You are the author of your own work. Should you ... ?

[HorsesandMOARGaloar 300]

Should you:

• listen always to your fans, and let their fanons influence your work?
• prefer to do almost everything your way, risking their anger?

 

[Sunny Fox 5,929]

My way, all the way. Offer suggestions if you will, and I will credit you for them and incorporate them as I see fit. But don't think I owe you anything more than that.

[boiteporte 591]

A bit of both. If you always listen to your fans, your passion for your work will fade away because it will no longer feel like it's your work and so the quality of your work will decline.

 

If you always do everything your way, and never listen to your fans, you will lose them and it may be sad to say it this way, but more fans means more money, usually, lol.

[Invincible 2,090]

I suppose i'd give my fans a bit of a credit here and there, but for the most part i feel that if i don't rely on my own visions i'll end up losing my work's purposes.

[Heliodor 156]

My way, although I would like my fans to like it. I don't think it's good to let fans speak for my work because, well, quite simply it's mine. They are welcome to join me for the ride and I sincerely hope they enjoy themselves, but my work is my own.

[111111 111]

When writing a story I allways want to hear what other thinks, after all that what puts things in perspective. My final conclusion is

 

Allways listen to your fans but try to keep your style of writting or you might just end up being a post board for someone else thoughts.

[PoisonClaw 8,153]

There has to be a balance between the two. You should ultimately write or create what you originally envisioned, but at the same time if you complete ignore input from your fans or outright alienate them then they'll come to resent you. By that point it doesn't matter if you managed to create the single greatest work imaginable if no one cares.

 

Allowing outside sources like fanon dictate your work is a double-edged sword more often than not. While it can help shape ideas you would have previously never thought of, too much can make what you intended nearly unrecognizable from your original goal, not to mention that it can also be seen as "pandering".  

[BayoUni2847 528]

It never hurts to implement some suggestions from people, but always let you shape your own work. At times it won't satisfy everyone, heck it might even anger some people, but that's the risk a person has to take with being an author or a creator.

[Shanks 10,811]

Every writer should have an open mind and be willing to listen to feedback and criticism however there is a fine line between this and pandering. No writer no matter how talented they are can possibly make everyone happy so it is pointless to try, there are plenty of works out there to suit nearly every taste and if a writer is not happy with what they have written than how can they can expect anyone else to be?

[MilesTheLunar 67]

If you do one or the other, you're dead.

You need to find a balance between the two.

[Snow Frostflame 3,567]

I have written one fan fic but I always know the right move to make when writing, also you ask a lot of questions about this are you going to write fics as well? anyways who cares about what your fans think when you are writing always follow your opinion you can take advice as long as it supports what you want to write, otherwise you are just writing to please others and it kills the fun in writing stories that's my advice to you

[Rainboom Dash 1,054]

Maybe if fans have really good ideas I agree with I'll take them, but not everything.

[Live Forever 316]

While I have caved in thanks to peer pressure on a romance fanfic that I cancelled, not anymore. I wrote a clopfic (leaving it at that), and I won't do anything to that, no matter what anyone says. (I'm gonna regret saying that, won't I?)

[Dattebayo 2,850]

My comic has a sizable, close-knit following, and I like to get them involved as often as I can.

This means spin off stories (which are canon), letting their OCs be background ponies/necromorphs...hell, one guy even liked one of the main characters so much, that I made it so that his OC was the canon love interest before everything went to sh*t in the story.

 

And yet, I don't take suggestions from them (and there have been plenty).

It is, after all, my story. Don't want to sound like a d*ck, but there are certain things that you, as an author, have to keep off-limits to your fans (like "don't kill of so-and-so")

Edited September 2, 2014 by Dattebayo

[Derpaholic 1,155]

This is like asking a musician whether or not he should let dime-a-dozen remixers to meddle with his stuff, or an illustrator to let other artists alter his work.
Writers are no different.
My stuff is *MY* stuff and nobody touches it without my consent.

Edited September 2, 2014 by Derpaholic

[MasterCombine 316]

Always listen to feedback and criticism. But don't change things solely because a few outspoken fans would prefer something to be done differently. It's your story/project/whatever, not theirs. 

[Ziggy + Angel + Rain 11,298]

I write, and I have exactly ONE fan lol.  But he's cool.  I'll have short talks with him about what I'd like to write next or where I'm headed with a story, but he never tries to steer me towards anything in particular, plot-wise.  The most he's ever done was encourage me to write more stories featuring a particular character, and that was because he responded really well to that character and his debut story.

 

But I have / claim / enjoy complete creative control over what I write, and even if I had more than one fan (maybe as many as three!) I don't see myself bowing to my audience.  Because I will kill who I want lol.  Because my stories will make as much or as little sense as I require; I like to experiment.  I like words and putting them together in pleasing ways.  Or, at least, in ways that I find pleasing.  Even if the resulting verbal concoction is a horror story and nightmare realized.  A blind stumbling down an unlit stairwell into the bony arms of a living corpse.  Named George.  Who was formerly a tax attorney.

[cuteycindyhoney 13,282]

For the most part I write what I write. Thankfully a lot of people seem to like where my imagination takes me. There have been a few times though where a fan's suggestion really resonated with me. The whole course of a story I'm working on now has changed due to a fan's wonderful idea! You have to find a balance. It doesn't work out well if you just ignore your readers. 

[lelouch. 625]

Should you:

 

• listen always to your fans, and let their fanons influence your work?
• prefer to do almost everything your way, risking their anger?

I think it needs a little bit of both. Sometimes fans will have brilliant ideas, better than ure own. Their anger does reflect a bad idea. But you shouldnt let them drive your every move, because you wont be able to make your own point.

[SparklingSwirls 21,261]

I'd rather do things my own way, since I feel happiest when I can do what I want to do, even if it means less fans. Besides, I don't really care about fans anyway... a few fans who really appreciate your original work are better than a ton of fans who only like you since you include what they want.

Edited September 2, 2014 by SparklingSwirls

[BMF 57]

Do things my way but keep a close eye on the fans of my content.

With this balance you can stay the way you want to and stay relevant too.

 

Focusing on fans entirely can choke your thing and make your job very sad.

 

...if you ask me.

[Red Cedar 1,406]

There are pros and cons to both approaches. If you do it only your own way and stick to your original artistic intentions, you risk alienating some fans (although likely not all). However, I am also aware of at least one court case where a fan of a series of science-fiction novels successfully sued the author of the books when the fan decided that elements of their fan fiction had made their way into her books. The net effect was that it prevented the author from doing any further prequels to her own works. It is for reasons like this that some authors (most notable one I can think of is Anne Rice) forbid even fanfiction based on their works and ruthlessly send lawyers to quell its appearance anywhere.

 

In the end, it would be the choice of the creator.

[Darker 1,351]

I'd prefer to do my own work, but keep it enjoyable for the fans.

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,151]

Well, you kinda have to have a combo of the two, BUT for the most part it would be my story and my ideas driving the plot. Really, it would kinda hurt my motivation if the love and dedication I gave my characters, stories, world, & lore were driven from my original direction by fans wishes.

 

At the same time, I'd like to acknowledge my fans in some capacity. I'd rather they feel rewards for investing their time into my work.

[Deathstroke 1,564]

considering that anyone would like a terrorist book :/