i know other people have talked about this before, but i really hate when people say "you should write for yourself" in response to writers complaining about not having many readers interact via kudos, bookmarks, and/or comments.
its like, no, that's not at all the same thing. because what writers are complaining about here doesn't have anything to do with writing.
i come up with ideas and stories in my head for myself.
i write for a combination of myself and the people who i think may want to read it.
i post on ao3 for others.
i do not have to write my ideas into fully formed fics to satisfy my desire to come up with ideas and stories in my head. and i certainly do not have to post my stories on ao3 to write them, let alone come up worth the ideas in my head. and the reason i post on ao3 is entirely for others. no, i don't necessarily need a million fans. having 5 friends leave a nice comment on a fic means more to me than having 100,000 kudos from strangers. and so i will keep posting on ao3 for the handful of people who do engage with my works and enjoy what i've shared with them.
but let's be very clear: sharing my fics is something i only do for the people i share them with. i wrote them because i wanted to/liked the idea and thought other people would enjoy reading them. i thought of the idea solely for myself and my own desires. but posting is entirely for others and don't let people convince you that "you should write for yourself" is an acceptable reason why "writers should suck it up and post their fics while expecting no interaction or response with others"
