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[RokofAges75]

Hopefully!  People can be so pushy.  I don't mind people throwing out suggestions as long as they can accept the fact that I may not use them.  It bothers me when people I've never heard from otherwise do that, though.  Like, have you even read my work??  How come you've never left a comment before?  So rude.

I enjoy your occasional tweet thread about the importance of giving feedback, btw.  The lack of comments on AO3 is really pathetic.  I feel like I can't complain because, if you sort stories by number of comments within the BSB fandom, many of my novels show up on the first page... and yet, I get very few comments there compared to what I used to get on AC.  And most of the ones I do get are from the same few people.  (Thanks, Steph!)  I always reply, too, which then doubles the total number of comments.  I don't like that replies count because that is also misleading.  I don't know why people there - even fellow writers - are so reluctant to comment.  You don't even have to be registered or signed in to do it!

[mare]

I know! I hate that about the replies to comments too!

Thanks! It's a rant that needs to be ranted every once in a while. lol I read a girl's short story last night and left a comment and saw I was the only one who did. Then I looked at her kudos and noticed all these names of people who actually write stories in the fandom and for some reason it made me really angry! It's like, they all know how important feedback is and they are too lazy to leave just a good job! Or something like that? I get it, a little with people who don't write. They may not understand how time-consuming writing tends to be, but writers get it.

The lack of feedback is crazy on AO3. I wish that stupid kudos button didn't exist. People hit that thing and think okay there ya go! We all did a lot better giving feedback on AC. I wish I could go back and see how many reviews I had and read the ones I got. I think we were spoiled there. I know I had way over 100 reviews typically on most of my more popular stories, and that didn't include our author responses which as you know is another pet peeve of mine. People who don't respond to their reviews.

At least the girl who randomly requested something, actually has left a couple reviews. But yes, don't make a request after not saying anything or like I said in my rant, don't let your very first comment be "How come this hasn't been updated?" lmao *smack!*

[RokofAges75]

Yes, I kinda get it for people who don't write.  They may not realize how much it means to most of us or may not know what to say.  But writers can't make that excuse.  That being said, I also see so many posts pop up on the Fanfiction subreddit complaining about receiving "hateful" comments just because someone said something that was less than a 100% positive, gushing, glowing review, and I can see how that would be a deterrent to people who already feel awkward about commenting.  I guess you never know how the other person is going to react to what you say.  The younger generation seems a lot more worried about triggering or offending people than we ever were.

You can still read your reviews on AC!  When you're logged in, go to Account Info and Reviews Received.  They're all still there.  We were definitely spoiled, but we also established a culture of reader-writer interaction and set the expectation that people leave reviews and reply to reviews through our many discussions on this forum.  There's not really a way to do that on AO3, other than modeling the behavior you want to see from others.  (This is a very teacher response LOL.)  I could definitely be better about stepping outside my comfort zone and reading other people's stories, but unless the summary sounds interesting, I don't read much fanfic anymore aside from what I'm writing.

[mare]

Oh, I'll have to try that, thanks! I remember in my head thinking, as long as I have at least one review per chapter posted, I'll feel like the fic is on the right track. now it's like as long as I have at least 10 comments on the entire thing, maybe it's not that bad.

Yes, this younger generation is very sensitive. That's why I read the room nowadays. Luckily the few fanfics I have read have been incredibly well written, but even if they weren't, I would just go for the standard, great job! I enjoyed this, type reply. I know I've seen people complain about reviews where the person has told them they wished they didn't ship so and so because it's not believable. If you don't want to read about so and so, then why read this? I don't really venture onto the fanfiction subreddit. They never really talk about anything I feel like I understand.

I still wish AO3 had a forum. They would benefit from one. I miss the old days!

Today is my posting day for one of my stories. We'll see how it goes. This one tends to be pretty popular; we'll see if the requester comes back. LOL

[RokofAges75]

LOL I know what you mean.  I pay a lot more attention to hits on AO3 than I ever did on AC.  I figure as long as the hits are going up, I'm doing something right.  One of the few things I do like better about AO3 than AC is the way it records hits.  It's based on IP address, so one user clicking on a story counts as one hit, no matter how many chapters they read, and it doesn't record a hit when you click on your own story.  If I remember correctly with AC, every click counted as a hit, which inflated the number and made it less accurate.

The fanfiction subreddit tends to be geared more toward shipping and fanfic based on fictional media than what I write, so I also feel like the discussions can be hard to relate to and chime in on.  I tried to be a regular on the RPF subreddit when it was created because it was smaller and less overwhelming, but even there, a lot of the posts revolve around ships, which I'm not into.  I'm not opposed to writing another slash at some point if inspiration strikes, but I don't "ship" any of the Boys together sexually or romantically.  I much prefer bromance to romance.  Most of my romances are between one of them and an original female character, but I think I'm in the minority there.  AO3 does have its own subreddit, which I guess is the closest thing to its own forum: https://www.reddit.com/r/AO3/  Definitely not like AC, though.

Happy update day!  I hope you're getting some good comments on the chapter you posted.

[RokofAges75]

We haven't done any Q&As here in a while, but I thought of a question.  This is for you, Mare, but if any other writers pop in and see it and want to weigh in, please do!

I was just wondering if any of your writing habits have changed since you came back from your hiatus.  If I remember correctly, you used to be more of a panster or plantser than a planner - as in, you would just write and see where the story took you instead of planning everything out in advance.  That always impressed me because I probably would have written myself into a corner or plot hole trying to write suspense without a plan.  Do you still write that way, or have you become more of a planner?  Feel free to comment on anything else that has changed or stayed the same for you!

[mare]

Oh, I had no idea hits went based on IP addresses there. I knew it wasn't counting when I clicked on it, because I frequently had to do that to remember names of my original characters and I liked that the hit count didn't move when I did that. So, does that mean that, like Kudos, only one hit per address which means all the hits are all new people? Or possible same people who just aren't logged on? If it is, then that is kind of encouraging. I didn't even pay attention in the slightest to hits on AC. isn't that funny? But, on AO3, I feel like that's really the only way to know if people are actually reading. But then again, are they just clicking in then clicking out? People just need to leave friggin' comments! Problem solved!

I got two comments on this new chapter. One from my steady reviewer. Thankfully this story has one of those and one from an occasional one. No newbies yet. Although I have to say with this story, I do tend to get a lot of random comments from people I haven't heard from before which makes me feel good too. That it's not always just the same one person leaving all the reviews. This one already has more hits in the 9 chapters I posted as opposed to my MINE serial killer story that it just surpassed, even though that one only has one more chapter to go and is at 24 chapters total. The only difference between the two Roman gets abducted stories is that the first one I mentioned has him paired with Gerri. Annoying lol

[mare]

Planster lol I like that! Yes, I am still very much a planster. I never fully know where my stories are going until I get there. Same as before, I have a general idea and most times I have a vague ending in mind, but how I actually get there is anyone's guess. I guess the closest I get to planning is just making sure I'm always at least one full chapter ahead of myself, just in case I don't like the direction I'm going, I'll have time to change something. I don't know why it works for me, especially in suspense, but it just does. I had no idea the serial killer was going to be the MINE killer until I was about three chapters in and decided to have that be one of the things the police didn't report on the news. It's also a little exciting to write that way, for instance, I currently do not have the slightest idea how I'm going to resolve this hostage situation I have Roman in now. LOL Like not one iota, I'm just going to let my characters get out of it themselves.

I don't really think all that much has changed for me. When I first started up, I had a hard time keeping a flow. I sometimes didn't feel like writing, but now I feel more comfortable with it again and like you, try to write a little every day. I have it scheduled into my daily routine, After I shower, I come in here and write for at least an hour. Even if part of that is coming on here and responding to you. I generally only check this forum during my writing time. Sometimes I have a double writing day, usually when I update because it takes me almost an hour to html everything, so I tend to come back in the afternoon to write write.

Oh, I guess the thing that has changed is my willingness to write female characters now. I kind of enjoy writing Gerri, even though she's not always attached to a partner, but before I never even considered it. I still have difficulty writing Shiv for some reason. I even had an original female character in my first story, which I agree with you, people don't tend to like. I seem to pop in at least a handful or original characters in everything I write now.

I guess a question I have for you and anyone else, now that the boys are older and really have established their family lives, do you tend to write them as they are now? Like this age? And if you do, do you incorporate their real families? Or do you find yourself writing them when they were still younger? I think I'd only ever be able to write old school BSB before the wives and kids.

I know you tend to give them an original female character over their real wives, but do you have them as middle-aged men? and do they have children? etc...