Preferred Name: Blaire Hawthorne
Pronouns: he/him
Genres you create: Horror and Fantasy with LGBTQ+ characters.
Where you plan to take your writing journey: To a point where I can reasonably live off with it. I don't really have a plan. I just write LOL
Link to Tapas Account: https://tapas.io/vblairehawthorne1

I like cheese.

Numbers

The anime Bakuman once went in-depth about the topic of having "two types of authors." There, a character said that an author may either be one of the following types: The kind of person who does whatever they want and the type of person who calculates the current meta to make their work even more popular.

I think I'm more in line with the first part wherein I would literally not care about other things as long as I'm writing the things I like. If I want to write it, I would do it, and I would feel happy right away.

However, I would be a hypocrite if I say that numbers never affected me. I would be jealous of those above me, and I would often feel like I am a failure and that I am not good enough when the numbers I produce aren't on par compared to the people around me.

Numbers is a frightening thing, and I am never once a fond friend of it. Heck, I failed most of my math classes! Numbers to me is a necessary evil because people will not bat an eye on you unless you have good enough numbers, but it just kept going on and on and on. It promotes a sense of "grind." If you're at the bottom, it makes you feel sick of not being good enough; if you're at the top, it will stress you up because it makes you want to keep pumping those chapters up to remain at the top. High numbers are never good enough and low numbers will make you feel weak,

The best way that I found in dealing with the negatives of seeing numbers is just to never let it be the goal. Don't let it consume you Write what you want, do what you want, and make what you want. If you think you're not good enough in a numerical sense, that's fine! Some stories grow fast while some take their sweet time. But your work will still touch the soul of someone out there because you did it with joy in mind, not numbers. What I learned in my years of writing online fiction is that numbers mean nothing. Engagement does. If you have a million reads, a million likes, and/or a million subscribers but only a very, very small fraction of them interacting with you, then the numbers mean nothing. In contrast, a book with conventionally low numbers but had an amazing engagement is far better.

What I'm trying to say is that numbers will eat you up unless you have readers out there that will make you feel better. Rushing to get a lot of numbers will make you feel proud, but having an audience that loves and support you and your work will make you feel happy. And "happy" is the goal.

Preferred Name: Hodge
Pronouns: She/Her
Genres: Fantasy, Action, Romance, BL
Writing Journey: hmmm I suppose I want to create the best comics I can, and also eventually build an audience, money, that sort of thing.

On the topic of numbers, I sort of actively avoid them haha. I felt like they were getting in the way of improving my craft, so I try to just ignore that sort of thing if possible. It tends to just suck away time and get in the way of the creative process.

Oh but I do appreciate the actual people behind numbers, especially since that number is rather low and are often the same people. I hope that even if my number goes up this doesn't change.

Yes! No matter who you are, how long you've been here, and how big you've gotten, seeing people genuinely loving your work and expressing them on the comments will still always be a cause for celebration. Validation comes best from the words of our readers. Not numbers. Numbers are like crack.

Ah it's back. Great! One note, if no one remembers, I no longer use the Dragonsparking account name, so no more Dragon. Just Nate will do xD

Anyways on topic. Numbers?

• Just a way to catalogue my progress with fans. I don't have any strong feelings about the numbers themselves.

• Overall, thinking about the numbers comes with a huge dose of apathy. Though when I receive a new sub that makes me happy.

•Sure, there has to be some balance, otherwise getting consumed by the drive to let those numbers define your art. Or, if you care too little, then you might lose interest entirely and leave those who are counting on your art for entertainment in the lurch.

Here’s what I put last thread with a few edits!

Preferred Name: Spade

Pronouns: She/her

Genres: Currently I’m working on a Supernatural Mystery and A comedy Fantasy (but almost everything I do is normal mid-high fantasy)

Plans: I just want to make lots of comics and improve in art! I literally just hit my one year anniversary for working in comics in any capacity outside of thinking about doing them so I’m pretty new to this ahahahaaaaaaaa. I have never really written like....a novel or anything before but I really want to try to get into it but don’t especially know where to start! I have one thing I’m thinking of doing as a novel but I’m still working on the story idea..?

Link to Tapas Account: https://tapas.io/spadedigsbutts
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While I know numbers are important and stuff and getting high ones is satisfying, I tend to not take them super seriously? For me they’re just sort of just a gauge of if I’m generally doing okay. Like if I get a subscriber or two a month I’m just like “well someone is enjoying it in some way!” And I must be doing something right (or really Really hilariously wrong!). I’ve always had a very “someone is always better, someone is always worse” Perspective, so to me a number really is just a number, though I do appreciate those who did take the time to give me said number! (Comments> numbers)

Preferred Name: Silver (I've been called that because of my username SilverLugia456)

Pronouns: She/Her

Genres you create: Mystery, Adventure, Action, Suspense,

Where you plan to take your writing journey:I would like to write Flash Fiction pieces (I've written a few so far but nothing published), I also like to work on scripts for movies and/or shows, short novels / light novels, and also teach as a teacher for English or creative writing.

Link to Tapas Account: https://tapas.io/SilverLugia456

A little about myself, so I have written in many different formats while learning about creative writing for the entertainment industry. So I have narrowed it down to writing light or short novels, scripts for animation, and flash fiction pieces since I have fun writing those pieces.I do have a goal hoping that my Pirate's Chronicles novel reaches 100 subbers I'm almost to 50 so I'm halfway there ^_^

Onto the topic of Numbers

• What numbers mean to me are setting goals, knowing limits and also testing myself to see how much i can change my writing based on certain limits. I've experience this a lot especially when it comes to how different forms of writing may have different number limits, whether those number limits are for characters used or for the number of words used. I have written short flash fiction pieces that needed to be between 300 - 500 words, regular flash fiction pieces about 1000 words, and other pieces that may be longer. I also set personal goals for myself especially when I'm on tapas that my word limit per chapter falls between certain set number values to keep the chapters a bit consistent. Due to my experience I always seem to keep the number amount in mind when it comes to my writing. I find my eyes always travel down to the count just to make sure that I keep track of it.

• Thinking about numbers could bring me either joy or frustration depending on the situation. When I'm limited to writing a full piece that has to be 500 words or less there may be some frustration because for me sometimes I find myself wanting to write more but knowing that if i do I need to cut down a lot of what I write. I've found myself a bit stumped or annoyed at times because no matter how I try to fit a story within those smaller word limits the story never really seemed complete.
  On the other hand I also look at the positive side of having those number limits for myself because it helps me to write more condense and precise details that really bring out the elements in my story. For the longest time when I was in college learning creative writing I would always find myself writing too many words that basically I didn't need. There were details that just went on and those extra words took away from my stories. However over time when I had to write flash fiction pieces or other writing prompts where the words were limited I got to work on that. I learned that I can use just one word or a small phrase of words that will make a bigger impact of a scene I want to convey to the reader instead of two complete sentences that say the same thing in redundancy.

• I'm one that doesn't really focus a lot on book stats because I become more focused on the story. Though I'm not entirely sure about focusing on those stats, I believe there is a healthy balance for it but maybe it may be difficult to obtain that balance. It could affect one negatively or positively depending on how the individual views those numbers. If the numbers are viewed in a negative light then it could become more of a bad weight on someone's shoulders, however if someone views the stats in a positive light it becomes a driving force that helps them with their motivation. I think the balance might be where numbers or stats could be viewed both ways but when it is there is a more positive outlook for those stats or numbers.

It was fun answering these questions and I like the idea of this thread as well. ^_^

Hello again!

• Numbers are people that didn't just keep on scrolling, and actually gave it a try, even if they're not going to stay. I get a lot of validation, mostly self inflicted;;
• Some frustration, and joy when it's unexpected, plus some bad self esteem if it's low in an episode day, and I might get too bummed out looking at them.
• There is, though it's a constant fight against 'you're not doing as good as your peers'. Comparison is inevitable even if it's misleading and rarely helpful.

(Copy-pasting from before!)

Preferred Name: Ivan (pen name)
Pronouns: He / Him (I'm female but chose a male pen name for marketing reasons. So it would be weird to call she/her with that pen name )
Genres you create: Action, Scifi, Mystery, Drama (Romance as subplot)
Where you plan to take your writing journey: Would love to have my novels published! But a more achievable goal is to gain more readers and earn a little side money.
Link to Tapas Account: https://tapas.io/ivanskilling

• I agree with what @Jenny-Toons said about what numbers represent! It makes me happy to see that my novels have at least been seen by a growing number of people.

• Most of the time, numbers bring me joy. To me, any subscriber, like, comment gained is always good. Each time, I reach a new goal, I strive for the next number goal. I personally love thinking about how to increase visibility and reach of my novels! Frustration is bound to happen sometimes if I see another story get high numbers without having actual good content (e.g., 50 shades of grey ). But the frustration passes.

• I think the balance is struck if book stats is only one of your goals and source of motivation. The main motivation/goal should be more about being satisfied with what you've created and to feel pride in it. Seeing other people comment and enjoy your works, even if it's only one, is also more important.

Re-joining the gang.

Preferred Name: Jens Richard
Pronouns: He/Him/They/Them/Blue
Genres you create: Comedy but try to do some serious stuff too.
Most known for ”Blue Life” and ”The Last BL Comic”

Where you plan to take your writing journey:
The become the ones that Tapas is interviewing.
Link to Tapas Account: https://tapas.io/jensrichard77

I'll just copy/paste most if the intro from the previous thread.

Preferred Name: Dani or Copper

Pronouns: They/Them, He/Him

Genres you create: Psychological drama, slice-of-life

Where you plan to take your writing journey: Finishing my comic and self-publishing for now. After a break I'll probably start on some much larger fantasy, horror and sci-fi projects I've had on the back burner.

Link to Tapas Account: https://tapas.io/Bloomer

Uuuh I like horror movies, medical and earth science, Psychology, animals, food and drawing.
Only been working in comics since 2009, but didn't get hardcore into it until I started my current project in 2015-2016.

• Numbers don't really mean much of anything to me, but I don't really see them as numbers so much as just people checking out and/or enjoying my comic. I admit to sometimes getting a little sad when a page doesn't do so well with views and interaction, but it's not the end of the world. Many of my readers view my comic in 5-2 page bulks so there will be update days when TGtaHR won't get much action.
  Sub wise, I'm just surprised I even have subs, I was expecting dead air. My comic is soooo not most people's cup of tea, so the fact that there are people wanting to suffer through my character suffering is nothing short of amazing.

• I kinda already answered this one. While I do get sad about a page not doing well sometimes, overall numbers don't make me feel much of anything. You kinda have to not care, people are ever change, evolving and growing. Even if they liked your work at one point that doesn't mean they always will, and while it's super awesome when someone sticks with your story from beginning to end, there's nothing wrong with them moving on.
  In short, it doesn't make me feel either or since losing and gaining readers is a natural part of the webcomic process.

• Yeah, I guess so. To me stats only really matter if you're trying to make a living off your work, it's totally understandable to care about getting ad revenue from views or income from sales. Although you shouldn't let it take over your life, if you start obsessing your passion may start turning into an obligation.
  If you're not planning on making money off your work then numbers are kind of meaningless, they don't really get you anything other than possible validation, which I find meaningful interaction to be much more valuable than a sub or view count in that case. Although at the same time if you are striving to improve and do your best, if you're not working on a super niche story, consistently low numbers might mean there are things you do better?

So I guess a good balance is to care enough to be proactive if your goal is for your story to be productive, but not so much it runs your life. People are all different, some come and go, some stay, other may be disinterested entirely. You can't really control that, so there's not much point on being super focused on the numbers.

Preferred Name: Anne or Jiji
Pronouns: she/her
Genres you create: It's a mixed bag-- I think it falls under regular fantasy mostly. Atleast i aim to- maybe romance as well.
Where you plan to take your writing journey: Nothing much, I just wish to be able to overcome my fears and anxiety in posting overall. I'd say it would be a big leap for me already if I managed to publish a comic and complete it online, regardless of how it could be received.
Link to Tapas Account: https://tapas.io/anne-ziel1

1.) I feel like I can feel validated by numbers since they're also partly a reason why I try and post own or created content. To share it with others. I'm not a v engaging person so they make me feel better or atleast make it feel like it was worth posting in a sense. Sometimes I get happy about getting a lot since its a nice surprise and other times I'm a bit indifferent.

2.) it brings me both haha;; I try not to let it frustrate me that much though I must confess I find it hard to not be a little disappointed when something gets lower traction/attention than usual so it badly affected me in handling art accounts offsite.

Might reword later for grammar and edit.

Preferred Name: Kaixn
Pronouns: Any is cool! (I like the anonymity of not sharing my gender online : D )
Genres you create: Comedy
Where you plan to take your writing journey: I really want to create webcomics that make people laugh and make them happy! (I know that's corny, but I love reading webcomics so much, they really brighten up my day, so I would like to pass it on)
Link to Tapas Account: https://tapas.io/Kaixn

I think I 100% receive validation from numbers haha. I really want people to like my stuff, and to get feedback from others, and numbers is a part of that. But I don't have much followers at all, I'm doing my best to promote myself and stuff, but it's really hard! I give a lot of props to creators who are good at marketing themselves.

Currently frustration, because I have 5 subscribes and have been posting for a month. I'm thinking I might have to start a new story, or do a rewrite of my comic, because I'm thinking it isn't really connecting with people, and that's really important to me! ^^ At the same time I am working on not caring so much!

Yeah I totally think there is a balance. I think you liking your own work is most important. And if there is something you really truly want to do in your heart then I think you should go for it! Try and increase your numbers, but don't let it negatively effect you, I guess?

Yay! Bitesize is back!

Seems like my Bio is already there so let's just jump in!

• To me, for better or worse, numbers represent hard evidence that my work is a viable product. Maybe it's because my day jobs for the past few years have generally involved monitoring the analytics from a creative product (ie. a games and books) and agonising over KPIs (Key Performance Indicators: Basically a solid number of something like units sold or a percentage of clicks on an ad that your aiming for) with weekly data meetings. I've been trained to think of the numbers the same way. I have other achievements from my time in print comics, like my work is actually in print, I've done a book signing in a Forbidden Planet, which I doubt a lot of other people on the site have achieved... but that doesn't matter on Tapas. Only the numbers matter. If I want to pitch a Tapas premium, I need 2000 bookmarks; it's both fair and unfair in its own way.

• Eghhhhh... it's a mixture. I like seeing my number go up, but since the genres aren't equal in terms of effort or quality to performance, it can be a big source of frustration too. Sometimes it's hard not to think, "what the hell!? I'm a published creator, I've placed in national competitions, I've had my work praised by legends of the comics world and I can't get a few bookmarks on this one little platform!?" But... Well, that doesn't help me get anywhere. The numbers are what they are and I should use them as a positive tool and look at where I've had a good response and how I could build on that rather than dwelling on what I don't have.

• Yes, I think there can be. I definitely advise against trying to artificially push your number up just to see it go up with sub-for-sub, which not only has very little impact on your work's growth or visibility, leading to the number going up with no correlating audience engagement and an ultimately empty feeling. I think that it's worth playing the long game sometimes. The work you're doing now might not actually be "The big one", even if you thought it was your magnum opus, so treat it as a learning and data-gathering experience. Pay attention to what does make your numbers go up, but keep a mindset of "well, there's always next time!" and "That was not the result I expected, I'm going to apply this knowledge elsewhere". Even the top pros make works they really care about and fail to get the response they wanted.

That's an interesting question!

Hmm that's sort of similar to the numbers shown on our dashboard in terms of the trends. Personally, it just means I would code up my own script to calculate the numbers myself.

I like to understand my numbers - is the influx due to something I did via advertisement, if so what is it so I can repeat it? Or is the downward trend because of exams month or something I posted? When my novels gets on Staff Picks, how much is the rise in numbers? What should be my goal for numbers by the time I reach the middle of my novel? To me, all of that is fun and important.

Preferred Name: wnqs

Pronouns: She/her

Genres you create: Fantasy/romance

Where you plan to take your writing journey: I want to continue working on my current comic and have ideas for related comics in the future.

Link to Tapas Account: https://tapas.io/series/The-Cat-The-Vine-and-The-Victory

Numbers to me represent a shift in the way we all consume art. Comics are much more accessible to everyone than they were years ago worldwide. For me, every view is a person experiencing a much broader world of art, contributing to the growth of art and maybe even adding their own art to the collective.

I find the stats on my comic fascinating. The numbers at first glance seem really out of whack, but that’s because I have a lot of pages. I don’t feel validation in numbers as in numbers aren’t the driving force behind why I draw or post my comic.

Interaction between myself and my readers makes me feel joy rather than the number of people reading, if that makes sense. Knowing that there’s a core group of people that have been with me since the beginning (almost five years) is amazing.

I think the balance of caring or not caring about book stats really depends on why a creator publishes to begin with. If someone is looking to make a career out of making comics, then statistics are quite important. If you aren’t getting the numbers you think you should have to reach your goal, then you need to seriously look at why and figure out what needs changing/improving.

If a creator is like myself and doing it as a hobby, then stats are nice to have and interesting to look at, especially when the numbers are all over the place. I think it’s when someone who looks at stats and sees them as judging their self-worth that stats become a problem.

• By gathering little bits of everything I see. Maybe I went to a cool city and the landscape stuck to my brain as I wanted a location in the comic, maybe I watched a movie and I wanted to apply its themes to something else and see what would change and if I'd like it as much as I did originally (cough Megamind), or I read a fanfic where they approached something that was forgotten about a character and I was inspired by fellow fans being concerned about it, and sometimes I imagine a scene to music though it's rarely put into a story. I've also got many ideas from dreams, though it doesn't apply to Splitting Image.
• Thinking of how to tie the theme/setting to a scene, and seeing if it still matches with the original idea. Once the story feels more like itself, also seeing what's required to progress the plot and character development, and trying to reach into my mind and trying to remember anything cool about a subject (redeeming a character, a betrayal, a plan that goes awry,etc)
• I hoard a lot but I only write down what I particularly like; or I'd have a long long list of dreams to put into art. In my opinion, anything can inspire, but I'm inspired by things that I haven't noticed lately in my routine and works that really seem to have a lot of heart in them.

It's really crazy how much I can get from dreams. I've dreamed of a bus station being destroyed by a fleet of floating wooden ships and the buses being hidden inside; a spacewoman haunted by four weird spirits with strange designs and might or might not be external versions of her emotions; a tribe of scavengers next to a giant purple HR Gieger looking forest where the animals have psychic powers; a cyberpunk town where neon attachments are made of literal magic and can be infected by viruses all the same; and a student waking up to a giant obsidian egg in the campus. Every time I think I could work on just this cool idea, a ton more show up, so wanting or not I end up hoarding.

Oh boy. I live for talking about this.

• Music. 95% of my ideas come from music. Metal music to be precise.
They live in the guitar riffs and solos, when that tasty lick hits, then I get a flash of an image. Then the lyrics develop the idea further. I listen to a lot of music, because that's where all of the ideas live.

•As I mentioned before, the idea is sparked by the music. Now...Dragon Sparking was in development hell for around 10 years, and I kept fumbling around due to life getting in the way. But the music kept me thinking about Dragon Sparking.
In particular I must shout out Dragonforce. Without that band, Rip as a character would not exist in the form he has now. Their music shaped his personality, fighting style, and appearance. Listening to their music was the place I could get full images of who Rip was. There was something about the guitars that brought him to life...and a buzzing sensation I'd get in the back of my head, just past the temples, that's when I knew the music had brought a character action to life.

Going even further in, the bands Iron Savior, Freedom Call, and Dark Moor all pushed those images further. Rip is a child born of Power Metal, and without it he wouldn't exist as he does now. Not only that, whenever I felt like quitting, their music brought me right back into creating the DS world.

Additionally I use musical sections to craft my fight scenes. I get strong mental images that show me the movements, facial expressions, and emotional outbursts.

One additional thing I use is Wikipedia mythology lists. I'll read down the list without clicking anything and just use the blurb to come up with ideas. While listening to music of course xD

•Idea hording...not really? I'm kind of a flash in a pan, where if I don't use the idea almost immediately, it's gone. At most I'll do a quick doodle to remember it, other than that, I just write in the moment into the comic. I don't often have ideas about anything else other than Dragon Sparking. If I do, it's assimilated into the DS Multiverse I plan on creating over time.