Don't worry about it

the hope to be somethin'

[particulardog]

I've been having this reoccurring dream where I'm a incredibly awkward lesbian girl in high school. Like just so inept. It's like episodic dreams that build off one another. As if living that life.

There's like lore and everything that I somehow know in the dream. Just knowing the inside jokes and context to events that I never experienced.

It's quite the line of dreams I'm having.

[reiwiie]

Furilumi came back yaay

[natsukusa-mikan]

Fluffy fluttering skirt... ✍

(I drew this because of what was asked in the question.

I don't feel like this is enough to get the message across, and I wish I could explain it with text to the questioner...

I don't know when I'll be able to reply, so I'll just show you the picture for now)

[gaycoffeeaddict]

lineart practice

[particulardog]

Cool Blue

[particulardog]

Warm up sketch of this world’s ultimate lifeform.

[doodlingcrayon]

Outfit from Pinterest with color changes \o/

[mimiyori]

bocchi birthday blast

[particulardog]

It’s good to have supportive friends that let ya sing whatever for karaoke.

[particulardog]

Super Sonic with the one long quill. I think it’s cool.

[particulardog]

Dalliances with friends?

Funny hair things the lot of them have.

[cybersunnyy]

[trainerbianca]

bocchi doodle!

[particulardog]

Escapism

Disassociation

Change

The pain of waking up and falling asleep

[aimmyarrowshigh]

as the crazy person with over 3,000 fics on AO3, who just hit over 2,000,000 hits, i have done... The Math

roughly 5% of readers leave kudos.

0.27% of people leave a comment.

truly, i GET that a lot of people, especially younger people who grew up on youtube and are living on tiktok, see "opening the page and viewing with their eyeballs" engagement in itself. but a) it's not, for fanfiction, that's not how it works; and b) "engagement" does not build a community -- interaction builds a community.

if you like someone's fanfiction, and you want more of that fanfiction, please react to it in some tangible way. leave a kudo. leave a comment. let the writer know that you didn't open it, see the first sentence, and decide it was garbage. let the writer know that you aren't a bot that trawls every webpage for AI content. let the writer know that their work is appreciated.

the point of fandom is to be a community, not a content engine. if people stop feeling like people are being reached with their work, they stop creating work for that fandom and move onto the next. there's a lot to be said for the way binge-model TV is killing fandoms prematurely... but there's a LOT to be said for the way infinite-scrolling consumption is killing fandoms prematurely.

if everyone binges a show on friday and feels weird about reacting to fics posted longer than a week ago/doesn't react to the fics they read at all, that fandom is dying out in about a month, max. even though there are probably a lot of people who would love to discuss it with someone or create more work or finish and post a WIP or whatever. because no actual community is created by consumption alone.

reading a fic is only step one.

reacting to a fic is the crucial step two of the equation.

step three is the fandom proliferating! and you getting more stuff to enjoy!

[ginstermotte]

I always leave a comment. Even if it's just: "words gud. 11/10"

[sailor-cosmic-horror]

"I feel like I have nothing to add!"

- you do. "I liked it" - that has value. A like has value. Kudos have value. Bookmarks- I love every bookmark. It means "I want to come back to this".

People like me register every like, it feels rewarding and like I am part of a community. That is important.

[particulardog]

I imagine she does the cat hands thing because that’s what I did for a bit. It was anxiety.

[particulardog]

Damn, moment like these make me wish i knew shit about shit.