How was your first story received?

[Frowfy]

Damn right, I'm still waiting for the next chapter.

 

[DaelyxLenAuphydas]

Y'all are getting readers? I've been posting for more than a year and I think I got like, one comment. And that comment was just about how nobody commented or read it....

Things go better with pony words, at least. I have a decent following on fimfic. But on original fiction sites? Yeah, basically nothing. But the story must be told anyways.

 

[Frowfy]

Excuuuuuseee me, Mr. succesufull writer.
I remembered now a line from Tomstone (old movie with val kilmer as doc hollyday).
There were by a creek, doc was coughing and spitting blood bacouse of his tuberculosis. Wyatt earp and his team just had a shoot out with the bandids of jhonny ringo.
One of the masters brothers asked Doc:
-Why you doing this for anyway Doc, you should be in bed.
-Wyatt is my friend. - Doc answered.
-Hell, I got many more friends- masters rebukked.
-Well I dont- said Doc all serius.

You got many readers... I dont.

Lol, I have no friends in real life either. And about readers, don't worry about it, if a reader enjoyed your work it means you have potential. As long as you enjoy what you do it doesn't matter.

Y'all are getting readers? I've been posting for more than a year and I think I got like, one comment. And that comment was just about how nobody commented or read it....

Things go better with pony words, at least. I have a decent following on fimfic. But on original fiction sites? Yeah, basically nothing. But the story must be told anyways.

That's peculiar. I started my story to practice English, since I had an elementar level. It was a fanfic, so maybe it helped a little? Maybe you could get some views with fanfics or maybe stories in a trending genre. Give it a try later, maybe it can work.

About original stories I have no idea, both of my stories are fanfic. I hope it go well in the future too.

 

[Deleted member 166465]

Lol, I have no friends in real life either. And about readers, don't worry about it, if a reader enjoyed your work it means you have potential. As long as you enjoy what you do it doesn't matter.

That's peculiar. I started my story to practice English, since I had an elementar level. It was a fanfic, so maybe it helped a little? Maybe you could get some views with fanfics or maybe stories in a trending genre. Give it a try later, maybe it can work.

About original stories I have no idea, both of my stories are fanfic. I hope it go well in the future too.

I got "friends" in real life... I hate them.

 

[DaelyxLenAuphydas]

Lol, I have no friends in real life either. And about readers, don't worry about it, if a reader enjoyed your work it means you have potential. As long as you enjoy what you do it doesn't matter.

That's peculiar. I started my story to practice English, since I had an elementar level. It was a fanfic, so maybe it helped a little? Maybe you could get some views with fanfics or maybe stories in a trending genre. Give it a try later, maybe it can work.

About original stories I have no idea, both of my stories are fanfic. I hope it go well in the future too.

Well like I said, my pony stories do okay. And those are fanfic. I think Empire of Mercy literally has like two orders of magnitude more reads than Immaculate (On fimfiction, not here, it has almost nothing here), despite honestly being a far weaker story overall. I can't complain too much, I gotta be happy to at least have some readers even if its only on the fanfiction. Shrug.

Immaculate or Birthright are stories that wouldnt really work as fanfiction anyways. I like writing slow burn character drama with very unique and particular-to-me character arcs, trying to make an existing character conform to those arcs would just feel gratuitous and forced.

 

[just_darkjazz]

I believe I am doing very well in terms of views, definetely more than I was expecting given my story is a niche I'm still not convinced there is a market for. In terms of other interactions I've had a couple comments, nothing really game changing, though it still feels amazing knowing that people read my stuff and enjoy them. That being said the discord server I made for it is still empty, and it hurts me every time I look at it Favourites have also dried up. I wanted to open a patreon at some point if the story ever got any traction, not to make any real money out of it but at least to recup after comissioning cover art. I don't see that happening right now, hard to picture people who don't even favourite tossing their hard earned money my way. But the story will continue until I can't continue it anymore. If things don't change, it is what it is.

As for what's inspiring me... I have a worm in my head telling me to come up with and write stories. I can't stop, and trust me I've tried

 

[Paul__Michaels]

At first, nothing but crickets.

Then I moved here and posting it daily, it was surprisingly good, despite the issues. But I improved a lot since then.

 

[KUWABARA]

My story Saga of the Cosmic Heroes was decent enough on RR, where it had 280-ish followers and 80-ish favorites. On here though, it was only a fraction of those numbers. I was happy with what I had regardless, but I since deleted it on all platforms because I had dropped it and felt ashamed of my amateur writing that I feel wasn't reflective of my current skills.

Writing a novel like LotGH motivates me since there isn't so much a single story capturing the same themes and scope anywhere really (only one that does is 'How The Stars Turn Red' on RR), and it's something I would definitely want to read, so I'm writing it myself.

 

[L1aei]

My fanfiction received comments, but they disappear whenever the user no longer exists. No idea if those were real people or bots.

 

[Frowfy]

My story Saga of the Cosmic Heroes was decent enough on RR, where it had 280-ish followers and 80-ish favorites. On here though, it was only a fraction of those numbers. I was happy with what I had regardless, but I since deleted it on all platforms because I had dropped it and felt ashamed of my amateur writing that I feel wasn't reflective of my current skills.

Writing a novel like LotGH motivates me since there isn't so much a single story capturing the same themes and scope anywhere really (only one that does is 'How The Stars Turn Red' on RR), and it's something I would definitely want to read, so I'm writing it myself.

I have a dropped version of one of my stories, I really feel ashamed of my decisions there, but I can't delete it. It's strange but some people still read that thing sometimes lol. I know how you feel with old writing. I feel it with my current story, the first chapters were nothing compared to what I write today, but I try to look at it with warm eyes.

My fanfiction received comments, but they disappear whenever the user no longer exists. No idea if those were real people or bots.

That's pretty sad. I don't have much experience with fanfiction website.

I believe I am doing very well in terms of views, definetely more than I was expecting given my story is a niche I'm still not convinced there is a market for. In terms of other interactions I've had a couple comments, nothing really game changing, though it still feels amazing knowing that people read my stuff and enjoy them. That being said the discord server I made for it is still empty, and it hurts me every time I look at it Favourites have also dried up. I wanted to open a patreon at some point if the story ever got any traction, not to make any real money out of it but at least to recup after comissioning cover art. I don't see that happening right now, hard to picture people who don't even favourite tossing their hard earned money my way. But the story will continue until I can't continue it anymore. If things don't change, it is what it is.

As for what's inspiring me... I have a worm in my head telling me to come up with and write stories. I can't stop, and trust me I've tried

You can do it . Some readers ask me for a discord sometimes and I have the same worries. Would someone fill it without any additional content? I almost opened a server and then deleted it thinking about all the trouble

 

[zephyrtrillian]

Well...I'm just starting with mine. This is week three of going public with it.

I wonder how your first story was received. I'm genuinely curious about that.

I had created a novel just to learn English. Initially, I received great support in the comments from the writer Baeon on this site. His curiosity and comments were so captivating that I was fascinated by the ability of writing to engage others in my ideas from that point on.

Have you had a Baeon in your careers? That first reader who motivated everything?

And what motivates you to write?

Well...I'm just starting with mine. This is week three of going public with it. Just sort of seeing how it goes. Who knows?

No "first reader" really. Just my family, who seems to love my work.

What motivates me? I waited over 10 years for the "right time" to get to work and just couldn't find it. So, forget it, the right time is now. I need these stories out of my brain. Period.

 

[kosamsel]

Awwww that’s so sweet!!!! ? Honestly, sometimes it really does take just one person reading along as you write to push you to keep going. Those regular comments, even if they’re only a few words, are such a lovely reminder that to at least SOMEONE out there, what you have to say mattered a little! Maybe it just entertained them for a few minutes in a waiting room, but they cared enough about your story to spend time and energy thinking of something to say :3

As far as how my first story’s reception has been: I’m really, really happy with it! I’m not super duper far along and my numbers are pretty average overall, but I have a handful of absolutely wonderful regular readers and commenters who are extremely kind and thoughtful and I want to give them all little forehead kisses. Genuinely, they’re the reason I’ve kept writing even though my creative stamina meter is pretty pitiful LOL.

Awwww that’s so sweet!!!! ? Honestly, sometimes it really does take just one person reading along as you write to push you to keep going. Those regular comments, even if they’re only a few words, are such a lovely reminder that to at least SOMEONE out there, what you have to say mattered a little! Maybe it just entertained them for a few minutes in a waiting room, but they cared enough about your story to spend time and energy thinking of something to say :3

As far as how my first story’s reception has been: I’m really, really happy with it! I’m not super duper far along and my numbers are pretty average overall, but I have a handful of absolutely wonderful regular readers and commenters who are extremely kind and thoughtful and I want to give them all little forehead kisses. Genuinely, they’re the reason I’ve kept writing even though my creative stamina meter is pretty pitiful LOL.

Also, bro, having someone theorycraft about your story, or say that they’ve recommended it to people, or that they’ve kept thinking about it after they put it down? NUT.

 

[WhaleSprite]

I've only had my story up for little over month. I don't get much engagement on here, got like 23 readers here, but not really any comments aside from one person who was helping me with feedback. There's one person who seems to favorite all of my chapters which I appreciate. Have only one rating from who knows who, but it's 5 stars.

On Royal Road, it's doing okay. Got one consistent commenter, about 20 followers, nearly 4000 views, 6 ratings that average to about 4.92 stars out of 5. Got 3 reviews, so far, all positive.

I have it on Wattpad too and surprisingly actually have some genuine comments that aren't just scammers and favorites from time to time on there.

But I've only had it up for a month with 30 chapters, so still plugging away.

But to answer your other question, What motivates me to write is because I like creating worlds and the lives in it and I want to share it with other people.

 

[l8rose]

It's been so long since I uploaded my first thing onto the internet that I really can't remember. I mean, that's going back to the early days of DeadJournal and Fictionpress. I do remember someone bitching me out for having a little kid in a car accident as a prequel story to my first thing, so there's that.

Outside the internet, I was just encouraged to continue writing and that it was obvious that I read a lot of Anne Rice.

 

[H0LL0W]

My first story is a metaphor about abuse. The protagonist time travels again and again going back and never remembering, and is also in an abusive relationship. The loop doesn't stop until he finally breaks up with her.
A lot of people loved it because it was wierd, many hated it because it was wierd. Some connected with it because of the metaphor, and that was extremely concerning.
I hope whoever is in that kind of relationship doesn't go back... you're not a time travel protag lol.

 

[Frowfy]

Also, bro, having someone theorycraft about your story, or say that they’ve recommended it to people, or that they’ve kept thinking about it after they put it down? NUT

I was really lucky to have someone as special as Mr. Baeon lol. He wrote several paragraphs about theories and possible dark turns my story could have. It was a shame I didn't follow such ideas lol. My story was for general publics after all.

My first story is a metaphor about abuse. The protagonist time travels again and again going back and never remembering, and is also in an abusive relationship. The loop doesn't stop until he finally breaks up with her.
A lot of people loved it because it was wierd, many hated it because it was wierd. Some connected with it because of the metaphor, and that was extremely concerning.
I hope whoever is in that kind of relationship doesn't go back... you're not a time travel protag lol.

That's a very difficult concept for a first story. My first protagonist also was someone disabled, it was a very hard concept to write and I learned a lot from it. I can't even imagine the trouble to travel in time, the plot needs to be considered so carefully and you need a good memory and writing skills to write similar storylines interestingly or creating situations with the variables available. My respects.

 

[AstreiaNyx]

My first story was about a girl who got isekaied into the body of a maid cursed to speak her every conscious thought aloud, also magicless in a world where magic meant power. When I uploaded it to Wattpad, each chapter barely had > 5 views. Tapas was a little better until they flagged me for using an AI gen cover. I deleted the novel there and dumped all 30 chaps here instead.

The next day, I logged in and saw 300 readers. I was like: how did that happen?

By the time I finished the story, I had around 500 readers. But the one who kept me writing was my irl friend who told me she’d read whatever I wrote.

 

[ElenaV]

My first story was a conflict between a mother and her daughter and the event that kept widening the rift between them. It was received as one would expect from such a theme. I wasn't disappointed since I knew my target audience won't be in scribblehub or in any online web platform. I had one or two commenters who I cherished, and they followed me loyally through multiple finished stories. Sometimes, when I wake up to the early dusk of the day, in the clarity offered by the quietness, if I write for an unspoken promise to those few readers.

 

[Frowfy]

My first story was about a girl who got isekaied into the body of a maid cursed to speak her every conscious thought aloud, also magicless in a world where magic meant power. When I uploaded it to Wattpad, each chapter barely had > 5 views. Tapas was a little better until they flagged me for using an AI gen cover. I deleted the novel there and dumped all 30 chaps here instead.

The next day, I logged in and saw 300 readers. I was like: how did that happen?

By the time I finished the story, I had around 500 readers. But the one who kept me writing was my irl friend who told me she’d read whatever I wrote.

What a good friend

My first story was a conflict between a mother and her daughter and the event that kept widening the rift between them. It was received as one would expect from such a theme. I wasn't disappointed since I knew my target audience won't be in scribblehub or in any online web platform. I had one or two commenters who I cherished, and they followed me loyally through multiple finished stories. Sometimes, when I wake up to the early dusk of the day, in the clarity offered by the quietness, if I write for an unspoken promise to those few readers.

Wow, I'm really surprised with those readers, there are so many good people in this world. I also have a very special reader called SomeRandomReader. This person kept waiting for me donating stones on webnovel for 3 months when I disappeared without a notice because of stress. This reader inspired me deeply, I felt ashamed to let the people waiting for a new chapter and also happy that they remembered after so long. It's a truly unique experience to have this kind of support.

 

[Xcalibur_Xc]

I made $1200 on my first original book. And it got mixed reviews. ?? I was so happy. Back then I was in still school and that was a big amount. It was a fantasy action book.