And Yet Another Reason to Envy Artists

[kriadydragon]

And not just because of their mad art skills.

So as part of my advertising campaign to get my novel noticed, I've been posting short stories over yonder on my writing blog. Which is quite enjoyable and allows people a small sample of the kinds of things I write as well as how I write.

But - and maybe this is just me, I don't know - but the problem with original stories is that people aren't quite as eager to check them out as, say, a piece of artwork. Because artwork only takes a second to look at. And usually you get a pretty good idea of what you're going to look at from either a short description or a thumbnail. Then there's fan art, which you can be sure will draw in a lot of viewers, many of whom will want to know what else you've created and so go scrounging through your DevientArt page or where ever you have your art.

But stories don't take a second to look at, they take several minutes to even an hour, and while a synopsis lets you know what a story is about you still don't have a complete idea of what it is you're getting yourself into. You think the story you're reading is about a plucky kid saving the day only to come to the end and, in a cruel twist, discover that the guy you've been rooting for was actually the villain. You have no idea if what you're going to read will contain something that's a squick for you, or something you're just not a fan of. Which, yes, is basically the story of anything you read, especially by an author you don't know much about. But the point I'm trying to make is that I think there's a lot of wariness when it comes to reading someone's original fic - even if that someone wrote fanfic you adore - whereas with art people look at it, like what they see and skip off to see if there's any more.

Which can happen with stories, I know, but it takes longer. A lot longer, I think. And even if someone likes your work and recs it and goes on about how wonderful it is, there are still going to be readers who will hesitate on reading it. It's something I'm rather guilty of myself, and for the reasons I stated. I'll happily look at art, but when it comes to reading original fic it takes me a bit of time to work up both the mood and the courage to give a story a try.

Anyway, just a bit of a realization I made. I know there are people out there who'll happily glomp on just about anything readable. But I do think, for the most part, art has a bit more of a leg up where getting attention is concerned than a story.

(ETA: But please don't take this post as me saying that artists have it easy. Getting attention pointed toward any type of artistic creation is pretty tough).

Comments

[timespirt.livejournal.com]

Well, fanific is written about people or characters that you already know and love while original fic is written about characters you don't know already and are not invested in. When I read a book I have no knowledge of the characters so I rely on the summery to give me a clue to whether I might like that book or not and I get invested in the characters while I read or I might not if I don't like them. You have to hook your potential audience with that summery in order to get them to open that book and try to keep them past the third chapter. I kind of have a feel by the 3rd or 4th chapter as to whether the book is boring me instead of again hooking me into reading more. Art is another big hook. When I download fic if there is art I love to get that as well. There is nothing like having visuals to go along with a story. There is only so much you can do with a description in a book as you can with pictures of what you are describing to go with it. It allows me to see the character or animals the author has put in the story. That's why when there is art on the front of a book it allows the person to use that to visualize the character they are reading about.

Well, this is how I see it. You might think I'm just some wingnut too. LOL

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Which is my point. Reading is an investment of time and even a small investment of trust, and that's going to make people a bit wary about jumping into a piece of fiction, even if it's only a couple of hundred words. And in some cases there's no guarantee if they'll stick with the work.

With art, you look at a piece of art, and if you like what you see, you maybe go check out other pieces that artist has done. But not that I'm saying that artists have it easier. Just that... things are more likely to move quicker for them, I suppose you could say.

[timespirt.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's faster looking at art than it is to read a book for a few chapters to see if you want to continue. In this world of instant gratification the less time it takes for someone to do something that is usually the direction they will go. You have to love to read in order to take the time to read a few pages or even a few chapters to see if you're interested.

[greeneyes-fan.livejournal.com]

I partly I agree with this. During a big bang season, for example, with four epics posted a day, I might wind up viewing all the artwork but only reading 10% of the fic, precisely because the artwork takes a second and the fic takes way too long.

However, I'm not terribly into the visual arts in general, so I'm not sure I've ever opened an artist's page just to see what else she might have drawn.

Now, when I read fanfic, most of the time I'm not just in a fanfic mood but in a fandom specific mood, to the point that I will ignore an interesting new fic by an author I enjoy just because I'm not into that fandom this week. When an author is really good AND writes exactly the plots I'm into, I have been know to browse her page until I wander into other fandoms or original works, but not often.