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Favorite story that was never finished?

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OliviaM

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Does anyone else have favorite stories that were never finished? There's one in Romance called "To Tempt the Devil" ( https://www.literotica.com/s/to-tempt-the-devil-pt-01 ) that was so good. The worst part is that it ended on a cliffhanger! Even so, the characters have stuck with me.

It's listed as one story, but it's actually a 12 page Regency romance. I really loved the dynamic between the characters and how the male protagonist (antagonist?) was written. It also seemed to have been well researched. Alas, it was posted in 2004 (!) and the author last checked in in 2010, saying she was not dead - she just couldn't finish.

I will gladly take recommendations for similar works, by the way, even published books.
 
OliviaM said:
Does anyone else have favorite stories that were never finished? There's one in Romance called "To Tempt the Devil" ( https://www.literotica.com/s/to-tempt-the-devil-pt-01 ) that was so good. The worst part is that it ended on a cliffhanger! Even so, the characters have stuck with me.

It's listed as one story, but it's actually a 12 page Regency romance. I really loved the dynamic between the characters and how the male protagonist (antagonist?) was written. It also seemed to have been well researched. Alas, it was posted in 2004 (!) and the author last checked in in 2010, saying she was not dead - she just couldn't finish.

I will gladly take recommendations for similar works, by the way, even published books.
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Raymond Chandler died writing POODLE SPRINGS. A hack named Robert Parker finished it but missed the boat tho he had all of Chandlers notes etc. Plenty of popular, best seller writers compete to write a la Raymond Chandler, and fail every time.
 
OliviaM said:
Does anyone else have favorite stories that were never finished? There's one in Romance called "To Tempt the Devil" ( https://www.literotica.com/s/to-tempt-the-devil-pt-01 ) that was so good. The worst part is that it ended on a cliffhanger! Even so, the characters have stuck with me.

It's listed as one story, but it's actually a 12 page Regency romance. I really loved the dynamic between the characters and how the male protagonist (antagonist?) was written. It also seemed to have been well researched. Alas, it was posted in 2004 (!) and the author last checked in in 2010, saying she was not dead - she just couldn't finish.

I will gladly take recommendations for similar works, by the way, even published books.
Click to expand...

Sometimes authors write themselves into a corner from which they can't continue. I have done that with my two-part story Christmas Fairy. I know I need to write a third, concluding part, but without "With one bound they were free" or some such unlikely device, I don't know how to go further with that story.

Othertimes we have written everything we want to write about those particualr characters even though we have left the possibility for a sequel, or the current story has an unresolved ending.

And the last reason at least for me - I have changed as an author since I wrote that story. Going back to finish it means trying to think back to the writer I was then. That is hard.
 
I'm guilty of this with "Mother Son confessions"

Its the story of five mother son couples who met online and are getting together for a weekend. In the four chapters I have up, you meet each couple and all five have very different reasons they got together, including a couple of darker ones.

I was on fire with it, the four chapters are about 52k and I did it in a couple weeks. Then some real life stuff came up and I had to leave it be for awhile and now I find I can't get that 'feel' back.

I also have a goal to churn out at least to e-books for pay every month and recent health issues have cut down my writing time so money over rules free. The series is now almost a year old and I am wondering if I should delete the four chapters because I am unsure I will ever get back to it.
 
I feel like, in this case, the author wrote herself to a point of catharsis or realization, and suddenly, the need to continue was either no longer there or was too emotional to work past. I know this has happened to me. Sometimes I'll write up to this big moment and then find myself just sort of... done... with the whole thing. Sometimes I'm able to go back and finish it later, but only after it has been put away for a long time.

I have some epic stories of my own in the works and I'm trying to be very aware of these issues going ahead. I have a bad habit of abandoning projects once they're no longer the fun toy they started out as. I think I'm much better about just sitting down and making myself work now.

I don't judge authors for not finishing -- everyone has their own journey and their own reasons for writing -- but I am keenly aware of how annoying an unfinished tale can be for the reader. I wouldn't want to do that to anyone.


oggbashan said:
Sometimes authors write themselves into a corner from which they can't continue. I have done that with my two-part story Christmas Fairy. I know I need to write a third, concluding part, but without "With one bound they were free" or some such unlikely device, I don't know how to go further with that story.

Othertimes we have written everything we want to write about those particualr characters even though we have left the possibility for a sequel, or the current story has an unresolved ending.

And the last reason at least for me - I have changed as an author since I wrote that story. Going back to finish it means trying to think back to the writer I was then. That is hard.
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lovecraft68 said:
I'm guilty of this with "Mother Son confessions"

Its the story of five mother son couples who met online and are getting together for a weekend. In the four chapters I have up, you meet each couple and all five have very different reasons they got together, including a couple of darker ones.

I was on fire with it, the four chapters are about 52k and I did it in a couple weeks. Then some real life stuff came up and I had to leave it be for awhile and now I find I can't get that 'feel' back.

I also have a goal to churn out at least to e-books for pay every month and recent health issues have cut down my writing time so money over rules free. The series is now almost a year old and I am wondering if I should delete the four chapters because I am unsure I will ever get back to it.
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Both of these comments seemed to touch on the same thing. Sometimes we just can't go back to a way we used to feel or a person we once were. I'm not sure what lesson I can take away from this, other than to write faster?
 
Not every story is gonna "write itself" sort to speak. I am working on an expanded hardcore, science fiction erotic story called The Diablo Masquerade right now. But, when I reached a certain point with it, I had the idea for A Slut's Triangle.

Now, I was quick to write two chapters to A Slut's Triangle, but I did leave a short note with A Slut's Triangle to let people know I was still working on a more expansive story called The Diablo Masquerade. Should I have even bothered to post two small chapters of A Slut's Triangle? That was my decision to make.

What I hate when I'm writing is getting an idea for a second story long before the first story is complete. I don't want to mix the ideas into one story because that seems counter productive and kills the overall theme. I don't want the ideas for the second story to go cold, so I put out a couple chapters and generate some interest.

Now, I'm probably not making any sense, but that's how I keep the fun factor alive for me writing.
đź‘ đź‘ đź‘ Kant

Oh, one last thing- I don't write for the enjoyment of others first, I write for my own enjoyment. Those that love my written work will continue to read no matter how long it takes to complete. There is no time limit on completing something posted here. At least not for me.
 
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guilty

I had started a story about two years ago that I really never meant to continue. It was meant to leave you hanging. Honestly, I had no idea how to continue it. I was asked specifically to continue it, but I just couldn't until recently. I guess I'm not actually guilty since I finally did finish it, but after making people wait for two years... I still think that some stories have a really great effect if they leave you hanging. For me, it can leave me in a maddening tension that can make me do crazy things. It's been productive for my creative process at times.
 
OliviaM said:
I don't judge authors for not finishing -- everyone has their own journey and their own reasons for writing -- but I am keenly aware of how annoying an unfinished tale can be for the reader. I wouldn't want to do that to anyone.
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I don't judge an author for not finishing a story--as long as they didn't post it. That's how one would be keenly aware of how annoying an unfinished tale can be for the reader. If you don't begin submitting a story until it's finished you don't have this problem.

To a subsequent comment, it's fine to write only for yourself. If you post it, though, you've brought the reader into the equation. If you leave them hanging, that's on you, not them, and is a different issue than writing only for yourself.
 
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For me, I get an idea that burns until it's written. Then I may plan on writing another chapter but the muse for that storylne has died and no amount of CPR will bring it back.

SOmetimes I get the urge to continue with it, but I have over 45 stories partially written and sometimes I am only able to write 2 or 3 sentences, other times I can writ a whole story in 2-3 days.

It all depends on the muse.
 
There's a story called the Stimulus Plan Slut by Ahabscribe (https://www.literotica.com/s/the-stimulus-plan-slut-ch-01) that never got resolved. He said he was building up to something, but then he stopped writing altogether.

He had another story called Mom's Road to Recovery (https://www.literotica.com/s/moms-road-to-recovery) which was supposed to have a sequel that never emerged.

It's a similar tale with A_Satori and his masterpiece Masculine and Beautiful (https://www.literotica.com/s/masculine-and-beautiful). A sequel was promised, but it never happened.

Chile Peeler did some great work with his Swing Man stories (https://www.literotica.com/s/the-swing-man-cometh-again-pt-01) but, again, they just came to a halt.

I would have loved to have seen a continuation/sequel/resolution to all of these stories.
 
OliviaM said:
. Both of these comments seemed to touch on the same thing. Sometimes we just can't go back to a way we used to feel or a person we once were. I'm not sure what lesson I can take away from this, other than to write faster?
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This is a concept I've mulled over so glad to see another person voice it. I wrote a full length novel in 2012 about a BDSM group,"The Circle" I mean 240k full length. I then did three spin off one shots featuring different characters and all in the 30-100k range.

I'd come up with the concept in 2010 for an idea for role plays between my wife and I six males, six females all with distinct personalities and 'demons' it has endless possibilities.

I haven't touched them in 3 years. I can't 'find them' anymore. But in those three years, my long time best friend committed suicide. My daughter had gotten herself entangled with a legit pyscho and it was months of stalking, restraining orders and police involvement and living in fear for her before I finally said enough and handled it my way. My wife battled cancer and almost died from an unexpected complication from the second operation.

All through this I did keep writing, it gave me a much needed escape. But I could not get back to these characters and I feel-as you pointed out-I just may not be that exact person anymore. All of lifes little dramas leave scars and take a piece of you, maybe "The circle" was a piece for some reason.

And when real life hits anyone, I think its ludicrous that disappointing some readers on a free writing site should even be a consideration
 
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lovecraft68 said:
All through this I did keep writing, it gave me a much needed escape. But I could not get back to these characters and I feel-as you pointed out-I just may not be that exact person anymore. All of lifes little dramas leave scars and take a piece of you, maybe "The circle" was a piece for some reason.

And when real life hits anyone, I think its ludicrous that disappointing some readers on a free writing site should even be a consideration
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Hey, even Spielberg once said he could never make Close Encounters again because he wasn't that person anymore. He couldn't imagine a man leaving his family behind, like he could when he was younger.

I've also had a psychologist friend tell me about why certain therapy techniques don't work after a while: a person changes every single day. We are not the same people we were yesterday, a year ago, ten years ago. Sometimes the changes aren't even big ones, like everything you went through. It can be small things, like a conversation with a stranger, that affects us.

Like this conversation is making weigh the pros and cons of writing a long, multi-part story all at once before posting.
 
OliviaM said:
Hey, even Spielberg once said he could never make Close Encounters again because he wasn't that person anymore. He couldn't imagine a man leaving his family behind, like he could when he was younger.

I've also had a psychologist friend tell me about why certain therapy techniques don't work after a while: a person changes every single day. We are not the same people we were yesterday, a year ago, ten years ago. Sometimes the changes aren't even big ones, like everything you went through. It can be small things, like a conversation with a stranger, that affects us.

Like this conversation is making weigh the pros and cons of writing a long, multi-part story all at once before posting.
Click to expand...

Interesting point about therapy. When I went in my mid teens the 'angle' was far different then when I went back a couple years ago to try to get my head on straight from the aforementioned crap.
 
Just thinking: back in the 19th century, serial publication was huge. Wikipedia tells me that The Pickwick Papers, Counte of Monte Christo, Three Musketeers, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Madame Bovary, Anna Karenina, etc. etc. all appeared as serials before later being collected into novel-length books.

Few of those authors had finished their story before serialisation started. Wiki mentions that Wilkie Collins' writing was never more than a week ahead of publication, and that authors were often influenced by audience reaction.

Presumably those authors had a bit more motivation to finish the damn story, and editors to nag them. But Edwin Drood went unfinished because Dickens died in the middle of it, and I'm sure there must have been others where the author was delayed, or unable to finish for whatever reason. I wonder how publishers and readers dealt with it back in those days?
 
Yes, but those were professional writers who carried through with their writing (and were contracted for pay to do it). Surely you aren't equating this to writing at Literotica. Oh, I guess you are. No, I don't think you should.

Not that I read much on Literotica, but the very first time I started reading a series that just stopped, I'd never read anything by that author again, because that author wasted my time. And I can quite understand other readers doing the same.
 
sr71plt said:
Yes, but those were professional writers who carried through with their writing (and were contracted for pay to do it).
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Yep, that's why I wrote "Presumably those authors had a bit more motivation to finish the damn story" right there in the post that you're replying to :)

Surely you aren't equating this to writing at Literotica. Oh, I guess you are. No, I don't think you should.
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Perhaps you could show me where I "equated this to writing at Literotica"? I don't recall doing that.

I mentioned it as a related issue that interested me. I'm curious to know how often the serials of that era went unfinished (presumably less often than Literotica; evidently more often than "never") and how readers reacted when that happened.

Now I think of it, Byron's "Don Juan" is another famous serially-published work that was left incomplete when the author died.
 
Bramblethorn said:
Perhaps you could show me where I "equated this to writing at Literotica"? I don't recall doing that.
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Hmmm. I could have sworn this was a Literotica forum and a thread about writing a story series that isn't completed. Sorry, I must have read your post on some other Web site and thread.
 
Justin thyme

Was a story I fell in love with. It was at least 17 to 18 chapters long when it suddenly ended. After a prolonged wait a new chapter was posted with an author's note saying the original author had died. The new author claimed to have received permission from the author's spouse to write new chapters. Thus far only one new chapter has ever been written.
 
sr71plt said:
Hmmm. I could have sworn this was a Literotica forum and a thread about writing a story series that isn't completed. Sorry, I must have read your post on some other Web site and thread.
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Not getting you, sorry. If you're suggesting that it's verboten for threads to wander even slightly from their original topic... well, that would be a very odd thing to suggest. Or, if you're arguing that we can't discuss non-Literotica authors on a Literotica forum, you'd better tell these guys:

http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=1207187
http://forum.literotica.com/showpost.php?p=49611917&postcount=14
http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=1031822
 
Tigersman said:
Was a story I fell in love with. It was at least 17 to 18 chapters long when it suddenly ended. After a prolonged wait a new chapter was posted with an author's note saying the original author had died. The new author claimed to have received permission from the author's spouse to write new chapters. Thus far only one new chapter has ever been written.
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Claimed is the key word.

The person could be legit, maybe a long time fan that had correspondence with the original author and asked permission, but....the way things are stolen on the net and without the author around to validate that claim it seems suspicious.
 
Rmdexter's "Niece" series. He's gone on and done other things, but "Niece" is still my favorite story of his. I hope he comes back to it but I don't know how likely it is.

I can sympathize with not being able to come back with the way you were when you're writing it. I've found unpublished and unfinished works of mine a full 5 years after I had originally written on it and have tried to continue it. I can still continue the work on the big picture, but there are so many little things missing.

To be honest though, that you folks can sit there and produce multiple stories is already a credit to all of you. I simply do not have the time to work even if I do have some ideas.
 
GD88 said:
To be honest though, that you folks can sit there and produce multiple stories is already a credit to all of you. I simply do not have the time to work even if I do have some ideas.
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If I can offer some advice -- if you are ever unhappy because you aren't writing, you have to make the time. I've heard writers say they've written on trains during their commute, or gotten up two hours earlier just to get writing done before kids are awake. One published author even said that because she couldn't write during her subway rides (she had to stand and hold the strap), she wrote in her head and just typed it all out when she got home.

If you have time to browse a message board, you have time to write. Not shaming you for spending your time here, just pointing out that how you spend your minutes is always a choice.
 
Party of Five was a very popular series of 20 chapters written by VertigoJ. It was pretty 'rough around the edges' in the first couple of chapters but then developed well, the author was a good story teller. It developed well for almost 20 chapters then suddenly stopped. I suspect that the author ran out of ideas.

Someone else wrote a chapter 21 but made a poor fist of it and did not continue. Unfortunately the original author has never returned after about a ten year absence.
 
ishtat said:
Party of Five was a very popular series of 20 chapters written by VertigoJ. It was pretty 'rough around the edges' in the first couple of chapters but then developed well, the author was a good story teller. It developed well for almost 20 chapters then suddenly stopped. I suspect that the author ran out of ideas.

Someone else wrote a chapter 21 but made a poor fist of it and did not continue. Unfortunately the original author has never returned after about a ten year absence.
Click to expand...

On a similar and sadder note, another popular series was "Everyone Loves my ass" by Stevieraygovan.

There was a huge lapse after Chapter six then the author came back with seven and eight and had mentioned to a few people they had cancer and was trying to finish the series before, well, before the end.

The last chapter posted was 8 and on their page they said they were working on the final chapter. That was two years ago so I fear the worst:(
 
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