Hmm

[shapinglight]

A completely unscientific way of measuring the popularity of a 'ship, I know, but it must say something that my seasonal_spuffy entry, Raison d'Etre, which I posted to Archive of Our Own only yesterday already has the same number of hits and kudos as my Darla fic, Someone To Watch Over Me, which I posted way back at the beginning of March (and is a much better story, IMO). ;)

Comments

[lycoris.livejournal.com]

I've had that with fics quite often - some of my favourites are the least viewed because of the fandom or pairing. Still, it can be pretty interesting to see the occasional outliers who manage to blossom in more unlikely circumstances!

[shapinglight]

Yes, I have what you might call outlier fics that have done the same. I'm not sure what differentiates them from this Darla one, but - bar one story - it has to be least popular fic I've ever posted on A03.

With Spuffy fics, a lot more people seem prepared to at least give them a glance.

[dancingdragon3.livejournal.com]

I had a similar thing happen when I posted a few drabbles at once, all in different fandoms. I think it's neat to see how much more traffic some fandoms/pairing get over others.

[shapinglight]

I only write fic for one fandom, but I agree. Some pairings and characters just don't seem to appeal that much, or not to that many.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've noticed that as well with my stories.

[shapinglight]

Can't be helped, I guess, but sometimes you end up feeling a bit sad for your less loved stories, don't you? ;)

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Yes, particularly when I think they're very good.

[thenewbuzwuzz.livejournal.com]

Cool icon. :D
Yeah. Sad but true. I would *like* to be intensely, naturally interested in stories that aren't Spuffy, but it takes effort to pay attention to them. I guess I am that far gone, as a shipper.

[shapinglight]

Whereas I don't read that much 'shipper fic. Or at least not fics that are all about the 'ship and nothing else. And my favourite fics are historical ones, which nobody much writes nowadays.

[thenewbuzwuzz.livejournal.com]

History *is* fun to have in a story! So is Darla.

[shapinglight]

Agreed on both counts. :)

[hobbituk.livejournal.com]

Never underestimate the power of Spike...

I've even read slash because it has Spike in it, and it's totally not my genre of choice. I liked the story - although I did wonder how they knew that all the vampires in the world had been there...

[shapinglight]

although I did wonder how they knew that all the vampires in the world had been there...

It's just a conceit - a hook on which to hang the story (such as it was).

[tellshannon815.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've had that experience, where a slash pairing has had more hits than a gen fic about a more obscure character (thing is, I'm weird when it comes to writing, sometimes, okay often, I prefer to write those who don't get a lot of love, they have so much story to tell!)

[shapinglight]

Quite true, though of course everyone has their favourites. There are some Buffyverse characters I'll probably never write simply because I don't find them interesting myself, and, as rebcake says below, at the end of the day we're writing to please ourselves really.

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

I've had similar experiences. *thinks of Answering Prayers* But I know that writing Spuffy or Spillow is just going to naturally bring me more readers than writing Angel/Joyce and I tailor my expectations accordingly. Heck, I'm grateful anyone at all read my Angel/Joyce... it's a pretty out there pairing for most.


Gabrielle

[shapinglight]

True - though sometimes the most 'out-there' pairings are tremendous fun to read about.

I guess if people are searching for fics by tag on A03, though, there'll be certain pairings they're interested in so they'll tailor their searches accordingly, and are only likely to read something with an unusual, or unpopular, pairing if they decide, "I love the way this author writes and want to read everything they've written," which probably doesn't happen a lot.

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

I have many authors like that, though lately I have been so busy I have not been reading as much as I'd like. Your story's going on my list though!


Gabrielle

[shapinglight]

Thank you. I hope you enjoy it when you have time to read it. :)

[rebcake.livejournal.com]

Boy oh boy, do I hear you. I can never quite figure out what makes people click or not. Even within Spuffy one-shots I've posted, some will get many more clicks, even when another one right next to it has award nominations or something. My gen and Spru fic gets less clicks, usually. But if we don't write gen, oddball pairings, Spru, Darla, and historical fic, who is going to write the things we want to read?

I figure it just goes to show that we should be writing things to please ourselves, really. At least, that's what I take away from it all.

[shapinglight]

I figure it just goes to show that we should be writing things to please ourselves, really. At least, that's what I take away from it all.

Oh yes, definitely! That's why I started writing fic in the first place - because no one was writing exactly what I wanted to read and the only way around that was to write it myself. ;)

It is weird how some stories just are more popular than others, even in the same genre. My stories with the most hits on A03 are The King and She and Heroes In Hell, but there are other Spuffy stories of mine up there with relatively few hits in comparison. I'm never quite sure what makes the difference. Are they just easier to find, or have they been recommended somewhere? I just don't know.

Spike/Dru is really not very popular, is it? I'd love to write more of it really, but I'd need to think of a plot that doesn't boil down to, Spike and Dru fetch up somewhere, cause mayhem and leave town. Which reminds me, I should re-read hello_spikey's Crazy Madcap Redemption soon.

[chasingdemons.livejournal.com]

I can sort of understand the phenomenon. Sometimes it's about instant gratification. I used to get really upset when PWP would get a ton of comments and some of my writer friends who were really turning out thoughtful, emotional fiction were not getting much attention.

[shapinglight]

Yes, it can make you feel a bit gloomy when you've put a lot of effort into something. You just have to remind yourself that nobody asked you to do it, and people read fanfiction for all sorts of different reasons. ;)

[yourlibrarian]

I've seen the same thing happen with my meta posts (which I was somewhat surprised to see got any views at all). Some quickly picked up readers and responses, while others have lingered for weeks with barely a glance, and all I can tell for sure is that people are clearly less interested in fan videos than fanfic. I have only two drabbles written yet both have done substantially better than 90% of the rest of my content. Also the two meta pieces that have done the best are discussions of specific ships.

Timing can also matter. My review of Kings Rising has done better than all but one post. It's a very small fandom but I suspect a lot of people wanted to see opinions about it soon after the book came out. I'd also guess readership is up in June at AO3 so that may also be boosting views of your Spuffy fic.

[shapinglight]

It could well be. As a matter of interest, why does readership rise in June?

[yourlibrarian]

If I'm correct about it going up at all (which is just a guess), I suspect it has a lot to do with people getting out of school and having more free time.

[shapinglight]

Ah, okay. I'd forgotten US schools break up in June. Over here, it's mid-July.