kat · 2y

Do you usually know if you like a work you’ve done shortly after you’ve written it or do you need to give yourself space from it/come back to it with fresh eyes?

I've been thinking over this question since you sent it in, and unfortunately I think my answer has to be a very vague 'i don't know'. Whether I like a work after finishing or a few years down the line...it really depends, and it changes. Sometimes I'll dislike a piece because I think I've improved as a writer since I first wrote it, and though I try not to hold that against my older works it's...really hard not to. I don't like any of my ES21 or Teen Wolf fics now, but when I first wrote them I thought they were solid. But the one Stony fic I wrote way back when is still 'good enough' in my book...though that's partially because I've gotten a lot of private feedback from people (online and off) that they like it.

With my newer works... I knew as soon as I finished 'parade' that I liked it a lot. I'm hoping I continue to like it in the future as well, cause it came out almost exactly like I wanted it to when I conceptualized it. I'm unsatisfied with 'three squares' but also glad that I finished and posted it. So I'll probably dislike it more the more distance I get. For my latest 'head to toe', I...don't really have positive or negative feelings about it, honestly, because it was written entirely for, uh, Horny Reasons, so quality wasn't a factor at all. My feeling will probably always remain as 'huh, i really posted that online'. I alternate between being completely sick of my long WIP, never wanting to look at it again (usually when I'm rereading for plot holes/plotting), and thinking about it all the time. I imagine when I'm done with that I will be too exhausted to form an opinion on it for a long, long time.

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