Anonnie · 10d

I tend to write cringey scenes even when I don’t mean to, and I always end up worrying afterward for writing something corny. Because of that, I sometimes feel the urge to gatekeep my writing just to protect myself because I’m scared people might call it out. How do you get past the fear of being judged for writing?

Hi dear anon!
I definitely get where you're coming from! Writing something and sharing it makes us vulnerable, it's scary to put something out in the open with the possibility of being judged or criticized...
My biggest advice is that you should try to focus on the positive aspects of sharing your writing. Yes, it might be judged (and hopefully the people who do won't tell you), but what about the people who might absolutely love it? Yes, even the cringey and corny parts! I personally think my own writing is pretty corny as well, but I love a bit of corniness in a fic! I love a cheesy cliche! I assure you that there is an audience for everything, and we're all doing this as a hobby, so of course your writing isn't perfect but that is absolutely okay!!

What I also always try to do is put it into perspective by looking at myself: do I dislike some fics? Of course! So some people will probably not like mine, but that is okay as long as they keep it to themselves! When I began writing, I first kept it to myself too, but then I thought to myself, hmm maybe someone else might like this too! Who knows! I'll just throw it on ao3 and see what happens! And here I am, more than 5 years later still sharing it, whether only 10 people love it or 100, I'm happy I can make at least one person's day a little better with a fic!

It’s not easy to get rid of the fear, but in all my time of writing, I've never been called out for cringey or corny writing. I hope you can try to focus on the positives dear anon and I wish you a lot of luck and joy in writing! You can be proud of yourself for creating whether you share it or not 🩷🩷

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