A Solemn Fathers Day and The Realization that I am no Longer Original · 9:59pm Jun 17th, 2018
Hello my beautiful followers! This fathers day I went on a two hour drive to my grandfathers grave, and had a nice lunch with the remaining two members of my extended family, plus my father, who I had treated today to a nice breakfast at a Diner.
(Here is Professor Trevor Bruttenholm, one of the best fathers in all of fiction.)
On that while dining I noticed that my searching through the various groups in Fimfiction and adding my story to the relevant ones the night before led to a tiny additional dislike in all of them. Sure my ratio is excellent compared to others, but I sort of came to the conclusion that maybe I am not original anymore....
That I have taken so long in my stories between chapters that others have done better than me with similar concepts and I have come across as a crappy copycat.
The same way that Hydrox has been around longer than Oreos but in the end it is the Oreo that survived, thrived and is better well known and beloved in the public consciousness, all because of better marketing. (probably)
In the end any and all things that I tried doing differently might have been done before one way or another, have become really popular and the fans of those works recent me for even trying.
So in the end I feel as if I have in many ways failed.
I also made the mistake of publishing at the same time as more popular works.
And also.... I might even suck. A lot.
So it sort of feels that in the end I am a sort of drop in the fucking bucket no mater what I do.
So in the end maybe I should stop before the whole thing is brought into enough infamy and down voted to oblivion. No mater how good my percentage is now, maybe my audience is too niche for it to be more popular than it already is, and that trying to will only lead it falling under further scrutiny.
So.... While I will finish them. Part of me wonders if I should abandon them and move to greener pastures with newer stories. No mater how much it pains me....
As it says in the Good Book, there is nothing new under the sun. Very few stories on here are truly, totally original: I know for certain that I am not, and I don't necessarily strive to be. And I've gotten my share of dislikers in the many years since I've started writing, but I've learned and grown enough so that I don't take it personally. You shouldn't either: if you try to please everyone, you won't please anyone, least of all yourself.
People (myself included) read your stories because we crave a good story. There might be some familiar aspects to it, but that's totally fine! What matters is that the story is enjoyable and fun, with good characters and an interesting plot. These are things that you have provided in spades! If life gets in the way, that's fine: we understand.
But you shouldn't write because of other people: you should write because it's what you want, what you enjoy. If you don't enjoy writing a story and enjoy writing a different story, then write that one instead. Do what makes you happy and what will help you grow as a writer. That's the best advice I can give you.
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Right, I'll get back to work then. Also, I need to catch-up on your Atl. Universe. Sort of thirsting for that stuff.