(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)

(Anonymous)
2009-04-19 10:10 pm UTC (link)

It's kind of funny but I just made two posts on my LJ this last week about how inappropriate and pointless it is to write for anything other than your own pleasure and to become a better writer. I'm happy to have 20 comments on a fic. 60 would have me over the moon.

Then this happens and it's the complete opposite of what I was trying to say.

Wow. The ego of some people. When do writers go from 'thanks for reading, glad you like it' to 'shame on you for under appreciating my (questionable) genius'?

	urpletastic 2009-04-19 10:44 pm UTC (link)
	Twenty? I'm doing well if I get two. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	vzg 2009-04-19 11:07 pm UTC (link)
	That was my reaction! Sure, my better fics get twenty comments — if I respond to every person that comments on them. :P (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	persona 2009-04-20 12:24 am UTC (link)
	Yeah, same here. I think my top score was twenty-four, but that included a few back-and-forths between me and commentators... (Reply to this)(Parent)

	jedi_dwh 2009-04-20 06:40 am UTC (link)
	I remember the first time I got 13 comments on a fic. That had me bouncing for a couple of weeks. I can't even fathom twenty comments on one post. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	evilsqueakers 2009-04-20 07:12 am UTC (link)
	I have to reply like 10 times to reach 20 when I do write a story. Then again, not an attention whore who pimps out the work like it's rent day. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	ruffwriter 2009-04-20 05:02 pm UTC (link)
	Same here. If a fic I've posted is over ten comments, it's because I got into a conversation with someone. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	reeve 2009-04-20 01:25 am UTC (link)
	Yeah, really. Then again, I don't post fics directly to LJ, just links to them. Don't know if that has much to do with it... (Reply to this)(Parent)

	nevadafighter 2009-04-19 11:45 pm UTC (link)
	I don't know--I always appreciate it when people tell me up front they expect and deserve X number of comments per chapter/fic, so then I know to avoid their work entirely. No matter how good, entitled rampant egotism will always sour the milk. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	(Anonymous) 2009-04-20 03:28 am UTC (link)
	This. Although sometimes I give in to my inner grammar bitch and leave snippy comments about typos and awkward sentence structure. But, yeah, it's always awful when you find a bunch of fic and fall in love, then discover the author's a douchebag. Sucks all the awesome right out of the writing. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	risha 2009-04-20 06:16 pm UTC (link)
	Oh yeah. I dumped reading "A Year Like None Other" (which I loved) after the yahoo group antics, for instance. I just couldn't read a chapter without thinking about how snooty and annoying she was. Sucked all the fun right out of it. And I was interested in reading a comic I heard about in a Slice of Scifi interview, until the author showed up on here shortly after. (Reply to this)(Parent)

(Anonymous)
2009-04-21 03:12 am UTC (link)

Interestingly enough, I'm one of the people that had her friended for High School Heroes. I had read bits and pieces of this latest story, but gave up because, well, I thought the story kind of sucked. It seemed kinder just to quit reading and not comment at all than to comment with, "This story seems trite, and not up to your usual standard." Generally speaking, I will post specific criticisms (typos, little factual errors), but if it's a general criticism of the story as a whole, it's either got to be someone I know very well, or someone who's specifically asked for constructive criticism from readers.

I wonder if she was less ego-driven about her earlier work, and if that's one of the reasons this latest fic wasn't up to par. Not that I think she was *consciously* ego-driven. I mean, that post came out of nowhere, or seemed to. Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention, but I'd had her friended for a while, and don't recall seeing her having posted ANYTHING about being dissatisfied with the level of feedback before that big post the other day. To which I didn't respond at the time I read it for the same reason I didn't comment on her latest fic: I didn't have anything complimentary to say.

Raincitygirl from LJ

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	nevadafighter 2009-04-21 03:27 am UTC (link)
	It may have also been something in real life getting her anxious or angry and that was spilling over into her fic writing, which happens--and if she is that talented I hope she is able to work through it and come back to writing with a bit more balance. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	synergasm 2009-04-19 11:55 pm UTC (link)
	Can't we just have a happy medium here? (Reply to this)(Parent)

(Anonymous)
2009-04-20 12:40 am UTC (link)

Sorry for the anonymous - no account.

I agree with your general sentiment, but isn't your first paragraph a bit self-contradictory? I mean, if it's 'inappropriate' to want comments, why would you be over the moon if you got more? Surely you would just accept the larger number with a robot-like sense of detachment?

I'm not trying to jump on you, I'm just one of those people who likes getting comments, and gets a bit tired of people acting like I'm some sort of attention whore because of it. Comments are good! More comments are better! I don't base my life's happiness on them, and if I don't get a lot I try to look for flaws in my work rather than in my audience, but...I think it's totally natural to want them.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	(Anonymous) 2009-04-20 12:46 am UTC (link)
	I think that they were saying that it's inappropriate to write fanfiction purely FOR the comments and attention alone. They are a nice bonus but shouldn't be the sole reason for the work. ~Keiji_Miashin@LJ (Reply to this)(Parent)

	(Anonymous) 2009-04-20 01:10 am UTC (link)
	I like comments. I like to be validated. That does not make me a bad person. Expecting reviews, holding fic hostage for them, is egotistical, annoying, and generally A Bad Thing, that I'll grant you, but I won't apologise for enjoying feedback. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	rosehiptea 2009-04-20 01:27 am UTC (link)
	This. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	rennyn_alerothi 2009-04-20 01:14 am UTC (link)
	I'm the other way around - if I slow down on a fic and I have a lot of comments, I feel obligated to hurry up and write more, because they were nice enough to comment on my fanfic. They're doing me the favor, not the other way around. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

snarkbunny
2009-04-20 04:22 pm UTC (link)

I'm the same way. Most of my writing's done anonymously these days, so the only way people can let me know they want more is if they leave feedback on the thread in the kink meme in question.

One big fic I was working on wasn't getting any, so I assumed people had lost interest, then suddenly someone made a request for the same scenario, and then there's like five anons going "Dude, there's this really epic story already in progress, how could you miss it?" and I felt really bad for not having worked on it for awhile. :P I seriously thought no one was reading it anyway!

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	(Anonymous) 2009-04-20 04:34 am UTC (link)
	Eh, if she's not happy with less than 100, she should stop if she's getting less than 100 -- it's not like she gets paid. The question of whether I want 2 comments, 20, or 200 doesn't come into where her effort/reward break even point is. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	(Anonymous) 2009-04-22 12:10 am UTC (link)
	I don't think I've ever seen a point missed quite so completely. remembers emperorsteele Wait, yes I have. Never mind. (Reply to this)(Parent)

(Read comments) -