conuly | Two thoughts about things I've read recently...

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1. This book, 2 of I don't know how many that I had on pre-order, did not even remotely go where I thought it would. I was quite thoroughly surprised by the beginning, the middle, and the end - and I have no guesses about what's going to happen in the next installment.

2. Speaking of installments, looking at a few writers here, I've heard of "Death of the Author", but unless you are literally dead, would it kill you to finish your fic/series? It's been months/years/god knows how long, and I am dying for the next chapter/book. Get with the program! Don't make me release the ~~hounds~~ plotbunnies. Signed, me. P. S. Don't skimp on the quality either, thanks. And no complaining about pushy readers!

In other news, I maaaaaay have stayed up all night reading. This was probably a mistake.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

jhetley

Series discontinued due to lack of readership. This has happened even to major authors.

From:

conuly

Bah, humbug.

From:

delight

The worst thing is that it's publishers doing it; in a lot of cases the authors probably WANT to finish.

(This is part of why I read more indie now. Price point is another.)

From:

conuly

That doesn't help when it happens to fanfic.

From:

delight

Yeah, I assume fanfic writers just got bored. This is why I never post anything unfinished!

From:

conuly

Yeah, probably. Which is fine, I guess, but frustrating.

From:

brokenallbroken

A WIP I'm following that hasn't updated in a year just got a new chapter, with an author's note about a major life implosion. So it might not be "bored now", but more how hobbies fall off the priority list if one's daily circumstances happen to drop on Maslow's hierarchy.

Another writer I follow has only recently returned after a, like, 5 year hiatus, because the hate-commenters entirely out-shouted those of us who loved it, and she had to bail for the sake of her mental health.

I side-eye abandoned series by profic authors a lot more than I ever will someone who isn't making money off my reading.

From:

conuly

I'd rather they're bored.

From:

brokenallbroken

Oh me too, absolutely.

From:

sixbeforelunch

I have one unfinished WIP and I cannot finish it. No amount of feedback, guilt, or general desire to not have to think about it anymore could get my brain to engage with the idea of working on it. I feel bad, but I finally slapped an abandoned notice on it to warn new readers and gave myself permission to let it go.

I learned my lesson, though. I don't start posting things until they're complete now.

From:

moon_custafer

I often write and post things serially because I need that charge, and also the sense of responsibility, I get from completing and posting a weekly chapter, however short.

It’s still not always enough to carry me through to finishing a story (I was going to say “especially if it’s getting no hits or comments,” but a few years back I was writing a WtNV WWII AU that was probably the most popular thing I’ve ever done, and I still ran out of steam, so I have only myself to blame).

From:

conuly

If you can't finish it, you can't. It's just so frustrating to read. (Or, not.)

From:

sixbeforelunch

I completely understand. I keep hoping I'll circle back around to that fandom so that I can finally get it done, but these days I barely read it in, much less write.

From:

wendelah1

I've only posted one story a chapter at a time, and I would never do it again. It took me three separate attempts over three years to finish it. It turned out fine in the end but was a constant source of anxiety and dread while it remained unfinished. Some people have the knack of writing that way but I discovered the hard way that I am not one of them.

Even fic writers who always finish their WIPs can occasionally get derailed--by canon, or real life, or a combination of the two.

The scifi novel series that I most want finished is The Steerswoman series. That author, I believe, stopped writing when she got cancer. As far as I know, she still plans to finish it, but it's been a long time.

From:

conuly

Even fic writers who always finish their WIPs can occasionally get derailed--by canon, or real life, or a combination of the two.

I know, and obviously their actual needs have to come before my desire for them to finish all the work - but so frustrating.

From:

starandrea

Speaking of installments, looking at a few writers here, I've heard of "Death of the Author", but unless you are literally dead, would it kill you to finish your fic/series? It's been months/years/god knows how long, and I am dying for the next chapter/book. Get with the program! Don't make me release the hounds plotbunnies. Signed, me. P. S. Don't skimp on the quality either, thanks. And no complaining about pushy readers!

Did you mean this to be funny? The tone wasn't clear to me from your words.

From:

conuly

Well, I don't intend to actually pester anybody to write according to my scheduling dictates rather than what works best for them, even if I thought that could possibly work.