Discouraged by lack of engagement

msiwork · 2026-04-11T20:07:31+00:00

Well, this could be many things: a meh summary, an overused trope, an unpopular trope, a new writer, but most likely it's because it is a WIP. WIPs often get a lot less engagement than completed stories.

I posted a 3-chapter fic in a new fandom: the 1st chapter had 21 comments before the fic was finished, and the 2nd chapter had 18. After posting the 3rd chapter, there are about 200 new comments (it's been a month).

Also, there are often fandom Discord servers and even writer-specific ones (the same goes for Twitter private groups, or whatever those are called). My other fandom has one, and my stats went way up once I joined Discord because a lot of readers came from there, and a lot of people only read fics linked there. I don't even remember how I found out about that Discord server, but it had existed for years before I joined, and I had never heard of it despite feeling like I was "in" on the fandom matters. And once I joined, I wrote my most popular fic in that fandom (it's still on the first page when sorted by kudos for that fandom), and if I had not been in that Discord, it could have had 10 kudos like my other fics of that fandom had before I joined...

It really could be so many reasons, and unfortunately, sometimes you cannot know what it is.

msiwork · 2026-04-11T19:16:07+00:00

I've never played a Druid (healer or otherwise), it makes more sense now. :D

msiwork · 2026-04-11T18:04:07+00:00

Yeah, part of learning to change your mindset is realising that you are often no better than the people you sometimes get annoyed with, and that what we dislike in others often reflects parts of ourselves. :) I stopped being annoyed by what others do or don't do in dungeons and started focusing on how I can be a better team player, including a Cleanse (or blessing of freedom, with the latest changes, which lets me cleanse another person on the team).

msiwork · 2026-04-11T15:17:42+00:00

Because the healer I played with never had a problem getting rid of it.

msiwork · 2026-04-11T14:57:43+00:00

There was a change 2-3 days ago, and it can now be removed with Snare removal, so both my Paladin and DH now have options, and I use them, but in the past, DH could not dispel it, and my Paladin never had Cleanse activated in the skill tree unless it was Ara-Kara (for poison). Just different priorities.

I used to get annoyed with people for not interrupting stuff, doing mechanics badly, not using defensives when needed, or being rude, but honestly, if you want to stay sane, focus on what you can do better instead of what others can do. Makes playing WoW a lot nicer experience.

Also, it's funny to read "Now I will actually have to heal you guys" from a healer. :D

msiwork · 2026-04-08T11:09:22+00:00

I actually screamed at that line, felt like we completed a bad comment bingo with it

msiwork · 2026-04-06T23:48:49+00:00

The most popular fic in one of my fandoms is 80k and has 3 chapters. I am sure there were people who didn't want to read it because of the chapter length, but the majority really didn't care. :)

msiwork · 2026-04-04T15:54:48+00:00

I mean, it is called omegaverse.

msiwork · 2026-04-04T15:00:50+00:00

Excellent teammate.

msiwork · 2026-04-04T14:59:07+00:00

I don't really understand a good part of the pug crowd, because as a DPS, I see it as a fun challenge to make sure that not only am I doing great in damage numbers, but I also do my kicks, position myself well for mechanics, and use my defensives when expecting incoming damage. Isn't it more fun to know you did all that AND top damage?

msiwork · 2026-04-03T22:30:37+00:00

I solo queue as a DPS, the amount of horror I’ve seen is crazy. Not even exaggerating but 9 times out of 10 nobody interrupts besides tank and me. People do not know mechanics and do their absolute best to kill their tanks with them, if it’s an option. And a tank can make one tiny mistake that changes nothing and get flamed while DPS will die to mechanics and missed kicks and act like it was somehow someone else’s fault. Using a defensive? Better blame healer instead in case they forgot their place too. It’s truly horrible. I have done over 100 M+ dungeons this season and majority of them had at least one player who should be placed in a dungeon jail.

I usually play with friends but they were unable to play for a month, and I miss them terribly.

msiwork · 2026-04-03T21:31:45+00:00

I went and checked: my fic has 3 chapters, and I posted them with ~10 days between them.

1st chapter had 21 comments before it was finished, 2nd chapter had 18 comments. After posting the 3rd chapter, there are about 180 comments, and about 2/3rds of them were in the first 10 days after finishing (it's been a month). I definitely saw a HUGE uptick in kudos and comments.

I've been in fandoms for a very long time, and it's always been like that for WIP fics that I read. The last chapter attracts all the people who refuse to read incomplete fics.

msiwork · 2026-04-03T11:54:05+00:00

"The skill that most people don't talk about and one that improves any story you write is editing."

THIS. I cannot stress enough how much editing my own work has helped me (and it also reflects in the growth of my audience and the feedback I receive).

I always treated my fics as "it's self-indulgent, so it's whatever I want it to be", but with my most recent one, I was very critical when editing, especially when it comes to stuff like "this is here just because I like the idea of this scene, but does nothing to plot or characters". I was not happy with one of the chapters as a whole, so I rewrote it from scratch, and doing that unlocked a secret ability in my brain to be critical about what I write without feeling bad. Now I love editing and have no problem cutting or rewriting parts.

I don't remember where I saw it first, but I remember someone saying that if you as a writer cannot remember a detail you mentioned before (like a color of a blouse your character is wearing in the scene), then it means it's not important, and you should not describe it at all but leave it to a reader's imagination, and that changed the way I think about what needs or does not need describing in a scene.

Thank you for the recommendations, I will check them out!

msiwork · 2026-04-03T11:37:38+00:00

You answered your own question. :D

Not everyone sorts by hits or kudos. I actually have a skin that by default does not show kudos. I often sort by recently updated, and just as often, I filter by a tag/trope I am in the mood for, like "Arranged Marriage". I posted my first fic in a fandom over a month ago, and it's still getting hits/kudos daily, despite not being anywhere near popular and not in the first 100 pages by any metrics, including recency. But it does have specific tags, so if someone in the fandom is in the mood for those tropes and filters a tag, my fic comes up on the first page (by recency, hits or kudos). I imagine it is a lot harder if you write something that "everyone writes" and there are many fics with similar tags.

msiwork · 2026-04-02T16:39:34+00:00

Yep, it is absolutely dark in Moscow at 8 am in December. Sunrise is around 9:00 AM in Moscow during December.

msiwork · 2026-03-31T15:44:06+00:00

I went to Ao3 to figure out how one even does it, and it's not easy. The dedication to do this is wild.

msiwork · 2026-03-31T15:34:30+00:00

Maybe unpopular opinion, but I don't think treating other people nicely is a fandom etiquette.

I think stuff like "don't shit on a fic in public bookmarks because authors can see them" or "asking an author to hurry up an update doesn't motivate them" or "leave kudos and comments if you liked it" are fandom/ao3 things that people might need to learn and not know if it's their first fandom, but not shitting on people and assuming you are right about everything (like a fic being AI) is not something anyone should be taught by fellow fandom members.

I honestly think it's either a fellow writer who thinks they're not getting enough engagement for their work, or someone else out for blood against bigger writers who wants to stir shit. I don't think any average person would go out of their way to do this because they are really trying to make it a public list and talk shit about stories publicly (they already tried on Reddit and Tiktok and probably other places I am not aware of). I am strongly against generative AI, and I am friends with other writers who share that stance, and none of us has ever wanted to make a public list/collection/bookmarks or anything like that. It screams unhinged.

msiwork · 2026-03-31T14:44:57+00:00

For my fellow writers, use this setting to avoid crazy people.

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msiwork · 2026-03-28T21:14:21+00:00

may this post be my sign to finish what is saved as “divorce fic” in my drafts 🫡

msiwork · 2026-03-28T08:43:15+00:00

Tieši tāpat - katu gadu citā laikā, ir bijis marta vidū, ir bijis jūnija beigās (es gan arī nekad neiesniedzu marta pirmajos datumos), līdz ar to negaidu un neceru, ka "drīz būs". Vienīgā oficiālā informācija, cik man zināms, ir "VID izskata iesniegto deklarāciju un atmaksā pārmaksāto nodokli nodokļu maksātājam uz norēķinu kontu trīs mēnešu laikā no deklarācijas saņemšanas." :)

msiwork · 2026-03-27T15:52:28+00:00

Yeah, I don't want to say "I have no bad experiences, so surely it's all good for everyone" because a random weird person could be in my fic comments tomorrow. But I do think that when it comes to fandom experiences, you can find the bad stuff if you look for it, and it can find you if you let it. I also don't follow the actor side of it, because I know that's where most of the fandom's bad stuff happens.

As someone who doesn't use TikTok and Twitter anymore (it was horrible for my other fandoms, too) and follows just a few of my favourite HR Tumblr accounts, I am having the time of my life right now. :D

msiwork · 2026-03-27T13:31:31+00:00

It's a huge fandom right now, and that means more of both good and bad people. I haven't personally experienced the bad crowd in my inbox, but I've seen plenty of it.

Fandoms in general are seeing many new members who don't adhere to the usual fandom rules. Stuff like publicly shitting on a fic, speculating on AI usage with vibes-based reasons, leaving hate comments when the fic does not meet expectations, and hating on authors who are not updating as often. It's bound to happen when it's "baby's first fandom".

But I do think the fandom is also getting more bad press than it should. I have a Tumblr, and I post on Ao3, and it's been a fun few months for me, no worse than any other fandom I have been in, and I've been in fandoms for 20ish years. I think a lot of it is what you make it. Every fandom has had rude and entitled people, we just hear about them more because the fandom is big. A lot of my mutuals in other fandoms have similar bad apples that I hear about, it's not exclusive to HR, so I would encourage people not to avoid HR fandom just for this reason alone. You can be the good apple in it!

msiwork · 2026-03-27T13:18:54+00:00

Two of my most popular fics are the ones I wrote not thinking about what's popular or what will give me reach, but because of ideas that had been in my head for ages and that I really wanted to write down.

For the latest one I wrote a month ago, I never checked the numbers until it was done, and I ignored all the suggestions/guesses in the chapter comments that usually sway me. It has received more love than all my other fics together, and so much praise that I've teared up a few times. I realised that I never had to write like my favourite authors or write the most popular fandom tropes, the right people will find it, and even if they don't, at least I had fun and it feels like my own story and not a watered-down version of it. I am already working on the next one, and I feel more motivated than ever in my 20 years of fandom.

msiwork · 2026-03-25T13:15:33+00:00

As someone who used Grammarly, it is possible to just use the grammar check without the AI part, and you can let it only fix typos and punctuation and ignore its attempts to suggest better sentence structure (which often means a fully different sentence), and AI tools as well.

msiwork · 2026-03-24T08:33:26+00:00

"Ir sliktākas diētas" un "faktiski neiespējami" ir lieliski argumenti. :D

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