Pride and Writing

[Nasdaq]

This is sort of a public venting thing, really. I'll try to keep it short as I don't think I need to be long-winded here, but does anyone else get really sort of discouraged when you put a whole lot of effort into your writing and you get none or very few actual responses to it, and then when you go read many recommended things or high review count stories, you can't help but notice so many flaws, simply poor writing, or poorly executed concepts? Blatant out of character writing with no or weak explanations, or rampant character bashing with poor excuses. Even, to a degree, excessively short chapters. I know I'm being a bit overly prideful with my own work, perhaps, and I may not be the best judge, but I know some of my stuff is better then many of the things that end up with thousands upon thousands of views and a thousand or more reviews before they even hit ten thousand words. My longest story, one I know has many flaws and one I hope to go over and fix shortly after I return from Basic and Tech school, took me nearly a hundred thousand words before I hit a hundred reviews, a fact that I am proud of, but at the same time perhaps a bit disappointing in, though it's presence on the TV Tropes list has made me just beam. Naruto-Sensei seems to be going faster, at twenty four or so reviews by three chapters.

I am very proud of my writing, even if I know it isn't the best, and it's been a learning experience to write. I enjoy it, which is why I do it, but I can't deny a feeling of satisfaction when I see people happy with what I've wrote. That's part of the experience as well. I once, a long time ago, gave someone advice that writing for reviews is bad, and that if you don't enjoy writing a story, you shouldn't be writing. While I still agree with this, I think the more I've written more that I've now come to appreciate the feeling that getting lots of follows or reviews gets; a feeling of triumph and vindication, and reward for hard work.

With that in mind, I can't help but feel a minor bit discouraged when some of my favorite stories, ones I think are particularly good and ones the reviews I have gotten are nearly universally positive tend to seem to just fall behind other stories that get amazing popular without being anything remarkable. For every Team 8 or People Lie, there seem to be a dozen Chuunin Exams or worse, and at least half that many Naruto: Alone (a story I sort of enjoyed, but at the same time eventually found gradually unbearable due to some of the poorer executed scenes or story elements, amongst other things) or most of the works of Lord of the Land of Fire (I enjoy, to a degree, some of his works, but the over reliance of fanon, often blatant OOC elements, and other things can turn me off too.) Basically, I feel a bit annoyed that some things seem far more popular than they deserve.

And I know I'm being a bit jealous and greedy, and very prideful by saying it. Perhaps it's just getting the word out there, or just getting lucky, or pandering to the lowest common denominator that I refuse to do, but I can't help but have a bit of hurt pride when I see it some times.

Rant Over. That said, anyone else have similar feelings, or am I being particularly jackoffish? :P

[gman391]

Hmm well first off I'm going to say I write more for myself then for others. The feeling I get when I finish a chapter or a concept is worth just as much as the reviews. That said I understand where your coming from.

I understand your frustrated. Time after time I've scoured the favourites lists of authors looking for a story that's worth my time.
(You can see the results in the fanfic rants thread)

I've watched the one story I actually liked best get the least reviews and subscriptions. While the one I started mostly as a whim get the most. So yeah it sucks.

But all you can do is keep writing because to paraphrase Shakespeare "The play's the thing"

[Kirai]

Ohh I get it do I ever get it.

But at least your stories are on tvtropes. It's a dream i'm still dreaming.

Also, the number of reviews doesn't mean that the reviews are actually good. Maybe they are flames telling the author how much he or she sucks?(We can hope can we?) Though I admit it's more likely that the rabid haters flock to bashing fics and enjoy their hated character torn to shreds.

[Aldraia Dragonsong]

Ano... I think everyone gets those sorts of feelings sometimes. We all want things to be fair, we want the good authors to be rewarded for their work and we feel discouraged when the incredibly popular things are, in our opinion, simply terrible.
*cough*Twilight*cough*
That said... sometimes unfair things happen. Sometimes, just by chance, no one ever stumbles upon the incredible things, or those that do are too indifferent to share them with others, while the mediocre is found by one who spreads the news everywhere. And I think part of life is learning to deal with that sense of unfairness. I think part of life is taking a deep breath, admitting that things are not fair and never will be completely, and then calmly doing what you can to fix that.
Heh, if I was writing for reviews I would probably get more writing done. I can only write when I really feel what I am writing, so the stories I actually put on Fanfiction.net have been stalled for a year while I try to figure out how to get from where I am to where I want to be in an interesting way.
I think everyone feels good when someone tells them they did well. So when you work very hard on something and no one even notices... it gets discouraging. But, you just have to learn how to work through that. How to get up and keep on getting up, try and keep on trying. Be like Naruto! Never give up, even when everyone calls your task impossible! Even if no one but you seems to care, keep going! Because all that matters is that you care. That is enough reason to do something.

[Calinero]

I'll admit that one of my worst habits as a writer is writing too much for reviewers, and not for myself. I rely a bit too much on the praise tha tI would like to get for my stories, particularly with fanfiction. So, while i'm trying to write more for the sake of writing, I fully understand the frustration when you feel like one of your works is underappreciated.

If one of your works is on tvtropes, that awesome, though. I haven't quite reached that point yet--though I can claim that one of the stories under there for Dresden Files Fanfic Recommendations was written based off my prompt in a writing contest. So, I guess that's almost cool. Sort of.

[Nitramy]

Yeah, I know what you mean.

When I wrote a shopworn fanfiction cliche into my story, reviewers started to flip out. All I asked was for them to stick around, and well, it kind of worked out in the end.

Basically, everything I'm doing is a work in progress. Sometimes you get inspiration from criticism or otherwise.