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[wiseheart]

I'm gonna to whine and rant behind the tag. If it bothers you, don't click. If you click, don't complain afterwards. And please, spare me the lecturing. It's within my human rights to be unhappy about a situation that I can't change.

Lately, I read a story in one of my numerous fandoms. It was written by someone who offered me to beta my stories in that particular fandom - then simly went silent. It does happen to me time and again. Anyway, the story was good. Not outstanding, now captivatingly original... just good average. It was a pleasant read.

It also had 55 comments, the time I read it. Even if half of the comments are the author's replies (I didn't check), it's a lot of feedback. And it gave me a serious cause of sour grapes again. Because, you see, I do write at least as well. Okay, perhaps not grammatically, I'm not a native speaker, after all, which is why I would need betas. But I can state without false modesty that my stuff is good. At world-building, I dare to say that I'm better than the average. Far better, actually.

So, why gets most of what I write ignored? Even in communities that aim at a specific character/genre/whatever? Actually, the most feedback I get is from FF.Net still. At least, if people don't comment (which they rarely do), at least they put my stories on their Favourites and Alerts list. That's still better than nothing. On LJ, I get very little feedback. Even comments from the Gwen-bashing comm have gone back considerably. Sometimes I think I could e-mail the next chapter to the two or three people who regularly read and save me the effort to publish the stuff.

Really, am I overtaxing my potential readers with the necessity of thinking and paying attention to the details, or am I writing crap? No, I'm *not* writing crap, dammit!

Yeah, I know, it's the same as in real life. Some people are just not born to get the appreciation their work would deserve. It's really depressing.

Comments

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

This makes me very sad. While it seems unlikely I do hope you get the appreciation you deserve -- and soon. It reminds me of how my little brother, who really is the nicest of my siblings and me, had enormous trouble finding a girl-friend who treated him right and appreciated him. I wanted to go out and beat up the world for being so careless and uncaring to him! The reason I am telling you this though is that the story does have a happy not ending, because I don't want his life to be over for decades, but a happy now. He eventually met a lovely girl and two years ago they got married and last autumn they had their first child; it is such a great joy to watch them interact with each other and be a team in life. There is such a quiet contentment in my brother now and it just warms my heart and makes me believe good things do sometimes happen to good people.

Fingers crossed for good things happening to you soon as well. In the meantime: have some chocolate *points at icon*, hugs and sympathy.

(Edited to fix html codes)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

:-( If it's any consolation, I have been collecting Star Trek novels for you, based on the list you posted a while back. I now have the set, so if you email me your address (which I can't seem to find), I can get them in the post for you.

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

I think a lot depends on the genre and how popular it is with teenagers especially. I've see some dire Aragorn and Legolas get tortured by Orcs epics with masses of reviews,whereas anything more original gets ignored. I've a friend who is very gifted and a super writer, but she only gets a handful of reviews,because I think, she writes stories mostly about OCS.

I think fanfic readers tend to like stories that stick to set formulas and if your story isn't one of those,it will most likely be overlooked even if of very high quality.

[lissas-elves.livejournal.com]

>>Okay, perhaps not grammatically, I'm not a native speaker, after all, which is why I would need betas. But I can state without false modesty that my stuff is good. At world-building, I dare to say that I'm better than the average. Far better, actually.<<

I agree. You're great at world-building and are a super writer; you DO deserve a lot more reviews. It's strange and unfair. *hugs*

Guess Linda has a point about teenage readers: many of them don't mind that the characters are wildly OOC, have no idea about canon - or even the general laws of nature - and are simply unable to appreciate your stories.

[mirasaui.livejournal.com]

I know your writing and it is definitely deserving of high praise. There are authors who, intentionally or not, network and therefore are going to get more reviews than others regardless of the quality of writing.

And maybe this is just me, for I am very insecure about my mediocre writing, but I find it much harder to write a review for a good author than for one who is average. I mean, they are more deserving than a simple, "I loved the story". AND, since they write much BETTER than me, I am right off the bat, totally intimidated! So while with some, I may review every chapter, with others I try to write more but may not necessarily leave as many. Yeah, I know, I am screwed up.

For what it's worth, IMO, your stories are better than most that are out there. That you don't get more reviews to me is totally perplexing!

[artemis10002000]

*huggles and comfort chocolate* Rant as much as you need and want, sometimes you just need to vent everything to feel better

[phyloxena.livejournal.com]

Um. How about this for a reason: your writing, especially more obscure/OOC centered stuff, transcends expectations of fanfiction. Most people don't presume to review original books, don't write to the authors or even comment on their bogs. I can't imagine anybody reviewing in the same sense "Children of Hurin", even with more or less available more or less author - for example. People seemingly review fanfiction mostly to express some sort of camaraderie (with ficwriter) in shared experience (of the original).

[(Anonymous)]

I'm one of your (I think many anonymous) readers who never gived any sort of feedback but nonetheless liked your stories. I'm in no fandom, forum, whatsoever and when I read all those clever comments in many reviews it's just like I don't dare to add my "I liked your story". This is not only about your stories but lots of others too. I like fanfiction and when you are interested in some genres you eventually know the circle of people involved in it and just don't dare to intrude in "their" communication. And if so you would be simply ignored because you are just nobody of interest. But I will still read your stories and others and simply enjoy them!

[lhun-dweller.livejournal.com]

When Scottie gets that damned transporter back on line and I finally have you in my front room, I am going to make you watch an entire week of American network television, advertisements and all. Once your stomach has recovered and the nausea has faded, I will show you the ratings for the CRAP you've been forced to view.

If you do not become a homicidal psychopath as a result of this exposure, we will then ponder together why it is that folks will consume endless CRAP, go fangrrl-crazy over CRAP and give over hours of their precious free time to CRAP, but can't get off their mental asses long enough to say, "Great fic!"

You do not write CRAP. I have had the privilege of beta-reading for you, so I know the quality of your work is not the result of a good editor. Other than the fact that there are gazillions of fics out there and only 24 hours in a day, I cannot fathom why you don't get the praise you so richly deserve. It sucks. [passes the tray of Lindtir milk chocolate over to you and pours you another pint of Loweredbrow]