Fic Talk > General Discussion

To post or not to post

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RokofAges75:
VeeLynn said something in one of her answers to Erika's writing survey that I thought was interesting.  She said:


--- Quote from: VeeLynn on April 15, 2012, 01:35:42 AM ---I have one story in progress and yes I've gotten into the habit of not posting until they are almost done or complete.

--- End quote ---

I just wondered, how many other people do that - wait to post until the story is done or almost done?  And if not, at what point do you decide to post a new story you've been working on?  Do you post it right away, as soon as you finish Chapter 1, do you wait until you're a few chapters in, or do you wait until you finish other stories first?  Does it matter to you if you have other unfinished stories waiting to be updated?

Discuss!

VeeLynn:
For me I want to make sure I don't leave anything out. I may have an idea half way through the story but to help explain it better, or maybe add more of an impact to it, I need to go back to chapters near the beginning to tweak somethings. As far as when I know it's ready to post? Usually when I feel the beginning chapters are complete, there's no need to go back and tweak anything, when I get to the point where I'm ready to end the story.  I'll start posting and get readers feed back. Even then I warn my readers that there is a chance the chapter(s) will get pulled because it's not complete, not till I post the last chapter.

mare:
I used to wait until I had at least 4 or 5 chapters written that I felt confident in. I also tend to wait until I know for sure I'm willing to commit to finishing it. If I'm not confident on the direction and in which case I'll end up stuck half the time, the story will never see the light of day.

RokofAges75:
That is how I am.  I wish I had the willpower to do what you do, VeeLynn, and keep the story to myself until I'm almost done because it's nice to give yourself that flexibility to go back and edit, incorporate new ideas, and make sure it's perfect before you post.

I am more like Mare, though.  I take a lot of time before I even start a new story to think it through and at least start to outline it; I never actually start writing until I have at least a general idea of where the story is going and how it will end.  Once I start writing, I try to get a few chapters written to make sure the story is flowing well and turning out the way I want it.  If I'm confident in what I have and confident that I'll be able to continue it, then I post.  I enjoy posting stories as I write them because I like that ongoing feedback; it keeps me motivated and on track and sometimes gives me new insight that helps me write the rest of the story better.

My problem right now is, I'm sitting on this new story I technically started last summer, but have only been making real progress on for the past week.  I finished Chapter 1 over spring break a week ago, and I'm on Chapter 5 now, which is pretty good progress for me lately, since I haven't been able to write consistently on anything else since I finished Curtain Call.  I'm getting to the point where I'd like to start posting it soon, but at the same time, I feel bad doing it because I have two other unfinished stories that I really should be writing instead.  I don't know what's worse - adding another fic to my list of stories that need to be updated, or just not updating at all.

Sakabelle:
I used to be really bad for posting everything I was writing right away. This resulted in stories that weren't well thought out and stories that never got completed. I also always ended up with a main story that would consistently get updated, and the others would fall to the wayside. I wouldn't even pick them up once the main story was done - I'd just start another new main story! It was like all the other ones I was working on were side projects, and if I ever did feel like writing on them, I found I'd shy away from it because I hadn't updated in so long I wondered if it was even worth it because I didn't know when I'd be updating again after that.

When I started writing Running Up That Hill, I tried a different approach. I knew that story was very different from the others I'd normally written (Nick romances)  so I had 4 chapters of it finished before I started posting it on the site. I wanted to make sure I was going to keep up with writing it and that I would still be interested in it past the first chapter. I also made it so that was the only story in progress on my profile - I removed all the other ones I knew I had no hope of ever updating again. This has worked for me, because even though I got really stuck on Running Up That Hill, I did eventually come back to it, and I think it's because I made it my story that was my main one. I do have a bunch of stories I'm still working on but not posting. But by not posting them, I only write on them when I want to write on them and I don't feel pressured to at all.

I'm not saying I only write on Running Up That Hill because I post it on the site, but it's a difficult story for me to write. However, I have always wanted to challenge myself to write that kind of story, so having it be the only one on the site for me forces me to have it as the main one I'm updating. I think if I would have added one of my trashy Nick romances to AC, I would have fallen back into form, it would have became my main story and Running Up That Hill may have been forgotten about.

Once Running Up That Hill is finished I'll post another story, and the nice thing about that is I'll have a backlog of chapters by then! So maybe I'll be updating a lot quicker? LOL.

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