An online friend wrote me: “I'd like to share a response I received from another FM authoress, who has the nasty habit of posting multi chapter stories, and leaving them unfinished. I've rebuked her for this habit in reviews before, and this is the first time that she has responded.”
Their words were: “i understand the frustration of reading a FM story, becoming excited and interested in the story line, but then feeling let down when nothing more is written. I don't know why, but I have many, many thoughts for stories, but after I write about a thought for a while, I have no energy or desire to add anymore. It is almost like making love, having a release, and then walking away. Sorry. I am being very honest with you. On each of my story lines I reach a point and there is nothing left in the tank. Maybe I enjoy the set up and not the finish. I don't know”.
I have to say my friend was very disappointed, perhaps like the bored writer’s sexual partner, and her response to that was harsh. There is no doubt that she was fully invested in a story or more by this writer, and now to be told that there will be no ending was simply intolerable.
I don’t read serials, or full stories if they are very long, only because I don’t have time. But years ago I read a few stories on FM called “incomplete” which were never added to, and I do find that frustrating.
I don’t write them either, although “Talk Show” was posted on FM in 4 parts, and “Rear Window” started as a short and had another 4 chapters because of intense pleading which I made part of the story when I posted it here. My correspondent clearly believes that if you do start a serial you are committing yourself to finish it.
Is she right?
Comments
Yes
If you can't finish a story, pull it down. That's what I've done with a couple of mine.
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
Intellectual children
While there is definitely no contractual obligation to finish a story, I think that the commitment should be more to oneself. I feel that it is akin to having a baby and abandoning it without regard to what will happen to that child.
One of my favorite authors is Robert Jordan, and what I think makes him a great author is the fact that somehow when he found out that he was dying and he would be unable to finish his story, he managed to flesh out the rest of the saga. After his death, his wife was able to get another great author (Brandon Sanderson) to finish the story using the roadmap that Robert left behind. The story that comprised 14 books, 11 of which were completed by Robert, was close to 4.5 million words.
I’ve read some great stories that would easily rival any of the blockbusters. To me, it is a little bit sad that not all authors take pride in their work. I can empathize with authors that are unable to finish their stories, however, rather than abandoning them I think that they should disclose that they won’t be finishing and leaving the story open for somebody else to finish, alternatively they could partner with somebody else so that the story is finished.
I think that in general this is a somewhat tight knit community where the members are always willing to help each other. So why not ask for help whether it is just as a soundboard, proofreading, editing, coauthoring, or simply supplying feedback.
Xtrim
An unanswerable question
For me, I believe that the opposite would be true: if I had waited until I had finished Somewhere Else Entirely it would probably never have been finished, or if it had it would have been a much poorer tale.
I have to admit that it is much larger than originally intended: I thought "about 40 chapters". Oh, those were innocent days!
You're right, there is a moral commitment to finish what one started but so often the trainwreck called Life comes along in the middle of it. I count myself fortunate that I have such an imagination that I can usually progress a story without having more than an outline of where we are going or what the endpoint will be.
Endpoints are important, though: I always know how my tales are intended to end. Note that my characters may have other ideas, so endings can change as things move along. As can the number of chapters...
Penny
Finishing the unfinishable...
Sometimes you get to a point in the story and you just run out of ideas about how to bring it to a conclusion.
Thankfully, I only post stories here that I have finished. On my blog, things are a little different. There is one story that I started over a decade ago and every so often, I look at trying to finish it. I don't get anywhere. A couple of years ago, I decided that it was 'as good as it was ever going to get' and I'm going to leave it at that.
It is annoying to the reader to start a tale only to find that you are left hanging and all you get is tumbleweed. I wish authors didn't post incomplete works but that is nigh on impossible to achieve. We as readers must learn to live with it and cut the author some slack.
Samantha
A "heretic" (?) view on unfinished stories
I'm not that upset about unfinished stories. Many of the stories here are interesting more for the voyage than the goal. There are several unfinished stories I have re-read for that reason. There are many reasons why a story is never finished. I respect that. I also prefer to have a fun and/or interesting story unfished and up here rather than taken down.
Yes, it's nice to have everthing wrapped up in a nice parcel with a beautiful red bow on it. However, that is not how life is. Of course, what we have here on BCTS is fiction ;)
Maybe there should be a some way to flag a story that will never be "completed". The problem there is also that the author first has admit this to themselves (or to be alive/able to do it). For older stories the combination of date and "ongoing" should be a hint.
Ah hah! Still waters run deep ...
For what it is worth, here is my take.
I believe that an author should finish what they started. They COULD leave the ending open so that the readers are left to imagine how they would finish it or whatever, but that is of itself an ending.
I have received some messages about if and when Julina is going to be finished.
My answer to them is short and getting sharper every time I have to reply.
It has been clearly stated that at the moment we have a situation where Julina - who is after all just a reporter - would naturally report on events that continue from where they have been left.
But if Julina, AT THIS MOMENT IN THE TIMELINE, were to do that, then several surprises in Penny's wonderful 'Voyage of the Visund' would become non-surprises.
So I am (politely) allowing Penny to continue at HER pace, with absolutely no pressure from me to get her to hurry. Penny has provided us with this wonderful world (aka a Universe) and has been stunningly brilliant throughout so I am content to allow her to do 'her thang'.
She does not deserve any extra pressure and I just feel privileged to be allowed to add a little something to her incredible vision.
So, in this instance, I beg of the readers to have some patience.
Julina is primed for her great leap to the conclusion I have in mind.
So those who dismiss stories that are presented as series as being 'unreadable' can sometimes appear to be overly arrogant.
... ... ...
Another reason that some stories do not get finished is that the author has been inconsiderate enough to up and die on us. One of my favourite stories here is a case in point. I keep toying with the idea of maybe finishing it for them ...
... ... ...
Please keep well and remain considerate.
Joolz.
Freedom of Choice
Over two decades ago, I made the decision to stop reading serials unless they were completed and 100% published.
I will make exceptions. . .but rarely. Some BC authors are such great writers that reading their incomplete stories are better than reading my finished products.
My mistake, years ago, was to publicly announce my preference. I was immediately labeled as anti-serial. I am not. I'm for any method that encourages more authors to write. Some of my favorite BC stories were published as serials.
I do wish more authors would publish solo stories. There was a time when the vast majority of BC stories were solos. Erin keeps saying we're just going through a cycle and things will swing back that way. It's been a long, long cycle.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Gift vs. Contract
Well one thing that may be worth considering regarding reading stories on the internet is whether the reader had to pay anything for them. If they are provided to read for free, then is there really any implicit 'contract' with the writer that the tale be finished? Unless of course it was advertised as a 'completed/finished' work when posted. Should we be thinking of these free story sites more as places meant to share written material and imaginings?
That being said, personally I only start posting parts of my books once the entire draft of that book's story is complete. However they are also part of a long-term multi-book arc, one I do feel compelled to finish mainly because it'll keep itching inside my brainpan like crazy until done - but that's me and also the 'last chapter' of the whole darn thing has been lurking in there since initial conception.
So if the writer is tossing pages out the window for passerby to read if they happen to pick them up, is there an implicit agreement of completeness? I suppose that's the question...
Is my time worth anything?
I like to think it is. If I invest my time and emotions getting into a story then I feel, in essence, I'm paying a price for the story. Even if the acquisition was at no charge. Bit of a gray area, I know. Others may not see it that way. But, still . . . .
They know they can survive
Yes, You're Time Is Valuable
The next time you come to BC and you have two options to choose from, which will you choose: the one from the author who has consistently led you into unfinishedland, or the story written by an author who respects her contracts?
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
finding an ending is a skill
Finding or plotting an end point is a writing skill that does not come naturally to many. If you look at this site as being in part a workshop for writers to develop their skills then it is logical that some people will be better at that than others. I would urge anyone who has multiple ongoing stories to pick one and try to bring it to a conclusion as an exercise in story telling. That's just a suggestion and your muse may not co-operate.
An obligation
As an author I feel an obligation to not leave my readers hanging. Therefore, I won't publish an unfinished work. I have been admonished in the other genre that write in for publishing too long a story. And I will admit that a couple of my stories have had rushed endings because I just wanted to get them finished. Most of my stories have an epilogue in which I give a recap of all the loose ends and tie things up so that story arcs aren't left hanging.
I know that there have been times when I saw great potential in the story line as it developed. One in particular was "Jamie Finds Acceptance". That story spawned "Millie's Release", which was supposed spawn "Harriet's Secret". Millie was a character mentioned in "Jamie". After writing "Jamie", "Millie" wrote itself. Harriet was introduced in Millie and was a method of explaining how two of the other characters were so accepting of Millie. Harriet made a cameo appearance in Millie and her story should have been an easy write, just as Millie was. But when I went to write the story, I found I didn't have the anyone in my background to model the antagonist; Harriet's disapproving father. Jamie's father had been modeled after my father as was Millie's. Both were accepting, though Millie's was a bit more reluctant than Jamie's.
In short, if I hadn't published "Jamie" and "Millie" as stand alone stories I'd have left people hanging waiting for "Harriet" to be completed. Both "Jamie" and "Millie" had originally been publish on my now defunct website. There, at the end of "Millie" I promised my readers that "Harriet" would soon be published. I just didn't have the background to pull from to do it; when I published here, I deleted that promise. So I understand that there are times when an author has great story idea and can get started on it and then just can't pull it together to finish the story.
As witness to that, there are 11 stories and one article on my hard drive waiting for me to get back to them and finish them. When I feel moved to do so, I peruse the bone pile and work on one or two. "Dumb Bet" was one of those. As was my most recent, "Full Disclosure". Each of them were started years ago, "Dumb Bet", a couple of decades.
I'm currently struggling with two others. One is particularly frustrating because I know where I want it to go, it's on track to go there and I'm hung up at a point where it's obvious as to how to progress, but when I open the file it just doesn't speak to me in a way that I can write more than a few words. It's as if my muse is saying "I've told you what you need to know, so just go a head and write the story." My talent as an author apparently isn't good enough to write the story without the pulling from my muse.
My sense of obligation won't allow me to post chapters on any of the 11 incomplete stories because of my track record on getting back to the story and plodding through the story line to reach the finish shows that it could, and has been, years for some of them.
So yes I feel that once an author starts publishing for public consumption they have an obligation to finish.
I don't mind so much when the story is free; such as here and on "FM" but when I'm wrapped up in a series of stories that I pay for, and I'll name names here, I do get upset. One is "The Rifters" by M. Pax. It is a series of Sci-Fi/Fantasy books. Currently there are four complete. Each on ends with the next story being set up. The fourth leaves us hanging waiting for the fifth. It's been years since the forth has been published Each of the stories is masterfully written and are fast paced page turners with well developed characters and story lines. I've written the author many times asking when they will get back to the series and bring the trapped (in another dimension) character home and wrap up the series. I've been promised each time as soon as they get through with the current series they'll get to it. Now that should be criminal.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
An Animated Discussion
It is always pleasing to have a blog give rise to chatter, but even better if that chatter is constructive.
What I am reading is that some people struggle with endings, and I would like to volunteer to help - perhaps others might too?
I start stories with a set up in mind, but often with no end in mind. I find it appears, but I do have a reasonable number of stories that are unfinished that I will get back to - I would never dream of posting them as is but "to be finished" even if I was confident (as I am) that an ending will be found. I used the word "commitment" rather than contract. You commit to deliver a significant story in serial form, with a beginning, a middle and (eventually) an end.
Having said that, some may say that many of my short stories are not finished. The short story is a different genre and the gaps can be an important part of the tale. For instance my recent story "It is Me Dolores" raises the questions - where is Dolores? What happened to her? Or does she even exist outside the mind of the sick person? I give no answers, because the mystery is part of the story.
I got no comments on that story, so perhaps I missed the mark there!
Maryanne
Unfinished stories drive me mad
I have often been engaged in an interesting story to find it stopping mid-stream. Some have stopped after becoming repetitive and that's something I understand. Because of this I am determined never to start posting a story until I have it wrapped up, reread and ready for the wider world. I had seven or eight stories waiting in the wings at the start of last year, about six at the beginning of this year. There is a three-part, 13-part, and 18-part still to present. There would be more but, on top of a number of important things in my home life, I have been working on a pair of novels for Erin to put onto Amazon, with all returns coming back to BC. I took three months to write the first book and it has been flipping back and forth between me and Jill for six months of editing. The second book is into its last chapter. This is, by far, the longest time I have spent on any one story. It has been educational to have the input of someone so highly regarded as Jill and it has changed my writing for the future. I'm looking forward to the time when I can get immersed in another story and have another strong character show me what to write.
I have been toying with the idea of returning to the original Patsy story and rewriting it as a screenplay with Patsy starting out as a girl, who thinks that she's a boy. I had the idea that Taylor Swift could play the lead.
Marianne
Earlier Blog Post
I think that a blog post of mine addresses the predicament, at least as I experience it:
https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/blog-entry/91306/heads-i-lose
-- Daphne Xu (a page of contents)
Writing
Some time something started turns into something that was nothing like the author intended. It happens.