How To Deal With Writer's Anxiety · 9:37pm May 31st, 2016
I'm writing this as a note to my future self.
I keep doing this thing, where I'll get an idea for a story, start working on it, then see someone else with the same story and it has a ton of views, and upvotes, and comments. I'll get this horrible anxiety wave, where I feel like what I'm writing isn't going to be good enough, that it's not going to be able to compete with that other story, that I'll just look like a poor attempt at copying it.
Well first off: this isn't a competition. Both our stories can be held in high regards, as I'm sure plenty of people would love to read endless amounts of stories about their favorite characters.
Secondly: Just because it has a bunch of views, comments and upvotes, doesn't mean it's going to be better, it doesn't mean I'm going to be inferior. It means a lot of people saw it, and liked it: that's it. It doesn't measure how much they liked it and it sure as hell doesn't guarantee it will be better than mine.
Third: You never really know WHY a story has so many views. They could have been doing this for years and built up quite the follower count. They could have a popular friend that helped them get in the spotlight.
Fourth: Not every comment on the story is going to outline what it might be lacking. There are plenty of stories with amazing numbers, that fall a bit short.
Fifth: This is not a competition. Readers will read until the end of time. They're not going to stop at one story, they'll want more and there's nothing wrong with giving it t them.
Stop getting so down just because you weren't the first to write it. It's not about the end result, it's about the journey.
http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/634472/i-need-to-stop-comparing-myself-to-others (Sorry)
4002265 Sorry?
4002269 Sorry.
4002271 Sorry for what lol
4002272 You posted your blog post on my blog post, and I posted my blog post on your blog post. Blog post. It was obligatory. Sorry.
4002277 https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/637431/how-to-deal-with-writers-anxiety#comment/4002277
4002284 https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/637431/how-to-deal-with-writers-anxiety#comment/4002284
I just came back to read this again and I have to thank you for writing it. It really got the adrenaline pumping. Yes, this, and my insatiable desire to prove my parents wrong after they told me I'd never amount to anything. Take that!
4115556 "So today I got to the last major section in the linear algebra book that I've been learning from for a while now. It's about eigenvalues and eigenvectors. Really cool stuff!
But now I can focus on some other really cool stuff, like multi-variable calculus, and quantum computing, and machine learning." Someone who posts this as a blog is clearly going places...like damn dude you must be one smart motherfucker.
4115557 Oh... Thank you! I'm very flattered. I would try to make a joke,
I'll leave it at that.