Really interesting, Dawn! I don't really have much more to add that hasn't already been said, except perhaps only my personal thoughts.
I always feel really bad about not leaving comments, but for me, it's because I have so little time to read fics, and when I do read them, I savour them, and when I savour them, I want to leave a comment telling the author exactly how good their story was. Something enriching and lovely, articulating the emotional response, putting quotes if something really jumped out to me. I want to make sure I understand their story, and if my understanding of it was perhaps variant, to explain why. Perhaps that's my own fault, setting such a high bar, but it's because the authors deserve it! I too believe that commenting is separate from critique, and because of that, I want to make sure I draw out all the positives and the things that made me squee or point at the screen with my mouth gaping or throw my hands up and cheer.
Which is perhaps counter-intuitive, because as an author I much prefer, out of any response, those short "I loved it!" or "Well done!" comments from readers than those nebulous kudos. I appreciate the concept of kudos, because I understand lacking time to write a fulfilling comment but wanting to show appreciation for a work you enjoyed. Yet at the same time, I can't help but be disappointed by it, because as a writer I know how much just a couple of words mean in encouragement. This reader/writer/commenter/kudos-giver dynamic is a double edged sword and it's so tricky to balance on that edge!
Also, like others have said, there's only so far you can go with the psychology of "I'm writing for me". It may be so - it usually is, and deeply so - but with the effort required to prepare a story for posting, the lack of a noticeable response makes one question the relevance of that effort anymore. Any time I've taken a hiatus from writing fic, it's usually been because of a lackluster or lukewarm response to the fics. I know that it took forever to get back into the fic writing because of a lack of comments or a lack of positive comments (I got guilted once for not updating a fic and it drove me away from the fandom for nearly a year).
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2017-03-26 01:03 pm (UTC)I always feel really bad about not leaving comments, but for me, it's because I have so little time to read fics, and when I do read them, I savour them, and when I savour them, I want to leave a comment telling the author exactly how good their story was. Something enriching and lovely, articulating the emotional response, putting quotes if something really jumped out to me. I want to make sure I understand their story, and if my understanding of it was perhaps variant, to explain why. Perhaps that's my own fault, setting such a high bar, but it's because the authors deserve it! I too believe that commenting is separate from critique, and because of that, I want to make sure I draw out all the positives and the things that made me squee or point at the screen with my mouth gaping or throw my hands up and cheer.
Which is perhaps counter-intuitive, because as an author I much prefer, out of any response, those short "I loved it!" or "Well done!" comments from readers than those nebulous kudos. I appreciate the concept of kudos, because I understand lacking time to write a fulfilling comment but wanting to show appreciation for a work you enjoyed. Yet at the same time, I can't help but be disappointed by it, because as a writer I know how much just a couple of words mean in encouragement. This reader/writer/commenter/kudos-giver dynamic is a double edged sword and it's so tricky to balance on that edge!
Also, like others have said, there's only so far you can go with the psychology of "I'm writing for me". It may be so - it usually is, and deeply so - but with the effort required to prepare a story for posting, the lack of a noticeable response makes one question the relevance of that effort anymore. Any time I've taken a hiatus from writing fic, it's usually been because of a lackluster or lukewarm response to the fics. I know that it took forever to get back into the fic writing because of a lack of comments or a lack of positive comments (I got guilted once for not updating a fic and it drove me away from the fandom for nearly a year).