Angela's Love/Hate Relationship with FanFiction
I am writing because, as of late, I have been ridiculously bogged down in fanfiction angst. And no, I'm not referring to the kind that happens within the plot of the stories. I am, unfortunately, referring to my personal angst over the whole fanfiction world.
I've decided to blab about it here because I can. It is my blog after all.
I suppose I'll begin with the complaints (Hey, at least you're not getting a fake out chapter):
1) Believe it or not, I have a life outside of fanfiction. I have a husband, a daughter, several really amazing friends and a job. I go to school full time. I am writing a novel and I'm very excited about it. Having said that, I happen to write very quickly, and can therefore knock a lot of writing out in a short period of time. So, I have several stories going at once and I generally operate with a backlog. So when some jerkstore reviewer says something really fucking ridiculous like, "Why did this update take so long?" and it's only been a week, I scoff and get annoyed and then think, "Well, at least it's a review" (more on that in point #2). It pisses me off to no end that people dare to complain about my updating taking 'too long' when several of my readers can hardly keep up with me. GIVE ME A BREAK.
2) I cannot get people to review for shit. I realize I have more reviews than a lot of people, but let's look at a few stats, shall we?
I am currently on the favorites list of 92 members.
I am currently tagged for author alert for 120 members.
My profile has been viewed nearly 5000 times.
Not counting the ones associated with my Twilighted Account, I have had 67.3K hits.
Sounds fantastic, right? Like reviews should be coming in from everywhere, right? Except that they don't. My highest reviewed story on fanfiction.net is The Butterfly Effect, despite the fact that it is a work in progress. At the moment, it has 278 reviews. Second highest review count? Tahoe Tanglings (also a work in progress), the fic I am coauthoring with HammondGirl. It has an even 230 at the moment. I know what you're thinking. Why the fuck are you complaining when you have three digits worth? Fucking ungrateful bitch! Try this on for size: My coauthor has 373.
Yeah.
See, here's the thing. I write a lot. I update a lot. And so, you would think that by keeping my readers happy, something would be reciprocated in the form of reviews. But obviously not. It drives me absolutely up the wall that it doesn't matter what I do--I just don't have reviews flowing in. Maybe I should take an everlong posting haitus like some authors do and infuriate all my readers. Perhaps then, I'd get a respose. And my friends who are authors as well? They all have more than I do ... and by leaps and bounds. Hell yes, I will admit that I'm jealous. And here's the other thing. Mad crazy reviewing would get me to jazzed up that I'd update even more often. And it would validate, at least in part, the fact that I put hard work into my stories. Of course I know they are good or I wouldn't post them. And my beta is amazing and she loves everything I write. I know this. But seriously. A big WTF to the fanfiction community.
3) I understand that certain fics have epic followings. Easiest example? Wide Awake. AngstGoddess started a really fucking phenomenal story, and I understand that a shit-ton of people are reading it. But now so many things are considered "A WA reference" if you use them and most of them are so damn generic, it's ridiculous. Oh, Bella wears a hoodie, so you must be copying Wide Awake. Oh, Edward curses so you must be copying Wide Awake. Give me a fucking break, people. It couldn't just be that they live in the God damn Pacific Northwest and it's cold so Bella owns a hoodie. And I hate to break it to you, but profanity wasn't created in this ingenious fic. And what's really amazing is that it's not AngstGoddess003's fault that people are so strange about her fic. People--particularly Twilight fanfiction readers--are ravenous and rabid. Why does this annoy me, you ask? It would take too long for me to explain so let's move on. (I feel compelled to interject here that I do like Wide Awake for the most part (I could actually have an insanely long conversation with people about this story. It was just an easy example.)
4) I won't harp on this one too long, but why is it that anything smut makes up the highest reviewed set of fics (aside from a few non-smutty fics that have massive followings). Seriously? Do people not appreciate a good story, a good plot? Sigh. On this same topic, why is it that the pairings other than Edward and Bella get so little love unless we're talking about a slash fic?
GAAAAAAAAAAH.
OK ... Accentuate the positive, right?
I do love fanfiction. I love writing my own stories with someone else's characters and I love reading them as well. I love the sense of satisfaction that I get from writing a damn good chapter (personal favorite? Most of The Butterfly Effect and Chapter 11 of Tahoe Tanglings). I love hearing from my readers (hence my huge hang up regarding reviews). And I love the friends whom I've made through fanfiction: Little Miss Whitlock, HammondGirl, siromygod, phnxprincesa, sorceresscirce, and even adilsonnn, who loves one of my stories so much that it catalyzed him into writing again. They are all made of epic win.
Sigh.
This is why I have twice argued myself out of quitting. This back and forth. Fucking ANGST over fanfiction is RIDICULOUS. I love it but I hate it, and I've considered just exiting the fanfiction authoring world and only reading it. But those positives--primarily the people I particularly listed--keep me going.
Hopefully, it will last.
*sighs*
I've decided to blab about it here because I can. It is my blog after all.
I suppose I'll begin with the complaints (Hey, at least you're not getting a fake out chapter):
1) Believe it or not, I have a life outside of fanfiction. I have a husband, a daughter, several really amazing friends and a job. I go to school full time. I am writing a novel and I'm very excited about it. Having said that, I happen to write very quickly, and can therefore knock a lot of writing out in a short period of time. So, I have several stories going at once and I generally operate with a backlog. So when some jerkstore reviewer says something really fucking ridiculous like, "Why did this update take so long?" and it's only been a week, I scoff and get annoyed and then think, "Well, at least it's a review" (more on that in point #2). It pisses me off to no end that people dare to complain about my updating taking 'too long' when several of my readers can hardly keep up with me. GIVE ME A BREAK.
2) I cannot get people to review for shit. I realize I have more reviews than a lot of people, but let's look at a few stats, shall we?
I am currently on the favorites list of 92 members.
I am currently tagged for author alert for 120 members.
My profile has been viewed nearly 5000 times.
Not counting the ones associated with my Twilighted Account, I have had 67.3K hits.
Sounds fantastic, right? Like reviews should be coming in from everywhere, right? Except that they don't. My highest reviewed story on fanfiction.net is The Butterfly Effect, despite the fact that it is a work in progress. At the moment, it has 278 reviews. Second highest review count? Tahoe Tanglings (also a work in progress), the fic I am coauthoring with HammondGirl. It has an even 230 at the moment. I know what you're thinking. Why the fuck are you complaining when you have three digits worth? Fucking ungrateful bitch! Try this on for size: My coauthor has 373.
Yeah.
See, here's the thing. I write a lot. I update a lot. And so, you would think that by keeping my readers happy, something would be reciprocated in the form of reviews. But obviously not. It drives me absolutely up the wall that it doesn't matter what I do--I just don't have reviews flowing in. Maybe I should take an everlong posting haitus like some authors do and infuriate all my readers. Perhaps then, I'd get a respose. And my friends who are authors as well? They all have more than I do ... and by leaps and bounds. Hell yes, I will admit that I'm jealous. And here's the other thing. Mad crazy reviewing would get me to jazzed up that I'd update even more often. And it would validate, at least in part, the fact that I put hard work into my stories. Of course I know they are good or I wouldn't post them. And my beta is amazing and she loves everything I write. I know this. But seriously. A big WTF to the fanfiction community.
3) I understand that certain fics have epic followings. Easiest example? Wide Awake. AngstGoddess started a really fucking phenomenal story, and I understand that a shit-ton of people are reading it. But now so many things are considered "A WA reference" if you use them and most of them are so damn generic, it's ridiculous. Oh, Bella wears a hoodie, so you must be copying Wide Awake. Oh, Edward curses so you must be copying Wide Awake. Give me a fucking break, people. It couldn't just be that they live in the God damn Pacific Northwest and it's cold so Bella owns a hoodie. And I hate to break it to you, but profanity wasn't created in this ingenious fic. And what's really amazing is that it's not AngstGoddess003's fault that people are so strange about her fic. People--particularly Twilight fanfiction readers--are ravenous and rabid. Why does this annoy me, you ask? It would take too long for me to explain so let's move on. (I feel compelled to interject here that I do like Wide Awake for the most part (I could actually have an insanely long conversation with people about this story. It was just an easy example.)
4) I won't harp on this one too long, but why is it that anything smut makes up the highest reviewed set of fics (aside from a few non-smutty fics that have massive followings). Seriously? Do people not appreciate a good story, a good plot? Sigh. On this same topic, why is it that the pairings other than Edward and Bella get so little love unless we're talking about a slash fic?
GAAAAAAAAAAH.
OK ... Accentuate the positive, right?
I do love fanfiction. I love writing my own stories with someone else's characters and I love reading them as well. I love the sense of satisfaction that I get from writing a damn good chapter (personal favorite? Most of The Butterfly Effect and Chapter 11 of Tahoe Tanglings). I love hearing from my readers (hence my huge hang up regarding reviews). And I love the friends whom I've made through fanfiction: Little Miss Whitlock, HammondGirl, siromygod, phnxprincesa, sorceresscirce, and even adilsonnn, who loves one of my stories so much that it catalyzed him into writing again. They are all made of epic win.
Sigh.
This is why I have twice argued myself out of quitting. This back and forth. Fucking ANGST over fanfiction is RIDICULOUS. I love it but I hate it, and I've considered just exiting the fanfiction authoring world and only reading it. But those positives--primarily the people I particularly listed--keep me going.
Hopefully, it will last.
*sighs*