[ 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

[(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)]

But it wasn’t the driving motivation for writing. Many of the fic sites had buggy comment sections or none at all. Many LJ comms had quality standards for posting fic so it was very common for readers to leave comments but usually it wasn’t a requirement outside of exchanges. And it was rare for someone who wrote well enough to meet the posting standards to be solely motivated by feedback. Authors wrote because they had stories to share, even in places like ff.net where the stories were usually simple and poorly crafted.

[(Anonymous)]

I admit I 100% put a hit counter on my LJ fics.

I don't write for kudos, but they're nice!

[(Anonymous)]

People liked them but it wasn't the type of contest or driving force ot seems to have turned into. In the early days there wasn't even a way to comment on fic, you just put it out there. I remember posting my first fic to a webring and just seeing it hosted there for people to click on was so exciting. I had an email people could write to of they really wanted but there wasn't any type of comment section or kudos or anything.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, I posted my first fics on my Geocities page and then put them into a webring for that fandom because that was back in the days before there were really organized sites for fic. And the "organized sites" for fic that did exist were mostly just someone compiling a bunch of links to different fics on their own personal page.

[(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)]

NAYRT

I don't think it was? There are writers who do suffer from a lack of external validation, that's just a fact, and the comment wasn't saying all writers are like this.

[(Anonymous)]

Some fic authors absolutely suffer because they are not getting the external validation they’re seeking. Acknowledging their situation is no more hostile than giving them good advice that’s been proven to work for authors for centuries.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't think so, but I couod see how you got there. Tone online can be really subjective and often comes down to your own biases.

[(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.