#but also. it really has made me realize how abysmal the interaction ratio is in this fandom outside of tiktok

[lesbienneanarchiste]

Me: writes a short, atypically formatted pwp fic for a rare(r) pair featuring kinks not everyone is into in a huge fandom that I can demonstrably see is worse than usual with feedback even on more broadly appealing fics and where anything not posted at exactly the right time gets buried under newer posts

Me: only 2 kudos in 24 hrs, I must be the worst writer alive 😔

[ralexsol]

it saddens me that the one-shot culture has taken over ao3.

i don’t see many people talking about it, because of exactly what i just said - the culture has taken over. most people don’t notice it because they’re just readers and they want something short and sweet. but as a longfic writer, it’s crippling to me.

maybe it’s different in other fandoms. but with ninjago, sanders sides, and the dream smp, it’s been the same problem. nobody really reads longfics.

there are a few exceptions - the big names. like with dsmp, you have “heat waves” and “passerine.” but outside of that? not much.

maybe i’m just a bad writer of descriptions, but my completed dsmp 27-chapter 180k-word longfic that i released a new chapter of every week without fail last year? 3790 hits. “oh, well that’s quite a lot-” with only 16 bookmarks and 68 kudos.

for comparison, my 714 word tintin oneshot has 545 hits and 73 kudos. im too tired to do math atm, but the ratio of hits to kudos for the oneshot is abysmally larger than my dsmp longfic.

i don’t know what i’m doing wrong. i made it clear that i was a perfectly consistent updater of reasonably long chapters (5k-8k words each). i had a set number of chapters instead of the eluding (?). i had an engaging, original story with almost every character from the dsmp. i maxed out the tags with the shitton of stuff that’s in the book - and actually went 15 over the mark the first time i went through everything. this should be a treasure for dsmp fans.

but then i realize what it is. it’s the fact that nobody does this, with few exceptions. nobody spends hundreds of hours crafting an intricate, high-fantasy dystopian longfics that’re longer than the fucking fellowship of the ring. nobody does that because nobody reads that.

all i see when i search shipping tags is oneshot after oneshot, in both the dsmp and the jrwi fandom. any fics longer than one chapter have the annoying (?) that tells you the author doesn’t actually know if they’re gonna finish it, that they don’t have a full plan.

i get that people are busy. i get that fandom culture is supposed to be fun and games. but when i pour my heart & fucking soul into creating a masterpiece, i want people to read it. i want people to theorize, to enjoy it.

i have 23 comments on the 1st proxies fic of mine (the dsmp longfic). the 2nd one, which i’m publishing/writing right now, has 3 - all by the same person, commenting once per chapter. do you understand why i’m so upset by this?

i’ve also been publishing the books on quotev, which has always been my home base in regards to fanfic-posting. the difference in reception is mind-boggling. for the 1st book, i had around 7-10 people posting their thoughts and theories on every chapter. and it was the same for my sanders sides series, lies! people read it, engaged with it, and stuck with it. they interacted with me on my activity post, where i would give hints for the next chapters. they cared about it, because they actually wanted a story and not just another fluffy oneshot that’s been done 50 times before.

but it’s not enough. i’m trying so hard to stay motivated, but i don’t think it’s hard to imagine why my determination is failing. i’m so busy with school and new hyperfixations - just roll with it, back to the future/michael j. fox - as well as working on a jrwi animatic! i have so many other things to do, but proxies is always nagging at me, because i don’t want to give up on it.

it’s a daunting road, writing a longfic. i succeeded last year, but just barely. i was so burnt out that i didn’t touch microsoft word for 3 months, and the last 3 months of writing the book was like nails on chalkboard. knowing how hard it will be towards the end, i’m scared of trying again.

proxies fans on quotev tell me that i don’t have to have a regular updating schedule. but although they might stick with me, ao3 won’t - the very few people that read it on there. they’ll move on to their new oneshots and forget about the message i’m trying to share.

and then there’s the fact that i want to move on from fanfiction and write my own books. but i definitely can’t do both at the same time, and i don’t know how long proxies #2 will drag out.

so, please. if you’re mainly a one-shot reader, try a longfic. find one that is promising and make the time to read it. comment on all the chapters, share your ideas, interact with the author. they will adore you for it, and it might just give them the push they need to see it through. it’s a small moment for you, but it could literally change their life.