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[Hayden L]

Okay, so I have searched for and read just about every story I could find on this site about high school aged coming of age. Unfortunately all too many are incomplete and have not been updated in quite a while. So, my question here is two-fold...

 

Firstly, is it accepted practice here to allow authors to post incomplete work while still listing it as in-progress?

 

Secondly, does anyone know of where I may find stories involving high school themes? A lot of what is available here just doesn't interest me and Nifty just seems too sketchy.

[Cia]

I believe I've heard people mention that there are several authors on IOMFATS that write teen fiction; I've seen Grasshopper mentioned time and again as well and that he's hosted there. I don't really like to read the teen genre, so others might be better informed and can steer you elsewhere.

 

As for your question about 'in process' versus 'on hold'/abandoned stories comes down to the fact that there are many many stories here and only a few of me. Namely one. My time is busy doing other stuff on the site usually; it would be a giant job to constantly check the older stories, track down authors, and find out if they're still writing/coming back to the site to finish posting.

 

Unfortunately, sometimes authors start posting something and just don't finish; I'm guilty of having 2 'on hold' stories as well. I do understand the frustration on the false in process status, however. Our best solution to this was to make sure that the story description area not only has the original publish date, but the 'last updated' just below. The dates of the chapter update don't show up until you click on them, but you can quickly jump from chapter to chapter so you can see if the author posts regularly every month or three months... or if they posted all at once and just stopped. If you want to take it a step even farther you can click on the author's avatar and visit their profile to see if they've been on the site recently.

 

It's not a perfect system, but it was the best time saving solution we had to prevent a mountain of work for the limited staff.

[Andy78]

As Cia says, there really is not much that can be done about the whole "in progress" vs "on hold" situation.

 

Some of our authors post weekly, some (like Comsie) post about once every six months, but then post half a dozen chapters or more in quick succession. I'm as guilty as anyone, since I have two in progress stories that haven't seen a new chapter in nearly four months; it's just that life and stuff gets in the way.

 

Some authors start writing a story and then write themselves into a corner, but instead of pulling the story or putting a note on the story saying that no further updates will happen, they just leave it alone (I've run into a few stories like this and it is frustrating). Others find that they get no feedback from anyone, so lose interest in writing; especially if it is their first serious attempt at writing. Some do just disappear back into cyberspace, and are never heard from again.

 

Without knowing specifically what doesn't appeal to you about some of GAs high school stories and what you actually look for in a high school story, it's difficult to guide you elsewhere, since many of our members post on multiple sites. I have read a number of high school age stories over the years, but I've only come across a few really good offsite ones that I'd recommend to anyone, but most of those are stories that have been around a number of years.

 

IOMFATS does have a large selection of stories, but just like GA, they also have the same "in progress"/"on hold" situation (though I don't think it's to the same degree we do), as they do accept stories on a chapter by chapter basis as well as a complete story in one hit. There is nothing of Grasshopper's there more recent than Darkfall, and IOMFATS is also posted to by several GA authors (so what's here of their's is quite likely there and vice versa).

 

I can't think of any site that doesn't have the same "in progress"/"on hold" issue as we do to some extent or another.

[Palantir]

Click on the 'Links' button above. There are many sites to explore - then click on their links - and you'll eventually cover the majority of what's available.