Agrippa
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Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes - Part 2:The Polls
🕑 Added 2022-03-29 00:15:51 +0000 UTCTo be completely honest, the polls have been a bit of a headache since the beginning, and that’s entirely my own fault.
When I set this whole thing up, I just had started regularly posting Wake-up Call and All Right! Fine! I’ll Take You! on a weekly basis. It was something new to me, as I had always worked on assignments on which I just wrote till the damn thing was done, so forcing myself to keep to a weekly deadline was not only new, but a bit of a journey of self-discovery. I saw how satisfying it was to get immediate feedback on my work, how the opinions and discussions helped me keep going, and even got me some more than valuable insight into what was working and the things in my writing that I wasn’t aware I was putting in. It was (is) wonderful.
So I thought I could push myself more.
The idea, then, was to get to three weekly stories regularly updating, along with the sporadic one-shot. So I set up two polls, which would decide two of the weekly spots, with me deciding what I would update on the third one.
… You can see how feasible thatcurrently is.
What I had naively assumed would happen was that people would use the commissioner tiers to get me to update some of my ongoing stories, as they would presumably subscribe because they liked said stories. That I would just have to get some extra updates to my Batman or Avatar fics, or something like that, as I kept working on the main stories.
You can see how that turned out.
The thing is, for some weird reason I’m still processing, plenty of people like my writing enough that they not only read what I come up with, but want me to write stories they have an idea for. It’s bewildering, really. And something I’m eternally grateful for—and that I’ll talk more about in the next post about how things may change in the future.
What matters for this one post is that I’m currently writing an astonishing amount of ongoing stories, with a couple more being worked on and not published yet, and that brings me to what I did with the polls.
Because I felt immensely guilty about the possibility of not updating my Oregairu fic after so many people became enthusiastic with it, and yet I knew with absolute certainty that if I did with the polls what I initially planned, that’s what would happen, with Wake-up call winning two weekly spots and the rest of my time being devoted to commissions that wouldn’t let me work on a third weekly story, I just decided to offer 4k extra words to any ongoing story to the winner of a poll.
That… Was a mistake.
I’m still trying to get a regular, consistent output, but 4k is basically a whole working day for me, unless it’s one of those days where I miraculously manage to get far more done than usual (but those are usually either followed or preceded by days where I write far less than 4k). So I should change that to, maybe, 3k words extra to the winning story.
That’s more or less reasonable, but I also want another change that’s more selfish than practical.
Because… Well, I started this whole thing to get to work on things I wanted to write. Don’t get me wrong, my previous experience helped me learn a lot about writing, but I just wanted to do my own thing.
And so I would like to change the polls in the following way:
The poll for €5 and above will get to decide which ongoing story gets 3k extra words added to it (or a single update, if the winning story isn’t a commission).
The poll for €2 and above? That will decide which of the things I feel like working on at the time (that aren’t commissions—because I like all of them, but I’ll work on them sooner or later anyway) will get an update. That should hopefully mean that I’ll get to write some of the plot bunnies for one-shots, omakes, and possible successors to the ongoing stories that have been rabidly nagging at me since months ago.
The thing is, I feel guilty about writing anything other than what I’ve promised you guys I would write. I know you’re here to support me, but I’m weird like that, and I’ve got this particular hang-up where, if I feel an obligation to do something, that doesn’t let me do any other thing until I’ve dealt with the main issue. Which doesn’t mean I do it sooner, just that I don’t do the thing I felt like doing.
So, I’d like to compromise: I tell you a few things I would like to write, and you all tell me: “Agrippa, do thisthing. We demand it. Don’t even think about wasting time pondering whether you should or not.”
Yes, I’m basically asking you to roleplay. Not in the kinky way, though.
So, with that being said… what do you all think?
Comments
Agrippa
Hey, thank you! Truly, I really hope you enjoy the binge when you get the chance. The thing about me taking more and more projects on is.. well, something that I definitely need to address sooner rather than later. I'm still thinking how to handle this.
Crimson Grave
Considering that I literally ONLY read your Cake-verse stuff and Wake-Up Call. I am most definitely NOT the person to ask these questions to. XD I paid initially to support you in the hopes that it would ease some of the burden that you placed on yourself with all the extra stories. The fact that it means I get an extra post of Komachi and Yui every couple months was just a nice bonus since so few others seemed to want them. XD (Especially since RL means I haven't caught up on them anyway. T^T Which reminds me I have to update the card on file right now before I forget...)
Agrippa
Thank you very much (once again), and I'm more than happy to keep Zaimokuza contributing to the "conventional" (hah!) romances. I know this will sound weird to many of you, but I usually don't even read yuri smut. Not because I don't like it or I'm averse to it in any way; it just usually isn't the kind of thing I get into. That being said? I love each and every one of my current stories. Writing and reading are entirely different things, I guess. About the balance between genres, though, I should get a few more things out in the upcoming days that I've been procrastinating a bit on, because I've got that awful, perfectionist streak that just won't let me sit down and work on something until I've got the kinks worked out. I hope you'll enjoy them!
aj0413
I mean, if you *really* want some direction from us? I guess my vote would be balancing out the current lily stories with a couple more "conventional" romances? Lol your Christmas Cake-verse stuff has been like a straight shot of semi-grounded happy fluffy, yet mature romance that I need more of in my life. Honestly, I'd always just vote for more of that kinda stuff. Not really picky on anything aside from that vague direction. You know how hard it is to find good adult romance? Finding your writing was like finding water in a desert
