All those promising to teach you how to become a Medium Superstar writer, give them a break and follow my advice.

Alright, let’s get real for a moment.

Ever poured your heart into what you believed was your masterpiece of an article, only to be hit with crickets in the view count?

Yeah, been there, done that.

Let me take you on a wild ride through my failed attempt at creating the epic “Mixie and Maxie Love Tales.”

Here’s the perfect plan!

So, picture this: Cute mice, Mixie and Maxie, acting as my tiny muses, telling stories about the wild rollercoaster that is human relationships. I figured, using these miniature rodents might just hit different.

Because when writing with fiction, you can convey better emotions with animals without any gender biases. The reason was very clear — if I had human characters, a male reader would empathize with the male character and the female reader would empathize with the female character. Hence, animal characters come handy when trying to bring objectivity to the table.

But as they say — “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”

Cue the dramatic entrance of “Mixie and Maxie Love Tales”! From Mixie’s cold feet before marriage to Maxie being the comforting hero, and even Mixie’s final inspiring words on her mouse deathbed — I had it all. But not a soul bothered to read these perfect stories. My dreams of being the internet love sensation were crushed by the sound of silence.

Who is to be blamed?

Often when your article succeeds, you can identify what connected with the readers — be it the virality, or the perfect hook you created, or the deep message that connected with people. But if an article fails, it requires deep introspection.

So, who do you blame first when your masterpiece flops? The Medium algorithm, obviously. First failure — “Oh, the algorithm’s probably drunk.” Second failure — “Maybe it was just a one-off weird day for readers.” Third failure — “Alright, now this hurts.” The articles were getting more views from my grandma than the entire internet.

With a heavy heart, I waved goodbye to Mixie and Maxie. No more tales of love and mice for the internet. The world just wasn’t ready for the epicness I was serving. In the echoing silence of Mixie and Maxie’s uncharted love tales, I learned that sometimes, even the cutest mice can’t nibble their way into the hearts of reader.

But it kept pestering me, why did it fail? The stories were top-notch, the messaging was on point, so what went wrong?

There was one big failure — my characters, the backbone of my storytelling, failed to connect with the readers. While I was picturing the cutest mice couple, the readers were probably not feeling the vibe.

My strongest point in writing turned out to be my Achilles’ heel.

But it schooled me in a valuable lesson — the art of character creation for blog storytelling. As a writer, you have to unveil the secret dance between characters and readers. What characters will tango with success, and which will trip over anonymity. Sometimes, your greatest story is not about what you write, but who reads it.

And how I finally cracked the code? — that’s a story for another day, another misadventure in the realm of ink and imagination. For this, I shall share the secret behind my characters in a much loved 10 article series.

Conclusion

Imagine if my mousey tales had hit the jackpot. I’d probably be out there thinking I’m the Shakespeare of the internet. Failures, as much as they sting, are vital. They mean you’re stepping out of your comfort zone, trying new things. So, embrace the fails, learn the lessons, and heck, go ahead — write that article with 0 views. You might just find happiness in the creative chaos.

Cheers to failed mice stories and lessons learned!

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