This September, I participated in the #FFXIVwrite2024 challenge, where participants publish a Final Fantasy XIV fan fiction every single day based on a given prompt. The prompts were not set in advance, so participants truly only had 24 hours to write and publish their works.
Unfortunately, I found out about the challenge after it had already started. Still, I managed to post a fan work every day, ending the challenge with 25 works.
They’re not my best works, of course. My writing flourishes the most with meticulous editing and five or more drafts, but I think that Nagxian Silk Palace series written in collaboration with Nhura is definitely the best thing to come out of this challenge. I would love to continue that particular series, but honestly, writing this many works in such a short amount of time was extremely draining.
I probably will not attempt this challenge again in the future. Perhaps I’ll find another fandom challenge to do instead. I found myself more frustrated than not, most days, since the challenge felt like it was getting in the way of all the Honkai: Star Rail works that I really wanted to write. I noticed a very discouraging lack of engagement from the Final Fantasy XIV fandom, as well, which made my works feel meaningless. Putting the things I actually wanted to write in the month of September on hold was disheartening.
I did find it really funny that a Honkai: Star Rail and Final Fantasy XIV crossover fan fiction literally got 2000% more engagement than any of my other works! I’m not complaining; I just thought it was really funny! It makes sense, given that this work has a tagged relationship between two non-original characters and none of the other works do.
The main goal of the #FFXIVwrite challenge is to defeat your own perfectionism and get used to publishing works more frequently, even if they’re not perfect. I hope I was successful in this regard, at the very least!