Whelp, I'm not dead · 8:11pm Nov 3rd, 2015
Hey guys, it's been a few months since I've posted my first story on fimfiction. Since then, the response was phenomenal and also quite intimidating (which is why my story count is still at 1). Believe me, I started writing but every time I'd hit a road block where I'd just delete everything because I felt like it wasn't good enough. And with classes starting... well, let's just say writing got pushed to the back of the queue. However, it's always been nagging at me because darn it, I hate that I'm basically running away because I feel like I'll never write a story that will match up to the first one.
I remember when I was planning that first story with dreams of building my writing skills in order to achieve my future goals.
1. Write a story with over 100 likes.
2. Write a story with over 200 likes.
3. Over 500 likes.
4. Over 1000 likes.
5. Write a story someone will do an audio recording of.
6. Write a story that inspires someone to make art for.
And with the first one, I knocked 5 of those goals down and more. It was so incredible yet so... depressing. I've considered just leaving this account and making a new one so I can just start over without any expectations but the very thought pissed me off cause it made me like a complete coward.
I started writing on this site because I wanted to get better. I had the resolve in the beginning for criticism (which I got) but it was basically drowned in praise and I got a big head and a weak constitution for harder words. I learned more from the criticism for this one story than an entire year of high school English but I've been too cowardly to implement it and publish it.
I'm writing this blog post in order to get all these feelings out. I want to start anew. My last story was an anomaly, and I want people to know that. I'm not some amazing writer (if you read my story and its countless adverbs, you'd know) where all my ideas are gold. I'm just a student who always admired the people of this fandom and the amazing content they've created and wanted to somehow contribute to it. I'm sorry to the people who followed me expecting amazing things immediately but it'll probably take me a while to get there.
I'm a goal orientated person I'll just set one up right now because I've been getting nowhere. I'll post another short story on the 15th of November. I have no idea what it'll be since I wanna scrap all my previous ideas but I'll write a minimum of 200 words per day to get started and we'll see how it goes from there. I don't know how good it will be but I promise to write to the best of my abilities and I hope that you guys will be able to support me and provide some constructive feedback for when it's out. Thanks for reading and I'll see you in ~2 weeks.
Glad you're alive!
Congratulations – you found the opposite end of the reason that many writers will tell you to write because it's fun, not because you want to be popular. Expectations put upon you are only the fault of the readers, until you make claims, so you really shouldn't worry about those too much, or if necessary, even acknowledge their existence. Also, if you are going to compare following stories to your first, it would best be done in terms of something more substantial to you, such as how much you enjoyed writing it.
I doubt that something similar in theme by any writer would have fared much differently. You could probably match the success of your first story by writing something close to it, or, if I dare say, a sequel. If that prospect doesn't sound enjoyable then you probably understand what I mean about expectations vs. your own thoughts and feelings.
tl;dr: Blame the readers for everything
, have fun improving anyway, and my previous offer is still open.
3521216
Thanks! I like not being dead :D
3521402
Haha yes, it's going to be a bit rough with school and the billion other things on my plate but I've always enjoyed writing so I'll keep chugging. I've got a few hundred words right now but the ideas are flowing so I think I can make that deadline. I'll probably message you a link to the story (fingers crossed that it'll be next week) and I'd really appreciate it if you could give it a look over.