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Often I get asked about what matters certain ranks of society speak about when they are alone, such as what topics they talk about, what would be taboo and what sort of things they would feel comfortable speaking about.
Topics
Downstairs conversation usually revolved around whatever kept the household running smoothly, so most talk was practical, harmless, and rooted in day to day life or life outside of work. Servants would often have swapped tales about work, talking amongst themselves on matters of staff such as conduct or reputation or skillset, not too different from working in any workplace. Servants would have discussed personal matters, such as who was courting who, who was flaunting the riles and who might have fallen short of the expectations of the house. They would have also traded local town gossip, local scandals for example.
Taboo
Some subjects were absolutely offâlimits. Some topics could lead to a servant punished or dismissed. One never criticized the lord, lady, or their children. Even the mildest comments could be seen as disrespectful. Servants also avoided repeating anything they overheard upstairs, arguments, affairs, illnesses, debts etc. Sharing private family matters was considered a betrayal of trust and could destroy a householdâs reputation. Loose lips sink ships and all that. Politics was often barred too, servants were expected to stay neutral and silent and not get into debates about things 'above their stations'. Mocking any guests to the house or discussing sensitive topics like inheritance, legitimacy, or money was equally forbidden. Everyone downstairs understood that their job depended on discretion, and some secrets were so dangerous that even whispering them could cost a life.
Censorship
The tone of downstairs life was shaped by a strict hierarchy. The steward or housekeeper controlled what was appropriate or not. If they said something was never to be addressed, it wouldn't be. Senior servants like the butler, cook, or head maid also had authority to shut down gossip or scold juniors for speaking out of turn. Their approval or disapproval shaped what was acceptable which was often shaped by the morals and leanings of the family they served. It is important to remember that even when the family werenât present, they dictated the atmosphere.
Confidants
Servants of course, did speak about taboo subjects but they had to be very strategic about who they talked to and what they talked about, because the wrong word to the wrong person could ruin them and see them fired. Safe conversations happened with peers, for example the scullery maids, footmen, grooms, and kitchen hands who shared the same workload and had no authority to punish them would talk about more sensitive topics, may share complaints about unfair treatment. But trust was essential. Senior staff like the butler, housekeeper, or steward were treated with caution, wise servants would avoid complaining, gossiping, or mentioning anything that hinted at discontent in front of them. Around the family, servants spoke only when spoken to and stuck to practical answers, never offered opinions, never gossiped, never spoke on personal matters. Downstairs life ran on an unspoken rule: you could speak freely only with those who had nothing to gain by repeating your words.
Tumblr Tips From a 10k Follower Fanfiction (and RL) Author
Who am I?
Iâm Donna, a fanfic author who recently hit 10k followers. I am also the real life author of the Outlaw Royales Motorcycle Club series, and an award-winning book editor and writing coach.
The Stats:
I am not being an arrogant twat while listing the figures below I'm just trying to provide transparency so you can see how things are going. The examples I'm using later on are The Pitt specific hence the tags.
I'm currently at 10,221 followers. I assume sometime next month I'll hit 10,500.
My blog usually gains over 50 followers a week. Over the past month Iâve actually gained 272.
I honestly donât keep an eye on this usually, this has been a big surprise for me when I looked into the stats. Iâm always more focused on writing my next fic.
So⊠how did this happen???
I asked myself this when I hit 10k and I think thereâs a few important factors at play. Â
Consistency:
I post fics daily.
I try to stick to one a day, and then I reblog it at selective times over a 24/36 hour period so it hits the Tumblr busy times and also so that my friends in other time zones get the chance to read it.
I add any additional fics to a schedule for the next week so it doesnât oversaturate the feed and people donât become overwhelmed by seeing so many different fics on their dashboards. It also means I donât have to worry about the  days I donât get to writing. < like in the middle of a heatwave.
Now I know not everyone posts a fic daily. I have ADHD and writing is my hyperfocus. However posting fics regularly (every 2/3 days or once a week) matters especially in fast-moving fandoms because it keeps you in near the top of the latest tag so people are constantly finding your content.
Also, if people keep see you showing up for a character, theyâre more likely to follow you, as it shows you can give them more of what they want. It develops a trust between reader and author.
Timing is Everything:
The time you choose to post your fics can really affect how many people get eyes on them. If youâre posting in the middle of the night or at three in the morning, itâs unlikely to get a lot of eyes on it and youâve missed that initial impact. However, if youâre posting at key social media times (breakfast, lunch time, 6pm-8pm â when people finish work) youâre likely to get more hits on your fics because thatâs when people are checking their phones and have the time to interact. â it pays to know your audience (predominantly US in my genre and the times theyâre online.)
I personally also find that my posts get less interaction on weekends. I think thatâs because people are out of the Mon -Fri grind so their routines arenât the same. Does it stop me posting? No. But it does allow me to be a little easier on myself when a fic doesnât do as well as the others.
There is also a seasonal element to fics in general. Some of your older fics may see a resurge of life when a new season starts of a show so in my case. I recently had a flurry of people reading my Mikey fics from The Bear because the new season started and my work for him is very passionate and visceral.
This also plays into your current writing. Youâre more likely to get hits/follows on fics when a season is airing because fans are engaged on a week to week basis. You will see a drop off a few weeks after it ends because a massive group of people are now moving onto other things. Thatâs nothing to worry about, but it is good to be aware of this for your scheduling.
An example for me is this: When The Pitt first aired I was one of the first people writing for Jack Abbot. We saw two mins of him and we were all hooked but⊠no one was writing him. My fics from around that time were hitting 1000+ on interactions because people craved more. After the Pitt ended we saw a huge drop in interaction and for me that was fine, I still enjoyed writing for Jack regardless.
Backmatter Is Key
Like in actual publishing, backmatter is key. What is back matter? Itâs the fics that link to the one youâre posting. Making sure they are available on the same post to read is crucial because it addresses several different issues for the reader.
If they like that fic, they can read the rest with just one click (it is proven people are notoriously lazy so the more clicks they have to do, the less likely they are to do it.)
It shows youâre consistently writing for this character so they have more reason to follow you because they know theyâll get more of the stuff they like.
People can join the journey at any point. For example if they come across that post 5 months after it was posted, theyâll still have all these great fics to read and they can seek you out for your most recent post on that characterâ usually resulting in a follow.
Also if they are picking your post up 5 months down the line, it draws their attention to your profile, and they have a nose and see what other things you write for that they follow.
Engagement:
I engage with 95% of the comments that people post on my work with the exception of those annoying âI really need to talk to youâ bots and the odd one I miss. Why do I do this? Firstly I really enjoy talking to people, if theyâve taken the time to comment itâs really meaningful to me and I should be able to make the time to say thanks for doing that. Youâre also strengthening your relationships and building a community.
On a different note, if people think theyâre talking to a brick wall theyâll stop engaging and truly I donât blame them. Its how you lose followers and readers.
The Series Aspect
I have ADHD which means I write small bitesize fics that usually become a series. This is not planned, it just happens because my brain canât focus on anything bigger than 2000 words at once.
But the magic of a series is⊠it keeps people coming back for more, they want to find out what happens. Itâs what starts conversations in your inbox, what gets people excited for the next post. Hence why you tend to gain more followers when you have a consistent series running because people can jump on at any point (and read that backmatter).
When I wrote The Call for Brendon Park, every single person was tuning into the fics following it because they wanted to know... is he really going to have to cut off his finacee's leg???
I see some people writing long form fics and that is fine but youâre only getting one bite of the apple with those fics, youâre not really giving anyone a reason to return because theyâve had the whole meal already. If you published them chapter by chapter however⊠youâd probably see a boost in engagement/follows. Thereâs a reason serialised fiction does well.
The Pivot
Sometimes you fall out of love writing a character because theyâve got their happy ending, and thatâs ok! This happened to me with Jack and Robby from The Pitt. I went through a long period of time not writing them, but I didnât want to take them off the character list because I still really liked them⊠I was just bored with the series, there wasnât any conflict anymore.
And then I read King of Greed by Ana Huang, and I thought what if Robby has an ex wife, what if she surprises him by turning up at an event in Pittsburgh and suddenly a new series was born because I pivoted away from the old series and played with a different concept and guess what??? People love it because itâs deliciously angsty but heartfelt too.
The same thing happened with Jack. Weâve all listened to Yes Chef, but I donât know if anyone has listened to any of the other Quinn Originals. I have and comparatively Shawn is actually very good as a voice actor compared to some of the others, and that got me thinking⊠what if Jack wanted to step out of his own life for a bit⊠what if he decided to become a voice actor for Quinn because he got to be other people for a while. The Mafia Princessâs bodyguard/The Naughty Professor/The Grumpy Billionaire.
Again, people loved this concept, and it gave me the idea to post the episodes of what Jackâs recording as a VA as well as his own storyline around the mysterious Red Velvet.
Pivots can be great for challenging yourself as an author, but they can give a new, fresh spin for your audience.
A word of warning though if youâve been out of that character tag for a while, it can feel like starting all over again as thereâs a fresh set of people who have never met you. However, the more you post in that tag (remember what I said about consistency) the more likely people are to see and engage/follow you because you develop that trust.
If youâve managed to stick with me until this point, good job! I hope this has been useful for you. These are just some of the things Iâve picked up on my fanfiction/publishing journey.
If you have any questions, feel free to pop them in my inbox!
Random Tips for Writing Post-Op (After Surgery) Scenes
Iâve received a lot of praise for accurate and immersive hospital scenes in my fics, so I thought Iâd share some of my tips!
Whatâs my secret? Well, Iâve had major operations (emergency and planned) and have been hospitalized đ firsthand experience, letâs go!
And disclaimer: some people might not experience things exactly the way I describe, but from what Iâve learned from my aunt (a recovery room nurse), my experiences are pretty standard.
Going under anesthesia isnât like sleeping.
When you wake up after a normal sleep, you get the sense that time has passed because your consciousness has still been active in some capacity (sleep cycles and dreaming).
Thatâs not what happens with anesthesia and the drugs they give you before and after - youâre truly unconscious. It really distorts your sense of time. Itâs like you blink and suddenly youâre somewhere else.
There actually is no âgoing to sleepâ or âwaking upâ in a traditional sense - you just lose time. Itâs very confusing and disorienting, because everything you happen to be conscious for both before and after surgery feels like a single continuous event and youâre somehow teleporting around.
For example: youâre in the ER, then you blink and youâre being wheeled into surgery, then you blink and youâre in recovery, then you blink and youâre in a regular hospital room.
The real sleeping happens once youâre settled in your room and the effects of anesthesia have worn off.
When you wake up in the hospital, youâre not looking up at the ceiling.
I see this in fics fairly often, but thatâs typically not what happens IRL. In a hospital bed, youâre basically sitting up - the head of the bed is elevated so you bend at the waist.
They do this because being flat on your back could cause fluid to collect in your lungs, which might lead to pneumonia.
So therefore when you wake up in the hospital, youâre actually looking straight ahead. You can easily see down the entire length of the bed, your own body, and people sitting/standing nearby.
Hereâs what itâs like right after surgery:
The first time you wake up, youâre very cold! Your body pulls blood away from your extremities while under anesthesia (because it thinks youâre dying đ ) so you get a lot of blankets in the recovery room. They even have a blanket warmer.
You feel really heavy, like moving your limbs is impossible.
They tape or glue your eyes shut during surgery to protect them, so your eyelashes are sticky and your eyes might feel irritated from the adhesive.
Being intubated makes your throat super sore afterwards. Like, you legitimately feel like you have strep throat.
Itâs likely that youâll have SCDs (Sequential Compression Devices) which help prevent blood clots. These are like thick little blankets that wrap around your lower legs and squeeze them in an alternating pattern. Many patients apparently hate them but I LOVE them! I find them very soothing.
After surgery, a patient mightâŠ
Struggle to understand that the surgery has already happened. Due to time loss, their pre-operation memories took place what feels like only seconds ago.
Not be able to answer questions like âhow do you feelâ very accurately. The best answer Iâve ever been able to come up with in this situation is âweird.â
Be upset about things they can feel (cold, lethargy, irritated eyes, sore throat, SCDs, etc.). They may not feel pain from their actual injury or incision yet, but they feel different than they felt before the surgery - which, remember, was only seconds ago to them. It can be disorienting.
Not remember a conversation that took place only minutes ago, or try to continue a conversation from hours ago as if no time has passed at all. They might even say the same thing over and over again because they donât remember theyâve already said it.
Fixate on one thing they really want and not let it go. For me itâs been sore throat spray, lip balm, and even one very specific pillow from home.
I hope this was insightful!
Not sure how far this post will go, but feel free to add onto it if you want. And if you have any questions, my ask box is always open!
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
â Live Streamingâ Interactive Chatâ Private Showsâ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch âą No registration required âą HD streaming