@DyingAloePlant I've always felt sorry for non-fic authors tbh - we're closer to our readers - we're part of the same community, you know? We talk to each other, squee together.
Published authors can seem like this distant, almost non-person person. You just have to read some of the reviews on amazon to see it.
The fanfiction community offers support that I for sure would never have never kept writing without.