A penny for your thoughts · 9:26am Jun 26th, 2014
Okay, so I figured I'd "test the waters here" a little and write a "proper" blog post this time, instead of just putting up another ad for my latest work. In retrospect, I find the latter behavior particularly silly, since 90% of the people who would see such things would be my followers, and as far as I know, those people already get a separate notification whenever I release a new story anyway.
All that said, I suppose some of you may have guessed based on my lack of any "real blogging" that it's not exactly my sort of thing. My philosophy is that, on a site such as this one (i.e focused on writing MLP fanfiction and not blogging), since it was the site's main content that gathered their audience in the first place, the respectful thing that an artist can do toward them in return is to focus on actually working and releasing new material, and not waste their time with all sorts of personal nonsense. Discussions, rants, analyses, small talk in general: that stuff should be reserved for the forums and specialized groups that deal with such content. To put it more bluntly: if someone decided to follow me for my writing skill when it came to a certain story of mine, then why the hell would I consider trying to entertain them afterward with some random gibberish about a movie that I just saw or whatever? I get that it can be very satisfying to get other people to debate a certain subject with you (or just hear them blindly agree with you), but that kind of stuff was never what got their attention in the first place, and it is disrespectful to waste their time with irrelevant content.
Don't get me wrong: I have nothing against someone running a blog besides having an established fanbase for some other kind of work that they do. The only issue I have is that these two should be very clearly separated from each other. In other words: your fanfic-fanbase should not become your "pedestal" upon which you can then go and bore the rest of the world with all the stuff you never got to share before. Even if it's interesting, it's simply irrelevant next to the rest of your work.
However, having declared all of the above, I would now become a massive hypocrite if I left you all on that note, therefore I must amend that opinion with a different approach: while it's true that the audience is, above all, interested in the artist's work, it is equally important for the artists to communicate with their audiences in order to maintain a close relationship. I might come across as a very "mysterious" being if all I did was released a few stories every now and then, each one more complex than the last one, and never once said a word, so everyone could only guess what sort of person is behind all that work. For all I know, they might think I'm some unthinking, unfeeling robot in a forgotten room somewhere, spewing forth a mountain of words whenever some random sequence reaches a certain point. But the "mystery" hardly makes up for the lack of any kind of bond. As far as I can tell, people tend to prefer "flesh and blood" when faced with someone they wish to contact, and the blog, in a way, serves the purpose of revealing just enough so you can tell that the being behind it is human.
I don't know how many of my followers (and site users in general) will end up reading this, let alone care about it, but I figured it was time to stop the "not caring" on my end at the very least. From now on, whenever I find the time and happen to be in the right mindset, I'll try to keep you all entertained with other kinds of written content than just the silly prose I put out there from time to time...
With that out of the way, I suppose this subject could be an excellent starting point: what do you all think about "artist blogging"? Should an artist be 100% focused on their work and keep their other "ambitions" elsewhere, or is it fine if they exploit their newfound fame to talk about whatever they want?
Thank you for your attention, and have a nice day!
- DA
PS: Plugging latest story anyway because I want you all to read it... 
Hmm - this was an intriguing read...you think I do that kind of stuff?
In my experiences, it's the exact opposite on this site.
2235516
The vast majority of the "buzz" on the site is around stories, unless we take specific cases where one happens to actually blog more than they write...
2235500
Nah. This isn't aimed at anyone in specific, just an observation of mine in general...
Although that last YT-related post of yours...
2235594
Yeah, dude. I did, but it was history man...
Hey, could you tell me honestly...about that story I posted a few days ago that if it's so bad that no one could read it, or that people won't appreciate in general? Because I'm just wondering, I did some re-edits on it, and uh yeah. It WOULD be SUPER!!!! Beneficial if you could look it over for me, please?!?!
2235594
I write more than I blog.
I just tend to sit on the finished product, deleting and rewriting it, until I become bored of doing so, as ultimately, my readers are mostly just my blog followers. Which, in turn, are generally not massively interested in my writing.
2235599
I hope you didn't assume this blog post was aimed at you, by the way. I'm thinking more along the lines of some of the "biggest names" on the site (though I won't name any) that seem to feel the need to share all sorts of content completely unrelated to their own work (no matter how hard they try to convince me otherwise) instead of putting out actual work.
If someone does it precisely because blogging generates a greater response, then that's different. In that case, I only find it strange that they'd choose FimFic as the place to do it...
2235610
I didn't.
I was merely pre-emptively defending myself from the shifty looking Trixie.
Though, that said, I'm curious why anyone would think that a blog about a vague, somewhat subjective concept is actually directed at an single, individual, specifically.
2235618
The curse of text-only communication is that wording can be interpreted in so many ways...
To me, that sounded like you thought I was having a go at you at this point. I apologize if that was the case...
Also, the timing turned out to be a little unfortunate as well, since the two of you who have decided to comment so far have posted blogs very recently, and the content of said posts may or may not fit into the stuff I detailed in my own blog...
2235630
I generally just interpret everything you type as unintentional insults, to be honest.
2235597
One thing I would recommend before I've read anything is that you reconsider the way you title your chapters. I get that you're suddenly a huge Swans fan now, and that it's a great inspiration for your writing, but you may want to limit just how much you use their song titles as chapter titles. After a while, it just starts to feel uncanny...
I may be a bit hypocritical here, since the last three stories of mine were all songfics, but I am trying to put a leash on myself these days...
Which story did you want me to look at?
2235650
That's okay. Part of me is probably going for precisely that effect...
2235653
Man, that's just the way to express my love for them. Sorry, I'm such a nerd with music. Sue me.
Plus, using song titles/album titles is my trademark on this site, and it has always been so. Pretty much every chapter I made references a band, literally. All of them do just that.
That Burning World story.
The Burning World
Besides, I don't specifically name the band nor take any bands lyrics, at all. I never do that for the story, the only thing I do is simply title a chapter with a bands songs or albums. You're only noticing Swans, that's why. You never took the time to look at the stories I made, and I only do it because I like it when music fans glance at them and realize what it is.
2236778
What's with the hostility all of a sudden? Yes, I did notice that little habit of yours (e.g there's some Pink Floyd among them as well), and all I was trying to say was: "it's cool if you do it a few times, but overdoing it kinda takes away its charm..."
If you want to keep doing it, then don't let me stop you. They're your stories. If you ask for my opinion, though, then I'll give it...
2237280
Remember, dude.
We've been over this, that wasn't me sounding hostile at all. Remember our comments in Mind/Body/Light/Sound?
I do see the charm in it, and I'm pretty thrilled you noticed my Pink Floyd bit -
See! Haha! That's what I'm getting at!
2237380
And people keep wondering why my profile pic is what it is...
2237395
Lol, well, I'll take your advice and semi-stop adding Swans songs. Instead, I'll start exploring the drone genre or pop-punk side of things. Or maybe just take some Metallica song, you know?
Off topic...oh yeah, I never really did reply to your PM?