on writing fanfiction
Mar. 11th, 2026 04:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
disc0_volantei've been writing a lot of drabbles recently , and a comment i've routinely got on them after i post them places is how true to the characters these little snapshots are . i , of course , appreciate this compliment a lot : characterizing any of the house cast is an incredibly difficult task , let alone characterizing them to the point of people being able to imagine these scenarios as occurring canon .
i love writing . i love the process of writing , and i love the end product ; i can't help but say i love the attention my writing gets from others , as well . but , at the same time , i've never been the type of person to routinely reread my works the same way i read other people's . whenever i go over my work again after , say , a week or a month or a year , i don't view it as a piece separate from myself , one that i like sitting down and rereading : all i can see are the flaws . people love my prose , but when i read it , all i can see are the flaws in it ; people tell me my characters are in character , and that , presumably , my dialogue is true to life , but when i go over it again none of it reads well . i don't like thinking the people who compliment me are lying to me , but its hard not to have that thought when i can't see where they're coming from . i tell people all the time that no matter what you write , no matter how horrible it might be , someone out there will love it . maybe that piece of advice comes from the worry that i'm the one writing those horrible works , and everyone who says they enjoy them is either unaware of truly great fiction , or is lying to my face .
i guess i just wish i could see my works from other people's perspectives , sometimes . i wish i could turn off the critical part of my brain and enjoy my writing for what it is , for how other people see it . but if i got that wish , would i still like my writing ? or would i realize that the part of me that hates myself , that never lets me feel accomplished in my tasks, was right the whole time ?
i love writing . i love the process of writing , and i love the end product ; i can't help but say i love the attention my writing gets from others , as well . but , at the same time , i've never been the type of person to routinely reread my works the same way i read other people's . whenever i go over my work again after , say , a week or a month or a year , i don't view it as a piece separate from myself , one that i like sitting down and rereading : all i can see are the flaws . people love my prose , but when i read it , all i can see are the flaws in it ; people tell me my characters are in character , and that , presumably , my dialogue is true to life , but when i go over it again none of it reads well . i don't like thinking the people who compliment me are lying to me , but its hard not to have that thought when i can't see where they're coming from . i tell people all the time that no matter what you write , no matter how horrible it might be , someone out there will love it . maybe that piece of advice comes from the worry that i'm the one writing those horrible works , and everyone who says they enjoy them is either unaware of truly great fiction , or is lying to my face .
i guess i just wish i could see my works from other people's perspectives , sometimes . i wish i could turn off the critical part of my brain and enjoy my writing for what it is , for how other people see it . but if i got that wish , would i still like my writing ? or would i realize that the part of me that hates myself , that never lets me feel accomplished in my tasks, was right the whole time ?
