update post of updatey-ness

[dbskyler]

First off, I can't believe that the Age of Moffat is almost upon us! Just think, only 15 more days until I get to see the Eleventh Doctor's first episode!

(Okay, yes, I know that I just might be able to find it on the internet before then, but I prefer to wait for BBC America's broadcast. It will, however, be a difficult wait!)

In the meantime, I'm going to continue on with my "10 Favorite Tenth Doctor" episode countdown posts, which means I'll still be posting about Ten while all the rest of you are off raving or ranting about Eleven. Speaking of which, I'll be avoiding spoilers, so you might see me disappearing a bit from reading LJ until we've caught up over here in the backwaters of the U.S. Also, apologies in advance that my posts will be non-current, but truthfully I have no problem with being non-current -- in fact, if anyone wants to know my favorite Fourth Doctor episodes, I'm happy to oblige!

In other random news, I want to recommend that everyone go check out this marvelous new comm: dw_concrete. It's a place to put up your stories for honest, critical review, and I've already gotten some really useful feedback about one of my stories from an anonymous reviewer there.

Finally, I have an LJ-vs.-Teaspoon observation on my latest fic, "On the Benefits of Having an Attic." Here on LJ, it got a phenomenal response -- 18 people commented, which is about what I got for the initial posting of "Fallacy Somewhere," and that one went on to become arguably my most popular story. On Teaspoon, however, while I wouldn't say that "On the Benefits" has completely thumped, it has sort of thumped, especially relative to my other stories. So of course, me being me, I have to wonder: why the difference? The fic didn't get especially buried when it emerged from the Teaspoon queue. Of course, one simple explanation might be that a lot of people who would've reviewed it on Teaspoon had already reviewed it on LJ (it was posted here first), and people don't tend to review stories twice, nor should they. But I'm wondering if the real problem is the summary, which I think isn't that great. I barely notice the summaries on LJ, but on Teaspoon they're vital to drawing a reader to click on your story. I'm even wondering if I should go change the summary to something better, but I don't know if that would even make a difference this long after posting. Of course, the other alternative explanation is that Teaspoon readers don't like the story that much. I've been wondering if I should put it up for review on dw_concrete, but some of those comm members have already given me positive reviews for the fic and I'm worried it would come across as trolling for more. Of course, it would also be an opportunity for them to tell me what they really think . . . ;)

Comments

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Also, the fact a lot of people write New Who doesn't automatically equal avoiding reading Old Who

I agree. I've written more New Who than Classic Who stories myself, but that's not because I like New Who better, because I really do love them both. In fact, as much as I love Ten, the Fourth Doctor is still my favorite Doctor to watch on-screen, and probably always will be. I just don't tend to write him. I think it's because the Classic stories are more iconic in my head, so I have a harder time writing fanfic around them -- the new stuff is easier for me to mess with, or perhaps it's more inspiring just because it's fresh.

But, I have noticed that when I do write a Classic Who story, it tends to get less hits than when I write a New Who story. That's what I meant about Teaspoon readers mostly preferring New Who. It's not anything against them; just a trend that I've noticed.

[pitry.livejournal.com]

Aaah. Gotcha now.

I don't know. I still think the nature of Teaspoon readership is more fickle than this clear cut division. I mean, my most popular story by far is Dear Mike. A Doctorless "other era" story with a bunch of OCs. Written in letters. And it got more hits and more reviews than any other story I've written.

I agree that everything else being equal, a New Who story is probably going to get more hits than a Classic Who story.... but it's really hard to pin down what these conditions are, because then you got examples like Dear Mike that turn everything upside down (it's actually a trend with me. Another hugely popular story of mine is the who_like_giants entry. Hmm. Maybe it's not my OC/minor character stories but the way I write the main characters, teehee!)

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Well, those do happen to be my two favorite stories of yours, so I would argue there's a reason why they're popular! Also, with "Dear Mike" the Calufrax rec throws off the hit rate calculations, because that draws more people to try the story out -- but every review it got was earned, and well deserved.

And hey, you did win at smith_awards with a marvelous main-character story. Speaking of which, I never did review that one on Teaspoon, but I did give you a positive vote review, does that count? *g* "Fade Away" seems to be doing well too, and that's a wonderful story.

[pitry.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the hits for Dear Mike I understand (esp. as it set on the featured stories for about half a year, as well!) but I've seen some brilliant stories that got recced on calufrax and then still got very few reviews, so I'm still horribly confused about that. Happily horribly confused mind! But still... :)

And, sigh. The smith awards story. I'm way too ambivalent with it to be really happy about it - I mean, I know I shouldn't complain, but it's hardly what I consider one of my best stories, and TBH I thought there were much better stories running in that category that didn't get that far (my personal winner is still Five Times After Goodbye and I'm sticking to it, damnit!).

Also, cheers for saying Fade Away is a wonderful story... :) but I have to admit I'm sort of automatically discounting it and Hello I Love You. I probably shouldn't, and I'm probably doing a huge generalisation that is quite unfair to a lot of people... but Rose/Ten stories tend to get a lot of reviews. Period. No matter what the context is. So it's really hard to judge based on reactions alone whether I succeeded in writing something good or not (although, I guess if I get a number of "I don't usually like these stories but..." I should consider it as good. I don't know! :( )

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Rose/Ten stories tend to get a lot of reviews. Period. No matter what the context is. So it's really hard to judge based on reactions alone whether I succeeded in writing something good or not

Fair point. Also, fair point about the brilliant Calufrax stories that get no reviews. I've definitely seen good stories that weren't popular (even after getting recced), and popular stories that weren't any good (at least, in my opinion). I think it's not only the number of reviews you get, but what they say that can guide you (a lot of "Oh, I just *love* Ten/Rose!" is a hint that maybe it's the genre that's making it so popular -- although that still doesn't mean the story isn't good, of course).

If it helps any, I can honestly say that my liking those stories had absolutely nothing to do with them being Ten/Rose. If anything, that gave them a disadvantage. : )

[pitry.livejournal.com]

Awww, cheers! *is happy*