WIP challenge check-in: day 3!

[littlebutfierce]

I love all the cheerleading & commiserating going on in yesterday's check-in post! Yay! How's it going today?

Poll #6857 Day 3 May WIP challenge check-in!

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 15

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All right, how's the fic feeling today?

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I AM A GENIUS
1 (6.7%)

Not bad!
10 (66.7%)

SHUT UP SHUT UP
1 (6.7%)

...
3 (20.0%)

And what did you do today, fic-wise?

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Write
10 (66.7%)

Edit
2 (13.3%)

Send to beta
0 (0.0%)

Research
1 (6.7%)

Procrastinate
7 (46.7%)

Something else I will describe in comments
1 (6.7%)

3 words or less to describe your fic today:

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And in keeping with the fanfic flamingo theme, let's talk about comments. The flamingo has a lot to say about comments.

I think I can identify with all of those images, heh. My favorite might be this one, though:



[Background — a six piece pie style colour split in three shades of pink. Foreground — the long neck and face of a pink flamingo.

Top text: POUR HEART AND SOUL INTO FEMMESLASH EPIC

Bottom text: 5 COMMENTS]

So! Comments! Do you find them a big motivator? Do you find yourself working more on stories that you anticipate will get a lot of comments? Or maybe you're in a tiny fandom or your OTP is really obscure/unpopular: do you find that this means you don't worry about getting comments (maybe it just makes you really, really want the one comment from the one person who'll get the story!)? Are they icing on the cake, but not something you think about while you're actually writing a story? Do you not care at all (or try not to)? Be honest!

&, importantly, do you leave comments yourself?

Comments

[jagnikjen]

I'm not sure how many words I actually wrote today. Over all, not that many. It was also more like heavy revising than actually banging out a lot of words. Now I've got to transition to the sex scene, which always stalls me out--performance anxiety I think. But I have to run an errand this evening so I'll probably piddle some more with it when I get home.

~*~

So! Comments! Do you find them a big motivator? No, not really. I mean, not in the "I want comments so I'm going to write a story." kind of way.

Do you find yourself working more on stories that you anticipate will get a lot of comments?

No, definitely not.

Or maybe you're in a tiny fandom or your OTP is really obscure/unpopular: do you find that this means you don't worry about getting comments (maybe it just makes you really, really want the one comment from the one person who'll get the story!)? Are they icing on the cake, but not something you think about while you're actually writing a story? Do you not care at all (or try not to)? Be honest!

My old/current fandom (BBC's Robin Hood) is pretty small, and my OTP while canon, seems not to be the preference of a large portion of the circles in which I float. But that's my ship of choice. *shrugs* That said, I do like to experiment with various pairings and it's interesting to see the reactions I get.

All that said, I do love comments. Moving on to my new/current fandom (Harry Potter) has been tough as all my online friends are from Robin Hood and only some read Harry Potter, so the comments are much scarcer.

Do you leave comments yourself? I'm trying to be more diligent about that, even if it's just "I love this." But I do admit that there's one author I never leave feedback for. Also, sometimes, the old adage, "If you can't say anything nice..." comes into play. :)

[glitteryv]

Now I've got to transition to the sex scene, which always stalls me out--performance anxiety I think.

Hee! I think every fic writer feels that at one point or the other (even the ones who write nothing BUT porn.)

Also, yeah, I rather not post a negative comment. I mean, what would be the point of that? I don't reply with any kind of concrit (that's what PMs are for.) In a way, the thought of leaving that kind of comment for an author (whether I know them or not) hits a quasi-embarasment squick of mine. Hmm.

[jagnikjen]

Yeah, I've been burned sorta on the constructive criticism thing. I made a nice comment about the abundance of misspelled and missing words once and the whole story ended up being taken down. The author finally reposted it, but I never did get any sort of response from her.

So mostly now if I can't deal with whatever the issue is (whether bad spelling, grammar, or punctuation, etc.), I just stop reading.

[jagnikjen]

Update...I think I ended up with about 500 new words for yesterday. I'm satisfied, happy even with that. :)

[littlebutfierce]

Revising counts as good progress on a fic too, of course! So sounds like you had a good fic day after all.

That said, I do like to experiment with various pairings and it's interesting to see the reactions I get.

Yeah, I did that meme recently where you post your top 10 fics by hit count from AO3, &... it's not surprising, really. The times I've written a popular pairing (which I don't do that often!) vastly outstrip everything else.

I don't leave negative comments--I am a pretty good beta, so I save my critiques for beta-ing! Otherwise even if something doesn't necessarily work for me I try to leave a comment about a facet of the story that I did really like. I think if someone said they wanted concrit I might try to e-mail or PM them instead of leaving a comment.