Dustin Goeller <stinky@azstarnet.com> said:

Now, many of you often complain that no one EVER responds to any of the
fics you post on the FFML. Well, there is a simple reason for this. Your
writing is, to put it bluntly, boring. Not so much boring as in dull, but
boring as in being plain and standard. With so many fics being posted to
the list now, unless a fic really stands out, not too many people are
going to respond to it. In fact, a lot may not ever read it...

An important thing to note is that, given the number of people on the 
list, odds are *somebody* will be interested in your fic unless it's 
really, really bad. And that somebody might respond. It's a matter of 
helping them sift through all the posts and find yours. Two suggestions:

1. Be sure to include a series tag. I'd consider it a safe assumption that 
people tend to read fics based on the series that they like. I read just 
about every Tenchi Muyo fic posted, for example, whereas I all but ignore 
R1/2 fics (no flames please!). If someone just loves KOR, and you write a 
KOR fic, and make sure it's obvious that it *is* a KOR fic, they'll 
probably read it. Otherwise it'll get lost in the flood and not read. And, 
if not read, not responded to, of course.

2. Send in a synopsis. It sounds like a lot of people aren't doing this. 
Just recently, for instance, one of the synopsis maintainers sent a 
message saying "The deadline for synopsis submissions is coming up, and 
only x of them have been submitted", when I'm sure there were at least 4x 
fics posted during that week. Again, for those readers who like certain 
series, the synopsis list helps them focus on what they like. And if you 
can provide them with a general idea of what your fic is about, they'll be 
more likely to read it, and respond.

And three other suggestions, not really related:

3. Try your best to respond to stuff other people have written once in a 
while. Besides it being general adherence to the Golden Rule, it just 
might remind them of something *you've* written and induce a response. 
I've had that happen to me a few times.

4. This should go without saying but: emphasize how much you *want* C&C. 
And let folks know that you're willing to listen to something other than 
praise, if they have it. Or else, if your writing isn't perfect (and who's 
is?), they might assume that you don't want to hear from them.

5. If you have specific questions about your writing, include them in your 
post. "Did my foreshadowing about this event work?" "Do you think [x] 
doing [y] in this story is out of character for them?" "Is it obvious why 
so-and-so is taking this action?" etc., etc. It's often easier to answer 
stuff like this than the general "Is my fic great or does it suck?" 
question.


Hassheen!