Hi anon, thanks for the question.
I know it's hard to look at someone's following and correlate that to why someone's character is known in the community, but really, I talked about my character just like how anyone else would, and people, to my surprise, wanted to see that. I honestly cannot tell you how I even got here, but I believe it's really because of the community and how everyone comes together to talk about their blorbos freely like it's a weekly - even daily, show-and-tell.
I created the wolsday questions to get others (including myself) to be comfortable enough to talk about OCs. I genuinely do read through the replies and QRTs, and it's fascinating how much people dedicate into thinking about their own characters. Hell, even I get envious of how cool other people's OCs are... They're all so unique, and that's the beauty of it all, isn't it?
What I can say is that you shouldn't have to feel discouraged; you made this all by yourself and you're continuing to improve and create more, and I think that's wonderful. Keep sharing and talking about your little guys! You worked hard and that should be worth celebrating. From the biggest lore drops to the smallest changes, just keep doing what you're doing. As long as you're happy with it, who's to stop you?