Curious Writer...

[Megina]

I've been working on an Original Story on Wattpad.
I'm a beginner by all means- But I was curious...

How does writing do here on FA?

Do you guys see a lot of engagement from your readers?

I'm struggling a bit with motivation... And feel that a little more engagement might encourage me to keep going.
Knowing that someone is waiting for that next update just really lights a fire in me ~
So I was debating putting my story up here too if it might help... o':

 

[Vakash_Darkbane]

I do ok, at least from what I can tell. I hardly ever get feedback, but I'm aware of what my faults are but can't ever get anyone to help me with editing. I know I get more watchers when I post stories and the view counts climb so.... It's hard to say. I don't really worry about my fans they had to wait 10 years for me to publish something and when I did they just flocked to it. So just post, it never hurts.

 

[Megina]

I do ok, at least from what I can tell. I hardly ever get feedback, but I'm aware of what my faults are but can't ever get anyone to help me with editing. I know I get more watchers when I post stories and the view counts climb so.... It's hard to say. I don't really worry about my fans they had to wait 10 years for me to publish something and when I did they just flocked to it. So just post, it never hurts.

I'm a beginner myself so not sure if I'd be much help editing ;v;
What kind of story are you writing ~?

 

[TemetNosce88]

The most-viewed thing I've submitted to FA is a story. It has about 5x the views of my most-viewed piece of original art. It received more comments than anything art-wise I've ever posted, even though half of those comments are me replying to someone.

The story is admittedly VERY fetishy and VERY NSFW. I'm not sure how that would skew the view count, if that's helped or hurt it.

 

[Raever]

1. How does writing do here on FA?

To me that depends on subjective view. There's plenty of writers on FA who make money from their writing, get watchers, encouragement, group up and collaborate, (etc.). However for every writer that does put in that effort, there are a couple hundred who don't and quickly leave for better avenues. Personally, I do alright because I don't write for others, it's for me to track things about my own characters and create a world that I can eventually bring to others in other formats (ex. a text based game, perhaps).

I will say that FA is not primarily the place to be as a writer, purely due to the website's current setup with how it displays it as an art form.

People on FA are much more interested in art, and the writing isn't really given a chance to shine due to how it's previewed and shown on the browsing page. All of them look very similar if you don't go out of your way to submit it in a "way" to get it to have it's own cover since the thumbnail is so small and uninteresting. You're better off just submitting art and then attaching a story to it, but not every writer has that time/energy/skill and/or money to bother with such things.

Spoiler: Photo edit for story example

For example, this is a cover I edited in photoshop for a story I'm writing:



It was edited from this commission: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/38851042/

2. Do you guys see a lot of engagement from your readers?

Not really, not unless it's someone I've already spoken to or know well who wants to support me.
However as said prior, I write for myself. I don't submit my art out of scraps and I don't advertise it.
So in short, I'm not at all the person to ask. You might have better luck asking someone like xsini or another FA Writer who regularly submits and sells their work online. I think they serve as a good example of a successful FA writer.

 

[Megina]

The most-viewed thing I've submitted to FA is a story. It has about 5x the views of my most-viewed piece of original art. It received more comments than anything art-wise I've ever posted, even though half of those comments are me replying to someone.

The story is admittedly VERY fetishy and VERY NSFW. I'm not sure how that would skew the view count, if that's helped or hurt it.

Oh wow!
My story has some romance but I don't have plans for it to get into that 18+ area - Though I have considered writing some other "steamier" stories. If I get around to them I might try them out here on FA ~

Should writing on FA be specifically just furry characters or does that not really matter? If you know?
o':

 

[Raever]

Oh wow!
My story has some romance but I don't have plans for it to get into that 18+ area - Though I have considered writing some other "steamier" stories. If I get around to them I might try them out here on FA ~

Should writing on FA be specifically just furry characters or does that not really matter? If you know?
o':

Personally speaking, it shouldn't matter. There's lots of "Human-based Artists" on FA. There's even a group for them.
The only negative I see is that, because the website is mainly furries, you might not get as much attention from a majority of viewers.

 

[Megina]

Ooooo I see...
I do have a cover I put together but it's just something really quick. I'd like to reach out and commission a better cover design eventually, but just don't have the funds at the moment.

---

Do you think the characters not being furry would make a big difference?
Or should I limit stories I submit to FA for furry characters specifically?

Edit - You answered my other question already! Thank You!

 

[Kate Marquet]

How does writing do here on FA?

I write entirely within the Transformation sub-genre on FA so I can only speak to my experience there but I would say it's pretty positive. I've only been on the site for 2 1/2 years or so but I've got 171 stories up and almost a 1000 watchers, I've been booked for commissions for the past two years straight, and my Patreon is close to 100 supporters so you can definitely find some traction here. A lot if for me has been output level, as I write faster than some, and having a variety of stories. That said, even my most popular stuff never touches what a good picture can do in terms of favs/views/comments but there are certainly writing fans around here too. ^^

Do you guys see a lot of engagement from your readers?

Again, for myself only, I would say I get more DMs from people when compared to things like comments on stories. I find I get a bit more feedback on some other sites I post to more frequently (like DA) than FA but not by too much. I get my best engagement through my Patreon.

I rarely write furry characters (unless someone transformed into one) so that's certainly not a requirement for the site so much as finding the writing category to submit it too. Some other little tips I would suggest is always having a cover image that gives an idea what the story is about as I find I draw in more with clear titles and descriptions compared to using just a title or no image at all.

But it also helps engagement if you engage with people to. I still try to get better with replying to comments and things like that but it's always a good way to talk to your audience. ^^

And lastly, some of it will just have to come in time. I started writing just stories I wanted to and in three months I got my first commission request before I had even considered taking commissions. Building up an audience can take a bit but good writing and a few stories always tend to bring some people in.

Hope that helped at least a little. ^^

 

[Zehlua]

If you have an FA, I'll follow you!

 

[Megina]

If you have an FA, I'll follow you!

I do!

Userpage of Megina -- Fur Affinity [dot] net

Follow Me On Twitch + Twitter! ►► www.twitch.tv/Megina ◄◄ ►► https://twitter.com/Meginya ◄◄ ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾ ...

www.furaffinity.net

c':

It's mostly just art and adoptables right now.
No writing on here yet ~

 

[Traget]

I might suggest trying SoFurry as well, simply due to that site being a bit more targeted toward stories than FA. You might still struggle to get feedback, but it's another option.

 

[Vakash_Darkbane]

I'm a beginner myself so not sure if I'd be much help editing ;v;
What kind of story are you writing ~?

Actually, i've written an Entire Series at this point it's about 28 small stories. So i've been around for a bit. I basically write a furr star trek series.

 

[JuniperW]

People generally are going to gravitate towards art more than writing. Don’t let that get you down, I assure you there’ll be people interested in what you write, it’ll just take time.
I haven’t really gotten any feedback. At the same time, I’m aware nothing I write will be perfect, so I try and smoothen out the flaws as I post new chapters. Each new story is a learning experience!