Hey all my readers

[velvet_mace]

I love you all, you are so wonderful and patient with me and my slooow updating. You've put up with my errors and lack of brit picking. And you've left me such wonderful comments, I just can't explain how happy as a writer you've made me feel

Comments

[ambikai]

Velvet - never stop. I have to say everything you've written I feel is a given. Also when the author starts bending to the expectations to the reader the fic falls apart so thank you for sticking to your guns.

(cue obligatory I NEED MORE)

Good luck with the rest of the writing process :)

[velvet_mace]

Thank you! I think it's less of me sticking to my guns than it is me knowing my limits as a writer. Some things that might seem to a reader to be superficial are in fact integral -- say for example having an ambiguous, non-judgemental attitude towards the backgrounds I create.

[eightnoon]

As you are someone who writes my kinks and writes them well, I'm very glad you have no intention of changing what you write. I've always found you to be very receptive to comments and concrit so I always feel like I can be direct without upsetting you (not that I write much aside from praise).

On a slightly different note, you seem to be able to decipher my comments which are riddled with typos and missing words quite well. I'm always impressed. haha!

[velvet_mace]

It's not just that I have no intention of changing what I write -- I simply can't. I have to write the story that appeals to me and hope that it appeals to other people, too. And the way I write doesn't have a lot of plot wiggle-room. I'm not one of these people who plots as they go -- I know my whole story before I write the first word, that's how I can seed elements for the solution along the way.

So if someone says they can't possibly enjoy the story as written -- I literally can't do anything about that.

[mushroom18]

Just wanted to say that yes, I also thought this was a given and that I really like your writing. Even if they take me to a dark place, the world building is just so fascinating for me, and no, I haven't been upset at all because the warnings are very apt. :)

I know how it feels to make someone upset and you're right, they should just stop reading it through. :)

[velvet_mace]

I think it's a given for most people. But I also think that people get wrapped up in rules and expectations. Like they owe it to me to stick it through, even if they aren't liking the story or something like that.

I love to world build, but not all worlds are going to suit everyone's fancy. And my worlds tend to have a strong dystopian element to them -- because that's what floats my boat.

[carnivalwheel]

I don't know who has been bothering you but they deserve a swift kick in the pants.

I was pretty sure that all of this was a given like most people that have commented. I was pretty sure it was a given for all writers/fandoms.

Honestly, if you're complaining about another writer's story arc or the kinks or basically whatever you have a problem with, that person needs a reality check. If they have a problem with it, then they should write what they want and not complaint to a writer about what they want and what they would enjoy.

A writer writes what they want and you have every right to make them talk to your hand.

Also, I'm still working my way through your fic, but you're my first rec when anyone asks for Sherlock fic to read. Most of your kinks (that I know of) are my kinks too and I can't express how much I love your writing and world building, and everytime you update I get excited.

I'm sorry, this comment sucks. *kicks comment*

[velvet_mace]

Oh, it's not one person. It's a number of comments over months. And it's pretty innocent. It's just the implication that I can somehow do something to make the situation better that has me feeling uncomfortable.

People get wound up and vent. But at the end of the day, I guess I am a human being and not a fic writing machine. I'm starting to feel in an uncomfortable with the responsibility to keep my readers happy.

[alltoseek]

If you're including some of the comments/debates inspired by Collared, then I'm one of the guilty parties (my icon came from something I said in a comment to Collared) - but that's a point to you as a good writer, not something to take in a negative way. Your world-building is well-done and characterisation very good, so people just get sucked right in and so naturally feel all the emotions. All of them. Not just happy kinky ones, but the negative ones that your characters (well, John :-) often feel - trapped, despairing, etc. (which perhaps will include physically nauseated now that he's pregnant, too :-) That we identify with him strongly enough to feel some of what he's feeling in your fics means that you are a good writer and engaging your audience

[velvet_mace]

I don't know if you were one of the people or not. I guess I just need to know that it's alright with you to feel these feelings. Sometimes I don't know. I mean, if someone wants to hurt so good I'm not going to get in the way of that, LOL.

But sometimes, I just can't tell that's what's going on at all. It's treading close to an accusation that my writing is traumatising my reader, and I'm honestly not sure what to do with that. And some of it has been close to "I love this, but if you continue on with what you've planned, I will be furious with you."

This isn't one comment by any means, it's a whole range.

[alltoseek]

There is a strong contingent of people who really feel entitled (?) to a happy ending. Or really need one. So they don't mind the misery along the way, as longs as everything turns out OK. And they can have different definitions of "everything" and of "OK".

So yeah, comments like 'If you keep going the way I think you might be going and don't make it all sunshine and rainbows for me at the end I'm gonna be mad at you' are kinda off-putting. In the world of fiction, including fanfiction, you're not guaranteed a happy ending. And you can't blame the author. That's life.

Me, I'm just along for the ride. It's your story - follow your muse to the depths of hell if that's where she's taking you!