The word "cringe" has done irreparable damage to fanfiction.
Write the self insert fanfic.
Write the coffee shop AU.
Write the 50k slowburn where nothing happens until chapter 48.
Write the ‘there was only one bed.’
Write the time travel fix it.
If it brings you joy, it's not cringe.
We have been conditioned to apologize for what we love, to preface our fics with "this is dumb but..." or "I know this is self indulgent, but..."
The people who call things "cringe" are not the ones creating. They are not the ones putting words on a page, staying up until 3am to finish a chapter, or constantly editing their own dialogue.
What makes a story worth telling is not how ‘serious’ it is, or how ‘literary,’ it is. What makes a story worth telling is that someone needed to write it. And maybe someone needs to read it.
That 15k coffee shop AU? That might be the first thing someone reads after a terrible day.
That self insert fic? That might be the story that made someone feel less alone in their own loneliness.
That one fic you wrote at 2am and almost deleted? That might be the one someone bookmarks and rereads for years.
Write what you want to read. Write what makes your chest ache. Write what makes you laugh alone in your room.
There is no "good" genre and "bad" genre. There is only: did it mean something to the person who wrote it? Did it make them happy? Did it make them feel seen?
That is enough. That has always been enough.
If it brigs you joy, it isn’t cringe, and I will die on that hill.
kaledo-art
yousharknotpass
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gummygunk
