Fanfic malaise?

[valis2]

It seems to me (though I could be spectacularly wrong) that commenting is down. I think a lot of people aren't writing right now, but even moreso...not reading. Or maybe...not commenting. The comments for the dark!fic challenge I was part of seem to be fewer than normal; I also had bookmarked a few fairytale HP stories from a month ago to read, and as I was reading them yesterday, I noticed that none of them had a single comment. Wow.

I think we're all ready for new canon. I think it can't come quickly enough at this point; I'm ready for the breathless babbling that accompanies it! hee!

Comments

[rinsbane.livejournal.com]

Hum. I've been pondering feedback lately. But before I get into that, I can tell you that I'm not reading HP at the moment. Fell down the rabbit hole into SGA a few weeks ago and I'm all a-flutter there. It was an accident. Not sure what will happen with writing HP. I don't have time to write now and won't for the next month. Of course, in that time, DH will come out and that's why I'm not sure where I'll end up. I tend to be a serial monogamist in fandom - HP is my 4th major fandom, and I read/have read another handful as secondaries. But I can't write in 2 at once, I think. I don't ever read much HP fic when I'm in the writing process - no way I can see myself writing 2 fandoms at once. And right now, SGA is percolating. But with DH and new things to play with in HP, I may end up leaving off SGA and it may never become a primary, in favor of HP. Can't predict it. I have no control over these things. I've sort of gotten to the point where I've said what I have to say about most of my favorite characters. Snape, the girls. I had two other HP fics I wanted to write, pre-SGA, a trio fic and a James/Lily - I may come back to them post DH. Or, I've already started transferring those ideas and tones over into SGA tones, because I almost never write to write a set story or characters - that's incidental. I write for feel and tone and mood and image. Transferable. But, SGA is not as rich a playground as HP, so...

Ok, so that was all about me. Because I like to talk about me. *g* But the point was that I can't leave FB if I'm not reading it. I'm still saving links, and I think there's a lot of good stuff out there right now, but no interest. I got less FB than I might have on my last posted fic. But maybe not, and I'm happy with the results I got. It was Percy, so not as popular a pairing, and an experimental structure, so also a turn-off. So in comparison to a Snarry, sure, less. But I expected that. I'm not sure if I have another fic to compare it with. I think that maybe this time last year it might have gotten 3-5 more comments. Maybe. ???

I remember when I first came to HP that I thought that relatively few people left comments. That's not a reflection on my own fic - people have been very generous. I thought this months before I started writing HP. In fact, the idea had faded from my awareness by the time I started writing. But I came out of a very small but close fandom, and pretty much everyone who read it left comments. That means fewer comments than I ever get on HP fic, but if you look at the ratio of reader:commenter, NO ONE leaves comments in HP. And this is a long-term thing, not just now. I mean, I have no idea how many people read my fic. I suspect - almost random guess, except that I sometimes watch hit counters people put on their pages and the comments will be like 4 and there are way more hits - that it's about 10:1. Maybe that's way off, no clue. No less than 5:1. Also, since I locked, the people asking to be friended are complete surprises. Never so much as seen them leave a comment anywhere for anyone, for the most part.

Now I was thinking about this (zomg, enormous comment here, sorry!) recently because of SGA. SGA is big. Not like HP, but for something that's not HP, it's quite large. Larger than any of my secondary fandoms - Potc, and certainly Good Omens, that kind of thing. But those fics get comments. Maybe not as many as HP fics, but there have got to be way more people reading HP fics. Even with SGA being big. I'm starting to suspect that on a level of sheer writing talent, whether or not you like a person's writing, SGA has more talented writers proportionally. Perhaps inexperienced writers don't tend to start out there? Again, in sheer numbers, HP surely has the largest number of good writers. But not in proportion.

part 2

[rinsbane.livejournal.com]

So it's really about particular fandom convention, perhaps. You know how like some fandoms are full of rimming or a certain kink. Or not even a kink, but maybe the writers love to write kissing. Or something not sexual, but it seems to be there more than your other fandoms. It's because, I assume, we all play off each other. I see something cool you write, and I want to have my own take on it. And then someone sees what I did, etc. Things spiral in a fandom. I think FB is like this - if everyone else does it, so do we. How often am I the person to leave the first comment? I dunno. I've never consciously thought, "oh, I don't want to be the first," but if I see a bunch of other comments, I suspect that subconsciously I'm more likely to follow suit. So I think overall, because of the high number of lurkers and because in a place so big it's easy to just hang back and still be fairly fully involved (unlike a smaller fandom where to be involved, you really need to interact because there's less fic to keep you occupied), HP just gets less feedback, again, in proportion to size.

Ok, see, so that was like 2 thoughts that just took me way lots of words to get out.

Re: part 2

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I've always wondered about HP...I've always had this thought that, because we are so fic-rich, we leave fewer comments, but I don't really have much other fandom experience to call upon. I've only ever "been" in one other fandom, and I wasn't what you'd call active, by any means.

There are so many factors in commenting that affect us all in different ways. Some people don't like to be the first...I, for example, am not certain that it helps to add "YAY" to page 23572465. So it's kind of an individual thing...though I still think that we have so much fic to choose from that we're a bit spoiled, in a way.

I know that I go through nearly all of the Snupin fics, and even though I comment more than I think most readers do, I still only comment on about 75% of what I read and like. Sometimes the reasons for not commenting are as simple as not wanting to finish it, or just not having a strong enough feeling to comment.

Anyway, speaking of fandom switcheroos, I've seen my flist first start to flirt with SGA, and Prince of Tennis, and now...Dr. Who is everywhere. But I'm like you, pretty much a monogamist, and I still don't think my brain is finished with HP yet. I want to finish the bloated epic, and I have a couple other stories in my head, and I just haven't sighted the last straw yet.

(My reply is zooming around like an oversized bumblebee...heh.)

I also wonder about the ratio of writers here. Hopefully no one will jump all over me and point out the legions of youthful amazing writers, but generally I see a lot of young writers in HP writing...well, bad!fic, honestly. Not to say that older writers don't write bad!fic, but still, I have this feeling that HP is the first fandom for a lot of people, inexperienced writers, and because of that I think we have more bad!fic and more beginner!fic than most. Of course, being larger than nearly everything, that just goes without saying...but the ratio is probably a little more unbalanced than other fandoms, such as Blake's 7, just as an example.

I do hope you'll stick around a little longer in HP...I hope DH calls you back, even if it's just for a little while. I love your writing so very much, and you explore such amazing themes.

Re: part 2

[rinsbane.livejournal.com]

My flist is all going over to SPN. With some Dr Who, but almost all SPN. Which I would so do, except that I can't do suspense/horror shows, even cheesy TV ones. But I can tell I'd be into wincest, on principle.

I think you're right about beginning writers in HP. It's so accessible that it's a good place ot start out, and also it's just that big. I was noticing today that in SGA there are a lot of old Highlander writers - I was reading HL 8 years ago, and so they've been writing at least 8-10 years, and I'm sure longer. Tells you something about the average experience in a fandom. I'm glad it's HP that gets lots of new writers, because HP is so big that you can always find fic you want to read and leave alone the fic you don't care for. In a smaller fandom, eventually you end up reading the not-as-good stuff just to get more of the drug. Or you find another one.

I'm not leaving HP yet. I think. HP is unique for a writer, I think. You can do so much here, far more than any other fandom I've ever seen. How could I part with that? *g* Thank you for such lovely words about my writing!

Re: part 2

[valis2.livejournal.com]

HP is unique for a writer, I think.

I cannot agree more, even though I have such limited experience elsewhere...but I think we have a fic for every taste, as well as a taste for every fic. ;)

Thank you for such lovely words about my writing!

I could spend a hundred comments on your writing and still not say all that should be said! ;)