fandom and post it on exactly the right date and time when thirsty shippers are looking for updates."

Engagement is malleable, and I feel a smidge of pity for writers who still haven't realized it. Maybe they were in said juggernaut sweet spot for so long, they don't know how it is when you're not writing Stucky during an MCU release cycle.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm sorry, OP.

Honestly, I think putting that much time in is the problem. When I put hours into a fic and hear crickets, I feel like I wasted it. If I just write for myself, and put in as much time as I have and want to spend, crickets bother me less.

[(Anonymous)]

Genuine question, OP: Have you followed up on the release, e.g. self-reblogs? I've sometimes missed a big thing in my fandom because it just didn't come up in my feed.There's some stigma about self promotion in some spaces, but do it! You worked your butt off. (Also maybe share the link here for some boosts!)

You should still be proud.

[(Anonymous)]

You put all that work and actually created something and posted it for the world to see, and that is more than most people can say. Even if it isn't meeting the goals you wanted, it is still a reall cool accomplishment.

Also try not to take ot personally, just because people don't comment doesn't mean people aren't enjoying it. It is really hard to post something and get zero feedback, but that is just the way it goes sometimes.

[(Anonymous)]

I gained humility in external validation via fan fic writing XD

It's a tough pill to swallow but I've come to understand that my work won't always get attention. Not all projects get the same sort of reception.

[(Anonymous)]

1. That's awesome, OP. I agree with others -- you should be proud of what you've done!

2. Not to be all "diagnosing the problem" if you're not interested in that, but... Is your fandom small...? Because I got the impression from the secret that you're kind of toiling privately on your own project without knowing if there would be an audience for it at the end, rather than you're someone posting in a big and active fandom where you KNOW there will be an audience for it and it's just a matter of getting people to look at your stuff and weigh in with their feedback, but I couldn't tell. But if you are posting in a small fandom, unfortunately, making something big and impressive and high-effort won't draw in any more fans than, like, a short drabble would, because there just aren't any fans to draw in. I've experienced this many times -- it's nothing wrong with you or your work. It's just the fandom not having enough fans to generate any kind of sustained attention on your work no matter how interesting or good it is.

3. If you are in a big fandom, I think another thing I've learned that is helpful is that big works (like a "retail length fan game"!) take a while for people to find time to sit down with and time for them to finish/consume. With a game, too, there's going to be people who don't have the computer/software, or the skills, needed to play it. I doubt there's anyone who can play through a game like that in less than a week. Assuming the fandom isn't dead, you'll probably get some feedback on it, but the size of the work is going to make that feedback REALLY long tail. If you want to get lots of feedback very quickly, dropping an epic game on people is probably the worst way of going about that. But I think you will get the feedback you want eventually, and I hope you deservedly bask in it when you do!

[(Anonymous)]

OP of secret: it's a big game fandom, I won't specify which, but fan games are pretty common, just not the genre that I made. After almost two weeks still nothing sadly but as you said it's probably the length. I released one fan game already but it was only about an hour long and more of a VN and it took a lot less time to get feedback.

I also haven't done very much promotion which was also kind of intentional. It's still at sub 100 views with around 12 downloads. I only posted it on Ao3 and backdated it by 1 day because I wanted to avoid it being seen by antis while remaining at the top of the slower ship tag. I don't use Tumblr anymore (it's full of antis anyway though) and am not in any discords. While the game isn't nsfw sadly it's still got stuff on the itch io blacklist so that's not an option. I am going to translate it and hope it does better elsewhere though.