Obsidian Productions
I'm what could be called an Old Guard fan fiction user. I wasn't here from the beginning, but I got my start in January 2004. So I've been around AWHILE.
I wrote pretty much consistently from January of 2004 through about June of 2013. At that point, I got massively burned out on fan fiction, and also wanted to shift focus to writing original content. I eventually returned to fan fiction after about two years, writing a few stories and posting them over on WattPad, where I had shifted my focus to. Eventually, I decided to post what I'd written back over here, and finally made a formal return to the site in early 2017. I've since written several stories, some short, some massive, (my ongoing fic in DOOM is over 235,000 words now.)
But here's the thing I've been wondering: What happened to the reviewers?
I've been almost consistently doing worse for reviews now than I used to. Before, even on pretty obscure fandoms, I could at least count on about a review a chapter. I wrote in big and small fandoms. I wrote in Halo, and then I'd also write in Red Faction and Unreal Tournament and Perfect Dark. Even those small ones garnered SOME reviews.
But with the exception of my most recent Halo fan fiction, and oddly enough my DOOM story, I've been genuinely struggling to get people to review.
I'm over 100,000 words in on a KoTOR story, and can't even manage 1 review per chapter. I'm 60,000 words into a Half-Life story, and I've managed a grand total of TWO reviews, which is particularly disheartening.
So I'm wondering, what happened? If I could get reviews back when I sucked, (and I sucked for a long time), why can't I get them now, after I've consistently practiced my craft for over a decade and a half? The thing is, I don't think I'm amazing. Don't mistake this for arrogance or narcissism. I try not to dwell too much on how good or bad I am, because I always decide I'm a failure and I suck at writing. I'd rather not think about it than constantly feel like a failure. But I have practiced hard at getting better at writing and presentation. I think I've got pretty decent titles, cover art, descriptions, and decently lengthed chapters that have had *most* (not all) errors edited out. The stuff I'm writing mostly fits in what I would think would be popular with the fandom. Again, I don't think I'm amazing, but if I was writing this stuff anywhere between 2004-2012, I feel like I'd have 5x the amount of reviews.
Whatever happened seemed to have happened after 2013, when I left. Can anyone who's been around awhile and knows this stuff clue me in? Am I just doing something wrong? Or am I deluding myself and I actually really do suck terribly?
I'd genuinely appreciate any help.
Reply Feb 9 #1