WIP challenge: day 30 check-in!

[littlebutfierce]

We're almost to the end of this month's challenge! How is the penultimate day going?

Poll #9324

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 14

View Respondents

How's the fic going today?

View Answers

Fantastic!
2 (14.3%)

All right
3 (21.4%)

It's... there
5 (35.7%)

Not very well
2 (14.3%)

DON'T EVEN ASK
2 (14.3%)

& what have you done?

View Answers

Wrote
7 (50.0%)

Edited
5 (35.7%)

Posted
2 (14.3%)

Sent to beta
2 (14.3%)

Researched
3 (21.4%)

Refreshed canon
0 (0.0%)

Took a break
4 (28.6%)

For discussion: This post talks about how the "like" culture (embodied by Facebook or retweeting things on Twitter or even just analyzing your site stats) can maybe make people focus too much on what other people want, instead of what they want to write/create.

Some people swear up & down that they don't care if they ever get a single comment on their fic, they're just writing for themselves. Other people say that they'd like to write something specific (different from their usual stuff) but their readers wouldn't like it -- & therefore they won't write it. I think most of us are somewhere in the middle -- what's your relationship with feedback on your fic like?

Comments

[littlebutfierce]

so I don't take lack of feedback as a sign that a story is totally bereft of an audience.

Yeah, this is definitely true. It can be depressing when there are tons & tons of hits & not one kudo, though. ^^;;;

I don't think I write what people like necessarily either (well, looking at the types of pairings/characters I write, yeah, mostly not). I wonder sometimes if the fics I do write about popular characters are totally motivated by a plot idea or by the hopes or more feedback -- I'm pretty sure it's just wanting to write the fic, but I guess one can't ever be totally sure!

Also, I think this was the first Fanfic Flamingo I ever made -- your last paragraph made me think of that, hahaha.

[crowdog66]

Oh, Fanfic Flamingo... Y U ABOUT MY LIFE? XD

The AO3 kudo system is a wonderful thing, isn't it? So easy for even non-registered members to give a thumbs-up! (Although yes, a high hit count+low kudo count can make a writer neurotic if they're not careful.)

[littlebutfierce]

Readers don't owe writers any feedback at all, nor do they owe writers feedback in a certain format. Sure, I'd love more comments & kudos, but no one owes me any. Kudos let people say that they liked something even if they don't have the energy/brain at the moment for a comment, even if they have performance anxiety (about whether or not their thoughts count as "real substance" or if they're "lazy"), even if they don't have the time but want to mark that they liked something. (& the AO3 did some statistical analysis that showed that the introduction of kudos didn't result in less commenting, either.)

[insignia]

I'd rather have one or two reviews that people wanted to write than twenty forced ones.

[laceblade]

idk, I think the "kudos" can be for people with anxiety, or who are feeling really shitty, as opposed to just "lazy." I know that I read a lot of fic when I'm feeling really down. Kudos allow me to let the author know I appreciated their fic - and sometimes I'm able to go back and leave more in-depth comments later, sometimes not.

[proseac]

ROTFLMAO!! I LOVE that Flamingo! SO very true...