). I want to tell you all about where I've been, what I've been up to, and share my journey with you guys. You were all around for some of the best times, and I felt it's only right to open back up again andThe Ultimate Question · 10:17am Mar 5th, 2013
Because I received a couple of these, and I felt this question merited its own blog entry for what I expect will be a long response. Quite possibly my favorite question I received to date:
Q: Why don't you care about becoming popular/your stories becoming famous or discovered?
A: Simply put: I didn't come here for fame. I came here to write.
More deeply answered, I never joined the fandom expecting to become anything significant. I didn't join FiMFiction with the intention of becoming the next SleeplessBrony or JakeHeritagu or emkajii. In a fandom of thousands if not millions of individuals, I knew I'd probably never stand out. Even with the fanfiction segment of the fandom being the minority, I knew I'd have to strike a real diamond in the rough to get any sort of popularity. The odds were always against me, and are always against everyone whose name isn't up in lights or sprawled across the walls of Equestria Daily.
This isn't my first dance with fanfiction. I've had my fifteen minutes of fame before. It's great, it really is - but I was never actively hunting it down. To me, becoming popular and renown is fantastic, and I would happily take it if I earned it. But it has to come from something I enjoyed doing. I wouldn't conform to what was already popular. I wouldn't 'whore out' my talents just for a glimpse at the spotlight. I wanted to write what I loved, and what truly came to me and inspired me. In my heart and mind, that makes for a better story than any amounts of likes, favorites, or views.
Is fame nice? Oh yes.
Would I like it? You bet I would.
But would I do whatever it took to get it, writing what was the flavor du jour even if I didn't like it?
Not a chance.
I like writing for me, and for the people who like reading what I produce. If I happen to come across that diamond in the rough, then lucky me! But if I wasn't putting myself in it, then what was the point? What sort of story is that telling? What message am I sending? That popularity is more valuable than how you feel about your own work?
Am I saying fame and popularity are bad and we shouldn't aspire for it? No, of course not! But we should remember that every rose has its thorns...
Fame builds attention, though, and attention begets expectations. With expectations comes pressure. And add that all on top of the pressure already coming with writing original stories and coming up with compelling works of literature, it's difficult to handle at times. I'm not saying it's impossible to do, but it does get difficult. It put me through some rough patches before. You subconsciously get this desire to try and please every reader, even though that's an impossibility. Someone will ALWAYS be against what you write, no matter what. Under the stress of hundreds of people watching every move you make - every word you write - it can be intimidating. I've handled it before, but it isn't always the most pleasant experience being any degree of popular.
I love what I do. I love that people love what I do. To me, if even only one person reads what I wrote, then I've done my job. And if that never gets me any attention, then so be it. I made that choice to be happy with myself long ago.
So to those readers and viewers who stick by what I do, I deeply thank every single one of you. I love you all, and your support keeps me motivated to not only write, but to put even the most obscure, undiscovered work out there and not be afraid of the response it may never get.
Thank you, everyone.
-- DQ
I don't what become famous either. Fame sucks. I just want a good amount of people to read my story.
Finally, someone who shares my point of view.
Seriously, there are so many people on this site that are just begging for the feature box.
I don't have to take the Fame, but I will come with you and watch you take it...
I know that stress, trying to impress everybody.
I've seen other fics get blasted for certain things and I take notes so I avoid that. What's the matter with that?
...Well, maybe I take TOO MANY notes, even if there is only one complainer or if the issue is trivial. But I have come up with a formula to stop this.
It is a simple one as I am a simple person and by NO MEANS a literal genius or talent like this fandom has. I know for a fact that while the more popular fic writers are a 7.62mm, that I am only rocking a 5.56mm when it comes to writing skill. But I am okay with this.
And do you know why?
Of course you don't!
I haven't even told you yet!
But seriously, this is my philosophy. (I needed spellchecker for that word!)
.
The story is not worth writing if it doesn't please both you and your readers. If you don't enjoy writing it, there is no point. If none of your readers enjoy it, again, there is no point.
If you are successful at pleasing both parties with your writing, you have accomplished your mission as a writer.
Period.
This doesn't mean sit on your winnings and not improve, but if you accomplish this standard, you are victorious nonetheless.
I write to entertain myself with my own world of Equestria and I hope that others will enjoy it too. (Even though I strive for this as every writer should) I DO NOT try to force myself to become a literary genius or a "God of Writing" like everyone wants (myself included) but instead I write to entertain.
I am no fic messiah, I am no famous titan. I am Silverstein the Entertainer. I write to please both self and reader, I HAVE NO other goals. I have ambitions of becoming famous yes, but I do not let that control my writing. I am a simple-minded person, and this is my way of simplifying things.
Improvement is merely a required tool to please.
"Only when you realize the fact that you are already dead, can you function like a true soldier."
--?
I heard that somewhere...
Silver out!
D'wwwaaa! Well your welcome!
Personally if I could get a story down and have the same small amount of viewers but happy viewers I'd be happy... of course that involves me... you know... actually writing.
As for whoring yourself out... well I don't know about you... but I'D TOTALLY do it!
...no but really I guess it depends on what you mean by "whoring yourself out." Like trying to do a story that's likely to get popular simply because it has a few certain tags? ...well I'd do it... if I felt like I had a good story to tell and wanted to do it. However, I'm guessing the idea you were going with was doing a story a certain way that you really don't care about for the sole purpose of getting views... in that case... yeah well to the person that does that... good luck and have fun. I'd guess that they'll burn out in less than a year.
And as for attention... yeah it doesn't really worry me that much... that said I AM an actor....... sooooooo having hundreds of people watching me as I stand on stage and sing a fething confusing song with a harmony that makes no sense but still somehow works, and I have to remember to cut off in between at a few points because it's actually a letter that I'm singing and theirs stuff going on that the audience has to see what else is going on stage before jumping back to me and then I have to [pony censor]ing pick the song back up from where I left off........ I'm sorry I feel like I might have been repressing that for a while now...
....I think my point was... bring on the attention? ...I'm not sure I kinda lost myself in my rant of... well whatever it was a rant of. 
891003
And Silverstein has just successfully summed up my entire rant into a beautiful little bite-sized nugget! Thank you, my friend!
Also, the NATO reference was very much appreciated
893631
By "whoring out your talents", what I meant was, and I suppose I should have specified this, writing for the sole sake of making people notice you. You don't give a crap about what it is you're writing, as long as it's what people like and it'll get you views. Like me, yeah, I write for people to read it and garner views, but I like what I'm doing.
If, say, tomorrow, graphic CMC rape fics become the avant-garde, and everyone starts writing them because they're popular and they want attention, am I going to jump on that because I like being popular and I want the views? Will I write something I really don't care about one way or another for the attention or to get my name in the Feature Box? No. Because then I'm not really putting myself into the writing. You can tell when this is done, because the story will come out bland, dry, and just dull to read. But the sad thing is, those fics will get the attention, because they appeal to the pop culture of the day.
And yeah, attention is good, but I've seen writers both crack under the stress and get their egos inflated to the size of blimps because of it. Fame is good, but it comes with a price. You always have to walk the razor's edge between pressure and pride. As long as you can maintain a sense of yourself, fame will just be a light illuminating your way instead of blinding you.
... And that's all I have to say about that.
Also, I had no idea you were an actor!
-- DQ
893694 I figured that's what you meant but I figured I'd put my own bit down as clarification.
But yeah... an actor... and trying to be a writer, but... well I feel like before I really call myself that I need to get more stuff down on paper and farther along in my writing before I start calling myself that. 
And oh... yeah I guess my bio IS kinda... lacking... in everything...