#ficwriterproblems

Every time I hit “publish” on a new fic, I brace myself — not for hate, not for mistakes, but for silence. And more often than not, that silence comes when I’ve written something without romance at its core.

Because let’s face it: if your fic doesn’t have shipping, it’s statistically doomed to underperform.

💔 According to AO3 data, more than 85% of bookmarked and hit-count-heavy fics are tagged with romantic or sexual pairings. And when you look at Tumblr reblogs, Twitter/X rec threads, and even fanfic awards? The trend is clear: love stories dominate. And if your fic is about found family, grief, personal growth, moral conflict, or slice-of-life friendship moments... well. Good luck breaking 500 hits.

And that’s not wrong. Romance is powerful. It’s emotional, it’s validating, and it drives plot with satisfying clarity. A well-written ship can change how we read canon — and ourselves.

But still. Sometimes I wish that a fic about a character rebuilding their identity post-trauma got the same attention as one where they kiss someone for the first time. That we could crave inner worlds as much as we crave intimacy.

🔍 Writing gen (general) fiction isn’t just harder to get read. It’s harder to get noticed, categorised, or even respected. You tag it as “gen,” and people assume it’s dry, boring, plot-only, or worse: that you’re playing it safe. That you’re not going deep enough.

But I am going deep. I just want to explore the ache of legacy. Or the cost of violence. Or what it means to be loyal when no one asks you to be. And yes, sometimes those things matter more than “will they or won’t they.”

📉 I've seen incredible character studies sink unnoticed while fluff-fics soar. And again: romance isn’t the problem. The bias is.

We all say we love worldbuilding. Character arcs. Quiet moments. But fandom attention doesn’t always reflect that. And for those of us who write gen, it’s easy to feel invisible.

I'm a romance writer, at least, always with a bit of romance. I shouldn't be complaining… but I am. Or rather, I reflect, I reflect on my own bias, on whether I review Gen fanfics or not, on how I organize my searches, on whether I'm being unfair to myself by not giving my soul different stories to feed on.

🧠✨ If you’re one of the readers who leaves kudos, reblogs, or comments on these kinds of fics — thank you. You’re rare, and you make all the difference.

And if you’re a writer feeling discouraged? I see you. Your work is powerful. Even if it doesn’t trend. Even if it doesn’t get shouted about. Even if it’s read in silence, at 2 a.m., by someone who desperately needed it.

Keep writing. Not everything that matters gets bookmarked.

But the last three months... hoo. I haven’t been able to write fiction. Too hectic - parent/teacher life under stay-at-home orders was never dull, never quiet. Too foggy - a thick cloud in my mind for weeks. Grief - a friend gone far, far too soon. Shock and anger with politics. Hard, endless antiracism work. And summer exploding, food to grow, cats to chase.

There has been richness, deep connection with my family, and a helluva lotta self-soothing with Animal Crossing.

But my characters are shouting in my head. They want to move forward. With summer here, I hope writing will happen again. I’m slowly building up my courage.

I hope you are taking good care, and I hope to bring you more story, soon.

YAS i must share this for love and feedbacks!

Me 3 minutes after hitting send:

i write this Thing that Really Seems Like it Should Be in The Fic. It’s awkward and i don’t like it. I revise it for three days. It improves nominally. It still feels like it kills the flow. I go on to another section. I come back to it. It’s still not working. Day four oh oh oh oh I realize a way I could do That Scene differently, and it’s like all the lights go on and the music swells. I’ll just cut this Awkward Bit over to the ‘not used’ doc (because I can’t throw anything away and which is half the length of the fic itself). Oh there’s a line I’d like to pull from The Awkward Bit... oops program crashed. No biggie, let’s just pull that up again, gee the words are coming so much better now– huh. that’s weird. didn’t save it in the first doc. Didn’t save in the second doc.

They told me to go write. So I did, joyously. I just got to a big love scene and I’m trying to get my head into it. It’s not easy for me. 

And somehow... this makes mama more magnetic. It’s okay with the 5 year old. At least he can’t read. He wants to bring me water and tell me ten thousand things about Marvel characters.

Sweet husband comes to check on me to see if I’ve fallen asleep. .....nope. He then tells me most of the plot line of Spiderman. He knows what I’m up to and smirks at me a lot. I send him off for toast.

Darling neighbor daughter is 14, spending the night because she adores our 5 year old. But now he’s passed out and she’s bored. I’ll think she’s finally gone to sleep, and then I hear her footfalls and have to panic-open an email window and look cool about it, like I’m the teenager caught red-handed looking for porn. "What are you writing about now?” I lie and lie and lie.