Beware the WIP...

[kellifer]

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!!!

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_minxy_/]

That is exactly why I don't read WIPs; although sometimes, the fics will stand alone, at that's fine, or sometimes I just trust the author enough, but often I will want to read the entire story in one sitting, so I want the whole thing to be posted.

[jo-zed-pee-em.livejournal.com]

I have posted WIP's in the past but only those that I know I can finish and I have posted the rest within days.

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

[ninasis.livejournal.com]

I don't read any story, whether a WIP or a long story that's finished but being posted in parts over a length of time, until the entire thing is online. I think starting my fannish involvement in the Buffy fandom really did me a disservice in many ways. It might be a misperception on my part since that's where I began, but it seemed as if every other WIP that I came across was eventually abandoned and left unfinished.

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.

[amykay73.livejournal.com]

For the writers - have you ever started posted a story you haven't finished?

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.

[live-momma.livejournal.com]

Very rarely.

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!!!!

[janedavitt.livejournal.com]

They honestly don't bother me. I prefer to find a fic that's complete, but I'll start reading something, enjoy it, and wait happily for the next part. I'm reading so much it has to be a very special fic to have me chewing my mouse cable waiting for an update :-)

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.

[paian]

I'll read wips or fragments by authors I know, because I trust them to give me something that's whole in itself, even if they're not done with the bigger thing it's part of. It won't be randomly cut off or cliffhangery; there'll be satisfaction in it, it'll effectively convey at least one satisfying thing and whet my appetite for more without making me nuts. I'm not crazy about reading stories posted serially as they're being written, but there's a fine history of serialized fiction and I will read if it's recced or written by somebody I trust. Otherwise, no. Just too frustrating, with no idea if there'll ever be a resolution, and if too much time passes between installments I can't remember what happened before.

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*

[majorsamfan.livejournal.com]

Me of the need-for-instant-gratification does NOT like WIPs.

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.

[sg1atlantis.livejournal.com]

*loves reading WIPs, as long as they're updated occasionally...otherwise she gets pissed off about not finding out what happens*

Non-updated WIPs are like cliff-hanger eps of tv shows that have been canceled. *nods*

[trill100.livejournal.com]

For the writers - have you ever started posted a story you haven't finished?

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.

[surreallis.livejournal.com]

That IS frustrating! I will read WIP's sometimes. I have no set rules for it. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.

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.

[sheri47.livejournal.com]

If the person has a reputation for finishing a story then I will read WIP willingly. Or if they seem to be updating quite often I might. there are times that I may hold off and wait for the end result before jumping in and then again, I just may read no matter what...lol, i know, not alot of help there.

But my general opinion of WIP's that can't be standalones is that they are evil and just there to tease us.
LOLOL

[annerbhp.livejournal.com]

For the writers - have you ever started posted a story you haven't finished?

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. :)

For the readers - do you read WIPS?

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.

[tonicollins.livejournal.com]

I don't read wips unless I know the author has a history of finishing them. Even then, I tend to wait until they're done. Been burned too many times.

[katcorvi.livejournal.com]

Oh, ask rowand about her unfinished XF WIP. I give her grief at least once a month, but she knows I'm only poking because I can. *g* In her defense, she finished a huge WIP in that fandom and then started on its sequel and it's the sequel that remains unfinished. She warned us all and she got sucked into Stargate about the time she started it. (And then, damn her, she sucked me in so here I am. Happy as can be with another 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."

[adannu.livejournal.com]

As a reader, I do read WIPs, but I have to remember to flag them as WIPs so that I go back to check once in a while. I know an author who updates her WIP about once every three years or so -- an extreme example, but there you go. And it has to be a very compelling WIP for me to keep track, too. *sigh*