A poll about YOU!!

[rivers_bend]

I have somehow ended up having a conversation about these topics with four different people in the last two days, so I decided it's time for a poll. Plus, POLL! What's not to love? Polls are FUN! I made it so no one can see who says what, so you can answer honestly, with no embarrassment, because I promise not to judge you, no matter what.

I know I used the dreaded radio buttons for some of the questions, but you can just answer with how you most often feel. (and if you're both and artist and a writer, or whatever, and the answers would be totally different, you can pick one medium if you want) It doesn't have to be for every time; I know there will always be outliers, and there is always space in the comments box if you want to explain. I have comments set to screened, but will reply (and thus unscreen) unless you say "keep screened" in your subject line or the comment itself.




[Poll #1527751]

Comments

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

SO many interesting questions here!

I virtually never use a beta, so some of them don't apply.

Others... if I'm struggling with a story and it went somewhere unexpected for me, I have reservations about it. If it's a new fandom, my confidence is MUCH lower.

And sometimes I like things better after I post them. Though I'm still on the fence about the J2 thing I posted this week-- I seriously thought about just burying that locally at my journal, and finally decided that there was an audience for it and put it up on the comms.

And there's the poem thingy I tried to write for maehrys's birthday, and wound up writing a drabble instead. I kept struggling with the poem and wrangled it out of first person and fixed the final phrasing... and posted it only at my journal. Only to have it get recc'd at a comm, so I don't even freakin' know sometimes.

There have been a few in various fandoms where I do not understand why people go nuts over "that" fic as opposed to some other one I sweated blood over ("Icicle Palace" for Prison Break, and "Bedside Manners" for SPN). But sometimes through the comments I see what's resonating with other people, even if it wasn't clear to me (I probably shouldn't admit that!)

And it's true, my expectations for comments DO depend on the fandom. My first fandoms were Prison Break and SPN, and the readers really spoil you with thoughtful comments and meta. In one of my other, smaller fandoms, most of the comments tend more toward, "Loved it" or "Whee!" That took some getting used to!

As for the "cooking time" for a story... I tend to wait a day or so on longer stories, because I'll re-read and see if the flow/pace are good through to the end and if the conclusion is solid. Sometimes, those last few paragraphs get tweaked for exactly that reason.

Drabbles, on the other hand... some need to wait for exactly that reason, and others I just know are _done_. But all of the pace/flow/finality is much easier to see over that shorter form.

[rivers-bend.livejournal.com]

But sometimes through the comments I see what's resonating with other people, even if it wasn't clear to me (I probably shouldn't admit that!)

In some ways I feel like even basic comments have made me a better writer in the craft sense, but in a LOT of ways they have made me a better fandom writer. I almost always read a handful (or more) of the comments on other people's fics that I love, and also on fics that I didn't love at all but that have lots of comments, because they are really informative w/r/t the pulse of fandom. And in the same way that you want to market an article to the specific magazine you're hoping to sell to, I want to market fanfic to the fandom I'm writing for. I write because I love writing and need it like breathing, but I write fanfic because I love the audience I have. Both in the sense that I love knowing I have an audience at all (in a way that most of my MFA colleagues do not) but also in the literal sense that I love many of the people who are reading my stories, and making them happy makes me happy. How do I know what makes them happy? comments. Which is to say, totally admit it! :D

I'm definitely with you on the lower confidence with a new fandom, thing. "voice" is very important to me, and I really need to feel like I have it right. Once I have written several fics in a fandom I feel like I've had conversations with the characters, and in the same way that I recognize my mom's voice on the phone, I recognize when I have the character's voice right.

If I get a beta, it is almost physically painful for me to sit on a fic once I've made edits. I am fascinated by people who can say, "Oh, I think I'll post that next week," or whatever. With the Valentine's Day fic I just wrote, I stalled and stalled on the writing, so that I wasn't actually done until I just had time to send it for beta, and edit, and then post on Valentine's day. I knew I would be totally freaking and would probably sabotage myself and post early. I do a little better with imposed posting dates, and can put it away and get it out again on posting day, because posting before is FORBIDDEN. But if it's just me? so hard. If I am posting sans beta, though, I do my best to leave it overnight or at least several hours, before I do my read-aloud self-beta on it.