would pay someone to go through this old skin i was making and clean it up for me, wtf do you mean i named a title class runeterraTIT

How does one go about silencing their inner critic? That's a secret technique I wanna know. Because I think more so than time constraints, this is what's keeping me from writing (including for RPs) as much as I would like to.

Just stop giving a shit. That's how I did, I literally just took a step back and told myself it wasn't that serious. If people liked what I wrote then cool. If not then meh. As long as my RP partners are enjoying it and replying that's all that matters.

Specifically for me, often I just try to ignore it and write anyways.

I think that even if my writing is the worst, or if say, my symbolism is a bit too heavy handed or something, if I'm not writing I’m not gonna get any better. This is assuming you mean the type of inner critic that stops you from writing entirely due to whatever reasons you may have, and not the one you use to edit a post when proofreading. Currently, I’m just trying to mould my hateful ‘inner critic’ into something that’s more useful — like, why do I feel this way about this line, am I being as fair to myself as I would be when reading someone else’s writing? Going the curiosity route may help, as it does for me, because sometimes I am being so dreadfully unfair towards myself, or it's because life is stressful and that just seeps into everything sometimes.

I’m speaking about writing broadly here, but there /is/ that extra social pressure I feel about exposing my writing to other people in a collaborative way that makes this critic worse, I feel. RP being a social hobby does bring pressure that my writing my novels doesn’t nearly as much. But again, we’re all pretty much on the same page, and RP isn’t about perfect final drafts, it’s about making a story together.

I love a good event

I tell myself that it doesn't have to be good, and the only people who will read it are people who are already invested in the story and the characters (because why would they agree to write with me in the first place if they didn't like my ocs?) and then I write it, with the primary goal of telling enough story to give my rp partner something to respond to. If it reveals something more in-depth about the characters, or the characters get cool moments, or I stumble into a turn of phrase that I'm especially proud of, that's great, but I don't go into the writing with these things in mind.

Of course, this advice doesn't apply if you're writing for a professional publication, or any other setting where impartial critique is expected. In that case I can't help you. I don't even let my own husband read my writing, since I don't expect him to say 100% positive things about it, and I know that I'd be sufficiently insulted/discouraged by negative feedback to let it affect my enjoyment of the hobby. (To date, no one has ever given me negative feedback - but I can safely assume that anyone who actively dislikes my writing can just opt for the conflict-averse route of not offering to write with me, and there's nothing wrong with that.)

badly flirt with it

I just write--sobbing and shaking with tears streaming down my face--as my inner critic leans over my shoulder and tells me to just delete that garbage.

Even if I try my best, it's not like people are going to queue up for a chance to get to write with my stoney-faced tomato self, so I try to go with the philosophy that the perfect post that exists only in imagination is never going to be as good as the broken and battered thing I submit to the internet.

EDIT: To be clear, I don't actually sob and shake. If you do, it's important to remember this is just a hobby, and it virtually doesn't happen that people give feedback on your writing, especially negative one. There will be some writers whose works get praised, but just because they get praise doesn't mean anything about your own writing.

honestly? i take it. i think writing is always a learning process, and while i'm in the camp of "our worst critic is ourselves", i've found that the spite response of going "oh my god shut up" @ the inner critic doesn't help me as much as it does others (which, more power to those of whom that response works!), but for me — i think there's merit to detaching myself from the work emotionally / personally and going "okay, why do i think this sucks?" and, more than that, "okay, what would i wanna do instead with this?" / "what do i feel like would make this better to me?". doesnt matter how seemingly impossible, stupid, outlandish, ooc, etc. the idea is — if you like it, make it, and sweat the small stuff later. (personal experience example: hitting a roadblock on one oc of mine to the point i actively hated him and what i did to his narrative, then decided "screw it" and returned to an old plot point i scrapped in the character's original conception, changed his fc, dealt with the punches that all gave me. now he's a cult rockstar with an arc i cannot express how happy i am with on an authorial level.)

mindset shifting is pretty damn difficult, but imo there's a lot of payoff in moving from "this is terrible SCRAP IT I HATE IT" to "fuck it imma do what i wanna do" does so much in the long run. treating the inner critic as less an enemy and more someone who should be heard but have their opinions questioned and rerouted to something more productive for You(TM) is smth i feel like isn't considered a lot, but also maybe worth meriting a mention.

There's an expression that goes something like, "Perfection is the enemy of progress."

I find roleplay way less pressuring than writing a novel because the goal of it is to tell the story with another person, and the only way to do that is post. If I'm not posting because I'm obsessing over how good I need the post to be, then the story dies.

Reminding myself my goal is to write something to push along the story -- and not to be perfect -- helps a lot.

of all the things i love doing as a staffer, it's sitting down and conducting all of the activity sweep and various other announcement things all at once to be able to announce everything bang on the hour. we ignore how i forgot to do two things BUT IT WAS FINE

It feels like the number of roleplay sites is declining.