tuesday of pondering

[tommygirl]

When you see this on your flist, quote Leo McGarry.

"There are two things in the world you never want people to see how you make them - laws and sausages."

[on the phone with the New York Times] "17 across. Yes, 17 across is wrong... You're spelling his name wrong... What's my name? My name doesn't matter. I am just an ordinary citizen who relies on the Times crossword for stimulation. And I'm telling you that I met the man twice. And I recommended a pre-emptive missile strike against his air force, so I think I know how...they hang up on me every time"

"I am making a mental list of those who are snickering, and even as I speak I'm preparing appropriate retribution."

Gah. I love Leo. ::weeps a whole lot:: I haven't watched Sunday's West Wing yet because I'm not quite ready to become an emotional basketcase. As it is, friends are still mocking me for the fact that I was so upset with John Spencer's death. Or as my sister said, "The girl doesn't cry when her surrogate grandmother/aunt dies, but random dude on television breaks her." I'm a very strange girl. I admit it.

**

Must write. Must write. Must write. That means that I must stop reading fanfiction.

First up on the list is smutbox stuff. I want to write something up so that my wubulous partner and I can discuss and figure out even more where to take things.

I've also got a lot of beta work to get caught up on before everyone comes after me with pitchforks, tar, and feathers. I'm way behind and, while I'd like to blame the devil house that I currently reside in, some of it may be due to my own laziness. I do have the market cornered with my ability to accomplish a whole lot of *nothing* in one evening.

**

So Steph and I were catching up on AIM this weekend and during one of our conversations, she pointed me to a discussion occurring based on quality vs. popularity in fanfiction. This isn't a new topic, but the discussion quickly turned to is it reccers' faults if good fic from unknowns isn't read?"



I don’t know. Do I rec more stuff by my friends list than anyone else? Yes, because I friend people whose stories I continuously enjoy. But I also look at communities and even fanfiction.net for the occasional gem…so I don’t think it’s all about popularity of the author for me. It’s about becoming a writer that I trust. I’ll give anyone a chance…once. But if I don’t like the first story, well, I’m not going to bother checking out the other stuff. It might not be fair, but that’s just the way it is.

Usually, there is no rhyme or reason to what becomes the most beloved story of any given time. It hits on something that the masses feel was missing from the canon, it involves the IT pairing of the moment, its just that good. But there are a few things that any writer can do to not only up the chances of getting readers (and maybe recs), but writing a better story.

The Tommygirl Guide to Getting Recced (well, at least by me):

1. Title & Summaries - Like there should be one. With correct spelling and grammar. I don't even care about creativity in a title, just that the story has one. There are some people that need to have a good title to lure them in, but I am much more whatever with that. I'm the worst at thinking up titles, so I don't think it's a sign of bad writing if the title is less than stellar. Same with summaries...I don't need a complete breakdown of the story, but a small idea of what I'm in for (i.e. - pairing, scenario, etc.) is helpful. Really though, this is your first, and sometimes only, chance to win over a reader. If it's riddled with mistakes, or the author spends the majority of his/her author's notes going on about how this story was written in ten minutes and totally sucks, well, I'm going to pass right by it.

2. Appropriate Warnings - I'm on the fence about some things being presented to a reader ahead of time. But there are a few that I think should be laid out upfront because it doesn't really give anything away from the plot of the story. As someone who is not into incest stories, for example, nothing upsets me more than to get halfway through a story and to suddenly find Dean pinning Sam to a wall. It blinds me. Things like incest, rape, non-con...those things should be warned. And if once a writer burns me on this, I don't go back and read his/her stuff again. No matter how good it might be...because they've lost my trust.

3. Write the characters we know and love - No matter what type of situation you are writing the character into, s/he should still be recognizable to the reader. For example, Dean doesn't cry at the drop of a hat in Supernatural. I love A/U stories. I love original characters written into fandoms. I love it all so long as you are true to the fandom character. And we all know OOC writing when we see it and it usually makes most of us cringe.

4. Betas are your friend - Seriously, people. A beta can work wonders. I have two regular ones myself because I don't notice the most obvious things in the world sometimes. I'm leery of stories that haven't been beta'd. Sometimes I will read them anyway, depending on the fandom and my mood, but it puts me into a different mindset from the beginning of the story. It's sorta like my feelings for President Bush - I go in expecting incompetence, so that even when he does the minimal amount right, I end up surprised. Is that how someone wants his/her fic to be treated?

5. If I Don't Know About It, I Can't Read it - You gotta pimp the story, especially in the beginning. You need to know what your story is and the niche it fills in fandom and pimp to that group. Don't go crazy and spam everyone's friends list because that's just annoying, but choose a few communities that usually provide the type of fic you've written. I'm not a mind reader. Alas, I don't simply know when good fic has been posted to someone's livejournal or website. If you post to a community and you've got the first four rules of mine included, I'll probably give your story a chance. On livejournal, friend people that share similar interests to you – if they’re reading your journal, they’re probably reading your fiction.

6. Be Reasonable. - You've got to take into consideration a whole lot of things at play in fandom. First, we all have our story preferences that we want to see in any story. Then, realize that the more obscure the fandom, the smaller your audience will be. I’m a small fandom and none popular pairing girl a lot of times. If you write Harry/Oliver, for example, it’s doubtful you’ll have as many readers as someone who writes Harry/Draco. You also have to take into consideration the size of your fandom for chances of being seen. In a huge fandom like Harry Potter, especially in the beginning, you aren’t going to reach *everyone*. There is so much fic produced and, of course, a lot of people are going to stick with what they know. There’s not much you can do about it except…

7. Keep on Keeping on… - Really, beyond pimpage and good writing, there isn’t much else you can do on your end. Just keep writing and consistently promoting your fics, and sooner or later, chances are that someone will read your stuff. I guess, the important thing to figure out is why are you writing? I’m not saying you can’t love writing AND want feedback. Writing is just like any other form of art, you want input on the finished creation, however, most of us don’t gain large quantities of readers and definitely not right off the bat. So if popularity is the only reason you’re writing fanfiction, you might want to think again.

Really, if there were rules to how to get read, those would probably be mine. penknife provided a great resource for how to get your stories read back in March that would be great to check out. Like I said before, there is only so much a writer can do to get his/her stories read and, at that point, it’s in the hands of the writer. The thing is not to give up and keep on writing. I don’t think anyone starts out with a large number of readers.

So, does popularity win out over quality? Probably to an extent. But you’ve got to wonder how an author became popular in the first place. And most likely it’s because it’s a good story – maybe not the most well-written piece, but it’s good by standards of most readers. Besides, call my an optimist, but I truly believe that if a writer consistently produces quality fic, it’s going to get read at some point.



**

Anyone else scared for tonight's Ode to Queen on American Idol? I am. Good Lordy, I'm scared.

Alrighty, writing to be done.

Ciao.

Comments

[rachel-wilder.livejournal.com]

I like your list. Gosh, I can't even remember how we started reading each others stuff.

I'm less there with the warnings, but that's just my thing.

[storydivagirl.livejournal.com]

I remember! It was JoA that brought us together...and our joint love of Kevin & Joan's relationship. Speaking of, I have *not* forgotten your birthday fic, I just haven't been writing. Er...

::squishes::

[rachel-wilder.livejournal.com]

Yeah, well, I haven't written anything for more than a year, so you're doing just fine.

[cosmic.livejournal.com]

I watched that West Wing episode last night before going to bed, and I'm quite sure my eyes were red even this morning. So. *offers cookies and sympathy*

Then again, I became a basket case at the end of part one, when Annabeth--I wasn't sure if I could watch anything past that. Even that was so, so *painful*.

And, look, here's the thing: I didn't cry when my grandmother died, or when my grandfather died. I cry when tv characters die, or actors that I adore die. So I can be strange with you.

Also:

"Andrew Jackson had a big block of cheese.."

[storydivagirl.livejournal.com]

It's very upsetting. I adopted Leo as my dad, since mine went and kicked the bucket when I was eleven. But nooo...I'm an old person killer! Leeeeeeoooooooo.

::Cries more::

I'm not sure I can watch Sunday's episode.

[cheapevilgirl.livejournal.com]

My friend Lin posted the friend in a hole quote from Noel. I started to cry again. I'm really glad this show is ending, because I can't see it without Leo.

[laylee.livejournal.com]

[on the phone with the New York Times]

Snap! I posted that quote as well!!