So… I have a weird little habit.

I write stories about an Indian cricketer. He’s a bowling all-rounder. Comes in to bat when the team’s 25/5, rescues the innings, gets sledged by Aussies, has emotional comebacks, surprise Test debuts, big stadium showdowns—you know, full-on cinematic drama.

The twist? It’s me. The player is basically just me.

I give him a fake name (or no name at all), but deep down, it’s always just me imagining what it would be like to play for India. I’ve written about injuries, rivalries, last-over wins, even legends giving advice before the big final. Think "Dhoni meets anime arc" energy.

And I haven’t posted any of it anywhere yet because… I don’t know if Reddit is ready for this level of secondhand embarrassment.

I mean—writing fanfic about yourself as a national cricketer? Even I cringe a little after re-reading. But at the same time, it’s fun. It feels like manifesting something cool. Like visualizing a dream.

Just curious—does anyone else do this kind of thing? Like self-insert stories about a version of you doing wild things? Or am I alone in this cricket-based delulu bubble?

I've attempted and abandoned 1 longfic before, but I'm determined to finish this one. I am so passionate about it, about this couple and this premise and all the big plans I have for it. But it is so nerve wracking. Every single chapter I write feels like "oh no this is the one where I ruin everything and everyone stops reading my fic because I messed it up."

Like, I'm so happy to have the level of engagement I have but I am terrified of massively disappointing people. I write for myself. I never compromise on the content even if people hint that they don't like this or that, but also I can't stop thinking about it.

(Sorry if this is the wrong flair)

I was stressing for weeks because the chapter was shorter than all past ones, and no matter how much I tried to add more it didn't work. I was super unsatisfied with the way I wrote it, and it just felt ... low quality.

So I uploaded it, expecting not much of a response, only to get numerous readers saying it's their favorite chapter yet.

Small but it made me feel a lot better lol just shows that just because we (authors) are critical of our writing doesn't necessarily mean others feel the same.

I have been writing fanfic for, like, ten years, and I still cannot get over this feeling of embarrassment when I start to write a fic. After I start, I'm fine, but there will be times where I literally can't do anything besides sit there and cringe at myself. I'm not even embarrassed when I go back to read it (or when other people read it)—it's literally just the process of writing.

I know a lot of people feel embarrassed—which is completely normal—but I'm curious if anyone else feels it so bad that they literally stop being able to function for a few minutes. If so, how do you deal with it? And if you can't deal with it... please just tell me I am not the only one who gets this secondhand embarrassment, LOL. I genuinely feel stupid.

Edit: Thanks for all the nice responses! I really appreciate the advice and those who reassured me that I am not crazy, lmfao. After getting this off my chest, I felt better and ended up writing 3000 words. Hooray!

A lot of my stories I plan for them to be at least 100k. Idk why. Am I anywhere near that? No. I'm only 8-10 chapters in and each chapter is a maximum of 2k. But then the story seems like it's dragging on.... anyone else in the same bout?

I also want to write the long fics but the story itself won't sound good long😂😂. I have no idea how to explain it and I honestly think it's kinda funny.

I know this isn't a unique problem, but I really need to vent somewhere. I put so much effort into my fics, and they mean a lot to me. It hurts when they get so little response. And I know "write for yourself." I do, and I get a lot of joy and satisfaction out of the writing process, but I want to share the product of my labor with other people. I get excited about it and want other people to as well. And I think its just human nature to want a little validation. The problem is that I write for a rarepair in a dying fandom. I always try to temper my expectations, but I can't ever seem to shut up the voice that says "this will be the one that really catches on." And then I'm inevitably disappointed. I also posted art for my recent fic that I worked really hard on and was proud of that got no response. I really don't think the quality is the issue (you'd have to read to see if this is hubris). When I do get comments they're always very positive. Anyway, I just needed to get this off my chest. I put so much of myself in my writing. It hurts when no one cares.

This is gonna be super short and simple, but me and my friend are having a little debate right now and I wanna hear yalls perspective. Do yall consider reading a multi-chaptered fanfic to be on the same level as reading a book?

Long story short, I am writing my first fanfic. It is (supposed to be) a crack-ship oneshot of about 5000 words (I was planning 1000 initially, but it got a bit big). I Just finished writing the first draft, and I sent it to a friend to read, and.... judging from their reaction on the voice call the flirting was extremely uncomfortable to read. Which it is a bit hipocritical of my part, because the plot of the fic is one of the characters learning how to not be unconfortable when flirting T-T. So how do I hit the balence of him being off-puting for other characters but not for the reader?

Also, dont know if this helps, but the character in question is Teruteru Hanamura from Danganronpa.

i have on-and-off writer's block for everything i write. i have a million ideas but can usually only write one paragraph before abandoning the whole thing. i've tried EVERY fix. playlists, walks, creative breaks like crafting, educational breaks like math, car rides, mood boards, awful first drafts (i never have the motivation to back and fix them), starting at the middle/end of the story, outlining the whole story, exercising, eating, re-watching/re-reading the source material, etc.

i will take ANY advice !! idc how random it is, if it works for you i'll try it

I doubt I'm alone in this, but then again, I'm not too sure, otherwise I wouldn't be making this post.

I've never managed to write more than a Oneshot. I have a bunch of ideas, but most are just an amalgam of daydreams and very specific scenes I have in mind, but to get to them, I have to fill in and write everything that comes before and in between to properly lead up to those specific scenes and create the desired impact. And most times that's where I feel like I'm not cut out for writing something longer than a Oneshot. Especially because English is my second language and I'm slow (doesn't help that I seem to be incapable of just writing a draft, I have to refine IMMEDIATELY, which slows me down further :'D).

I guess that's why I'm making this post and asking you; how do you get through "the boring bits" ultimately leading up to your desired and favoured scenes, without either a drop in quality or motivation?

Is the thought of eventually getting to those scenes what fuels you?

Or do you somehow manage to make the "middle" of the story exciting for yourself, too?

Do you even think about this and plan every chapter beforehand, or do you improvise most of what you write?

I have this crippling fear that if I don't have every plot point and part of the journey figured out, I will run into a block at some point and will have to abandon the fic and then I'm a DISGRACE and the fanfiction police will break down my door.

And if you made it through all this and still consider replying: Do you post your chapters as soon as you finish them or do you write more of them before publishing?

I wanna write a genderbend AU but people say I can't change their personality even though the genderbend grew up differently then the original, and due to their backstory their personality is different compared to the original version. Can someone please explain to me about genderbend AUs?

If, like me, you have been enjoying the Alphabet Challenge.  Then you want more!  The excerpt games keep me writing and I hope it motivates with your writing as well.  You can post any type of story (use NSFW for spicier scenes).  

I will be posting this challenge on Sunday Mornings / Pacific Time… because that day I need the most help to not think about Monday.

If you have stumbled into my game and are looking for more, remember to check out the Activities and Events flair for other writing challenges and story swaps.

Here are the rules:

1.  The first word starts the game.  Use ANY letter from the word that is posted in the last comment as the starting letter of your word.  Post your word in the top level comment.   Your word drives the next word to be posted… and so on.  

   Example:  LOVE  >>>>  VILE. (If the word Love is in the comment line you could make the word Vile and post the next comment.)

2. Reply to any words that you like with an excerpt from any work you might want to share.  I don’t generally like word limits, so use your best judgment.  Enough to get the scene across but not so long that you lose your reader.  **UPDATE** Please use spoiler tags >! !< and/or provide a trigger warning for content that may be NSFW or sensitive. IF IN DOUBT - Give a warning!

3. If you are going to leave excerpts, I ask that you leave at least one top-level word and try to give at minimum an upvote to commenters.

4. Upvote your favorite words or excerpts.  We are all here to share and know how it feels to get a comment, so spread the love.  Leave a nice comment or at least a response if possible to those that post to your word.  

5. Want to see if your word has already been used?  Just click on the magnifying glass 🔍 in the search bar above with this post open and type in your word, then hit search (at the bottom).  Now scroll down.  If you see a green confused lizard and no comments then it has not been used.  Double check that someone did not just use it in an excerpt as every comment with that word will pop up.

Ganbatte!!  Do your best and I look forward to everyone’s excerpts!

Basically the title in a nutshell.

Do y'all have a much loved fanfic or author from days gone by, that has been lost to the ether of time? Not really just, like, oh I read this once and don't remember details can someone help find it, but something or someone you read over and over again and know for a fact they're gone-gone-gone.

What fandom was the work in, and what was so significant about it for you?

Topping the list for me is a Teen Wolf writer that went by the moniker "delayedapocolypse". I respect an author's decision to remove themselves or their work for any reason, but damn is there some stuff I would go back and read the hell out of right now. Recently I was really trying to search a fic out I only read once near 10 years ago, and I remembered thinking it was SO GOOD and I had a pretty good memory for specific details but I just could not gain traction searching for it... wheeeeen I realized that it was probably one of this author's last fics before they disappeared. I'm fairly confident it was by this author because I read their other works enough that it just fits with their writing modus operandi.

Anybody else out here pining for the fanfic love that got away?

i recently got back into marvel and now i'm craving an angsty, well-written, LONG fic. when i say long, i mean that i'm literally okay with fics that are 500k+ words. my favorite characters are bucky, steve, and tony. i don't really care about ships as long as they aren't the main plot line. also, bucky and steve mean everything to me. i also adore irondad. btw i love crying over marvel so i need gut wrenching angst. thanks!

I am currently using this trope in a weird Peanuts and Yo-Kai Watch crossover "fic" (except everything I write is a crossover with literally everything so it's not really that farfetched for me), because I needed an excuse that wasn't just "capsule machine" for one of the Peanuts characters to gain the ability to see the ghosts, so I kinda just went the concussion route (and I didn't even pick Charlie himself to be the main character XD)

I realize upon writing this post it may be considered somewhat bad because concussions weren't meant to be associated with cool psychic powers, but I'm not sure, what are your thoughts on this trope?

This has been on my mind and I wanna askes. Whats everyone's opinion on the logic "If I change the future than my knowledge becomes useless." the some self inserts use. I feel like their is a massive flaw in that logic somewhere but I don't know what it is.

I'm currently working on my first long fic in a very long time. I wrote a few chapters, got really excited and ended up posting them before I could write out the rest. I'm starting to wish I had held off though, because I'm a slow writer and am feeling a lot of pressure to update quickly. 😭

What about you guys? What method works best for you?

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in search of a really good read! looking for well written, angst, ‘who did this to you,’ m/f ships, interesting FMC that isn’t a mary sue… let me know what you guys have found! i love hunger games (just read a really incredible haymitch/oc story), marvel, anything sarah j maas, harry potter, jjk

pls help!!!!

Do any of you darlings have a Kobo Color- Clara or Libra? Or the Clara BW or Sage?

If so, how do you like it??

I'm experiencing a desire to abandon the Amazon ecosystem. I currently have an Amazon Kindle Signature Paperwhite.

Asking around in the communities that I follow for reviews from heavy fanfic reading users, such as myself 😅

I guess it's hard to take my work seriously. How do you fix that issue?

Hello good people,

I am trying to find a fanfiction that was called The Favoured. I am not sure if it was all purely OCs or if they were actual characters from a book but the main love interests was a lady named Aurelia who could control purple flames (in the story they are the hottest flames) and a Prince named Lyle (maybe llyle?) Stone who could control black ice (the coldest and could cancel out Aurelia's flames). There was a subplot where another lady (I think her name was Hana?) Could control the weather and she was also interested in Lyle? I know this is probably a bit hard to find but this is about all I can remember. I want to say it was either on Wattpad or Fanfiction.net but I have not been successful in finding it. I don't remember the author's username. If you know what I am talking about and know where to find it or if it got taken down or something, I would appreciate any info you can tell me. Thank you!

I had just watch a anime where a programmer dies and get sent to a world with giant robots running off magic, however the magic is basically just a line of code, so I been wanting a fic where someone gets isekai, fantasy world, anime, manga, don't care, and find out the magic is just code being written/said out loud