[ 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

[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)]

Oh, I feel this. The fic of mine that got the largest reception is a stupid fic that was based around an inside joke my friends in college and I had about the characters. It was literally just a "what if I actually wrote a fic about this whole stupid premise we invented" and for some reason people thought it was funny? I have no idea. I mean, I'm glad they like it, but it is definitely not one of my better works because I wasn't taking it seriously!

[iff_and_xor]

Oh, for sure. There are so many reasons that something might not exactly connect with or be fully satisfying to the people who find it. (And a bunch more reasons that someone might fully connect with and enjoy something, but not actually leave a comment or a like or whatever.)

I guess I just meant that it’s one thing to get little-to-no positive feedback IRL and another thing to get it online, where we might fantasize about more easily finding just the right audience.

And I think that kind of validation is such a natural thing to want, even if you’re actively working on being content with your own work in the absence of any external approval.

[(Anonymous)]

DA

This. Nothing wrong with wanting comments - I love getting them, too. It's great to hear what people liked about your work.

But yeah, mainly it's just more that people need to manage their expectations and consider factors like the sort you mention. It's fine to want comments, but if that's one's only motivation for writing and posting stuff, then yeah, they're bound to get frustrated and disappointed pretty quickly, so it helps to have other, oore personal motivations for wanting to write and share stories.