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I... get what you're going for here, but I feel like you're being way too hard on yourself. It's healthy to acknowledge flaws and try to work on them, but aside from saying you have good grammar and can write academics, your only descriptors of your own writing are " t's dull, bland, utter shit, a pain in the ass to any reader who wants substance. I offer nothing", and that... is such a terrible way to view your own work. From what I've read, it's not even true? Not everyone has as unique a writing "voice" as Pratchett or Douglas Adams, and while it's a great goal to work towards being someone as lovingly stylized as them, there's nothing wrong with NOT being there yet, or even ever.

You offer your own mind, your original ideas, the ways you choose to phrase things that another person might not. What I read of your fics was very enjoyable. It flowed well, it was fun. Always acknowledge your imperfections and work to improve them, but never put yourself down for what you currently are. And I get that maybe this post was a bit of an exaggeration to get your point across and you don't view your work that negatively in general, but this is to anyone who might have a similar mindset as well. We are always improving! Comparing yourself to others constantly will only tear you down and slowly strip the enjoyment of the craft that got you started in the first place. Be gentle with yourself :)

I honestly felt like this was a pretty fair descriptor. No exaggeration or anything; this is, without censorship, how I see my writing. I'm really glad you've liked what you've read, but at the same time, was it any different from other half-well-written fics out there? My ideas aren't even original. They always amount to "Two people fall in love and love each other and do things normal couples do". That's what I've come to be known for in my class: I'm the chick that writes everything with a romantic angle. You can find that anywhere. The only thing really unique about how I phrase anything is that sometimes I'll narrate in a way that sounds more like a person talking than a narrator narrating, but again, that's an incredibly common thing to do.

I love writing and I love sharing what I write, but I'm never completely happy with it, no matter how hard I work. I try to be gentle with myself, but then I tell myself that I've been writing since I was five. If I've hardly improved after nearly two decades, then maybe I need to be hard on myself until I start making actual progress.

I think it would be better to think of the class as sitting amongst fellow talented people who you can be inspired by. It's not like you're participating in a race where there's 1st place and last place and there are only "good" or "bad" writers sitting around you. Writing is a hobby or a job and there are so many things to write about (news, fiction, technical pamphlets, poems, etc for medium in addition to actual subject matter) that it's impossible to compare everyone vertically (as in winners and losers) rather than everyone simply being enthusiastic people about writing.

I think I've got to disagree with you here, too. I've read lots of fiction, written by lots of different authors. It's true that I noticed their voices when they were noticeably different from the way other writers "spoke." But most of the time, that was really just a novelty, a curiosity. Sure, it could be enjoyable on those rare occasions when the voice really resonated with me (and, on the other hand, a voice I really don't like can make a story more difficult to get through), but otherwise, the degree to which I paid it any mind was trivial.

People have lots of different tastes, and some people are ridiculously critical about media that they are supposedly consuming for enjoyment. But personally, when I read a story, I'm looking for characters I like, usually something interesting or exciting (since I'm often reading semi-adventure stories), a plot that isn't full of holes and nonsensical events and reactions, a pace that neither drags nor feels like it's glossing over things (deus ex machina-type glossing over of how the heck such-and-such crazy thing happened is DEATH to me), and a satisfying ending. The author's voice is seasoning, not the main course; people don't order steak because they love the pepper.

I think the vast majority of authors' voices sound more or less similar. If you've got the grammar, a topic people want to read about, and a good story to tell, you've got a good foundation for a good piece of writing. The last element for which I'd advocate is passion. Nothing adds the kind of spark to a story that the author's own strong feelings do. It can influence your word choices, sharpen your descriptions and make those things more visible in the audience's mind. It's also kind of a cheat code, because your readers will likely perceive your emotions in your work and, to some extent, by emphasizing with you, they'll feel those feelings, too. If you could read a story that made you feel alive and excited, wouldn't you?

Passion, sadly, can be difficult. If you're a hobbyist, you can pick and choose your topics; if it's your job, you would have to kind of goad yourself into it. But I don't think hating your work will help at all. Hating and stressing are the enemies of creativity, as well as everything else good I can name.

I think it's also worth throwing in there that, similar to you, almost everything I write has some romantic element, simply because it always ends up being an AU of my OCs and my favorites who are almost always the main characters, are a couple (or, most often, will be a couple). But it's not always the main plot of the story, and I always make sure the side characters are fleshed out. That Seth and Eiji have meaningful relationships with their friends, their family, that they have goals in whatever world I've tossed them in this time -- I think romance stories can be just as varied as any other genre, especially when you mix it with other genres. Never let anyone make you feel bad for writing romance!!