From the Forums: Finishing Your Stories

[Brayon]

A topic posted by a new user, but appears to be a long time reader, got me thinking. I've seen a lot of "In Progress" stories that have been sitting around untouched, and some of them are untouched for years. I have a couple in that category myself, that I am working on, slow going, but still working on them. So, how do we as writers stop this from happening? Stopping the long-term "In Progress" from happening.

 

 

[mogwhy]

3 minutes ago, BHopper2 said:

A topic posted by a new user, but appears to be a long time reader, got me thinking. I've seen a lot of "In Progress" stories that have been sitting around untouched, and some of them are untouched for years. I have a couple in that category myself, that I am working on, slow going, but still working on them. So, how do we as writers stop this from happening? Stopping the long-term "In Progress" from happening.

 

 

thing is @BHopper2 you are still active on the site, so the reader has hope. its the ones that the author hasn't been to GA in months even years that i cry over

[Myr]

Since I have the oldest unfinished story on the site... lol... I can say that life gets in the way.  Since I started my HP and the Parliament of Dreams fanfiction story, I've started Gay Authors and grew it to the size it is today. I've done not one, but two Masters degrees and of course my career as an engineer.

 

The only sure-fire way to avoid the hanging story from an author perspective is to write it all before you start posting.  It is a policy I'm sticking with since I've written myself into corners more than once with my HP story. I'm currently rewriting it so I can get it complete, but I'm not posting anything until  I'm done.  It'll be about 175,000 words when I'm done... so that takes time.

 

For future works, any non-short story will be at least drafted all the way through prior to me posting it.  It's the only fair way to deal with my readers.  It is more difficult to do it this way, but that is why I'm hoping we can use things like this Club for that purpose.  Share works in progress for feedback.  Fellow authors can encourage each other and push us to better our writing.

 

I know that there are multiple writer's groups that meet out in the real world for exactly this purpose.  My aunt, a published author, does this a lot herself.  And apparently, I live in a popular area for Romance writers.  These long winters, go figure.

 

[Headstall]

I have only one unfinished story, and it is my first one. I've left it briefly to write my second story... that was important to show myself I could write another story, and it really built up my confidence. When I went back to Cards on the Table, I steamrolled along until an anthology story got out of control and turned into Treading Water. No problem. I took another break, and didn't really miss a beat.

 

But... I got cocky. This weird shifter mystery, a new genre for me, came out of the blue. I thought... no problem... I can whip this out, get far enough ahead, and start back on CotT. WRONG. Morningstar: The Malaise was so involved and took so much work, thought, planning, and research that my brain couldn't handle going back. CotT requires my full attention too.

 

Strangely, I was able to write four anthologies in that time, though, totaling over 40,000 words. I told myself that made up for not getting back to my first story. Nope. I wrote and posted poetry every week too. Still nope. The guilt was awful! I don't regret writing Morningstar... I consider it my biggest accomplishment to date... and I was even morose when I wrapped it up, but I was so relieved (and scared) when I finally posted my first CotT chapter after a fifteen month absence. Lesson learned. I will never do that again. Man, the disappointed PMs kept coming and coming and coming. Now I am committed to finishing it. I have all these stories in my head trying to get out, and I won't let them. I know now, what can happen, and how easily.   

Edited August 22, 2017 by Headstall

[Parker Owens]

Predator Prey was about two thirds finished before I started posting. Foolishly, I thought I would be long finished before readers caught up with me. 

 

I sweated bullets getting it finished so the story could post regularly. And then of course, life intervened, and I haven't written much...

[mogwhy]

but Parker, ooh la la with what you've been writing recentlyyou made me almost like math (Mental Abuse To Humans)

[Cia]

As Myr said, the only way to guarantee you won't stop posting a story because it's unfinished is to finish it. But so many people need the drive of the feedback from readers, and that's why they like posting serial stories. A good way to garner the incentive you need is to have a group of beta readers, which is the way many published authors do it. This closed group with the sneak peek forum just might help some authors out and garner more feedback from other authors. 

[Dolores Esteban]

I wrote and posted chapter by chapter when I started out (to a site no longer active) until I wrote myself into a corner. In the end l removed the unfinished story. Now I finish a story and edit it before I start posting. I have so many unfinished stories. I'm happy I never started posting them. They would all be on hold.

[MrM]

I will probably finish my story The Seashell in the next few days.

 

I will then either move on to continue with Souvenir or the second book of the Thinning Veil. 

I always want to rotate three stories so that I can keep my imagination spinning. Snowflake is a much longer work so I have a ways to go with that. I'm a little over half-way through with that.

 

Brandon Smiling follows Comsie . . . and we know how that can go. Hehehehe. Just think of it as a serial on TV that goes and goes. I have so much to do with that one I hope I live long enough to even get close to finishing it. 

Edited August 23, 2017 by MrM

[CassieQ]

I am notorious for having unfinished projects, so I won't even consider posting something that is not at least 90% complete.  I've caught some flak about being a "slow" writer, but I will take that over having uncompleted stories.  (I have one "in progress" that is basically a place for short stories in the NTS universe, but I don't count that) .

[Krista]

Right now, I'm just not being motivated to write. I've finished everything but one project and it is the current one. I feel like I'm writing for, "crumbs," as I may get 7 - 9 reviews, but 30 - 40 likes. I've tried to finish my stories before posting a couple of times before, but I can't seem to stay on track with writing when no one is seeing it. I think it is a confidence thing for me, I'm unsure that people would even like it, so I want to hear their feedback before I get too far into the story. Now, I'm thinking that I just need to get into the mindset to write the stories that I want to write.. and if no one likes it, they just don't like it. With that said though, life and waning motivation may lead me to not write much at all and I don't really want to stop writing.

[Brayon]

4 hours ago, Krista said:

Right now, I'm just not being motivated to write. I've finished everything but one project and it is the current one. I feel like I'm writing for, "crumbs," as I may get 7 - 9 reviews, but 30 - 40 likes. I've tried to finish my stories before posting a couple of times before, but I can't seem to stay on track with writing when no one is seeing it. I think it is a confidence thing for me, I'm unsure that people would even like it, so I want to hear their feedback before I get too far into the story. Now, I'm thinking that I just need to get into the mindset to write the stories that I want to write.. and if no one likes it, they just don't like it. With that said though, life and waning motivation may lead me to not write much at all and I don't really want to stop writing.

I totally agree with you. It does feel like no one cares when you don't get any reaction on chapters and stories. Likes are nice, but the emptiness of zero comments on a chapter, makes me feel like I screwed up somewhere.

[Myr]

This is where beta readers come in.  Or sharing with a group such as this.  Though, it is better to share with a group matched to the topic at hand.

[William King]

On 29/08/2017 at 4:35 AM, BHopper2 said:

I totally agree with you. It does feel like no one cares when you don't get any reaction on chapters and stories. Likes are nice, but the emptiness of zero comments on a chapter, makes me feel like I screwed up somewhere.

 

Looking at your stories you have 55 followers for Aeris and a good number of readers have followed your other stories, they may not comment or even like, but they are there reading (I get around 10 readers following my stories). That has got to tell you something - people read your stuff and like it 😊

 

[Brayon]

8 hours ago, William King said:

 

Looking at your stories you have 55 followers for Aeris and a good number of readers have followed your other stories, they may not comment or even like, but they are there reading (I get around 10 readers following my stories). That has got to tell you something - people read your stuff and like it 😊

 

 

That's true, and while I appreciate it, the comments help encourage writing, to finish the story.