It used to be that a good story was posted a chapter or two at a time and I got sucked into the story and invested in the characters; then without warning, the story was abandoned. That doesn't bother me so much any more. There seems to be very few of them that have had that happen.
No these days it's the posting schedule or lack there of. There are currently about five serials that I'm avidly following. Believe me, I understand about fickle muses. Mine waltzes in and gives me a bit of the story and then remembers that there beaches she hasn't visited in an age and pats me on the head, and leaves for parts unknown. I'm stuck trying to cobble something lucid out of what she's given me and build on it a little. Usually with little success. So I'm trying not to be critical.
Of the five I'm following, only one seems to have a genuine posting schedule the rest turn up in the story queue like hidden treasure found when digging in the sand to make a sand castle.
Emma Tate is amazingly prompt in her posting schedule. I bless her for that. Note I'm only following five serials and also reading interesting solos; I'm retired and have loads of time to read. So Emma posts on Monday and gives me twenty minutes of riveting story and I'm now adrift until Monday or when one of the other gems pop up.
Please disregard all of the as the ramblings of a curmudgeon.
Trust me. I really do appreciate the efforts of the fine authors who share their works with here on BCTS. Keep up the good works. :o)
Comments
Seconded
There are various problems with serialised stories, and for some years I haven't read them at all - though I might dip in to something part-way through just to look at the writing style.
The unfinished stories are aways a huge disappointment and the ones that head off into 'different' territory can be a problem, too. For example, a relationship or situation turns abusive, implausible, incestuous, or starts showing crude racial stereotypes and I realise, with regret, that it's time for me to bail. Nowadays, I don't bother. Unless I'm workshopping, pre-release, with an author I know well, I'll wait until the whole story is published before I read it.
Serials raise questions in terms of storytelling, too: a person who publishes part of a story loses the ability to 'retcon' a new idea into the story, because they've already set things in motion... and the need to finish each episode with a cliffhanger (like those old 'Flash Gordon' short films) can make a serial feel formulaic, and diluted. There are only so many times the tension can peak, in a real book.
I'll echo Patricia's awe of people who can write to a schedule. Not merely in stories (because like I said, episodic servings aren't my thing) but in a column: the writer who can commit to "every Tuesday and Thursday" or whatever is the one who builds a loyal readership. If you want hits, you have to step up to the plate, every time. All (?) writers of TG fiction are amateurs, so it's particularly hard to maintain that level of consist output, at a quality. Obviously, building up a 'buffer' of material would help a lot, and it's possible since we aren't usually writing about current affairs. The "muse" thing shouldn't be a problem.
I don't consider it curmudgeonly to have opinions. They're your eyeballs, Patricia, and in an increasingly busy world, you still have the right to point 'em where you wish. Those who bemoan the lack of engagement with their writing might want to think about what you said.
Bx
Sugar and Spiiice – TG Fiction by Bryony Marsh
Hostile Readers
Bluntly, some of the readers fancy themselves to be paid editors, or are just someone wanting to lash out at something. Recently I posted a chapter of 1000 words and indicated that I would write more if there was interest. I am getting too old to put up with much BS, and writing seems to take a lot more effort. Therefore, it is doubtful that I will post anything else. I have a half dozen rough drafts that lie unfished. That is it. Dropping the microphone.
Gwen Brown
Having
A nigh on 20 year career of posting on BC, I’ve long ago stopped posting incomplete works here. Oh there are stories/series which do not reach a conclusive end but if I’m posting for example a new Gaby book, it is complete, the book published, serialised release goes back to Dickens at least.
A daily/weekly serial is something different, it can be reactionary, writing on the fly is a whole other thing, a magazine if you like. The problem arises when what started out as a short takes on a life of its own- there are plenty of examples here. Yes they often get distracted/warped from the original premise and often not for the better and with no conclusion become difficult to continue reading.
There are quite a few stories I’ve started, become frustrated with and abandoned, others I’ve not even looked at but each to their respective preferences.
Madeline Anafrid Bell
Real Life
For me, as an author, it is Real Life that is the ever-pressing problem.
When I started out on this craziness, oh, 17 years ago? I was young(er), relatively fit and had fewer demands on my time. I could easily turn out a 6,000 word chapter every week and I did so. I am one of those who can write and post while my story is incomplete, but I know that others work in different ways and would have problems doing that.
(mumble) years later, I have suffered two fairly serious medical interventions and have somehow gained two grand-daughters. Time? Don't be silly! I do what I can but I have to accept that I cannot work in the way that I was once free to do. I will add that the changing climate is something I didn't have to deal with that long ago; leaving my servers on 24/7 in this heat is a no-no these days, which means no writing. (Alternatives being explored.)
I still fully intend to finish what I have begun, assuming I last that long. I will add that I have a number of other smaller projects (don't we all?) which I plan to finish before posting, but they inevitably have a lower priority - and that is part of the problem. Lower priority means less attention and, when I do get around to them, I have to do some re-reading to establish where and what my characters are doing.
I do understand when readers say they won't start something that isn't complete. But you'll have to wait a good while longer for Bike to be complete, I think! Sometimes that plan means you will miss some seriously good stuff. Against that I, too, get miffed when a good story suddenly stops abruptly. Well, sometimes that means that the author has 'been promoted' and, maybe, can't post any more of an already-completed story because they are no longer with us.
As Garia was once told, we have to deal with the world we live in, not the one we'd like to live in.
Penny
I am with Penny here
Real life is my obstacle, but occasionally I am able to stick to a schedule because of how I have written something.
I write in two ways, one of which is chapter by chapter and the other is as a coherent whole story. The difference isn't in how I sit down and tap keys, but in how I serve the portions. My novels, for example, are served up in chapters as they are written, which can take a long time. I don't always leave a cliffhanger, more often a hook.
Stories like 'Hummingbird' or 'Closing Doors' are written to the finish, and then sliced up into portions. 'Doors' was also written as a continuous work with 'A Colder Dish', neither of them being served (sorry) until it was all written. That is what allowed me to post it on a daily basis.
Of course, I used to write daily chapters here, but old age and long shifts stopped that dead, I'm afraid.
What I don't do is abandon stories. The only stalled one I have is 'Western Ways', and that is because the others have taken up available time.
I would like to know the feminine equivalent of curmudgeon
Is termagant really the best we can do?
Female curmudgeon
As far as I can tell, curmudgeon is gender neutral.
American Heritage® Dictionary
I suppose if you want to make it feminine you could make it "curmudgeonette."
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin ein femininer Mann
Alternatively
Since the ending -on indicates a large or important whatever, I might suggest curmudgeonne or curmudgelle. :)
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Oh, I have a list of these
I use bookmarks to keep my place in serials, like actual bookmarks. Unless I'm starting into one that has already had a bunch posted, that usually means I've bookmarked the last chapter of each. Sometimes, either when I don't get a chance to read in so long that things run off the front page, or when an author posts multiple parts close together, I won't see one part on the front page but I'll use my bookmark to track where I was and go look for the missing part(s). When I catch up on one of these, I bookmark the new last part and delete the previous bookmark.
Likewise, when none of my continuing stories have new parts and I want something to read, sometimes I'll go check those old bookmarks for the abandoned stories, but rarely do I find anything new.
As for my own stories, except for Normal, which was just a way to tie together a bunch of stories that mostly weren't originally related, I try to have the story finished or very nearly finished before I start posting. Ethertravelers took more than a year of editing to wrangle into shape, as well as to pare down from over 200,000 words to merely 125,000, but posting it as a six-month serial has allowed me to get four other stories ready. That and the complaints about length that I got when Normal had individual episodes posted in single posts of 15,000 words or more are the reason I post longer stories as serials.
None of those are part of Normal, though Normal isn't dead, either. However, Normal will always remain as it is, a collection of vignettes with no long-term plan in terms of plot direction.