So, I rejoined a Homestuck Fanauthor Coalition a few days ago.
I'm not really a capital eff fanfic author these days--I used to be way more prolific back in '24--but I find that most fanfic authors have the same mindset that I have: writing for fun; to enjoy what you write; to make like-minded people happy that they can read things they enjoy.
And obviously it's been loads of fun! I'm loving seeing people discuss their AUs and fics and whatnot. People have lots of fun takes on characters and themes and stuff that Homestuck itself barely addressed and I love sharing my own takes on these same characters/themes! It's all very cool and awesome.
Yet, there's one question I see all the time. Lately it's been directed at me, but I've always seen variations on it being directed at all my favourite authors:
"How do I stop hating what I write?"; or, "How do you not hate what you write?"
I've been stewing over this question ever since I began writing. I never had a phase where I hated everything I wrote but that only made me more curious; how have I managed to avoid this seemingly unavoidable pitfall?
So, I did what any sane writer would do: I asked people why they hated what they wrote?
After I parsed through the answers, I came up with a list of common traps writers fall for and what advice I'd give people who are currently stuck in them. Of course, YMMV, but I'll try my best to give general advice that can service most writing styles. No writing advice is an one-size-fits-all, but hopefully this can help at least one person who reads this.
With no further ado, I'll get to the subheadings.
I've said this before on my previous article, but I can't stress it enough: First drafts are supposed to be bad. Occasionally, you'll get decent work on your first draft, but, genuinely, do not expect quality work from a first draft. Maybe on a third draft. Even then.
There's not much to elaborate on. Edit, edit, edit. It takes a lot to make something good.
This is an issue even the most self-indulgent writers have. Lots of people keep reading and rereading their drafts after their initial SPAG and plot passes and they keep feeling like something's off and when I (or one of my peers! I'm not taking all the credit here) try to proofread their work, they only have good things to say. Maybe an occasional nitpick. But they keep thinking something is off.
There's a pit I've seen some writers fall for here that I urge most of you to avoid: the writer in question sees some writing-based snake oil salesman that suggests X and Y writing quirks (e.g., sentence fragments, a specific 'clichéd' character archetype/setting, or worse--explicit representation of a specfic queer identity, disability or race) are fundamental flaws and must be purged ASAP out of their drafts. Do not fall for that garbage! Please get more idiosyncratic with your writing. Add more personality! Lots of people hate the sound of their own voice until they hear it so many times it becomes routine. Try to get uniquer with your writing! Fanfic's a great place to start, but I'd recommend you add your own quirks to your original work too!
You need to get used to your own voice is what I'm saying. We're all unique human beings and our voices are worth sharing even if it's only palatable by very few, if any, people. Which segues nicely to my next--and last--bullet point:
Here's a tough truth most of us will need to deal with:
For the beginning--and middle--and the end maybe----you'll be really fucking obscure. Almost nobody'll read your stuff.
This doesn't mean your work is bad. This doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong. This doesn't mean the World's wrong.
There's a lot of art out there. Not all of it appeals to everyone, of course, but this means that even a person with very niche tastes has enough media to drown in. Self-promotion rarely gives any results unless you have a budget and are writing something that's mainstream. It takes a lot of time and lot of charisma to build a community and it's totally valid to be squicked out by the thought of having to do it.
The zine I brought up in other places in this site has 10 downloads as of writing this. That's a lot. A lot. I'm incredibly excited about it. I barely did any promo for it and it's original work. I fully expected for it to be dead in the water. DOA. Yet, it seems to be resonating with people! One of my friends brought up how one of their friends read it upon their suggestion and loved it!
The point here is you'll never know when something will start resonating with other people! Publish that thing! Get it out there! Tell your friends about it!