[07/17/2021] Zero Communication · 9:25am Jul 17th, 2021
So, this'll be a short blog post.
I don't see comments from people anymore. Do people really not have that much of an attention span anymore that long-form stories like mine, with decently long chapters, no longer get attention?
Has it come to the point where it's not about the quality of stories, but how many you pump out, or how many chapters you put out?
I'm sitting here with a rewrite of 'Future Tactics - The War Game's prologue. Original chapter is 12047, while the new chapter may be double that, and that's mostly because I want to build a world that people can imagine and see without having to know the show or its characters. You can figure out as you go along, because being told 'this is what's happening' as opposed to 'this is how this character perceives it, and how they respond to it' is not how I do things.
That and FT-TWG was not meant for shorter chapters. Trust me, I've TRIED. It's hard to keep them below 10k words.
So... I don't know, maybe give me some feedback when chapters come out? I'd like to know where I've done well AND done wrong.
Perhaps it is a pittance from someone unknown, but I would like to offer some perspective.
I love long-form fiction. Although shorts are sometimes nice when a shift in mood is desired, be they video or print, I much prefer sitting down to a series in which I can get lost. Most recently, I finished Shifing Melodies here on FimFiction. In its wake, I picked up the Warriors series.
The trouble, I suspect, comes down to the Internet Age's largest (and perhaps least publicized) problem: instant gratification mindset. Relevantly, it can be described thus: the time end effort to read a book is minuscule compared to that of its authorship; "with so many other options, why should I wait for updates". Admittedly, I cannot think of any reasonable justification for this behaviour, but it is something which can be observed in the younger Millenials and the Gen Zs who succeed us. Rather than an issue of attention-span, I feel that you are "butting-heads" with relatively diminishing bandwidth: with so many things vying for our attentions, we focus on what seems to be most immediate. Whatever the reason(s), the fact remains: most people who do anything "put it on the list" and nevver look back.
EDIT: I should note also that I do follow several--dozens--webcomics. Some of these update dayly, others monthly, but I generally only check on them once per month. Make of this as thou wilt.
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Exactly! It is an unfortunate side-effect of instant gratification and reward.
I try to point people towards good book series and authors - one of the ones that inspires me continuously is David Weber, who has been writing for a few decades now, and his books, along with his co-writing with John Ringo on the 4-book series 'Empire of Man,' are the sort of fiction that just sucks you in.
It's the sort of style that I try and do, get that sort of staying power - at least, that so happens to be my goal.
It would be cool to be published.
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While no professional publisher could take you on without either an inane amount of editing, legal fees, or both, hobbiest outlets are availible:
TwistedSpectrum published Four Score through Nonexistant Publications, though I have no Idea how to contact them. (Avonder here on FF seems to be the contact person.
Further, Starscribe put out a hardcover on inigogo. So you might ask them who their publisher is (this is not Starscribe's first print-run either, so they would be a good resource).
Another option is lulu.com, which offers print-on-demand services for a wide range of publication types. I cant comment on their quality, I just know that HorseVoice has put out a anthology of his works through them.
One caveate of the first two is that each make high-quality books with minimum order-sizes (50 in the casd of Srarscribe's publisher). In any case, polling interest prior to commitment is a good idea.
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It's the unfortunate side-effect of being a fanfiction author, where you can't go with a major publisher of any kind. If this had been me writing a sci-fi epic without the fanfiction parts, I would have been able to publish a long time ago with the sheer size I have at the moment for the story.
Hell, I could have done two books just with the current word counts.
However, as you said, there are always ways around it, but also running a poll is a fantastic idea. I don't expect much interest, unfortunately, but still.
And you may be 'someone unknown,' but you came in with well-reasoned discussion in mind, and I thank you for that. It's better to have a well-rounded discussion than to end up in an argument. As the saying goes, "The moment you give in to anger and yell, the other person has won."
EDIT: Hilariously enough, Nonexistant Publications is just that, nonexistant. Apparently they're unable to be contacted for some reason?
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My bad. I have difficulty with the -ent suffix. It is supposed to be Nonexistent Publications. Again, I recommend reaching out to Avonder as he seems to be the project manager.
EDIT: Is that Richard in your profile picture?
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Richard the Warlock? Yes it is. I haven't read LFG in years, but it's still my favourite frame.
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Arbirtrary respect has just increased by an arbitrary amount.
I salute you. o7