Poke, Poke, Poke

[keiramarcos]

One of the most infuriating parts of having a large body of work online is that it causes people to poke and prod me for more of a specific thing. Sometimes they read a work that is more than a decade old and demand more of it. Or they find a single line in a fic that they think is absolutely fascinating, and act like I’m silly for never exploring it.

Or I edit a single line in a fic when I’m reading my own shit and I get ten emails about it because how dare I change a sentence in a work that is eight years old. I’ve clearly ruined their whole life and made things difficult by changing a few words. I’m not even exaggerating about this. I did that and I got emails within a week. I got an email about it last week actually where the person was searching for a fic that had that specific line in it and they just couldn’t find it and they were so sure it was my fic and can I please help them. It was so overtly obvious they were complaining about it and not just because it was the FIFTH email they’d sent me about the same line of dialogue I’d edited in the first part of the Sentinels of Atlantis.

I know, as a writer, that I can’t predict what a reader will get out of my work or what parts they will ultimately become very attached to. I also know that people read the same things over and over again (much like they watch the same media repeatedly) because it helps with anxiety. If they read something new, they might get a nasty surprise. So, I do understand the comfort that can be had in finding an author you trust to warn appropriately with a large body of work you can swim in when the world is difficult.

But, for the love of Pedro Pascal, please stop prodding me for shit you want to see. It drives me nuts.

Comments

[princessofgeeks]

Wow; that is a new level of reader demands! Hang in there. And thanks for all the great fic.

[sam26]

I'm so sorry that people can't wait for the author to continue their work. It's the reason a lot of the authors I follow stopped writing. Be true to yourself and if others don't like it too bad.

Crystal

[slvrbld47]

I agree with this. Immensely. Your writing, and your work is a gift. People should be appropriately respectful. -SB

[belle_meri]

Dang, that's some next level crap. <--says the woman rereading some of her favorites of you stuff and valiantly not asking questions! *grin*

Kick their asses if you need to, Keira!

[esteefee]

Haha suffer, ingrates!

(for the love of Pedro Pascal lolol)

[keiramarcos]

Pedro is sacred. He's a perfect cupcake.

[esteefee]

did you see the outfit he wore for the Met Gala? those gams!! :D

[keiramarcos]

Yes! That man is living his best life.

[vlredreign]

Yes, because the love for Pedro is endless, sexy beast that he is. Lol

[keiramarcos]

I mean seriously.

In the same boat...

[barbaratp]

I've been through something like this three or four times. But they were all in comments, I never received emails (thank Lord for this).

Once the person wanted to impose that I should write a sexual scene between two 11-year-old characters.

Another thought my Hannigram OOC was bad and complained about how it was impossible for something of the plot to really happen (I thought it was called fanfic because it was fan fiction, right, if she wanted fidelity to the canon to go see the series, right?).

Posteriorly I mentioned that my character had PTSD and that he was afraid of letting his daughter fall out of his arms, someone complained about how I didn't work through all the pain enough.

None of the three works are related, and the idiotic comments occurred years apart, yet it pisses me off a lot. People seem to have no idea what they are saying.

[zephiey]

Or I edit a single line in a fic when I’m reading my own shit and I get ten emails about it because how dare I change a sentence in a work that is eight years old. I’ve clearly ruined their whole life and made things difficult by changing a few words.

Or worse you actually add a line and readers grab pitch forks and torches ready to burn you at dawn because you had the audacity to edit your work. *GASP*..the HORROR!

Demanding anything from a writer is the quickest way for that writer to stop writing. I've seen it time and again among prolific writers. There are so many who have stopped writing fanfic because of this very reason.