TotalBiscuit leaves Reddit, and has compelling reasons for it.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Cynicalbrit/comments/1xrx27/in_light_of_tb_abandonning_his_own_subreddit/cfe3rgc

This comment is eye-opening, because it seems counter-intuitive to what we authors on FimFiction are encouraged to do by everyone else around us, day in and day out. We avidly search for comments, we constantly strive for likes OR dislikes, we self-promote our stories in a frenzy to get views for our stuff. We are taught by folks around us that these are the rubrics by which our stories are "good" or "bad."

What none of us talk about, and what TotalBiscuit highlights so well in this comment, is that this drive for validation from an audience kills you in the long run. Attempting to bend over backwards to satisfy every whim from every reader or viewer is exhausting, because their opinions and desires are NOT part of creating a work of art. Thus, answering comments, self-promotion, AND taking part in the community are NOT part of actually writing ANYTHING, which means time spent on those activities is time taken away from writing. So, if you want to maintain the same creative output that you had before ON TOP of doing all the ancillary stuff FimFiction asks us writers to do, you have to take MORE time out of other activities in order to do everything.

Eventually, taking part in groups becomes your life. Answering comments on stories becomes your primary means of interaction with other human beings. Slugging it out among all the self-promotion threads becomes your daily exercise. Writing for your audience, even if it is a niche one, becomes the central focus of your existence.

Sure, the above paragraph is extreme, but I guarantee that other FimFiction folks can relate to the emotion it generates.

After considering TB's comment and the implications to FimFiction's community, I came up with some strategies for us to avoid our passion for MLP fan fiction to become an unsustainable chore that we do not want to do anymore. I am sure there are other techniques that could be just as effective, but these are the ones I came up with:

Only read and write stories on the site.

Do not comment. Do not give thumbs up or down on stories, your own or others. Do not read or respond to comments from other users, even if they are beneficial. Do not engage with groups, unless you are stuck on a problem and are trying to find a solution for it.

All of these are distractions from your main purpose: TO WRITE MLP FAN FICTION.

That is your top priority on this site. Anything that assists the writing process is nice, BUT NOT NECESSARY.

Plus, consider the Feature box: does it contain the most-commented stories? Does it contain the stories with the best like/dislike ratio? No. The vast majority of stories that get put in the Featured box have LOTS of views VERY QUICKLY. How can your stories get views? By showing up under "New Stories" or "Latest Updates." How do you get your stories in these sections? BY WRITING THEM, AND A LOT OF THEM!

The more you write, the more often you appear in those sections. The more you write, the greater the chance you get to getting featured. The more you write, the more exposure you get in the long run.

Consider a Blacksmith and his apprentice. How does the Blacksmith train his apprentice?

A.) Has the Apprentice forge something, and then proceeds to criticize his students' work into oblivion.

B.) Has the Apprentice forge something, and tells him "Go forge another one."

Which method has the best results? Which method will cause the student to learn the art of black smithing fastest? The answer is B.), because the Apprentice is ACTUALLY PRACTICING THE ART IN QUESTION. The burnt hand teaches best about fire. To extend the analogy to writing, the best way to learn how to write, IS TO WRITE! The more you write, the better a writer you become!

You don't NEED three thousand self-help threads. You don't NEED a billion reviews of your work. They are nice, BUT ARE UNNECESSARY TO THE ART OF WRITING.

Consider the following situation, again with the Blacksmith/Apprentice analogy:

The Apprentice is struggling to figure out how to craft armor for a horse.

A.) The Blacksmith walks the Apprentice through the process of crafting horse armor before the Apprentice gets the chance to complete a piece of horse armor.

B.) The Blacksmith lets the Apprentice struggle with trying to create the horse armor, and only helps when the Apprentice asks for help.

C.) The Blacksmith lets the Apprentice struggle with trying to create the horse armor, and doesn't help in the slightest. The Apprentice either figures out how to craft the piece, or gives up in frustration.

Both A, B and C have the potential for the Apprentice to learn how to make the armor, but they are vastly different scenarios with several side effects.

A encourages the Apprentice to rely on the Blacksmith's expertise and knowledge to overcome the problem, which does not encourage creativity on the part of the Apprentice. Thus, the Apprentice learns how to craft the armor, but the moment something more complex comes along, and there is no more Blacksmith for whatever reason, the Apprentice is at a disadvantage.

B also encourages the Apprentice to rely on the Blacksmith's expertise, but the Apprentice must try to solve the problem first before turning to the master. Also, the Apprentice must be the one to ask for help, which requires the Apprentice to not only admit that they couldn't do it, but that they want to learn how to do it. This option has the greatest learning potential for the Apprentice, because it exercises their current level of ability, which the Blacksmith can then observe and judge. It allows the Blacksmith to study the Apprentice and tailor future lessons around the Apprentice's unique flaws and strengths, and allows the Apprentice to learn their strengths and weaknesses as well.

C leaves the Apprentice high and dry, and gives them a choice: persevere and succeed, or give up and fail. This can be seen as a test from the Blacksmith to see if the Apprentice is ready to advance to a higher stage of training. Those who fail are not worthy to advance to the next stage, and vice versa.

All options have their place, but notice something: AT NO POINT IN ANY OF THESE OPTIONS IS IT REQUIRED FOR EITHER THE BLACKSMITH OR THE APPRENTICE TO HAVE AN AUDIENCE.

Learning the art of writing does not require feedback, reviews, comments, likes OR dislikes. All it requires is a passion for the art and a desire to learn it. Is feedback, reviews, comments, likes or dislikes nice? Sure, but in no way are they necessary. In fact, dealing with all those extra features and stuff can distract them from the problem that they got stuck on in the first place.

The only benefit I can see from all the extra features is that it has the potential to be a source for help, which can relieve stress and frustration and allow you to get better at writing. However, it is better to seek help AFTER trying to solve the problem than seeking help the moment the problem appears, because the experience of trying to solve it yourself is the most rewarding method of learning the solution.

In short, if you get stuck on something, try to figure out a solution on your own. Once you reach your limit of healthy frustration and start getting mad, THEN seek help. Once again, this requires LOTS AND LOTS OF WRITING.

Do not be afraid to have multiple drafts; the quality of the end product is more than worth the frustration of a thousand failed attempts. Persevere, learn, analyze, get creative, just DO SOMETHING FOR CELESTIA'S SAKE!

"If at first you don't succeed, try try again" should be your mantra. That should be the code by which you govern your artistic pursuit, even if it is just a hobby. Keep trying, keep moving forward, keep iterating until you reach a solution.

Unsolicited opinions or reviews are distractions and potentially depressing, because there are individuals out there who will abuse their free will to say whatever they want, ESPECIALLY on the Internet. They have every right to put out a three page essay on why your main character is a Mary Sue, or simply say "Your story sucks, go die in a fire." There is nothing an author can do about that. There is no defense strong enough to combat these abusive haters and trolls; bans and post deletions are reactive, NOT proactive, which means that even the best mods in the world cannot protect you. Sure, "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" is truth, but that fails when one is up agains the SHEER NUMBER of people on the Internet who take part in this hate-filled activity.

It is bullying that is protected by law, because it is considered "free speech." When faced with something like THAT, is it even POSSIBLE to engage with people in a way that avoids the negative aspect of the above problem from whatever angle of attack that may exist?

There is no way to avoid it. Not the way basic human nature is set up. Which sucks when you think about it.

If you end up destroying your own life just to gain a loyal audience that MIGHT protect you from the cyber bullies, if you end up twisting and churning your stories into something that disgusts you just because your audience thinks that is better than your own original ideas, if you spend all your time out-promoting your stories above all the other self-promoters... are you writing?

Are you learning the art of writing?

Are you learning it in the best way possible?

Are you leading a balanced life that retains your well-being and health?

Are you better off?

The answer, as far as I can tell, is "no" for all these questions, with regards to the environment on FimFiction. All the extra features have their place, but they are only there if you feel like you need them. At the end of the day, you DON'T need them. You can learn and discover the joy of writing without an audience. You can perfect your literary skills without a 9:1 like:dislike ratio. You can enjoy yourself without 500+ comments that are some variant of "Awesome, MOAR" or "Ugh, wtf is this ****?!?!"

Your health and physical well-being are more important than having an audience, and having an audience is no accomplishment if it comes at the cost of your health and physical well-being. Your mental and spiritual health is very closely tied with your physical health as well, which means that affects in a spiritual/mental area of life translate to an affect on your physical body, and vice versa.

Let us get off the self-promotion kick and get to actual writing. Let us move away from agonizing over likes/dislikes and use the groups as a resource to get better at writing. Let us step away from feeling the need to blog/comment/review, and get to working through problems on our own writing attempts.

Abandon the idea of an audience. Do not make likes/dislikes your goal. Do not follow unsolicited advice or reviews. Ask for help AFTER you try to solve a problem, NOT BEFORE. Ignore the comments section, unless there are other circumstances at play (someone posts a NSFW image) BUT ONLY IF IT IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.

Your skin is not thick enough to deal with the bullies. Nobody's skin is thick enough. The only way to deal with it and retain good overall health is by refusing to engage with it, as much as you can. Ask for criticism from people you trust to respect your rights as a human being, do not listen to people who do not respect your right to ignore unsolicited critiques or opinions because YOU DO HAVE THAT RIGHT. You, too, have free will. If others choose to spend their free will to make your life a living hell, then shut the door in their face, plug your ears, back away from your computer and act like they cannot talk to you. Distance plus time causes the fire to burn to embers, and eventually ashes.

It's not the best option. But with how the Internet, and, sadly, FimFiction is structured, it's our only defense. It sucks, but it is true.

I knew this post would end on a downer note, so once again, I must reiterate:

Write, write some more, do a little writing over here, there, everywhere you can, make all requests focused on writing, and so on and so forth. The purpose of this site is to allow people to write their stories, and learn what it means to be a writer through the framework of MLP fan fiction. Use it for that. Do not use it to build an audience, because that leads to far more pain in the long run than anybody can handle. Including you. No one is immune from it. So leave the bad stuff alone as much as you can, and move forward with your own stuff. Deal with the haters only if there is a clear and logical reason for doing so (and "proving them wrong" is neither clear nor logical. A clear and logical reason would be reporting them for making a death threat, even if it may be just a joke, just as an example).

I pray for your success, and your safety. I pray that you learn what it means to be a creator of something. I pray that you refine your creative skills and use them to create a masterpiece.

I pray that the haters, trolls and cyber bullies realize that their destructive actions do have a consequence for everyone including themselves, even if it is just for a joke and not purposefully (in terms of criminal offenses, committing a crime without meaning to commit it is "negligence." It is not a full defense against persecution. Those who troll would do well to remember that fact). I pray that they reflect back on what they did and ask, "Was that really the right thing to do?"

I pray that a better solution to this whole dilemma is found, and that humanity finds it sooner rather than later.

*DEEP BREATH*

Alright, let's get back to writing!

Sincerely,

Mr. Album