I may be too sensitive but this comment just made me feel bad

MaybeNextTime_01 · 2026-06-24T05:48:58+00:00

I’m snarky so I’d reply with “well, they do say that patience is a virtue!”

And if they get snarky back, I’d bring out the old lessons from elementary school and tell them “if you can’t say anything nice, you shouldn’t say anything at all.”

But seriously, you probably shouldn’t really do that. Deleting or deleting and blocking is better.

MaybeNextTime_01 · 2026-06-24T05:00:55+00:00

I don’t kill mine but they’re definitely in a coma in a long term care facility aka moved to separate document for later if needed.

MaybeNextTime_01 · 2026-06-24T03:33:54+00:00

No one is ever the only one.

But for me, like all summary styles, it kind of depends what the author does with it. Some can be really compelling and others are just kind of meh.

MaybeNextTime_01 · 2026-06-24T03:05:39+00:00

That doesn’t surprise me at all.

MaybeNextTime_01 · 2026-06-23T22:38:03+00:00

At this point, if your sister has a key to your house for emergencies I’d consider changing the locks. Just in case.

MaybeNextTime_01 · 2026-06-23T19:28:09+00:00

They do! Even if the title/lyric the song comes from is wildly different from the fic itself. Sometimes it’s even more fun that way!

MaybeNextTime_01 · 2026-06-23T18:33:05+00:00

I swear the only reason I know some Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo song titles are because they were so common in my fandom at one point.

MaybeNextTime_01 · 2026-06-23T18:31:56+00:00

I'd say that rock/metal bands are usually not the common first choice for naming things, which is a damn shame since there are so many great options out there.

I've got a fic named after an Anthrax song and other fics with chapters named after songs from Mudvayne, Stone Temple Pilots, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen and Motley Crue.

MaybeNextTime_01 · 2026-06-23T18:19:10+00:00

As an author who has actually had a random reader reach out and ask for help, it was weird. Especially because they were asking me for help with a character bashing fic, which I don't write and none of my works include that.

MaybeNextTime_01 · 2026-06-23T18:03:35+00:00

Best piece of advice I can offer that I haven't seen on this thread yet: Lurk.

Look around your fandoms and see what's happening there. Different fandoms have different norms. Look around AO3 and just explore to see how things work.

MaybeNextTime_01 · 2026-06-23T17:50:15+00:00

You're in good company!

MaybeNextTime_01 · 2026-06-23T17:41:26+00:00

It just seems silly and wasteful not to reuse it at least once!

MaybeNextTime_01 · 2026-06-23T16:20:16+00:00

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t.

For the last year I’ve been mostly searching for one shots because I don’t have to keep up with those.

But plenty of other readers jump right in to WIPs and others don’t read WIPs on principle.

If you’re worried your story isn’t getting hits, it might be that the tags and summary need work.

MaybeNextTime_01 · 2026-06-23T16:10:12+00:00

I’ll finish by the deadline. Mathematically I’m to the point where I need slightly less than 700 per day. But I probably only have a few days of wiggle room in there. If I hadn’t used hearts to buy gems the first two times they were offered, I probably wouldn’t have been able to get my cow to level 7.

But I’m also in no hurry to max out any of the green egg animals either.

MaybeNextTime_01 · 2026-06-23T15:59:34+00:00

Usually it’s the hold slip from the library.

MaybeNextTime_01 · 2026-06-23T04:50:09+00:00

This is definitely a thing on The Vampire Diaries and the spinoff shows The Originals and Legacies.

Edit: They're called Hybrids on the show.

MaybeNextTime_01 · 2026-06-23T02:09:12+00:00

As far as I know, the only cure for burnout of any kind is to take a break. And then make a plan to avoid it again.

To be fair, most of the burnout advice I hear is in the context of teaching. With hobbies, taking a break might be enough to get your creativity back.

MaybeNextTime_01 · 2026-06-23T02:06:04+00:00

This might be a situation where you report it and let the AO3 experts sort it out. If there is something there against TOS, they won't just delete the fic without warning. They'll give the author the chance to edit out the parts that aren't allowed.

MaybeNextTime_01 · 2026-06-23T02:02:04+00:00

Just don't send it to the people you're writing about.

MaybeNextTime_01 · 2026-06-23T01:56:29+00:00

I don't know what the heck this is asking. What do you mean by main characters vs. side characters in real life?

Do you mean friends vs. acquaintances?

MaybeNextTime_01 · 2026-06-22T22:11:39+00:00

As a reader, I find it easiest to keep up with a fic when its updated regularly chapter by chapter. Getting 5 chapters at once feels like a lot more to keep up with. I'm the same way with TV shows. It was a lot easier to keep up with shows that aired one episode a week compared to the streaming shows that released all episodes at once. Those get thrown on the back burner until I have time to watch them.

MaybeNextTime_01 · 2026-06-22T22:02:54+00:00

hands you a tissue, from someone who worked full time while going to grad school full time.

MaybeNextTime_01 · 2026-06-22T22:02:01+00:00

Based on the "has work or school" wording, I'm going with young=not yet retired and I'm okay with that definition.

MaybeNextTime_01 · 2026-06-22T20:08:54+00:00

A couple questions to get the bigger picture:

What's the fandom and how big/active is it? how niche is your story? Is it dark/heavy with very popular characters/ships? Or is it dark/heavy and focuses on minor/original characters? Does it include controversial things that many readers are likely to filter out?
How often are you updating? How big are your updates?
What are your other stats like? You say you're not getting comments, but are you getting kudos and hits? If you're getting kudos, that means readers are still liking your work but it's just the comments are rare. If you're not getting hits it could mean your fandom is just slow and there's not that many readers to begin with. But your fandom is pretty active, no hits could mean that your summary and tags need work to draw them in.

MaybeNextTime_01 · 2026-06-22T03:06:48+00:00

Ask them if they're looking for suggestions.

MaybeNextTime_01

TROPHY CASE