If you visit r/AO3, it's pretty common to see posts with titles like "How do you find the motivation to go on?" and then what follows will be a post about how they don't want to write because they're unpopular (in their own estimation, however realistic that is) and this is, for whatever reason, destroying their sense of self.
I feel like someone needs to sit these people down and gently remind them that finishing a fanfic isn't a legal requirement. You don't lose your fandom participant licence if you abandon your fic and stop writing when it is making you miserable.
IDK. Maybe the answer is making fandom friends you can spam with random fic excerpts so they'll pat you on the head and say "that's nice, op, I don't know what this is about but I'm glad you're enjoying writing in a tag with 33 fics in it."
But maybe the answer is that skeleton meme that's a cantrip against the sunk cost fallacy: if it sucks, hit the bricks.
