Does the audience influence your fic/drawings?

[valis2]

I've been thinking a lot recently about LJ, and how it makes communication between writers/readers and artists/viewers so easy. The commenting system creates the possibility of having many conversations with other LJ users, whether one-on-one or multiple.

One of the interesting things about commenting is how the original author/artist reacts to comments.

Comments generally fall into three categories: detailed analyses, a paragraph or a few lines of details they liked/emotions they felt, or a simple one-liner of "I liked it!" or something similar.

Some authors/artists respond to each and every comment with a line or two, detailing something in their response to the comment, and I'm always impressed by people who take the time to craft each response like this. Some respond only to certain comments. Some respond to every comment with a simple thank you and/or an emoticon. Some leave a blanket response, either as a new entry or as part of the original entry. It's understandable, especially when artists/authors are receiving three or four pages of comments, and most of them are simply "I like it!", and they'd rather create new art than respond to four hundred comments. Some never respond at all.

I always wonder how the back-and-forth communication of LJ affects the original artist/author. Commenting/responding is communication, after all. Reviews and feedback can be an excellent tool to hone one's craft. If many reviewers point out the a particular characterization, then odds are it needs revising. If an artist receives several comments praising their clouds, then that is probably a strength and something to be explored.

I've been writing a WiP, and as I've been writing it the reviews and feedback that have been left for it have sometimes influenced the story. A minor character who was meant to be a simple annoyance has gained significant "stage time" due to positive reviews. The conjectures of some of the reviewers have led to minor plot alterations and new directions. This isn't really possible for an author who waits until they're finished to upload their fics, or writes short fics all the time, but still, I wonder how much feedback influences people. Especially artists. If you're drawing Draco Malfoy for the hundredth time, and you have Harry in the background, and all of your regular Draco viewers enthusiastically respond to Harry's appearance, do you pursue Harry, even if you're not fond of him? Or do you just keep drawing Draco, because he's still fascinating?

I'd love to hear thoughts about this. Does the audience influence your fic/drawings?

Comments

[bell-witch.livejournal.com]

The audience does not influence me, at least not now. I am fairly new at this fanfic writing thing and have few readers. I have not really done any artwork for posting.

I finish stories before I post them, so there is no chance that any comments would influence the writing. I suppose if I became a very popular writer/artist and changed the way I work, I might be swayed by what's popular. I can't judge that, since I'm not in that situation.

I've seen several people on my f-list lately have, not really problems, but they are far more well known that I am and are more apt to inspire wank. It makes me pleased to remain fairly unknown. All that audience expectation would make writing too much like work and I don't think I'd enjoy it anymore.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

It makes me pleased to remain fairly unknown. All that audience expectation would make writing too much like work and I don't think I'd enjoy it anymore.

Interesting! I had a feeling that there was a group of writers who aren't influenced much by their audience, because they write mostly for themselves.

[bell-witch.livejournal.com]

It's not that I don't want anyone to read my stuff, because I wouldn't put it on the 'net if I didn't. But it is nice to not have a large audience or people asking me to do this or that, because then I think I'd be tempted to do it and I'd end up resenting doing something that I didn't want to do for myself.

Taking the challenges for fic exchanges is different, because you go into it knowing that you might get something you wouldn't otherwise do. For me, it comes down to 'can I do that?'

Writing a long story and not posting anything until it's done is hard. There's nothing to encourage me when I'm doing it, and yet I still finished. That's how I pretty much discovered that I'm doing this for me most of all. Selfish.

[jen-deben.livejournal.com]

That's how I pretty much discovered that I'm doing this for me most of all. Selfish.

Selfish is a good way for writers to be! :-D Concrit is one thing, but trying to satisfy "fans" tends to result in poor writing, in my opinion. A writer's focus should be on the story, not on how popular they're going to be if they write what their friends ask them to.

[bell-witch.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Can't be too selfish, or maybe that isn't the word. Have to be able to take concrit and advice from a beta. Especially if I think something's not right and they agree. (What, I'm not perfect? Well, duh!)

And your icon is so cute. My black cat says hello to your white mouse. (His name is Eclipse.)