You can’t please all of the people all of the time.

happierstill:

may-shepard:

verybadhedgehog:

Reader 1 only likes it when Character A tops.
Reader 2 only likes it when Character B tops.
Reader 3 likes to see softness and femme-coded actions/expression
Reader 4 is only here for trad masc/masc
Reader 5 needs to explore Character A’s inner world, mental health, turmoil, etc, and to see their own symptoms and struggles through him.
Reader 6 needs to explore Character B’s turmoil and doesn’t ever want to see him in the role of comfort provider to Character A.
Reader 7 needs to see the faults, flaws, crimes and evildoing of both characters acknowledged, in text or subtext.
Reader 8 wants to see one or both of them doing bad things and enjoying it.
Reader 9 wants to see them doing bad things and hating it.
Reader 10 wants a little escapism and wants to switch off and visit a world where they aren’t explicitly doing evil shit right then and there.
Reader 11 loves it when you gently mock the characters through dry humour.
Reader 12 likes things taken completely seriously.
Reader 13 identifies with one of the characters and finds some kinds of humour and characterisation personally offensive.
Reader 14 will nope out of any fic with a particular thing in it
Reader 15 loves that particular thing
Reader 16 loves modern AUs
Reader 17 can only stand canonverse
etc
etc

You can’t please all these people at once. Even if you dig them and respect them and look up to them, you can’t please them all at once. Whatever you do is going to be unpalatable to someone, even if you’ve thought things through really well and you’re clear about your aims.  You can’t fix this problem by throwing in little titbits as if to say “look! I know you like it when such-and-such happens!” “Look! I have got a moral compass I promise I promise!” “Look! I know some people have particular views about sexual personae and this isn’t the thing you hate it isn’t really look I’m showing you.”

Whether readers take a transformative/exploratory stance to their interaction with the text, or a normative/prescriptive stance, there will be matters of personal taste that can’t be gamed away. You can only think hard about what you want and how you want it to be and what you want to show. There is no magic combination of second-guessing the reader and casting incantations to appease them that will let you away without at least one person disliking your fic. And that’s okay.

Yes! This is excellent advice.

The general principle here is just as important in original fiction than it is in fic, imo. Some editors will like your brand, some won’t. But you won’t get further ahead by watering down your brand to try to anticipate a bunch of different editorial tastes.

This is awesome for readers too. Don’t like it? Don’t read. Don’t leave mean comments, just move on. There’s something for everyone.