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I have a quick question.
For the writers - have you ever started posted a story you haven't finished?
For the readers - do you read WIPS?
Reason I'm asking is because I never post WIPS, my longer stories are finished when I start posting, just being beta'd usually. I usually don't read WIPS unless it's an author I know but I started reading one that is four parts in, I'm liking it and the author seems to have dropped off the face of the earth.
Argh!! Don't do that to me!!!
For the writers - have you ever started posted a story you haven't finished?
For the readers - do you read WIPS?
Reason I'm asking is because I never post WIPS, my longer stories are finished when I start posting, just being beta'd usually. I usually don't read WIPS unless it's an author I know but I started reading one that is four parts in, I'm liking it and the author seems to have dropped off the face of the earth.
Argh!! Don't do that to me!!!
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I hate starting a story and being left hanging, so others must do too... so now I make sure I have finished before I post...(well unless a sequel is requested and then I do my best to have it written ASAP)
I am glad you ask this question, I have just started and completed part 1 of 40 fics that I am working on (1 for every episode of SGA), and couldn't decide whether to wait before posting or post as a WIP. Each ficlet can stand alone, but still, I am wary.
Let me know what you think! x
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I'd say post away for something like this... :)
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Now though, I hate having to go back and reread previous parts because it's been so long since the author has updated. I read so many stories, in so many different fandoms, every day that WIP's and serializations and finished-but-being-stretched-out stories are impossible for me to follow. I've also found that it's getting harder and harder for me to get interested in a story again once I've had to wait for the next post.
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I shouldn't do to other people what annoys me... that's just rude... hee.
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Unfortunately, yes. I have a few ongoing stories that are in need of a serious update. I'm trying to be better about it now, and write out most if not all before I post something.
For the readers - do you read WIPS? Yes. What I read is more a factor of how much time I have at that moment. If I'm bored, I'll read anything. If I know I only have a couple of moments, I'd rather read a quick one shot and save the chapter stories for a later time. There are though, a couple of ongoing stories that I have waited on reading the next chapter. I'll see that it's update, scan it, but then save it for one of my bored moments when I can read a few chapters at once.
I've had that "Argh!!! No!!!" moment a couple of times on stories. I read this one really great story that seemed liked it was only a chapter or two from concluding. I kept checking back for updates, and then I realized that it hadn't been updated in over a year. I was really bummed.
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Yowie... !! That would make me pull my hair out...
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I don't mind WIPS that are pieces that *could* stand alone, but cliff hangers are a bad, bad thing. What I really hate is when I come across a WIP and don't realize it's not actually complete, and then I get to the end of the part that's online and .... WTF!? AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
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I think there's a story online being posted at the moment and the author put "Part 53/?" Holy hell!! I wouldn't touch that with a barge pole!!
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If one never comes... c'est la vie. I'll reread what's available and shrug philosophically. Sometimes you just can't finish them, and I get that, Done it, oh, about three times myself, so I sympathise.
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I don't know why but that image had me giggling for ages... :)
You are very philosophical and zen about this whole thing. I guess I was frustrated because I usually avoid WIPs by authors I don't know and the one time I start reading one it looks like it's been abandoned... bah!!
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I posted one start of a fic that's still unfinished, and one fic that I don't feel will be complete until it's got a full sequel, and I'll feel guilty about that first one until the rest is posted ... but neither of them were wips; they were both complete in themselves (full resolution of the immediate story), not partial drafts of a work in progress. And I won't even do that much anymore. For almost a year I've been sitting on two parts of a three-part piece; they're done and I want to share them, but I won't until the third part is (re)written, because it should be read as all one thing and I don't want to subject people to the unresolved chord. It's making me crazy not to post what there is, but better me than other people. *g*
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The reason I don't post WIPs is because I'd be terrified that I couldn't actually finish the story... I've had stories that have run into the ground and I can't think of a way to finish them so abandon them, but thankfully nothing I've started posting.
I'm the same as you... it would drive me insane to have something unfinished sitting out there... it would be the other undropped boot, mocking me with its undroppped bootness.
unresolved chord.
That's a lovely term...
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OTOH, I *am* guilty of not having finished ALL the alternatives for my "choose your own adventure" epic "Sacrifices". I did finish several, though, so one *can* read *a* complete story, if not with the options you would have chosen.
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Non-updated WIPs are like cliff-hanger eps of tv shows that have been canceled. *nods*
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five years and two fandoms ago, yes. But I've matured since then. I hope. Some people tell me my stories seem open ended, though. So maybe that's all I ever do? *g*
Yeah, I hate it when you start a story and then it stops. I'm usually too impatient to wait for the whole thing to be posted though. I've probably missed out on some good fic that I just got sick of waiting for the end of.
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I get that too! I've written one-offs and people ask when the next chapter is going to be up... *blinks*
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As a writer, I don't like posting WIP's. I usually just start out with a stand-alone story that I have ideas about for the future, and then maybe I'll write a sequel.
Having said that, I have one major WIP going on right now, and I feel bad that it's taking so long to write it. I don't blame people at all who are refusing to read it until it's done.
I've also left 2 unfinished WIP's in my last fandom. I started them even as I was losing interest in the fandom itself... and then Stargate basically just blew in and completely blind-sided me. Very quickly. Tsunami-like. And I never went back and finished those 2 WIP's. Probably never will. I feel bad about it though. Because of that, I try not to post WIP's anymore.
You know, except the one right now.
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Hee... you're so cute. :)
Are you talking about the OT3 one? Because I find each piece to be enough of a stand alone that there is no WIP wibbles...
Of course, you may be talking about something else I've completely missed...
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But my general opinion of WIP's that can't be standalones is that they are evil and just there to tease us.
LOLOL
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Ah yes, that definitely helps!! It's kinda nice to read a series every now and again... as long as I know it's going somewhere. :)
Hee... and true!! I tend to be guilty of the cliff-hangery badness now and again but I'm getting help and have joined a group and am hoping to kick the habit.
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I am guilty of this. Mostly I post whole stories or chapters that I try to quickly follow up. But I have written one or two really long stories (10-20 20-page chapters). These I post maybe once a month, but there is never any doubt that I will finish them and it's not like I don't already have the whole story worked out. Lately I have been slacking, though, and I have two unfinished stories out there. And my increasing day by day guilt isn't helping the writer's block as much as I would hope. :)
Does it make me a complete hypocrite if I say no? I prefer to wait until they are finished, though I will read serial works, like dietcokechic's stuff. Which is exactly why partial works of mine are available only on my webpage and ff.net. I don't post to lists until they are complete.
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I'm going to say no because I post stories in parts but usually don't read them... so of course not. heh...
Serial works I do see as different...
Oh gawd... I avoid WIPs on ff.net like the plague because that seems to be the central vortex of unfinished stories.
I'm sure I've seen it before but what's your webpage addy? A central repository for AB fic sounds good!!
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My web address: http://www.annerb.com
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obsessifocus.I'm very whatever about WIPs. I've read many in XF and now in SG. If they never get finished, I may poke the author if I know her well, but otherwise I click my browser onto the next story and settle in for a good read. Sure, I'd like to know how it all ends, but if not, move on and make up my own ending. "And then Jack retired and he and Sam banged like bunnies and lived mostly happily ever after, especially with Daniel in the spare bedroom. And there were no children. The End."
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Best ending ever!
Except, poor Daniel getting stuck in the *spare* bedroom!! *evilgrin*
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"And then Jack retired and he and Sam banged like bunnies and it was good. But poor Daniel felt left out, and Jack realized this and asked Sam how she felt about OT3. And Sam replied that she was very cool with OT3, so Jack pulled Daniel out of the spare bedroom into the master bedroom with him and Sam. And lo, life was good. And there were still no children. The End."
How's that?
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Ooooh... and I was your beta! There you go, the whole writing experience. :)
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