#blog elixir

[witch-hazels-musings]

I wasn’t sure if I should ask here or in the comments but I just started out and I wondered… do you have any tips for gaining (loyal) followers and getting more attention (views, likes and maybe even reposts eventually)? 💞

heyyy congrats on starting your blog!!! that’s so exciting :D as for your question, I don’t think there is any secret sauce to gaining followers or getting more attention. 

From what I’ve experienced, followers, especially anonymous ones, are drawn to people they feel comfortable around. I’ve seen many types of blog personalities, and those that have the most interactions are ones that demonstrate interest, empathy, and general kindness toward their followers -- these blogs also have a playful engagement (they ask questions, request brainrot, ideas, answer those who reach out to them, etc.) 

it’s hit or miss with reblogs -- this is one of the only social media platforms where reblogging is imperative to getting seen, but not everyone who uses tumblr knows this, and so you’ll always have that 70% like, 20% reblog, 10% comments/interactions ratio on any of your posts. it’s just kindof the way of things. (I’ve found thanking people, and reaching out to those who have reblogged my works to show my appreciation helps!) but it’s nothing you are doing wrong 

I wish I could help new authors more with this but no matter how much authors ask, beg, or explain the importance of interactions on posts, the impact is small. 

mostly what I can encourage you on is that you’ve already made the first step, and you’ll continue to learn and grow every day you try! keep working, keep writing, focus on the future, and do what’s important for you <3 

here are some other post that might help: 

growing followers | followers 

[witch-hazels-musings]

Hazel, you really are a sweetheart. I am glad I asked you my question, because you were able to help me realize that I was indeed taking things like that personally and letting myself feel isolated because of it. You're very intuitive! Diluc would be beaming about you. Please have a pleasant rest of your day! I don't know that I'll be confident enough to start up a fanfic blog but I appreciate your support and resources you've shared

aw, that’s very kind of you too say. I’ve had a long time to learn how to shift my perspective and there are days it’s harder than others, but tomorrow is another day for me to learn something new and help me grow - progress over perfection :) 

and you are always welcome here! one of my values is inclusion because we all need someone who roots for us, even if we have a bad day, make a mistake, or think we don’t deserve it. perhaps one day you’ll be able to share your insights with others too if you do or don’t make your own blog! i’m sure your consideration and thoughtfulness will make someone else be comfortable and feel less alone <3 

(waa and well thank you for the little extra boost with Diluc. I would hope he’d be pleased to have me around *cross fingers*)

[witch-hazels-musings]

Hello again! Your response was helpful, and I appreciate you taking the time to type it all out. It is good to hear a differing perspective because it was genuinely very different from mine and helped make it clearer. Thank you so much. Honestly i would literally never write nsfw but when I see very technical rules and stuff on blogs it can feel discouraging and intimidating (and lonely? idk lol) because I feel like there is so much that needs to be considered that I wouldn't have thought of

of course! writing for a difficult genre (ns-fw, angst, dark content, etc.) can be a touchy place and subject and while there is content that I won’t consume, I appreciate those blogs who are thoughtful and considerate of who they are and what they are making to tell me ‘this has X,Y,Z in it - avoid if you are uncomfortable’ 

not to mention the worry of being excluded in a world where things are so separated can in fact breed loneliness - I never take someone's boundaries as a personal thing, so I hope you can be reassured not to as well. It’s the same way you would respect them by not using a certain word, a phrase, a pronoun, or discussing a topic they can’t handle -- it’s just in this environment our voices sound much harsher when we try to state those boundaries clearly 

and you’re right, there are so many things to be covered and as content creators we don’t always get it right; all we can do is our best and ask for empathy when we mess up (and that goes for everyone -- ‘choose kindness’ as I like to say :> ) 

[witch-hazels-musings]

Okay so while you're giving new writing blog advice I have a question. I know why bloggers request minors not follow or dni with certain posts, but what I'm not sure about is the "requirement" to have your age in your bio. Anyone could lie about that, but I also personally don't feel it's responsible for anyone to do that, less so adults but still. Wouldn't it be better to have a general disclaimer acknowledging interactions are out of your control until you are made aware by some means? (1)

(2) I only ask because it seems wrong to tell people before they've followed or perhaps after they've been recommended several of your posts that you'll block them because they don't show their age. Again, I get the why but it just seems harsh, esp when people might see a fic outside of your main page. Thoughts? idk if you've ever run into this but as the tumblr fic landscape changes I sometimes find it hard to keep up. I am ace are rarely if ever interact with nsfw posts unless mild or not very (3) descriptive, but even at 26yo now when I go to a blog and see that on their pinned/dni/byf it kind of ? Is just odd to me. Sorry for the long and possibly convoluted ask. It's just something I've thought of a lot and you're very knowledgeable on blogging and write both so ;-; thanks for your consideration when answering!

--- (hazels answer below the cut) 

So I can only answer this for myself but I think it’s important to remember that everyone has boundaries they want to have respected -- you’re right that people can lie about their age and there is a big level of trust going on around the blogs here, but we never really know the reason why someone would or wouldn’t want certain blogs to follow them or interact with them 

I can never 100% guarantee that people don’t read the stuff I tag with an age and when I started this blog I did have a general disclaimer “you are your own person I can’t control you. respect me and I’ll respect you” 

disclaimers are always powerful in my book -- but my reactions and interactions with others are in my own control (if i’m not being vigilant then I might be stepping over a boundary I can’t take back) 

as people on this site continue to grow and create and post things, we should be aware of who is around us -- that’s why we put trigger warnings and tags on our fics, that’s why we tell minors not to interact with this post, that’s why we ask people to not do certain things (It’s part of being considerate of those around us while also ensuring our safety and boundaries are being met)

a good rule for anyone is to check that pinned post / BYF to see what’s going on with that blog, also check the blog owner before reading a NSFW to ensure they’ve listed their age (if there isn’t an 18+ age I pass on that fic) -- and if you want to make a blog that’s open and accessible without restrictions you absolutely can! That’s what makes this site so flexible and autonomous 

So think of those not as a way to say you are wrong / bad / or not worthy to be around, and instead turn it into empathy that perhaps this person has a solid reason for not wanting certain people to interact with them

(Personally, I use blocking as a last resort sort of option and wouldn’t block someone without real reason too) 

[witch-hazels-musings]

hazel , do u ever encountered a problem when you wanted to edit your pinned post / navigation but tumblr wont let you saved your edits? im facing this problem rn– idk why 😭 i tried to put pics of my dividers and saved it, yet tumblr didn't saved it although it said "successfully edited" ☹ how do i fix this? i dont want to delete the said post and re-do it all again on a new post because that said navigation post was liked by famous genshin writers- 😭

I have this problem too! Sometimes I'll kill the app on my phone or restart my phone. That fixes it. I also check and see if I'm on wifi or not, depending on my wifi or service speed, it can impact how things get edited.

But honestly, if I'm going to do major updates on a post of any kind, I use my desktop, not mobile. That's guaranteed to work 🤝

[witch-hazels-musings]

Hi Hazel! I hope you don't mind me adding tips to this anon's question.

What helped me was to create a request event post and tag the "x reader" tags for the characters I was willing to write for. (And then apologize for clogging up the tags but you kind of need to do it for more visibility. Just don't do this often.)

I also used a prompt list because it's a lot easier for people to come up with an idea for you to write this way. There are quite a few on Tumblr by searching "fluff prompts," "romance prompts" or even "otp prompts." Once you find a prompt list, you can see how they tag those posts and browse those tags until you find one you like. :)

I also linked to a fic I wrote (I only had one back then) in case people wanted to check out my writing before requesting, but I wouldn't worry too much about it because I don't think a lot of people did that. lol.

Anyway, I hope this helps!

- @mimi-cee-genshin

Eyyy, thanks for the extra advice!! I also love a good dialogue list even 🥺🥺🙌

(I'll tag it to that post so hopefully anon sees it!)

[witch-hazels-musings]

Hi~

I'm a little embarrassed about this, but I need an opinion or support from someone who knows more about this than I do.

I recently created a writing blog and I've been posting things there, they're going well and I have almost 30 followers, but the problem is that so far I haven't received any requests, none whatsoever, even from close friends who are reading. I keep wondering what to do to start getting more interaction.

mmm, sometimes it takes a little while to get interactions going -- here is a link to my writing blog 101 which covers interactions a bit more

a few quick things you can try are: 

do a little event (dialogue lists, scenarios, ect) where people can get a personalized story 

ask some of your friends to send in head canons to start the flow of people seeing you are fun to interact with 

every time you post, tell people your asks are open and direct them back to you :) 

I think my first request came at like 100 ish followers? It was also in a message and not an ask but I did it anyway. It might take people a little bit but they will request, this i promise! 

More advice!

[witch-hazels-musings]

Hi Hazel! Was wondering if you had any blog recs, Im having a hard time finding Genshin writers that aren’t minors. Id like to find some other blogs like you, both in writing and in age!

ooof - gosh I wish I had a better answer for this question every time it shows up -- I honestly don’t read as many fics as I should; also, I can’t follow a lot of blogs because of my age, or what I write, not to mention the few blogs that I know and follow are very popular in the genshin writing fandom so that doesn’t’ help either

 (genshin-karebare, starglitterz, xiaosmoon, dourpeep, favoniuscodex, kazewhara, rulaineyu, bumbleklee, noctuakoi)

everyone writes different things and there are blogs out there that only write nsfw which I don’t interact with for many reasons -- the only other blog i’ve run into that writes soft nsfw like I do is @genshin-karebear (I adore her works so much), but she is younger than me 

most other blogs I follow write the most incredible angst or fluff, they create these stories that are beyond creative and wonderful and I am in awe of what they make 

we have so many talented writers in this fandom, but if you are looking for specific types of things it’s gonna take some time to sift through all the blogs. note that: I only follow blogs I know (that we’ve interacted many times before) or if their works hit home and I meet their BYF (before you follow) -- because of my age, follower count, and content I have to be very cautious about who I interact with personally so, because of that, I don’t follow or interact much with people unless I know them 

here is a blog I follow that reblogs good works from all sorts of writers: @irethepotato-reblogs (Ire is so sweet and so supportive of authors!)