Legacy
Reader and Writer
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2009
- Messages
- 3,419
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- 70
Here is a conversation I had with an author on here. Basically that author asked how I got readers, and this was the list of advice I compiled.
Just thought it could be of some help to those who would like more readers. Feel free to add your own opinions or refute some of mine
Hopefully this will stimulate a good conversation.
1. Deep, detailed characters. Number one, your story has got to have characters that the readers can legitimately relate to and feel a real emotional connection with. Otherwise, if a character is too boring and cliche, the reader doesn't give a shit about what happens to them through the course of the story.
You have so much more potential than me in this aspect. Your stories can be that much more deep and imaginative because you use original characters while I basically use the anime's predetermined personalities.
Give your characters uniqueness, quirks, favorite sayings, and most of all... faults. This is something I struggle to do in The Power Inside because of Ash's predetermined heroic, Mary-Sue-like characterization that the anime established. But readers want complex characters with whom they can relate. A hero is boring if he or she is too perfect, and thus the amazing feats the hero accomplishes in your story way too easy.
2. Walk the line between description and overkill. This is also something I struggle with. Read the 'prologue' to either ASL or TPI and you will notice right away an example of 'overkill.' I use too much description and I end up bombarding my reader with too many needless words.
That being said, it's also important to use a lot of description. The reader wants to know what's happening. Paint a picture about what's going on. But just don't use big, descriptive words carelessly. Just walk the line between the two... find a good balance. You are a talented writer. So I'm sure this won't be a problem for you.
3. Come up with an exciting storyline. Basically, I thought up the storyline for TPI over the course of months when I lay in bed at night. I've always wanted the Pokemon Anime to have more complex storylines, romance, more adult themes, etc., so ASL and TPI were my chance to do that.
Without giving away the full plot of my story, I use a lot of plot twists to keep the reader guessing and therefore interested in my story. A lot of fic beginnings get read here in the Writers Workshop, but few are actually followed for the duration by a lot of people. This is due to a boring storyline most likely.
Having mystery is important. I introduce mystery right at the beginning of my story with the opening scene where the TR boss (whom we don't know who he is at the beginning) has killed the female professor somewhere deep within the forest. I also include mystery when I introduce the coin, Lexi, the M3 Project CD, and the TR super creature... it all keeps the reader clicking on my fic's thread to see if/when I reveal answers to all of these mysteries. I'm not saying my story is that great, but the point is I think mystery is important.
Cliffhangers are also helpful to get people to come back to your story again and again. Give people a reason to want to come back to your story's thread.
I also think it helped that I pretty much constructed the entire plot in my head and wrote things down before I actually began to write the story. This helped me because I didn't steer off the plot and was able to keep each chapter pretty exciting while still advancing the plot. Just focus on getting from Point A to Point B to Point C with your story. Have an outline or script or something, but above all... plan the plot out.
4.Think as the reader. This one speaks for itself. As you are writing your story, go back and read what you've written frequently. Try to forget that you wrote what you're reading and critique it in your head as you read like you would with anyone else's fic. This is help you find a lot of mistakes, awkward use of words, boring parts.
This is very important. Often when I'm writing, everything sounds great as I write it because of how great it seems in my head. But I'm not always the greatest at taking my thoughts and putting them into words, so sometimes I end up with errors, weird word usage and too many boring details.
5. Don't be afraid to ask. Be patient after you've written a chapter before you post it in its thread. Have someone proofread your work. Even if you go back and read your fic yourself, having another pair of eyes look at it is always helpful. They will always give you comments and suggestions that you never even thought of.
Also, when you do post, don't be afraid to do a little advertising. Create an exciting-looking sig banner that links to your fic's thread. Kindly (but don't be annoying) VM people you see reviewing a lot of fics and ask politely if they would mind reading/reviewing your fic when they have a chance. I don't do this a whole lot, but I have a few times. As long as you aren't pushy and spammy, it can't hurt to ask.
Something you could also try, although I haven't done it and it might make people mad... You could politely ask people to read your fic in appropriate threads. For example, if you have an Advanceshipping fic... perhaps post to the advanceshipping club's thread that you are writing a story that they might like. I don't know if this would be considered posting off topic or thread jacking, but yeah.
6. Read other people's fics and comment/review them. I don't mean just randomly pick a few and read only a chapter or two of each. I'm saying become active followers of a few fics (4 or 5 or however many you can handle) and comment on their threads. Not only will this allow you to see how other authors write style-wise, but you will become more recognized in this forum.
People will read what you say about their fics and become more familiar with you. This is ultimately make them more likely to return the favor when you fic's latest chapters get posted. Become a very active member in the Writer's Workshop and your thread's views and posts will only increase.
7. Concentrate on one fic at a time. I know you love writing, I do too, but try to only post new chapters of one fic at a time on here. Some people pull it off well, like Jabberwocky, but IMO working on one fic at a time makes the readers associate your name with your fic better.
This will also allow you to devote all of your fic-writing time to one fic, making that one fic that much better. You can obviously do whatever you want, if you love writing a lot of different things I don't want to discourage you that! I'm just saying that I am able to give more attention to detail on The Power Inside since I'm only working on the one fic.
8. Pick an audience and stick with 'em. Figure out who you want to be writing to. I accept that 'The Power Inside' doesn't appeal to a lot of people who don't particularly follow or like the anime. But I don't care, I love the anime and I want to write a fic based on it. I don't waste time trying to stretch the story outside believability just to try to make people like my story. Again, plan out your plot and then stay true to it.
Don't try to make a fic that you think everyone will like. Often this results in no one liking it. I struggled in ASL to try to incorporate aspects of other Pokemon-verses (manga, games, etc) by having Leah/Leaf, Gold/Jimmy, etc. If you try to make your fic too universal it just gets weird.
And if you have too many differing genres try to outshine each other, it also gets hard to read. If it's a shipping fic, make it one. If it's a journey fic, make it one. If it's meant to be humorous, make it so. But people fail when they try to make it everything.
9. Post to Fanfiction.net. I do this with the Power Inside, and it gets a ton more views than it does on the BMGf. Still, I don't like it as much because I enjoy the friendships I've made on BMGf and events like the fanfiction contests on this site.
So here is something you could try, but again, I'm not sure if it's against FFNet.com rules. You could post a few chapters on FF.net, then for your next chapter you could simple post: "To read the rest of the story, please click here:" and post the Bulbagarden link to your fic. It would encourage them to view your thread and perhaps even sign up here. Again, I've never done this, but I thought about it. I'm just not sure if it's against the rules or unethical.
10. Finally, don't write for the thread views and comments. In the end, who really cares about the exact number of views or comments you have? After all, fanfiction writing is mostly enjoyable to the writer him or herself. Just focus on doing what you love to do, and the readers will come.
It's like any artist, musician, etc... if the audience can sense that the artist loves what he or she is doing and is putting all of their heart into it, it's hard not to like it.
Just thought it could be of some help to those who would like more readers. Feel free to add your own opinions or refute some of mine
Hopefully this will stimulate a good conversation. 1. Deep, detailed characters. Number one, your story has got to have characters that the readers can legitimately relate to and feel a real emotional connection with. Otherwise, if a character is too boring and cliche, the reader doesn't give a shit about what happens to them through the course of the story.
You have so much more potential than me in this aspect. Your stories can be that much more deep and imaginative because you use original characters while I basically use the anime's predetermined personalities.
Give your characters uniqueness, quirks, favorite sayings, and most of all... faults. This is something I struggle to do in The Power Inside because of Ash's predetermined heroic, Mary-Sue-like characterization that the anime established. But readers want complex characters with whom they can relate. A hero is boring if he or she is too perfect, and thus the amazing feats the hero accomplishes in your story way too easy.
2. Walk the line between description and overkill. This is also something I struggle with. Read the 'prologue' to either ASL or TPI and you will notice right away an example of 'overkill.' I use too much description and I end up bombarding my reader with too many needless words.
That being said, it's also important to use a lot of description. The reader wants to know what's happening. Paint a picture about what's going on. But just don't use big, descriptive words carelessly. Just walk the line between the two... find a good balance. You are a talented writer. So I'm sure this won't be a problem for you.
3. Come up with an exciting storyline. Basically, I thought up the storyline for TPI over the course of months when I lay in bed at night. I've always wanted the Pokemon Anime to have more complex storylines, romance, more adult themes, etc., so ASL and TPI were my chance to do that.
Without giving away the full plot of my story, I use a lot of plot twists to keep the reader guessing and therefore interested in my story. A lot of fic beginnings get read here in the Writers Workshop, but few are actually followed for the duration by a lot of people. This is due to a boring storyline most likely.
Having mystery is important. I introduce mystery right at the beginning of my story with the opening scene where the TR boss (whom we don't know who he is at the beginning) has killed the female professor somewhere deep within the forest. I also include mystery when I introduce the coin, Lexi, the M3 Project CD, and the TR super creature... it all keeps the reader clicking on my fic's thread to see if/when I reveal answers to all of these mysteries. I'm not saying my story is that great, but the point is I think mystery is important.
Cliffhangers are also helpful to get people to come back to your story again and again. Give people a reason to want to come back to your story's thread.
I also think it helped that I pretty much constructed the entire plot in my head and wrote things down before I actually began to write the story. This helped me because I didn't steer off the plot and was able to keep each chapter pretty exciting while still advancing the plot. Just focus on getting from Point A to Point B to Point C with your story. Have an outline or script or something, but above all... plan the plot out.
4.Think as the reader. This one speaks for itself. As you are writing your story, go back and read what you've written frequently. Try to forget that you wrote what you're reading and critique it in your head as you read like you would with anyone else's fic. This is help you find a lot of mistakes, awkward use of words, boring parts.
This is very important. Often when I'm writing, everything sounds great as I write it because of how great it seems in my head. But I'm not always the greatest at taking my thoughts and putting them into words, so sometimes I end up with errors, weird word usage and too many boring details.
5. Don't be afraid to ask. Be patient after you've written a chapter before you post it in its thread. Have someone proofread your work. Even if you go back and read your fic yourself, having another pair of eyes look at it is always helpful. They will always give you comments and suggestions that you never even thought of.
Also, when you do post, don't be afraid to do a little advertising. Create an exciting-looking sig banner that links to your fic's thread. Kindly (but don't be annoying) VM people you see reviewing a lot of fics and ask politely if they would mind reading/reviewing your fic when they have a chance. I don't do this a whole lot, but I have a few times. As long as you aren't pushy and spammy, it can't hurt to ask.
Something you could also try, although I haven't done it and it might make people mad... You could politely ask people to read your fic in appropriate threads. For example, if you have an Advanceshipping fic... perhaps post to the advanceshipping club's thread that you are writing a story that they might like. I don't know if this would be considered posting off topic or thread jacking, but yeah.
6. Read other people's fics and comment/review them. I don't mean just randomly pick a few and read only a chapter or two of each. I'm saying become active followers of a few fics (4 or 5 or however many you can handle) and comment on their threads. Not only will this allow you to see how other authors write style-wise, but you will become more recognized in this forum.
People will read what you say about their fics and become more familiar with you. This is ultimately make them more likely to return the favor when you fic's latest chapters get posted. Become a very active member in the Writer's Workshop and your thread's views and posts will only increase.
7. Concentrate on one fic at a time. I know you love writing, I do too, but try to only post new chapters of one fic at a time on here. Some people pull it off well, like Jabberwocky, but IMO working on one fic at a time makes the readers associate your name with your fic better.
This will also allow you to devote all of your fic-writing time to one fic, making that one fic that much better. You can obviously do whatever you want, if you love writing a lot of different things I don't want to discourage you that! I'm just saying that I am able to give more attention to detail on The Power Inside since I'm only working on the one fic.
8. Pick an audience and stick with 'em. Figure out who you want to be writing to. I accept that 'The Power Inside' doesn't appeal to a lot of people who don't particularly follow or like the anime. But I don't care, I love the anime and I want to write a fic based on it. I don't waste time trying to stretch the story outside believability just to try to make people like my story. Again, plan out your plot and then stay true to it.
Don't try to make a fic that you think everyone will like. Often this results in no one liking it. I struggled in ASL to try to incorporate aspects of other Pokemon-verses (manga, games, etc) by having Leah/Leaf, Gold/Jimmy, etc. If you try to make your fic too universal it just gets weird.
And if you have too many differing genres try to outshine each other, it also gets hard to read. If it's a shipping fic, make it one. If it's a journey fic, make it one. If it's meant to be humorous, make it so. But people fail when they try to make it everything.
9. Post to Fanfiction.net. I do this with the Power Inside, and it gets a ton more views than it does on the BMGf. Still, I don't like it as much because I enjoy the friendships I've made on BMGf and events like the fanfiction contests on this site.
So here is something you could try, but again, I'm not sure if it's against FFNet.com rules. You could post a few chapters on FF.net, then for your next chapter you could simple post: "To read the rest of the story, please click here:" and post the Bulbagarden link to your fic. It would encourage them to view your thread and perhaps even sign up here. Again, I've never done this, but I thought about it. I'm just not sure if it's against the rules or unethical.
10. Finally, don't write for the thread views and comments. In the end, who really cares about the exact number of views or comments you have? After all, fanfiction writing is mostly enjoyable to the writer him or herself. Just focus on doing what you love to do, and the readers will come.
It's like any artist, musician, etc... if the audience can sense that the artist loves what he or she is doing and is putting all of their heart into it, it's hard not to like it.
