It's not about comments, it's about community. I'm lying here at 1:36 in the morning and I can't sleep and that keeps going around and around in my head. It's not comments, it's community. I dunno if this is an epiphany or I'm an insomniac and I'm not making any sense.

But I've been running this blog for three and a half years now and seeing the things that spark joy in authors, and seeing the insecurities, and seeing people saying, "I need comments, I want comments, I have to have comments, if I don't have comments then I just feel like I need to give up" -- and I try and understand as best as I can but I don't think I actually get there. And I think the reason why that is, is because I've always had some form of community.

When I joined my last fandom, I knew a couple of people who were interested in it on tumblr, but I threw my first fic out there not knowing what I'd get. The fandom was still small at the time, and...the show was on hiatus, and there wasn't a lot of fic going on AO3, and so...when I put my fic out there, I actually got a response and it was pretty cool. And because I got online in the 90's, when people commented to me, I commented back in a conversational tone, and because the fandom was full of people of a similar age to me -- who also got on the internet in the 90's -- they also responded in a conversational tone. And next thing you know, we're making friends, we're following each other on tumblr, we're having a grand ol' time.

And so...for me, when I go into a stats spiral, it's more about comparing myself against myself, and "why am I not doing better with this story than this other story", and "why do people like that story? That was just a joke. This one that's serious, nobody is paying attention to and why is that"? But it's not so much about people and the comments or the lack of comments, it's more about me and, you know, trying to understand my own writing and you know, what works and what doesn't and relying on other people won't tell me that and I know that.

And then I remembered the one time when I actually was upset that I didn't get comments. And it was...I had organized this fandom event type of thing -- not really an event -- I was doing this thing, and anyone who wanted to participate or support me or encourage me was welcome to do so. I wanted to do a thing. I did...I, um, called it a ficathon, it was a March Madness kind of thing, where 64 prompts went in, and 1 prompt came out. And I was writing 64 fics at the same time and people were voting on them and it was great. And when we got to the final fic, and I wrote it and posted it on AO3, after -- I dunno, a month? -- of fanfare -- I was getting 50 votes a day on these things, so like people were reading. I didn't get comments. I barely had hits or kudos and it was a huge let down. And it wasn't about the comments, even though I remember I wrote some kind of post and put it on tumblr that I was upset and whatever, and I remember writing about comments and kudos and hits.

But that wasn't why I was upset. I was upset because I had created a thing for my community and it felt like my community ignored it. It wasn't the case and everything was fine, and you know, I had posted it on a Tuesday afternoon or something stupid and nobody saw it. It was, you know. I...probably overreacted, I dunno. But that was how I was feeling at the time. It was an intense disappointment for me.

But it wasn't about the numbers, it was about the relationship and the community.

And when I read some of the asks that I get or the tags on posts -- oh my god, the tags on posts -- when I see these things so often, it feels like what people want isn't a comment, it's a connection. They want people to talk to about their writing. They want people to talk to about stories or about the canon, the characters they love, they want to have a conversation. And for whatever reason, the way social media is set up, we expect that conversation to happen in a certain way or we don't realize it can happen in a different way, and...I dunno. AO3 isn't even social media. But it looks like it in a lot of ways. And so I think...I dunno, people look for community in their comment section. And it's hard to build a community there.

If you have friends on tumblr, or twitter, or discord, or wherever else, if you have relationships with people outside of your fic, at least for me, the comments are less necessary but also, the comments come because -- I mean, god knows, I was not the best writer in my fandom by a long stretch -- but I knew a lot of people. And I liked them and they liked me, and I think that really helped make people want to read my stories. Because again, it's that community piece. I'm looking for connections with them and they're looking for connections too. And if they know me as a person, and they see a story with my name on it, they might think, "Oh, I really like Pi! I'm going to click in and see what her story's about."

[insert pick-up line with an awful fish pun here]

je vais laisser la communauté parler:

so anyway i think if the show were airing now they would get all these sponsorships like with podcasters and youtubers. they’d have to fit them in seamlessly with segues and random situations that kind of fit the show because it’s a crazy show in general. but they’re still kind of wild and obvious. and they all somehow relate to stiles.

there’s a zoom in on the BetterHelp therapy website on stiles’ laptop. he’s looking first for a therapist that specializes in PTSD and ADHD, bookmarks the link, then searches for a trauma specialist as well as PTSD again. this link we see him text to derek. he doesn't reply but the read receipt shows he's seen it. a sentence flashes on the bottom of the screen.

“Use code SOURWOLF to get your first month of BetterHelp free! Terms and conditions may apply.”

[the laptop is a sponsorship too.]

a few episodes later when they’ve run out of money again we see stiles building a website. it’s a blog and it’s through Squarespace. we see him typing up journal entries about his supernatural shenanigans. then he goes on to rant about star wars and other recent random hyperfixations like the different kinds of occlupanids (bread tags). he checks his stats and there’s only a handful of views on his blog (milesofstiles.squarespace.com or alternatively, stilesyaps.squarespace.com) but there are a few comments. they’re all from derek. 

“what the fuck is an occlupanid?” “aren’t you supposed to be studying?” “we just almost got killed and this is what you’re spending the rest of your night doing?” “don’t turn lightsabers into an innuendo, it’s a disgrace to star wars and you know it.”

“Create your dream website now! Use code STILES for 50% off your first month of Squarespace!” blinks on the screen below.

it gets treated as this like stock fandom AU and i'll see people like 'i don't understand why anyone wants to read this' and i'm like yes that's bcos it's pretty intense* fetish content & you don't have the right assortment of fetishes for it? there's a bunch of other similar Stock Settings that just haven't breached containment.

firstly the aforementioned demographic of people who have somehow genuinely failed to clock that it's a kink thing

but also a second demographic of people who seem to have taken its like. prominence in fandom spaces as a sign that they're somehow 'expected' to like it? i've not really seen this attitude with any other kink.

the omegaverse belongs to an genre i have mentally dubbed 'speculative kink'. there are various other types of speculative kink; a well known example in fanfiction spaces is the dom/sub AU, a kind of precursor to omegaverse where the premise is 'what if everyone was biologically a dom or a sub'.

however: there various other shared speculative kink settings out there. unfortunately I cannot get into this too much without discussing some uhhh Devils Sacraments I have attended so you will have to trust me. but I'm aware of several other demographics out there doing speculative kink worldbuilding.

a major difference between omegaverse and the other speculative kink settings I'm aware of is that omegaverse takes itself much more seriously. omegaverse works are often aiming to be understood as serious commentary on gender roles with legitimate worldbuilding. in contrast other speculative kink is typically very open about the fact that the worldbuilding is complete nonsense that exists in service of getting to the kink as soon as possible.

Peter is obsessed with Stiles to the utmost degree. Can't stop thinking about him. He thinks he might be cursed.

Isn't this just canon? 😆

dr. ryland grace + crying

PROJECT HAIL MARY (2026) dir. by Christopher Miller & Phil Lord

+ bonus happy tears