Unfinished stories

[LuvinWritin]

I get really tired of reading multi chapter unfinished stories. I always check to make sure the last chapter in a series is at least a couple of years old but that obviously isn't going to guarantee the story is complete. The got to ch. 10 of the last one I read and then it just dropped. Has anyone addressed this problem. I had a couple of suggestions but I'm not sure that they would fit in with the framework of how Literotica is run.

 

[sr71plt]

I feel your pain. I don't think Literotica is entertaining any suggestions on improving the issue, though. I don't start reading anything that claims/hints/indicates or I suspect is still being composed, and I now state in a note on the first chapter of anything I submit in chapters how many chapters there are and approximately when the last one will post. Perhaps more will do this is readers make clear they aren't getting sucked into reading chapters of an open-ended work.

 

[BonnevilleFlats]

I just know as a writer you sometimes need to leave a story or characters alone for a while in order for the story to stay fresh. I have one multi-part story I am working on called "Our Town" where the story of a mother and son couple is told from the perspective of neighbors and relatives who witnessed the relationship over a period of decades. Each section or chapter requires at least three new characters who will narrate their portion of a story. It takes time to find the voice for each character so it will take a while to finish this one. It became much more difficult to write than I thought it would be when I posted the first two sections.

 

[sr71plt]

You don't have to post it until it's finished. You are doing the readers a disservice by leaving them hanging just because you won't finish and polish a story before starting to post it (and they, in turn, might just stop reading your chaptered series if you do this one more once).

 

[BONNIEBREA]

I get really tired of reading multi chapter unfinished stories. I always check to make sure the last chapter in a series is at least a couple of years old but that obviously isn't going to guarantee the story is complete. The got to ch. 10 of the last one I read and then it just dropped. Has anyone addressed this problem. I had a couple of suggestions but I'm not sure that they would fit in with the framework of how Literotica is run.

I appreciate your frustration. It's a pet peeve of mine (as a reader - I've come to SR71's thinking and won't even start reading a story unless in know it's completely posted) and something I won't do to my readers (as a writer).

This is really just in the nature of Literotica: people can submit whatever they want. The site will reject submissions for lousy writing, but it's really not up to the site to police whether or not a story is complete.

I've never started posting a story until it's finished. I submit each chapter individually, wait until it posts and make sure it's posted completely and correctly - the process takes a few days. But once a chapter is up I'm ready to submit the next. So an eight or ten chapter story will post, with a chapter every few days, over the space of a few weeks. I also put a foreword on each chapter to inform readers that the story is complete and that they can expect to read the story through to the end with just short time breaks between the chapters.

I guess some readers don't really care, but if the problem bothers you then, however tempted you are to get into a story that seems interesting, you might want to check to see if the story is complete, and if it isn't then move on to something else. There are certainly no shortage of stories here.

 

[lovecraft68]

One way to tell if a series is done is to read the tag lines. Does the last published chapter allude to some sort of ending? Example my tag line for the last chapter in my series "Megan comes to terms with her feelings for her brother." The entire series was based on how she was going to respond to his offer to be a couple. If you follow tag lines they almost tell the story.

I published a fairly long series one chapter at a time and did not have more than one done in advance at any given time. I received a lot of e-mails saying to the effect "Please tell me you're going to finish this!"

At the time I wasn't sure why there were so many of those, but then as I spent more time looking at other series and seeing threads like this I realized a lot of people don't finish.

For me this is 50/50. On the readers side I understand the frustration, you get invested in the characters want to know what happens etc...

On the writers side not every writer is an asshole if he didn't finish the story. There is a thing called real life and it can do a number on you.

Also I want to point out and I don't mean this as harsh as it sounds, but have no better way to say it than.

The author owes the reader nothing to the degree he needs to finish what he started. Do I personally think its right? No, but that's my opinion other authors don;t feel that way or they had every intention of finishing and couldn't

I'll leave off on one note. If I had not penned my series one chapter at a time I may not have finished it. Why did I? because of fans e-mailing me telling me how excited they were and how they liked it and knowing I had people waiting helped me along. I was writing it more for more than just me.

Now that I have been here longer I realize I was lucky to have some dedicated fans.

Because trust me you want a series to end before its time? Don't vote, don't comment, don't encourage and then throw in a bunch of anymouse nasty comments.

The average reader here cannot even take the time to vote and comments are far fewer than votes

So tell me, the author should be inspired why?

It all works both ways.

 

[someoneyouknow]

After finishing a two part story, some of the comments I received weren't sure if the story was done or not because of how I ended it (a la lovecraft68 above) so I started putting ** END ** at the end so people would know there is no more.

That only helps if the writer is truly done. If they're just taking time off, that's a different story and I am guilty of that with one story that started one year and I didn't finish it until the next.

A writer will do what a writer will do and there's nothing one can do to change that.

 

[lovecraft68]

After finishing a two part story, some of the comments I received weren't sure if the story was done or not because of how I ended it (a la lovecraft68 above) so I started putting ** END ** at the end so people would know there is no more.

That only helps if the writer is truly done. If they're just taking time off, that's a different story and I am guilty of that with one story that started one year and I didn't finish it until the next.

A writer will do what a writer will do and there's nothing one can do to change that.

This kind of sums it up.

I think when someone looks at an unfinished series and wonders do I want to start it they are running the risk of disappointment. Writers, especially on a free site, are an unpredictable lot.

In the grand scheme of things however, its a pretty mild risk.

 

[emap]

What they said with an addendum, people are fickle fuckers and what they want more of changes day to day. This is true for the authors as well as readers. I did a fucking zombie story, fully intended to do more but got sidetracked and have since lost the thought on it.

I have tried but just can't find the voice of the story again. I'll probably find it again at some point but right now it's just sitting there with chapter one posted and nothing else. Have a little bit of chapter two sitting on the computer but I just can't continue. What i have sits wrong but not sure why and no idea how to continue. I'm not being paid to put more chapters in so I won't just bash at the keyboard and edit what comes out into English and post that.

See this is what most keep forgetting, authors are not paid to post stuff, you are not paying to read stuff on this site. Everything posted is done because the poster felt like posting it. There's no reason to read anything on the site, you don't pay for it, we are not paid to put it there, read at your own risk.

Horrible to say but really there isn't anything else to say. We don't get anything to post to the site, and you don't get anything to read from the site. Well granted this being an erotic story site you probably will get orgasms if you handle yourself and read but otherwise there's nothing.

Now if this was a pay site, and us authors got paid I'm pretty darn sure chapters would be outlawed from the authors. The site would post a completed story in chapters. Since this isn't a pay site, what you pay for is what you get, what we decide to post.

 

[BonnevilleFlats]

Each section of my story "Our Town" ends with a climactic scene a reader could wank to if he or she is that sort of a reader. Also, each section of the story could have functioned as a self contained story. I usually try to write my stories so that all of the reader can expect is expressed implicitly in the first four paragraphs. By making it a series I signal to the reader that these are the same characters. For example, I opened the second chapter with a three paragraph pseudo interview with a psychiatrist commenting on the case. That short piece signals to the reader that by the end of the section 1) the psychiatrist's theory that something extraordinary happened between the mother and son to make their relationship last decades will be proven or disproven and 2) the question as to whether there was some sort of ritual aspect of there sexual relationship will be answered. Those expectations were met in that the mother carried a child as a surrogate for her brother and her son was her coach in the birthing suite. The ritual aspect is that the mother decided to breast feed her son. I don't feel I've deprived the reader of anything by ending that section where I did and it could function as a self-contained story.

The other story I posted, "Triangled Up in Blue", was originally intended to go up three days in a row. But the scores to the second chapter were significantly lower than anything else I've posted. So I've held off on posting the third chapter as a re-read the second to see if it was something to do with my writing as opposed to the type of sex the characters are into.

 

[lovecraft68]

Each section of my story "Our Town" ends with a climactic scene a reader could wank to if he or she is that sort of a reader. Also, each section of the story could have functioned as a self contained story. I usually try to write my stories so that all of the reader can expect is expressed implicitly in the first four paragraphs. By making it a series I signal to the reader that these are the same characters. For example, I opened the second chapter with a three paragraph pseudo interview with a psychiatrist commenting on the case. That short piece signals to the reader that by the end of the section 1) the psychiatrist's theory that something extraordinary happened between the mother and son to make their relationship last decades will be proven or disproven and 2) the question as to whether there was some sort of ritual aspect of there sexual relationship will be answered. Those expectations were met in that the mother carried a child as a surrogate for her brother and her son was her coach in the birthing suite. The ritual aspect is that the mother decided to breast feed her son. I don't feel I've deprived the reader of anything by ending that section where I did and it could function as a self-contained story.

The other story I posted, "Triangled Up in Blue", was originally intended to go up three days in a row. But the scores to the second chapter were significantly lower than anything else I've posted. So I've held off on posting the third chapter as a re-read the second to see if it was something to do with my writing as opposed to the type of sex the characters are into.

That's odd. Normally a second chapter has a higher score. First chapters in most series are lower because a lot of people may not like it and vote low.

Most of those same readers don;t come back to the second chapter, but the people who like it do so usually a higher score.

I doubt it is the writing, you said "type of sex" was their something "taboo" about it or something out of line with the category?

 

[sr71plt]

What they said with an addendum, people are fickle fuckers and what they want more of changes day to day. This is true for the authors as well as readers. I did a fucking zombie story, fully intended to do more but got sidetracked and have since lost the thought on it.

I have tried but just can't find the voice of the story again. I'll probably find it again at some point but right now it's just sitting there with chapter one posted and nothing else. Have a little bit of chapter two sitting on the computer but I just can't continue. What i have sits wrong but not sure why and no idea how to continue. I'm not being paid to put more chapters in so I won't just bash at the keyboard and edit what comes out into English and post that.

See this is what most keep forgetting, authors are not paid to post stuff, you are not paying to read stuff on this site. Everything posted is done because the poster felt like posting it. There's no reason to read anything on the site, you don't pay for it, we are not paid to put it there, read at your own risk.

Horrible to say but really there isn't anything else to say. We don't get anything to post to the site, and you don't get anything to read from the site. Well granted this being an erotic story site you probably will get orgasms if you handle yourself and read but otherwise there's nothing.

Now if this was a pay site, and us authors got paid I'm pretty darn sure chapters would be outlawed from the authors. The site would post a completed story in chapters. Since this isn't a pay site, what you pay for is what you get, what we decide to post.

All of this boils down, I'm afraid, to, If you respect readers and want to retain them, don't start posting a chaptered story until it's finished. All of what you posted here is about an author's production schedule issues. None of it acknowledges that the readers have a right to be ticked if they've put their trust in you and started investing time and effort into a story that you don't finish. Why should they suffer from your problems (and do you really want to suffer from their backlash at unfulfilled expectations?)? It doesn't really matter if you're getting paid or not.

 

[BonnevilleFlats]

That's odd. Normally a second chapter has a higher score. First chapters in most series are lower because a lot of people may not like it and vote low.

Most of those same readers don;t come back to the second chapter, but the people who like it do so usually a higher score.

I doubt it is the writing, you said "type of sex" was their something "taboo" about it or something out of line with the category?

It is a mother/son incest story but somewhat unconventional. When the story starts the main character has been sleeping with his mother's best friend for five years. In chapt. 1 mom's best friend reveals that she is retiring and moving to Florida. She puts the thought about having a relationship with his mother into his head and the chapt. climaxes with the two of them doing mother/son roleplay. The first time I submitted that chapter it was rejected because lit. does not allow age play. So I basically redid the dialogue, changing phrases like "Mommy's good little boy" to things like "Mother is so proud of her young man" and it was a go. I expected that chapter to score around a 4.20 because it is role play between two unrelated people instead of actual incest and there is a 40 plus year age gap.

Chapter 2 has struggled to stay above a 4.00. The basic plot is that the son and mom's best friend devise a strategy to put him in her bed. He discovers that her mother likes gay male porn and that her preference is thin young men who resemble him. She starts reading the porn with him, believing that her son is gay. The mother also weighs over 300 pounds. I incorporate two unconventional fetishes in the story: feederism and frottage. I think these are the reasons for the low score but I decided to put chapt. 3 aside for a couple weeks, come back to the story again and see if there is something with my writing that makes the story hard to follow. If the gay theme and the size of the mother is what has brought the score down, I can accept that. If it is the way I told the story, then I want to fix the third and final chapter before I post it, possibly even withdraw Chapt. 2 and rewrite it. But in order to make that decision I need time away from the story.

 

[emap]

No it's not about production issues. Sr sometimes I wonder what planet you were born on.

This whole thing boils down, the author is not paid to put anything on the site. Nobody pays to read the site. What is posted is entirely up to the person. What is read is entirely up to the person. If you don't want to read a series that is not done yet, then don't. Make a fuss and it probably will never be finished.

Most authors don't want to be getting emails saying something like you filthy lazy fucker finish the series. I mean, hello, not paid to finish a series, not paid to start a series, so if a series is started it is because the author wants to. The series will continue until the author does not want to, whenever that is.

You are not paying to read the stories posted here so you have nothing to stand on demanding that a person only post a finished series or to finish a series. Make a big enough fuss over a series that is not finished and chances are best the author will never again post to that series. We post what we want when we want. Read or not we don't care. Most of us don't at least, those that do are either new or have other issues.

In other words, read or not but shut the fuck up about finish the whole series. It is finished when the person who is not being paid to do it feels like it. Nothing else, just that. We are free to post what we want when, you are free to read what you want when. There is nothing else to this site on the story side.

 

[sr71plt]

No it's not about production issues. Sr sometimes I wonder what planet you were born on.

The issues do concern production. You're giving reasons why you wouldn't finish producing.

We just disagree (and you're the one who got personal about it). I apparently give more respect to the reader than you do. If it weren't for the readers there would be no reason to put what you write any place but a drawer.

Sorry, you sound completely self-centered to me. And I'm standing squarely on planet Earth. We may well be on different planets, though, as you said. That's OK. I won't be reading anything you write (and I'm sure you don't read what I write--which takes the reader into consideration).

 

[Bramblethorn]

I've never started posting a story until it's finished. I submit each chapter individually, wait until it posts and make sure it's posted completely and correctly - the process takes a few days.

IMHO it depends a bit on the structure of the story. A lot of multi-part stories posted here are really a collection of self-contained episodes, and the experience is a bit like watching a typical sitcom: it doesn't matter too much if you miss some of the episodes, probably even doesn't matter if you see them out of order. Each episode has its own story arc and pays its own debts; readers aren't going to be left with a sense of "you owe me a resolution to this". If an author's writing that sort of story, I don't see a problem with them posting as they go and stopping when they run out of steam.

Then there are the ones which rely more on multi-chapter arcs - what I've read of BB's fall into that category. Chapter 1 sets up something that's not going to be resolved until Chapter 10. Obviously leaving a story incomplete is far more of a problem with that sort of narrative.

I got caught: I posted what was intended to be a one-shot, but I got feedback from readers who wanted more, and I realised there was enough to make for a longer story. So I sketched out a storyline and started posting a serial. (I think I've told BB this story before, apologies for the repetition...) A year later, I'm just about to start work on the final chapter.

I could've tried to write the whole thing before posting Chapter 2, but... it's been a rough year (work stress, deaths in the family, witnessing a suicide, etc etc). witnessing a suicide, deaths in the family, etc etc). It would've been really easy to get discouraged and let it slide. By establishing a monthly posting schedule I set up the mix of guilt and encouragement that I need to keep me going.

(And if that schedule slips - as it did recently when I had to resubmit after some mysterious file compatibility problem - I start getting very polite reminders...)

 

[deehere]

Maybe Lit should require proof of a story's completion before initial chapters are posted. Or no further stories of the author accepted till the prior story is completed. I also get really annoyed at being left hanging

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

None of the cosmetic nonsense matters when no one has any skin in the game but the writer.

 

[SecondCircle]

The idea that a series should be completed before posting seems pretty damn rediculous to me.

There is an endless supply of unfinished or not fully envisioned chapters of entertainment. I always find myself wondering, "damn I wonder when they'll do the third part of this, or when this band will make a new album, etc."

I'm not against anyone finishing a series before posting it. By no means is this wrong, but neither is writing a few good chapters, leaving it open for a while and writing something fresh and different, and coming back to it in the future. I'm still waiting for the next "Song of Ice and Fire" but I know the wait will be worth it.

Neither method is wrong, and no one is forcing you to read a series that isn't finished. It's not lazy or poor writing for an author to put a project down between published sections and coming back when he thinks he can craft it again, and probably better or more unique.

Of course, something could be said about stories that never do get finished, but so what? Even if an author is getting paid to write, he never took a blood oath to finish your precious story. Get over it. Cherish the parts you have read and move on. Find a new story.

 

[sr71plt]

Writing and posting are two different issues. One involves just the author; the other involves both the author and the readers. I'm not surprised that some authors can't see anyone's needs or interests other then their own.

 

[lovecraft68]

The issues do concern production. You're giving reasons why you wouldn't finish producing.

We just disagree (and you're the one who got personal about it). I apparently give more respect to the reader than you do. If it weren't for the readers there would be no reason to put what you write any place but a drawer.

Sorry, you sound completely self-centered to me. And I'm standing squarely on planet Earth. We may well be on different planets, though, as you said. That's OK. I won't be reading anything you write (and I'm sure you don't read what I write--which takes the reader into consideration).

But its easy for you to post a completed series because, by your own admission, you post previously released material here. In fact you're advertising two of them in the story advertisement thread right now.

These are completed works, its not like you're writing fresh and piling them up until they're done.

Many here write "on the go" and as I mentioned the feedback/comments can be what pushes an author to continue.

I see both sides of this in the sense I do think its wrong to "lead a reader on" so to speak and I didn;t do it in my series, but then again I'm the type to finish whatever I start even to the point of obsession, other people are different so personally I do not think its right, but.....

ON the other side I don't feel a great obligation to people who can't take literally two seconds to click a vote. To that I know you will say the reader has no obligation to us and I think there is some truth there so in turn I feel the same back towards them.

In a perfect scenario a write would post his hard work, get good feedback and votes and feel a sense of satisfaction therefore keep supplying the reader with the material they are looking for.

But this is not perfect.

Everything in life comes down to you get what you give. If the readership is apathetic and too lazy to vote then sorry, but why should the author bust their ass?

An as many,. many, things go here, this is all going to come down to opinion with no true right or wrong, its all individual ethics and each author's own thoughts on the matter.

 

[SecondCircle]

Writing and posting are two different issues. One involves just the author; the other involves both the author and the readers. I'm not surprised that some authors can't see anyone's needs or interests other then their own.

Like I said, I don't think it's wrong to post chapters when they are completed. It is good practice. But. It's not wrong the other way either. It has nothing to do with selfishness, and it doesn't indicate poor writing. It's merely a different approach.

That's not to say that there aren't "lazy" authors that never finish what they start. Even so, it's not like it is that big a deal. So a guy started writing a multi chapter story and fell off. So what. It happens. After all, it's his/her decision how to proceed. Authors are only as human as readers. They become misguided or unfocused as much as the next person. Just relax people. I can see where one might get frustrated with a dormant series, but it really isn't that much to carry on about.

I would think that a on a site where many authors are experimenting and building their craft we could have a little understanding about things like this. Then again, not all of us can be "professionals" I guess.

 

[sr71plt]

But its easy for you to post a completed series because, by your own admission, you post previously released material here. In fact you're advertising two of them in the story advertisement thread right now.

These are completed works, its not like you're writing fresh and piling them up until they're done.

That's sort of a so what? and isn't true anyway. I would never post/have never posted parts of an unfinished story here no matter whether or not they'd been posted elsewhere. That said, most of my chaptered stories posted to Literotica were posted here first. I was posting here for three years before I published any erotica in the marketplace.

As usual, your presumptions are false and your attack has misfired.

Time to point you to my sig line again, I think.

"I don;t spend time checking on what other people are doing, I just worry about my own shit."
--Lovecraft68

 

[sr71plt]

Like I said, I don't think it's wrong to post chapters when they are completed. It is good practice. But. It's not wrong the other way either. It has nothing to do with selfishness, and it doesn't indicate poor writing. It's merely a different approach.

That's not to say that there aren't "lazy" authors that never finish what they start. Even so, it's not like it is that big a deal. So a guy started writing a multi chapter story and fell off. So what. It happens. After all, it's his/her decision how to proceed. Authors are only as human as readers. They become misguided or unfocused as much as the next person. Just relax people. I can see where one might get frustrated with a dormant series, but it really isn't that much to carry on about.

I would think that a on a site where many authors are experimenting and building their craft we could have a little understanding about things like this. Then again, not all of us can be "professionals" I guess.

A significant number of readers don't agree with you, as evidenced by how often they complain about unfinished stories here that they invested time in only to be abandoned by the author.

Perhaps if the author put a note on top of the first chapter to effect that it's not a finished piece and may never be finished and maybe that the author is looking for reader input on where the story goes (if that's the reason it isn't finished before posting), that would justify the author not completing the writing before posting. But I've yet to see an argument other than inviting the reader to participate in developing the storyline that justifies not finishing the work before starting to post it. Anything else I've seen has disregarded the reader and been author self-centered.

 

[lovecraft68]

That's sort of a so what? and isn't true anyway. I would never post/have never posted parts of an unfinished story here no matter whether or not they'd been posted elsewhere. That said, most of my chaptered stories posted to Literotica were posted here first. I was posting here for three years before I published any erotica in the marketplace.

As usual, your presumptions are false and your attack has misfired.

Time to point you to my sig line again, I think.

Yes, I love your sig line. Again so much better than your reviews. And any thread posted is looking for opinions and responses meaning everyone here is being asked what their take is, so not sure how the words you picked there mean anything here

And yes my groundless presumptions.

And packaging is the way to go on floating reads here and then repacking them for the marketplace without deleting them here. (or vice versa, selling them in collections and after a few months splitting them up in separate stories for here--I have stories for here banked into 2014).

Sounds pre-written to me.

Anyway there is no true right and wrong here just what's right for the particular author.You think its "right and respectful" to have it written first, good for you. Others don't feel the same way.

In the end I actually ,lean more towards your opinion of "respectful", but don't feel the need to impose it on anyone else.