hey!! I just finished a first draft of a Thing that I have been writing for forever now and how do you deal with the self doubt that claims "no one will ever want to read this"??
first off!! congratulations on finishing a thing! because that’s really fucking hard, and a achievement in and of itself.
now leave it for like, a month. don’t look at it. work on another project or just chill. you can still think about it, obvs, but don’t fiddle with it or touch it. you’ve been in the middle of this thing for a while now, and having achieved a first draft, now you need some space. you are not in an objective frame of mind, and that’s going to lead you into the OH GOD EVERYTHING IS TERRIBLE territory.
for me personally, how i deal with that self doubt is by finding other people to read it. specifically, people who are also writers, and therefore have an understanding (usually) of appropriate critique. and like, make it clear what you’re willing to handle. eventually you’re going to need to hear the harder stuff, but if you’re feeling delicate, just ask your people to tell you what they like about about/what works for them in the story. this can still help with revising, too - chances are they aren’t going to love every single detail, so you can investigate those areas.
also, love yourself, know your skills. if you feel like you suck at writing - well, you wrote something. having written it, you automatically don’t suck. at the end of the day, if you sucked at everything else, you would still rock at finishing a first draft. focus on your attributes. i feel like i suck at plotting, so i remind myself how great i am at characters until i knuckle my way through the plot. when i sucked at characters, i was like, damn girl, check this prose. when i sucked at prose, i had no idea i sucked at prose, it was great.
be kind to yourself. at the end of the day, whatever you have written is a part of your journey to being the writer you want to be. it - and you - are intrinsically worth something by having existed. you can always rewrite it, or assign it to a ‘never look at this again’ folder (keep your old stuff, always. if nothing else it’s fun to look back on). the only way to get better at writing is to write, so you hae already succeeded my friend