Writing for Fun

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Writing here is for amateurs, amateurs in the original sense of people who do what they do for the love of doing it. If you're not happy about how long chapters are or how often they are posted, be polite and kind because if you simply make demands you might as well kick the authors and tell them to stop having fun.

If you think chapters are too short, you have an obvious solution: wait for more chapters to be posted then read them all at once. If you ask the author to wait until they have a size chapter you like to read before posting, you are being rude and selfish. You want your fun and you don't give a damn about the author's. This works if you are paying them, then they don't need fun because they have the cash. If you're not paying, keep quiet about chapter lengths.

I write and post short chapters, that's because that way I can do the chapter and post it the same day and have fun doing it. When I get paid for writing, I do things differently. If you want any author here to write faster or post more often, don't complain unless you are willing to offer cash.

Hugs,
Erin

Comments

Writing for Fun

Why i I ever win a contest here, I will donate winnings to the site.

    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine
    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine

Hard line to walk

but often when I mention chapter length it's not criticism about the author's choices, but instead a compliment about the quality of the writing. That it's so good you just can't wait for more. On the other hand, no one wants to put pressure on the writer so they produce substandard stuff!

I suppose it's a lot like enjoying someone's cooking. The best compliment is to ask for more!

I guess I can say safely that since I'm such a slow writer. Then again I do cheat by rarely posting anything that hasn't been completed. To those who post stuff in chapters just as they finish writing it, you have my admiration, but it's not for me!

Hugs
Grover

Yeah, it ain't one size fits all

erin's picture

It never is. But that's my point. The author has to do it the way it's fun for them. So, I end up with a 30 Million Reasons sometimes, where I've written myself into a corner and I can't get the characters to do what I need to them to do. But I also end up with a Sam I Am or an Urban Renewal, that couldn't have been written any other way. I needed the energy that comes from a nearly daily deadline.

Hugs,
Erin

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

Grabbed by the...

I have had phases when a story (or sometimes two stories) have grabbed me so much I just have to get them onto the page. At the moment I am working on two that are so different I can't do that, but I still seem to end up with chapter lengths of some consistency. It works for me, and as Erin says, all of this is done for personal gratification/pleasure/fun, so it is down to the author.

On the other hand, I have passed a few comments here on the idea of slowing down, not being in a rush to get to the Big Moment, and that has never been meant in any way other than as helpful advice.

People

I am not a serial reader but I don't complain about the serial stories. I think readers need to understand where an author is coming from not where they want the author to go.
Short stories don't have a relegated length and serial stories don't have a relegated amount of chapters.
if we all wrote and read the same thing it would be a mad, mad world

Jill Micayla
Be kinder than necessary,Because everyone you meet
Is fighting some kind of battle.

Jill Micayla
Be kinder than necessary,Because everyone you meet
Is fighting some kind of battle.

complain about what is free

Daniela Wolfe's picture

I've always felt that if you get something for free you really have no right to complain about it. Unless of course, you're willing to put your money where your mouth is...


DAW


Have delightfully devious day,

I agree with Erin

Different authors do things different ways. I try not to ask or demand; if I like a story I usually comment; if I perceive a problem with it, I'll try to PM.

I have about twenty stories on the go at the moment, including one serial (they're not all TG) and they will all be complete before I publish. That's the way I am, that's the way I work, and that's going to take a very long time.

It's been suggested that I take some of my ideas to a mainstream publisher; but they might want a specific number of stories in a certain length of time. That sounds horribly like work, not fun.

I write for fun.

And as for short chapters, isn't that the author's prerogative?

Susie