I hate it when authors dont finish a story!!!!!

[Emotional]

I have lost track of how many times I have been reading an awesome story, only to find out the author quit writing leaving you hanging.

Sorry, had to rant, but as a reader this gets really old

 

[ElectricBlue]

I have lost track of how many times I have been reading an awesome story, only to find out the author quit writing leaving you hanging.

Sorry, had to rant, but as a reader this gets really old

Ask for your money back, then.

 

[windar]

While I understand your frustration, the author is under no obligation to finish a story and may have many perfectly valid personal reasons for abandoning it. You are entitled to a refund of the money you paid however

 

[Blind_Justice]

Well, as someone who has committed the crime of taking extended breaks during submissions thanks to health issues, let me say this: Life gets in the way. I didn't choose to develop a fucking depression which made it hard to function as a human being, let alone as caregiver to a blind wife. Frivolous shit like sitting down and writing cute sex stories was so far down on my agenda, i needed an elevator to get there. I'm keenly aware there are two stories in my repository with gaping holes and I WILL finish them - once I'm in a position to do so.

Also, many authors on Lit - me included - write as a hobby. The only reward we get for our work are grateful readers, the occasional upvote and maybe a comment if the reader in question is highly motivated. So, we basically don't owe you anything.

 

[SimonDoom]

I have two unfinished series. In one, I wrote three chapters 5 years ago, and didn't finish it. And in the other, I wrote 1 chapter 2 1/2 years ago, and didn't write another.

And you know what? I feel no guilt about it. Zero. I want to continue those series, and someday I will, but I will when my muse speaks to me and tells me how to continue them. Nobody is paying me for this. This space is for me to experiment and learn and explore my fantasies. I'm sorry, but not really, if someone gets invested in the story and I don't finish it There are other stories to read.

As a reader, I've experienced this, but more often than not I feel like the creative juice just ran out of the story and the author had nothing left to say, in which case I don't blame the author and I just move on.

 

[Emotional]

I get it, but that brings up another hot topic with me.

Why doesnt lit set up a tip jar so I can reward authors who stories I love? I would have gladly tipped hundreds of dollars by now if they would set something like that up.

 

[TheRedChamber]

On a positive note, I suppose it's nice when people want your stories to continue.

 

[lovecraft68]

On a positive note, I suppose it's nice when people want your stories to continue.

Many want them to continue even when they're finished

 

[RowanWrites]

I like the tip jar idea. Imagine that there's a tip jar, but the author doesn't get the money until they publish their next story. And literotica gets to hold the float. And if an author goes, say a year, without publishing, then the tip is refunded to the reader who can use it to encourage some other author.

I guess literotica has been around for a long time, and there are plenty of parts of it that are stale or abandoned, so I won't get my hopes up.

 

[Bramblethorn]

While I understand your frustration, the author is under no obligation to finish a story and may have many perfectly valid personal reasons for abandoning it. You are entitled to a refund of the money you paid however

Though even in commercial publishing, series sometimes get abandoned mid-story (author death, low sales, ...) and readers don't get refunds for the books they've already bought. It's been that way since at least 1870 when Charles Dickens popped off in the middle of Edwin Drood.

I get it, but that brings up another hot topic with me.

Why doesnt lit set up a tip jar so I can reward authors who stories I love? I would have gladly tipped hundreds of dollars by now if they would set something like that up.

I suspect because anything to do with payment processing becomes a pain in the arse, and payment processing for porn triply so.

There are things individual authors can do, though - e.g. I have a link in my author profile to my Smashwords page, and people who want to tip me can buy stories from there.

 

[MsNatalie99]

I have lost track of how many times I have been reading an awesome story, only to find out the author quit writing leaving you hanging.

Sorry, had to rant, but as a reader this gets really old

Yeah it sucks. Sometimes real life becomes more important than getting us off. Sometimes Authors die. Sometimes they get sick, or have to pick up additional jobs to get by. Sometimes they get picked up by a publisher, and end up getting paid for their efforts. Hell, sometimes they look at the story and be like "who is left, my MC has fucked them all."

If it's so annoying, be the example. Write multible 60,000+ stories, never submitting a work late, or leaving one unfinished. This isn't a movie theatre. It isn't like you paid $12 a ticket for the screen to go blank an hour into it. At best, this is a hobby site. Allowing talented and up and coming writers to hone their craft. I'm just grateful that I don't have to pay to read these guy's work. Cause honestly, I should be for quite a few of them.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I like the tip jar idea. Imagine that there's a tip jar, but the author doesn't get the money until they publish their next story. And literotica gets to hold the float. And if an author goes, say a year, without publishing, then the tip is refunded to the reader who can use it to encourage some other author.

I guess literotica has been around for a long time, and there are plenty of parts of it that are stale or abandoned, so I won't get my hopes up.

And then the author publishes a crappy half-arsed follow-up solely to get the tip money.

 

[windar]

It's been that way since at least 1870 when Charles Dickens popped off in the middle of Edwin Drood.

That's a really lame excuse!

 

[lovecraft68]

And then the author publishes a crappy half-arsed follow-up solely to get the tip money.

Oh, you mean like the clown who has the 100+ endless chapter suckfest that will never end because he milks the readers so they keep giving money to his patreon?

The tip jar thing is interesting, but its funny the same person who might do that, or donate to a Patreon won't buy an e-book someone here published.

 

[NotWise]

I have lost track of how many times I have been reading an awesome story, only to find out the author quit writing leaving you hanging.

Sorry, had to rant, but as a reader this gets really old

I've heard this sentiment from readers enough times that I don't brush it off. Similar complaints motivated me to finish "A Valentine's Day Mess," but I took "Unlikely Angels" off Lit when I decided I wouldn't complete it for the readers here.

Hardly anyone noticed that I finished "A Valentine's Day Mess," and I've gotten more complaints from pulling "Unlikely Angels" than I'd have if I left it unfinished.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I get it, as both a writer and a reader.

 

[gunhilltrain]

That's a really lame excuse!

That also happened to James Jones, but another writer who knew him finished his final novel based on various notes that Jones had left. Fitzgerald also died before The Last Tycoon was finished, but decades later someone put together a revised version that was quite a bit shorter than what Fitzgerald had originally intended.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Sometimes I plan a series, but sometimes I find myself adding sequels to a previously published stand-alone story. In two of the latter cases, I was able to mostly wrap them up, but there's another I left undone. Sometimes it takes a long while for inspiration to strike. Then there is a series, most of which is not on Lit yet, which I finished but I still added sequels and "infill" chapters anyway.

I should mention that an author may not have "abandoned" a series, but is simply waiting for that inspiration. In one case I had about six months pass between the first and second chapters. The whole thing was eventually pretty well received anyway.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

A number of my stories have to be finished, and will be eventually, once I'm inspired. If a story is well received I don't like the idea of rushing the ending just to get it done. I also notice that the final chapters, no matter how much work you put into them, or how highly they're rated, rarely get many readers. As was the case with my stories, "One Look," "Finally," "Bad Kitty," "My Wicked Neighbor" and "Unleashed." All the comments were good, the scores were pretty high, but hardly anyone took the time to read them, I guess more interested in something new.

Unfortunately life does get in the way, and we can't write non-stop to keep our readers happy. Although, I have to admit that I don't like the idea of leaving a story unfinished, which is why I'll get them done, but maybe not as soon as everyone would like.

 

[KeithD]

I don't start posting any story, no matter how long, until I consider it completely finished.

 

[AlinaX]

I like to publish as I go along, but that means any additions to existing stories depend on inspiration striking me. I frequently abandon sequel chapters in draft because they lack that spark that turns them into a real story.

 

[NightPorter]

I like the tip jar idea. Imagine that there's a tip jar, but the author doesn't get the money until they publish their next story. And literotica gets to hold the float. And if an author goes, say a year, without publishing, then the tip is refunded to the reader who can use it to encourage some other author.

Keep it simple, integration to an existing tip service would just require some coding not setting up an entirely new financial service. A tip icon next to the share and series info icons on the story page. Or the ability to add a link to the bottom of a story or on the bio page.

Are you allowed to add a paypal link to your author bio or just links to smashworks and things like that?

 

[Seadog777]

Well, as someone who has committed the crime of taking extended breaks during submissions thanks to health issues, let me say this: Life gets in the way. I didn't choose to develop a fucking depression which made it hard to function as a human being, let alone as caregiver to a blind wife. Frivolous shit like sitting down and writing cute sex stories was so far down on my agenda, i needed an elevator to get there. I'm keenly aware there are two stories in my repository with gaping holes and I WILL finish them - once I'm in a position to do so.

Also, many authors on Lit - me included - write as a hobby. The only reward we get for our work are grateful readers, the occasional upvote and maybe a comment if the reader in question is highly motivated. So, we basically don't owe you anything.

 

[Seadog777]

I work with Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Victims.
I also have a Personal Security Business.
I teach Survival Training.
I'm a Certified Boxing Referee, Judge and Trainer.
I'm on the DT, ERT, SRT.
I'm a public speaker.
I got a wife and teenage daughters.
I'm literally on-call 24/7/365.

Life gets in the way of posting stories.
I got 3 stories now that aren't finished, and one is a Geek Pride Story that I wanna get in soon.

Don't get your panties in a bunch if something is unfinished. You don't the circumstances of the situation.

Enjoy the story for what it is.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Yeah, me too.

But as a writer I can tell you about how the story you had all mapped out and were working feverishly on suddenly takes a turn that makes you mad and you just put it aside for a day or two but don't get back to it for years. That is the life of a writer. And that is the life of a retired person. No deadlines to meet.

And as EB said, ask for your money back.

Or offer to pay to get them finished. Yeah, that won't happen, I know my rates would be prohibitive.