How long is acceptable for a reply?

[Firmhanded_Daddy]

This would be my most severe flaw here....making people wait on a response.

I just make my poor cowriters wait too long. I'm sorry I'm not faster at this, but I normally try to work on atleast one post every day, it takes me a long time, an hour or two, to write it, and those are the short ones. Editing tweaking a line of dialogue, a description, when I tried to write in just immediate flow it was uninspired crap. I need my time to work on a post in my head.

It's very rare I ever catch up on all my threads. I'm always behind desperate to catch up with the rest of you

Maybe I should wait longer between posts? I see nothing but your co-writers singing your praise Veroe. You gotta be doing something right.

rut-oh... I hope Alize isn't allergic to latex.

*ponders the fact that there would be a real reason why a cavity search would be called for and doesn't know if the thought makes me shudder or squeal*

-Smirks- Why chose? You can do both... especially during the cavity search.

 

[DarkWarrioress]

.....-Smirks- Why chose? You can do both... especially during the cavity search.

*Just faints*

 

[Firmhanded_Daddy]

*Just faints*

-Catches. Carrying off to do dirty things to-

 

[Veroe]

Maybe I should wait longer between posts? I see nothing but your co-writers singing your praise Veroe. You gotta be doing something right.

A man is nothing if he doesn't know his own limitations, FD, and mine is being slow....still slow and steady wins the race....right?

And FYI I know I'm slow so I do my damnedest to make up for it with the best writing I can give. I sacrifice speed for quality.

 

[Firmhanded_Daddy]

A man is nothing if he doesn't know his own limitations, FD, and mine is being slow....still slow and steady wins the race....right?

And FYI I know I'm slow so I do my damnedest to make up for it with the best writing I can give. I sacrifice speed for quality.

Nothing wrong with taking your time to make sure the posts are quality. I have been known to do the same frequently, and unfortunately sometimes that means making them wait too long. (Usually due to circumstances beyond my control)

 

[Mephistophelily]

For me, its about the story
If the story is compelling, I'll wait as long as it takes.
If the story isn't compelling, well...

*Snifflepouts*

 

[Annisthyrienne]

Thank you all for your input and thoughts. It's interesting to see what my peers think about the subject.

First, to all my co-writers, let me say that this is in no way a subtle attempt to hint at being uninterested in our stories. On the contrary, I can't remember a time when I've been as pleased with the stories I have going on. I've got excellent co-writers and good story lines. But having said that, the most stories I've ever had going at once before has been around 8, and it led to a period of low motivation to write and the feeling that my writing wasn't very good. Now I have 9 going on at once, and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. I have 5-6 that I currently owe posts for.

I tend to be hard on myself, like Cait, when I don't get a reply up within my own personal time limit. I try to get a post up in no longer than a week, but I've currently owed one post for about a month now. My co-writer is wonderfully understanding, but still, it bugs me that I haven't replied.

I tend to need to let things stew in my mind for a few days to think about the post and what the character would do in the situation. I call it getting into their headspace. When I do sit down to write, usually the words flow readily. I just put myself in the character and write my own reactions. When the words flow like that, I call it 'word puking'. I can't honestly say that I outline or construct a post like many other writers do. It just comes out when it's time, like going to the toilet.

There have been exceptions, for example, just this weekend a reply came in for a story of mine while I was writing for another story. Since the new story would require a short reply (short for me being about 300-500 words), I simply wrote it right away, even interrupting my other post to get it done. This is exceedingly rare for me to do this. Normally I tend to want to answer my posts in the order in which they have been waiting longest. But sometimes you just have to write the character that comes to your mind, as others have said. You gotta let it out.

As tough as I am on myself regarding writing a response in a timely manner, on the flip side, I don't mind waiting on my co-writers for as long as it takes. Usually though, if I haven't heard from a co-writer at all in about a month and a half, I figure they lost interest and moved on. I move the story to my inactive list at that point, and depending on my mood, might take on a new story. I have not found that it matters as to the quality of my co-writer, as now I have all great co-writers, well worth waiting for.

I have seldom taken on more than one story with any writer at a time, but I have one writer with whom I have two stories currently, and have done another story with her in the past. She is great! I love her, and writing with her. I've recently started a new story that will be my second with one other writer too, but the second story is a three person story. The third person in that story is also possibly going to be writing as a third in another story, so I guess that would make three people I've had more than one story at a time with, assuming the new stories get off the ground. My strategy is that if I write with two co-writers in a story, then the ball will be in my court only one third of the time instead of half. One the other hand though, it means two people will be waiting on me instead of just one.

One problem I have is that I can't multi-task when I write. And most nights, one or more friends want to chat, which pretty much means I won't be writing that night. Yahoo blinks when someone posts a chat message, and it drives me frickin nuts! I can't ignore it, like some people can't ignore their phone when it rings. Hell, I could let the phone ring all day long. I don't like phones anyhow, for an obvious reason. But I can't get anything done with that damn Yahoo tab blinking at me.

 

[Vail_Indigo]

*Snifflepouts*

why snifflepout???

 

[Annisthyrienne]

Well, one more down. I think 3-4 left to go. If I can get one more good one done before my trip on Saturday, I can do the rest next week.

 

[Mephistophelily]

Not exactly the same as "Wait time" queries, but sometimes this spawns from a cowriter feeling abandoned:

Do you feel comfortable seeing a story you've started with someone being written again with someone else? I can understand if they've found you are no longer responding, but how about "version two" or such takes running while you're still active in the first version- or they abandon yours for the new? I've had this happen a few times and was a bit, lack of better word, hurt by it. If I wasn't writing it as you had hoped, I would rather be given a little note and try to get back there than deemed not worth the time and dropped.

 

[DarkWarrioress]

Not exactly the same as "Wait time" queries, but sometimes this spawns from a cowriter feeling abandoned:

Do you feel comfortable seeing a story you've started with someone being written again with someone else? I can understand if they've found you are no longer responding, but how about "version two" or such takes running while you're still active in the first version- or they abandon yours for the new? I've had this happen a few times and was a bit, lack of better word, hurt by it. If I wasn't writing it as you had hoped, I would rather be given a little note and try to get back there than deemed not worth the time and dropped.

After a time of absence, his not mine, a co-writer wanted to know if I wanted to continue our story. I thought about it and my head just wasn't in that space anymore and he told me he understood and if I wasn't interested, would I mind if he started over with someone else? I didn't. I also have had one guy interested in writing with me when I had an interest in his idea but he had already started writing it with someone else. He offered to write the same idea with me, just take it someplace else. I didn't think that was fair and just plain unimaginative, so I countered with a different idea, haven't heard from him since. Meh.

Now if someone abandoned our thread for a new one? I can understand that. Sometimes, the chemistry is just not there. Sure, it would be nice if they dropped you a PM and told you they were sorry, that they can't continue the thread for whatever reason, it happens or it just wasn't going where they wanted it to go, it would be nice to get a PM to discuss it and try to get where he was thinking, but sometimes, I think, some people just don't know how to approach such things. When I do a rewritten thread idea with someone, I want to switch it up. I want it to become our thread not just something redone by a new person. I know that the person that wrote it before me has made their character their own. I don't like the idea of stepping all over that by taking her character and stepping into her shoes and writing from something she started. Now the basic premise for the thread plot? That I can and will do but I want to make a different character that is mine and respect theirs.

Sometimes, these are young writers and they just don't know how to handle the situation and sometimes, they are just plain ignorant. Don't feel hurt by it, Lily. You're a damn good writer. You have a lot to offer someone. It's their loss, not yours. If they can't be bothered to take the time to talk with you or want to try to get the story back, let it go, move on. It isn't worth you being hurt (for a lack of a different word) over, no matter how much or how little that is. They're just ideas being given a voice and ideas are a dime a dozen. There's so many good writers out there just looking for someone to give them a chance.

If one of my old co-writers took one of my ideas and rehashed it with someone else? It would probably irk me that they had so little imagination that they couldn't come up with their own ideas, but that wouldn't last long. I'm just too busy to give a damn.

 

[Firmhanded_Daddy]

Not exactly the same as "Wait time" queries, but sometimes this spawns from a cowriter feeling abandoned:

Do you feel comfortable seeing a story you've started with someone being written again with someone else? I can understand if they've found you are no longer responding, but how about "version two" or such takes running while you're still active in the first version- or they abandon yours for the new? I've had this happen a few times and was a bit, lack of better word, hurt by it. If I wasn't writing it as you had hoped, I would rather be given a little note and try to get back there than deemed not worth the time and dropped.

I've actually had a situation occur where I have posted an idea and two people at once bit at the plot and it flowered into two completely different stories. Then again my idea's tend to be somewhat vague and more of a scratch on a napkin than an outline in a notebook.

 

[Britwitch]

If the thread is one I love, and I only write stories I enjoy, I will wait as long as is necessary as I'm the last person to be able to whine about being made to wait.
One of my partners waited nearly a year for me...

Real life gets in the way, muses go AWOL, there are many reasons why a response might be slow in coming but I think pressure from a partner isn't going to help matters.

If a partner disappears, without word, vanishes from Lit, then I'll wait for a while...I might remove the thread from my active list but I won't forget about it. If a partner stops replying but seems otherwise active on Lit then I'll leave it a week, maybe two, before sending a message to check if they're still interested.

When I know I'm going to be busy or offline or the like I always try to make sure I let my partners know.

I've been lucky to have extremely patient and understanding co-writers when it comes to waiting on me and I wait on them more than willingly...but then, they're all worth waiting for!

I think it comes down to manners. If you're having trouble formulating a post, let your partner know, maybe they can help. If you're not interested in a thread anymore, have the decency to say so before moving onto greener pastures.