Absolute Chaos Discussion Boards
Fic Talk => General Discussion => Topic started by: mare on July 12, 2011, 06:46:47 AM
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Do you ever let peer pressure effect your writing? For instance, if you plan on killing someone off in one of your stories and all your readers keep saying "I hope you don't kill him/her off" do you find yourself sticking to your guns and not straying from your original plan or do you cave and do what your readers want you to do?
Also, how does your feedback influence what you write if at all? (Changing a genre to fit with the popularity of what people seem to want to read, or lack of feedback = lack of updates)
How thin or thick skinned are you when it comes to what other people say reguarding your writing or even talking about your genre in general? do you feel like you can handle it or does it make you stray from writing?
Just some topics I thought of while slowly melting away in my bed last night lol
Hope this will spark another interesting conversation like the one that happened in the romance thread. Be honest as well! Nothing irks me more than people who pretend that some things don't bother them when we all know otherwise! lol
Discuss! :)
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I never do what the readers want me to do, because the readers will never be satisfied with the outcome. People change how they feel many times while reading. As for the feedback thing...it diacourages me a little when a chapter I am excited about gets none....not gonna lie. But lack of feedback has never kept me from updating. I am not gonna sit here and lie....it bothers me some, not as much as it used to, but it does bother me. Not sure I should feel embarrassed by this or not.
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I always stick with my plan. It may not be my original plan, but if anyone is going to change the way the story goes, it's the characters not the readers. It has bothered some of my readers, but what can you do? It's my story and there would be no point in writing it if I didn't stay true to myself.
Tracy, I don't think you should feel embarassed by getting discouraged a little by lack of feedback. However I think that if you're not getting feedback the worst thing you can do is stop writing! I think if you continue to write you'll continue to develop your skills and more people will want to read your writing. Which I know you already do because you are always on most recent! :)
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Do you ever let peer pressure effect your writing?
No. I never post a story without knowing how it will end, and I almost always stick to the ending I envisioned at the beginning of the story. The only exception would be, like Steph said, if the characters change the direction of the story. If my original ending wouldn't fit, then I'd have to change it, but I would never do so just to please readers. I write what I want, knowing it will have an audience of people who like the same thing, and while I take feedback seriously and will always consider ideas or suggestions, I have to stay true to my own vision.
Also, how does your feedback influence what you write if at all?
Sometimes I do get ideas from comments readers make to me, or sometimes their reviews help clarify something in a character I wasn't sure of myself, so I think feedback can be influential in that way. Does it dictate what I write, though? No. Like I said, I wouldn't change the direction of a story just to please readers. Genre-wise, I write what I feel like writing. I've written enough drama/romances to know those tend to be the most popular of the stories I write. Luckily, that's my favorite genre combination, so it works out well. I know I won't get as much feedback for my suspense, action, horror stuff, and that's okay. That's why I write a variety.
How thin or thick skinned are you when it comes to what other people say reguarding your writing or even talking about your genre in general? do you feel like you can handle it or does it make you stray from writing?
I would love to say I'm so thick-skinned that nothing bothers me, but that's not totally true. I'm certainly not thin-skinned enough to stop writing or even threaten to stop because not everyone likes my work or my genre. But things do get to me sometimes. It's never fun when a story you've put a ton of time and effort into and are really proud of gets ripped to shreds. I can't say I don't let that bum me out, but I definitely don't let it hold me back or stop me from writing. I just keep writing what I want, knowing that while it won't have universal popularity, some readers will like it, and that's all that matters.
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Do you ever let peer pressure effect your writing? For instance, if you plan on killing someone off in one of your stories and all your readers keep saying "I hope you don't kill him/her off" do you find yourself sticking to your guns and not straying from your original plan or do you cave and do what your readers want you to do?
No, I write what I want and usually know where my story is going and how it will end. We can't please everyone!
Also, how does your feedback influence what you write if at all? (Changing a genre to fit with the popularity of what people seem to want to read, or lack of feedback = lack of updates)
I've written in a few genres and have noticed some are more popular than others, but I write what I want to write and not to please others. Of course I do like it if people like what I've written though. I've had stories with no feedback at all, but that doesn't stop me posting because like I said, I do it to please myself. I hate when people threaten the readers that unless they get some feedback they'll stop the updates. That makes me think they are only writing for popularity.
How thin or thick skinned are you when it comes to what other people say reguarding your writing or even talking about your genre in general? do you feel like you can handle it or does it make you stray from writing?
I can handle constructive criticism, but not when someone rips my story to shreds. I know I'm not the best writer around, but I enjoy it and to me, that's the main thing. So I'd say I'm medium skinned, lol. Everyone has opinions about the various genres, not everyone is going to like the same thing, but I wouldn't just write in a particular genre to please people. I like variety in both what I read and write.
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I hate when people threaten the readers that unless they get some feedback they'll stop the updates. That makes me think they are only writing for popularity.
That's a huge pet peeve of mine too! On the other end of the spectrum, I also hate when people act like reviews don't matter at all to them and don't even bother to reply to their reviews. It's important to write for yourself, first and foremost, but let's be honest - if we were ONLY writing for ourselves, we wouldn't be posting our stuff for others to read. I'll be the first to admit, I love feedback, and I look forward to getting reviews! I just don't let a lack of reviews or bad reviews stop me from writing or posting more chapters.
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That's a huge pet peeve of mine too! On the other end of the spectrum, I also hate when people act like reviews don't matter at all to them and don't even bother to reply to their reviews. It's important to write for yourself, first and foremost, but let's be honest - if we were ONLY writing for ourselves, we wouldn't be posting our stuff for others to read. I'll be the first to admit, I love feedback, and I look forward to getting reviews! I just don't let a lack of reviews or bad reviews stop me from writing or posting more chapters.
That's how I feel. I don't write just for reviews, but I do love it when I get them and I always respond to them. I would never leave a bad review for someone, if I didn't like the story I'd just click back out of it, but I have left reviews about poor spelling and layout (luckily there don't seem to be any of those anymore).
Lack of reviews never stops me posting.
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That's a huge pet peeve of mine too! On the other end of the spectrum, I also hate when people act like reviews don't matter at all to them and don't even bother to reply to their reviews. It's important to write for yourself, first and foremost, but let's be honest - if we were ONLY writing for ourselves, we wouldn't be posting our stuff for others to read. I'll be the first to admit, I love feedback, and I look forward to getting reviews! I just don't let a lack of reviews or bad reviews stop me from writing or posting more chapters.
The WORST is when you have someone always complaining about lack of reviews but yet they openly admit to not reviewing stories themselves! Those people drive me nutso!! lol
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The WORST is when you have someone always complaining about lack of reviews but yet they openly admit to not reviewing stories themselves! Those people drive me nutso!! lol
Oh my god, yes!! LOL
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Do you ever let peer pressure effect your writing?
No. I love my readers but I feel what they want isn't what's best for the story most of the time. Now the characters have changed things up in the story before. Where I'm writing something I had originally planned but suddenly it just doesn't suit the character anymore so the direction needs to change. But I'll never change anything based on the readers. You do that and it could kill your story. It's like writing endless series because of popular demand. Just... no lol.
Also, how does your feedback influence what you write if at all? (Changing a genre to fit with the popularity of what people seem to want to read, or lack of feedback = lack of updates)
It doesn't. I've done every genre under the sun almost (except visuals and slash). And some are more popular than others. Like Nick angst is huge, I learned, when I started RMTW lol. But, I love RMTW just as much as I love writing 00Carter which has almost no reviews. (Which gets delayed cause of some of my collab partners, not because of my own inspiration lol). It's nice to get a lot of reviews but it doesn't decide anything for me.
How thin or thick skinned are you when it comes to what other people say reguarding your writing or even talking about your genre in general? do you feel like you can handle it or does it make you stray from writing?
Now I'm pretty thick skinned when it comes to people. At the same time, I saw someone say once that people who write angst, are wishing whatever we do to them in the story, on them in real life. And I'm not gonna lie, it royally pissed me off at the time. I saw it as a huge insult cause I would never wish anything bad on the Boys for real. The whole point is that it's fiction.
I've never really gotten flames or anything on my actual writing, so I'll be honest - I'm not sure how I'd handle it. I'd like to think I'd just toss it aside. I can handle concrit though, which is different. In that case I'd take it to learn from and keep writing. If it's just a distaste thing, I keep writing knowing I can't please everyone.
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The WORST is when you have someone always complaining about lack of reviews but yet they openly admit to not reviewing stories themselves! Those people drive me nutso!! lol
OMG YES! That's annoying purely for the hypocrisy alone!
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The WORST is when you have someone always complaining about lack of reviews but yet they openly admit to not reviewing stories themselves! Those people drive me nutso!! lol
That is annoying!
I always review the stories I'm following because I want the writer to know how much I'm loving it and because they put all that effort into writing, it would be rude to just read and not acknowledge that I'd liked it.
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Agreed! The only time I don't review is if I'm following the Thumper rule, or if I just read a chapter and know I'm not going to continue the story. I don't wanna leave one review and then have someone wonder why I stopped.
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That is annoying!
I always review the stories I'm following because I want the writer to know how much I'm loving it and because they put all that effort into writing, it would be rude to just read and not acknowledge that I'd liked it.
Right, and lets face it, we all enjoy feedback or we wouldn't post it lol. Which is fine, and normal. It's when some writers go overboard and whine about lack of feedback...or brag about getting so many that it's over the top.
Agreed! The only time I don't review is if I'm following the Thumper rule, or if I just read a chapter and know I'm not going to continue the story. I don't wanna leave one review and then have someone wonder why I stopped.
Same here - which is a good rule. No one gets hurt feelings if I know I'm not gonna bother.
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I try to be really good at reviewing and responding to my reviews.
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Ooh great topic Mare! This is a toughie!
Do you ever let peer pressure effect your writing?
For the most part no... In most stories if I have an end in sight or a certain plot curve I'm probably not going to change it unless I decide to take a different direction. I know that I have wrote things that piss off my readers. Unfortunately, in being a Nick romance writer most readers want happy endings, positive characters, and hot sex LOL. When I fail to deliver, BOY do I hear about it. God forbid my female lead is not this incredibly super confident, tough chick who lives just to please Nick... So in that sense I definitely stick to my guns there. I have dropped a few bombs that I think alienated some readers like not having a happy ending to UMS which a lot of readers of course blamed on my female character for not "being enough for Nick" even though Nick cheated on her. (Ha Nick romance readers can really be pretty screwed up . ) Another example would be having them lose the baby in A Little Taste of Sin. Readers kind of complained how it got pretty depressing near the end, but I felt like it would they needed some sort of karma like "punishment" just so they didn't completely get away scot free from having an affair.
On the other hand sometimes I do feel pressured because I don't want to be thought of as one of those crazy Nick romance fan fic writers. I do strive to have a little respect in the fan fic community as crazy as it might sound. I have a specific fan base and I don't want to alienate them, but I also don't want to find myself changing my style of writing to please them. I think that's something I have done in the past and reading through some of my older stuff it just sounds unnatural and not really "me." I also sometimes listen to some of the more experienced writers on this forum talk about how much they hate the romance genre and I know that I fall victim to a lot of the cliches. Sometimes i feel like maybe I should write a different genre just to earn creditibility. So yea... i think coming from the genre I write in there is perhaps a bit more pressure than certain other genres.
Also, how does your feedback influence what you write if at all? (Changing a genre to fit with the popularity of what people seem to want to read, or lack of feedback = lack of updates)
I usually do not change what will happen in my story just to please readers. I do however vale you their feedback and as someone else stated I have gotten ideas from things they have suggested or inspiration from their perceptions of characters. I think feedback is really important for a writer and it helps thenm as they write in so many ways.
How thin or thick skinned are you when it comes to what other people say reguarding your writing or even talking about your genre in general? do you feel like you can handle it or does it make you stray from writing?
I think that whenever you put something out into the world for others to appreciate you need to be open to criticism , so you kind of have to have a thick skin. That being said sometimes I can take things very personal about my writing. Constrctive critiscism doesn't bother me so much but when people start to say negative things about my characters that weren't intended to be negative flaws it's hard not to take it personally especially since these are characters i've created. Comments about which genre a person chooses to write in can also be frustrating and sometimes i have to remindf myself that what i like may not appeal to everyone, but it does appeal to someone. I'll admit though that after a while it got a little draining and that's one of the reasons (outside of being insanely busy) why I took such a long break. Even now getting back into it is really scary to me for some reason! I think in the end I am my own worst enemy when it comes to putting pressure on myself.
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I never do what the readers want me to do, because the readers will never be satisfied with the outcome. As for the feedback thing...it diacourages me a little when a chapter I am excited about gets none....not gonna lie.
I think that no matter if you get 12 reviews a chapter or 1 review a chapter or 20 reviews a chapter if you always get the same average number of reviews and for some reason one chapter gets a little less than normal it's pretty easy to get yourself psyched out and think OMG did they not like what I wrote? Especially if it's a major chapter that you are proud of. It can be a blow to your confidence even if it was just that people may have been busy and just hadn't read it yet.
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I think that no matter if you get 12 reviews a chapter or 1 review a chapter or 20 reviews a chapter if you always get the same average number of reviews and for some reason one chapter gets a little less than normal it's pretty easy to get yourself psyched out and think OMG did they not like what I wrote? Especially if it's a major chapter that you are proud of. It can be a blow to your confidence even if it was just that people may have been busy and just hadn't read it yet.
Or it could be that the person is reading a few chapters in one go and reviews when they get to the end of the updates. I know sometimes I might not notice an update and then have a couple of read :)
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^ I tend to do that as well, especially if it's an older story and am catching up on it. Sometimes I miss updates altogether depending on how quickly the story manages to disappear from the most recent page.
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Yeah, when it's a busy day on AC I sometimes miss the updates. I don't always check my emails either, so it might be a couple of days later when I notice my favourites are updated.
If I'm reading an older completed story, I don't usually review every single chapter, but every few chapters. It doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it.
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I rely on update emails LOL. They are a godsend when it comes to keeping track of when my faves are updated lol.
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When I checked my emails in work this morning I saw that loads of my faves had been updated. It was great! Plus it was dead in work, so I got to catch up on them all :)
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I get the emails to my blackberry so I read as soon as it is updated....I am usually really quick to review lol. I get exited for updates more than reviews but that's just me.
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I know Tracy, it's so funny sometimes I'll just be clicking off on AC after letting everyone know on twitter and the forum and already see you have reviewed. LOL I'm always like "How does she do that so fast?"
I never tend to get those update emails unless someone writes a brand new story. Sometimes AC doesn't like me lol
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You are always the quickest, Tracy!
Sometimes I read updates right away, and sometimes it takes me a few days, depending on how busy I am. I leave the update emails in my inbox until I've read, though, so I don't miss anything.
There are a couple of stories I'm intentionally behind on, though, because they update so infrequently that I've found I can't keep track of what's going on because I keep forgetting... so rather than having to go back and refresh my memory each time, I've decided I'm just gonna wait until they're finished and read them all in one shot then. I wouldn't blame anyone for doing the same thing with some of mine that I've neglected LOL. It's easy to lose the flow of the story when months or years pass between chapters.
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Do you ever let peer pressure effect your writing? For instance, if you plan on killing someone off in one of your stories and all your readers keep saying "I hope you don't kill him/her off" do you find yourself sticking to your guns and not straying from your original plan or do you cave and do what your readers want you to do?
Not really anymore. At first I did. I only wrote a sequel to my first story because all of the people reading it insisted that I do. Since I was so brand new to even having readers I was all "Dur...okie dokie then..." lol I have since learned my lesson. I also always know how my stories are going to end so even though I do take what some readers say into consideration, I generally just stick with my game plan. I will admit to a time or two changing some plot twists when people saw them coming beforehand lol ;)
Also, how does your feedback influence what you write if at all? (Changing a genre to fit with the popularity of what people seem to want to read, or lack of feedback = lack of updates)
Feedback doesn't really change anything for me. Going into a story, I kind of can gauge how it will be recieved just by the storyline. I do admit it's disappointing when there is a lack of it from time to time but it doesn't make me not want to write. My ten second attention span is usually the cause of my lack of writing and this stupid NKOTBSB thing going on right now.
How thin or thick skinned are you when it comes to what other people say reguarding your writing or even talking about your genre in general? do you feel like you can handle it or does it make you stray from writing?
Generally I think I have a pretty thick skin although I have to admit my skin wasn't as thick when I was writing Lurks. It had been such a long time since I had written anything, I had so many emotions writing that one and getting dismayed etc... I also have to say I never really have been flamed before, except on one of those anti awards sites. And I would be kidding if I said it didn't hurt. It actually hurt like hell since I was so new to the fanfic world. Because I had won a bunch of awards, people felt the need to rip me apart and assume I was this horrible person and reading some of the things being said and the stupid awards I got nominated for, almost turned me off of writing fanfic in general. That was before I came to realize that there were and still are really douchey BSB fans out there lmao
I'm glad those days are over!
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LOL well now you all know my secret :P but yeah....I always review. If I didn't its cause I was working.
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Do you ever let peer pressure effect your writing?
No I don't think I've ever changed a story because people asked me to/not to do something. In fact I like it if I have people begging me not to do something and I know that's exactly where it's heading. I want to see their reaction when it's complete.
Also, how does your feedback influence what you write if at all?
Feedback does drive me to write more. I know it shouldn't, but when I'm writing sometimes I need someone just to say “that was a great idea” or even the begging not to do something. It spurs me on sometimes. I, unfortunately, have written stories that are supposed to be in the popular genres and I wasn't happy writing them. I felt if I was writing the popular genre then I should have had more reviews and I just wasn't getting them so why not write what I want and not get the same reviews ;)
I did, now that I think about it, stop writing a story and I know I asked if anyone was reading it to let me know because if someone was reading and wanted me to continue I would but I wasn't going to write it anymore because I've been attempting to turn that storyline into an OF. Because nobody expressed a desire for that story I stopped writing it, it wasn't for lack of reviews it was because of the OF, I love that fanfic. (not sure if that makes sense I'm typing at work and my brain is weirded out by a question I just had)
How thin or thick skinned are you when it comes to what other people say regarding your writing or even talking about your genre in general? do you feel like you can handle it or does it make you stray from writing?
I've developed a thicker skin than I used to have. It has made me stray in the past but I've always come back and damn it I will write what I like. :)
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I get the emails to my blackberry so I read as soon as it is updated....I am usually really quick to review lol. I get exited for updates more than reviews but that's just me.
I don't know how I lived before smart phones LOL. Now anywhere I am the minute I see a review I can check it out and I get an e-mail the minute something has been updated. Then I can actually read fan fic right on my phone. I get amazed by the little things lol.
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I've got a Blackberry too, but cancelled the email service to save myself £5 a month. But I can still use my phone for reading fics, Twitter and Facebook.
I want an iPhone!
Sorry, that is totally off topic, lol
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I've got a Blackberry too, but cancelled the email service to save myself £5 a month. But I can still use my phone for reading fics, Twitter and Facebook.
I want an iPhone!
Sorry, that is totally off topic, lol
I hated my Blackberry and just upgraded to an iPhone. I love it!
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I can't change mine until February as that's when my contract runs out. But having bought an iPod touch and loving it, I now NEED an iPhone, lol