Fic Talk > General Discussion

Do you try to read your readers work?

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MellzBellz:
I prolly should be working on my paper or doing some packing for this weekend, but I'm bored so I decided to throw this topic out for discussion. I was just wondering how many of you make an effort to at least try to read the stories of authors who are steady readers/reviewers of your story. Do you make more of an effort to read their things to kind of thank them?

I try to read a little bit of everything and I try to leave feedback although usually my feedback is once every few chapters since I'm so busy I wind up reading a few chapters at a time. When I've reviewed people who have read my story they seem SOOO thankful that I as a writer they admire took the time out to check out what they are doing and it is a nice feeling. Although I don't always get the same treatment in return from authors I admire, but I understand how hard it is to read all the great fiction out there! I was just curious...

mare:
I know this isn't going to be a very popular answer but unfortunately, no. There are very few if any stories I even read anymore to be honest. When it comes to being a fanfic reader, I think I have lost interest, sadly. :(  I tend to look at the genres and if I see romance listed I don't even bother reading anymore. I'm hoping it's a phase but seems like everything out there is romance or turns into romance. Just not for me.

I will read short stories though, just not the longer ones because I agree it's nice for people to feel appreciated. So when someone pops up with a short I will read and leave a review, i'm trying to anyway. :)

but in the same vein...

I never expect people to read my stories unless they really want to. I would hate to think people are reading just in hopes that the favor will be returned. I know I want people to read my stuff that really want to read it. The things I write I know not everyone will find appealing and for those people I don't want them to feel like they are obligated to read it just because I have read their stuff. I never understood that way of thinking.

When I was first starting out people would review me and say hey you should check my story out and I always did but after doing that I found a lot of them I just didn't like and I ended up being fake in my reviewing because it wasn't my thing but they were reviewing me so it kind of just became an obligation. Reading shouldn't feel like a chore, but after awhile it did. I think maybe that's why I grew out of reading fanfic? I have no clue. Then I noticed when I stopped reviewing them they stopped reviewing me which tells me they were reviewing me for the wrong reasons in the first place lol

I'm not only talking about AC, I mean via emails etc... that's how a lot of my reviews were at first.

Anyway, that's my whole thinking on the matter. I know there are a lot of really talented writers on AC and out there in general, sometimes you can just tell by the way they post or write their summaries. I am going to try harder to read things I find popping up (like on this forum in the behind the scenes section) but as far as committing to a long novel, I don't think i'll be doing that unless it's a subject matter that really appeals to me.

And procrastinatio n is fun. LOL I should be grading right now, but of course I need to go to bed!

nicksgal:
I can never find the time to read, really. Usually, I only read something if a friend wrote it, and even then it's not always the case. I owe both you, Mel, and PuraPura plenty of reading time that I just haven't been able to give out.

And despite my being the queen of long novels, which I think is my problem, I'm gonna agree with Mare, the shorter it is, the more likely I'll read it.

I dunno... I've kinda grown out of fan fic reading because I feel like the same thing keeps coming up over and over again, and I don't really like it, so... That's about it.

mers:
It's just not the way i look at reading fanfics. I'd like to think that when someone reviewed my fic, it's because they genuinely like/dislike the story and would like to comment on them in their reviews and not because they're looking forward for me to read theirs. But i admit, i'd be more incline to read their stuff because i find it easy going to their profile and go through their fics rather than scour for pages until i find one that i like.

I miss reading fanfics to be honest, I hardly took time to look around for fics to read because once im in a reading mode, I'd stop writing. im so bad at balancing both writing and reading. But if i review someone, it's not because i feel like i have to return a favour, it's because i have something to say about it to the author. Hope that helps mellz :D

starbeamz:
I did read reviewers' work...in the beginning. Now, when I have time to read, I've bookmarked the stories that are interesting to me and read just those when they're updated. I think it's too easy to feel like you need to pat each other on the backs (you and the reader) to "repay" each other. Which is not the point of a review. If I'm going to read and review, I want to honestly be interested in the story (I think Mare said something along those lines, too) because, otherwise, the review isn't honest. And which one of us really wants a fake response? It's not helpful to either writer.

Reading fanfic should be fun! Not something you do because you feel obligated to...right? I hope that makes sense and helps, Mel!

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