~~feedback meme, squeeing.

[reenka]

How much feedback, in numerical terms, is enough? Would one note satisfy? Or does it have to be in the double or even triple digits?


ahahahaahah.
(excuse me while i laugh my ass off).
yah, the double or triple digits. how about 780? heeeyyy, am i not as good as whoever it was on ff.net that wrote that "rilly goot fik" who got all the fb? on the other hand--

well. if i get 5 notes saying, "rite mor! U R SO TALENTED! and u use such big wordz, man." i mean. yeah? i'm... happy? okay, i'm bemused. i imagine if i got 55 of those, i might question my calling in life, slightly. maybe.

on the other hand, one person who i seemed to have communicated something to is priceless. well, okay, i like it when it's more than one (because who doesn't), but. yes, one person has often been enough-- because i'm just used to getting no feedback (before i showed my stories to anyone), and everything is still kind of shiny and happy, for me.

in other words, i'm greedy but still easily satisfied.



When you started writing fanfic, were you aware of feedback?

well, i read fanfic before i wrote fanfic, so yah. although i didn't really feel the need to feedback before i started to write. weird, that. it wasn't natural to feedback, when you spend so many years just having a one-sided passive relationship with books, where the writer is more an idea than a person. i always got fuzzy-warm feelings about my favorite writers, but i wouldn't go so far as to tell them so, because obviously they have other fans for that, and what do i matter? i'm just another faceless reader and my relationship was with the book, not with the writer, when all is said and done, so. yeah.



Would you continue writing if you knew you'd never receive another piece of feedback ever?

ahahahah. whoever wouldn't is a dweeb.
but yes. of course i would. i might not post it on lj because i -know- people read it (probably) and thus i get all "this sucks, doesn't it-- why don't they just TELL ME, though, dammit!!", and would instead post it on ff.net or fiction alley or wherever, just because i'm lost in the crowd, and it's just another anonymous fic writer doing her thang. and i like to do my thang-- obviously ><;;


Do you respond to your FB? If yes, then why? If not, why not?

i respond because every single goddamn time, it tickles me -pink- when someone feedbacks me. and i mean-- happy fuzzies everywhere! i want to thank them for making me feel good~:) not so much politeness-- though again, if you only tell me "good job", it does feel like i'm just being polite, and i don't feel like responding as much (i mean, i hate to say "thanks, i try" 'cause that sounds trite and stupid-- but then, the comment was trite and stupid, so). but i respond anyway, 'cause maybe you're not good with words and you still liked it, and i dig that.



Do you, as an author, want constructive criticism? Or is that something better left for the privacy of beta readers? And if you were to get constructive crit, would you want it to be private email or is the original posting location - ie mailing list, newsgroup, ff.net, message board - okay for review purposes?


YES! bring it on, baby, bring. it. on.

it's not that i have a thick skin-- it's just-- i am aware of most of the flaws, usually-- and i want to improve. also, it means you care and you paid attention, and you're helping me see how other people perceive my writing, which really gives me invaluable perspective-- 'cause i'm so stuck in my head, usually, and i don't know what works and what doesn't unless you tell me. 'cause, i only have one beta and sometimes she things things aren't worth betaing 'cause they're not serious enough. (hee! *huggles loffly beta*)

also. since you care enough to point these things out, it means you're paying attention, which, you know, strokes my ego all by itself. ahahah. well, yes, it's probably too easy to stroke my ego. and too easy to hurt it. i'm weird like that, i guess ><;
    but in general, any fb is good fb, as long as it's not a flame. and intelligent fb makes me feel special. *grins*

anywhere is a good place for feedback. go ahead. tear my fic apart. as long as your claws don't point at -me- as a person, i'll love you for it, especially if you know i respect your opinion as a person and as a writer i admire~:)



Do you, as an author, take time to FB other authors?

oh yah.

too much time, probably. i can't help it, most times when i love a piece, i just -have- to squee. just -have- to. i cannot shut up. must... ramble! gah!



What is your experience when FBing authors? Do you find authors courteous in their response? Do authors respond at all?

hee. i think like, 95% of the people who know me or like me in the hp fandom, anyway, do so because of knowing me via my feedback to them. it's very common for them to be gushy about it (counter-gush to my gush, and so on). they usually seem surprised and pleased i'm so thorough and emotional and expressive of so many details and such. i mean... yes, everyone's been very nice to me. i wouldn't say "courteous", 'cause that would imply they seem like they don't care. almost everyone -loves- feedback-- so if they respond, it usually doesn't seem like a chore but rather like they're thanking me.

maybe it's because i'm personal about it, they're personal about it? i don't know.

sometimes they don't respond at all. that's okay. i mean-- i'm really used to it, doing so much commenting on ff.net and fiction alley and such. i almost never email people about fics (only did it twice, ever), and in that case one of them responded and one of them didn't.

the writer who didn't respond-- well. i adored her fic-- i mean, i adored it. it knocked me flat-- i -had- to say something. i was having heart palpitations and i was feeling woozy with love. maybe it's hard to respond to something like that. i mean, what do you say? "thanks"? so it's okay. i wonder if it didn't matter to her-- but that's just me being paranoid. it has to feel good to receive a glowing email, and that's pretty much goal accomplished as far as i'm concerned.

though obviously, telling me i made you feel good makes me feel even better, so i love it when the writer tells me so. i'm all, "eeeeee, it worked, it worked!". so.


If an author asks for FB, are you more or less likely to give FB?



well, it depends on the fic and the author. if a friend asks for feedback, i'll just give it (good or not-so-great), just because i wuv them. if a random writer asks for feedback, depends on the story-- if i was wobbly between doing it and not, and they asked, then i'd probably fb them. i know what it's like to really really want to know if a story works or not.

i have never gotten fb when i specifically asked for it (even though i almost never do), so i'm kind of jaded, but i still know the feeling, and the empathy prods me.

on the other hand, this is the mature request, not the hysterical demand.



Does personal perception of an author - either positive or negative - affect whether you give FB or not?


i don't want to lie, so yes.
on the other hand, in fandom, you're more likely to be my friend if i like your writing, so it all works out. yes, i'm more likely to give fb if i like you-- but i'm not as bad as the large number of others who -only- fb those they're friends with. i mean, that sort of thing is understandable-- especially if you're not into reading much fic in that fandom anymore, and you're only doing it with your friends because you want to please them (which is perfectly fine), but the paranoia that they -are- reading and they think i SUCK still remains.

on the other hand, if they're -not- reading, then i wonder why (have they read one and thought it sucked?). i mean, okay, maybe it's an ironbound rule that until i become really close with them, it's tough cookies, but i can't help wanting it anyway, so empathy makes me feedback as many people as i like the fic of, even if i do favor my friends and would get to them more regularly, as a general rule.

but there -are- people i admire and loff whose fic i haven't gotten to reading, especially lately, and therein lies paranoia that they think i don't loff them because i haven't been commenting (or reading).

anyway, if you're more well-known, i'm more likely to know about you, thus more likely to fb you. if you're on my friends list, i'm likely to like you, thus more likely to like your fic, thus more likely to fb you. otherwise, if someone i admire/respect recs a fic with easy commenting access, and i like it a lot, i'll comment. in general, i'll comment on any fic i really enjoy, if i -read- it, unless the only way i could would be to email them, in which case i'm -waaaaay- too lazy for that, no matter -who- wrote it (with that one exception).




While thinking about perception, what factors go into forming an opinion of the authors in your fandom?


hmm.
*scratches head*
i think there's a lot of politics, but i'm not sure as to their source all the time. i mean, i'm good at observing, but i'm not in the -thick- of things since (i think, largely), i don't go on aim much.

i think there's a lot of back-scratching going on, and cliques and people who're friends for one reason or another, whose friends get more well-known by association.

also, in the h/d lj corner of my fandom (i know, i'm pretty limited), you get respect if you get here early, since this is such a huge gig these days. so if you were here since 2 years ago or one year ago, it really helps, because you probably got to know all the Big Name Fans (*laughs*) before they -became- bnf's and so communication was much more open-- and then that acclaim-by-association thing kicks in again.

another factor is your actual fic, obviously.

i've found that the people who get loff wrote epics, mostly. there's not a lot of loff for short-story writers (ain't that how it always is), unless they're also friends with the bnf's.

it also helps if it was a formative epic in the pairing (well, in this case h/d), and in order to be that way, it obviously would have had to been begun early on (at least a year ago)-- which ties in with it being a smaller fandom back then, and fame being faster-spreading, and so on.

within the epic, it would help if it was "different"-- ie, created a new facet of fanon, or had a unique take on the pairing of choice, so that they could get famous for that take on the pairing (ie, "oh, she writes the cutefic" or "she writes the darkfic" or whatever).

it would also help if it was an action-oriented and a rather easy-to-follow "how-they-got-together" story that had a consistent style and characterization of the central characters. soap opera gets you fans. porn gets you fans. angst-with-benefits gets you fans, especially if you have melodramatic-yet-attractive characterization and tap into some sort of "mood" of the fandom, or a zeitgeist.

people know what they like, and most often, that's what they like, and especially with a chaptered fic, that's what gets them hooked. if you write your huge chaptered epic, it helps to either get the chapters out quickly or to write a lot of cliff-hangers and angst and porn. another tactic i've seen that worked is to initially write quickly and then get slower and slower, increasing the rabid fervor of your fan base.

after you have your epic, it really helps (these days) to get on lj and network with other writers and bnf's and talk to them and get them to pimp you and mention you and so on. people (lurkers) will see you recced and squeed over, and be curious, thus going on to become the solid foundation of your following.

public opinion is fickle and yet rather predictable, in this little corner anyway.

you can easily be outcast and marginalized if you don't pander to common tastes in some way or other, or you write unpopular pairings, or the bnf's had a misunderstanding with you and no one recs you anymore-- you cease to be high profile no matter how good you are. especially true if you don't write chaptered fics in your chosen pairing/style, thus don't get the opportunity to hook newbies (which is essential, since fame and fandom do not run on bnf's alone).

on the other hand, being marginalized and yet brilliant will always have a cult appeal. there will be a loyal following that will respect you partly for your fic and partly for your obvious association with other marginalized brilliant people-- and in this case, it helps to -not- be prolific, and to throw out crumbs rarely to tease the hungry hangers-on who quietly worship your talent but are possibly rather jealous of it.

in this case, you can get respect if you talk about how boring it all is now, and how you're so close to not writing anything at all-- so instead of the cliff-hangers in your fic making people hungry for more, your very reticence is what does it. thus in a weird way (and to a much smaller group of people), your eventually posted fic will have the same effect as the new chapter of that popular epic, except in miniature (though truthfully, you may never know, because your nameless followers are probably too shy to comment, and thus only your friends will say anything-- so it's rather a good thing people don't act like that on purpose).

and wah. apparently i had more opinions than i thought i did. as usual -.-

~~
ahahaha!
i'm in such a good mood this very second, because. because. i may not have posted anything of use today (busy reading, you know, the thing, and also classwork), but. this was good enough to pimp all alone.

overdone (aka beancurd boy, who has never disappointed me) posted slashy h/d here..!..! in delicious manga style which i adore. wah. and babyjami's h/d comic strip on hpart just killed me. killed. me. <33333!
    also, eddy drew more h/d and wah. i can't really express what it makes me feel without the sounds of squeeing drowning out any words -.-

and oh! i missed thessamunga's `sunrise' and it's so sad, but not sad, because any day is a good day for believable boy-smut. yes. *purrs a little*
~~

EDIT - *DIES*

waaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!111!!111!!1! *hyperventilates*!

durendal's fic!..!..!..!..! UPDATED!!! I AM A CRAZY FANGIRL and i haven't even read it yet AND I DON'T CARE!!
    wah. this is the fic that -hooked- me on harry/draco and i adore it so, so SO MUCH!! *dies again*

Comments

[ishuca.livejournal.com]

:appreciates the last one:

this might be a meme worth doing, if only for personal benefit. ^^

am backtracking through people's entries...