why do I do this to myself

[pez]

If the concept of the story is depressing enough to make you want to cry, maybe you should not write it.

This list has gotten short. I am pleased.

• [Skin Deep]


• [Lullaby]


• [Megane Rangers]


• [Worth] - IN PROGRESS


• [Here With Me]


• Higa KiteRin


• ZukaFuji


• That AU

But it's not like anyone cares.

Comments

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

495 is a pretty big figure to just say "I don't know and therefore it's fine." Might be fine if it's 4.9 or 49 but even 49 feels like pushing it. That's half my year group in secondary school. Visualise that amount of people in a room and you'll realise it's a LOT of people. (And yes, it does matter who the comment comes from.) If the 495 people are just too lazy to spend 30 seconds to type a message, they can go do something else with their time then. If I didn't post then they wouldn't need to read. If they're intimidated, then I don't want to be out there intimidating people.

If you post something that means something to you, even if you didn't create it - a song you like, maybe - wouldn't you feel disappointed if nobody downloads it or after downloading, they said nothing about it? It's worse when it's something you've created.

But anyway, I'm must being moody and you should ignore me.

[solaas.livejournal.com]

Actually, I have some fics on an archive that has counters for each fic. When I see that one of my fics have, say, 324 hits, I'm happy about it. The lack of comments doesn't bother me at all. I go WOO 324 people clicked on my fic!!! \o/ (Guess I'm easy to please. XD;) The only situation where comments have a real effect on my mood is when Someone Whose Opinion About That Particular Fic Matters either likes it or doesn't like it. Everything else is either gravy (yay! someone said they liked it! *snoopydance*) or irrelevant (heh, this person didn't like it becasue I used an odd pairing, snigger!). I'm that shallow.

If I post something that means something to me it might affect me just a little bit if it's met with complete silence. But one person who cares (or cares enough to pretend) is enough for me, and I don't expect anyone else to appreciate the same things I do. It's nice when they do, but I don't feel disappointed much if they don't. Now, if someone should comment and bash whatever it is I've posted (about), that's a whole other kettle of tea. But we weren't talking about attacks, so. ♥

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

I think there's something fundamentally different in our sense of value which is making this discussion difficult. For me, the larger that number is, the worse it is: 324 or 495 people read it and deemed it not good enough to be worth their time to drop a comment. That's all it means to me. because no matter how intimidated you feel or socially inept you are, when you're online it's not really that difficult to type a hearts; or a :).

The 5 people who loved it, thank you and their comments mean a lot to me. But at the same time I'm staring at 495 calling me fail. Maybe because I'm Asian, numbers matter to me a lot. You might find this to be a trait to most Asians across the board.

And I wonder, perhaps most of the 495 don't comment because they agree with what I've been told on anon writer memes (and found on other people's LJs, talking about me) before: "your stories are good, but your characterisation, it's impossible to agree with."

[solaas.livejournal.com]

no matter how intimidated you feel or socially inept you are, when you're online it's not really that difficult to type a hearts; or a :).

Now I'm going to speak very exclusively for myself. The above is only true if I know enough about the writer to know they won't be offended by an "I liked/enjoyed this a lot!" or a heart or a smiley. There are plenty of writers out there who will complain and grouse when they get that kind of comments, because they only want the long ones with the solid concrit. I've seen arguments to the effect of "Well, I spent a month writing my heart out over this, so the least a commenter could do is spend an hour writing a Real Comment."

If I feel the LEAST BIT unsure about the author's personal preferences wrt comments, I don't comment. I used to be a lot braver, because I _do_ enjoy getting comments and intellectually I know (or at least firmly believe) that most other writers do, too. And in the end, it's _polite_ to drop a comment to thank the writer for sharing their story. But whenever I comment to someone I don't know, it's effing scary and more times than not, I just stay silent. This is a bad habit, and I try to break it when I feel brave. I suspect I'm not the only one with the affliction.

The ones who never speak up don't count. Seriously, they don't. If I don't let my voice be heard, I do not deserve consideration, period full stop. Your fics get recommended, they get read, they get comments, they get love. So some people don't like 'em, big whoop. If you remove the ones who prefer porn to plot and those who are religious about pairings and those who are simply jealous, then how many are left that have something real to say about not liking your fics? Compared to the ones who DO like 'em?

Stop wibbling, Pez! It makes me depressed when the Good People let the Idiots get to them! D:

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

"Well, I spent a month writing my heart out over this, so the least a commenter could do is spend an hour writing a Real Comment."

Okay, now that's Scary.

But as you can see on word_games, I welcome short comments. :) The only types of comment I don't like are:

- "I haven't got to this part of the manga so I don't understand what you're on about and have been spoiled" even though I put spoiler warning at the top. Along the same line, also those that say "oh, now that I've read your fic on this part of the recent manga, I understand what Liz was writing about in her fic!" orz
- Tardy comments. Such as this one, which pretty much speaks for itself.
- Those who clearly haven't read the fic properly. Calling yakuza!Niou cute, for example. What the hell.

I have been told multiple times in the past that my characterisation has problems, though. That I force characters into situations and make them react the way I want them to rather than the way they should. I don't know. Some people seem to violently disagree with my characterisation and I'd like to know where it went wrong, but nobody ever gave me a specific example.

[solaas.livejournal.com]

Homigawd, those "I haven't read those chapters so I don't get this"-comments are the most USELESS waste of time, ever. Why do people insist of making such complete and utter asses of themselves in public? It's too stupid to even be insulting, it's just . . . STUPID! XD As for the other two examples, yes they speak for themselves. They're laughable and only good for a real big eyeroll and a flexing of the Polite-Muscle. Like Alison said below, they suck ass! ^^

The bit about forcing characters into situations is mysterious to me. Isn't that what fanfic is all about? "What if X happened to Y, how would Y react and how would Y's reactions affect Z and Æ?" But I suppose that's just me being naive again, huh? OR MAYBE THOSE PEOPLE ARE ASSHATS? Did you ever consider that? Especially what with the lack of arguments to back up their observations? 8D