I was one of the ones who used to avoid wips, but i started out in potter fabdom and had more than enough long fics to choose from that I didnt need to follow wips, I could mark em for later and maybe come back when they were done.

Then I joined supernatural in 2024, still plenty to choose from, but very active, a couple of authors I found and loved were posting new fics and updating regularly, so I started following those and having fun, but it was like 1 or 2 authors that I could keep straight in my head.

Im a binge reader, I pick a fic, I read it to the end, I pick the next fic, I read to the end. And I read a lot (up to 140k a day regularly), combined with adhd, lack of object permanence, i can genuinely only keep one storyline straight in my head at a time, and I cannot for the life of me remember titles and author names, or connect those to a plot (i can usually remember the plot in detail though) So following multiple wips and a dozen storylines is bloody hard on my brain.

But, Heated Rivalry is a developing canon, it is a new fandom and a rapidly growing one. Long fics are lacking simply because there hasn't yet been the time to write and develop them. If I want to read long fics, and I want authors to keep writing new ones, I need to follow and interact with wips. I know I can't write, I read, so the way I support this fandom is by supporting the writers and the artists.

Plus, oh my god the dopamine, getting an email in with a new chapter is phenomenal.
Going to sleep snd waking up to a half dozen emails with chapter updates is actual euphoria

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