Did you have any recommendation of how to make an original story (not fanfic) popular on tumblr or ao3? Thank you very much :D
Hoo-boy! That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it? While I can’t say I have any original works posted online yet, let alone popular ones, I can try to give you advice on what I’d personally look for. (Also, I never get mail, so sit down.)
1. Have an interesting story. This is pretty basic, but if you don’t have the foundation down for an interesting plot, people aren’t going to stick around. If you aren’t even interested in it, the readers will definitely know.
2. Make me care about your charactersThis can be harder, since people are going in cold to your story and have no built up knowledge about your characters. But try to make your characters well-rounded and relatable. If I like a character or feel some sort of connection I’m more likely to give them a chance. If you have other means of media, that can also help attract attention. I know of some authors/artists that posts comics of their characters and it helps draw people in initially and get them interested in the story.
3. SummariesI don’t read a lot of fic on tumblr, but if you have a summary somewhere, don’t just wing it! I’ll dismiss a summary in two seconds if it sounds lazy or inexperienced. I also tend to be put off by “what if” questions in a summary, but that could just be a personal preference. Also don’t use the summary to apologize about quality of writing or be cutesy. Give them the info they need and move on.
4. Promo yourselfUse the media you have to promo yourself! That’s pretty basic too, but if you want attention you have to work for it. The internet is swamped with information and distractions, so you have to fight to carve out a space for yourself.
5. Tag your stuffWith sites like tumblr and ao3, tags are big. I’m not sure that ao3 is really a place for original works, but if you do use it I’d recommend not going overboard with them. Personally, if there’s practically a page worth of tags on a story, I won’t even bother reading the summary. (Maybe I’m just horrible, idk.)
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That’s about what I can come up with at the moment! Hopefully I’ll be better able to answer this type of question in the future! If anyone who actually has had some success with posting original works wants to add anything feel free!Hope this helped a little bit! :)
