This is something I've posted about before then took down because I didn't like the phrasing, lemme see if I can get it right this time.
It's one thing to ask someone to look at something you drew, or listen to a song you made, or even read a short story you read. But when your primary art is writing things that are 100,000 words long, that's a big ask, which is why I don't do it. I don't expect anyone to engage with my art because it's a massive commitment.
But.
I struggle sometimes really hard with that too. I'll see friends in servers or on here sharing their art and I always try and engage, but I can't turn around and go "oh, if you're interested, here's almost a half million words that can be summed up as 'angry lesbian building fights dragons with dinosaurs.' If you're not a fan of that, I can give you a quarter million words of 'watch me write an unintentional trans metaphor as a girl turns into a dragon while fighting aliens as my egg cracks in the background'." Etc. Etc.
When I started writing novels, a friend of mine told me I'd chosen the loneliest art, and I get that now. Because other big ask art - play my game, watch my film - those are things you can show a bit of it. A clip, a screenshot, a good moment. Those are often collaborative works, too, so you can talk about it with people as you work on it.
I write between 3,000 and 5,000 words a day. Only my editor or co-author is interested in reading them before they become a book. And after they become a book I have readers who read them, and I have friends who are happy for me, but I just don't get to talk about the art I made with people who enjoyed it.
There's no good fix for this. Just a minor gripe I guess, and I'm hoping I'll feel better having written and shared these things.
