Y'aaaaaaallllllll..... The Sheer Amount Of Fanfiction Ideas I Have Is Ridiculous. And Here I Am Getting

Y'aaaaaaallllllll..... the sheer amount of fanfiction ideas I have is ridiculous. And here I am getting ready to work on something and then.... but what if..... new idea. Welp, I am now writing a Wen Qing/ Lan Wangji collusion story. This is going to be... something. I can smell the angst from here though.

Time to rewatch The Untamed! Episode 1: Opening is very cheesy. I love cheese so much. I love the scene after the storyteller, where the guy with the flag is walking through the town and the wind blows the flag against the doors. And then here is chaos gremlin. I think it is interesting in this translation he is said to say "Break their arm" instead of cut it off. Also, Jingyi's face is permanently disgusted/sneering. How did he get away with that resting sneer face in the Lan clan? But the best two things are "Peanuts tasted better thirteen years ago." and "Why does this alcohol taste like water?" Because first: How does WWX know how long it has been exactly? Second: Of course, it tastes like water, he took it from a Lan clan member's table. Silly man.

Also, he is like "a cut for a life" goes in and acts a fool and then is like... "oop guess I actually have to kill them"? Seeing some inconsistencies that I didn't think about the first time. Maybe it is just the different translation.

i had three fic ideas.  wrote one.  i still have three fic ideas.  this is not how math is supposed to work.

Just had to talk a friend down from a two cakes crisis. Her cakes - meaning her fic - are absolutely fine, but she felt a little down and checked out the rest of the dessert table. She got caught up in the whole comparison thing. "Oh man, this fic is way better than mine 😞."

And hoo boy, have I ever been there. When I was writing prolifically, I just wouldn't read. I couldn't because I knew I'd go into that fic measuring mindset and declare myself the loser, have to step away from the keyboard and stare out the window a while. And if I had an exchange deadline? Absolute worst timing.

Not everyone goes through that of course, but it's more common than you think, even with so-called established writers. I've seen people delete wips or even their whole account over that burden of doubt. So here are some possible tips to crawl out from under that burden:

Table it. You're done for the day. You've been staring at that cursor for too long. You have no perspective on your work anymore. Go do something else: play with your dog/cat/fish, go for a walk, eat something, go to bed if it's late.

Re-engage with the source material. Watch an episode, read a chapter, listen to that podcast, whatever it is. Find that voice in your head that sings in harmony with the source.

Read positive comments left on your previous work. Trust what they've told you. Because the liar here is your doubt, not your readers.

Hit up that friend you trust and ask them to tell you your strengths. Even if you don't believe it right now, you have strengths as a writer. Maybe it's worldbuilding, maybe it's dialogue; your friend will give you concrete examples. You don't need a beta right now, that will come later.

You're not alone. This is a community. Even if it's a rarepair or gen fic in a niche fandom - and especially then! - someone will be so happy that you brought that cake to the table.

This case fic is the hardest to write because I know I should have an idea of where it is going. It makes logical sense to have an end point and work backward to the fill in how the plot makes that happen. But that isn't the way writing works for me.

I started this case fic because I had an image in my mind. A terrible, weird, horrific image. And that is what the story leads with. And now I am like, okay, but who is behind it? Where does one start? How do I write this?

I am just as clueless as the characters and I want to do justice to this story, but I don't know if I will. It is a lot of emotions for a fic that started with: Someone is killing people who look like Wei Wuxian....