Me: Oh my goodness gracious! It's been awhile hasn't it?
Finn: Yep. We've aged! By like… five months!
Me: We're so old. We need walkers now. I'll be the grandma who yells at children.
Finn: Um. Okay.
Me: Last time we posted, I think it was the Fanfiction Awards, which have surpassed vastly the amount of views previously.
Finn: In case you've been underneath a rock, we have new stuff out, like Kingdom Keepers Percy Jackson Crossover and her new account.
Me: The new account is for some seriousness and to be sent to Communities. Finn disagreed with the plan, so he won't be speaking in it. If you want more Maximum Ride, check out my new account JustKatatonic and see! You can also create an OC. If you want.
Finn: We'll still be posting here, don't have a heart attack.
Me: But that's not the only reason I'm posting.
Finn Oh no! Is Ramblings ending?
Me: Yes, it's not.
Finn: What?
Me: -ignores- Ramblings will still be posted whenever I feel like it but that's not why!
Finn: Is it because…?
Me: Yeah. I am posting, today, the stages of a Fanfiction Writer! Simple really. Here it is!
First: The Modest Stage. When you first start out as Fanfiction writer, you don't want to come off as needy for reviews and reads, but you also want to come out as comical and memorable. You type up something that might not be your best work, but something you're proud of. You leave it be until someone reviews it and encourages you to continue, or they offer suggestions, like looking at the red squiggly lines when you misspell a word.
Second: The Careless Stage. After receiving many reviews of the many chapters of a story you posted, you feel in control. You feel that you can control what your readers think and hear. You post whenever you feel like it, which could vary from everyday, or waiting a few weeks in between. No matter how angry your viewers get from not knowing when you'll post, you continue to do so anyway, dropping the quality of your writing and dropping the reviews as well.
Third: The Understanding Stage. It's been a while since you posted and you feel bad, remembering the thrill of your first review. You post again announcing that you need to post on a specific time and improve the quality of writing. However, the memory of the Careless Stage affects your viewers and you barely improve.
Fourth: The Determination Stage. You realize that things improve over time, as they had done in the Modest Stage. You continue posting and accepting advice for your writing and pretending that you have tons of viewers waiting on your beck and call, but this time, you'll appreciate them.
Fifth: The Popular Stage. As you realized, views have improved over time and you feel practically famous. Then, you begin to receive PMs from viewers telling you that they think you are an awesome writer or funny. This can lead back to the Careless Stage if you abuse the love of your readers. The viewer is as important as the writing, if you lose one, you lose the other.
Sixth: The Rhythmic Stage. You now know the ins and outs of story-writing on the website. You have people PMing you constantly and each story gets over 500 views. Reviews overflow your inbox and you have never felt better. You know exactly what to do, but can never shake the feeling of the Understanding Stage, when you realized you had abused your power. You vow never to abandon your readers again.
Me: And that's pretty much the stages I went through as a Fanfiction writer. My dedicated readers, who stuck with me through the time I pretty much abandoned you guys, remember. Sad day for everyone.
Finn: She did vow never to abuse the power of Fanfiction again. I was witness.
Me: I never did have red squiggly lines from Microsoft Word. I'm a Spelling and Grammar Nazi.
Finn: Disappointed? She notices everything. Her Psychology teacher spelled Gnomes wrong. Knomes.
Me: Even Microsoft Word knows it's wrong. And under a file on a website for grades at my school, my Biology teacher spelled 'beginning' wrong!
Finn: Disgrace.
Me: Anyway, the stages might not be that true, but it's the exact thing that happened to me. Don't feel obligated to follow every step. Especially the Careless Stage.
Have fun with the rest of the day! And week. Who knows when I'm gonna post again on here. Anywho, later!