Everybody's first character was a ripoff character, lol.

XWF can be daunting, because to be honest it's a pretty high level of play. It probably has the highest concentration of good writers of any fed I've ever been to (and I have been in a shit load). So while, yeah, it can be tough, I don't think there's anywhere else out there where you can learn so much so quickly about creative writing and how to step your game up. Good on you for sticking it out and for this positive post.