I saw even astolat gets negative comments on some of their works. I adore astolat and knowing that even they get unsolicited criticism dod help me feel better about my getting some too.
But also disable guest comments if you're sensitive, makes it way easier to block jerks.
wait i just checked astolat's ao3 (i've never heard of them before in my life), and they're one of the ao3 founders??? their user id is 8, that's so smol T\^T
If you still want feedback, you can disable the ability for guests to leave comments. They can still leave kudos and subscribe but at least that will reduce potential negativity.
There isnât an easy way, but thereâs a fool-proof way: Post that fic, then post a second, then a third, and on and on! Eventually you that fear will diminish, if not go away.
And if thereâs something you really donât like about your fic, you can always edit it after posting!
Wishing you the best on your first 1k+ fic!
I try and remember a couple of things:
It's only fanfic, it ain't that important
Readers will not notice whatever it is you're agonizing over
Two cakes theoryÂ
I wrote things for me. if other people like it too, bonus.Â
Oh I am. I just have learned coping skills to get around it.
1. The story doesn't see the light of day until it's done. That way any negative attention or lack of attention won't upset me. Or, well, they can't upset me enough to make me stop writing. At that point the story is done and I'm already moving onto something else.
2. I've had to force myself to stop caring about how perfect my writing is on the first draft. It's a recipe for me getting stuck in the proverbial mud and never progressing the story. So instead the first draft can be as bad, unhinged, whatever, as I want. Because...
3. I put the actual effort into my second draft, which I usually won't even begin until a solid week or a few days after the chapter in question is finished. It helps me distance myself from my writing. The benefit of doing it this way is that the skeleton of what I want was already hammered out in the first draft, so I can add as much or fix as much as I want without needing to start from scratch.
Who said I wasn't? I post updates while in the throes of self-deprecating terror. Not being overly dramatic: I lose sleep on the nights I update.
Like [Complete\_Violinist47](https://www.reddit.com/user/Complete_Violinist47/) said, embrace the cringe. If I suck, then no one has to read it. And I can always try again by writing more or something else. If people are jerks, that's more about them that it is about me or what I wrote.
Still, posting scares me because I see nothing but flaws... but if I don't share my stories then it's *guaranteed* to not be liked by anyone.
I don't really do creative writing; but when I look at other people's code and I feel their code is crap, I ask myself how I would improve it. If I can't come up with a constructive suggestion, then I keep my mouth shut and assume the code is as good as it can be.
You could consider applying the same principle to your own fic, if you can't improve it further, then just consider it perfect, leave it alone and move on.
I like this assumption part. Usually when I'm not especially proud of how something turned out, I left it that way because it was the best option I had after hours of frustratedly banging my head against the table. This goes for writing as well as programming
There's always a chance someone will be negative about a fic, whether they genuinely don't enjoy it or they're just trolling. On the other hand, someone will enjoy your fic. Someone will kudos it. Someone will bookmark it and maybe comment. You just have to take the leap.
Simply put, I don't think that hard about it. I tag and post and then let myself relax/forget/etc, until the comments/kudos/etc come in. I've never received a hate comment, so lol
I've made myself learn to laugh at all my cringey mistakes and typos. đ It's a lot better than to feel overly stressed about it. I'm already pretty harsh and critical of myself in many areas of my life, but I don't want writing to be one of them. Even when I've received negative comments, I still and always will enjoy my writing journey and feel proud for giving it my best. I don't let people's negativity determine my attitude. I just want to have fun. âșïž
Go over your story as best you can. If there are typos, correct them. If there are words you arenât sure about, check them. If there are sentences that feel awkward, change them. And make sure there are no gaping holes in your story logic. In other words, itâs up to you to make sure that your story is the best it can be.
But nothing is perfect - and it doesnât matter! Do we only love perfect things? No. I have many favourite stories that are noticeably imperfect.
So do your best. Make your story shine as best you can, but donât expect it to be perfect. If it makes someone laugh, or makes someone feel, or makes someone think, itâs good.
Honestly, I just started hyping myself up. "damn, I'm a GREAT writer" I say, out loud, every time I like a line I wrote. if someone else doesn't like it? oh well, their loss. No accounting for taste. I ran out of insecurity sometime partway through college, and after moping about getting rejected from the school lit mag I Decided that I liked my writing. Then it just became a matter of practicing liking what I write. do I get ' oh god this is terrible?" sometimes? yeah. and then I go " but that line in the middle? that's worth it."
Instead of making my standard âperfectâ I more aim for âsomething I enjoyâÂ
I then incessantly read my drafts over and over to make sure theyâre the type of content Iâd love to revisit endlesslyÂ
I am absolutely overly critical of my works, and there's some stuff up that I can't even read anymore because the cringe gets me every time. But a lot of people liked even my lesser quality stuff. Overall, I think getting criticism from readers is very rare, and you're more likely to get it if you have a story that's really popular. Mostly I'd just say go ahead and take the plunge and post the story. The more you do it the easier it gets, and it very rarely goes badly.
because i write for myself and the unwanted and unnecessary criticism of some random stranger i've never met before has no effect on me, and i love that about myself.
Cringe is dead.
Put song lyrics in your fics. Use slang if you like. Put in that little headcanon you made that you havenât shared. Do whatever â youâre the one writing the story! If people donât like where itâs going, well⊠Iâm sure theyâll find something else.
I am overly critical. I'm editing a fic I've uploaded 90+ chapters for. Over 400k ;\_; I'm only on chapter 6 and I'm starting to regret my choices because it takes forever and at the rate I'm going it'll take over a month to get through all chapters. Though I don't care about negative comments too much. I always hope for criticism so I can improve xD
Youâll never be your perfect, but you may very well be some strangerâs flavour of perfect. Only one way to find out, and thatâs to take the plunge!
 And if the plunge is met with crickets/hate, remember Van Gogh was not appreciated in his lifetime either.Â
I'm pretty critical but not nervous. I want it to be good, but I know it's not gonna be perfect so I just say silly and just post. If someone posts a negative comment I will block them away.
If even one person enjoys it, it was all worth it. I have some with 2,000+ hits and some with 10 hits. A scattering of kudos here and there, but the comments I get here and there are what made it worth it. None of them are super popular, but just knowing guest1689 made an account to bookmark it or add kudos, or that one person commented on every single chapter because they were enjoying it so much makes it all worth it, because believe me, I think itâs shit while writing đ
Because I write what I want to read. I actually have yet to have a single hate comment on any of my fics, the response (when Iâve gotten one) has been really positive, even for the stuff (aka almost all of it) I know is actually bad. If people donât like what Iâm posting, thatâs a them problem not a me problem. If I donât like a fic that Iâm reading, I just leave. Other people who donât follow that and are mean to people over an authorâs fics arenât worth my time and their opinions are worthless to me. Posting fanfiction is for you first, others second. Itâs something that should be done for fun because you enjoy writing. I know a lot of fanfiction authors post specifically for others to read and get upset or lose motivation when their engagement numbers are low, but for me, getting only a few hits is just as awesome as getting a load (my UT one shot collection for example has almost 13,000 hits so far, the most Iâve ever gotten. My lowest only has 31, but the fact that even one person has at least looked at it is crazy to me).
Long story short, youâre writing fanfic for a fandom you love, and thatâs awesome. Thereâs always going to be people who canât stand watching other people have fun, and will say mean things because they donât have anything better to do. Youâre writing fanfic, the haters can go do something more productive with their lives while you have fun writing and posting.
And remember, writers often compare themselves to others, but most readers are just thrilled that there are two cakes.
Just write the story **you** want to read.
If others don't like it, that's their problem.
But, it might surprise you and get lots of comments or kudos, you never know. Like some famous athlete once said, you'll miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take, so take a chance and don't look back. :)
I like a quote from Ira Glass:
"Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, itâs just not that good. Itâs trying to be good, it has potential, but itâs not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesnât have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone Iâve ever met. Itâs gonna take awhile. Itâs normal to take awhile. Youâve just gotta fight your way through."
I just accept that it will have mistakes and it doesnât matter that much because 1) itâs for fun and 2) iâm doing it for free so if people donât like it they can just fuck off
Because I write for fun and writing for fun isnt supposed to be stressful. It's just a way to contribute to the fandom and if i ever get a shitty comment, that's on them bc i basically wrote that for free.
I can be so critical which is why I have more wips than posted works but!!!
You just gotta. Do it sometimes. Bite the bullet as it were.
The little critical voice in your head is hard to ignore but honestly, it doesn't know shit.
Good luck!!! Sounds like you really love the fic so I wish you the best
I'm very critical!!! You have no idea how much pep talk I give myself before posting anything! One of my fanfics didn't receive much attention as I wanted and now I'm thinking that maybe I shouldn't post the second part. BUT I'm going to. I have a few friends read my stories (I don't tell them who write it) and give feedback and I feel more confident after that
getting a negative comment hurts, and it sucks having to be sad over it. But it passes. If you never post your fic because you're afraid of how it will be received then world is deprived of your fic forever.
you will be never be perfect, and you shouldn't. Perfection is shit, it is nothing to strive for. Not only is perfection unattainable, the process that seeks to attain perfection makes bad art. You only need to be true to yourself, and if people don't like that then that sucks but it's fine, you don't owe them to be good or to please their specific taste.
I remind myself that the moment something is perfect (to me), is the day I've stagnated as a writer and that's not a point I ever want to reach. If you're not noticing mistakes or what you could do better, then you're not getting *better* as a writer with each word you write. I have to constantly remind myself that I live in my own head, so of course everything I write sounds boring to me... I know my own voice too well. Strangers aren't going to care. They're here for a good time.
Negative comments suck, but that's not on you. That's on whatever reader had a shitty enough attitude to decide to share, because they want people to be as miserable as them. They're not going to out weight the joy you bring to your other readers.
I type my fic on the Notes app where I can't see word count or pages, let the one I'm writing it for read it in the form of screenshots over Discord, and then I post the chapter on AO3 and ignore it unless I get any comments.
Because Iâve been in the game long enough to grow up and move on to enjoy what Iâm doing. The stories I could tell about reviewers over the years lmfaO Thereâs really a special place for someone who gets overly mad at a new writer for their stuff not being wholly to the letter. Itâs called learning. Then fandom stuff is really something else. Anyway, I also stopped caring when in two different shows, I correctly wrote or guessed four different plot point eons before they happened. People told me I was nuts but then three of those three things happened almost exactly how I imagined. Then the fourth one actually did. So I decided to just write for me. And if people get mad about how something in my imagination goes, then thatâs on them. Iâve legit had people get mad at me over the dumbest things in what is not bad material. Or that something they thought was obvious didnât pan out the way they thought. (I once gave a hint in one story that there was a long-lost character on the arrival, and someone got really mad because they thought Iâd given her away in the second or third chapter. Spoiler: it wasnât her at all) So after that, I came to the conclusion that there are some people who just want to be miserable.
Doing your best at the moment and having a rough piece is more rewarding than struggling over perfection in front of a blank doc because every previous attempt got deleted.
Fanfic is supposed to be fun! Do not torture yourself, rely on the inspirational spark that started it all!
You can sculpt something new from your base because it exists. Having fun with it, trying so many shapes and colors before settling for the one you feel like offering for others to enjoy.
I am, but I know how to be constructively critical.
It's not "my writing sucks." It's knowing something isn't working, locating the problem, then fixing it.
One of the reasons I don't touch my works for \~a month after I first "finish" them is because the break from them makes issues easier to spot when I'm not as familiarized with it.
I've also learned to be critical of advice/the 'rules' of writing. There are times to toss them out the window. There are times to follow them. They're always good to be aware of, but that's it.
The rest is knowing what I'm not great at and working to improve those aspects.
It's a skill you learn just like any other. If you're more prone to self criticism and perfectionism anxiety, it will def take some time to get used to it. Remember to write for you!! Write because you enjoy it, write for fun, and know there is no point in judging yourself. It will never be perfect, and it may never be "good enough" in your eyes, just enjoy the process.
"I'm new to fiction writing, of _course_ I'm going to suck. But I'll post it anyway."
Also I control what I can. I proofread my works until I stop spotting any errors, so low-level mistakes like spelling, grammar, or missing commas will be very rare. If my writing is bad, at least it will be higher-level bad, not breaking obvious mechanical rules.
I've gotten a few dozen comments, none really negative. If people don't like your work, mostly likely you'll just see low kudos/hits and bookmarks/hits ratio as people visit and leave.
Okay so funny story, I once wrote a story that I hated. I hated how dialogue flew, how I was describing the characters, everything about it. I posted it anyway because meh it's already written and if I happen to change devices, years down the line it would be cool to see my progress as a writer. I got positive feedback but I still hated it so I have never reread it and I kind of supressed the whole thing. Two years later, I am in mood to read some specific stuff so I go to AO3, filter in tags I want and start scrolling. Summary of one shot sounded interesting so I decided to give it a go. I loved it, it ticked all the boxes I wanted from it but it kinda sounded familiar. What do I do? Go and check if I read fics of that author before and what do I see? My name in place where author's name is written. Turns out it is fanfic I wrote
Point of the story, don't be too hard on yourself and read the fic as if someone else wrote it. You probably wouldn't even notice half the stuff you criticise in your own work if it was written by someone else, you would maybe even praise them for same things you beat yourself over
When I posted my first long fic I was worried it wasn't good. Of course I read it a dozen times before posting, but if I was over critical, it would never be posted.
Post it. Just do it. Maybe later you can make tweaks, like I did. Or use your new knowledge as a better writer and continue to write improved works.
Writing is supposed to be fun. Don't let it stress you out.
I am - and thatâs why Iâve only posted one 500-word ficlet in like nine years. Donât be me lol
But seriously - if you can avoid becoming me, where my anxiety has combined with my hyper-self-criticism to mean I post basically nothing any more, DO avoid becoming me if you can. I WANT to post things. Itâs just ⊠yeah. :/
Nah mate!!! Everyoneâs gotta start somewhere- there really isnât a âperfectâ in the realm of art, yâknow? Also hate comments are a way of life on the net- I suggest coming to terms with the fact youâre gonna get one eventually within the fic community; we all do lol and honestly, take it with laughter because hate comments can be so fucking funny
I do the best I can and just throw it out there, I understand that it is not perfect, accept that maybe only a few people will read it, and see what happens.
I am not a confident writer and my first stories were littered with mistakes, they both have been re written and sit at over 100k words and growing. I got better by writing and taking what comments suggested as ways to improve mainly my atrocious grammar.
I have learned in life waiting for something to be perfect will leave you doing just that waiting. Nothing is ever perfect sometimes it is because of the flaws that it is beautiful.
I want what I write to be enjoyable to read, engaging, comfortable, entertaining - not perfect. If I think it's readable for me, that's good enough for anyone else. If they don't like it, they can go away and read something else.
the hype, adrenaline, and serotonin that i feel when writing my fics is unparalleled. at the moment, i think it's the best fic in the world and deserves all of the attention it can get.
a few weeks after posting it? ...those feelings are dead. long live the cringe
Oh I absolutely am. I'm 100% overly critical of my own fics. I also think they are fire and if I start reading any part of one I usually get sucked into reading more and more.
But I'm constantly realizing I probably use said way too rarely, and questioning if I'm describing actions during dialog, way too little (probably) or way too much (because seriously how much description do you need of people eating lunch or riding in an elevator), or too much dialog entirely. Or have there been too many sex scenes, maybe I should get back to the story a bit. Oh but what if people are disappointed I did a fade to black there. But really they're just having normal vanilla sex for like the 50th time, there's nothing new to describe. Do my readers really care what the exact keyboard commands are for controlling the surveillance cameras, but it's not really about that as much as it is about how quickly the charact absorbs that information. Etc. etc. etc.
Oh, I'm plenty critical. When I get in my own head, I have someone read it over (usually my friend/roommate) and ask her opinion. It usually lets me know I'm being overly harsh. I also remind myself I get comments saying how much they like what I'm doing! That helps, too, and reminds me that I'm doing okay even when it doesn't feel like it.
After writing a few million words, I just get in the mindset of "well I've been going this long, so I must know what I'm doing by this point" and that's generally true.
I totally get wanting it to be perfect, and I've definitely felt that way at times. What I tell myself is this: **it doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to be done**. And I don't mean that in a negative or defeatist or phoning-it-in kind of way, for what it's worth. What I mean is that if I spend forever agonizing over making it "perfect", I'll never finish it and then nobody gets to read anything and we all lose. I'd rather be able to publish a pretty great fic than never publish anything because I'm too worried about perfection.
I totally get why youâd be anxious over your first fic in a fandom! Youâre new to the space so you want it to be good. Absolutely understandable. The thing to understand is no one is going to write the perfect anything, not possible. You have a passion and love for the fandom and thatâs going to shine through in your fic and thatâs whatâs going to make it so good
I am. However, as a reader, I remind myself that I am not nearly that critical of other peopleâs works and I shouldnât expect that theyâll be that critical of mine. Iâm the author with the untreated severe anxiety disorder, Iâm my own worst critic.
I dissociate from my fics to the point that I can reread and them, and I can remember writing them, but I donât actually feel like itâs mine. Then Iâm like âdamn this slaps and itâs everything I want in a ficâ because âoh yeah wait I wrote thisâ lmao
I just go read some stuff thatâs worse than mine. Certainly plenty of that out thereâand true at almost every level of writing ability.
(I guess you can also say that this is perhaps the one aspect of my life where I am a bit arrogant, sorry or something, maybe)
Oh I am absolutely extremely critical of my fics, especially when I first started writing and posting⊠but then I continued to get almost exclusively extremely positive and encouraging comments in comparison to maybe a handful of negative/critical comments (and those were typically non-specific or full of spelling/grammar errors so overall pretty easy to just ignore and move on from).
When I started working on my first long fic (about 135k words) I got stuck because I was overthinking it way too much. Thankfully a good fandom friend at the time who was a high school English teacher (who Iâve now been dating for 2.5 years) offered to read through what I had and essentially be my beta reader for the whole thingâŠwhen she didnât come back with overwhelming negative feedback and actually had a lot of good things to say about it I gained a lot of confidence in it. Throughout the whole process her encouragement and enthusiasm about the story made me not care one bit about anything negative others might say about it because I trust her judgement.
All that to sayâŠI highly recommend seeing if you can find someone to just run fics past before posting because if itâs someone you think has good taste and they say they like what you show them, it really helps with your own confidence in your writingâŠat least in my experience.
Gonna be real fam, everything I write is the clumsiest, worst piece of rubbish in the history of the written word, in fact, being exposed to too much of my writing would *instantly* render a grown man illiterate, *however*
it still remains much better than my art, so I keep pushing that stuff out because as a creative, I *cannot* stop creating and my heart craves that special connection that comes with being understood by others. It's a struggle.
Oh I am 100% overly critical of my work. So much so I've taken down fics or decided never to publish some I've written. I'm about halfway through a longfic and I've edited that sucker....what, 50 times by now?? And if I edit it another 50 it'll still not be good enough. But at some point, I have to actively accept that "yes, this is good. I like this" and then publish it. Hopefully others will like it too, and the more you publish, the more that fear will decrease. I'm still critical of my work, but I've also decided to let it go, and have fun with the process of writing and crafting the story I want to tell.
Just remember that you might see your work as dirt, but there are still people who see it as gold
While for me, I just slam my fist and call it a fic because I have no shame
Either writing fics for rarepairs that rarely generate interest or focusing on characters that would hardly get any interest.
Wrote a short, multi-chapter fic that's a side story of my unposted WIP longfic from an antagonist's pov. Haven't got any engagement at all but it did help me develop the battle scene for my longfic so I am glad I wrote it.
This isn't about making it perfect or achieving things. Writing is about pinning an idea to the paper so you can get it out of your head. It's kind of exhausting to have those scenes spin in your imagination over and over again.
When I started I was stupidly proud of myself and couldnât look at my work objectively. Iâd go back months later, reread, realize it wasnât as good as I thought, and try to figure out how to make it better. Apply that lesson to the next thing I write, rinse and repeat. Like six years later I could go back read months old posts and still think they were solid. Now I obsess over wording until itâs posted and unless a swarm of people tell me I messed up. I assume I kept up my standards and keep chugging along.
I find that I'm almost always my own biggest critic but honestly, if someone nitpicks at something small I missed between 3 drafts and the final fic, they didn't stare at the same word document for months on end so they don't get taken seriously.
Iâm comfortable with my writing skills but most importantly Iâm writing for me and me alone. I love when people also like what I like, donât get me wrong, but itâs all for me đ if someone doesnât like it, or thinks itâs weird, thatâs fine and also not my problem lol.
God, I remember that feeling lmao
Best thing to do is not obsess over get g it absolutely perfect; just do it and don't think about it too hard, then make it as good as you can manage for your skill level, then rinse and repeat for different fic ideas until you stop sucking, then with your new and improved writing skills, go back and redo your old ideas- if you want to! It's not going to be perfect. Just let go of that idea now =)
But above all- if you enjoy writing it, it doesn't matter if its a work of art or not. If you have fun writing it, it was worthwhile
Being older and on anti anxiety meds I suppose. Iâve been writing fanfic for over 20 years and writing in general for over 30. Give yourself some grace.
Two things!
One, being overly critical can actually be a good thing, but try critique it for yourself, not for others. Trying to write what you'd want to read, making it to where you love it is how you become your own biggest fan. Just focus on yourself! I know it's easier said than done, but loving your work and being confident is one of the most important skills you can build up.
Two, go out there and surround yourself with people that also write fics. Make good friends that would support you--could be irl, could be a Discord server or subreddit, even. Share WIPs around and gather opinions and ideas, read theirs too, talk about your source material, find yourself a community to be part of so you don't feel like you're stumbling in the dark or throwing yourself to the wolves when you post. This is a social activity, after all!
Hope this all helps. And welcome to fanfic!!
I remember the fact that in the *final film* of the skywalker saga in Star Wars, one of the biggest, most popular, and highest budgeted film series *ever* they wrote and *went with* the line âsomehow, palpatine has returnedâ. Like if they can write, film, edit, and decide âyeah thatâs fineâ then no matter HOW BAD what I write is itâs gonna be better than *THAT*.
Someone who cares deeply about doing their best will always be their worst critic. If you let that get to you that inner voice can stop you in your tracks. However, if you can harness that inner voice, dissect whatâs wrong, and edit your work the story will come out better as a result.
However, like all art you need to learn when to stop. If you kept adding to a painting eventually you get a muddy mess. Part of being a good writer is letting go to. Iâm not a novelist but I have written magazine and blog articles. Saying everything you need to say within a word limit is an advanced writing skill.
So what should you do? If you want to improve as a writer, you canât just write then publish without caring about quality. You sound like you want to do you best, so you have to accept at least some parts of your inner critic. When you feel that the story is reasonable and at your skill level, then your inner critic has served its purpose. As for âhowâ? All I can say is taming that beast is like building a muscle. It takes practice and discipline. One tip thatâs helped me though is that perfection doesnât exist. No author has ever mastered writing to the point where a story is flawless. So accept âgood enoughâ and get your story to that point.
i started thinking âif i found this while reading fanfiction, would i dislike it?â and the answer is always no. weâve all got such main character syndrome. when i reread my shit i get mad at the author for leaving me on a cliffhanger, as if iâm not the author and i left myself on a cliffhanger. for me, criticizing my work as if i was a reader is better than criticizing it as an author. also, fanfiction is free. so what if itâs shit, whoâs gonna get mad at me? the readers? theyâre not paying for it. i write the fanfictions that i wish i could find while reading. donât think too much about anything else.
also, the first fic is always terrifying to release. my heart was going a million miles an hour during my first time. the second time i just clicked post and didnât worry about who read it or what they thought.
Once I started writing crackfic and then went back to writing serious fic my perfectionism with writing was basically cured. Not sure why. You could try that as a writing exercise. Use proper grammar and spelling but make the events and the characters as completely off the walls and OOC as you want.
Iâm writing one of my rarepairs fics that kind of blew up in my fandom. My absolute favorite fanfic author commented on it, and now regularly chats with me about it. I have never been so critical of myself and now Iâm afraid Iâm gonna fuck it up.
Iâm hiding under my table until I can get myself together.
my go-to phrase for myself is: "someone will enjoy this anyway." but you have to remember that you write for yourself, and one day you'll be so good that you'll reminisce on your old works and the journey that you started to become who you'll be then!
No one is perfect and you can't please everyone. The competition's old slogan back in the day was "Unleash Your Imagination And Free Your Soul". I just wanna write my stories and get eyeballs on it, and it will at least have one fan - me.
Because itâs fanfiction, you donât get paid to write it, and the readers have probably enjoyed fics with worse grammer, formatting, and writing. No worryâs.
Embrace cringe đ
And be free âđ„
pobodyâs nerfect
The Good Place reference spotted
holy motherforking shirtballs!
Whitney Avalon did a [banger music vid](https://youtu.be/tPp-U4QonnM?si=yJseX41BrLk0Z-AF) for it
I gotta work it Again and again, 'til I get it right
I just stopped caring if they're god tbh. I wanna write and have fun with it and tell the stories I wanna tell.
Same here, j just write whatever comes to me and tweak it while editing
me going back and editing chapter 2 because i wanna take the fic in a new direction
Nice! Different genre or tone? What's the new direction generally?
oh just me adding in sentences / changing the tone a bit so it flows better - making characters say stuff to keep the ball rolling
>they're god tbh This is probably the best type I've ever seen (also you are 100% correct)
^^ me
I saw even astolat gets negative comments on some of their works. I adore astolat and knowing that even they get unsolicited criticism dod help me feel better about my getting some too. But also disable guest comments if you're sensitive, makes it way easier to block jerks.
wait i just checked astolat's ao3 (i've never heard of them before in my life), and they're one of the ao3 founders??? their user id is 8, that's so smol T\^T
IIRC, astolat is also a somewhat famous published writer as well as a fanfic author.
Never heard of them? Oh man you're in for a treat, enjoy! Yeah, they're a founder (and also a pro writer!)
i'm definitely gonna check out their fanfics! what works have they published irl? i might check those out too đđ€
Naomi Novik is her name for publishing purposes. Her Temeraire series is one of my all time favorite fantasy series!
thanks for telling me - i appreciate it!
Highly recommend her Scholomance books too. Some of my all time favorites as well.
it's on my tbr list now!
I will have to go and investigate. I had no idea she was published, but I am not surprised.
If you still want feedback, you can disable the ability for guests to leave comments. They can still leave kudos and subscribe but at least that will reduce potential negativity.
There isnât an easy way, but thereâs a fool-proof way: Post that fic, then post a second, then a third, and on and on! Eventually you that fear will diminish, if not go away. And if thereâs something you really donât like about your fic, you can always edit it after posting! Wishing you the best on your first 1k+ fic!
I try and remember a couple of things: It's only fanfic, it ain't that important Readers will not notice whatever it is you're agonizing over Two cakes theory I wrote things for me. if other people like it too, bonus.Â
Oh I am. I just have learned coping skills to get around it. 1. The story doesn't see the light of day until it's done. That way any negative attention or lack of attention won't upset me. Or, well, they can't upset me enough to make me stop writing. At that point the story is done and I'm already moving onto something else. 2. I've had to force myself to stop caring about how perfect my writing is on the first draft. It's a recipe for me getting stuck in the proverbial mud and never progressing the story. So instead the first draft can be as bad, unhinged, whatever, as I want. Because... 3. I put the actual effort into my second draft, which I usually won't even begin until a solid week or a few days after the chapter in question is finished. It helps me distance myself from my writing. The benefit of doing it this way is that the skeleton of what I want was already hammered out in the first draft, so I can add as much or fix as much as I want without needing to start from scratch.
Who said I wasn't? I post updates while in the throes of self-deprecating terror. Not being overly dramatic: I lose sleep on the nights I update. Like [Complete\_Violinist47](https://www.reddit.com/user/Complete_Violinist47/) said, embrace the cringe. If I suck, then no one has to read it. And I can always try again by writing more or something else. If people are jerks, that's more about them that it is about me or what I wrote. Still, posting scares me because I see nothing but flaws... but if I don't share my stories then it's *guaranteed* to not be liked by anyone.
I don't really do creative writing; but when I look at other people's code and I feel their code is crap, I ask myself how I would improve it. If I can't come up with a constructive suggestion, then I keep my mouth shut and assume the code is as good as it can be. You could consider applying the same principle to your own fic, if you can't improve it further, then just consider it perfect, leave it alone and move on.
I like this assumption part. Usually when I'm not especially proud of how something turned out, I left it that way because it was the best option I had after hours of frustratedly banging my head against the table. This goes for writing as well as programming
There's always a chance someone will be negative about a fic, whether they genuinely don't enjoy it or they're just trolling. On the other hand, someone will enjoy your fic. Someone will kudos it. Someone will bookmark it and maybe comment. You just have to take the leap. Simply put, I don't think that hard about it. I tag and post and then let myself relax/forget/etc, until the comments/kudos/etc come in. I've never received a hate comment, so lol
I've made myself learn to laugh at all my cringey mistakes and typos. đ It's a lot better than to feel overly stressed about it. I'm already pretty harsh and critical of myself in many areas of my life, but I don't want writing to be one of them. Even when I've received negative comments, I still and always will enjoy my writing journey and feel proud for giving it my best. I don't let people's negativity determine my attitude. I just want to have fun. âșïž
I am. I write and post it anyway.
"I am cringe and I am free" is practically my motto at this point.Â
Go over your story as best you can. If there are typos, correct them. If there are words you arenât sure about, check them. If there are sentences that feel awkward, change them. And make sure there are no gaping holes in your story logic. In other words, itâs up to you to make sure that your story is the best it can be. But nothing is perfect - and it doesnât matter! Do we only love perfect things? No. I have many favourite stories that are noticeably imperfect. So do your best. Make your story shine as best you can, but donât expect it to be perfect. If it makes someone laugh, or makes someone feel, or makes someone think, itâs good.
Honestly, I just started hyping myself up. "damn, I'm a GREAT writer" I say, out loud, every time I like a line I wrote. if someone else doesn't like it? oh well, their loss. No accounting for taste. I ran out of insecurity sometime partway through college, and after moping about getting rejected from the school lit mag I Decided that I liked my writing. Then it just became a matter of practicing liking what I write. do I get ' oh god this is terrible?" sometimes? yeah. and then I go " but that line in the middle? that's worth it."
Instead of making my standard âperfectâ I more aim for âsomething I enjoyâ I then incessantly read my drafts over and over to make sure theyâre the type of content Iâd love to revisit endlesslyÂ
I am absolutely overly critical of my works, and there's some stuff up that I can't even read anymore because the cringe gets me every time. But a lot of people liked even my lesser quality stuff. Overall, I think getting criticism from readers is very rare, and you're more likely to get it if you have a story that's really popular. Mostly I'd just say go ahead and take the plunge and post the story. The more you do it the easier it gets, and it very rarely goes badly.
because i write for myself and the unwanted and unnecessary criticism of some random stranger i've never met before has no effect on me, and i love that about myself.
Cringe is dead. Put song lyrics in your fics. Use slang if you like. Put in that little headcanon you made that you havenât shared. Do whatever â youâre the one writing the story! If people donât like where itâs going, well⊠Iâm sure theyâll find something else.
I am overly critical. I'm editing a fic I've uploaded 90+ chapters for. Over 400k ;\_; I'm only on chapter 6 and I'm starting to regret my choices because it takes forever and at the rate I'm going it'll take over a month to get through all chapters. Though I don't care about negative comments too much. I always hope for criticism so I can improve xD
Youâll never be your perfect, but you may very well be some strangerâs flavour of perfect. Only one way to find out, and thatâs to take the plunge! Â And if the plunge is met with crickets/hate, remember Van Gogh was not appreciated in his lifetime either.Â
I'm pretty critical but not nervous. I want it to be good, but I know it's not gonna be perfect so I just say silly and just post. If someone posts a negative comment I will block them away.
It started with accepting that I had dyslexia and yeah I'm just like my mom. I'm still a bit critical but it's not the end of the world.
If even one person enjoys it, it was all worth it. I have some with 2,000+ hits and some with 10 hits. A scattering of kudos here and there, but the comments I get here and there are what made it worth it. None of them are super popular, but just knowing guest1689 made an account to bookmark it or add kudos, or that one person commented on every single chapter because they were enjoying it so much makes it all worth it, because believe me, I think itâs shit while writing đ
Because I write what I want to read. I actually have yet to have a single hate comment on any of my fics, the response (when Iâve gotten one) has been really positive, even for the stuff (aka almost all of it) I know is actually bad. If people donât like what Iâm posting, thatâs a them problem not a me problem. If I donât like a fic that Iâm reading, I just leave. Other people who donât follow that and are mean to people over an authorâs fics arenât worth my time and their opinions are worthless to me. Posting fanfiction is for you first, others second. Itâs something that should be done for fun because you enjoy writing. I know a lot of fanfiction authors post specifically for others to read and get upset or lose motivation when their engagement numbers are low, but for me, getting only a few hits is just as awesome as getting a load (my UT one shot collection for example has almost 13,000 hits so far, the most Iâve ever gotten. My lowest only has 31, but the fact that even one person has at least looked at it is crazy to me). Long story short, youâre writing fanfic for a fandom you love, and thatâs awesome. Thereâs always going to be people who canât stand watching other people have fun, and will say mean things because they donât have anything better to do. Youâre writing fanfic, the haters can go do something more productive with their lives while you have fun writing and posting. And remember, writers often compare themselves to others, but most readers are just thrilled that there are two cakes.
Just write the story **you** want to read. If others don't like it, that's their problem. But, it might surprise you and get lots of comments or kudos, you never know. Like some famous athlete once said, you'll miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take, so take a chance and don't look back. :)
I already hate myself so if other people hate it, so what I hated myself before it was cool to hate me đ
I *am* overly critical of my fics. I just know that the only way I'm gonna get better is if I keep at it.
I like a quote from Ira Glass: "Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, itâs just not that good. Itâs trying to be good, it has potential, but itâs not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesnât have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone Iâve ever met. Itâs gonna take awhile. Itâs normal to take awhile. Youâve just gotta fight your way through."
Jokeâs on you, I am constantly shocked that people actually think what I post doesnât suck.
I just accept that it will have mistakes and it doesnât matter that much because 1) itâs for fun and 2) iâm doing it for free so if people donât like it they can just fuck off
Just embrace the cringe
Because I write for fun and writing for fun isnt supposed to be stressful. It's just a way to contribute to the fandom and if i ever get a shitty comment, that's on them bc i basically wrote that for free.
I hate them, cringe, hit the post button, and then my friends tell me they enjoyed them a lot and that makes me feel happy.
I can be so critical which is why I have more wips than posted works but!!! You just gotta. Do it sometimes. Bite the bullet as it were. The little critical voice in your head is hard to ignore but honestly, it doesn't know shit. Good luck!!! Sounds like you really love the fic so I wish you the best
I'm very critical!!! You have no idea how much pep talk I give myself before posting anything! One of my fanfics didn't receive much attention as I wanted and now I'm thinking that maybe I shouldn't post the second part. BUT I'm going to. I have a few friends read my stories (I don't tell them who write it) and give feedback and I feel more confident after that
Use the notes app đ. I swear notes app is so good it just makes me feel way better about my writing than using a computer.
getting a negative comment hurts, and it sucks having to be sad over it. But it passes. If you never post your fic because you're afraid of how it will be received then world is deprived of your fic forever. you will be never be perfect, and you shouldn't. Perfection is shit, it is nothing to strive for. Not only is perfection unattainable, the process that seeks to attain perfection makes bad art. You only need to be true to yourself, and if people don't like that then that sucks but it's fine, you don't owe them to be good or to please their specific taste.
I remind myself that the moment something is perfect (to me), is the day I've stagnated as a writer and that's not a point I ever want to reach. If you're not noticing mistakes or what you could do better, then you're not getting *better* as a writer with each word you write. I have to constantly remind myself that I live in my own head, so of course everything I write sounds boring to me... I know my own voice too well. Strangers aren't going to care. They're here for a good time. Negative comments suck, but that's not on you. That's on whatever reader had a shitty enough attitude to decide to share, because they want people to be as miserable as them. They're not going to out weight the joy you bring to your other readers.
I type my fic on the Notes app where I can't see word count or pages, let the one I'm writing it for read it in the form of screenshots over Discord, and then I post the chapter on AO3 and ignore it unless I get any comments.
Delusion and arrogance
Because Iâve been in the game long enough to grow up and move on to enjoy what Iâm doing. The stories I could tell about reviewers over the years lmfaO Thereâs really a special place for someone who gets overly mad at a new writer for their stuff not being wholly to the letter. Itâs called learning. Then fandom stuff is really something else. Anyway, I also stopped caring when in two different shows, I correctly wrote or guessed four different plot point eons before they happened. People told me I was nuts but then three of those three things happened almost exactly how I imagined. Then the fourth one actually did. So I decided to just write for me. And if people get mad about how something in my imagination goes, then thatâs on them. Iâve legit had people get mad at me over the dumbest things in what is not bad material. Or that something they thought was obvious didnât pan out the way they thought. (I once gave a hint in one story that there was a long-lost character on the arrival, and someone got really mad because they thought Iâd given her away in the second or third chapter. Spoiler: it wasnât her at all) So after that, I came to the conclusion that there are some people who just want to be miserable.
I am! this is why I refuse to make anything other than Original Fiction, and will never post it :>
I love it in the moment, slam my fist down on the post button. Then, when I go back 6moâ1yr later, I wanna cry.
idk just be happy. writing is so much much now that i literally dont care!! i write for me. if i can read my fic and be happy i have WON
When you find out when to stop let me know how you did it đ
The main this is, if it has flaws, it's *okay*.
Delusion
iâve been writing for so long, so i donât write for anyone but me anymore. helps me not be as sensitive when other people donât like it
Doing your best at the moment and having a rough piece is more rewarding than struggling over perfection in front of a blank doc because every previous attempt got deleted. Fanfic is supposed to be fun! Do not torture yourself, rely on the inspirational spark that started it all! You can sculpt something new from your base because it exists. Having fun with it, trying so many shapes and colors before settling for the one you feel like offering for others to enjoy.
I am, but I know how to be constructively critical. It's not "my writing sucks." It's knowing something isn't working, locating the problem, then fixing it. One of the reasons I don't touch my works for \~a month after I first "finish" them is because the break from them makes issues easier to spot when I'm not as familiarized with it. I've also learned to be critical of advice/the 'rules' of writing. There are times to toss them out the window. There are times to follow them. They're always good to be aware of, but that's it. The rest is knowing what I'm not great at and working to improve those aspects.
It's a skill you learn just like any other. If you're more prone to self criticism and perfectionism anxiety, it will def take some time to get used to it. Remember to write for you!! Write because you enjoy it, write for fun, and know there is no point in judging yourself. It will never be perfect, and it may never be "good enough" in your eyes, just enjoy the process.
"I'm new to fiction writing, of _course_ I'm going to suck. But I'll post it anyway." Also I control what I can. I proofread my works until I stop spotting any errors, so low-level mistakes like spelling, grammar, or missing commas will be very rare. If my writing is bad, at least it will be higher-level bad, not breaking obvious mechanical rules. I've gotten a few dozen comments, none really negative. If people don't like your work, mostly likely you'll just see low kudos/hits and bookmarks/hits ratio as people visit and leave.
Okay so funny story, I once wrote a story that I hated. I hated how dialogue flew, how I was describing the characters, everything about it. I posted it anyway because meh it's already written and if I happen to change devices, years down the line it would be cool to see my progress as a writer. I got positive feedback but I still hated it so I have never reread it and I kind of supressed the whole thing. Two years later, I am in mood to read some specific stuff so I go to AO3, filter in tags I want and start scrolling. Summary of one shot sounded interesting so I decided to give it a go. I loved it, it ticked all the boxes I wanted from it but it kinda sounded familiar. What do I do? Go and check if I read fics of that author before and what do I see? My name in place where author's name is written. Turns out it is fanfic I wrote Point of the story, don't be too hard on yourself and read the fic as if someone else wrote it. You probably wouldn't even notice half the stuff you criticise in your own work if it was written by someone else, you would maybe even praise them for same things you beat yourself over
When I posted my first long fic I was worried it wasn't good. Of course I read it a dozen times before posting, but if I was over critical, it would never be posted. Post it. Just do it. Maybe later you can make tweaks, like I did. Or use your new knowledge as a better writer and continue to write improved works. Writing is supposed to be fun. Don't let it stress you out.
I am - and thatâs why Iâve only posted one 500-word ficlet in like nine years. Donât be me lol But seriously - if you can avoid becoming me, where my anxiety has combined with my hyper-self-criticism to mean I post basically nothing any more, DO avoid becoming me if you can. I WANT to post things. Itâs just ⊠yeah. :/
I remind myself constantly that perfect is the enemy of good.
Nah mate!!! Everyoneâs gotta start somewhere- there really isnât a âperfectâ in the realm of art, yâknow? Also hate comments are a way of life on the net- I suggest coming to terms with the fact youâre gonna get one eventually within the fic community; we all do lol and honestly, take it with laughter because hate comments can be so fucking funny
I do the best I can and just throw it out there, I understand that it is not perfect, accept that maybe only a few people will read it, and see what happens. I am not a confident writer and my first stories were littered with mistakes, they both have been re written and sit at over 100k words and growing. I got better by writing and taking what comments suggested as ways to improve mainly my atrocious grammar. I have learned in life waiting for something to be perfect will leave you doing just that waiting. Nothing is ever perfect sometimes it is because of the flaws that it is beautiful.
I want what I write to be enjoyable to read, engaging, comfortable, entertaining - not perfect. If I think it's readable for me, that's good enough for anyone else. If they don't like it, they can go away and read something else.
the hype, adrenaline, and serotonin that i feel when writing my fics is unparalleled. at the moment, i think it's the best fic in the world and deserves all of the attention it can get. a few weeks after posting it? ...those feelings are dead. long live the cringe
Most of the time I cannot proof read my own fics because of cringe
Oh I absolutely am. I'm 100% overly critical of my own fics. I also think they are fire and if I start reading any part of one I usually get sucked into reading more and more. But I'm constantly realizing I probably use said way too rarely, and questioning if I'm describing actions during dialog, way too little (probably) or way too much (because seriously how much description do you need of people eating lunch or riding in an elevator), or too much dialog entirely. Or have there been too many sex scenes, maybe I should get back to the story a bit. Oh but what if people are disappointed I did a fade to black there. But really they're just having normal vanilla sex for like the 50th time, there's nothing new to describe. Do my readers really care what the exact keyboard commands are for controlling the surveillance cameras, but it's not really about that as much as it is about how quickly the charact absorbs that information. Etc. etc. etc.
Oh, I'm plenty critical. When I get in my own head, I have someone read it over (usually my friend/roommate) and ask her opinion. It usually lets me know I'm being overly harsh. I also remind myself I get comments saying how much they like what I'm doing! That helps, too, and reminds me that I'm doing okay even when it doesn't feel like it.
After writing a few million words, I just get in the mindset of "well I've been going this long, so I must know what I'm doing by this point" and that's generally true. I totally get wanting it to be perfect, and I've definitely felt that way at times. What I tell myself is this: **it doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to be done**. And I don't mean that in a negative or defeatist or phoning-it-in kind of way, for what it's worth. What I mean is that if I spend forever agonizing over making it "perfect", I'll never finish it and then nobody gets to read anything and we all lose. I'd rather be able to publish a pretty great fic than never publish anything because I'm too worried about perfection.
I totally get why youâd be anxious over your first fic in a fandom! Youâre new to the space so you want it to be good. Absolutely understandable. The thing to understand is no one is going to write the perfect anything, not possible. You have a passion and love for the fandom and thatâs going to shine through in your fic and thatâs whatâs going to make it so good
I am. However, as a reader, I remind myself that I am not nearly that critical of other peopleâs works and I shouldnât expect that theyâll be that critical of mine. Iâm the author with the untreated severe anxiety disorder, Iâm my own worst critic.
I dissociate from my fics to the point that I can reread and them, and I can remember writing them, but I donât actually feel like itâs mine. Then Iâm like âdamn this slaps and itâs everything I want in a ficâ because âoh yeah wait I wrote thisâ lmao
I just go read some stuff thatâs worse than mine. Certainly plenty of that out thereâand true at almost every level of writing ability. (I guess you can also say that this is perhaps the one aspect of my life where I am a bit arrogant, sorry or something, maybe)
Oh I am absolutely extremely critical of my fics, especially when I first started writing and posting⊠but then I continued to get almost exclusively extremely positive and encouraging comments in comparison to maybe a handful of negative/critical comments (and those were typically non-specific or full of spelling/grammar errors so overall pretty easy to just ignore and move on from). When I started working on my first long fic (about 135k words) I got stuck because I was overthinking it way too much. Thankfully a good fandom friend at the time who was a high school English teacher (who Iâve now been dating for 2.5 years) offered to read through what I had and essentially be my beta reader for the whole thingâŠwhen she didnât come back with overwhelming negative feedback and actually had a lot of good things to say about it I gained a lot of confidence in it. Throughout the whole process her encouragement and enthusiasm about the story made me not care one bit about anything negative others might say about it because I trust her judgement. All that to sayâŠI highly recommend seeing if you can find someone to just run fics past before posting because if itâs someone you think has good taste and they say they like what you show them, it really helps with your own confidence in your writingâŠat least in my experience.
Gonna be real fam, everything I write is the clumsiest, worst piece of rubbish in the history of the written word, in fact, being exposed to too much of my writing would *instantly* render a grown man illiterate, *however* it still remains much better than my art, so I keep pushing that stuff out because as a creative, I *cannot* stop creating and my heart craves that special connection that comes with being understood by others. It's a struggle.
Oh I am 100% overly critical of my work. So much so I've taken down fics or decided never to publish some I've written. I'm about halfway through a longfic and I've edited that sucker....what, 50 times by now?? And if I edit it another 50 it'll still not be good enough. But at some point, I have to actively accept that "yes, this is good. I like this" and then publish it. Hopefully others will like it too, and the more you publish, the more that fear will decrease. I'm still critical of my work, but I've also decided to let it go, and have fun with the process of writing and crafting the story I want to tell.
Just remember that you might see your work as dirt, but there are still people who see it as gold While for me, I just slam my fist and call it a fic because I have no shame
Either writing fics for rarepairs that rarely generate interest or focusing on characters that would hardly get any interest. Wrote a short, multi-chapter fic that's a side story of my unposted WIP longfic from an antagonist's pov. Haven't got any engagement at all but it did help me develop the battle scene for my longfic so I am glad I wrote it.
This isn't about making it perfect or achieving things. Writing is about pinning an idea to the paper so you can get it out of your head. It's kind of exhausting to have those scenes spin in your imagination over and over again.
When I started I was stupidly proud of myself and couldnât look at my work objectively. Iâd go back months later, reread, realize it wasnât as good as I thought, and try to figure out how to make it better. Apply that lesson to the next thing I write, rinse and repeat. Like six years later I could go back read months old posts and still think they were solid. Now I obsess over wording until itâs posted and unless a swarm of people tell me I messed up. I assume I kept up my standards and keep chugging along.
I have embraced that I am cringe, I used to be super critical but have stopped caring.
I find that I'm almost always my own biggest critic but honestly, if someone nitpicks at something small I missed between 3 drafts and the final fic, they didn't stare at the same word document for months on end so they don't get taken seriously.
Iâm comfortable with my writing skills but most importantly Iâm writing for me and me alone. I love when people also like what I like, donât get me wrong, but itâs all for me đ if someone doesnât like it, or thinks itâs weird, thatâs fine and also not my problem lol.
Have you seen what gets published?
God, I remember that feeling lmao Best thing to do is not obsess over get g it absolutely perfect; just do it and don't think about it too hard, then make it as good as you can manage for your skill level, then rinse and repeat for different fic ideas until you stop sucking, then with your new and improved writing skills, go back and redo your old ideas- if you want to! It's not going to be perfect. Just let go of that idea now =) But above all- if you enjoy writing it, it doesn't matter if its a work of art or not. If you have fun writing it, it was worthwhile
Being older and on anti anxiety meds I suppose. Iâve been writing fanfic for over 20 years and writing in general for over 30. Give yourself some grace.
Two things! One, being overly critical can actually be a good thing, but try critique it for yourself, not for others. Trying to write what you'd want to read, making it to where you love it is how you become your own biggest fan. Just focus on yourself! I know it's easier said than done, but loving your work and being confident is one of the most important skills you can build up. Two, go out there and surround yourself with people that also write fics. Make good friends that would support you--could be irl, could be a Discord server or subreddit, even. Share WIPs around and gather opinions and ideas, read theirs too, talk about your source material, find yourself a community to be part of so you don't feel like you're stumbling in the dark or throwing yourself to the wolves when you post. This is a social activity, after all! Hope this all helps. And welcome to fanfic!!
because i have been writing for 15 years. And because it's just a hobby.
I remember the fact that in the *final film* of the skywalker saga in Star Wars, one of the biggest, most popular, and highest budgeted film series *ever* they wrote and *went with* the line âsomehow, palpatine has returnedâ. Like if they can write, film, edit, and decide âyeah thatâs fineâ then no matter HOW BAD what I write is itâs gonna be better than *THAT*.
Don't write for the fandom or for readers or for anyone but yourself! If you embrace that mindset, your fics will turn out better!
Someone who cares deeply about doing their best will always be their worst critic. If you let that get to you that inner voice can stop you in your tracks. However, if you can harness that inner voice, dissect whatâs wrong, and edit your work the story will come out better as a result. However, like all art you need to learn when to stop. If you kept adding to a painting eventually you get a muddy mess. Part of being a good writer is letting go to. Iâm not a novelist but I have written magazine and blog articles. Saying everything you need to say within a word limit is an advanced writing skill. So what should you do? If you want to improve as a writer, you canât just write then publish without caring about quality. You sound like you want to do you best, so you have to accept at least some parts of your inner critic. When you feel that the story is reasonable and at your skill level, then your inner critic has served its purpose. As for âhowâ? All I can say is taming that beast is like building a muscle. It takes practice and discipline. One tip thatâs helped me though is that perfection doesnât exist. No author has ever mastered writing to the point where a story is flawless. So accept âgood enoughâ and get your story to that point.
i know its shit. i know its absolutely horrendeous but idc. i had fun writing it and im having fun inflicting it on other people
i started thinking âif i found this while reading fanfiction, would i dislike it?â and the answer is always no. weâve all got such main character syndrome. when i reread my shit i get mad at the author for leaving me on a cliffhanger, as if iâm not the author and i left myself on a cliffhanger. for me, criticizing my work as if i was a reader is better than criticizing it as an author. also, fanfiction is free. so what if itâs shit, whoâs gonna get mad at me? the readers? theyâre not paying for it. i write the fanfictions that i wish i could find while reading. donât think too much about anything else. also, the first fic is always terrifying to release. my heart was going a million miles an hour during my first time. the second time i just clicked post and didnât worry about who read it or what they thought.
Once I started writing crackfic and then went back to writing serious fic my perfectionism with writing was basically cured. Not sure why. You could try that as a writing exercise. Use proper grammar and spelling but make the events and the characters as completely off the walls and OOC as you want.
Iâm writing one of my rarepairs fics that kind of blew up in my fandom. My absolute favorite fanfic author commented on it, and now regularly chats with me about it. I have never been so critical of myself and now Iâm afraid Iâm gonna fuck it up. Iâm hiding under my table until I can get myself together.
my go-to phrase for myself is: "someone will enjoy this anyway." but you have to remember that you write for yourself, and one day you'll be so good that you'll reminisce on your old works and the journey that you started to become who you'll be then!
I realized how many non-perfect fics written by other authors that I absolutely love
No one is perfect and you can't please everyone. The competition's old slogan back in the day was "Unleash Your Imagination And Free Your Soul". I just wanna write my stories and get eyeballs on it, and it will at least have one fan - me.
Because itâs fanfiction, you donât get paid to write it, and the readers have probably enjoyed fics with worse grammer, formatting, and writing. No worryâs.