ugghhhhhhhh

[human_veil]

all this crossposting recently has once again brought up the question of what the hell do you do with fic that no longer sparks joy? deleting feels like a waste but orphaning gives up too much control. i have, like, 150 fics published on anon right now but even then, that doesn't feel right, either? i tried making a secondary account once just for stuff i no longer vibed with but ended up transferring everything back.

i've been writing fic since i was 10? 11? and the things written from roughly age 14 onwards exist somewhere on ao3. i'll be the first to admit that a lot of it is Not Good, but a lot of it means something to me in one way or another, so the idea of getting rid of it makes me feel :/ despite the fact that i can't really look at it without cringing. some of it got really popular, too, and to this day i still receive kind comments on some of the x-men stuff, so it's one of those things where it's like, i want it to exist so they can enjoy it? but also oh god don't make me look at it. i don't know!

Comments

[kat_lair]

The above suggestion about turning comments off for the ones you don't want to think about anymore is probably the best option. My view is... I've put the fic out to the world. It sparked joy when I wrote it and I hope it continues to spark joy to readers for years to come, beyond that I don't need to worry about it. Writing is a skill that improves, regardless of what age you were when you wrote your first thing, the next thing will be better, and the next still, and the next... I guess, I'm not that worried about it still being out there. Comments and kudos are nice but at the end of the day I'm not writing fic for judgement of others, I'm writing it for my own enjoyment and maybe for a couple of close friends. This is probably supremely unhelpful but my advice is simple either orphan it, or just let it be, don't look at it, turn comments off so you don't have to interact with anyone about them and let them be. <3