tiggymalvern (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tiggymalvern) wrote2019-06-10 04:50 am
tiggymalvern) wrote2019-06-10 04:50 am
Entry tags:
Writers vs Artists - a Culture Clash
This might come off as something as a rant, and I guess to a point it is - but mostly it's just genuine puzzlement. Because I honestly don't understand the entirely different responses from the two creative halves of fandom.
I'm a fanfic writer, and when people comment on my fics, I always reply. And it's pretty much universal, it seems, because when I comment on other people's fics, I almost always get a response. If my comment was fairly short, it may be, 'Glad you liked it, thanks for letting me know.' If my comment was more detailed, the reply will often be, 'I'm so glad you liked that bit, it was one of my favourites, let me tell you my inspiration for it!' Basically, enthusiasm is met with enthusiasm, and everyone wants to talk about their work. I think I've commented on maybe four or five fics EVER across twenty years and over a dozen fandoms where the author hasn't responded.
And then there are the artists. I've reblogged fanart on tumblr and pillowfort with detailed comments explaining what I loved about it - the light, the shading, the composition. I've sent direct, personal messages to fan artists across various forums telling them how much I love their work. I've promoted artists, linking to their work, and to their sites, and tagging them, and telling everyone who'll listen how fabulous they are. And out of the dozens and dozens of fanarts I've praised and pimped publicly and privately, do you know how many of the artists ever bothered to reply to me? Three. Yes, three. Basically, it's the exact inverse of what I get from writers, and what I give as a writer.
Is is that fanfic writers get so few responses, they'll do anything for more? Is is that fanartists who get hundreds, and in a few cases thousands of notes on every piece of art, don't have the time to respond to them all? Is it because writers write for free with praise as their only reward, while artists are selling their work for cash and don't need to bother with verbal feedback when they're getting paid in actual money? I know that some of them don't speak English as a first language, and maybe they don't reply because they'd find it hard to communicate with me beyond the basics, but that's not true for most of them and I'm honestly just... ???
I can tell you that as a result of this, I'm commenting less and less on art. I'll still reblog it if I like it, but I rarely say anything personal about it any more. I have to ABSOLUTELY love it to say anything, or if it's art by a new artist to a fandom with very few notes, I'll say something to try and encourage them. But for the vast majority of fanart by the vast majority of fanartists, I'll just reblog and move on, because I get tired of shouting into the void.
I'm a fanfic writer, and when people comment on my fics, I always reply. And it's pretty much universal, it seems, because when I comment on other people's fics, I almost always get a response. If my comment was fairly short, it may be, 'Glad you liked it, thanks for letting me know.' If my comment was more detailed, the reply will often be, 'I'm so glad you liked that bit, it was one of my favourites, let me tell you my inspiration for it!' Basically, enthusiasm is met with enthusiasm, and everyone wants to talk about their work. I think I've commented on maybe four or five fics EVER across twenty years and over a dozen fandoms where the author hasn't responded.
And then there are the artists. I've reblogged fanart on tumblr and pillowfort with detailed comments explaining what I loved about it - the light, the shading, the composition. I've sent direct, personal messages to fan artists across various forums telling them how much I love their work. I've promoted artists, linking to their work, and to their sites, and tagging them, and telling everyone who'll listen how fabulous they are. And out of the dozens and dozens of fanarts I've praised and pimped publicly and privately, do you know how many of the artists ever bothered to reply to me? Three. Yes, three. Basically, it's the exact inverse of what I get from writers, and what I give as a writer.
Is is that fanfic writers get so few responses, they'll do anything for more? Is is that fanartists who get hundreds, and in a few cases thousands of notes on every piece of art, don't have the time to respond to them all? Is it because writers write for free with praise as their only reward, while artists are selling their work for cash and don't need to bother with verbal feedback when they're getting paid in actual money? I know that some of them don't speak English as a first language, and maybe they don't reply because they'd find it hard to communicate with me beyond the basics, but that's not true for most of them and I'm honestly just... ???
I can tell you that as a result of this, I'm commenting less and less on art. I'll still reblog it if I like it, but I rarely say anything personal about it any more. I have to ABSOLUTELY love it to say anything, or if it's art by a new artist to a fandom with very few notes, I'll say something to try and encourage them. But for the vast majority of fanart by the vast majority of fanartists, I'll just reblog and move on, because I get tired of shouting into the void.
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It is rather odd that this is such a phenomenon across the board with artists. I've experienced some unexpected things with feedback in Guardian but not this kind of clear split, but it's also a smaller fandom and the data is still young. Maybe with a big fandom AND more squee about art, artists really take feedback more for granted or can take or leave individual comments because in general there is so much?
But yeah, I get that that is demotivating!
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That honestly is what I think is going on. It's the best explanation I can come up with. But whatever the cause, as far as I'm concerned, the outcome is the same - I stop bothering.
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Of course, none of that touches the direct messages, but I wonder if part of it is the platform that most art/most fic is on.
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Yeah, that's why I hate that feature and don't use it much. I wish there was an obvious way to keep a conversation going on tumblr without spamming everyone's dashes.
But if a reblog a fic on tumblr, with a comment saying, 'Hey, more people should read this, it's great!' I very often do get a private message from the author saying, 'Glad you liked it and thanks for promoting.' With the artists I never do. So it's not just a tumblr vs AO3 thing; even within tumblr it's a noticeable writers vs artists split.
part of this is my cynicism that Tumblr is more of a 'follower' culture than a 'friend' culture.
Absolutely. I make vague acquaintances on tumblr, I don't make friends there that I contact outside that format.
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Anyway, that is maybe not directly relevant to your query. I've definitely noticed the artist trend and thought maybe it had to do with their high engagement metrics -- not being able to get back to everyone who reblogs with praise (either in the reblog or in the tags) -- but then I've also seen popular artists do that thing you mentioned, where they screenshot reblog notes or collections of private messages to thank their fans. So I am really not sure what's going on.
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But not with artists - never with them, not on any forum.