I think my worst actual fandom challenge experience was a collaborative things where I was doing the art for someone else's story... and they bailed and never posted the story.
But every challenge experience has felt like a bad experience (with the obvious Firewhiskey exception), because of the stress to hit a deadline and fit a prompt that I'm not quite feeling and that nagging sense that it's not good enough. In hindsight, I quite like a few of the stories I've written for challenges, but at the time I was hitting "submit", I was convinced it was the worst thing I've ever written.
Oh, and then there was the time I accidentally offended someone who wrote a story for me because I was expecting one story and I promptly read and commented on it and then a few days later noticed that someone else had written me a bonus story. So there were a few days there where the author was bound to assume I hated their story since I'd gushed about the other one and ignored theirs. (I tried to reassure myself that they'd understand and even made sure to explain, "Oh! I just saw this! Sorry I didn't comment sooner!" but... when reveals happened it turned out to be the exact fandom friend that I know is most neurotic about checking how many comments and kudos she has. And... she kind of quietly stopped interacting with me at about that time. It wasn't the only reason we drifted apart, but it was an unfortunate final straw I think.)
So, yeah, never ever getting involved with anything with designated recipients again. Way too much social anxiety involved.
For Firewhiskey? I really wasn't feeling this story (the last couple years have sapped away all my creativity), but I have zero worries about it disappointing anyone. Like, if I make one person giggle, job well done. It's so nice to write without over-analyzing what other people might think about it.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
zaluzianskya and ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
skylark_photos
♥
Date: 2022-01-23 04:20 pm (UTC)I think my worst actual fandom challenge experience was a collaborative things where I was doing the art for someone else's story... and they bailed and never posted the story.
But every challenge experience has felt like a bad experience (with the obvious Firewhiskey exception), because of the stress to hit a deadline and fit a prompt that I'm not quite feeling and that nagging sense that it's not good enough. In hindsight, I quite like a few of the stories I've written for challenges, but at the time I was hitting "submit", I was convinced it was the worst thing I've ever written.
Oh, and then there was the time I accidentally offended someone who wrote a story for me because I was expecting one story and I promptly read and commented on it and then a few days later noticed that someone else had written me a bonus story. So there were a few days there where the author was bound to assume I hated their story since I'd gushed about the other one and ignored theirs. (I tried to reassure myself that they'd understand and even made sure to explain, "Oh! I just saw this! Sorry I didn't comment sooner!" but... when reveals happened it turned out to be the exact fandom friend that I know is most neurotic about checking how many comments and kudos she has. And... she kind of quietly stopped interacting with me at about that time. It wasn't the only reason we drifted apart, but it was an unfortunate final straw I think.)
So, yeah, never ever getting involved with anything with designated recipients again. Way too much social anxiety involved.
For Firewhiskey? I really wasn't feeling this story (the last couple years have sapped away all my creativity), but I have zero worries about it disappointing anyone. Like, if I make one person giggle, job well done. It's so nice to write without over-analyzing what other people might think about it.