Hello everyone!

I’m writing this because I’ve had some pent up feelings over the past year and a half of writing for the fandom, which I hope to express now. 

First of all, it’s been wonderful. The reason why I’m pursuing my Masters right now is precisely because I started writing fan fiction. When I wrote my first fic, Ink Drip, I wasn’t worried about subscribers or up votes or anything like that. I was just excited to be able to write about a ship that I’ve enjoyed for a long time. Then, I began to gain a readership and that gave me much-needed confidence to keep writing and trying new plots and characterisations. When I wrote Daddy Seunghyun, I realised it was quite popular amongst many and began to make more friends in the fandom, which then led to me opening up a Twitter (that is now defunct after some issues). 

Then I began to realise difficulties that other writers had. For example, writers who had smaller readerships because their stories were atypical and readers said it was “wrong” or “not true to the ship”. Or writers who created brilliant works but simply lacked support. That’s when I realised how important it was to have a good support system within the fandom you write for because if not, your works often go unnoticed. Or worse, if you write in a fandom where people somehow form personal grudges against you, your work is ignored. 

Which was why I wrote My Roommate is a Bad Boy because I knew how unpopular bottom!top was and even dealt with it myself when readers would comment that they disliked reading SH in this way because it seemed “womanly” and “unmanly”. But ironically, it was perfectly fine when J is written in such a manner. However, in the end, somehow, through the support of my readers, I got a steady following and the fan fiction did fairly well (which I’m still so grateful for today). 

Right now, I’m on my tenth work, Hot Cop (thank you for all your love for the fic!). And what I’ve realised is with each story I’ve written, I go through cycles of ups and downs. 

What people sometimes take for granted is that writers of fan fiction do this for free. Yes, it is is for our own entertainment. Yes, it’s for practice. But at the end of the day, it’s a huge deal for us to put our work out there and we do it for free. As readers, you get to go online and click onto a site and read thousands and thousands of words for free. And yet, readers don’t leave comments, though it’s as simple as saying “I enjoyed this” or “I liked this bit a lot, that bit not so much.” And because readers tend to be silent, writers like myself (and others who have told me the same thing) feel hurt, under appreciated, ignored, etc.

So all I’m saying is I’m really thankful for all your support over this time and many of you have stayed with me since my first work and have (hopefully) seen me grow. But sometimes, it really does make my day to see even one comment from a reader. So please, if you have the time, leave a comment for any fic that you read because someone’s taken the time and effort to put it out there. And it’s not an easy thing to do. 

Phew, that was long.

Turrah. 

x

(same post on my tumblr)
(p.s. sorry for the rant)