My ego is hurting.

[illuminatius]

 Yeah. I got, like, 17 or so comments on my Destiel fic, all saying that I did a good job (which I don't really believe, but what the hey. I'm a whore for praise). It made me feel good. Empowered. Not so shitty

Comments

[valtyr]

Simply put, SPN is a bigger fandom, by far, than C_IM - deancastiel has almost four thousand members, and links to another dozen or so Dean/Cas comms in its userinfo. I don't know where you cross-posted the Destiel, but there's a much larger audience for it.

I'm not at all trying to discourage you from writing Steve/Tony, but it's not the best place to maximize comments, if that is what you're after.

If you actively want criticism, I recommend putting it in an author's note, or in the header; something like Feedback: All welcomed, criticism especially loved. But at the same time, a lot of readers aren't really critics or editors, so they're not sure what to say about something that didn't click.

I skimmed your fic (as a mod, I skim-read as much as possible to check everything's rules-compliant) and it seems your writing's just fine, and while I personally find them dressing up like that to be a little out of my view of them, once that was assumed, they seemed to be acting pretty in-character

[illuminatius]

I didn't cross-post the Destiel, since I only know of and visit one community for stories containing that pairing.

I see comments as feedback, and more comments = more feedback. I will definitely heed your advice and add in a request for criticism the next time I post something.

It's mainly the characterization I am worried about, and feedback such as yours is a good way for me to know that I haven't written a fic with OOC Steve and Tony. That's basically why I want comments. I don't need a hundred comments, but I need feedback. Feedback allows me to grow as a writer, and positive feedback allows me to keep on going without being discouraged (as a new writer, that's very important to me. These stories are not made for my own personal enjoyment).

In retrospect, posting this entry might have been a stupid thing to do, and makes me seem like a complete whiner.

Thank you for your comments. =)

[valtyr]

But it did get picked up by SPN newsletter here, which has six thousand people watching it. :)

We all want feedback; I love and adore feedback, especially thoughtful, analytical feedback. If I'm feeling down, I sometimes go back and read old feedback to cheer myself up. But we don't have a right to feedback, and sometimes we just don't get it, whether because our readers didn't get on with the story, or were just really busy right then, or skipped the story because the summary didn't grab them.

You might want to check out the comm's beta list; I adore a good beta experience, as it's detailed critical feedback on a fic, and it comes before posting so I can tweak and fix.

[illuminatius]

Oh, wow, I'm in a newsletter!

I know that getting feedback is basically a privelege, not a right. Still, it plagues me with insecurity when I get so little.

I thought that it was such a short fic that I should bother a beta with it. I'd rather ask a beta to check out a longer fic (like 2500+ words), but then again, that's just me.