I was thinking...
23 January 2004 01:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
leethet...as I am wont to do, about fanfic and response, and it occurs to me ... am I the only one who finds that the strongest responses do not come for the fics I think are best? There seems to be no correlation between my favorites of my own stuff and readers' favorites (if one can assume based on locs). Do other fanfic writers find that to be the case?
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Date: 23 January 2004 01:45 pm (UTC)With mine I think some of it may come down to how my lesser fics are done with a slightly greater air of fun, the prose may be a bit jerky in places and it might not make any deep insights, but it's quick and easy to read and not at all demanding on the reader.
The ones I struggle and believe I've gotten, more or less, right, don't always seem to be understood the way I intended. I love the idea of reader-response and how everyone reads everything differently, but it does sometimes worry me when no-one even vaguely seems to get what I was going for in the first case. I makes me wonder just exactly how bad and obscure this fic, that I thought decent enough, really is.
Other than that it's the most dramatic, sexual, and over-the-top stuff that gets the good reviews, not the quiet, contemplative interludes.
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Date: 23 January 2004 02:54 pm (UTC)I think you've hit the nail on the head with this one. I always get more responses from my PWP's than I do my novellas. It's frustrating, but something I've come to accept.
Also, I think that in people are intimidated by long, or complex stories and by the time they finish one, they don't know what to say. There's too many things to comment on, so instead they say nothing. I've had people tell me this, at least: "Oh, I would have LoC'd you but the story deserved more of a response than I felt like I could put together." I guess they don't realize that just knowing that someone even read it would be enough. I'd even take negative feedback over none at all.
Hm...
Date: 23 January 2004 07:04 pm (UTC)I think you've hit something here that makes sense to me. Your lighter fics are perhaps easy pleasures, something that makes a reader grin and hit that reply button (whatever that process may be that generates an loc). But with your longer more complex stuff, readers don't feel a strong and instant response -- or perhaps not a clear response, anyway -- and if one is muddle about a story one is probably less likely to repond to the author. One's less likely to send a note saying "Um...I'm not sure if I understood this and I'm not even sure if I liked it" than one is to send one saying "You made me laugh! Great story!"
So...yeah...hm...
Of course, it's also possible that writer satisfaction will never correlate with reader satisfaction, even though I'm thinking "yeah, good read" the reader may be bored simply because they're not me.
Or we may have a totally wrong view of our stuff and the ones we think are best simply suck. ;)
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Date: 23 January 2004 08:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 23 January 2004 10:44 pm (UTC)Yes and no. Di makes a good point that on the internet, short, sexy (but lightly so) and/or amusing draws the most feedback. I've been thinking about this lately and I'm not sure why. The most feedback online I've ever received was for a story called "The Lottery" which was light and breezy and many readers apparently identified with the OC. I was actually surprised because OCs are not generally welcome.
However, I've had a few similar experiences in print, too. Once, two stories of mine were nominated for a FanQ, and I would not have picked the one that won over the other. [shrug]
On the other hand, usually my beta readers are in sync with my perspective. Of course, I sometimes match a beta reader to a particular story so that's not surprising.
Feedback is a funny thing. My usual response is simply to be grateful. :)