Comments and my feelings on them
So as most people in SGA fandom know, sardnoicsmiley flounced in a epic fashion, managing to make a lot of people feel crappy and guilty along the way, which, you know...tacky much? One of the results is a rash of posts about feedback and comments and so on. So yeah, here's mine, which can be boiled down into a couple of easy sentences:
1. I love getting comments on my fic but it's not necessary to the process of writing.
2. I suck.
I suppose I should expand on these.
1. It's complicated but really here's how it works. I write to be read, otherwise I'd still be telling stories to myself in my head--okay, actually I still do that but that's another topic all together. Given that, any indication that people are reading my stuff is great. However, I know damn well that, for any number of reasons, a lot of people don't comment on fic they've read and liked. So I tend to assume that for every person who bothers to comment, there are several people reading it. So yes, I write to be read, but I don't necessarily write to receive comments and I don't judge my fic by the number of comments it gets.*
There is one rare exception to this. If I'm writing a fic specifically for a person, usually in an exchange, I will track that puppy like crazy until that person comments. I really do worry about gift/exchange fic a whole lot.
2. Honestly, I do. Here's how it goes. I write a fic. People are generous enough with their time and/or like the fic enough to comment. I go in with good intentions and start replying. Somewhere during that part of the process, something else needs/takes my attention. I stope replying to comments. If enough times goes by, I feel really really guilty, which, unlike most, sane, people makes me even less inclined to answer comments.
And there's one reason that I don't expect to get comments. All too often, people who comment don't get a reply, so I'm thinking that, eventually, they stop commenting. I mean really, why bother, if you're not gonna get a reply. I'm trying desperately to work on that, but the fact is, it's a learned bad habit and I can't make any promises.
So there you have it. My thoughts on comments/feedback, I have shown you them.
And now? We're going for pancakes.
*This is a good thing because there are times when I'm stunned at the number of comments a fic gets. I often don't know what's going to work for a lot of people and what's only going to work for a few, and so occasionally things I think are really really good get only a few comments and things that I think are good but not likely to be popular can get tons of comments. Go figure.
1. I love getting comments on my fic but it's not necessary to the process of writing.
2. I suck.
I suppose I should expand on these.
1. It's complicated but really here's how it works. I write to be read, otherwise I'd still be telling stories to myself in my head--okay, actually I still do that but that's another topic all together. Given that, any indication that people are reading my stuff is great. However, I know damn well that, for any number of reasons, a lot of people don't comment on fic they've read and liked. So I tend to assume that for every person who bothers to comment, there are several people reading it. So yes, I write to be read, but I don't necessarily write to receive comments and I don't judge my fic by the number of comments it gets.*
There is one rare exception to this. If I'm writing a fic specifically for a person, usually in an exchange, I will track that puppy like crazy until that person comments. I really do worry about gift/exchange fic a whole lot.
2. Honestly, I do. Here's how it goes. I write a fic. People are generous enough with their time and/or like the fic enough to comment. I go in with good intentions and start replying. Somewhere during that part of the process, something else needs/takes my attention. I stope replying to comments. If enough times goes by, I feel really really guilty, which, unlike most, sane, people makes me even less inclined to answer comments.
And there's one reason that I don't expect to get comments. All too often, people who comment don't get a reply, so I'm thinking that, eventually, they stop commenting. I mean really, why bother, if you're not gonna get a reply. I'm trying desperately to work on that, but the fact is, it's a learned bad habit and I can't make any promises.
So there you have it. My thoughts on comments/feedback, I have shown you them.
And now? We're going for pancakes.
*This is a good thing because there are times when I'm stunned at the number of comments a fic gets. I often don't know what's going to work for a lot of people and what's only going to work for a few, and so occasionally things I think are really really good get only a few comments and things that I think are good but not likely to be popular can get tons of comments. Go figure.