Why I Write Fiction and Why I Will Stop Sharing it Here
Source
First steps
Little did I know all those months ago when I met @rhondak at @minnowsupport that I would begin a journey toward becoming a writer. As an avid reader of fantasy I always, like lots of people, had a dream of maybe writing my own stories but never did anything about it. Rhonda convinced me that I had something to develop, and develop it I have.
The Block
I became so enamoured with writing and expressing myself through my stories that I wanted to encourage others. Rhonda and I began @thewritersblock with this idea at the forefront. We built a community we are proud of with some 738 members, all striving to create top shelf fiction. We encourage, brainstorm, edit each other and congratulate everyone on their successes. The Writers' Block members have constantly fared well in the various writing contests on Steem and I am always proud to see such a good turnout from them.
From day 1 The Writers' Block has had plans to create a publishing house backed by crypto. This is Steemhouse publishing, with a mission to help develop novels for publication in both print and digital mediums, rewarding authors with cryptocurrency.
Why I posted fiction on Steem
I have to date shared stories from two ongoing series - Emerus and Virtual Mortality. I have also posted shorter stand alone pieces on Steem. Generally they do well through upvotes and I am happy to say I have won a few writing contests. I have used Steem posting as a way of building my confidence as a writer: it's all well and good writing for yourself, but when others appreciate and enjoy your work, it gives you a great boost.
Why I am dialling back posting fiction on Steem
As much as I have enjoyed sharing my writing here, I have little appetite for it lately. Steem is in flux and does not appear conducive to original content providers, with music being one of the few exceptions. Trending is a cluster fuck, populated with bid bot pumped posts. It appears that memes, crypto analyses and personal attacks are what the community enjoy most.
Very few whales actively support fiction - @blocktrades used to but they got stick for it. @v4vapid does with his conspiracy related writing contests. Off the top of my head I can probably name @teamsteem, @ausbitbank, @aggroed, @eturnerx and @canadian-coconut as supporters of the writing communities. Not many in the grand scheme of things.
I understand that yes, investors in Steem are most desirable. We all want them to help pump the price of the currency, there is no argument there. But why would anybody else want to come to Steem to see endless memes, the same crypto charts available elsewhere and with all the infighting among certain factions? I argued before for original content bringing in more consumers, and it seemed well received. Calm discourse was had by both sides. Months on however, whispers are that original content providers are at best a nuisance on the platform and a drain on the reward pool.
While I have enjoyed polishing my writing craft by sharing pieces on Steem, I am going to concentrate on exploring alternatives apart from the occasion short piece. This does not mean I am leaving Steem, far from it. But for work that I put hours, days, weeks and possibly months into, I want it to be published where it will be appreciated. I have plenty of other things to post here, this is not a rage quit. My writing contests will continue for as long as there is interest and I am more than happy to carry on supporting others.
Nor does this mean that the core mission of The Writers' Block will be changing: encouraging writers and helping them by developing and editing their pieces will continue. However, our focus will not solely be the Steem platform. Steemhouse Publishing is already an entity and more time and effort will be going into developing the idea further. Several novels are already 'on the books'.
TL;DR - Bidbots suck, Trending sucks, vapid content wins
Mate I don’t blame ya, you and I are about 2 weeks away from our 1 year anniversary and I can’t bring myself to write anything anymore, the ongoing flag wars and bs opinion flagging by certain employees of steemit have slowly made the platform less attractive IMO.
Seeing shit post after shit post richly rewarded because the blogger has tons of sp must be demoralising for newbies especially when they’re trying to be creative, informative or educational.
I’m convinced as soon as a viable competitor appears Steemit will see an exodus of the best writers.
It’s a real shame.
Agreed on all points.
I agree on all points as well. I'm thunderstruck that none of the power players are paying attention to this or even seem to be aware it's happening. It took me pretending to have a meltdown on a recent streaming radio show for anyone to even hear what I was saying.
There's so many things wrong with steemit and the bulk of the community that it's hard to invest yourself and your time and your work into the endless maw of the blockchain. It eats and eats. It feels like our posts are just things tossed onto a conveyor belt and taken on a short ride into the dumpster, only to be covered immediately by garbage.
That said, I enjoy writing and will continue to write, and will also continue to post, but I will save my better work in the hopes of a larger, more mainstream audience and perhaps some mainstream visibility.
Yup, exactly my strategy from here on out.
Same for me. Glad we're in this 'boat' together.
there are mice in this boat, run.
And this is a reason why I closed Minnow University. I found it hard to swallow trying to "teach" people how to succeed at Steemit while everything I was saying is contradicted by the trending page.
In total agreement with you there Sir.
Wow. I'm so sorry about that.
Interestingly, almost the entire community of evergreen content creators is reaching this conclusion simultaneously. Hence the major meeting scheduled at TWB, the end of dMania, and the post I am myself about to make. Is it okay if I drop a link to that here when I'm done? I will share a link to this post in mine.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@rhondak/pay-to-play-the-future-of-steemit
Oh shit...did I just do a share for share? RFLMAO . . . . .
v4v too? Lol
Sure, while you're at it . . . .
Haha
I came to the same independent conclusion and have stopped writing for Steemit and sharing my fiction on Steemit. I will also focus on publishing off Steemit. Definitely still committed to The Writers' Block, but Steemit and quality fiction are like oil and water. I wish I'd come to my senses a few months ago before I posted some saleable stories here.
These are my sentiments of late as well. All that energy to produce for readers to enjoy but they never get to see it before it's drowning amisdt the flood of other posts--few of which are worth being drowned under. Writer exhaustion. I'll still be posting my fiction, because bugger the majority's view about it, but it won't be stories that I believe deserve a better platform where readers can properly appreciate it.
Well, I think you've summed it up. Working on serialized fiction and keeping at it while focusing on the quality is hard work. To have it fall by the wayside or be superseded by a meme or shitty-video is a punch to the gut. And to never have a chance at the Trending page... Bah! These bidbots are a stinky ass-hat on the blockchain.
I've been focusing on shorter personal interest pieces and will still strive to write my fiction and support the TWB community (an essential community to improve your writing.) Like you, most of that fiction will likely not end up on the chain. I'm still trying to find a niche... mostly non-fiction, sciency topics with a bit of family thrown in...
Mmmmm... I wonder about a new interface that ignores posts upvoted by bidbots...
Jason, interfaces are going to be a very top priority point of discussion in TWB meeting this coming weekend. Please oh please oh please be there.
Oh! I'm back... be on Discord later this afternoon. I'll be at the meeting this weekend. Was out on a top secret mission ;-)
Top secret?!!! Ooooh -- that means you'll share all the juicy details with us, right?
LOL. Yes, I'll share... not as exciting as you think ;-)
I think the only thing that will help, is the work that @thewritersblock and other communities like that do. Creating a large following through the original art curation path. Muckery of work, much appreciated!
Also. The meme made me laugh!
Our community will continue to go from strength to strength but won't be focused so much on Steem.
Totally agree.
I interact with quite a few people in Nigeria, Indonesia etc and it is most difficult when I am asked "What should I write about to get good votes?"
Well, that's a good question, isn't it !
Anything or nothing might be the most accurate answer.
One change. A capcha for posting, commenting, and voting. That will rid us of the bots and return a sense of community.
Joe
@joe.nobel
science fiction, fantasy, erotica
That simple measure would do a major blow to the armies of bot darkness...
Although it would be annoying if it were ever to be implemented, it would make people think twice before voting or commenting.
There would still be bid services, it would just cost more to maintain them. I would guess that the minimum bid price would go up. This would result in much less material being promoted.
I would like to see how that would play out.
Payout? I imagine organically, by people who read your post, and like your post. And by none-other.
Organic is good.