Another stupid question

[Senor_Smut]

I'm sure this has been asked and answered but I looked for as long as my Internet Age-level attention span would permit and I didn't find anything, so I'm bringing it to you. Feel free to call me a dolt as long as you answer my question first.

How does one mark a series "Completed?"

Thanks in advance.

 

[StillStunned]

In your dashboard, select "Series". Find the series you want to close and click on the cogwheel on the right. This will show you a screen with all kinds of options. Alongside the part where you can upload cover art, you'll have an option saying "Is this series completed?"

Useful to know: you can always "uncomplete" the series later if you want to add more works.

Good luck!

 

[Senor_Smut]

In your dashboard, select "Series". Find the series you want to close and click on the cogwheel on the right. This will show you a screen with all kinds of options. Alongside the part where you can upload cover art, you'll have an option saying "Is this series completed?"

Useful to know: you can always "uncomplete" the series later if you want to add more works.

Good luck!

Thank you!

I don't know about anyone else, but by the time I get done writing a series I'm so eager to move on to something else that I finish it decisively, with no possibility of continuation. Kind of like Dirty Mary and Crazy Larry driving into the side of a train that appeared out of thin air for the sole purpose of killing them "ironically." God I'm old. Also, I just spoiled the ending of a 51-year-old cult film.

 

[SimonDoom]

I'm sure this has been asked and answered but I looked for as long as my Internet Age-level attention span would permit and I didn't find anything, so I'm bringing it to you. Feel free to call me a dolt as long as you answer my question first.

How does one mark a series "Completed?"

Thanks in advance.

That doesn't even come close to constituting a "stupid question." I didn't know the answer myself. Thanks for asking!

 

[Comshaw]

I'm sure this has been asked and answered but I looked for as long as my Internet Age-level attention span would permit and I didn't find anything, so I'm bringing it to you. Feel free to call me a dolt as long as you answer my question first.

How does one mark a series "Completed?"

Thanks in advance.

Not a stupid question at all. But I'll one of my own: Why? If the series is complete and it's apparent at the end of the last chapter, why mark it as such? I'm not being a Richard, but us boomers, being the age we are, sometimes the stuff twixt our ears doesn't work like it used to.

Comshaw

 

[Senor_Smut]

Not a stupid question at all. But I'll one of my own: Why? If the series is complete and it's apparent at the end of the last chapter, why mark it as such? I'm not being a Richard, but us boomers, being the age we are, sometimes the stuff twixt our ears doesn't work like it used to.

Comshaw

I was fine with not having any of them marked, but then one of mine was automatically marked Completed, which means I had to mark other completed ones as well -- for no other reason than it would bug me to have one completed series marked COMPLETED and other completed series not.

 

[StillStunned]

Sometimes readers will nope out of a series that isn't marked as complete.

 

[YmaOHyd]

Not a stupid question at all. But I'll one of my own: Why? If the series is complete and it's apparent at the end of the last chapter, why mark it as such? I'm not being a Richard, but us boomers, being the age we are, sometimes the stuff twixt our ears doesn't work like it used to.

Comshaw

Because it's not always apparent at the end of the last chapter. Ambersin's (really good) two-parter Almost Us could be complete at the end of part 2. But there's plenty of story to come, if the author chooses to go that direction.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

In your dashboard, select "Series". Find the series you want to close and click on the cogwheel on the right. This will show you a screen with all kinds of options. Alongside the part where you can upload cover art, you'll have an option saying "Is this series completed?"

Useful to know: you can always "uncomplete" the series later if you want to add more works.

Good luck!

Adding a visual:

 

[StillStunned]

Also, to quote one of my old professors: the only stupid question is one you don't ask.

If you don't know, you don't know, and the only way to find out is to ask.

 

[alohadave]

Not a stupid question at all. But I'll one of my own: Why? If the series is complete and it's apparent at the end of the last chapter, why mark it as such? I'm not being a Richard, but us boomers, being the age we are, sometimes the stuff twixt our ears doesn't work like it used to.

Comshaw

Some readers are actively turned off by series that aren't marked completed. They won't read any of the series unless they see that it's complete.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Also, to quote one of my old professors: the only stupid question is one you don't ask.

If you don't know, you don't know, and the only way to find out is to ask.

I didn't know that.

 

[StillStunned]

I didn't know that.

And without the random facts spouted by my sage advice, you'd have had to ask.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

And without the random facts spouted by my sage advice, you'd have had to ask.

To he completely honest, @StillStunned , you make me ask so many questions. It's just that I keep most of them to myself.

 

[StillStunned]

To he completely honest, @StillStunned , you make me ask so many questions. It's just that I keep most of them to myself.

Usually, the questions I make people ask are along the lines of "What the hell...?"

 

[ElectricBlue]

Not a stupid question at all. But I'll one of my own: Why? If the series is complete and it's apparent at the end of the last chapter, why mark it as such? I'm not being a Richard, but us boomers, being the age we are, sometimes the stuff twixt our ears doesn't work like it used to.

Comshaw

So people can see that status in a story list, and decide to read the whole thing, because it is complete. There are many readers who won't start reading the endless number of unfinished series on Lit, because they're not finished. It's information for prospective readers, not for the person who has just finished reading. "The End" will usually suffice for them.

 

[Comshaw]

Because it's not always apparent at the end of the last chapter. Ambersin's (really good) two-parter Almost Us could be complete at the end of part 2. But there's plenty of story to come, if the author chooses to go that direction.

It should be apparent. Two words, "The End" or an epilogue or something similar can signify it is. But maybe some authors don't want to or don't like to do that. I do.

Some readers are actively turned off by series that aren't marked completed. They won't read any of the series unless they see that it's complete.

I think your answer goes right along with EB's and it fits and makes sense.

So people can see that status in a story list, and decide to read the whole thing, because it is complete. There are many readers who won't start reading the endless number of unfinished series on Lit, because they're not finished. It's information for prospective readers, not for the person who has just finished reading. "The End" will usually suffice for them.

Comshaw

 

[Zootonius]

I believe it was Eisenhower who said, Never be afraid to ask a question.

 

[PapaRomantic]

I learned something new from this post. And a lot of the same old stuff that ends up in most threads.

 

[Britva415]

If the series is complete and it's apparent at the end of the last chapter, why mark it as such?

You have to not overestimate readers.

If it’s marked “in progress,” (A) that isn’t true but (B) they’ll think it still is no matter how “apparent” the ending was.

If it doesn’t show as Completed, it shows as In Progress. The final chapter doesn’t speak for itself in this regard.

 

[Senor_Smut]

You have to not overestimate readers.

If it’s marked “in progress,” (A) that isn’t true but (B) they’ll think it still is no matter how “apparent” the ending was.

If it doesn’t show as Completed, it shows as In Progress. The final chapter doesn’t speak for itself in this regard.

I don't think that's the readers' faults. How many movies, TV series, and book series wrap things up with a neat little bow that ties up all loose ends and leaves no room for a sequel, only to give us a sequel (or twenty). Readers have been trained to expect more even when no more is needed.

 

[Britva415]

I don't think that's the readers' faults. How many movies, TV series, and book series wrap things up with a neat little bow that ties up all loose ends and leaves no room for a sequel, only to give us a sequel (or twenty). Readers have been trained to expect more even when no more is needed.

But in this situation, if you look at the series it actually says “in progress” if you don’t complete it.

Asking readers to figure it out based on the events of the last chapter is a bit much, with or without that in mind.

 

[Senor_Smut]

But in this situation, if you look at the series it actually says “in progress” if you don’t complete it.

Asking readers to figure it out based on the events of the last chapter is a bit much, with or without that in mind.

Oh yes, I'm with you on that.

 

[Comshaw]

You have to not overestimate readers.

If it’s marked “in progress,” (A) that isn’t true but (B) they’ll think it still is no matter how “apparent” the ending was.

If it doesn’t show as Completed, it shows as In Progress. The final chapter doesn’t speak for itself in this regard.

But in this situation, if you look at the series it actually says “in progress” if you don’t complete it.

Asking readers to figure it out based on the events of the last chapter is a bit much, with or without that in mind.

But it isn't just the events of the last chapter that determine the end of the series. Life isn't that way most times. A real-life story doesn't just come to an end. There is ALWAYS questions left unanswered, things left unsaid. In a written story there are numerous ways to end it. As I said earlier:

Two words, "The End" or an epilogue or something similar can signify it is. But maybe some authors don't want to or don't like to do that. I do.

Comshaw

 

[YmaOHyd]

Putting 'The End' at the end of a story gives no information to people deciding whether they want to give your story their time. Marking it as Complete, which takes two seconds, does.

I'd also say that not every story ends with a the-end. Almost Us is a great example. It's a complete story as written in two parts. It's also an ending with a million miles of runway, and I hope to God Ambersin continues it. Whether it's over or not is ambiguous, and it should either be marked 'Complete' or continued. Putting The End or an epilogue at the end of chapter 2 would make the semi-cliffhanger weaker and the story worse.