Mar
31st
2013
Sometimes I ask myself, "Why the fuck do I even bother?" · 8:27pm Mar 31st, 2013
I spend a year and a half pouring my heart and soul into a novel that I publish here and on EqD. Nearly two months after its final update, it still has yet to climb over a thousand views. I spend a month drafting, rewriting, and perfecting a short story--that received an almost perfect score in a second-year fiction writing course--and it has 30 views as of writing this.
I spend a week or less writing clopfics that have joke premises and heavily abused puns and aliteration, where I'm just playing around. 2,400, 5,500, 7,400, and 8,100 views or more.
Why do I bother? Seriously, why?
P.S. Here's a picture of what my professor's feedback.
I know how you feel man.
At least this story has put me on track to earn a solid A+ and 4.33 Grade Points in University writing.
Its the internet man. I really hate to say it but porns always going to win over art. And its fucking sad.
I'm seriously starting to lose hope on the human race.
961692
Guys like you always make me less sad in situations like these. Thank you!
That is pretty epic how you sent one of your stories for a project. And on top of that, you got an A
But seriously it sucks that your stories that you actually try on don't get that much recognition as "lol-clop-romance-clop-random secks" .....Also, I think it hurts your identity too. For example, you made a story that is clop related, and like you said, it is a hit. You have attention-- as a clop-fic writer....Then you try to make A STORY (no sex) and no one (or at least not that many) is interested. It seems (most of) the people that watched you, likes you for well...those "other" stories... Like someone else said its the internet. Porn/sex get attention 1000% more than real stories.....
Then again I'm just talking out my ass I don't know....I for one, will continue to read whatever you put GaryOak. For reelz.
961692 961696 This is actually a comment from another story's comment section, but I feel it can apply in a justified manner. It's also four weeks old, but still, its applications make it noteworthy.
This comment was posted by 'Shader', on the comments of the story "The Benefits of Princesshood", written by darf. Going to see the comment itself will reveal that it's actually a response to a statement made by two other commenters, who claimed that the most popular genre on this site, and arguably this fandom, is clop.
With this comment in mind, 'Comedy and Romance are far more popular and numerous', take into consideration, your own story's tags. 'Dark'? Well, it's another 4 right there... but 'Tragedy'?
Not one story of Tragedy.
I won't justify this statement with proof, but perhaps one can argue that people come here, to this site, to have a good time. Tragic, dark stories are not the best course of action to take, if one seeks to enjoy themselves. I hate to justify this (seriously, you have no idea how much typing this makes me want to bend my fingers back and break them off by force, knowing what it indirectly MIGHT imply), but even the Twilight novels qualify as 'romance'.
To be a successful author, one needs to be in touch with the general populous. 'What's the best trends?' 'What do people want to read?', and finally, 'How good are my stories?'.
Your stories, WHEN you don't take them seriously, are good enough to warrant positive reactions, but the way they're written is 'trollishly comedic': That's something people love. It's not just the clop, Gary, it's the style it's in. Project: Write some tragic clop and see how it comes out.
You can be a god in writing, GaryOak, a veritable GOD... but at the end of the day, you need to be sure to keep your audience in mind. What following do you want, versus what following is likely to show.
961793
Tragedy and Comedy are teh bestest storiez.
961804 And so, some of our beliefs in society have been renewed. Tragedy IS fantastic, but if you wanna feel good at the end of reading, what'll you go to? Tragedy or Comedy?
... Don't answer with 'clop'. That a whooole 'nother kind of 'feeling', right there.
I know exactly how it is, man. I write a 350-page epic and get 5 people giving a shit. I delve into an AU of an AU, writing the story I want to write, and get zippo feedback. I throw together an idea I barely care about (at first) and get rave reviews. The world is not a logical or fair place.
I'm currently working on the only story I have so far, and it's a Human x Fleur romance. There's no clop as of yet, and the ratings for it are doing quite well. So that just goes to prove what 961793
said about clop not being as popular. Granted, it's still probably favored, but I do agree that romance stories seem to be the go-to for most readers here. That and adventure stories.
I suppose it's the most random or stupid ideas that attract people. I guess a lot of people come here to escape from reality and like short little nosense clopfics because that's just how they roll.
I've mentioned it earlier, but it doesn't hurt to say it again: Repercussions and The Sundering, for their own reasons, sadly can't be done justice in the description, which in my opinion is REALLY important. Some stories find it harder to entice someone with a paragraph than others, but that just means thinking outside the box. A great example of this is Background Pony:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/19198/background-pony
Background Pony is a magnificent story that is completely and utterly impossible to describe in a traditional blurb format. But by quoting a paragraph from the novel (One that I firmly believe was stuck there specifically for that purpose, as it seems a bit weird in the actual novel.) you can suddenly see the appeal in the story, as it's themes and unusual prose are shown in a single paragraph.
As a writer with much more skill than myself, I'm sure you know about the concept of pulling a reader in with the first sentence. Well on Fimfiction, that description (Short or long, both matter) is that first sentence. I apologise if I'm just telling you obvious shit, but if you know this already, it should only be mildly annoying, but if you don't it might help a great deal.
I'll try and name a couple of explanations for the lack of views.
1. You posted your magnum opus when you had very few watchers. That means it would get relatively little views. This is (IIRC) one of the reasons SS&E took a hiatus from End of Ponies--now he has the follower count to garner the most attention to his fic.
2. A great deal of your watchers followed you for the clop that you write. I've noticed that those people generally would not read your "serious" stories.
3. The descriptions, as Salivanth noted, do not do the stories justice. They simply do not grab enough attention.
3.5. The Sundering is marked as 'Tragedy.' You've instantly lost many potential viewers. In fact, if you look at the 'Hot' section under tragedy, The Sundering is actually at the top of the list. There are 3 popular stories on that list. One has a sex tag and the other two have long, in-depth descriptions that really cement what the story will be about.
Here are some thoughts from bookplayer and Blueshift about making stories popular.
The reason I looked it over and didn't read it was because of the 150,000 word count. That's really a very shallow reason to not read a story, but I simply don't have the time to read what is essentially a novel.
Complaining about how few views you have doesn't solve much, though. Go ask people what they think of it. You're a good writer, but writing about how much you deserve recognition doesn't do you any favors.
Thanks for being so nice and supportive overall, guys. It really does mean a lot; I showed a moment of weakness by writing this by letting bullshit get to me. It happens to the worst of us.
961789>>962119
Thanks, guys.
964708
Of course, all are fair points. I just felt the need to vent, so I (un)wisely did so. My problem is that I hold myself to high standards; I'm the guy in your class who'll be bummed that he got an A instead of an A+ on a project.
963410
These are pretty interesting. I'll look at them in-depth tomorrow when my head is clear. Thank you very much.
964107
I'm inclined to agree. My biggest regret is being unable to delete Repercussions and repost it now.