When you start creating anything (writing, music, art, woodworking, programming, boutique hacksaw handles) there will be a consistent element.
Which is someone in the peanut gallery saying “You CAN’T do it like that! You MUST do it like this!”

Here’s what happens when you bend over backwards to appease other people. You bust your ass, you do all kinds of stuff you don’t want to do, the end result is not what you think is right, and then at the end of it all you get:
”Okay, good.” as a response to your efforts and then they walk off to go bitch about something else.

Rather than making you read through a page full of stawman statements and excruciatingly long winded ego stroking responses like an imaginary shower argument, here’s the main takeaway.

Create stuff you like.
If some people like it then cool, be grateful and appreciative for having them.
If some people dislike it then that’s fine too, they can go check out something else.

Let’s say you want to write, draw, or compose a series of work that involves a Mary Sue unicorn character. All the characters are one dimensional, the plot is about as innovative as Green Eggs & Ham, and the self insert aspect is cranked to 11.
Do you enjoy that? Then go create it.

How about a series that has an almost debilitating reliance on tropes, eye rolling one liners, and offensively bad “wit” in the dialogue?
If you enjoy that, go create it.

Most people won’t like it, I mean hell I probably won’t like it either and if you asked for my opinion, then I’d honestly give it. Everything I listed above are reasons I would avoid a work, or would move on to something else.
But I’d never be one to say “You can’t do it like that, you have to do it like this.”

Just because I dislike what you create, doesn’t mean I think you shouldn’t create it in the first place.

To be clear, there are some requirements and standards of how you have to do stuff with mediums such as writing.

• You’ll need to spell words properly (unless you make up new ones for whatever fictional world you’re designing, then go hog wild for all I care).

• You’ll need to ensure it’s comprehensible, as much as you’d like to emulate the rousing success of Timothy Dexter.

• For the love of God, if you’re writing in English, learn what a comma is and how a paragraph works. If I see a run on sentence that could cross the length of Asia, I’m going to assume you struggle to put on velcro shoes.

Essentially, the rules of the language you’re writing in are the framework or standard to hold to.
What happens within that framework is totally up to you.

I don’t care if the writing is cheesy, predictable or makes use of phrases I dislike.
I don’t care if you compose music that sounds kinda bland, or doesn’t elicit much in the way of emotion.
I don’t care if you draw sketches and paint scenes that a caveman would call “pedestrian in its composition”.
I don’t care what you create, but you have to create something.

Sitting still, doing nothing and refusing to even try is far worse than producing something people might mock or deride.

And y’know what, that’s fine. You will never please everyone, and you definitely shouldn’t attempt to.

Trying to tailor your work (either written, visual or otherwise) to try and please the most people possible is just going to burn you out. The end result of that is often the absolute worst kind of media; the unmemorable, forgettable kind.
Even “bad” films, books or pieces of artwork can be enjoyable in their own ways. But completely forgettable and middling “nothingness” as I would call it are just total black holes of your time and effort.

The only person who you can guarantee will like your work is yourself, and the moment it feels like a chore, step back, take a break, and figure out why.

There are times when writing or creating music where I sat there, looked through what I’d just made, and said “Goddamn, who the hell cares?” before deleting hours worth of effort.
I was no longer having fun with what I was making, so I figured out why and fixed it.

Make yourself laugh, make yourself feel excited, make yourself feel a sense of anticipation for the next part even as you create it.

I want you to feel anticipation and excitement as you sit down with your instrument, pen, brush or whatever tool you use.
Don’t create anything you don’t enjoy.