Have you ever started posting a story only later to say fuck it and leave it unfinished but still left it up?
Have you ever started posting a story only later to say fuck it and leave it unfinished but still left it up?
No.
I never post until the complete 1st draft is done. So I wouldn't be in a position to leave a story unfinished. However, I've started stories and gave up on them. But none of it was posted.
Agreed. I never know what I will need to go back and revise to make the ending click, so I would never start posting a story until it's finished.
Sadly yes.
A variety of reasons, but in each case I felt readers might enjoy what I had written so far. And there's always the incomplete and inactive as a warning.
AJ
I don't start posting a book until it's complete. That said, most books end with some kind of cliffhanger or story continuation.
So far, I haven't abandoned any of the series, and don't expect to. That said, some unforeseen Act of God could always intervene.
And then, of course, there is the Undiscovered Country, which is expected, but the date of travel is (thankfully) unknown.
I have a pair of stories that are currently incomplete and 'inactive'... based upon quite a bit of feedback, and an 'ultimatum' from a proofreader, I am not posting any further chapters until my story (or 'First Book') is Complete AND Edited, or at least thoroughly Proofread.
I am working on the primary story at least weekly, until I am done. Currently I am 'self-editing' and that is slowing me down, but I am improving the quality of what I have written.
There are many stories on SoL that are incomplete and inactive, that I enjoy reading.
Unfortunately, I'm stuck in this situation with one of my current stories. I've kind of drifted off track from the original concept, and ended up just exploring some of my own fantasies rather than writing to an outline, which I never created for this story. I want to go back and finish it, but it's going to take quite a few more chapters to get to the end I have in mind.
I won't start another serial without a completed manuscript or at least a complete outline. Lesson learned.
Malcom
I try not to do this, but there are a few that a friend of mine wrote that he told me to continue, that I just couldn't put an end to. I should prune them and take them down.
It is good practice to finish it first and then publish but I have broken my own rule too many times.
Nope. Keep writing, but then, when you have finally a 'complete first draft', then double back, just like you should have done before you first started posting, and go back and revise, making sure the entire thing works together, heading in more or less the same track, following an overarching story arc, building to a conclusion, than than just heading in the right direction and hoping to find land one day.
But again, that's just me, as I've always been old-school, long before 'old-school' was even a thing. ;)