I have been thinking a lot about the mistake I made with Mercy. Namely, that I posted chapters as they were written, rather than wait until I had the story complete. I believe that the length of time between posting, especially when I couldnt even say when more might come, helped lower the opinion of people about the series. Plus, I believe the pressure I put on myself to try and keep interest in the story led me to post very short chapters that also probably turned a lot of people off. You add to those the fact that there was a real risk that it could have very easily ended up a partly finished story that would annoy and upset readers, and I think this shows why this was a big mistake on my part.
As a result, I am going to try very hard to finish a story before I post any of it.
Which means it might be a looooong while before I have more stuff for you guys.
But don't worry. I'm still going to be active here commenting on stories, and posting blog entries.
But if you are hoping for more fiction from me, you might have to wait a while.
Sorry.
Comments
What Works for You
Some of the best fiction of all time was produced as a serial. It works for some.
What works for you is what matters here.
This site needs writers like you.
This site also needs readers. Writers need to produce material that satisfies their reader's needs. Readers need to understand that writers need to know that their work is appreciated.
Write in a way that produces something that you feel proud to have people read.
What I've read of yours have been good stories. You are appreciated.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Give some different styles a try
What works for one writer can be complete poison to another.
I think from what I have read of the stories you have Posted, you probably fall in the "discovery writer" category? These are writers that do not make an outline, they just begin writing and let their creativity take them along for the ride. Some of the most passionate and surprising stories have been written this way.
At the other end of the spectrum is the outliners, the extreme of these writers can go as far as to write the details of each scene into the outline of the story before actually writing the story.
I know that I fall somewhere in between these two types of writers, using some of each style. So while I do outline my stories, the outlines are more like plot points or ideas I wish to cover rather than set in stone scenes. I once heard it called "point to point discovery writing" where you write your outline as major points in the story in the order they need to occur, then begin writing toward the first plot point.
The easiest way to explain it is saying your goign to drive from New York to Los Angles. You bring out a map and say okay I want to stop in St. Louis to see the arch and make a big X there. I want to see Chicago, you put an X there. I want to see Las Vegas and you place another X. and so forth, then you plan your trip, possibly taking a few detours along the way when something strikes your fancy, but eventually you end up in Los Angles. Think of those X's as the plot points, the highlights of the trip.
At times I have plotted a story by plotting the ending first. As in this is how I want the story to end. Then almost backtrack and figure out what needs to happen in the story to get there.
One thing that I think I can say has helped me the most is having dedicated writing software that allows me to keep all my ideas, research, characters, etc all in one place. The two major players here are Scriviner and Ywriter. Scriviner costs around $40.00 US and Ywriter is free. I happen to use Scriviner but only because it was the first one I heard about and I had already bought it and became used to it before hearing about Ywriter.
Although the biggest words of advice I can give is to follow the Muse, not the fans. This is not to say that fans are not important, it's just they are in fact also following your muse. So don't force yourself to write something you feel you must to satisfy fans when your muse is pushing you to write something else. Follow the Muse and she will guide you back to the other story when the ideas have formed in your subconscious that will allow you to continue it :)
We the willing, led by the unsure. Have been doing so much with so little for so long,
We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.
A Looooong While...
> Which means it might be a looooong while before I have more stuff for you guys.
> But don't worry. I'm still going to be active here commenting on stories, and posting blog entries.
> But if you are hoping for more fiction from me, you might have to wait a while.
Those who remember me may notice that I've been very much like that: no stories for months at a time, followed by two or three in succession -- usually flashes or quickies, things that occur to me and that I can (sort-of) whip up. I'm still lazily at work on a couple of promised sequels, as well as a dozen or so other stories.
-- Daphne Xu (a page of contents)
Good decision
I always do the same, partly because I'm terrible at finishing stories; I have dozens of partly finished stories on my computer, some of which may eventually find an ending, but most won't. I feel it is dishonest of an author with my history to start publishing a story before it's completed.
But just as important is that when you have the story as a whole, you can make better judgements about how to serialise it; just where to make those splits. I generally like to end each episode on a cliffhanger, encouraging readers to return for the next episode.
You also have to remember that whilst your story is incredibly important to you, it's just one of a dozen which appear on this site every day. Readers with memories like mine forget if more than a week passes without a new episode, and certainly can't remember the intricacies of the story.
So my advice is to finish each story, chop it up into episodes and publish at daily intervals. Number them as Part 1 of 8, etc, so readers know not only that it's a completed story, but how much further they have to go to the end.
The downside is that it takes ages to complete a story, on the other hand, everyone who reads my stories knows when they start reading that there will be an ending, and they'll get a cracking good read in between.
Good writing.