06-15-03 @ 10:30 am EDT

Re, last entry's: fewer reviews except from the people who already read my writing. This point was also just brought up in a forum, and of course I replied to it. UGH! I notice my last entry already has TWO HITS to it. Yesterday's entry got five hits within a few hours of being posted and that usually doesn't happen on the weekends so SOMEBODY is checking this thing out.

This point was brought up in an e-mail from a new person who showed up at my port and I REALLY DO mean to reply to it...but I thought I'd post it here too. My fingers aren't working right since they're cold. I meant to log off and take a bath but f**king NMO decided to log me off RIGHT as I was posting my last entry! THEY ALWAYS TIME ME OUT RIGHT MINUTES BEFORE I'M GOING TO LOG OFF AND RIGHT WHILE I'M POSTING SOMETHING, ALWAYS! And it's not simply a matter of logging back on--you have to close the browser and RESTART the computer else it doesn't take you anywhere. I TRIED logging on again and posting, but it wouldn't work. Also got a false restart and a blue screen and an attempted ScanDisk. So that was TWO wasted calls, right there. And no bath.

*steam*

Anyway...why so few reviews at least in MY case, except from people who already know my port? That's the answer right there--they already know my port. I, myself, tend to write in series stories set in established worlds. Even my one-shot stories have thick ties to my series. You'll be very hard pressed to find any fiction in my port that isn't based off of D Is For Damien or Manitou Island or Horus or The Trench Rats. In fact I think the only FOUR nonseries-related fics you'll find in my entire port are in the Random Stories folder, and they are not stories that I am by any means proud of nor greatly desire reviews on. You'll notice my harping is always about my established-world fiction--that based off of my ongoing series--and that's where the problem lies.

Somebody shows up at your port and notices that all your fiction is based on settings and worlds that they have no understanding of. Rather than take an awful amount of time getting to know that world--which could involve having to ask you questions about it since you were TOO STUPID TO CREATE FAQS! >_< --they seek standalone stories instead. If there are none or very few to be found, what will they do? Move on to another port that is not so time consuming! Sometimes readers should have greater attention spans, but even I admit that the writer should take it upon themselves to make their writing as friendly as they can to as large an audience as possible.

If somebody has no clue about the worlds your stories are set in, how then can they reasonably read them and comment back? They have lives, you know, and not that much time. They do not have thirteen years to get to know Damien as much as you do. (Plus they probably just would not want to. o_O )

This I'm assuming is the PRIMARY reason for so few reviews from new readers. And I thoroughly understand it. It makes a lot more sense than claiming NOBODY out there is willing to read longer fics, when we all know that isn't true. (Take the perpetually sponsored story of the last entry, for example!) Length DOES have much to do with whether somebody will even CLICK on something or not, but even I would find it difficult to stick around if, after clicking on said long item, I found it to be about a world of which I have no previous knowledge, and little time to SEEK said knowledge (if it isn't readily available).

Even my regulars have to ask me questions sometimes. I'm ALWAYS game to answer (really, if you don't mind having to ask me questions about my writing, consider ME your FAQ! ^_^ ), but not everyone is game to ask. Shyness, lack of time or inclination, whatever, you name it.

This reason I understand a whole lot more than rest, because it's very true. Even I have done the same thing, clicked away from a story because I could not understand the world it was set in, and didn't have the time to read any relevant info. Remember when I used to have all those different FAQs about the Trench Rats in my port? (Since deleted and hosted on GeoCities.) Yagh, and that's probably the LEAST developed of my little universes!

DAMN IT, WHY THE HELL DOES CARTOON NETWORK KEEP DREDGING BACK LUPIN AND REIGN?! They finally get rid of Cowboy Bebop and bring back REIGN! And that stupid-ass LUPIN! What the hell did they do to poor Trigun? It didn't get to run through even one entire repeat! Not that I'm a fan of it, but at least it hasn't been aired a zillion times like Reign and doesn't have crappy animation like Lupin...why don't they just pick up a shojo like Magic Knight Rayearth or something, you'd think it's an all-boys club on there...they never even bothered with the last season of Sailor Moon...

But anyway...*cough*...just wanted to bring that point up. I'm not sure if I ever even considered it prior to that e-mail, but I always knew it was true, somewhere in the back of my head. The lesson being? I SHOULD LEARN TO WRITE STANDALONE STORIES FOR A CHANGE! The problem is, I love my established characters so much...by now I don't know HOW to stick them in a good standalone story. Help! Guh. >_<