author_by_night

So I posted a fic at Ao3 (I've been meaning to for a while, I only haven't because laziness), and I received my first two kudos with no reviews, meaning I now know what people mean by that. It also received 17 hits.

I don't really mind, honestly, mostly because I think I'm used to people not commenting on the internet anymore. Don't get me wrong, I wish people would, it can be annoying - but I also think people often do internet things from their phones or even on work/school computers, which means they're probably multitasking. It's easier to leave a kudos then a review. (Though I do like reviews. Including negative ones, as long as it's constructive and not "I hate this pairing rah rah rah.")

Actually, I think what annoys me more is when people like questions you've asked them.

Me: Hey, does anyone want to go to that movie night thing?

Three people: *Like this*

Me: ...is that a yes? Maybe?

Even that, though, I think generally just means people are acknowledging you said something. It's vague, but well-intended. (Or they're flakes. Take your pick.)

Anywho, I'll be posting more fic there over the course of... time. Hopefully a few days. Mostly I just want a second place for it to be archived in case LJ does go down or I delete this LJ for any reason. I may upload a second fic after I post this, actually. If you're interested, my profile is here. (Still AuthorByNight - it's my fandom identity now, high schoolish as it may be. That and it's too late to change it, I think. If I do, it'll probably be "Azaelia." Or something entirely different.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Something silly - for ages, I read your name as Azkadelia instead of Azaelia. You know, the wicked witch character in the Tin Man miniseries. Heheh.

Ha! I love it.

ETA: Looked her up (I've never seen Tin Man). Interesting.

Edited 2015-04-14 13:51 (UTC)

Oh you should, it's a really good re-imagining. Or sequel. Or both. Whatever it is, it's awesome. haha.

It's always a little frustrating to watch your hit count climb, but receive only a few kudoses and one or two or no comments. But I think that's just the nature of the game these days. We're all distracted, haha.

Yeah, I think people check with their phones or on break and mean to reply later, but it never happens. I'm guilty of that myself. :/ Though I also think there's a new generation of fanfic readers who may not even realize reviews used to be a thing.

Edited 2015-04-14 17:39 (UTC)

It is frustrating to have the hit count climb but have so little kudoses :/

Yeah, I think not saying anything at all (including a kudos) is a bit annoying, especially if you wonder whether it was THAT bad...

I always try to leave comments on things like fic. I have a friend who loves the kudos button because it means she doesn't have to say anything. Her reasoning is that she usually doesn't feel she has anything meaningful to say other than "I really like this!" which is basically what the kudos button is anyway, I guess. If that's all I have to say I generally try to pick out a quote or something that really stood out to me so the author knows why I liked it.

But I totally agree on the liking questions.

If that's all I have to say I generally try to pick out a quote or something that really stood out to me so the author knows why I liked it.

That's exactly what I do, or I'll be honest and say something like "I don't really have anything specific to point out, but I thought it was really well written."

But I totally agree on the liking questions.

At times it's obviously the RL equivalent of pausing and shrugging (so "hm... you know, I'm not sure"), but other times it feels like the equivalent of staring blankly and changing the subject, and you're like... okie dokie then. :P

Edited 2015-04-15 19:10 (UTC)

I prefer leaving kudos on AO3 to be honest because I never had much to say in my LJ comments other than "great fic", but I can understand why authors would appreciate reviews more. I could just never think of much to say *g*

That makes sense! Out of curiosity, are you ever concerned about bad reactions to criticism? That's what I wonder as well, since I know there's a bit of a debate there on whether or not constructive criticism is okay. (I'm honestly fine with it, but I guess I can see why some people might not be.)

Honestly I would never say anything critical unless the author specifically invited people to criticise, otherwise I feel like most people are taking part in fandom creativity like fic and vidding for fun, so wouldn't particularly appreciate feeling like their work is being graded.

Have you seen the discussion of that post on Tumblr about AO3 stats? It's pretty interesting. There's a really good comment arguing how it's important to support fanfic authors that really gets to the heart of what positive feedback means to authors. I can send you a link if you want, though to be honest I'm still figuring out how Tumblr works so I don't know how to link to the specific comment.

I like getting kudos. As a writer, kudos from signed in users is better than kudos from guests because I can then go and creep on their author pages and find new writers to talk to if I like what I find.

Hit counts I try to ignore because, for me, getting frustrated about the disparity between hits and kudos is where madness lies. I rationalise it that a high number of hit counts has nothing to do with my writing - it probably just means that a lot of people like the title/summary/tags/pairing and a lot of people will hit the back button after one sentence anyway. I wrote a piece of unadulterated fluff partly because I was interested to see what the difference would be between that and the angsty story I posted earlier. Result - more hits on the angsty (longer) story, more kudos on the short and sweet fluffy story. Go figure.

I'm a relative newbie to AO3 and Tumblr after a break from writing fic for a few years and my view right now is that if there isn't a review culture at AO3 it's up to me to try to do something about it. Be the change I want to see in the world and all that.

Reviews are love, obviously. Short ones or long ones. I don't post concrit on stories on AO3. If it's an author I want to encourage, I leave kudos. If I hated the story, I say nothing. If it's a story I think is awesome and I'm fangirling, I post a positive review and try to be specific about what I liked. I think concrit is only for your inner circle of reciprocal writing buddies - i.e. people you've invited to criticise your work because they are also writers in the same group/fandom. It needs to be clearly recognised/acknowledged that everyone is "working" on their practice and wants to hear about specific places/rough spots where they can make their writing better.

Thanks for your email by the way - still thinking about it!

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