Baffled (and disgruntled, there's a surprise)

[quasar273]

I wrote two fics for Yuletide. The first was in a fandom I'd never heard of before reading the request. But I caught up with the canon and wrote what I felt was a nice, meaty story that captured the author's voice and style pretty well. I was nicely satisfied with that story, and I looked forward to posting it here after the author reveal.

Then I volunteered for a pinch-hit, and despite having a better familiarity with the source material, I just couldn't get that one off the ground. I had one piece of inspiration that allowed me to put some realistic detail in, but I couldn't find a plot. So it turned out to be just a vignette, some conversation about what happened after the end of canon, not even twice the minimum required story length. I was not satisfied with this story and figured I probably wouldn't even bother to post it here later on.

Then the archive went live, and the comments started coming in, and I got just as many (sometimes nicer) comments for the vignette as for the plotty story. In fact, the vignette got two recommendations! And none for the story I thought was much better. I am baffled.

So, what's up? Is it relative popularity of the source material? I didn't think they were that much different -- both bookfic, although one is more recent than the other. Is it the combination of a rare fandom with a long story, making people unwilling to try the meatier story unless they know the source? Or am I just that wrong about the relative quality of the stories? Soon, friends, you will be able to judge for yourselves!

But I still think the long one is way better. Hmmph.

Comments

[magic-rat.livejournal.com]

As the author, it's difficult for you to judge what will appeal to the public at large. After all, there are many songwriters who wrote best-selling hits that they just didn't care for at all ("Living on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi comes to mind as an example, but there are many, many more). You're just too close to it to see what the public would like.

Also, "more popular" is not the same as "better". The best example of that is Paris Hilton.

[quasar273.livejournal.com]

Paris Hilton. Good example. Way to make me feel better for not being popular. Or, okay, not as popular as I want to be -- which is an unfillable bucket anyway.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Eh, at least you're better and more popular to me.

*smooch!*

Paris Hilton largely does not exist in my universe.

[aetherbunny.livejournal.com]

(randomly wandering in from the yuletide friending meme)

I haven't got around to reading either of the stories you did this year, although I'm intending to read both of them eventually (I usually print out fic to read it and I'm dead out of ink.)

I really think it has a lot to do with relative popularity of the source material. The fic I received this year was great, but it didn't get very many comments and only one rec.

[quasar273.livejournal.com]

Well, I didn't think they were that different in popularity, but maybe I was wrong, because the Stevermer series is older and the Melusine series is quite new. But I also often disagree with the general fannish reading community about the relative merits of long vs. short stories, so I suspect that may be part of it, too.

I love plot, and I frequently miss the subtle and elegant, so naturally I go for long stories. And I see glowing comments for shorter stories and think maybe I should develop my appreciation for subtle and elegant, yeah, I really should. But then I write a short story which I'm quite sure is not at all subtle or elegant, and it gets as many comments as the long one! So I become doubtful about the collective wisdom of commenters.

But really, I have no basis for complaint; both stories got very nice comments, and I'm glad the short one drew nice words since I was so worried about it. And after I wrote this post, the longer story did garner one rec, so all is fair and I'm no longer disgruntled. But perhaps still a bit puzzled.

Anyway, I hope when you do have the time, you enjoy the stories!