I... I don't understand. · 9:10pm Jan 29th, 2015
I feel like someone should explain this to me, before I begin to lose every bit of sanity that I have come to earn through my miserably morbid life.
My older stories. All Eight Must Fall. Fantasma. Teenage Mutant Ninja Ponies, Secrets Shine Brighter, The Townsend. What do these stories of mine have in common? They all older works of mine. I've written them in a very short span on time, just when I was trying to learn more about who I was as a writer, many years ago. I wrote these stories because they simply popped in my mind. I didn't think about storylines for any of these stories. I just wrote a chapter and uploaded it because I could. The grammar in these stories is atrocious, most of them are poorly thought out, and I have no real direction for them, thus why they are done and cancelled. Truthfully, they're horrible stories.
So... why are they my most popular works?
As we can all tell, if you were to take a look at my stories, from Comatose(my first) to Made of Glass(my last), you can see how my writing and grammar has improved significantly. You can literally see it. So... help me understand something.
Why are my newer, more creative, well-written, well-edited, and all around better stories being hated or ignored, and stories of mine where I literally shit on a keyboard are liked much more?
It... I don't understand. If you take a look at my stories, ever since Secrets Shine Brighter, the popularity of my stories have been dropping. Like, fast. It's to the point that, now, my stories are just being flat-out ignored. I feel like people simply followed me because of Secrets Shine Brighter, just to. Made of Glass has been ignored, with depressingly disappointing results. Of Winter and Wine was also lackluster in results. It just keeps going. And it pains me, because I feel like those two stories are prime examples of who I am, and just what I'm capable of as a writer.
Now, I know people's stories simply do not do well. It's life. Some people just aren't interesting in a certain idea. That's understandable. However, it's my last five stories. This is an undeniable pattern that I don't understand. I'm NOT blaming anyone, or scolding anyone, or complaining. No, no, no. I'm just trying to wrap my head around this. I have a significant amount of followers, roughly 450. But when my stories are getting less than half of that in views, including those that come off looking through the New Story list, it makes me wonder why I'm even being followed anyways.
I just feel so ignored, is all. Part of me expects this blog post, like many, to be ignored also. The only blog post of mine that got comments and a good amount of looks is the one surrounding Secrets Shine Brighter, coincidentally.
Blegh. This is mainly why I'm done making multi-chapter stories. No one appreciates or reads what I put out anyways, now. It seems like that now my stories are well-written and thought out, no one reads. So, I'll mainly only be finishing up my stories already(Sin, We're Still Sinners, The Saddest Story, When Words Aren't Enough, Made Of Glass, and Kill The Lights). Just updates. If I ever upload anything, they'll just surely be one shots now.
Well, this is the plan, and if I decide to stick to them.
Yep.
I don't know. I just don't understand. It bothers me. Makes me think that I'm a poorer writer than I really am. I'm not bashing anyone, or blaming anyone, or scolding anyone, again. I just...
...Don't get it.
-Cyneryk
Well, are your newer, more improved writings rehashes of your old? Did you fall into the trap of doing the same thing in your stories? I know I've done just that (which is why I ask).
Readers are fickle. They know what they like. Sometimes stories we writers put out there simply don't catch. It happens. I know half of my stories haven't had a lot of views. Keep writing, keep promoting you stories. The readers will come.
It's FimFic,
Everyone here is a fickle and pretentious person.
~Skeeter The Lurker
Fickle readers, quality < idea, people latch on to weird stuff, people love drama with the main 6 and comedy with their crossovers.
I understand your anger...all I can say is...boner.
More specifically
BONERS
But really if you want a hardcore fan base, pander.... Porn, comedy, something easy to read. Then you have to vamp the fuck out of the works you care about.
I don't think you follow me, but I made about 40 blog posts just advertising one story, it's almost at 200 up. So...yeah, build a group, then advertise. A lot.
I can honestly say that all those readers now ignoring you are complete idiots. Your writing has only got better as time has gone by. I first followed you because of Secrets Shine Brighter, and if I'm totally honest, I initially followed you as a kind of "fun" writer - I enjoyed your stories, but I didn't think they were anything that special. However, you have improved markedly as since then (I'm still waiting for that next chapter of No Evil!), and Made of Glass has thrown out that perception of you completely. It is, quite frankly, incredible.
I cannot stress enough that you should not think of this as a sign that you are a poor writer - the biggest reason for this is that a lot of people don't really care about quality. Look at the featured box - the amount of utter crap that goes through it is extraordinary, and those are the most popular stories on the site! What is happening is that all of those who followed you because of SSB and don't actually care for the rest of your writing are dropping away, leaving behind those that actually want to read your work.
And seriously, Made of Glass has all the makings of a masterpiece. And in about 3-4 days, it might just get a bit more (well deserved) attention.
There is a certain marketability aspect involved with releasing a story. Some stories are popular because they are things many readers will dig into, and that most certainly doesn't mean that it is a good idea. I like to take the Framers of the United States' Constitution's ideas on direct democracy to make my thoughts on the average reader and writer.
The reason why the United States is a representative democracy and not a direct one is because the populace, at the time, was far less educated. It lacked the ability to truly make a well-thought decision on who is fit to lead. There were also communication problems as well, but that's besides the point.
Readers are very rarely people that value the best in writing, and it takes some luck to get something amazing popular for the sake thereof. Most of the time, the most mainstream ideas are easy sells because . . . they are sellable. Good writing is hard to sell, at least nowadays.
So don't think too hard about this because . . . it's normal. It happens to everyone, and getting yourself bummed out about it won't do you any good. Keep your chin up and ride onward, my friend.
I just thought the crossovers were interesting.