Eight New Stories on AO3, More on Tumblr

[paulamcg]

After completing the story made of the microchapters that May prompts on Tumblr inspired, I felt I needed to go on. So as to have some joy, I needed the daily writing challenges, small accomplishments, and the little bit of response to fic it turned out to be possible even for me to get on that platform. This is how I've ended up giving another try to the Wolfstar fandom.

in 2019, I wrote a lot about the Marauders, and towards the end of that year I was happy to find some active Remus/Sirius fans again – first at a couple of fests which posted both on DW and on AO3. But it seemed to me they knew each other from somewhere else, and perhaps that was one of the reasons why my fic usually ended up standing out, almost ignored.

I tried Tumblr for the first time – and unsuccessfully, not figuring out that I was supposed to do reblogging – only when I'd started branching out: writing femslash and rare pairs, different generations (not next-gen kids, though). I felt there couldn't be a place for a writer like me in the Wolfstar community out there, and when writing about Remus and/or Sirius, I often intentionally chose to write odd stories (far away from canon settings and still just canon-divergent, not non-magic AU or popular tropes).

At the beginning of June I came across wolfstarmicrofic. And now for three weeks I've tried my best to stay content with the small number of likes and reblogs I get when I only slowly gain one or two more followers and my fics can't possibly get much attention. Besides, I still stick to my own style and perhaps unusual scenarios.

I've posted something on the basis of twenty prompts (just not on today's yet), a couple of times using two prompts in one fic. All these fics are with the wolfstarmicrofic hash tag on my Tumblr, here. Because ten of the fics are based on scenes in my earlier fics, I've posted only eight on AO3.

These four stories are set before Sirius went to Azkaban and have been added to my series The Four Shapeshifters.
Secret Records (200 words)
Private Rainbows (250 words)
Penny Sweets (235 words)
Right Here Right Now (250 words)

These are the new post-Azkaban stories, and each of them is part of my series Escape, Lie Low.
Broken Memory (200 words)
Relearning Closeness (700 words)
Imaginary and Real (200 words)
The Album Remus Has Treasured (100 words)

Comments

[senmut]

WHOO HOO!

[paulamcg]

Thank you! <3 It's been lovely to see you continue to read my almost daily postings on AO3, although I definitely don't expect you to do that. Unlike the strictly-50-word pieces for the PoA-era Sirius story, these fics have been allowed to grow as I noticed that Wolfstar writers don't care about wordcount limits when inspired by these prompts. I've still used a goal like exactly 200 or 250 as a tool in polishing the text. Some of the pieces posted only on Tumblr are longer than most of the ones listed with links here.

[frimaires]

You are incredibly inspiring! You are so prolific, I can only dream of it.

Interesting to read that you've decided to give Tumblr a go. I've deleted my blog a few years ago after having been utterly engrossed by it for most of my young adult years. Not to sound like an old fart, but the platform really was lovely during its early years and then got entirely ruined by its own popularity. It doesn't surprise me that you're finding it difficult to pick up traffic on your work. Like you said, it's the most popular tropes and AU settings that do really well, regardless of whether the writing's any good or not.

[paulamcg]

Ah, thank you! In case this can inspire someone else, my presence in fandom has gained more meaning :D At times I've felt that it's been rather meaningless when there's so little response to my work, no matter whether I write the mega popular pairing or any obscure characters.

Oh, I am the old fart if anyone is! My first fandom activity was in 2003-2010, and I never saw Tumblr in its early years. What you've said (on your journal, too) should help me beware... So far I'm determined not to start using Tumblr on my phone at all. But just like in the days of forums and LJ communities, I feel that I stay better motivated to write when I see some interaction (between potential readers for my fic, too) constantly happening on a platform where I've posted and where I'm going to post.

In 2020 I found Tumblr confusing and DW comfortingly familiar. But I failed to meet anybody still interested in Remus and Sirius (and have met very few people interested in HP at multifandom events) on the journals. For a couple of years I've enjoyed a community feel at some small journal fests. But it gradually became more and more frustrating that I spent a month writing, for instance, a rare-pair or golden-age fic, another month or more waiting for the posting and reveals, giving feedback, and receiving little, and never managing to make anyone interested in trying anything else I'd written or in conversation on writing.

I've just hoped that I can go on and let my stories keep me happy, while always having at least one writer with whom to discuss each other's work.

[frimaires]

I understand what you mean. I think the expectation of views, kudos, comments, and shares is the main reason why I feel like I can't write freely and unashamedly. I fear that feeling of what I'm doing being meaningless which is exactly why I had to let go of Tumblr. Feedback and interaction happen lightning fast over there. When I was on Tumblr I didn't participate in fandom through writing but through making graphics and gifs. When they didn't garner as many reblogs as I wanted, I felt ridiculously bad and didn't want to create anything anymore. Looking back, it's crazy that I thought that way because I made really pretty things and I enjoyed making them. Looking back, I don't remember what people thought of what I made but that I made those things at all and liked it.

I mean, I don't want to scare you away from Tumblr or anything, hahaha, because it meant a lot to me and there used to be a genuine sense of community, especially in the HP fandom. And Wolfstar was massively popular, too. I suppose a lot of people have moved on from the platform and not the fandom.

[paulamcg]

Thank you for still replying! I hope I'm not repeating myself too much, as I can't possibly remember the details of what I've told you before. But even since the beginning of last year, it's become clearer to me that part of the problem for me at least could be that sites like AO3 and Tumblr make us focus too much on quantity instead of quality: on the number of hits, kudos/likes, and comments/reblogs instead of appreciative, encouraging and inspiring contents in interaction.

Looking back, it's crazy that I remember vividly loving how (in 2003-2009) I developed my take on the HP world and my favourite characters' lives, as well as my fiction voice and writing skills, and shared the stories with some wonderfully sensitive and thoughtful recipients. And, looking back, it's no big deal that I often couldn't help paying attention to getting fewer comments than others in LJ communities, and wondering if the reason was my first-person style or the lack of sex scenes in my fics. Still, back then the differences between the comment counts was never anything like the huge and inevitably growing differences between the response numbers for popular and obscure works/writers on AO3 and Tumblr. I'll just try to stay calm and write, and after ten years perhaps I'll be simply happy that I wrote my stories. :) And I really hope you'll be happy like that, too. <3