#once my work reaches a broader audience ofc it’s gonna be reviewed by ppl who don’t even like my genre and will only have negative words

[aiden-png]

I keep writing in a vacuum ^^; I started publishing my work somewhere entirely different to a new audience and thought that the success there meant my writing had merit on its own. but writing to please an audience will always please that audience, and doesn’t mean my work is actually quality. some ppl are always going to go easy on me or be too nice, even when I ask them for honest, brutal feedback. but then on the other end of it, if someone who doesn’t like the genre I write reads my work and doesn’t like it, does that mean it’s bad? or just that it doesn’t appeal to them... I got some really great feedback today that is really gonna help me continue to improve, but it sucks to hear negative feedback that then says the work that needed polishing actually just needs to be scrapped. I can’t always write in a vacuum bc it’s safe and validation feels nice. I know I have a long way to go as a writer, even if I’ve improved a lot in the last year. constant success in a vacuum will only prepare me for failure when I venture out of it... it’s still hard to decide what feedback to use and what feedback to tune out though. not everyone will always like my work, but when I’m proud of it, it does sting to be told it’s so bare it’s just a skeleton of a story

#aiden writes #the best way to improve is to keep writing and set attainable goals #I have a new goal rn and I’m reaching for it but if I don’t know my own weaknesses then I will surely fail #I got the feedback pointing out my weaknesses and I’m gonna use it wholeheartedly #but I may have to ignore the feedback to scrap it entirely for being too vague #I now have 3 opinions I asked for and 1 I did not ^^; and the 3 I asked for gave me the 3 perspectives I needed #the piece was entertaining to read and the story is built without any excess #tone and description needs development as do character voices and setting #I don’t need the piece to be great or flawless XD but I do want to feel proud of it when I send it to competitions #and I can’t feel proud of it with that unasked for opinion weighing on my mind #I didn’t honestly expect it to win or be published anywhere but now if I don’t succeed it’ll feel like it’s bc I’m just not good #and not that if I continue to try I will improve... #but if I do win even then I’ll have it hanging over me. telling me I didn’t deserve to win bc it wasn’t actually good #writing in a vacuum is a comfort bc at least if someone doesn’t like my work here it isn’t my fault #but if someone doesn’t like my work out there then it’s bc I’m not good and didn’t try hard enough #once my work reaches a broader audience ofc it’s gonna be reviewed by ppl who don’t even like my genre and will only have negative words #and I do have to be prepared for that. and it will hurt for a long time at first bc those reviews are just as valid #but today? I don’t know what I need to take to heart out of this #I just need to keep writing and not be discouraged. and if I fail after trying anyway I can’t let the ‘I told you so’ get to me either