A Few Questions · 1:39am Aug 17th, 2015
Yes, this is about how I feel at the moment.
I noticed something lately. It has me scratching my head and wondering what's going on. What is it that I'm wondering?
For some reason, Tyrant is getting a ton of fresh attention. Seriously, it's back in the popular box and getting tons of upvotes from out of the blue. Did something happen and nobody told me? Did it get featured on some major site without my knowledge, or maybe some famed reviewer decided to blast it? No, seriously, if anyone has any idea why that story is abruptly going hot again I'd love to know.
The second question I have relates to comments. I'm a known asocial fellow, but I try to respond to comments as much as I can. Lately I've been really falling behind on this, though. Which leads to my question: am I not talkative enough? Do you people expect me to respond to anything and everything, or do you get that I'm a quiet, introverted type who only responds to what he feels is most important? I'm starting to feel like I need to say more on the site - responding to commentary, group chats, forum threads, what have you. Even Skype groups. Any opinions on this matter?
Last but not least, a question of preferences. It's becoming increasingly clear that I'm going to have trouble keeping my overall pace. It may be that doing reviews and updating stories on a weekly basis is unfeasible under my current workload. So, in the event that I did have to lighten my load, what would you folks prefer I slowed down on? Reviews or stories? I'm not saying it's going to happen, but the possibility certainly exists and I'd rather hold back on that which is deemed less important by my readers. In the meantime, I'm going to keep struggling to maintain my pace, because damn it, I don't want to lighten that schedule!
I'd like to offer more, but I'm trying to catch up on some things and... yeah, gotta get to writing. Until Thursday, peplez!
Order of Shadows Book II Chapter IV: Saturday, August 22 or Sunday, August 23
Stats
Total Word Count: 1,364,000 (+5,000) over 31 stories
Average Words Written Per Week: 9,700
Total Words Read This Week: 339,109 (over the next 2-3 weeks)
Follower Rank: 310th
Overall Ratings Average: 93.67% (+0.04%)
Highest-Rated Story (Not Counting Stories at 100%): The Gentle Nights @ 98.50% (17 Weeks)
Story with the Most Votes: Tyrant @ 2053/60 (36 Weeks)
Story with the Fewest Votes: Paul's Peculiarly Puny Practice Pieces @ 12/0 (7 Weeks)
Longest Story: Trixie vs. Equestria @ 144,000
This would be my guess.
3325416
But that was weeks ago! Tyrant got a good 30 upvotes in the past two or three days, so I don't think that's it. I could be wrong, though.
System lag? I recall having a favourite notification three months late.
I personally am fine with your nature- I totally get it. You read the comments, and perhaps just leave them at that. Hopefully you get a few more followers from this newfound attention ^^
3325416 Seems like the most probable explanation to me. I haven't seen it mentioned elsewhere, fwiw.
Paul: As for your schedule, if I had to pick one, I'd say slow down on the reviews. I, and many others do love them, but I'd hate to see your creative juices stagnate over a lack of time to write. I've let my fair share of ideas wither on the back shelf and eventually die, so I'd rather not see that happen to you. Especially when you have some really damn good fics in flight.
3325438
Well, that does make me feel a little better. Thanks.
3325437
Wow, seriously? I guess it's possible.
3325442
Yeah, I'd hate for that to happen as well. I even had a new idea pop up in my head a couple days ago, and I am really lamenting the fact that I have no time tow rite it because damn does it seems like a good premise. So from that perspective I think I agree, but I'll wait to see what others say.
3325438 Yeah, no issues here either. I know some folks (myself included) who try to respond to every comment and favorite, and I also know plenty of folks who do not.
Not everyone needs to be a social butterfly, and as long as folks see you out and about in general, I doubt anyone would raise a fuss. (and if they did, then wtf indeed, lol) :)
My theory is that a story like "The Moon's Apprentice" got a recent update and users used the "also liked stories" box to get to your story "Tyrant"
. At least I think that would be possible, maybe users just recommended the story to other friends or something IDK 
.
-Techgirl
> I'm starting to feel like I need to say more on the site - responding to commentary, group chats, forum threads, what have you. Even Skype groups. Any opinions on this matter?
That is a rabbit hole with no end to it. Doing so does sometimes bring followers. But I find that if I read all the posts I feel I have to read, I have no time to write.
3325548 I don't participate in forum threads as often as I probably could either. But, I can say that I've probably picked up 15-20 followers over time just by thanking them for faves (and encouraging them to read my other works, of course) and/or answering their comments and questions.
3325625 I read all the comments on my stories, and try to reply to them, but people don't follow me after getting a reply. They either follow me when they read the story, or not at all.
I meant commenting in other forums, though. Most forums I've unsubscribed from because I was tired of getting notifications for threads that were some variant on "Who is best pony?", "Who would you ship Rainbow Dash with?", or, "Here is the story I'm writing about my OC."
Well, I'm busy enjoying your backlog of fics (hurray for joining the fandom on the fifth season) so my vote would be towards more reviews. For some reason, I trust your opinions.
Being selfish, I'd rather have more of your stories to read than reviews to plow through. Because reviews may or may not lead to good stories, whereas I pretty much know you're writing good stuff.
As for chatting/replying... I feel like I'm at a place where it's beneficial to be more outgoing to try to become more established. (Not that it's onerous, or that I want to be disingenuous... but more readers is good readers.) You, sir, are much better-established. I would say, do what you want to do!
I would prefer more stories over reviews. The reviews are nice, and have helped me to find some awesome stories, but in the end I find new stuff from you to be way more exciting. As for not being active enough? I think your fine as it is.
I haven't the slightest clue on why Tyrant would be getting more attention, not that it doesn't deserve it. Every once and awhile I'll get a favorite or comment on stories I wrote (or gave up writing, because they were so bad) years ago. Maybe there's some unknown to us function that brings up older stories every once and awhile?
As for you replying to comments, I don't really think it matters what we want. I personally love hearing back from authors, but I'd much rather said author be happy and not force themselves to reply to every comment. Plus, many (if not most) authors don't. Some never communicate directly with their readers, and it just adds to the fun of trying to read into things that they write.
ly dude, I wouldn't worry about it. If somebody is complaining about not getting a response from you, buck them. We're here to enjoy your works, not to have you cater to our every whim.
And lastly, reviews vs. books. I'm gunna be selfish and say I'd rather read your works then read about you reading somebody else's stuff. If it's coming from you I know I'll enjoy it. Somebody else's stuff can be hit or miss. Not that I don't enjoy your story reviews, I really do, but you shouldn't be pushing yourself too hard. Nothing good will come of that.
Also, where can I find Order of Shadows/what is it about? I want to read it but I can't find it.
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Whelp, general consensus appears to be in favor of stories over reviews. With this in mind, I may drop my review load to only three a week. This might not sound like much of a reduction from five, but the fact is I haven't been reading just five a week, I've been reading six a week. So yeah, huge shift.
It also seems that my lack of commentary bothers next to nobody, so I'll just keep on going on. I used to reply to every single comment I got, when the comments became redundant so did the responses, so... yeah, done with that.
As to Tyrant, I guess it'll just remain a mystery never fully explained.
Thanks for the input, guys!