lunabee34

Aaand now I'm just moseying through your comments, apparently!

It's interesting that you bring this up, because that whole experience was ultimately a bit of a watershed in my fandom experience -- it was the first time that the concept of a fannish "brand" was really brought home to me. I don't read that way; I like a writer to surprise me (in fandom or media in general) and I tend to get bored when a writer offers me a steady diet of similar fare. So it was really shocking for me to discover that readers reacted so badly to me writing something that's different from my usual offerings, because to me as a reader, that would be good! And I don't think I reacted very well, because I was very startled and upset by the reader response to what I'd considered a fairly fluffy pairing story.

In the long run, though, it gave me a better understanding of how other people read, and made me a bit more jaded as far as labeling my stories and being prepared for unexpected feedback!