Snowflake Challenge: Day 9

[quietmoon]

Day 9: Commit an Act of Kindness. In your own space, share what you’ve done, talk about what you’ve done, or simply leave a comment in this post saying you did it. 

I don't know if this would count as a selfless act of kindness necessarily... But something I've always wanted to do but find difficult is reply to the comments people leave on my fic. I want them to know that I read them, often multiple times through, and I appreciate it a lot even if I'm bad at immediately showing it. I still struggle to overcome some of the hangups and shyness that keeps me from participating in fannish activities, but I think responding to the comments is a good way to start. So I'll be doing that today — or at least starting it.

I know most people, me included, would see today's challenge and be more inclined to leave comments for other people than reply to ones I received. But I am generally in the habit on leaving comments on most fic I read and resonate with already, and I only like doing it when I feel comfortable enough to. So instead of pushing myself to do something that to me would feel awkward out of the right moment, I'll try stepping out of my comfort zone and letting the people who kindly let me know they enjoyed my writing that I appreciate them.

(Ahgh, why is it so hard...!)

Comments

[quietmoon]

a relatable feeling :( i hope in most situations you do end up finding a chance to reach out to them!

that's really interesting actually! i wonder if that's not because bigger fandoms have more content, and (as we discussed somewhere else) there's a weird pressure to consume All The Things ASAP so fans sort of rush from one to the other -- as well as there readily being so much content available that it gets undervalued in readers' minds. it's too easy to forget that the person behind any given fic is probably just as invested as you, just as human and approachable as anyone else, especially if there's so much faceless fic abound.

i've never written for spn but it's good to hear people are generally happy to comment there! what was the obscure fandom/fic, if you don't mind my asking?

[oldtoadwoman]

The 4400. It's Marco/Diana (the first het story I ever wrote) and also a casefic. I'm super proud of it because it's actually a coherent novel-length story and I worked hard to make it readable even if you weren't into the show and… 4 kudos. (Which is better than a Dexter story that I wrote that still has zero kudos.)

My latest obsession is making book covers, so here they are:



Meanwhile, most of my Supernatural slash has over a hundred comment threads and two of those broke 1,000 kudos (which doesn't even count as very popular in that fandom). My least popular SPN story only has 5 comments and 43 kudos, but that was a story with Jimmy and Castiel sorting things out and didn't even have Dean or Sam in it. So when I say the SPN stuff is popular, it's mainly the shippy stuff. (I cringe when I look at my own comments, because I was so whiney about no one reading that story. I need to learn to just write for me and stop worry about whether or not someone else is into it or not.)

[quietmoon]

omg very cool :D

i'm sorry about the 4 kudos, it must have been frustrating. *hugs* i wish there were more ways for fic from smaller fandoms to get seen by people who, although not actively searching for it, would be interested in reading it if they just knew it existed. sigh