Fanfic Authors' Networking Thread

[IronEvangelion]

I kind of feel like I'm writing Crying Man in a vacuum. I guess I knew from the start that it would be niche interest, but there's, like, maybe two people reading it anymore (that I know of), which is kind of depressing. What do I need to do? Cross-post to FF.net and AO3 or something? Just keep writing and hope?

I've been thinking about taking a look at it, might as well do it now. Oh, and the vast majority of people who read stuff on the internet don't bother to comment, so you might have a lot more readers than you think.

[jcmoorehead]

I kind of feel like I'm writing Crying Man in a vacuum. I guess I knew from the start that it would be niche interest, but there's, like, maybe two people reading it anymore (that I know of), which is kind of depressing. What do I need to do? Cross-post to FF.net and AO3 or something? Just keep writing and hope?

Cross posting might be worth a shot, I've got my new piece up on AO3 because I felt it'd reach a bigger audience there. Ill be sure to check yours out, I've only just gotten back into writing about a week ago so I'm interested to see who is also writing and what is out there.

[amitakartok]

As far as I can tell, there's a general air of disinterest in the fandom. Not towards your fic, towards all of them.

I remember the time where Spacebattles' general fiction forum had Eva fics dime a dozen. Now they have two or three tops, with one of those being mine. Mine is crossposted between FF.net, Spacebattles and Sufficient Velocity; I get no feedback whatsoever from the first two but I seem to have a few regulars on the third. I also tried AO3 but no dice there.

[pwhodges]

I got at least a new follow pretty much each time I posted an update to FFN, and although I only put my completed work on AO3, I got a number of responses from there as well. But from a couple of months after the last update, the interest dries up.

I think having a fixed format that enables one to read through a story without skipping through a forum thread to do it helps for some people - I'd say it does for me; though actually I only read fics I've been pointed at from a forum (I don't browse for them).

As for feeling you're posting into a vacuum, I'm pretty sure we've all felt like that at times. I know I have, and Bagheera too. You just have to grit your teeth and think "I'm doing this for me, because I want to", and appreciate what interest is expressed from time to time.

[jcmoorehead]

I started using AO3 over FFN purely because my FFN profile is remarkably old and I wanted to have a bit of a fresh start with it. I might move Conspiracy over to AO3 when I get the chance to though.

I've definitely felt the vacuum thing though, it was like that when I was writing years ago and kinda like that now. Although that's kinda my own fault as I shy away from promoting it too much due to fears over annoying others or that it isn't very good :P

I suppose it doesn't help that the Eva fandom is general is a bit quieter than it used to be. Not a lot of news coming from it, and the original series is difficult to get hold of to draw people in :/

[amitakartok]

I think having a fixed format that enables one to read through a story without skipping through a forum thread to do it helps for some people

Spacebattles and Sufficient Velocity recently introduced threadmarking for that purpose. You mark the posts containing the story and the visitor can go directly to them without having to flip through the test of the thread.

[Sailor Star Dust]

I suppose it doesn't help that the Eva fandom is general is a bit quieter than it used to be. Not a lot of news coming from it, and the original series is difficult to get hold of to draw people in :/

The Japanese NGE BDs/DVDs out in August should change all that, whenever they're released in the West

When I used to fanfic (and write RPs), I followed JimmyWolk's lead by creating a personal fanfic/whatever works thread in Fanfiction subforum which really helped me with feedback and in general keeping things tidy.

[Reichu]

Thanks for the replies, all.

As for feeling you're posting into a vacuum, I'm pretty sure we've all felt like that at times. I know I have, and Bagheera too. You just have to grit your teeth and think "I'm doing this for me, because I want to", and appreciate what interest is expressed from time to time.

If I think about that approach for too long, I run into problems. For example: If it's JUST for me, there's no need to ever take the story beyond the "random incoherent scribblings in notebooks" phase at all. Everything that really matters is in my brain, and if I'm the only audience, that's a perfectly fine place for it.

Now, sharing the tale with other people? The feelings I carry with me aren't enough. People can't (typically) form a connection with summaries and disjointed scenes. Being a story-teller and sharing with others drives the actual need to lay things front to end in the written word, to carefully consider pacing and plot/character arcs and the distribution of details, and so on. And it's only if I have other people to bounce the story against that I know if I'm achieving any success.

I know I can write, that's not an issue, but I've never actually proven to myself that I can craft a long narrative. I've made many attempts over my life, and they've all petered out. I wish I was persistently hotheaded enough to be able to blaze my way through the writing of CM without feeling discouraged or anxious, but it's hard. It's so damned hard.

From what you all are telling me, it looks like I picked a really awful time to finally get off my butt and start writing this, too. I guess, on the plus side, my story is idiosyncratic and original enough (YOU'LL SEE ) that severing its connections to NGE and making it a standalone work should be eventually possible. (I do want to finish writing it in its original conceived form first.) Then I'll be busy angsting over how to best reach ebook-reading audiences...

Would anyone at AO3 mind sending me an invite, BTW?

[jcmoorehead]

Ill request an invite for you.

[Reichu]

It looks like one or both of my current beta readers are going to be overwhelmed with IRL in the months ahead, so I should probably secure backups, so to speak. Would anyone be willing / able, and, most importantly, interested in pre-reading chapters of Crying Man for the fall (and possibly beyond)? Please inquire via PM. Thank you. :3

[Bagheera]

Spacebattles and Sufficient Velocity recently introduced threadmarking for that purpose. You mark the posts containing the story and the visitor can go directly to them without having to flip through the test of the thread.

Huh. I just did a table of contents for my fic. I imagine it makes things easier for readers, but it makes it super easy for me to access individual chapters and see at a glance how things have unfolded.

I also wouldn't mind an AO3 invite, if anyone cares to send one. Not sure I'll post my fic anywhere else, but it can't hurt to look around.

[pwhodges]

I also wouldn't mind an AO3 invite, if anyone cares to send one. Not sure I'll post my fic anywhere else, but it can't hurt to look around.

I tried to get one for you, but they are currently not available, it tells me. I'll keep checking.

[Iuvenal]

The vibe I get from Spacebattles is that the folks there tend to focus on epic-length day-1-AU fusion and crossover fics with unconventional pairings. There seems to be a pretty high bar for prose quality, though the pacing for many of the fics that started out there is poor IMO.

Archive of our Own seems to be the place to be if Kawoshin smut is your cup of tea.

FFN is a mishmash of everything with trends coming and going depending on the 'era', so to speak, and with the most uneven quality of any site from what I can tell.

Do these broad generalizations jive with others' impressions? Also, what's the vibe of Sufficient Velocity like?

[jcmoorehead]

Huh. I just did a table of contents for my fic. I imagine it makes things easier for readers, but it makes it super easy for me to access individual chapters and see at a glance how things have unfolded.

I also wouldn't mind an AO3 invite, if anyone cares to send one. Not sure I'll post my fic anywhere else, but it can't hurt to look around.

I'll see if I can get you one as well.

Generally when it comes to posting my fics I use Ao3 and I put mine up on FFN now as well. They get a fair amount of reads. FFN definitely seems to pull in more for me but I deal with Asushin which kinda fits in with AO3 being more of a KawoShin place.

Being honest I'm just enjoying writing and discovering fics again so getting the views isn't a big deal for me but it is nice to know people check out my stuff.

[Glor]

The vibe I get from Spacebattles is that the folks there tend to focus on epic-length day-1-AU fusion and crossover fics with unconventional pairings. There seems to be a pretty high bar for prose quality, though the pacing for many of the fics that started out there is poor IMO.

Archive of our Own seems to be the place to be if Kawoshin smut is your cup of tea.

FFN is a mishmash of everything with trends coming and going depending on the 'era', so to speak, and with the most uneven quality of any site from what I can tell.

Do these broad generalizations jive with others' impressions? Also, what's the vibe of Sufficient Velocity like?

Sometimes there are some neat stories on Spacebattles, but it's mostly crossovers with Worm or Self Inserts, also with Worm. It gets obnoxious if you're not into Worm and just want to find a unique and well written Mass Effect or Stargate fix. Earlier in the year it was almost entirely Prototype fics.

Sufficient Velocity is Spacebattles, with less traffic and slightly less Worm fics.

All the stories on both sites are atrociously long. It's neat to see what they do with the concepts, but also clear they have no intention of ever bringing their stories to a conclusion. It's just hundreds or thousands of pages of fanwank with no driving plot.

[Bagheera]

Dare I ask what Worm is?

[Glor]

[url]https://parahumans.wordpress.com/[/url]

Stereotypical introvert girl who gets bullied at school also has super powers, apparently in a world where having powers is fairly common. I read about 5 chapters in a while back and it's pretty neat, pacing is just very slow and there wasn't much to keep me hooked. She can control spiders and the term 'parahuman' is tossed around quite a bit.

[Ray]

after rereading my fic. I'm debating with myself over whether or not I should drop the Hideki subplot entirely. . .

[Sgt. Griff]

after rereading my fic. I'm debating with myself over whether or not I should drop the Hideki subplot entirely. . .

The test is whether or not it adds anything, if it's interesting then a rework is all that would be required. Get some second opinions, feel the pacing of the story as a whole, devise a new plan for the subplot based on what exists.

Reworks take significantly shorter lengths of time than new stories.

[Bagheera]

after rereading my fic. I'm debating with myself over whether or not I should drop the Hideki subplot entirely. . .

That and the guards were the weakest parts of your fic. I think you really had something there with Misato, but the Hideki subplot really drags it down.