The Difference in Archives

Okay, so now that I've been working on fanstory.com and writing.com a little more I can finally flesh out my response to the communities.

I'm not sure what the average age is on ff.net but I have gotten the impression that there probably aren't many people there over the age of 25. However, I also wonder if people lie on their profile and say they're young when they're not. I was looking at one profile for someone who wrote a story that could only be described as a bodice-ripper. She said she was 15, but I somehow doubt it. I know that I couldn't write like that when I was 15, but then there is the possibility that a) she read a lot of bodice-rippers herself so it wasn't difficult to try to immitate one, or b) it had been five years since she updated her profile, or c) was involved with screwing around and evaluating it at age 15, or d) my first thought - that she was lying about her age.

Anyway, if the oldest writers are on ff.net are 25, then I haven't got long to live there before I'll be too old to participate anymore. Well, honestly, I don't think anyone is too old, but if I stay on after 'Mark of a Goddess' it'll be because of a decision to stay where it's safe instead of trodding the wastelands that are other archives. OR - it'll be because I want to goof around and write fanfiction for amusement. I can tell myself whatever I want. Now, I'm going to tell y'all how the other archives work and why. I know - this is going to be long and painful. I'll do alphabetical order just for your amusement.

Fanfiction.net

Fanfiction.net doesn't allow scripts, or original fiction, but there's very little else that it doesn't allow when it comes to stories. There's not a lot of criticism, because if the story isn't good than there would be no reason to read it. So, there is no incentive to review except to be nice. People only review when they want to. Also, fanfiction has the added bonus of being something that a reader is already familiar with, so just by the nature of the fiction that is posted there - you already have an audience depending on which fandom you pitch to. Generally, the audience is young, so you can pitch things to a funner crowd and they'll accept it (AKA - blanket scenarios). Fanfiction.net also offers a pleasant layout that is easy to navigate and the screen isn't full of a lot of extra ads and crap. It has tons of functions and the very best part - IT'S FREE!

Fanstory.com

I probably said this before, a reading account on Fanstory is free and a writing account costs. So, I bought a two year membership, and I still can't decide if it's worth it. Fanstory has a fairly elaborate set up. Here's the deal. You post a story, poem, chapter, and it can go into one of two modes - workshop and published release. When it's in the workshop mode, you can still work on it and people can still review it. When it's in the workshop mode your reviews don't count towards your author ranking. When you move it into the published release section and your item (poem, story, chapter) will stay in a random generator that offers extra writing dollars for reviewers until it gets three reviews. Once it gets three reviews it goes back to your profile - where it may never be seen again. Naturally, these rankings count towards your ranking. So, if you want your story to be seen by the public again you must put a 'certificate' on it that offers readers member money for reading your story. You earn member money by reading other people's stories or by purchasing them with real money. Once your item has 15 reviews - it goes in a 'recognized' area which is very much like what the regular listings look like on ff.net. I both think this is a great and crappy system. It's crappy because someone could easily read their can off and get so many certificates on one item so that it would easily get 15 reviews (and be a sucky piece of writing). And a great system because it forces people to review (Yeah, I'm bitter about people who read and don't review).

After looking around there a bit, I'd say the average person at fanstory is between the ages of 35 and 55 - which is a MUCH different audience than I'm used to catering to. That's why I think I may have made a mistake. I have never even thought about pitching my stuff to a group older than me.

The last thing I want to say about this site, and I've said it before - searching through it to find something good to read is like traversing the highway to hell - you're never going to find what you're looking for.

Oh, and one more thing about fanstory - YOU CANNOT DELETE YOUR STORIES.

Fictionpress.com

Fictionpress is a lot like fanfiction, except not as popular. Does anyone read stuff there? I think someone must. I know I read fantasy poetry there, but other than that I haven't read much. Marketing original fiction when there is no incentive for reviewers is really hard. I've already this in great detail in another post, so I think I'll leave this topic, but with that said - it's still FREE!

Mediaminer.org

Mediaminer allows original fiction as well as fanfiction. It's got a more complicated review system so that stories can receive rankings, but there aren't many readers there. Most things don't have any reviews at all. The site isn't as pretty as ff.net or fictionpress, but it's still clearly more organized than fanstory - and it probably has as many people hanging out on it. Anyway - it's FREE as well, and offers no reader incentives. And as memory serves - it also allows dirtier stuff than ff.net and fictionpress - like mature stuff.

Writing.com

This place is like a combination between Mediaminer and Fanstory, but with a whole other twist that I honestly don't completely understand - like they conduct polls there for business. Anyway, here's how it works for the average little monkey who has no money. With a free account on writing.com, you are allowed to have five 'items' up at once (poems, short stories, chapters). These guys have a member point system as well. You can offer members points for reading your work (minimum 100 points), and when you read and review something you like, you can also send some of your member points to them as a present. With a Basic account, you can upload 25 items and with an Upgraded account you can upload 250. I have an Upgraded account for three months - it was a present from someone I don't know. But I don't know if it's going to help me. Even with the reward system it seems that the reviews are as sparce as they are on Mediaminer. It's hardly worth the trouble to upload. Not only that, but I wish this account had come when I was ready for 'Ghost Mist' instead of wrapping up 'Mark of a Goddess' - bad timing, eh? I don't really want to sport my old stuff. But I like the atmosphere at writing.com better than at fanstory. It seemed warm and friendly. But obviously, if you want to post a novel, a free account just won't cut it.

Oh yeah, and I forgot to say one more thing about fanstory. When you receive a review, there's a window that allows you to send the person who reviewed a message. In this message to the reviewer you may only ask for clarification on what the person said and/or thank them. You may not defend your story if they were harsh - that's against the rules. Fun eh? That place makes me want to die.

Basically, if you want your work read there are only two places to go - fanstory and fanfiction. One's easy and the other's heavy. But, it's weird, because I always wanted to write for teenagers - because they're full of hopes and dreams and angst. Adults are about as much fun as paying child support.

I think I'm going to be on fanfiction.net forever.