Nuit Blanche - Afterwards · 8:12am Mar 11th, 2017
But it did make the popular read list, so at least I've
got that going for me, which is nice.
Nuit Blanche!
A story so good it leaves the reader speechless!
...
That's my belief and I'm sticking to it.
I have to say, of the whole experience, that was certainly that most disheartening. 128 views (as of 11/03/17), and not a single person has left a comment. Nothing good, nothing bad, just... nothing. No opinions on what was said or shown, nothing about finding the actions in or out of character for the cast, not even an opinion on what I got right or wrong when talking about the music! I was just expecting... something. But no, no public comments and not even a PM. It's just so, so rare that I've even run across a story that just has no comments on it, of any kind, around here. Even stories with lower view counts.
The runner up for most disheartening part was when, just after it had finally ticked over 10 votes (all likes) on the very late evening of the first day of posting, allowing readers to see how it was doing, and it picked up back-to-back dislikes. Maybe it'll be like I Thought I Knew the Sky, which picked up its 3 dislikes inside its first hour and has had an impeccable run ever since. One can hope.
I expected this story to not go over as well as my other two. Sky's success was a total fluke, I never expected that one to take off like it did. Nuit wasn't a comedy, and didn't feature Dash and/or Twilight (at least in direct roles), so I knew I wouldn't pick up easy points there. This story was also much longer than my other stories and a lot of other pieces like it, and that I think was my biggest mistake. Nuit was originally written, and meant to be read, as a single very long chapter. There were no real hard demarcations where chapters could be easily split. Posting it as such... yeah, big mistake. Scared away too many potential readers I fear. I attempted to correct (and am rather pleased with how evenly it did come apart) but... *shrug*. Learned a few things about how the mechanics of saved and published chapters work here. Will keep in mind my own words for chapter length for stories next time I put up something long.
Still, it hit the Popular Stories list and sat there for approximately 27hrs from what I can tell (and closer to 2.5 days on the non-mature version of the list). Not sure how the list works, but... 
? It has also wound up on a handful of favourite shelves, and I do humbly thank those folk who have favoured it. Along with few new watchers who came because of it, hello to you also.
As to where I'll go now, that'll most likely be back to I, Monster with Wave Blaster. I now have a job and am working evenings, so still adjusting to what that's doing to my schedules. For my own works... either finishing the last few scenes in the Bon Bon Dies at the End crossover I started in 2014; writing a comedy involving the girls, their families, and head-canon about pony facial hair before season 7 ruins my ideas for AJ and RD's families; or one where Filthy Rich gets it into his head to film a movie and shows what happens when ponies step outside their comfort zones. Then again, BBDatE is also about due for its annual chapter, so maybe that as well.
Well see where the future goes! For now though, I bid you all a good night! 
All I know is that the Popular Stories list works off of heat.
I think heat is determined by number of clicks over a given period of time, but I have actually no earthly idea.
I also haven't figured out how comments really work, either. As in, what drives people to leave them. I liked Nuit Blanche, but didn't leave a comment because I didn't feel I had anything to contribute to a conversation. The pacing was good, the mechanics were good, I liked the characterizations, the backdrop, I liked it.
So, having nothing to say, I decided to say nothing.
4451765
Fair enough, I can respect that. I've done that myself, though usually if I see what I wanted to say already mirrored.
Honestly, this is sometimes all that's needed, especially when the author indicates in A/N and such that such things are what they're worried about. Just a "yeah, that worked, good job." kinda post.
So I thank you, and am glad to know those things I was worried and unsure about did work.
Haven't actually read it yet - juggling Writeoffs and FOME's contest this week, along with some backlogged editing. But I've got it on the high-priority to-do
Glad that you got a comment, at least! I'll make a point to say something when I get to it (just can't promise when that will be).