the calliope crashed to the ground

[musesfool]

There's been some talk lately about feedback ( here, here, and here), and I keep kicking this post around in my head, debating whether I really want to get into it again or not. Obviously I decided I did, mostly so I could stop thinking about it and go back to thinking about the stories I want to write

Comments

[musesfool]

To me, there is no point to writing if there's not someone to read it.

Well, the thing is, though, that people *are* reading, but the majority of them are just not *saying anything*. For many, many reasons.

Does this mean writing what I think people will want to read? No. I'm not sure I could.

That's pretty much what I'm talking about when I say "writing for feedback" - obviously, your interpretation of the phrase is different, but for me, if that were my main motivation, I don't know if I'd still be writing, given how little feedback I got when I started out.

Even if it's just a handful of people, as it usually is, that's important to me.

I agree with this, but I guess I also have the satisfaction most of the time of also getting a story I want to read out of the deal.

[musesfool]

I wish you could too - it's one of my main satisfactions, especially when stuff I want to read by others is thin on the ground.

But you never know when someone might say something to you - I've gotten a lot of "Oh, you wrote X! I loved that!" comments when I've commented on someone else's story. Which drives me crazy sometimes, because, hi, couldn't you have told me when I posted? but still, it's nice to hear.

[musesfool]

I don't write for feedback, but I'd still like to get it, you know? At least so I know whether people are reading and maybe, hopefully, enjoying whatever I've written.

Right. That's what I'm saying - I like to get it, but I don't think people are obligated to give it, and if it were my sole motivation, I probably would have stopped posting a long time ago. I mean, obviously, I post because I hope people will like the story, but when they don't... after a lot of private whining, I go back to writing and posting.

[musesfool]

Heh. Yeah, I imagine you would be.

[thistlerose]

I write - journal entries, letters, stories - because I need to love. I love it, I need it, I don't remember a time when I didn't do it. (Seriously, I have stories I wrote when I was six or seven. Mostly about ponies.) I write fan fiction mostly for my own enjoyment, partly because...I guess it's like opening a discussion in an entertaining (I hope) manner. This is what I think, and I'd love to know what you think of what I think. I've got this neat idea, let me show it to you! If I didn't think I had an audience, I'd probably keep my fan fiction in my head. Feedback is an affiramtion. It's nice, it lets me know whether or not my interpretation resonates. But as payment? Not so much. Nor should it be.

[musesfool]

If I didn't think I had an audience, I'd probably keep my fan fiction in my head.

I think at a certain point that was true for me, but once I learned there *was* an audience (i.e., fandom), nothing was going to stop me. And pretty much, nothing has. *g*

Feedback is an affiramtion. It's nice, it lets me know whether or not my interpretation resonates. But as payment? Not so much. Nor should it be.

Exactly. Feedback is affirmation, it's encouragement, it makes writers (and often, feedbackers) feel good (and thus, possibly produce more of what particular readers want). But it's not an obligation or a payment, and the idea that some writers think it is bugs me.

Re: Blablablabla!

[musesfool]

I think it's good as well to raise awareness that they FEEDBACK FEELS GOOD AND MOTIVATES CREATORS TO CREATE MORE. I can't tell you how many times I've seen in these discussions people saying, "I used to never comment, but after I started to write/draw/vid/etc, I started to [because I realized what a difference it made."

Oh, I totally agree. And it's also the way to get more of what you want. The way to get people to WRITE MORE X is not to sit around bitching that EVERYBODY'S WRITING Y NOW, it's to encourage the people who do write X and to try and entice the people writing Y around to your end of things, even if it's just for one story.

Because the comments/squee/love/critique/acknowledgement? That's not guaranteed.

Exactly. It's the icing on the cake. It's great icing, and sometimes it's the best part and I wish it were a larger percentage than it is, but I've still got cake without it.

Mmm...cake...

[lapillus]

Yes.

It always makes me sad when I hear folks seeming to base their own worth on externals like how much feedback their creations have gotten. Which isn't to say it isn't good to be excited by extensive feedback or disappointed one's creation hasn't gotten more, but when that becomes what matters most it's trouble.

[musesfool]

*nod*

Believe me, I am as big a whiner as anybody when it comes to this. "But why didn't more people like my story?" "How come they liked her story better?" Wah wah wah. But in the end, I'm like, "Well, screw them, I like my story. And I'm gonna like the next one I'm write, too."