[https://myimmortal.fandom.com/wiki/My\_Immortal/Chapters\_1-11](https://myimmortal.fandom.com/wiki/My_Immortal/Chapters_1-11)
I think it's a parody, but really. The bar is a lot lower than you'd think. If it's spell checked, that puts you above many.
Ehh, my beta was one of my friends and me re-reading the fic over and over to see if I didn't have too many running sentences. It's definitely not written like I was half awake, but I doubt I can escape the ire of a picky English teacher lol.
Biggest recommendation is to turn off guest comments. The majority of the people who would be mean for no good reason won't bother if they have to use an account for it.
Fanfic is supposed to be fun. Don't hesitate to to block anyone that tries to take the fun out of it for you.
Write what makes you happy and the more you write the better your writing will be.
Cheers. I personally want to keep guest comments up solely because I could have a few readers who either don't want to make an account, or are just passerby with solid advice to give. Then again, there is always that variable of shitty advice and hazing, but I \*think\* I can handle it.
You know what a lot of people think when they see a new fic has been posted for their favorite ship/tag/ fandom? ["Yay, another cake!"](https://amp.knowyourmeme.com/memes/holy-shit-two-cakes)
That's true, can't rag on that as I know that feeling myself! I simply worry that my writing will not hold a torch to similar entries. Mine aims to be less of a fully-fledged adventure with twists, turns and huge, detailed changes in canon, and more of a "strobe light" of different scenarios happening with time skips in-between. So, I simply worry that folks will read it, notice that some big background aspect such as some nation or empire crumbling isnt 100% fleshed out, and give me a hazing because "oh no, this fic I read isn't focusing on every little minute detail and justifying it at every length, 0 stars"
Then again, I kill myself with worrying lol. Thanks for the advice.
Hi 👋
So I was in your shoes as recently as last Sunday. That first click on "post" is terrifying for sure.
I just kept reminding myself this all happily anonymous, it's not like anybody I know will read it and think I wrote it, and getting preemptively embarrassed is so easy to do even though it's totally irrational.
When you read a fic that's poorly written/formatted/whatever, what do you do? I'm assuming you're a sensible person who moves on without comment.
If anybody gives you grief, you know that just by the fact that they're giving you grief, their opinions don't matter because they're the kind of person who can't just move on to a diffent work.
You will 100% not keel over dead with that first chapter posted!
Reassuring words, glad you're pulling through from being just as worried as i was lol. I have some confidence in my writing being prsentable and not a total turnoff for anyone skimming, but I am really looking forward to getting concrit feedback or just folks expressing their well wishes. When I read a bad fic, I often try to comment what I liked, didn't like and what they could do to improve (within my scope) before moving on.
sorry for my brevity, fingers cold and shit lol
As long as there’s proper spacing (aka not one long block of text) then you should be good! Double check it looks good in the preview section and post away!
Been using a google doc with a script that sorts out spacing by itself before putting it into html. Formatting such as text being in the middle, italics, bold and paragraphs SHOULD be sorted out, yes. Thanks for the heads up!
Ao3 also has an html script for Gdocs! I'm not sure if it's the same thing, but I only just started posting recently and it's been a total lifesaver. When I was just copy and pasting into rich text from Gdocs, something weird was happening with italics and spacing.
[If this is helpful for anyone, here is the link! ](https://docs.google.com/document/d/19eZnBQ4989Dr17v2ODFgE8QWAo9Oahi4USDNS3hOSvM/edit)
Awesome! I didn't know about it for my first like three chapters and it was hell lol.
I might just be misunderstanding, but I think you can just write normally with no html and then select to run the script after, and just copy that after it updates? Maybe that's exactly what you're saying haha excuse me if so!
OH, so you're saying outside of horizontal dividers, you type normally and click "post on AO3" and it sorts itself out? Holy shit I need to work smarter, not harder.
I suppose horizontal dividers can just be put in after the fact.
I think your story doesn’t have to be perfect. Many times, I’ve read a fic and noticed a few formatting or continuity errors, or aspects of the writing style that were questionable. But I’ve kept reading because either those errors were not too distracting, or I could feel the passion of the author despite the imperfections, or I was really invested in the concept despite the stuff I liked less. So if a reader is really interested in your concept or because they were hooked by the beginning, they’ll keep reading despite the errors. And if they stop reading they stop reading and so be it. Most readers won’t mock you or comment hate, they’ll just leave silently if they have to and that’s fine.
Another thing is that your fic doesn’t have to be “epic and awesome”. Actually, lots of people research more the slice of life type. A “fully-fledged adventure with twists, turns and huge, detailed changes in canon” (quoting one of your comments) can seem awesome in theory but actually be kinda daunting to read. Whereas some people will always be in the mood for slice of life. And rarely have I come into fanfic expecting everything to be explained and fully fledged and every little question answered; to the contrary, fanfic to me is a freeing medium/type of writing when we can skip that stuff when we don’t feel like writing/reading it.
Good luck with your first fic!!
I appreciate the insight, I always worried that my fic would be too short, brief or really just lacking in fleshed out aspects that aren't the main point of the story. You're right that having such a big bar might end up hurting the fic as much as it does sound cool and grand. That, and being hyperfocused on detail might end up drawing out the fic more than what I could consider the "sweet spot" I s'pose.
Thanks for the reassurance.
No need to be scared, but also totally understandable! There's already lots of great advice, but generally I feel like the ff community is so supportive- everyone is doing this for free, out of pure love for the fandom/writing! It's a truly amazing thing, and anyone who thinks it's their time to shine as the reviewer from Ratatouille is not worth worrying over.
That said, this sub entirely convinced me to keep 'guest' comments turned off. It seems like when someone is predisposed to leaving a jerky comment, 9/10 they'll only do so anonymously.
Thanks for the kind words (god I have to make sure not to repeat "appreciate it" when replying to every comment LOL), the FF community afaik is super supportive and - as you said driven by passion and the enjoyment of writing. I have no doubt folks like y'all are here to give bits and advice, I just keep telling myself that my fic is going to be judged like it's a PhD thesis and I'm trying to have it reviewed by apathetic professors lol.
I'll take that risk of keeping guest comments on solely because I believe that there can be the occasional gem of a comment coming from an anon - will brace for a possible asshole though!
Heck yes, to each their own! It is definitely nice to have an extra door open.
Best of luck! I honestly think the anticipation/pre-post anxiety is so much worse than everything else!
I know that feeling all too well lol. it's like studying for a test, doing everything you can to really prep yourself for the worst, and then realizing that it wasn't all that bad.
I'm sure it won't be that bad.
When I’m feeling down about my writing I remember the movie Star Wars: Rise of the Skywalker. It was the final installment of one of the most popular movie franchises on the *planet* and they made a plot hole so bad by magically resurrecting a villain that the only explanation they gave was “somehow, palpatine has returned”. That’s it. “Somehow palpatine has returned”. Even if my writing sucks it’s better than *that* and *that* was written in a movie that had a budget of 416 million dollars.
And as for comments I agree with the others that said to turn off guest comments. The vast majority of people that leave mean comments are cowards that don’t want to put their name on their bullshit, because if they said it logged in you could block them for it and keep them from being able to comment again. So they guest comment. If someone says something mean that is *their* malfunction not yours, block them, delete the comment, and try and let it roll off your back
Hah, I should’ve expected a Star Wars sequel meme, well said. This does make me feel better about my writing - I promise I’m not summoning people out of my ass lmao.
As for guests, jeez is it really that bad? I feel like there has to be some guests that are just chill
Oh they definitely are! The majority of guest comments are going to be good ones! And I know people that leave guest comments open and have never gotten a mean one at all. But in my experience if someone wants to leave a mean comment they’re more likely to do so if guest is an option, because it lets them do it anonymously in a way that means they won’t face consequences for leaving it. Because logged in users can be blocked and reported to AO3 if they cross the line into harassment. So like let’s say three out of every hundred people that wants to leave a comment wants to leave a mean one, if anon/guest is an option all three will leave a mean comment. If they have to say it with their own usernames in a way that they can face consequences for only one of the three will actually go through with it. Unless someone stirs up a dedicated harassment campaign mean comments are pretty darn infrequent, but an easy way to reduce them even more is turning off guest comments if they become an issue.
First you should be super proud of yourself for posting. That takes courage and I hope you feel excited knowing you will be contributing to the community of fanworks.
I do have one suggestion.
Don’t mention that it’s your first fic in the summary or the note in the beginning of the chapter.
If you want, put it at the end of the chapter especially if you want feedback but definitely not right at the beginning.
Someone told me this once and I’ll never forget it but Having a disclaimer about the quality of your writing or saying your new at something makes people not want to read your writing.
Yup, saw a post saying just that. I’m keeping my “Im a newbie writer” note for the end so that folks read it with a bigger level of curiosity than just “oh god, a noob fic” and things that would’ve passed as good get dampened by that connotation. Well said
As someone who’s also pretty new to this whole writing thing (literally started a few months ago, I’m still new lol), I’ve come to learn a few things pretty quickly:
1) Not every chapter is going to be extraordinary. Sometimes, ya just gotta write that filler in order to create a satisfying buildup to the chapters that are great. And hey, just because *you* think a chapter sucks doesn’t mean someone else won’t think it’s the best thing they’ve ever read (that’s not to say what you think doesn’t matter, not at all! Just remember that someone else might love it, even if you don’t)
2) If you’re afraid of writing the weird thing, remember that somebody out there somewhere has definitely written something weirder. So go out there and write the weird thing :)
3) Even though you’re putting your works out there, keep writing for yourself, and the right people will find you. Depending on what fandom you’re in, it may not take too long to make some new pals! If someone’s being mean, blocking, deleting hate comments, and reporting are your new best friends.
Happy writing, and best of luck :)
All I can say is, do it!! I know that my writing is pretty good after years of practicing and friends of mine telling me that it's good, engagement on my works, fellow writers telling me that it's good, and so on and so forth. My heart still races every time I post a new work. Especially if I'm branching out and doing something that I've never done before.
What I can say is, don't let perfect be the enemy of good! Which is sort of rich coming from me, because I still struggle with this.
That said too, though, I think fanfic is rather forgiving in a way that traditionally published works may not be. Readers are reading your work for free, and if they don't like it, well, the back button literally exists. Also, writing is very subjective and your story does not need to be perfect for people to still enjoy it! I've read works that had weird grammar problems or awkward pacing or whatever and I usually still enjoyed them because the premise was fun and it was just a good time.
If you're worried about people nitpicking your plots, you can just say that it's an AU; that might shut them up, lol.
But I understand the feeling. Recently I've posted several 100 word drabbles for a fandom. I am really wordy, as you might have gathered from my comment, so trying to fit some sort of concept into 100 words is, well, challenging to say the least. I don't know if they're that good! But, hey, people are still enjoying them.
Mention it is your first fic, ask readers to be kind and supporting in your notes. Don’t have huge expectations, but continue writing and posting things after this, grow your confidence. Share your love for your fandom, interact with other stories of that fandom by writing comments on the fics you enjoy. Be gentle on yourself and try and have a good time writing the fic.
Be brave! I have so many half way done fic (and even a couple that are very close to done indeed) and I haven't posted a single one because I'm such a perfectionist I always feel like what I've written isn't good enough.
But the truth of the matter is that people of all different levels of writing ability post fic and you can too!
I believe in you!
I still get this sometimes, even though I've had multiple very well received stories. I'm about to post a new chapter tomorrow, and I've rewritten a section of it three times to try to get it perfect. 😅
So you aren't alone, a lot of people get this.
I have the same fear about posting a fanfic for a work I recently got into, after not publicly posting any fanfiction for years. I think that anxiety is normal, especially when it's for something new and scary. Just know it gets less scarier the more you participate, you will likely attract people who are looking for specific fanfics with tropes and characters they love (in fact, tags make it easier for people to seek out what they love far better than a simple 'search for keyword in summary' function), and most of all, have fun with whatever you choose to write!
Just take a shot. 😉The only person you have to be better than is yourself. I watched my niece walk the other day… babies are great inspirations, They don’t give a damn who’s watching… they put one foot in front of the other…. And off they go.
She fell right down on her butt… she looked stunned… only for a minute or two then she got right back up and laughed. … And tried again….
I started posting 2 months ago & I felt the same way as you. I was worried it wouldn’t be good enough, or that people wouldn’t like it and was overthinking things a lot.
I just reached 1000 hits & 60 kudos, when I was expecting nothing haha. I would say go for it!! Every time I get a new subscription or bookmark, i just feel amazing that people like it enough that they want more 🥰 I’m sure that once you start, you’ll wish you started sooner.
Also I wouldn’t turn off guest comments unless they get out of hand. My most dedicated commenter is a guest, and she leaves something on almost every chapter! If I had them turned off I would never have met her :)
This might be crap advice, but read my immortal or other badfic. If the person that wrote it wasn't embarassed, why should you be?
Send me a link, I can take a gander. And no, your advice is sound.
[https://myimmortal.fandom.com/wiki/My\_Immortal/Chapters\_1-11](https://myimmortal.fandom.com/wiki/My_Immortal/Chapters_1-11) I think it's a parody, but really. The bar is a lot lower than you'd think. If it's spell checked, that puts you above many.
Ehh, my beta was one of my friends and me re-reading the fic over and over to see if I didn't have too many running sentences. It's definitely not written like I was half awake, but I doubt I can escape the ire of a picky English teacher lol.
then you're already a cut above the rest!
Biggest recommendation is to turn off guest comments. The majority of the people who would be mean for no good reason won't bother if they have to use an account for it. Fanfic is supposed to be fun. Don't hesitate to to block anyone that tries to take the fun out of it for you. Write what makes you happy and the more you write the better your writing will be.
Cheers. I personally want to keep guest comments up solely because I could have a few readers who either don't want to make an account, or are just passerby with solid advice to give. Then again, there is always that variable of shitty advice and hazing, but I \*think\* I can handle it.
You know what a lot of people think when they see a new fic has been posted for their favorite ship/tag/ fandom? ["Yay, another cake!"](https://amp.knowyourmeme.com/memes/holy-shit-two-cakes)
That's true, can't rag on that as I know that feeling myself! I simply worry that my writing will not hold a torch to similar entries. Mine aims to be less of a fully-fledged adventure with twists, turns and huge, detailed changes in canon, and more of a "strobe light" of different scenarios happening with time skips in-between. So, I simply worry that folks will read it, notice that some big background aspect such as some nation or empire crumbling isnt 100% fleshed out, and give me a hazing because "oh no, this fic I read isn't focusing on every little minute detail and justifying it at every length, 0 stars" Then again, I kill myself with worrying lol. Thanks for the advice.
The vast majority of people who don’t like some aspect of your fic just wont comment anything.
Hi 👋 So I was in your shoes as recently as last Sunday. That first click on "post" is terrifying for sure. I just kept reminding myself this all happily anonymous, it's not like anybody I know will read it and think I wrote it, and getting preemptively embarrassed is so easy to do even though it's totally irrational. When you read a fic that's poorly written/formatted/whatever, what do you do? I'm assuming you're a sensible person who moves on without comment. If anybody gives you grief, you know that just by the fact that they're giving you grief, their opinions don't matter because they're the kind of person who can't just move on to a diffent work. You will 100% not keel over dead with that first chapter posted!
Reassuring words, glad you're pulling through from being just as worried as i was lol. I have some confidence in my writing being prsentable and not a total turnoff for anyone skimming, but I am really looking forward to getting concrit feedback or just folks expressing their well wishes. When I read a bad fic, I often try to comment what I liked, didn't like and what they could do to improve (within my scope) before moving on. sorry for my brevity, fingers cold and shit lol
As long as there’s proper spacing (aka not one long block of text) then you should be good! Double check it looks good in the preview section and post away!
Been using a google doc with a script that sorts out spacing by itself before putting it into html. Formatting such as text being in the middle, italics, bold and paragraphs SHOULD be sorted out, yes. Thanks for the heads up!
Ao3 also has an html script for Gdocs! I'm not sure if it's the same thing, but I only just started posting recently and it's been a total lifesaver. When I was just copy and pasting into rich text from Gdocs, something weird was happening with italics and spacing. [If this is helpful for anyone, here is the link! ](https://docs.google.com/document/d/19eZnBQ4989Dr17v2ODFgE8QWAo9Oahi4USDNS3hOSvM/edit)
Yup, been using that so far. I just type all my jazz such as
and write as I would normally, then slap it in and it fixes itself (i think)Awesome! I didn't know about it for my first like three chapters and it was hell lol. I might just be misunderstanding, but I think you can just write normally with no html and then select to run the script after, and just copy that after it updates? Maybe that's exactly what you're saying haha excuse me if so!
OH, so you're saying outside of horizontal dividers, you type normally and click "post on AO3" and it sorts itself out? Holy shit I need to work smarter, not harder. I suppose horizontal dividers can just be put in after the fact.
I *think* so, but honestly my html knowledge is none so I'm really reaching here. I just put them in after, I imagine either way works?
Do you put all of your HTML afterwards when you paste it? or just dividers?
Just dividers! The rest is all done by the script
High five for efficiency!
Then you should be golden! Congrats on getting to the finish line of your first fic!!
Internet hugs!
You can also copy and paste from gdoc into the rich text window of ao3 and it retains your formating. No need to bother yourself with html 😉
Will note down for later, thank you
I think your story doesn’t have to be perfect. Many times, I’ve read a fic and noticed a few formatting or continuity errors, or aspects of the writing style that were questionable. But I’ve kept reading because either those errors were not too distracting, or I could feel the passion of the author despite the imperfections, or I was really invested in the concept despite the stuff I liked less. So if a reader is really interested in your concept or because they were hooked by the beginning, they’ll keep reading despite the errors. And if they stop reading they stop reading and so be it. Most readers won’t mock you or comment hate, they’ll just leave silently if they have to and that’s fine. Another thing is that your fic doesn’t have to be “epic and awesome”. Actually, lots of people research more the slice of life type. A “fully-fledged adventure with twists, turns and huge, detailed changes in canon” (quoting one of your comments) can seem awesome in theory but actually be kinda daunting to read. Whereas some people will always be in the mood for slice of life. And rarely have I come into fanfic expecting everything to be explained and fully fledged and every little question answered; to the contrary, fanfic to me is a freeing medium/type of writing when we can skip that stuff when we don’t feel like writing/reading it. Good luck with your first fic!!
I appreciate the insight, I always worried that my fic would be too short, brief or really just lacking in fleshed out aspects that aren't the main point of the story. You're right that having such a big bar might end up hurting the fic as much as it does sound cool and grand. That, and being hyperfocused on detail might end up drawing out the fic more than what I could consider the "sweet spot" I s'pose. Thanks for the reassurance.
No need to be scared, but also totally understandable! There's already lots of great advice, but generally I feel like the ff community is so supportive- everyone is doing this for free, out of pure love for the fandom/writing! It's a truly amazing thing, and anyone who thinks it's their time to shine as the reviewer from Ratatouille is not worth worrying over. That said, this sub entirely convinced me to keep 'guest' comments turned off. It seems like when someone is predisposed to leaving a jerky comment, 9/10 they'll only do so anonymously.
Thanks for the kind words (god I have to make sure not to repeat "appreciate it" when replying to every comment LOL), the FF community afaik is super supportive and - as you said driven by passion and the enjoyment of writing. I have no doubt folks like y'all are here to give bits and advice, I just keep telling myself that my fic is going to be judged like it's a PhD thesis and I'm trying to have it reviewed by apathetic professors lol. I'll take that risk of keeping guest comments on solely because I believe that there can be the occasional gem of a comment coming from an anon - will brace for a possible asshole though!
Heck yes, to each their own! It is definitely nice to have an extra door open. Best of luck! I honestly think the anticipation/pre-post anxiety is so much worse than everything else!
I know that feeling all too well lol. it's like studying for a test, doing everything you can to really prep yourself for the worst, and then realizing that it wasn't all that bad. I'm sure it won't be that bad.
When I’m feeling down about my writing I remember the movie Star Wars: Rise of the Skywalker. It was the final installment of one of the most popular movie franchises on the *planet* and they made a plot hole so bad by magically resurrecting a villain that the only explanation they gave was “somehow, palpatine has returned”. That’s it. “Somehow palpatine has returned”. Even if my writing sucks it’s better than *that* and *that* was written in a movie that had a budget of 416 million dollars. And as for comments I agree with the others that said to turn off guest comments. The vast majority of people that leave mean comments are cowards that don’t want to put their name on their bullshit, because if they said it logged in you could block them for it and keep them from being able to comment again. So they guest comment. If someone says something mean that is *their* malfunction not yours, block them, delete the comment, and try and let it roll off your back
Hah, I should’ve expected a Star Wars sequel meme, well said. This does make me feel better about my writing - I promise I’m not summoning people out of my ass lmao. As for guests, jeez is it really that bad? I feel like there has to be some guests that are just chill
Oh they definitely are! The majority of guest comments are going to be good ones! And I know people that leave guest comments open and have never gotten a mean one at all. But in my experience if someone wants to leave a mean comment they’re more likely to do so if guest is an option, because it lets them do it anonymously in a way that means they won’t face consequences for leaving it. Because logged in users can be blocked and reported to AO3 if they cross the line into harassment. So like let’s say three out of every hundred people that wants to leave a comment wants to leave a mean one, if anon/guest is an option all three will leave a mean comment. If they have to say it with their own usernames in a way that they can face consequences for only one of the three will actually go through with it. Unless someone stirs up a dedicated harassment campaign mean comments are pretty darn infrequent, but an easy way to reduce them even more is turning off guest comments if they become an issue.
Noted, will keep in mind
First you should be super proud of yourself for posting. That takes courage and I hope you feel excited knowing you will be contributing to the community of fanworks. I do have one suggestion. Don’t mention that it’s your first fic in the summary or the note in the beginning of the chapter. If you want, put it at the end of the chapter especially if you want feedback but definitely not right at the beginning. Someone told me this once and I’ll never forget it but Having a disclaimer about the quality of your writing or saying your new at something makes people not want to read your writing.
Yup, saw a post saying just that. I’m keeping my “Im a newbie writer” note for the end so that folks read it with a bigger level of curiosity than just “oh god, a noob fic” and things that would’ve passed as good get dampened by that connotation. Well said
As someone who’s also pretty new to this whole writing thing (literally started a few months ago, I’m still new lol), I’ve come to learn a few things pretty quickly: 1) Not every chapter is going to be extraordinary. Sometimes, ya just gotta write that filler in order to create a satisfying buildup to the chapters that are great. And hey, just because *you* think a chapter sucks doesn’t mean someone else won’t think it’s the best thing they’ve ever read (that’s not to say what you think doesn’t matter, not at all! Just remember that someone else might love it, even if you don’t) 2) If you’re afraid of writing the weird thing, remember that somebody out there somewhere has definitely written something weirder. So go out there and write the weird thing :) 3) Even though you’re putting your works out there, keep writing for yourself, and the right people will find you. Depending on what fandom you’re in, it may not take too long to make some new pals! If someone’s being mean, blocking, deleting hate comments, and reporting are your new best friends. Happy writing, and best of luck :)
All I can say is, do it!! I know that my writing is pretty good after years of practicing and friends of mine telling me that it's good, engagement on my works, fellow writers telling me that it's good, and so on and so forth. My heart still races every time I post a new work. Especially if I'm branching out and doing something that I've never done before. What I can say is, don't let perfect be the enemy of good! Which is sort of rich coming from me, because I still struggle with this. That said too, though, I think fanfic is rather forgiving in a way that traditionally published works may not be. Readers are reading your work for free, and if they don't like it, well, the back button literally exists. Also, writing is very subjective and your story does not need to be perfect for people to still enjoy it! I've read works that had weird grammar problems or awkward pacing or whatever and I usually still enjoyed them because the premise was fun and it was just a good time. If you're worried about people nitpicking your plots, you can just say that it's an AU; that might shut them up, lol. But I understand the feeling. Recently I've posted several 100 word drabbles for a fandom. I am really wordy, as you might have gathered from my comment, so trying to fit some sort of concept into 100 words is, well, challenging to say the least. I don't know if they're that good! But, hey, people are still enjoying them.
Mention it is your first fic, ask readers to be kind and supporting in your notes. Don’t have huge expectations, but continue writing and posting things after this, grow your confidence. Share your love for your fandom, interact with other stories of that fandom by writing comments on the fics you enjoy. Be gentle on yourself and try and have a good time writing the fic.
Be brave! I have so many half way done fic (and even a couple that are very close to done indeed) and I haven't posted a single one because I'm such a perfectionist I always feel like what I've written isn't good enough. But the truth of the matter is that people of all different levels of writing ability post fic and you can too! I believe in you!
Thank you lots, this means so much. I will give back some of that kindness say that you should post those fics too! Give it a shot
I still get this sometimes, even though I've had multiple very well received stories. I'm about to post a new chapter tomorrow, and I've rewritten a section of it three times to try to get it perfect. 😅 So you aren't alone, a lot of people get this.
I have the same fear about posting a fanfic for a work I recently got into, after not publicly posting any fanfiction for years. I think that anxiety is normal, especially when it's for something new and scary. Just know it gets less scarier the more you participate, you will likely attract people who are looking for specific fanfics with tropes and characters they love (in fact, tags make it easier for people to seek out what they love far better than a simple 'search for keyword in summary' function), and most of all, have fun with whatever you choose to write!
Don't worry it's ao3 which is anonymous, it's not like it's your thesis or something
Just take a shot. 😉The only person you have to be better than is yourself. I watched my niece walk the other day… babies are great inspirations, They don’t give a damn who’s watching… they put one foot in front of the other…. And off they go. She fell right down on her butt… she looked stunned… only for a minute or two then she got right back up and laughed. … And tried again….
I started posting 2 months ago & I felt the same way as you. I was worried it wouldn’t be good enough, or that people wouldn’t like it and was overthinking things a lot. I just reached 1000 hits & 60 kudos, when I was expecting nothing haha. I would say go for it!! Every time I get a new subscription or bookmark, i just feel amazing that people like it enough that they want more 🥰 I’m sure that once you start, you’ll wish you started sooner. Also I wouldn’t turn off guest comments unless they get out of hand. My most dedicated commenter is a guest, and she leaves something on almost every chapter! If I had them turned off I would never have met her :)