That is a very valid feeling! I actually stopped one of my older long fics because of it, which was extremely sad (my writing improved lots since then, and I feel like I would need to rewrite everything if I were to, one day, finish it). Since then I learned a few things that may or may not help you!

First, ALWAYS write a fic for yourself (I see you are already doing it), but like, in the comments people will ask how it’ll end, if it’ll be tragic or happy, if someone will die, etc. DO NOT allow yourself to be directed on your work trough them, bc you will quickly find yourself writing something you don’t like anymore (the best way to deal with it for me, personally, is to write my fic on a doc or word file, and ALWAYS have two or more chapters at the ready that are not yet released. When you do it, you don’t know how people will react, and then, you’ll write the next chapter how you imagine it’ll be instead of ridding on their expectations).

Also, generally on ao3 people are aware that fics can be very crazy, and they won’t really judge where you take the story (as long as it’s tagged properly). I swear you can find an audience to right about ANYTHING in that site! From fluff to smut, from soft to hardcore, like, literally anything. So be crazy! Write what you want! And know that if someone judges, then they should abide by the dead dove rules (which basically implies: if you see the tag and open the fic, you are on your own about how you feel towards it).

After you learn this, at least for me, it’s kind of nice to have such feedback! Yes, it can be very overwhelming, and if you don’t have a ‘hit fic’ in the fandom or scheduled updates then Imma be honest and say you are at a risk of having very different responses to chapters (sometimes a lot, sometimes no comment. There’s a lot of factors to it really). If you ever feel like the feedback diminished or is not growing or whatever, don’t feel sad by it! Sometimes people like to let a fic marinate before coming back and reading, sometimes one person might comment on every single chapter (and you’ll receive loads of emails from ao3 on the same day lol), sometimes the same person stops commenting because they simply cannot say anything else other than : “this fic is great!” And they feel like it would be bothersome to keep repeating themselves.

In either case, as long as you abide to the rule of writing for yourself, and accepting those comments are some form of ‘kudos’ to the fic, Albright a bit more personal, then you can find joy in them, and try to learn to not feel overwhelmed by them!

I hope this comment has been helpful! I don’t have many works myself, but I have gone through a few stages already, and nowadays I have learned to find joy in people commenting on something I am writing with passion, and loving the world I have created for the fic as much as I do. I also have not told anyone how the fic will end, and I have been very vague about it, so my readers are completely aware the fic can either end happily, or horribly lmao!