#THIS IS AN ALL NEW KIND OF FANDOM FOR ME AND THE RECEPTION I'VE GOTTEN IS *AMAZING* :) TO MY TUMBLR IDKHOW FRIENDS I'M SO SO GLAD I KNOW

[le-velo-pour-dru]

Actually iDKHOW is the most important thing ever 🫶 Hope this helps

[suzukiblu]

May I ask how you got people interested in your works? You have so many people who love your writing (rightfully so bc you're awesome) and I just want to find some people who like my writing like you did

ik that I should be writing for myself and everything, and for the most part I am! I write bc I like writing and it makes me happy! But it's just so so discouraging to see my little silly posts that take me 5 minutes to make do fantastic, meanwhile the works that take me weeks of effort get like 3 notes yk?

How do you do it? Did you ever deal with something similar? Any words of wisdom for the struggling noobs?

(This is a genuine question, I'm not trying to be rude in any way shape or form and I'm very sorry if it came off like that) (Also sorry to bother you)

You’re good, I’m not bothered by questions and I don’t think you’re asking anything rude either! I especially don’t mind the “please explain this thing I don’t know much about to me” type of questions, there’s just some shit you can’t effectively google or things that just make more sense coming from someone with direct experience. 

First and foremost: the two cakes meme is law!! No one will ever complain about getting two cakes, no matter if you think someone else already did it better! 

Second and second-most: as a newbie, before you read any of my advice at all, remember that you're currently comparing yourself to someone who’s been writing fic for their entire writing experience and has also been in fandom on and off for pretty much all of that time on multiple sites and through at least a couple major migrations of fandom hubs, and that time has been about twenty-five years now. Like, it has very much been a long-term process, me learning how to find a receptive audience for my stuff. Also I am a grown-ass adult who is currently pushing forty and am pretty self-aware of who I am as a person due to a WHOLE lot of personal introspection and therapy and general life experience. Like, I know how I work at this point in my life, if nothing else.

The long-form answer of my personal fandom process will definitely require a cut at this point, though, haha. Like, this got kind of involved, ngl, but since you’re asking I figure it’s reasonable to go into detail.

So anyway, the “how to find your audience” answer is obviously gonna be different for everybody, but PERSONALLY, I've been in fandom for a long-ass time and just about always been pretty prolific and consistently communicative and available during the times I was around. I have a ton of different fandoms and fics in my history and have run into a lot of different people and written a lot of different things over the years, so I've cast a pretty wide net of options for people to find me through. I've got readers who've followed me through multiple fandoms and even deliberately gotten into new ones because of me just because they like how I write and know me well enough from my other writing to trust that I’ll be respectful of certain things (or at least put in a good-faith effort to be). Your kink is not my kink, but I’m not gonna hate on it; your thing is not my thing, but you have fun over there, you DO your thing!

Being prolific is super-helpful, of course, because that gets people in the habit of checking in on you regularly and keeps you fresh in their minds, but one of the most effective ways I’ve gotten people long-term interested in my work is by being very responsive to readers and very open about what I’m currently working on. Taking requests has helped, asking who wants to see more of what has helped, talking to people in general has helped, and definitely playing “yes, and?” with ideas I’ve been offered has helped. Also I had the benefit of LiveJournal being one of my main fandom hubs for a while, where I met a lot of people and got in the habit of talking to them in a way Tumblr does not necessarily intuitively facilitate, so that’s just a habit for me. 

I definitely still produce stuff that comparatively flops and get bummed about it, it’s just a thing I’ve gotten used to over the years and so I either kill my darlings and move on to the next thing or I decide “naw, I’m still into this idea, I’mma work on it more anyway”. That’s obviously much easier when at least a couple other people are also into said idea, but still, it’s a thing you just gotta decide for yourself either way. Like I’ve DEFINITELY had stuff I slaved over get just about totally ignored while things I only tossed up on a whim off the top of my head or just intended as jokes people adored and resonated with way more, which is part of why I do so many WIP memes where I’m drip-feeding bits and pieces of content more regularly. One of my recent fics didn’t get near as much of a reception or interest on AO3 as I’d hoped it would, but when I was writing it on Tumblr people DID get excited for and enjoy it during the process, so that helped soothe that particular indignity/frustration for me.

Also, I’ve gotten enough people invested in my writing at this point that it’s much easier for me than it is for some writers, because I can do things like ask “hey what do you guys like/want to see more of?” and I’ll pretty much always get an answer, simply because so many people are in the habit of regularly checking on my blog and talking to me now. Polls are very helpful that way too, because it’s a functionally anonymous way for shyer people or people who are just casually scrolling their dash to give you an idea of what they’re enjoying from you without having to disrupt their flow or psych themselves up or anything like that. Like, it’s low-pressure, you know? I have done a LOT of polls since I found out Tumblr has those now.

I also constantly encourage people to both talk to me about and also play with my interpretations and AUs as they so please, and I deliberately cultivate responsive relationships with as many readers as I can. I don’t always have the spoons to answer every ask, but I always try to answer the majority of them and try not to ignore questions. A significant chunk of people have told me that they read tropes and AUs from me that they hate from other writers because they just trust that I’ll write it in a way that they can enjoy. I will include certain things and a certain level of respect that they just would not be comfortable without, and if I don’t have those things in there or there’s a common trigger, I’ll at least have done my best to tag for it. And I listen to people who tell me when I’m fucking up and I either take reasonable accommodations or change my behavior where appropriate. I tag for common triggers, I don’t use terms I’ve been told are insults or slurs, I try not to associate negative connotations with physical characteristics or things people can’t change about themselves, and when I have a reflexive “squick” reaction, I try not to assume shit and try to examine my biases. Or I just back-button and move on, if it comes to it. I also do my best to assume the best of people until they prove that I should not be. I am very much going to de-escalate when and wherever I can. 

I generally consider myself a low-drama blog and a low-drama person to follow, and put in effort to be that as best I can, and at this point I think (or at least hope) people feel relatively confident that they can talk to me without having to worry about immediately getting their head bitten off, which seems to be an increasing fear/concern that some people have in fandom. Therefore, I get people talking to me pretty regularly, because I’ve gone to the effort to be as approachable as I know how to make myself.

Also, yeah: above all else, write what you wanna write! Write your weird and niche dreams! Trust me, somebody out there LOVES your weird and niche dreams and wants all the deets on ‘em. I get the most engagement and interest when I just write what I really wanna see and don’t particularly worry about how goddamn weird I think I’m being. People are actually gonna be EXCITED about how goddamn weird I think I’m being, because a lot of them want it too and they’re not finding it as easily as a lot of the more popular stuff. 

So like . . . hope at least some of that was helpful, feel free to ask follow-up questions if you have any, hah.

[16woodsequ]

Hi! I’ve been following your Steve fics for a while and just wanted to say I really really love everything you’ve written, especially the Alternatively series.

Idk if you give writing advice and sorry if this comes out of the blue, but do you ever struggle comparing yourself to other writers on Ao3? I’ve been posting on and off lately but get so discouraged when I see fics with hundreds of thousands of hits and thousands of kudos and comments. I just don’t feel like I’ll ever compete with that, you know?

Hello! Thank you for your kind words! It always lifts me up to hear things like that :D

I've been thinking about this ask a lot to think of how I handle that feeling. Because it might surprise you considering how many people read my fics, but I also feel discouraged sometimes when fics don't get the engagement I'd love sometimes.

Here's some things I've done to help myself:

First, I added a skin to my AO3 to turn off numbers on fics. This blocks comment numbers, hit counts, kudos, that sort of thing. @ao3commentoftheday has good tutorials for ao3 skins. I made a google docs with the coding for the skins I use if you're interested.

I find hiding the numbers really helps me, because I found I was beginning to focus a lot on the numbers of my fics. These skins block the numbers on your fics and other people's. Doing this helps me not fixate on the numbers and take more happiness in the fics themselves.

When I first changed my ao3 skin I didn't turn it off for several weeks, to wean myself off of it, but now I turn it off on Sundays and give myself the day to enjoy looking at the bookmark numbers and stuff like that, because now it sparks joy more than discouragement, which is the goal.

Second, I try to treasure the good stuff. When creating things I find it very very important to remind yourself of the good things. Our brains are kind of wired to forget the positive reception we've gotten for things and we keep chasing more, which can leave us discouraged.

So find ways to treasure whatever happy things you've gotten from your fics or fandom experience online.

For example, I have a personal discord serve with just me where I save screenshots of amazing comments, touching notes, tags, bookmarks, asks etc that people have left on my fics and posts. This way I can go back and look at them anytime.

I also save my favourite comments in my ao3 inbox instead of deleting them.

And I've also started a scrapbook with my favourite comments so I can hopefully really remember them and imprint them into my brain.

Train yourself to truly appreciate the interactions you get. That's a whole person there! And that's pretty amazing.

Third, often what fandom people are truly looking for is community. That's why we want people to comment on our fics and art because we want to share this amazing idea we had and we want to talk about this thing we love!

So find a community that will listen to you. On tumblr or on discord or with a mutual. Find people who will be excited when you share a headcanon with them or a meme or an in depth analysis of a character.

I find that helps me feel appreciated and excited for what I'm working on and that really really helps.

Fourth, Don't compare your fics to someone's fics that have been posted for a year of more!! This is really easy to do, I do it with my own fics all the time.

But we forget that numbers accumulate over time! Of course your new fic doesn't have as many hits or kudos or whatever as a fic you posted three years ago!

Comparing the two is like getting to the party, putting your cake down and feeling bad because no one's taken a bite, while Brenda's cake, which has been here for two hours is mostly crumbs. These things take time sometimes!

Anyways, I hope this helps. Thanks for the ask!

[lullabiesandgoodbyes]

Hi Bel! Some LCDP thoughts because I like your analysis. If Tokio were a man, she'd be the standard of action movies: reckless, head on, unpredictable, hardened. If Rio were a girl, on the other hand, he'd be the typical love interest: vulnerable, sensitive, emotional, kind. Do you think if the gender roles had been inverted in the script, there would be a different audience reception for their characters? Thank you!

[ WHY ISN'T TUMBLR NOTIFYING ME ABOUT NEW ASKS?! PT. 3 ]

Hi, anon! Aww, thank you so much, I do like to rant about LCDP and it's almost unbelievable someone out there actually reads my shenanigans… 🤭

Now shortening it for those who don't:

YES, I've been saying that for ages now. I'm pretty sure Tokyo would be a fan favorite had she been a man. She's reckless, tough, short fused, hot blooded, bloody hot AND has her heart in the right place - damn! the masses would have loved a male character like her. Loved and lost before so became a lone wolf, got the walls brought down for love again and eventually dies for the family? Male!Tokyo would be right there next to Berlin in fandom preferences, being shipped together and ruling all the other ships. But Tokyo was born a woman, therefore, she had no excuse to be that great. She was always prone to be hated. Misogyny runs deeps within fandoms, even though most people don't want to admit it.

Not so sure if female!Rio would be better accepted, though. Misogyny runs really deep - female characters are not allowed to be tough and reckless (or they'll turn into 'bitches'), but they also can't be vulnerable and sensitive (or they'll be labeled as 'useless'). I mean, look at the audience's response to Mónica/Stockholm's inner struggles through part 5… Rio was the youngest of the gang, he was 'hired' to be the hacker, then they put guns on his hands and became the one who got caught, underwent some terrible torture, and when he starts displaying evident signs of PTSD, both characters and audience dismiss his feelings and push him to "toughen up". I feel like such arc would always vote them to be part of fandom's least favorites, but Rio as a girl might have gotten less hate for not having as many expectations attached.

And by ' audience, ' of course, I'm referring to the most vocal part of the fandom. It's my overall understanding from casual viewers that Tokyo was pretty cool and Rio was just a boy trapped inside a man's body. But you probably already know that… 😉😊

[winterrose527]

p1. Hi!! Ok so I just finished Dancing on the Strings - I definitely planned to finish it much earlier but I got distracted by my own fanfic and also - I got into grad school (!!!!!!)!! But alas, onto the fic: I love love love college!AUs - they're so much fun because I love seeing all the couples in such a formative time in their lives! I really enjoyed seeing Robb's character development from this super immature college boy that messes around with Margaery and how his love for his family and

p2. for Myrcella really forces him to grow up into someone that she deserves (even though he's annoying stubborn about it for so long - like Robb, how can you be so smart and so dumb at the same time???)! Fav line: She gave him a knowing smile and said, “Because you’re the kind of boy who is only going to fall in love once, and when you do…It might just kill you." - ugh love the symbolism of this!! I adored Myrcella's journey and how she basically opens herself up to having a family! I obsess-

p3. over the found family trope - but you do it so well!!! Their relationship is freaking adorable and so complex with this constant pushing and pulling between the two of them!! fav line: I fell long ago, without my permission. - so cute and beautiful!! Her relationship with Gendry is also so beautiful - I adore well-written sibling relationships, and it was so interesting to see it develop from the perspective of them meeting as adults? I hate that we were deprived of that in canon because -

p4. I think canon!Myrcella would've wanted to know him. Sansa and Jon - wonderful, perfect, iconic as always. As was Arya!! The love scenes also made me DIEEEEE in an amazing way!! Ok I'm officially starting A Different Kind of Game - hopefully I can be more efficient about reading/reviewing it (and it'll be getting me through the financial aid applications ripppp) - so excited!!!

p5. also, I scrolled through your blog because I've been MIA from the GOT fandom for the last month and I'm so sorry your fics haven't been getting the attention/reception that they deserve! I just want to let you know that your fics are valued so so much - they've literally gotten me through 12-hour days filled with personal statements, stress and other personal things happening. I'm reading through your backlog so I haven't been able to get to your new fics yet - but I plan to read and review

p6. I'm reading through your backlog so I haven't been able to get to your new fics yet - but I plan to read and review every single one because I think they're amazing!! I know I like to post on tumblr because I like how interactive it is - but please let me know if you prefer reviews on ao3 or anything instead! I know I only speak for myself

p7. I'll support you/read anything you post regardless, but you're one of my favorite writers on the site, and I think it'd be a huge loss to the GOT/ASOIAF community and to me personally if we were to lose your fics!

***

Hiiii oh my gosh, you are the SWEETEST!

First of all - congratulations on getting into grad school!!! I am so happy for you!! That is so so exciting & I know the next steps are stressful but YAYYYYYYY!!!!!!!

Second of all - oh my goodness. I'm so glad you enjoyed it. This one is one of my shame ones because I made it far too busy I think, and if I could go back I'd set it up differently/have things paced differently, because there was a lot of good in it that just got muddled.

But yes, I'm often accused of having a sort of unchanging Mary Sue Robb and for better or worse in this one - he was not that. I really enjoyed having him be on the character arc that he was, because I felt like he really grew as a person and it was challenging but joyful to write.

I always love writing Myrcella & Gendry as siblings, and I found it so interesting to write it with Myrcella being the one to seek him out.

Ooh I hope you enjoy A Different Kind of Game. It's not one of my favorites but it was fun to write. I'm so honored you're going through my backlog!!

Thanks so much for saying that - it really means so much. I will say that I've been feeling less engaged with GoT fandom as of late, which is to be expected I suppose, and though I love my Robbcella babies, it is incredibly difficult to have maintained inspiration when that is the case and then on top of that, receiving very little interaction with what I write. It takes a lot of time & energy to write stories and it's long been feeling like my time could be better spent elsewhere. That isn't in any way to suggest that I think fanfic is a waste of time or to disparage anyone who still gets joy from it, but for me personally I'm not seeing a lot of upside.

I'm sure that I'll write more in the future, but I do think my most prolific days are definitely behind me.

And just to note - receiving these are so lovely, you're so kind and wonderful and it's such a joy to experience because I get to revisit these works that I wrote what feels like so long ago, but to answer your question yes, on the whole, I will say engagement on AO3, particularly on WIPs, is something that a lot of writers - or maybe I should just speak for myself - appreciate. It can keep us going/convince us to write that next chapter, etc.

Can't wait to see what you choose next, and no rush of course, I just hope you enjoy yourself! xoxo