Disappointments
- Thread starter estragon
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CarlusMagnus
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Yes, it's gone now. It was someone using the name timealmstup who wanted us to visit a site he, she, or it said supported GLBTs. I've nothing against the sentiment, but plenty against a spammer.
I reported it, and I imagine others did do. Several of the threads I subscribe to were hit.
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Serials
I've been reading a few pages of the discussion here about unfinished stories, and there's something I haven't seen mentioned: good old fashioned serials with cliffhangers.
Perhaps you are talking principally about authors who never wrap things up, or who take an inordinate amount of time between key chapters. (I could go back and look, but I think the longest I've taken is a month, but even that one interregnum came after I really thought the story was finished, and I was teased into writing a few more chapters, which then came reasonably quickly.)
But I certainly would not want to leave unanswered a suggestion that serials, even ones with cliffhangers, shouldn't be written in real time.
(Woohoo ... I'm no longer a virgin!)
I've been reading a few pages of the discussion here about unfinished stories, and there's something I haven't seen mentioned: good old fashioned serials with cliffhangers.
Perhaps you are talking principally about authors who never wrap things up, or who take an inordinate amount of time between key chapters. (I could go back and look, but I think the longest I've taken is a month, but even that one interregnum came after I really thought the story was finished, and I was teased into writing a few more chapters, which then came reasonably quickly.)
But I certainly would not want to leave unanswered a suggestion that serials, even ones with cliffhangers, shouldn't be written in real time.
(Woohoo ... I'm no longer a virgin!)
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Everything is written in real time. I believe the discussion here concerns when or if it's posted. A cliffhanger ending would seem to need to be followed up in good time in posting to keep a readership (even to justify having a readership) even more than a chapter that didn't end with a cliffhanger.
CarlusMagnus
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A Stroke Story
There is another issue that no-one seems to have addressed. Sometimes a completely unexpected disaster (death or illness) robs one of the time and/or the ability to continue writing in spite of one's best intentions. This was brought home, rather rudely, to me recently when I had a series of minor strokes. I posted a deadline in my profile that I'm no longer sure I'll be able to keep. But if it should happen that I come to believe that I won't be able to make that deadline, I'll post an update on my profile.
As things stand now, I'm (mostly) recovering and I have every intention of meeting the deadline. My strokes could have been a great deal worse than they were, and their final result seems to have been only a visual defect that will not cause me a great deal of difficulty.
There is another issue that no-one seems to have addressed. Sometimes a completely unexpected disaster (death or illness) robs one of the time and/or the ability to continue writing in spite of one's best intentions. This was brought home, rather rudely, to me recently when I had a series of minor strokes. I posted a deadline in my profile that I'm no longer sure I'll be able to keep. But if it should happen that I come to believe that I won't be able to make that deadline, I'll post an update on my profile.
As things stand now, I'm (mostly) recovering and I have every intention of meeting the deadline. My strokes could have been a great deal worse than they were, and their final result seems to have been only a visual defect that will not cause me a great deal of difficulty.
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PennLady
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The debate seems to mostly fall into two camps -- those who believe an author should not post a work until it is finished, so that there are no lags in posting and such, and those who disagree.
I think it is ideal to finish a work before posting, but it just doesn't always work that way. Some authors like to have the feedback for encouragement as they go along. Some like to post, get feedback, and then see if they feel it's worth writing more (I disagree with that, but that's just me).
I think it is ideal to finish a work before posting, but it just doesn't always work that way. Some authors like to have the feedback for encouragement as they go along. Some like to post, get feedback, and then see if they feel it's worth writing more (I disagree with that, but that's just me).
Some time before the readers the author is trying to keep reading - otherwise why post? - the series dump both the series and the author. It would obviously be a different "good time" for different readers. So, it would probably benefit the author to reach for the lower end of that "good time" rather than the upper toleration level. Common sense, I think, and a key to building a readership.
And to Carlus, as I read it, part of one side of the discussion is that series should not start posting until the story is finished - not only to respect the reader, but also to have a good story. So his point would be irrelevant to that side of the discussion and those who hold that view - as I do - don't really need to respond to that posed situation.
But hasn't the thread been going around in circles on this aspect of the discussion already? Several times. Is anyone posting really going to change her mind about this, do you think?
CarlusMagnus
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Do you really expect commercial authors to complete a multiple-book series before they publish any of them? I think that's unrealistic. Consider, say, C.S. Forester's Hornblower series. There are 10 complete novels in that series and one incomplete one. They were published over a period of decades. What's worse, they were published out of chronological order. And the author died before Number 11 was complete.
I pretty much intended my current series to be a one time book of seven chapters; owing to the response of readers, I'm currently working on Book 4. (Sometimes I wish I hadn't read what my readers wrote—the serial has taken over my writing life!
And then there is Kazantzakis' last book, which was published incomplete by his heirs after his death.
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Yeah, it can become annoying...
I'm disappointed in Silk stockings lover. I like a lot of her work. Recently she started a multi-chapter series. I read the first chapter and waited patiently for the next. After several weeks I wrote her asking when to expect the next installment. She wrote me back saying she had no idea and that she hadn't started it yet. Very disappointing.
I'm disappointed in Silk stockings lover. I like a lot of her work. Recently she started a multi-chapter series. I read the first chapter and waited patiently for the next. After several weeks I wrote her asking when to expect the next installment. She wrote me back saying she had no idea and that she hadn't started it yet. Very disappointing.
Don't be ridiculous. Lit. chaptered works aren't book series. Also, the commercial book series are each finished off enough so that if each one is the last one, that's fine. That would be OK to do with Literotica stories too, as far as I'm concerned. But that's not what is being discussed here. The chapter chunks being discussed here don't claim to be finished off each time.
Further, if someone brings up Harry Potter again in this context, I'll scream. The whole series of these was outlined out before the first one was completed and published.
Just keep working at the slight-of-hand technique; it's not working.
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CarlusMagnus
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It's not sleight-of-hand. Dickens, for example, initially published many—if not all—of his novels in serial form. And he didn't have the entire novels written when he published the first installments—or the next-to-last installments, for that matter.
Forester published many of the Hornblower novels in serial form, but I don't know if he had them completely finished before the first installment appeared.
And my Lit works are book series. I post each book complete, though for its own reasons, Lit publishes them one each day after I post them.
More clumsy attempt of sleight of hand. You just breezed on by my point that the commercial book serial authors put an ending on each book so that a sequel isn't necessary if it doesn't happen. You also ignore the point that the story serialists of old--the ones doing cliffhanger endings - did have their sequels appearing on a schedule - which they generally adhered to because they were in newspapers with forced deadlines - and if their timing slipped, their readers justifiably went to the streets on where their next segment read was. That's what those complaining about long-delayed or dropped endings on on Literotica stories are doing here - justifiably, I think, going to the streets.
The discussion here is on expectations of the next segment. And your characterization of your own serial writing pattern isn't remotely relevant to what is being discussed and begs the point that is being discussed, because you've finished them before you posted them by your own statement. You're just muddling around here - and seem to be forgetting even what your own position on the matter is.
The discussion here is on expectations of the next segment. And your characterization of your own serial writing pattern isn't remotely relevant to what is being discussed and begs the point that is being discussed, because you've finished them before you posted them by your own statement. You're just muddling around here - and seem to be forgetting even what your own position on the matter is.
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It seems to me that the crux of this unfinished or glacial and off-rhythm slowness in story serialization is that a reader needs an author to follow far less than an author needs a reader following them, so, yes, the author can be all "screw the reader" on a site like this if she wants - but then she should just keep her yap shut if she wants to complain about not having an appreciative readership. It's sort of a "doh" moment, I think, in the discussion about your stories being popular here.
soflabbwlvr
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I am sorry to hear of your difficulty, but I am happy for you that it was not worse. Best of luck to you in the pursuit of maximum recovery.
4glory6, if you don't like the treatment you receive from an author, don't read him/her. Or send the author feedback so stating. Some chaptered stories on the site took a long time to write and a long time to post; if I like the work I'll stay with the author.
Well, of course. (Gee, clunks the heel of her hand to her forehead. "Why didn't I think of that?") The point is that the same authors saying "screw the reader; they can just follow me around to a deadend" are the ones who whine for readers and can't understand why they aren't there.
And, gee, I thought that this was a feedback forum.
CarlusMagnus
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My own take is that this is a free site. Readers pay nothing; authors get nothing.
If you're a reader, be thankful for what you get. As a reader, I've gotten plenty---some very good, some disappointing, and a few even worse than disappointing.
If you're an author, be thankful for readers. As an author, I have a (mostly) receptive audience. The trolls are just part of the game.
My main disappointment at the moment is that some of the URLs for my stuff have led to the wrong things. Laurel and I are working on that; neither of us is sure just what happened. It could be my fault; it could be the site's. Some of it's fixed and a little of it still needs to be fixed. Soon. I hope. In my opinion, that's a much more important complaint than that of stories that don't finish.
4glory6, if those authors whine because no one reads them, and if especially you don't read them as you don't like to be left hanging, then why should their whines matter a damn to you? You've already written them off. And lecturing them on this thread won't change their habits.
That said, this is a feedback forum. And I've said it several times: I started this thread but I don't own it, and never claimed that I did. And as I've also said many times before now, say whatever you like, wherever you like; and I will do likewise.
Oh, give the crap a rest. I'm putting my opinions forth just like anyone else is in this discussion. That they bother you is your problem - so you can take your own advice on that. And you are quite right that you don't own this thread or this forum. This is the feedback forum and I'm posting my feedback to authors on the topic under discussion. If you don't like it, stick it.
SandraMustard
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I didn't read any of that in any of estragon's posts. He actually underlined your right to speak freely. Seems you are here to pick a fight with everybody, even those who don't say a word against you. I'd ask you to quit attacking everybody personally and just write your opinions about stories not people.
SandraMustard
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That didn't take long. I expected you to piss on me too. Maybe I baited you a bit but it doesn't matter. Ornery people like you are a waste of time so you are officially ignored, bozo.
That fine with me, Sandra. I don't see you as part of this particular discussion - I really don't see that you've been part of this discussion on reader expectations for serial stories on Literotica at all, which makes your stepin highly suspect to me right there. What I see is you sucking up to estragon here and on the summer contest thread. As I said, I imagine it will get what you seem to want - a favorable shoutout from him on your contest entry. He seems focused on those he has edited for and is friends with rather than the entire list. No doubt you've seen that, which is why you are sucking up to him.
And again, between the two of us on actually reading estragon's posts to me, I don't think you were the one doing the comprehending.
And again, between the two of us on actually reading estragon's posts to me, I don't think you were the one doing the comprehending.
Hmmm, not sure I want to step into this minefield, but since I'm working on a series I was reading this with interest. A few comments have me wondering.
PennLady said, "I think it is ideal to finish a work before posting..." and then Carlus Magnus said, "I post each book complete, though for its own reasons, Lit publishes them one each day after I post them."
So, if you've got the series finished, how should you submit it? All at once? Let a day, or two, or a week pass between chapters?
TIA
PennLady said, "I think it is ideal to finish a work before posting..." and then Carlus Magnus said, "I post each book complete, though for its own reasons, Lit publishes them one each day after I post them."
So, if you've got the series finished, how should you submit it? All at once? Let a day, or two, or a week pass between chapters?
TIA
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