an excellent example of me being Back On My Bullshit: I was absentmindedly singing Christmas songs to myself while walking Hazy, as you do if you’re me, and it happened to be “O Come O Come Emmanuel” so the word “rejoice” was in there a lot, which reminded me of the scene in @lizardbeths’ fic Ragdoll where that particular word gives Loki a Thanos-era flashback, and anyway now I kind of want to write a Christmas fic where Loki goes with Steve and maybe a couple other Avengers to a Christmas Eve service out of curiosity and gets badly triggered because that specific word keeps popping up in the songs and sermon
and, I mean, I did kind of want to do a seasonal fic, especially since I actually did a New Year fic the last couple years, and this would arguably qualify
the problems with this, of course, are
what fucking context would I set this in, like, post-IW fix-it or pre-IW AU or what, I don’t know what I like better or what makes more sense and the context would change like…everything
it’s…ha ha shit less than two weeks until Christmas, and I have at least 10 reports to edit at work, a couple Etsy orders to finish and send very soon, and other packages to send, and other things I still need to list on Etsy, and Tumblr backups to deal with, and computer shopping to do very soon, and more cleaning to do, and a different fic I’d really like to finish for a Yuletide treat, and tons of gifts to sort and wrap, many other fics to write that people might actually be interested in, and we still haven’t set up the tree, and knowing myself it is not super realistic to think I could write a complete fic by Christmas even if I didn’t have…everything else
the fic writer’s eternal question: am I feeling stuck/unmotivated/etc. because of internal factors that I can control to some extent (tired, disorganized, busy with other things, general mental-health issues) and that are up to me to fix, or is it because I’m not getting enough attention to make the work feel worthwhile
and if it’s the latter, what the fuck do I do about that, considering I have never found a reliably effective way to advertise and I don’t have a big audience, so it mostly depends on whether someone who does have a big audience happens to reblog me…which pretty soon won’t even be a viable way to reach people because fuck Tumblr
(I will say, if you’ve ever thought one of my ideas or WIPs sounded cool, commenting on and reblogging fics I’ve already posted is THE BEST way to motivate me to write more)
Desiring feedback is the perennial state of pretty much every fanfic writer I know. Fortunately, it is possible to increase the feedback you receive with a few simple and respectful tips! Unfortunately, there are many factors which are outside the writer’s control when it comes to receiving feedback, so you should be aware of those, but don’t worry about them.
Writing quality is subjective. We should always strive for quality, but we shouldn’t beat ourselves up over it or compare ourselves to other writers. All that does is slow you down, which in turn stifles your improvement. You are only ever competing against yourself. So I’m going to start with a few reasons why your fic might not be getting the feedback you think it deserves, before diving in to ways you can improve that.
– Fandom size: larger fandom will, naturally, have more readers. You should scale your expectation of Hits, Kudos, and Comments accordingly. In theory, if you’re starving for feedback you should focus your attention on larger fandoms, but I don’t recommend that. You should write what you’re passionate about.
– Fandom timing: The day after the sequel film hits the theater you’re going to have an inrush of fans who are looking for fixit, romance, canon AU, or any number of needs the film/book/comic release etc left them with but did not fulfill. Unfortunately, writing takes time, especially for long pieces. Audience interest tapers off over that same time, with the occasional bump from a DVD release or a sequel announcement to remind people of that thing they love.
Also, maybe you’re writing for a large fandom like the MCU, but it’s either flooded with writers or it’s been a while since they had a film focusing on your corner of it. Don’t despair that just because it’s a large fandom and you’re not getting attention that it’s necessarily a quality issue. It may just be there’s too much out there or there’s new, different content to disseminate and that’s where the majority of focus is.
– Reader trust: It takes time to build up an audience, and you need to be gentle with yourself and with your expectations of feedback during that time. Even if you’re the greatest writer in the world, your first fic in a new fandom doesn’t necessarily come with a lot to recommend it. You’re relying on curiosity or boredom from readers scrolling randomly through the section, especially if you don’t promote yourself elsewhere or have readers who are following you from a prior fandom. There’s a lot out there, and like with published books, many readers just stick to authors they already like and trust, or they may just have one specific idea they want to read which your story doesn’t fit, or they just don’t intend to spend a lot of time in the fandom (which not everyone does!) and they rely on kudos/comment/hit count to tell them based on other readers what has been considered to be popular (which is not always the same as good!) so don’t take it personally. Sometimes it’s just a product of fandom timing. Having that solidly written movie fix-it ready within the week the film came out will tend to shoot a story to the top of the list, even if a “higher quality” one comes out later.
Perennial rule for fanfic writers: do not compare yourself to other writers based on these metrics. There’s room enough for everyone. A larger number of fics in a fandom tends to INCREASE the number of readers, not decrease the amount of attention to go around. The presence of other fics and fic writers helps you, it doesn’t hurt you. You are colleagues, not competition. With that in mind, you should not be afraid to promote fellow fic writers! It’s very likely they will return the favor, but even if they don’t (and that’s fine!), it’s just a nice thing to do and makes you a positive member of fandom, which we should all strive to be. This can also serve as an aspect of winning reader trust if you are a known, positive entity in fandom.
With that in mind, let’s dive in to tips to increasing reader feedback. Most of my tips are going to focus on how to build an audience by increasing reader trust, the one thing a writer actually has some control over. See those below the cut.
man, having a non-functioning computer sure puts a cramp in your ability to do like…anything
I mean, I did some stuff this weekend, I found a computer for my mom and a video card for myself, and I wrote and mailed 15 letters to Georgia voters, but I was also planning to do a bunch of other things, like listing some new stuff on Etsy and TYPING UP MY OLD NOTEBOOK
but instead I spent a bunch of time troubleshooting and, so far, getting almost nowhere, and now I have two Etsy orders I should really mail within a week or two, which coincidentally happens to be the last few days of November and obviously I have not posted a fic for the month. which is probably a dumb thing to stress about! but there’s all this stuff I theoretically want to write until I actually sit down to do it (mostly excuses for more Loki whump, tbh), and then there are several fics that I think should be fairly easy to finish except I don’t have everything in one place so I don’t actually know what still needs to happen and also I’m probably being overly optimistic about how long it might take.
but like. there are so many things on my WIP list that should be fairly short! except then I think about them in slightly more detail and either what I have is a mess requiring a shitload of editing/stitching, or I need to write setup that always ends up being more complicated than it should, or two characters need to have An Important Conversation that also takes longer to write than it should, or some combination of the above. such as
the extra fic for Maximoff Fic Exchange, a post-IW thing where Loki and Wanda bond a little over similar trauma
the one where they both survive but then Thor gets dusted
kind of similar, from a post by @theotherodinson before Ragnarok even came out, where Loki ends up on Sakaar with amnesia and is given to Thor as a prize
more chapters in “going down to nowhere” because it’s LITERALLY ALREADY WRITTEN but it needs…so much editing. so, so much editing.
Loki, before and during Ragnarok, trying to deal with his fear of falling (well, I haven’t written much of that but it should be fairly short and simple, for anyone else)
virtually plotless post-Ragnarok Loki whump that should’ve been finished aaaaages ago but I kind of…got stuck on plot
I had at least one Whumptober idea I wanted to do and you would think I could make that short but my brain instantly has to make it more complicated
why do I always manage to make things difficult, and also why do I write so slow, “I will kiss you till your breath is found” was about 7,000 words and I feel like writing it took me f o r e v e r
I’m tempted to ask for short prompts in hopes I’ll get something that I actually manage to do in a reasonable length but, well, the list above probably shows that I’m bad about that
would also take audience recommendations for which thing off this list I should focus on
I guess I should publicly whine in slight detail about my WIPs more often, because after writing this I ended up thinking about some of these more today and now 1) I’m pretty sure I know how to finish one short fic off this list and I can do it fairly easily, and 2) I have another (…short?) idea for Loki whump
man, having a non-functioning computer sure puts a cramp in your ability to do like…anything
I mean, I did some stuff this weekend, I found a computer for my mom and a video card for myself, and I wrote and mailed 15 letters to Georgia voters, but I was also planning to do a bunch of other things, like listing some new stuff on Etsy and TYPING UP MY OLD NOTEBOOK
but instead I spent a bunch of time troubleshooting and, so far, getting almost nowhere, and now I have two Etsy orders I should really mail within a week or two, which coincidentally happens to be the last few days of November and obviously I have not posted a fic for the month. which is probably a dumb thing to stress about! but there’s all this stuff I theoretically want to write until I actually sit down to do it (mostly excuses for more Loki whump, tbh), and then there are several fics that I think should be fairly easy to finish except I don’t have everything in one place so I don’t actually know what still needs to happen and also I’m probably being overly optimistic about how long it might take.
but like. there are so many things on my WIP list that should be fairly short! except then I think about them in slightly more detail and either what I have is a mess requiring a shitload of editing/stitching, or I need to write setup that always ends up being more complicated than it should, or two characters need to have An Important Conversation that also takes longer to write than it should, or some combination of the above. such as
the extra fic for Maximoff Fic Exchange, a post-IW thing where Loki and Wanda bond a little over similar trauma
the one where they both survive but then Thor gets dusted
kind of similar, from a post by @theotherodinson before Ragnarok even came out, where Loki ends up on Sakaar with amnesia and is given to Thor as a prize
more chapters in “going down to nowhere” because it’s LITERALLY ALREADY WRITTEN but it needs…so much editing. so, so much editing.
Loki, before and during Ragnarok, trying to deal with his fear of falling (well, I haven’t written much of that but it should be fairly short and simple, for anyone else)
virtually plotless post-Ragnarok Loki whump that should’ve been finished aaaaages ago but I kind of…got stuck on plot
I had at least one Whumptober idea I wanted to do and you would think I could make that short but my brain instantly has to make it more complicated
why do I always manage to make things difficult, and also why do I write so slow, “I will kiss you till your breath is found” was about 7,000 words and I feel like writing it took me f o r e v e r
I’m tempted to ask for short prompts in hopes I’ll get something that I actually manage to do in a reasonable length but, well, the list above probably shows that I’m bad about that
But what if half your ocs are softys and not made for fighting?
dating sim
this post changed the game
Hey btw if you don’t know how to program, you should check out [novelty], which is a free Visual Novel creation software. Absolutely no programming required, and it’s super easy to use, I played with it some when I was a teen but the only reason I didn’t do much with it is cuz I made my story complicated and had like 5000 different branching routes that kept spawning new routes and made myself confused LMAO
But yeah, it’s a WYSIWYG with a really straight-forward GUI, if I remember correctly.
It even comes with some free backgrounds and characters and stuff, and this is what it looks like:
Did I mention it’s super duper free? It hasn’t been updated since 2010, but it has basically all you’d need to make a simple visual novel.
Just make sure your DirectX runtime is updated, cuz it can act buggy if it’s outdated, but this program is so old that I doubt it’d even be an issue lol
holy shit
This is so cool? Can you imagine fanfic in this format?
YO
@becausedragonage@ashidoodle can I recommend Choice Script? It’s like a choose your own adventure coding program. The finished product looks like this, where every option sends you down a different path:
They are literally books you can play. You can even insert your own character’s name and pronouns and that would make writing reader inserts so much easier And as a writer who can not art, writing and making dating sims and games is more convenient.
The coding is also super simple and easy to learn and all it requires other than the program files is a text editor. And just like that you can start typing up like you would your own fanfics or stories. Plus it’s very versatile so you can make your game/book as simple or as complicated as you want, and even implement stats and inventory systems.
AND CHOICE SCRIPT IS ALSO SUPER DUPER FREE. THE COMPANY EVEN PUBLISHES YOUR FINISHED GAME FOR YOU AND GIVES YOU ROYALTIES IF YOU CHOOSE TO SELL IT. THE PROGRAM STILL GETS UPDATED AND THE COMPANY PUBLISHES BOOKS EVERY MONTH INCLUDING THE FANMADE ONES. THERE’S ALSO A FORUM FOR PEOPLE TO POST WIPS AND TALK ABOUT CHOICE SCRIPT AND GET HELP.
would you rather your whumpee be in agony alone and admit it later to someone horrified by what they’ve been through? or your whumpee being hurt terribly in front of someone that cares about them?
also, I want to do the WIP meme but uhhhh my shit is so disorganized that might be difficult
I'm a defeatist but I don't have to be 