(Without an existing fanbase/audience to rally around it, I daresay it would be frustrating anyway.)
Yeah, that's the primary barrier. And between three fics that for some reason I decided was a good idea to be working on/posting concurrently... as it is there have lately been days where I've been writing since getting off school and suddenly I realize it's 11:34 and something is due tomorrow and I forgot to eat but I also forgot to go shopping but all I want to do is keep writing...
(I really DO NOT think the human brain was meant to handle this amount of information at the speed we're trying to do so. No wonder ADD is becoming so pervasive...)
I honestly think you're right. I feel like I'm living in a world of over-saturation, but all the colors bleed away and get replaced by something new everytime I try to look at them. And the internet is such a good visual metaphor for it, when you can just watch the update count climb, when you can barely finish reading a meme before it gets buried under a hundred more. And it's hard because I want to focus (which is probably why I like single-focus activities that take massive amounts of time, like writing and art), but the world is always pulling me in a dozen different directions between my likes and classes and other people and other activities/obligations. It just doesn't feel like a healthy mindset or way to live, but short of becoming a hermit, it doesn't seem like there's much of a way to simplify.
There have been times when I've read a fanfic and not really wanted or had time to do a review but wanted to let the author know I've read it, and wished there was a "like" function as with Facebook.
I can get that, but just back in '09 it feels like the amount of lurkers/subbers and the amount of reviewers was a lot closer together. I'm kind of glad there isn't a like function, because I feel like that'd make it even easier for people not to say anything.
she's gotten some very good numbers re: readers there
Yeah, I mean, actual view count is great on the site (and, yes, I am talking about fanfiction.net), but review count is terrible. I think one of the primary problems with that site is it doesn't encourage discussion at all, since the reply system is awful. And you're right that the vast majority of the stuff posted there is beyond terrible, but I have found the rare and occasional gem there. But, I mean, I got 2.2k views yesterday, between a drabble I'd posted a few hours to midnight and then an update to the longfic (this is for Castle), and I think somewhere around 30+ new subscriptions, but very little actual written response. Maybe I'm focusing on the wrong thing? I dunno, it's just kind of frustrating, since feedback is the only way we get paid for our time. One PM I got yesterday meant more to me than seeing how many people were reading, if that makes sense.
...to having a desktop, a laptop and her ipod is her CONSTANT companion.
A pattern that's becoming increasingly pervasive. See: my grandmother.
More activity, more people discovering the fandom, but more anger and arguing as well. (And the revival of the shipper wars oh hurray everyone really wanted that, didn't they? */end sarcasm*)
Oh, no, you're completely right. And I've ranted for hours about the horrors/annoyances of fandom and the people it attracts (oh god, fluffernutter shippers, why?), but the lack of centralized forum and places to find people who care about the same crap you do is frustrating. But I am glad for your optimism, that fandom is resting rather than dying. I hope we do see a resurgence, that we'll see people deciding they'd prefer actual discussion over slapping impact font on a screencap... that'd be great, even if it'd also be pretty awful (fannits and stupid arguments that always seem to fall six hundred yards short of the point...).
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2013-10-07 07:30 pm (UTC)Yeah, that's the primary barrier. And between three fics that for some reason I decided was a good idea to be working on/posting concurrently... as it is there have lately been days where I've been writing since getting off school and suddenly I realize it's 11:34 and something is due tomorrow and I forgot to eat but I also forgot to go shopping but all I want to do is keep writing...
(I really DO NOT think the human brain was meant to handle this amount of information at the speed we're trying to do so. No wonder ADD is becoming so pervasive...)
I honestly think you're right. I feel like I'm living in a world of over-saturation, but all the colors bleed away and get replaced by something new everytime I try to look at them. And the internet is such a good visual metaphor for it, when you can just watch the update count climb, when you can barely finish reading a meme before it gets buried under a hundred more. And it's hard because I want to focus (which is probably why I like single-focus activities that take massive amounts of time, like writing and art), but the world is always pulling me in a dozen different directions between my likes and classes and other people and other activities/obligations. It just doesn't feel like a healthy mindset or way to live, but short of becoming a hermit, it doesn't seem like there's much of a way to simplify.
There have been times when I've read a fanfic and not really wanted or had time to do a review but wanted to let the author know I've read it, and wished there was a "like" function as with Facebook.
I can get that, but just back in '09 it feels like the amount of lurkers/subbers and the amount of reviewers was a lot closer together. I'm kind of glad there isn't a like function, because I feel like that'd make it even easier for people not to say anything.
she's gotten some very good numbers re: readers there
Yeah, I mean, actual view count is great on the site (and, yes, I am talking about fanfiction.net), but review count is terrible. I think one of the primary problems with that site is it doesn't encourage discussion at all, since the reply system is awful. And you're right that the vast majority of the stuff posted there is beyond terrible, but I have found the rare and occasional gem there.
But, I mean, I got 2.2k views yesterday, between a drabble I'd posted a few hours to midnight and then an update to the longfic (this is for Castle), and I think somewhere around 30+ new subscriptions, but very little actual written response. Maybe I'm focusing on the wrong thing? I dunno, it's just kind of frustrating, since feedback is the only way we get paid for our time. One PM I got yesterday meant more to me than seeing how many people were reading, if that makes sense.
...to having a desktop, a laptop and her ipod is her CONSTANT companion.
A pattern that's becoming increasingly pervasive. See: my grandmother.
More activity, more people discovering the fandom, but more anger and arguing as well. (And the revival of the shipper wars oh hurray everyone really wanted that, didn't they? */end sarcasm*)
Oh, no, you're completely right. And I've ranted for hours about the horrors/annoyances of fandom and the people it attracts (oh god, fluffernutter shippers, why?), but the lack of centralized forum and places to find people who care about the same crap you do is frustrating. But I am glad for your optimism, that fandom is resting rather than dying. I hope we do see a resurgence, that we'll see people deciding they'd prefer actual discussion over slapping impact font on a screencap... that'd be great, even if it'd also be pretty awful (fannits and stupid arguments that always seem to fall six hundred yards short of the point...).