Irene 🌸☁

I want to hop in on this because, by all means, I am considered an "older gen writer." First of all, Fanfic dot net and Wattpad authors used to literally hold chapters hostage until a certain "Like" or "Comment" threshold was met. People still make memes about it to this day, so don't try to play revisionist on this piece of history. Second, a lot of this isn't about statistics. It's about acknowledgement. I wrote a couple decently well-received fanfics as a teen, then went on to pursue writing professionally in college. And I can pretty confidently say I only got this far *because* my fanfics were well-received and people engaged and encouraged me to keep going. Yes, you should write for yourself. Yes, you shouldn't write for views or engagement. And as a writer, I've always written what *I* want to read. But people liking and/or commenting was literally what gave 15-16-year-old me the message that "Hey, I like reading this stuff too! Keep going!" Otherwise, I would've given up and kept my writing in the Google Drive for my own enjoyment and leisure. Besides, it's in our nature to seek approval and like-minded people who enjoy the same things we do. It's the exact same reason why people are sharing fics right now on drives when ao3 is down, is it not? Because we enjoyed these stories, and we want more people to be able to access them so we can talk about them. Big production TV shows literally axe series that don't meet the projected numbers or ratings. It's so easy for fanfic authors to fall into the same trap of "why invest so many resources into something no one will interact with or consume?" Big productions ask for monetary support. All fanfiction authors ask for is a little time out of your day to leave a kudos or comment if you've enjoyed it. We talk all the time about "Supporting Real Artists." That doesn't just pertain to visual art. Literature is art too, even if it's fanfiction. I've been reading fics from these drives/wayback machines during ao3's downtime too, but I have everything listed down so I can go back and properly kudos them when the site is back up to show my appreciation. Because I know I would've appreciated that too when I was a budding young writer.