Wishes for Feedback and Community

[paulamcg]

After the holidays I've been busy and exhausted due to work and some real, deep snow. I have to confess that the time I've been able to spare for fandom over the past week has been spent on posting a couple of gift fics and replying to comments. Tomorrow, as I've promised, I'll be Snowflaking, and tonight I'm finally making a Snowflake post of my own.




Challenge #8

In your own space, create a wishlist.

My wishes are about the same as a year ago, but I want to express them more briefly and not only due to lack of time. :) There are only two of them, and they are related.
1. I wish for more feedback on fanworks – mine and anyone's who loves feedback.
2. I wish for a supportive, active community in the Harry Potter fandom.



The reason I'm here – in fandom and on DW – is that the chance to interact with other writers and readers turned me into a dedicated fanfic writer a month after I found a Harry Potter forum in 2003. Having my stories received, and hearing from my readers, and discussing my stories and other writers' fanworks are an essential part of my fandom life. The first nine months after my long hiatus proved that I'm (back to being) addicted enough to my ficverse to keep writing without feedback, but when I've found new platforms where interaction is possible, I can't resist seeking it.

I've learned that not everyone loves receiving long detailed comments (as some people even turn off the feedback functions on AO3), not to mention writing them, or writing or receiving long thank-you notes and having extended conversations. :) But it seems to me that most people love feedback on their work, and comments even better than kudos – and that commenting has got less in any case. I suppose we should all try to be part of the change (back?) to more commenting if that's what we wish.

Perhaps more commenting (and other fanwork-related interaction) can more easily take place somewhere that feels more like a community than The Archive. In my forever fandom – the old and huge Harry Potter fandom – I wish I could find or found a corner or some (more) corners in which people want to know each other's work and to interact. I'm grateful to people who keep running old Livejournal events or such fests that have moved to DW. Perhaps we could help some of these communities which host fests become (again) or remain active also outside fests, if we posted our works and comments, too, on them (besides posting on AO3). At least (or first) we could encourage commenting on the community during the fest, so that it could become more common that a lot of the participants (in small fests) would comment on each other's works.

I suppose we also need a rec community or rec communities in the HP fandom, as the only recs in daily_snitch are from a community dedicated to two specific characters. I wish there were more links to journals in the newsletter.

Comments

[senmut]

Ahh yes. Age old trouble with commenting and comments and anxiety and such.

I am, as you may have noticed, HORRIBLY brief in all comments. I have the social grace of Pumbaa, one of the kids once said about me and interacting with people without either work or a role-playing game as excuse.

I wish you well in finding a good place in fandom, though. Most of the ones I knew in HP are drifting or disillusioned nowadays.

[paulamcg]

Thank you for this exceptional, long comment! :) Oh yes, and I've also noticed that you are FABULOUSLY loyal and prompt in receiving whatever I post on AO3, and in giving me kudos (saving me when I barely get hits) and sometimes also a few words of love, and those mean no less than any other comments. ♥

And thank you for your kind wishes. I've already found some corners, and I trust there'll be inspiring interaction, because I've seen I'm not alone looking for it.

[sjh2009]

We had about 3mm of snow here this morning, on the garden only and that disappeared by 9:00am. As I'm now home all the time I kind of wish we had a little snow, just to ring the changes!

I hosted todays challenge and made a point of reading and commenting on every journal. The one thing that I've read over and over again is about the lack of interaction in fandoms, the lively comms that were full of chat and discussion have dwindled or disappeared and people posting over the past couple of days are either lamenting the lack of them or crying out for people to join the ones which do remain.

A03 is great as an archive but doesn't really lend itself to chat and interaction. I always try to comment on all stories I read there, and I try to respond promptly to any comments I receive on my stories, but that tends to be it. It doesn't encourage the creation of discussion or friendships unless people then find one another on DW or LJ. I don't know whether it's because people have moved to Tumblr, or Pillowfort, Discord, etc (all of which are totally alien to me) so they're scattered around in instead of all in one place like when everything was on LJ or what?

But from reading the posts today, the 'want' is there for busy comms! Maybe the problem is that all of us that want that are in different fandoms!

I totally agree with supporting the communities that do remain. NCIS is one of the ones I write in, there is still a weekly newsletter, a secret santa (even though only seven people took part) and big bangs and reverse bangs, although all run by the same person so if they didn't do it, would anyone else I wonder? But since returning to fandom I try and take part in as much as I can, just to keep the fandom and the comm going.

It sounds like the HP comm needs to broaden its audience to include all characters, what a shame they only concentrate on two, there are so many wonderful characters in HP!

Thank you for sharing, and good luck for your wishes :)

[paulamcg]

Perhaps I should complement my wish list by wishing that some of the snow we have here could be shifted to where you live. :)

You've done a truly wonderful job commenting on all the wish posts – in particular as a lot of those people wish for interaction, above all! It's striking that so many of us want lively communities but we don't manage to save or start them. Perhaps here on DW there aren't so many who both want to be active here and also belong to the same fandoms. Back in 2005 – 2008 or so on Livejournal I felt that everyone was dedicated to the Harry Potter fandom. Of course, that was just my corner of LJ, but it felt like a complete active community with pairing-specific and genfic communities as sub-communities. Ah, no use just being nostalgic. It must be a positive thing for multi-fandom people that there are multi-fandom fests and prompt communities on DW.

Those other, non-journal platforms you list have remained mainly alien to me, too, even though I've now got a Tumblr account and I've even chatted on a couple of Discord channels related to fests. Last summer I got one reader on AO3 who continued conversations with me in comment threads on several fics for a couple of weeks, but that was exceptional. I, too, always reply to comments on my fic without delay (and my replies are often longer than the comments), and I find it natural and a pleasure to comment on every fic which I've liked enough to read until the end (or until the end of a chapter if it's a WiP).

In journal fests I've commented on every work when I've got the impression that the participants form a small community where they support each other. I suppose I should do my share in giving such an impression and helping develop the communities to that direction. It would be wonderful to have a community of about ten active participants who commented on each others' fics posted in it even outside fests. That should be easy enough at least in a 100-word-drabble community.

I've also wanted to make it clear that I'm ready to read anything in my fandom regardless of characters and pairings, even ratings (although explicit sex is not my favourite thing to read). A year ago I thought I could branch out to reading fic in fandoms where I don't know the canon at all. I've done that a bit, but now I don't think I'd commit myself to reading everything in a multi-fandom community. Perhaps I got less enthusiastic about branching out that much when I learnt that a lot of writers in my fandom read only specific pairings or characters and have long lists of those they refuse to read.

Oh, I don't blame that remaining rec community for reccing only works about those two characters. I admire the mods for keeping that community alive. Perhaps there are others, too, who'd like to have another community for any HP fanwork recs.

Thank you so much for replying in such detail and giving me a chance to ramble on!

[sjh2009]

I would love to have some of your snow, unfortunately, our forecasts are all for heavy rain and more flooding!

I think that's one of the problems, so many people who want the interaction are in different fandoms. There are three new communities which have been created during Snowflake - all multi fandom - so it will be interesting to see what the take up on those is like.

For the most part I am happy to read most pairings within a fandom, even if they're not my own particular pairing, if the story is good it's worth reading. It's having the time to read everything, lol.

The trouble with keeping a community with just two characters is that the community would die out quicker than if they embraced other characters too.

No worries with rambling, I miss having long chats with people :)

[paulamcg]

We had some very cold and also shiny days, but now more snow's coming down and making it harder again to ride a bicycle.

Following some multi-fandom communities (or one at least) since last year's Snowflake, I've felt I wouldn't get feedback on HP fic in those – because so many HP writers, too, restrict their reading to their favourite pairings. But perhaps people whose main fandoms are something else could be more open for any well-written HP fic?

After declaring that I can read anything, I haven't read very much, in the end. I'm afraid I tend to choose my reading according to chances for reciprocity, or according to whether the writers are willing at least to talk about their own work by replying to comments. In a big fandom like HP or in a fest for a popular pairing like my OTP it's impossible to read everything.

Oddly enough, that rec community dedicated to Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape prospers – reccing most often Snape fanart – while it seems other rec communities have disappeared and that few other communities offer recs to the newsletter.

Try this ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> 2. I wish for a supportive, active community in the Harry Potter fandom. <<

allbingo is a high-inspiration, low-pressure community. It welcomes all fandoms and original work, all sizes and media. It hosts monthly fests on different themes. January is on Fresh Starts.

I'm sure folks would enjoy a Harry Potter fest. Would you like to host one?

>>But it seems to me that most people love feedback on their work, and comments even better than kudos – and that commenting has got less in any case. I suppose we should all try to be part of the change (back?) to more commenting if that's what we wish.<<

Someone else's wish had me post resources on commenting and reviewing:

https://seal-girl.dreamwidth.org/7229.html?thread=56637#cmt56637

Feel free to boost the signal on those links in places you want people to interact more.

Re: Try this ...

[paulamcg]

Thank you for your wonderful response. Since last year's Snowflake I've followed some multi-fandom communities, but it seems I can't make myself participate when I doubt there'd be much interest in my HP fics in those. Following your links to advice on commenting has made me more aware of how rarely I see anyone comment on technique and not only on the contents of the story.

[goddess47]

There is an active Snarry discord (House of Snarry) and while it's Sev/Harry centric, they will discuss other characters and writing in general. But it does take a core group of active folk to keep a Discord active and interesting. From the talk at one time, some of the other HP-related Discords are... I'll go with 'problematic'.

But it's been interesting... I've been dragging some of them to at least pimp their fests on DW but the "oh, it's too hard to learn!" was kind of eye-opening.

The painful reality is to get some thing going requires even more work these days. You have to be on DW (maybe on LJ), and on Tumblr and Discord (possibly on Pillowfort and, sigh, Twitter) -- just as a start.

And I'm going to suspect the answer about the daily_snitch is to volunteer to help... do they want more recs? Do they know some rec comms?

I happen to own potterfests on LJ (long story but I inherited it from others) and have set up a Potterfests comm on DW so I would own the name but it's not active. I'm willing to throw those into the pot for use. If you have ideas, I'm willing to see what I can do.

[paulamcg]

Thank you for telling me more about that Discord channel I've heard you mention before! I must have also told you that I've been chatting a bit at Discord in connection with some Wolfstar fests. Perhaps I should do that again, as it was surprisingly pleasant. I didn't feel I was hopelessly slow (and it actually reminded me of the small fandom's chat room where I used to stay until too late at night back in 2004), even though I usually prefer taking my time to craft my responses in discussions.

Perhaps now there's for everyone something that's too hard, and we can't form communities or have fests where people who prefer different platforms would participate. I've now subscribed to your Potterwatch, but I don't think I'd be the right person to gather information on all fests. On the other hand, I'd be happy with a community with fewer members, because they could more easily all read each other's fic and have shared fic-related and also fic-specific conversations.

I suppose the Daily Snitch follows all rec communities they know – perhaps all there are. In the latest issue there was a long list of recs from hoggywartyxmas, and I suppose they'd accept recs from another fest community or other HP-fanwork community, too.

[spikedluv]

Comments are love! I miss the active community feel of early LJ days.

I'm not in the HP fandom, but I hope your wish is granted.

[paulamcg]

Thank you for your lovely reply! I love how Snowflake brings an active community feel – and perhaps inspires us to find ways to interact in our corners of this big community.

[rhoda_rants]

I hear you, on both counts honestly. I like getting notifications when people leave kudos, but comments really are the best.

And as for finding a decent HP community, especially these days: well, good luck. :/ I've always struggling finding a good niche with that fandom, even when I was more into it than I am now. Nowhere I found seemed to "fit", y'know? I'm sure it's out there.

[paulamcg]

I get a notification email about kudos almost every day, and I'm always happy about it, even though when it's all from guests, or perhaps kudos on three fics (in a series) from the same guest, I wish I could say thank you, and know who they are and if they've written anything... And what they liked about my story.

I've found some nice corners: hoggywartyxmas, hp_halloween, firewhiskeyfic, hphet, rarepair_shorts, hp_goldenage... None of these, of course, fits for all my writing, as for instance only the two least exciting pairings I write fit in hphet, and it's probably not possible (at least not for me) to make such writer friends who would be interested in reciprocal reading of what we write outside one fest. But it's lovely when there's some such reading and commenting between the participants of a small journal fest.

[rhoda_rants]

Kudos are the BEST! I'm always curious which stories tend to get the most attention, and it often surprises me. There's one that's gotten a sudden boost from somewhere, and I don't know what happened because I haven't been promoting it lately, but I'm glad somebody out there does!

Fests are great. I can't even remember the last time I did one. I think it was something for Valentine's Day in, like, 2005 or something. It's been that long. Glad you found some good places!

[paulamcg]

I'm almost always surprised by the kudos I get for older stories or otherwise when the attention can't be due to an active fest, because such kudos is usually from people who haven't written anything in the HP fandom, often from people who haven't even bookmarked anything or posted any works on AO3.

I did very few fests before my hiatus, because I focused on the long chaptered fic and wrote only a few one-shots each year. But in 2020 I ended up writing only for fests and for prompt communities, because it seemed to be the only way to have other HP writers read any of my stories.

[komadori]

I've been trying to leave more comments on the fics I like. Even back in the day, I was much more of a lurker than a commenter, but I miss the feeling of community too. What I wouldn't give for bustling communities and message boards like in the 2000s!

[paulamcg]

Yay! It's particularly admirable that you do your best to comment more now if you used to be a lurker in the good old days of bustling interaction. I feel it's so easy to give up commenting much, in turn, when I get few or no comments in an AO3 fest (and when it comforts me a bit that the other participants don't get very many comments either). I want to stick to the decision to comment on everything that I like enough to finish reading.

[frimaires]

I really admire how passionate you are about your ficverse. To me, it's a really inspiring thing to see. I hope I can find the same love within myself for my own stories.

I would be really interested in reading your work and commenting on it. I know how good it feels to have your stories be appreciated and I definitely want to join in on that lovely part of fandom. :)

[paulamcg]

Thank you for your beautiful words about love for our stories! For me the best thing about writing fanfic has been that I can share my work in a community where writers support and inspire each other.

I'm thrilled you want to give a try to my fic! Tell me if you'd like me to self-rec a particular kind of fic, but know that you can pick just any small piece (as the fics can be read in any order, and each is meant to work separately), and a smallest comment, too, will make me feel good.

[frimaires]

Oh, yes, please, you can definitely recommend me a place to start with your work. :D

[paulamcg]

Thank you so much for asking. Even though I haven't written my ficverse in the chronological order at all, perhaps you'd like to give a try to that one-shot fic which is set earlier in my characters' lives than any other.

A Stranded Wizard If Ever There Was One.

This one also includes two extremely small Regulus moments. (There are very few and small mentions of him in my work, because I write only on the basis of the first five books, and don't want to either contradict or follow what's revealed about him later in canon. That's why I'd be particularly happy to read about him in fic – by you, too!) Besides, while I've got a surprising number of kudos for this fic, I've never got any comments on it at all, and I'd love to hear what you think about this one. But feel free to tell me if you'd prefer something different. :)