So, Break Out has finally arrived. It's really been worrying me because its readers have such high expectations, and it's in such a different vein than The Rules, being off the island for the most part.
Even so, I went ahead and whipped up the first (and second) chapter and posted. 23 reviews, 10 favourites, and 19 story alerts are the results, as of today. I can't say how much I freaked out upon opening my inbox to over a page of emails notifying me of these things.
It's really nice feeling famous again, especially when very few are interested in The Long and Winding Road. Between that, Unsurvivable having almost 100 reviews less than its predecessor, and the direction Break Out is going, I was terrified everyone has either moved on or would after seeing how different the sequel is. Certainly it's a bit early to judge, but since most of the 23 reviews are people being extremely excited just to see a chapter posted, I think I'll be optimistic about the fans I have outside the BDDSG.
Of course, I always love my BDDSG'ers and being able to count on regulars like OWL-F reviewing.
It's just the difference between feeling loved and feeling outright famous, I guess. Of course, once I felt so famous I decided to compare myself with other Hetalia fan fictions... That brought the mood down quite quickly. No matter the criteria, there are always some 7 pages of stories with double what I have.
That's all right, though. I'll just pretend that all of that is only because they include yaoi and turn the other way. I may do some catering to the audience, but I'm not going to break with everything I do just to get more reviews. Certainly other factors are going to be involved, likely among them quality of writing, but those are impossible to figure out without analyzing all of those ahead of me, and I'm not going to bother with that. A loyal fanbase is a loyal fanbase, however much buzz they give your work.
Also, the title of this post is from the David Bowie song, for those confused.
Honestly, Break Out being in a different 'vein,' as you say, from The Rules, doesn't worry me at all. Sure, it won't have the structure of a Hunger Games story or The Rules, but that just means there's more room for different possibilities because you don't have to stick to the same pattern. And, truthfully, I'm really, really excited to see where this goes. One of the first FanFictions I really, truly loved was an X-Men Evolution FanFiction that involved the characters in a somewhat similar scenario (i.e. they had to work together to face an outside threat bent on destroying them all), and it's stil one of my favorites. Getting to see the Hetalia characters go through something like that really excites me.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't worry about the amount of readers Break Out is getting, seeing as you seem to have a ton of people very excited about the start of the story. Although, whether or not they'll review regularly is another story. Lots of people don't. Something I'd suggest if you want to get reviews on a regular basis is to respond to reviews. Just getting to know the reviewers on a more familiar basis helps to entice/guilt them into reviewing more. Either they're excited to hear your response to what they had to say, or they feel like they know you better so they owe you. And if you know them better, you can hassle them for reviews and it'll come off more as friendly interactions than begging.(Also, one of the reasons Unsurvivable has less reviews than its predecessors could be that Axxi, Pce and Socky haven't reviewed it, and because you said the series was definitely over, so some people may have moved on).
As for TL&WR, I'm really surprised more people haven't gotten to it, though I guess the obscurity of the pairing could be a factor. I admire you for sticking to your guts and continuing to write it, no matter how many people review, instead of changing the pairing to attract more readers. What you have in your stories is something of true quality, something I'd like to see more of - the ability to take something relatively lighthearted and innocent, like Hetalia, and really explore it and its characters in-depth. That's the thing I love most about FanFiction - silly, lighthearted things are fun and all, but it's the dark, deep, gut-wrenching stuff, the stuff that explores the relationships between the characters and how they would react in tough situations, that really makes an impact. Thank you for bringing so much of that to Hetalia. :)
Glad you think so. I'm just nervous because the whole thing isn't just "everyone kills each other," so I'm a bit outside my comfort zone.
DeleteUgh, I'm terrible at review replies... I can never figure out how to respond, especially when it's just "this is awesome!" or something. I could go through and send thank yous to everything, though I feel like that would just get annoying...
Goodness, I couldn't change the pairing on it if I tried! This is the only one I like enough to try to write for, ha.
Hmm... So when I try publishing, I need to write a lot of silly stuff and then put all of my lovely characters into a dark AU. ;)
First of all, you have no idea how hard I laughed over you saying "everyone kills each other" is your comfort zone. It's just so ... you. XD But at the same time, there's nothing wrong with trying something new, and from what I can tell, you're off to a good start.
DeleteEh, that's fine. It was just a suggestion.
:D Speaking of shippings, I also noticed that every time Austria appears in the Brutal Series, he ends up dying in Hungary's arms. Make of that what you will.
*Sigh* You know that's not what I meant, Journey. :P