Forum: Author Hangout

Incomplete / Inactive Stories

hambarca12 🚫

Curious to get authors input on the case where a story runs aground - writers block, real life intervention, etc.

Is it possible in those situations for an author to write an epilogue type chapter laying out either:
Where the characters ended up: did he get the girl, if so which girl? What happened to the plucky best friend, etc.
Or even a high level this is where I was going to go - "they were going to form a band together, find true love and tour the world, only to eventually die in a tragic plane crash.."

Replies: bk69 REP

bk69 🚫

@hambarca12

A great number of I&I stories, I expect the writers were just making the story up as they went along. If you actually have a place to go, you can plan to get there. If you veer off course, and can't find your way back, you either need to figure out where you can get to from where you are, or back up and try again, and not go off course again.
But yeah... I don't know how many writers actually could tell you the ending they'd use for a I&I story.

REP 🚫

@hambarca12

Is it possible in those situations for an author to write an epilogue type chapter laying out either:

Of course it is possible for it is their story.

But ... I&I stories are usually incomplete for one of several reasons:

1. The author is deceased or not capable of continuing to write for some reason.

2. The author started the story with no idea of where it was to go. In the process of writing it, they lost their direction and did not know how to continue the story or they lost interest in what they were writing.

3. The author was unhappy with what they had written and abandoned the story - temporarily or permanently. They typically decide to set the story aside until they are ready to fix the problem and continue it, but they never go back to complete it.

palamedes 🚫

Russell Hoisington did this with his Wynter/Trailer Park Universe

https://storiesonline.net/universe/472/wynter-trailer-park

He knew that his end was near and wrote an Obituary to give a closure.

richardshagrin 🚫

It isn't always a good idea to let the readers know how characters lived their lives and died. Often, perhaps most of the time it is better to leave them at an important lifechanging event like a graduation, wedding, birth of a child, promotion, or other high point and let the readers figure out that life will go on, happy and let the characters live on forever in the minds of the readers. Its fiction, not biography.

Replies: bk69

bk69 🚫

@richardshagrin

However, introducing story arcs and starting to follow some plot hooks and then stopping abruptly isn't right either. If I was ever to try a post-as-you-go story, I'd like to think that I'd keep a document with the overall story end place, and update it for every story arc I started to list where it was going, deleting story arcs that had concluded as I went. Then whenever I planned to die, I'd post that document (or pass it on to someone to take over the story writing).

Replies: hambarca12

hambarca12 🚫

@bk69

I think the @richardshagrin concept that you hit a milestone or natural end point, and wrap the narrative makes perfect sense. As said, it lets readers paint in their own mind the future. But my quesiion is about those as bk69 says with an
abrupt stop - basically mid-stream.

No criticism, just curious. In the end - I guess the takeaway is be wary of starting to post a longer story if you are not done or very close..

Replies: REP

REP 🚫

@hambarca12

In the end - I guess the takeaway is be wary of starting to post a longer story if you are not done or very close..

A very large portion of SOL authors use the 'post as you write' approach. Almost all of the I&I stories are by authors who use this approach. There are a few authors who manually post each chapter instead of scheduling each chapter to post at a specific time and date.

richardshagrin 🚫

Lets consider the ending by Mushroom of the story "Okinawa".
Here is my review, so I have not liked ending stories to make them biographies rather than fiction since at least 2016.

"Reviewed: 2016-09-02

I was trolling for something to read (what a surprise) and I found a good oldie that is well worth recommending. It is set in Okinawa (somehow the title gives that away) with a Marine sergeant as the hero as he loves and lives the part of his career the story covers. I don't feel the need to give any spoilers, but its got LOTS of sex and presented in arousing language. They don't rate stories on stroke value any more, but this one would be high on the list. It tells a real story with a happy ending (and like a massage parlor, has a lot of happy endings.)

Lets do the numbers. Plot is very good as the Marine travels to California, Mexico, one of the Carolinas and the Philippines, in addition to Japan and finds interesting adventures and girls to do everywhere he goes. Japan because Okinawa is part of Japan. Based on 6 as a C, 7 as a B and 8 as an A, I give this an 8. I almost gave Technical a 6 as the author thinks a Pilipino can be a female, and 34C breasts can be small. But I didn't catch any grammatical howlers or other errors so lets make Technical a 7. Appeal is almost a 9, an A plus, but I am going to round down to an 8. Part of the reason is that the author gave too much information, in my opinion which is the one that counts, about what happens after the happy ending. Some people probably want that information, but for me it brings down the good feelings that would have given this a nine if he quit while he was ahead. Your opinion may vary, write your own review if it does.

Plot: 8 | Technical Quality: 7 | Appeal to Reviewer: 8"

(About one of the Technical comments. A female Filipino is a Filipina.)

Replies: bk69

bk69 🚫

@richardshagrin

My point was, I don't think the OP expressed it clearly enough... but it's reasonable to, after spending one's time on a story, want closure. And for I&I stories, closure just isn't gonna happen. But if writers were willing (and/or able) to at least explain where the story was going and how the ongoing story arcs were supposed to resolve, that's probably enough.

Replies: hambarca12

hambarca12 🚫

@bk69

That was my point exactly - thanks. If it cant be finished for some reason - then a "this is where I was going to go, would be great."

Mushroom 🚫

Quite often for me, it is because I am working on a story, then get an inspiration for another one. I will then take up the new one, than often bounce back and forth between them or other stories.

Case in point, I was involved on CBCG and the "sweetness" of that phase had my thoughts turning dark, so I stopped and worked on a more girtty story. I finished that one and was into a second when I returned to CBCG and finished it, and have done 2 more since.

I also have a few stories that are "open ended", more vignettes that are not intended as a continuous narrative, but events that are each self-enclosed.

Replies: PotomacBob

PotomacBob 🚫

@Mushroom

Case in point, I was involved on CBCG

What's CBCG?

Replies: bk69 Mushroom

bk69 🚫

@PotomacBob

A famous dive bar in NYC that was a major part of the music scene for a while.

Oh, wait, that was CBGB

Mushroom 🚫

@PotomacBob

What's CBCG?

A series I have been writing "Country Boy, City Girl".

ystokes 🚫

Do any of you writers have any unfinished stories and why are they unfinished?

Replies: awnlee jawking Stultus

awnlee jawking 🚫

@ystokes

I have a couple.

One I wrote myself into a corner. Low on my to-do list is an intention to delete the story from SOL and rewrite it from scratch.

The other I have unsubmitted chapters sitting on a dead computer. It's my intention to rescue the contents of the hard drive - the story still won't be complete but at least I won't have to rewrite anything.

AJ

Stultus 🚫
Updated:

@ystokes

Far, far too many :(

For me, it has been a double-whammy of health & financial stress issues. I almost feel ashamed or guilty if I sit and work on writing related stuff, like story notes, because I feel that I should doing something else 'more productive' to help bring in $

/if anything, not actively writing brings even more story ideas into my head than when I'm churning out tales regularly.
//for me, writer's block only occurs if a story is being written 'wrong'. I have 99% of everything scripted out in my head before even the first paragraph gets typed

Replies: Keet

Keet 🚫

@Stultus

//for me, writer's block only occurs if a story is being written 'wrong'.

I hope that is not the case with Under a Baleful Sky and that one day we might see this great story finished.

BarBar 🚫

It's not an unfinished story, but in my Bec series, I wrote an epilog for the series when I was half-way through Bec1. I am still working on the series (very very slowly, but still going). If I ever get to the point where I decide I've written enough, or I get so completely stuck that I cant dig myself out, then I will post the epilog.

Alternately, if I actually get through my planned series, I can post the epilog in the place it was supposed to be. I call it "Bec n" (where n is some integer bigger than 5)

ystokes 🚫

I bought a hard drive reader for like $20 that lets you access the drive via usb.

John Demille 🚫

Alpha Male is being revived after 16 years.

Yes, it was due to writers' block pretty much.

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Forum: Author Hangout

Incomplete / Inactive Stories

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