monstersinthecosmos:

Anyway so another thing I really like about fanfiction and one of the reasons I continue to defend it is that fandom can be an amazing and supportive community when you might not have any other outlets for feedback. I don’t know where I’d be as a writer if I hadn’t started sharing my work on FF.net.

Getting feedback on your work is so, so, so important to your growth as a creator of any kind, even when it’s only to teach yourself how to ignore it and trust your instincts. And I personally would not have had an audience if I hadn’t gotten into fic writing. All of the adults in my life stifled my creativity and I constantly felt like I had to censor myself. I couldn’t show anything to my English teacher without being sent to talk to the school shrink.

And LEMMIE TELL YOU how fucking disheartening it is for a young writer to be sent to the office and feel like you’re in trouble, only to get plopped down in front of the social worker’s desk and see your story picked apart there, complete with highlights and post-it’s. I was so close to letting everything I’d ever written just stagnate in my notebooks. 

Not everyone has a healthy support system at home and a lot of times fandom is the thing that’s going to push you and encourage you and don’t let anyone make you feel silly for taking advantage of that.