From Tumblr: Anon Ask - Advice for a new fanfic writer

[nym_wibbly]

Can you share some good advice for a writer just starting out writing their own fan fiction? How long does it take to be brave enough to put a story out there for an audience? You always sound confident when you talk about writing even when you struggle to get as much done as you want. Were you always at ease that way or did it happen over time?
~ Anonymous

The main advice from me would always have to be: WRITE. Write whenever you feel like it, and write whatever you feel like writing, regardless of what other people in the fandom are doing.

Tell your story, tell it your way, then take some time to think about the writing experience and what you might’ve done differently if you’d known then what you know now. You just improved as a writer, just by reflecting on what you did and how you did it. You’ll learn a little bit more with every story you write. Awesome.

Don’t let the blank sheet of paper intimidate you. I still feel like an absolute tit the first few dozen times I write a new favourite character’s name, and start playing with words to find out how to capture their canon voice in my own writing. I’ve only just stopped squirming in my chair over writing the Doctor’s POV - declaring, in actual writing, that I know what this complex character thinks and feels. How very dare I?! Six years in, I still feel like a complete tit, and occasionally actually blush, when I write ‘Rumplestiltskin’. It feels naughty, wrong, to indulge myself in my own imagination and in the media I love the way I did unthinkingly when I was a child. But it’s only a blank page; it ain’t looking back at me or judging me, it isn’t going to answer back. The absolute worst that can happen is that I have to delete it or bin it because I don’t like what I wrote on it. It’s not a big deal if I fill that page with total unreadable shite (as I frequently do). If I let the fear of writing badness stop me trying, I might miss something worth reading, or a clue about how to improve next time, or a new insight about that character I love so much. I don’t know if that’s confidence or if it’s cynical indifference, but it definitely lets me bypass a lot of writerly angst. Mistakes are okay. Mistakes are an opportunity to learn. There’s nothing life or death happening when I sit down to write; it’s worth effort, but it’s not worth any stress or anxiety at all.

I used to be nervous about posting my work, but not for any good reason. I still feel uncomfortably exposed when I put something out there, feel intimdated if something is noticed and disheartened if it gets ignored, but I’ve learned to keep that discomfort in proportion, and how to separate it completely from my motivation to actually write. I write for me; I post because I think the result might be of interest to like-minded fen. I occasionally feel like I never want to post fanfic ever again, but I don’t let it affect how I feel about actually writing fanfic. I need to write fanfic. I love to write fanfic. I want to write fanfic.

Write. Enjoy it! When you’ve got something written and you’re pleased with it, then think how you feel about sharing it.