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I can't remember if I've asked this before, and I apologize if I had, but have you ever felt bad for not reading a story? For example, someone you know and whose stories you pretty much always read writes something that you really have no desire to read, yet you feel like you should read it because it's a story by that person and it feels wrong not to support something they wrote. Or something.
I always feel bad for skipping a story that everyone else is gobbling right up, especially if the reason I'm skipping the story is over what some might consider to be a minor issue, or if it's a story I'm just not in the mood to read. It sucks not to get reviews but sucks more, I think, when you have someone who's been reviewing the majority of your stories suddenly stop.
On the other hand, I completely get why this happens. Tastes change, moods change, tolerances change. Back when I first started reading fanfic my list of preferences were pretty small. Just give me gen H/C and I was happy. But obviously that didn't last, and there's so much I can't tolerate or just don't want to read. But I'll look at reviews and see people putting up with what I can't or don't want to and feel bad that I'm not making an exception, or that I'm letting what to others is a trivial thing bother me.
But as a writer I definitely don't expect people to read every story I write. And though, yes, deep down there are times I wish people would make an exception, I don't expect them to, because what's trivial to some isn't trivial to everyone, and even the smallest, most seemingly unimportant thing can taint an entire story for a person, making it incredibly difficult to enjoy no matter how well written that story is.
I always feel bad for skipping a story that everyone else is gobbling right up, especially if the reason I'm skipping the story is over what some might consider to be a minor issue, or if it's a story I'm just not in the mood to read. It sucks not to get reviews but sucks more, I think, when you have someone who's been reviewing the majority of your stories suddenly stop.
On the other hand, I completely get why this happens. Tastes change, moods change, tolerances change. Back when I first started reading fanfic my list of preferences were pretty small. Just give me gen H/C and I was happy. But obviously that didn't last, and there's so much I can't tolerate or just don't want to read. But I'll look at reviews and see people putting up with what I can't or don't want to and feel bad that I'm not making an exception, or that I'm letting what to others is a trivial thing bother me.
But as a writer I definitely don't expect people to read every story I write. And though, yes, deep down there are times I wish people would make an exception, I don't expect them to, because what's trivial to some isn't trivial to everyone, and even the smallest, most seemingly unimportant thing can taint an entire story for a person, making it incredibly difficult to enjoy no matter how well written that story is.
