rivers_bend

I LOVE getting comments/feedback from the person a fic is written for. I really enjoy writing fic specifically for people, and knowing that I've tapped into what they like is just the most awesome feeling! I also think it's interesting that the fics I've written for other people often seem to be the ones that are most popular (as determined by comment counts or specificity of comments), and I tend to like them better myself, with very few exceptions. I would imagine that this is because I am often more willing to push the envelope as far as how much angst, how kinky, how schmoopy, how whatever, I'm willing to go if I know it is for another person, where as I am more likely to try to please everyone with my general writing. And since you can't please everyone, I think those fics are probably just less pleasing.

In that way, it's possible that I, too, find comments influencing my writing (though I hadn't considered that). But I do know that even seemingly totally NON-concrit comments have made me a better writer. People gushing "I loved it when..." has made me go back and look at whether I am wording things differently in those places, or in some other way have better writing there (and not just some delicious kink, or Sam with his shirt off), and I've found yes often enough to let that improve my writing generally.