@stolasluvr It’s really really fandom dependent—NOT a reflection of your skill. My highest kudos-ed fics are far from my best.
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Siren
4K posts
Siren
@Sirens_Scales
Old ass 30 something. She/her. Fanfiction writer. Multifandom, multishipper. @Sirens_Scales on AO3 🔞
Beigetreten Haziran 2020
615 Folgt575 Follower
This pains me so much. I don’t think I've ever hit 1000 yet. 😭😭😭😭😭😭
Eli 🌿@AruBerus
People on here saying that 1000 kudos is a laughably ignored fic and that 500 kudos is an absurdly low number very few could imagine, and meanwhile my highest-kudos'd fic ever sits at 464 kudos, which I consider to be an insanely high number 😭
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I’d complain it flopping if I wasn’t absolutely shit at making summaries ngl 😭😭😭 like how do I explain The Concept without throwing a spoiler
Siren@Sirens_Scales
This is dumb and vulnerable and I may regret asking and delete, but here goes anyway: fic writers, how do you deal with the heartbreak of having a project you were very excited about absolutely flopping? I had a bunch more planned & written. I can’t bring myself to open the doc
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Siren retweetet
The fact that Troy’s shitty dad was from Kamloops…
kyra Ω@SHANESBIAN
reading role model for the first time and 😭😭😭 troy's dad played hockey WHERE
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@cavaliertale I’m so sorry you went through that. I’m glad you found a way through.
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Poorly. A project I'd worked on for a year ended up as a complete flop, and it's taken me yet another year to actually start wanting to post fan fics again.
In that break, I started writing for oc's, and having such a niche but enthusiastic audience built my interest back.
Siren@Sirens_Scales
This is dumb and vulnerable and I may regret asking and delete, but here goes anyway: fic writers, how do you deal with the heartbreak of having a project you were very excited about absolutely flopping? I had a bunch more planned & written. I can’t bring myself to open the doc
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@seoneunsoo It’s fake to give that as advice bc you know damn well you want people to like what you write. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t post it. People say it’s an archive? Okay. So turn off comments. Put it in a private collection.
We all want validation. Why can’t we admit it?
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@Cynic_Housewife Much lower than average hits and kudos, polite but lukewarm responses in the few comments I got. All my fics for this fandom have lower stats than ones for other fandoms I write, which is down to a lot of things like timing, fandom size, etc.
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@Sirens_Scales Just out of curiosity, but what defines "flopping"?
For me, I'm thrilled that anyone reads what I write (because I honestly question if any of it good enough constantly), even a few kudos or comments make me giddy.
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This is dumb and vulnerable and I may regret asking and delete, but here goes anyway: fic writers, how do you deal with the heartbreak of having a project you were very excited about absolutely flopping? I had a bunch more planned & written. I can’t bring myself to open the doc
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@JustPiyoko @artyoxenfree Great advice! Hits are low, and I can fix that with a better summary, tagging, etc. But hits : kudos ratio is also much lower than my fics usually have, which tells me maybe the fic didn’t land as effectively as I’d hoped or maybe wasn’t reaching the *right* readers
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@Sirens_Scales @artyoxenfree I fully understand the feeling, you worked hard on something, you had expectations for it, and the disappointment is real. How are your hits looking like for this story? Maybe not enough people saw it yet? Try updating the summary, that helped one of my stories once.
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@ViciousKnish @dmnexppwp I will agree with you on this point: intrinsic motivation is extremely important not just for art but for self-fulfillment in general. I need to work on that. Unfortunately I have ADHD, which makes intrinsic motivation very, very difficult to achieve.
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@dmnexppwp @Sirens_Scales I think when most people say "write for yourself" they mean it's helpful to have an internal motivation to fall back on when you don't get the response you hoped for, because so much of that IS luck.
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@ViciousKnish @dmnexppwp But the craft of writing is intrinsically tied to the reader’s experience. Every literary device, every punctuation mark, every revision has the same goal: to better communicate a story to the reader. And you admitted you do want them to love your work. I think we all do.
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@dmnexppwp @Sirens_Scales I like the craft of writing. I get as much from the language as I do from the storytelling. I don't NEED to share, but I WANT to. I hope to get a response. Personally I don't care if my readers love me, I just hope they love my work. But it's all subjective.
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@PrinceZale18 I think for me, I’m really interested in the craft of writing and telling a story effectively, which means being intentional about how readers will respond. I want to tell the story well. What is “well”? It’s a story that connects strongly with the target audience.
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@Sirens_Scales Disconnecting my feelings about my work from engagement has helped a lot with my enjoyment of writing. I explore concepts *I* like and do things *I* want to do, and I don’t concern myself with readership. People will either read it or they won’t, that’s not my business.
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@Sirens_Scales I was once told "To gain an audience, you must treat your content like you have the audience you want". Things can take years to blow up. Going viral from the get go is actually super rare
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If one more person tells me to write for myself I’m gonna crash out. And by crash out I mean I’m gonna write a whole ass essay about why that’s fake af and make every person who says that read the whole thing.
Siren@Sirens_Scales
This is dumb and vulnerable and I may regret asking and delete, but here goes anyway: fic writers, how do you deal with the heartbreak of having a project you were very excited about absolutely flopping? I had a bunch more planned & written. I can’t bring myself to open the doc
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@ganseyyiii archiveofourown.org/works/77251091
archiveofourown.org/works/79203016 - Mind the tags; this is CNC + intox play
archiveofourown.org/works/79647151 - Feminization. Hot smut, sweet aftercare
Of course Wolfbird has amazing aftercare, but I think that one’s a given
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do you guys have any recommendations for hollanov aftercare-heavy fics? lowkey it’s sometimes my favorite part of smutty fics like i love it when they’re coming back to the surface together
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@lonelysolipsist I’m so sorry. I have 2 kids so my time is spread thin, but do you have a shorter piece you’d really like more people to read?
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@Sirens_Scales I wish I knew. It makes me sad not to get interaction on fics. I haven't written anything in like 6 months because it feels like there's no point
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Married Hollanov is my fav! We don’t have as many romance stories about established couples. Both of these are married Hollanov:
archiveofourown.org/works/84165316… - smut + relationship study abt Shane & Ilya’s conflicted feelings abt being out
archiveofourown.org/works/85986221 - silly CNC smut ;)
San@saltedsan
what i love read the most about is…married Hollanov, I don’t care what the fic is about — jealous Ilya, kinky sex, crazy roleplay, them being soft, honeymoon, arguing, doing nothing, doing everything. the fact that it’s them being married in the fic is what makes me so happy
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@FlorenciaUP32 Yes but I am terminally delulu and every time I hit publish I think this is gonna be the next fandom-breaking viral sensation megahit. That couldn’t possibly be the problem, could it?
(In all seriousness, thank you. This is helpful.)
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@Sirens_Scales It's like when I go to the cinema, I keep my expectations in check 😂 I don't think anything will blow up, if I get a couple people really interested, that's great. I also like to interact, so kudos are very lovely, but the best that can happen is a good convo in comments.
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@sillywilya @rinaisnotokay Doing favors for each other is a competition. “I’ll make the coffee.” “No I’ll make it” “No I’ll make it” turns into a wrestling match over who will get off the couch to make coffee
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anyone have any other bits 2 add?? i offer:
- saying "this is why anya is my fave roommate😒" when mad at each other
- ilya convinces Shane to play beanboozled and shane hates it but they start trying to sneak gross jelly beans into each others mouths through various methods
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@stolasluvr So be less delulu. I will work on that, but it does not come easily 😂
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@Sirens_Scales I try to manage my expectations from the time I publish to avoid excessive heartache. Like, the heartache is there because I want the fic to do well, but I console myself that it's already an expected outcome. 🙃
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@bi_bye_disaster Much more helpful than the “write for yourself” platitude, thank you!
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a lot of people say "write for yourself" but I find it helpful to be more specific. do I want to practice marketing/do I want to practice plot, or character voices etc? goals that I can control.
I also decide how much to commit beforehand (usually 3-5k) and if I want to keep going after I post, I can.
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