Do you like the chapter? Did it say what you wanted it to say? If it did, I would leave it. Otherwise you're going to get tangled up in trying to interpret what your readers want rather than writing what you want.
I found the best way to cope with that is to embrace cringe, like if my work isn’t completely and unabashedly cringe in some way it’s not self indulgent enough. Anything good is cringe, at least the internet definition of such.
Honestly, reading the other replies, I think I agree that writing fanfic in and of itself is "cringe" so I may as well go with what I enjoy.
It's just such a haunting feeling when you are worried others are judging you to some degree 😬
Worry is normal. I just posted a new story last night. And my fandom’s been dying down so it took a while to get hits and no comments until this morning.
I freaked out last night. Like, complete wiggins. What if everyone hates me. What if its horrible. I don’t worry that it’s cringe, per se. But I worry that no one will read it because it stars the two characters who got written out of the last canonical season instead of the main ship, half of which is dead. I legit wrote a whiny rant on tumblr about how there’s this catch 22 where you can’t write a new story because no instant feedback will shut you down but why bother if you aren’t gonna share it.
So, yeah, being a wallowing mess after posting is completely normal. And I totally thought I was somehow ‘over’ it because my last story did really well, better than any of my other stories, and I was posting along, getting it done, and I was so full of optimism when I posted the last chapter and promised a new one at my usual schedule. Then crash!
So… this isn’t just a writing thing, its a life thing. I experiment with a different spice mix at dinner and warn everyone it might suck and they look at me like I’ve grown an extra head because I’m a good cook so why am I worried? Everything. Literally everything.
It’s terrifying. Every new thing is terrifying. Maybe because its ‘cringe;’ maybe because it’s ‘no good,’ maybe because ‘no one will like it’ in new, ineffable ways. Your brain will reach and stretch for the best way to explain the terror. Whoever invented the concept of ‘cringe’ was a genius at this because it seems so much like a real thing and everyone can apply it to almost any situation. Like, now we have a word for that sinking feeling that we’ve done something horrible and embarrassing—it must be an explanation and not simply a description of some mental phenomena!
So there’s nothing you can *do* about it but learn to live with it. Go with your gut on this one. If the chapter does what you want it to do, embrace it and persevere. If it doesn’t—sometimes your gut freaks out in exactly the same way because it can’t tell the difference between ‘actual wrong’ and ‘new’—you can delete (save a copy somewhere) and redraft and see if it calms you down. There’s a decent chance that redrafting will leave you with the same horrible feeling, but if you save it you can paste it back in and see which you like better.
I like to write ahead because I might have to shift things up to make the story work, and the further ahead I get, the easier it is to seamlessly tweak all those in-between chapters that haven’t been posted yet.
But the more you do new things that absolutely terrify you, the easier it becomes to keep doing new things that absolutely terrify you. They don’t stop terrifying you, you just care less about the terror.
This is all very true. In other parts of my life I second guess myself and over worry.
I think it's partially because I was already insecure about writing.
Words to live by: "I am cringe but I am free."
That doesn't even sound cringe, it sounds like you're building on canon characterization towards something interesting. But hey, sometimes it lands with a smaller audience than we hoped and that's okay. Keep it there if you feel like it fits the story and character and you like how it turned out, and just go with it. Persevere!
If there's a payoff still to come then I'd leave it.
Like has been said previously, are you writing for yourself or just your readers' (premature) expectations?
We write stories based on other people's stories about insane romances, angst, and epic adventures. I'm sorry to tell you but we all passed cringe a WHILE ago, lol. You just have to embrace it. If you think that you went too melodramatic then sure, rewrite until you're happy with it. Otherwise just leave all that glorious awkward on the Internet and pin it up next to the millions of other awkward passion projects.
😂😂 that's true!
I do worry it's laughably melodramatic, but then part of me is like "but it's supposed to be, because next chapter reality hits!" But it's just me being brave enough to have faith in my writing I think.
This is very much my situation.
My character has been weird all the way through so it's strange that this was what was too far for some. I too have left comment replies to everyone saying things along the lines of "it's supposed to be weird, but there is a reason I swear!"
I mean...it sounds like you led up to this with clues and foreshadowing. I don't know what else you were supposed to do. It sounds like you have a point to make coming, I'd say you still make it.
No matter how well you build up characters or the world they live in, there will always be readers who fail to pick up on clues or outright struggle with reading comprehension.
I honest to god had a reader think that a female character's uterus spontaneously regrew, because they couldn't figure out any other way she ended up with children despite the story having numerous examples of adoption, surrogacy, and sperm donation.
It's also possible that the readers do comprehend the build up. I've gotten WTF reactions and wordless keysmashes that were actually positive reactions, because the chapter just chimed so well with readers.
Are you sure it was the bad variety of “WTF?” I mean that’s what I say at the end of every Kubrick movie and those are definitely not cringe… just stunning but like in an “okay I don’t know what happened here but I think I liked it.”
It's pretty much always cringe in some way like what is less cringe then shopping two characters out of the blue an have them be the mommies for the antagonist child an the dead backstory sibling child where they do arts an crafts
Do you like the chapter? Did it say what you wanted it to say? If it did, I would leave it. Otherwise you're going to get tangled up in trying to interpret what your readers want rather than writing what you want.
Tbh I did like it and there is a purpose to it. Thank you
I found the best way to cope with that is to embrace cringe, like if my work isn’t completely and unabashedly cringe in some way it’s not self indulgent enough. Anything good is cringe, at least the internet definition of such.
I totally agree. Sometimes I think about orphaning my first 2 fics because they are cringey but like… it’s fanfic, it’s not that serious. Embrace it!
Honestly, reading the other replies, I think I agree that writing fanfic in and of itself is "cringe" so I may as well go with what I enjoy. It's just such a haunting feeling when you are worried others are judging you to some degree 😬
I know, but we’re all just internet strangers at the end of the day :)
True, I need to keep some perspective on the whole thing!
Very true!
Worry is normal. I just posted a new story last night. And my fandom’s been dying down so it took a while to get hits and no comments until this morning. I freaked out last night. Like, complete wiggins. What if everyone hates me. What if its horrible. I don’t worry that it’s cringe, per se. But I worry that no one will read it because it stars the two characters who got written out of the last canonical season instead of the main ship, half of which is dead. I legit wrote a whiny rant on tumblr about how there’s this catch 22 where you can’t write a new story because no instant feedback will shut you down but why bother if you aren’t gonna share it. So, yeah, being a wallowing mess after posting is completely normal. And I totally thought I was somehow ‘over’ it because my last story did really well, better than any of my other stories, and I was posting along, getting it done, and I was so full of optimism when I posted the last chapter and promised a new one at my usual schedule. Then crash! So… this isn’t just a writing thing, its a life thing. I experiment with a different spice mix at dinner and warn everyone it might suck and they look at me like I’ve grown an extra head because I’m a good cook so why am I worried? Everything. Literally everything. It’s terrifying. Every new thing is terrifying. Maybe because its ‘cringe;’ maybe because it’s ‘no good,’ maybe because ‘no one will like it’ in new, ineffable ways. Your brain will reach and stretch for the best way to explain the terror. Whoever invented the concept of ‘cringe’ was a genius at this because it seems so much like a real thing and everyone can apply it to almost any situation. Like, now we have a word for that sinking feeling that we’ve done something horrible and embarrassing—it must be an explanation and not simply a description of some mental phenomena! So there’s nothing you can *do* about it but learn to live with it. Go with your gut on this one. If the chapter does what you want it to do, embrace it and persevere. If it doesn’t—sometimes your gut freaks out in exactly the same way because it can’t tell the difference between ‘actual wrong’ and ‘new’—you can delete (save a copy somewhere) and redraft and see if it calms you down. There’s a decent chance that redrafting will leave you with the same horrible feeling, but if you save it you can paste it back in and see which you like better. I like to write ahead because I might have to shift things up to make the story work, and the further ahead I get, the easier it is to seamlessly tweak all those in-between chapters that haven’t been posted yet. But the more you do new things that absolutely terrify you, the easier it becomes to keep doing new things that absolutely terrify you. They don’t stop terrifying you, you just care less about the terror.
This is all very true. In other parts of my life I second guess myself and over worry. I think it's partially because I was already insecure about writing.
Better to be cringe and happy, than based and unhappy. \~Buddha
🙏 true!
Words to live by: "I am cringe but I am free." That doesn't even sound cringe, it sounds like you're building on canon characterization towards something interesting. But hey, sometimes it lands with a smaller audience than we hoped and that's okay. Keep it there if you feel like it fits the story and character and you like how it turned out, and just go with it. Persevere!
If there's a payoff still to come then I'd leave it. Like has been said previously, are you writing for yourself or just your readers' (premature) expectations?
True, think I'm getting too wrapped up with reader reaction than my own plan.
We write stories based on other people's stories about insane romances, angst, and epic adventures. I'm sorry to tell you but we all passed cringe a WHILE ago, lol. You just have to embrace it. If you think that you went too melodramatic then sure, rewrite until you're happy with it. Otherwise just leave all that glorious awkward on the Internet and pin it up next to the millions of other awkward passion projects.
😂😂 that's true! I do worry it's laughably melodramatic, but then part of me is like "but it's supposed to be, because next chapter reality hits!" But it's just me being brave enough to have faith in my writing I think.
"I am cringe, but I am free"
[удалено]
This is very much my situation. My character has been weird all the way through so it's strange that this was what was too far for some. I too have left comment replies to everyone saying things along the lines of "it's supposed to be weird, but there is a reason I swear!"
I mean...it sounds like you led up to this with clues and foreshadowing. I don't know what else you were supposed to do. It sounds like you have a point to make coming, I'd say you still make it.
No matter how well you build up characters or the world they live in, there will always be readers who fail to pick up on clues or outright struggle with reading comprehension. I honest to god had a reader think that a female character's uterus spontaneously regrew, because they couldn't figure out any other way she ended up with children despite the story having numerous examples of adoption, surrogacy, and sperm donation. It's also possible that the readers do comprehend the build up. I've gotten WTF reactions and wordless keysmashes that were actually positive reactions, because the chapter just chimed so well with readers.
Are you sure it was the bad variety of “WTF?” I mean that’s what I say at the end of every Kubrick movie and those are definitely not cringe… just stunning but like in an “okay I don’t know what happened here but I think I liked it.”
Pretty sure 😭. I *wish* it was positive, but I am no Kubrick. I'm under pressure to make the next chapter decent enough to make it all make sense!!
You can do it! I say power on!
It's pretty much always cringe in some way like what is less cringe then shopping two characters out of the blue an have them be the mommies for the antagonist child an the dead backstory sibling child where they do arts an crafts