How Amanda Spent Her Summer Vacation. I was shamed by a reader for not finishing this work. I didn't realize anyone was still reading that one, molding away deep in the dusty SOL archives.
How Amanda Spent Her Summer Vacation. I was shamed by a reader for not finishing this work. I didn't realize anyone was still reading that one, molding away deep in the dusty SOL archives.
It is always nice to see an author complete their stories. Especially if it has been awhile since the last update. Personally, I don't mind if they feel they have to revise the whole story to get it to a finishing point as long as they do finish. I wish you luck in finishing it.
Now if only a few more authors would finish their stories.
Finish their stories
I would rather have them in English.
"Finnish difficult for English speakers
Because Finnish has no connection to Latin or Germanic language groups it has proven to be more than a mouthful for most English speakers looking to learn the language.
The 15 grammatical cases in Finnish make it a challenging language to learn as the smallest change in the end of the word can significantly change its meaning.
Case endings are added to word stems as suffixes and are used to express the same things that prepositions express in English.
According to the FSI, learning the most difficult languages would require a minimum of 88 weeks of study time – that's 2,200 hours. Languages in this group include Arabic, Japanese, and Korean as well as Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese.
Compared to these tongue-twisters, Finnish is somewhat easier – but still not among the easiest, as FSI estimates it would take 44 weeks or 1100 hours before a learner would feel confident enough join the conversation at the office coffee machine.
The FSI ranking also lists the easiest languages to learn. They include Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, French, Dutch, Spanish and Romanian."
The FSI is the US State Department's Foreign Service Institute.
Compared to these tongue-twisters, Finnish is somewhat easier – but still not among the easiest, as FSI estimates it would take 44 weeks or 1100 hours before a learner would feel confident enough join the conversation at the office coffee machine.
How long would it take to learn how to ask the two following very important questions in Finnish; "Do you speak English?" and "Where's the bathroom?"?
two following very important questions in Finnish; "Do you speak English?" and "Where's the bathroom?"?
"Do you speak English? Puhutko englantia?
Where's the bathroom/toilet? Missä on vessa?"
You can find a lot of things on line if you look.
I don't know, an incomplete story which had been lying fallow since around 2004 was completed - by the original author - a year or three ago. I downloaded the updates, read them and then deleted them again. The ending was bolted on like Frankenstein's monster and - to my mind at least - corrupted that which had previously been there.
He did state:
...if they feel they have to revise the whole story...
That's not the same as 'bolted on'. I agree that your example was more a thing of "Now it's not Incomplete & Inactive anymore" than really finishing the story in a good way.
Yes, I do realize sometimes an author writes themselves into a corner that can only be fixed by going back and modifying the front half. That is why it is usually best to complete the story prior to posting but not everyone is wired to write that way.
I do agree that if it is only a half-assed effort they shouldn't bother.
I'm surprised how many authors write their stories without a timeline of things they want to accomplish. I don't consider my stories very "good" in the scheme of things, but even I made sure to have at least the overarching goal before I publish chapter 1. I know where both of my stories are going, main character flaws, and an idea of how I want it to all end.
but even I made sure to have at least the overarching goal before I publish chapter 1.
Well, I do have a plan how the story will go before I even start writing. Thing is, then the characters start and do things I hadn't planned for...
Oh I know how that is all too well!
I was writing one (started as a short that went long), and after a few chapters realized "This girl is a fucking slut!" And saw another which I thought was a much better fit for the narrator.
Then wrote another 100+ chapters before I had them finally get together. And it was the only story I specifically wrote as kind of a "free form" story, knowing that their getting together would be a decade away because I had already created a perfect way for them to recognize their love, and it involved a song that would not be released until the early 1990's.
So I had an ending, and the male and female lovers already created. But a decade to fill between them. So I basically just let them play in my mind, and do what I thought their characters would do, based on how I had envisioned them.
And trust me, that is the last time I will try something like that! I loved writing it, but it was also exhausting, and went on far longer than I had ever expected. But it also lead to some interesting places that I had never thought it would.
The ending was bolted on like Frankenstein's monster and - to my mind at least - corrupted that which had previously been there.
That can happen if the author can no longer relate to the story and simply writes something to end the story and get it over with.
In 2018 I had several stories I'd all but finished that were written in 2007 or before (just didn't have a copyright date on them until 2007) so I did what I could to finish them in 2018 and publish them. Some I actually cut some material from them to have a clean end point so I could publish them as I couldn't continue them in the same way then. I will use the cut out material to write sequels later, but they will be in a different style to the originals due to changes in my writing style.
Now if only a few more authors would finish their stories.
Amen to that - I almost always don't read stories with the awful soubriquet, "Incomplete and inactive since ...". It seems such a shame that the author put so much effort into writing a part story.
I guess they stop because of critical feedback. Which is why I would rather not have the ability to score a story until it is completed. My 2 eurocents worth.
There are all sorts of reasons why authors stop and the readers often never find out anyway.
- writing themselves into a corner
- illness, or worse
- loss of interest
- one author had a family tragedy, stopped and never restarted.
A classic story where the author wrote himself into a corner after 16 chapters was Laramie by Dilettante. Sometimes I go back and re-read chapter 1, that chapter is so awesome it practically stands by itself.
Which is why I would rather not have the ability to score a story until it is completed.
That already exists:
For the reader, just don't vote for it until then.
For the author, just turn off scoring until then - easily done in the Author / Editor section where you manage your stories.
Which is why I would rather not have the ability to score a story until it is completed.
Who hasn't seen a story marked as 'concluded', then suddenly resume again! What happens to all those votes from when the story is first marked as concluded? Are they expunged?
Besides, some of the best stories on SOL are incomplete.
AJ
The comments one receives in these forums can be abstract. As one who can be considered old school around here: YOUNG PEOPLE! BE SPECIFIC IN YOUR CRITISMS!
Don't try to destroy a work if you find a few grammatical errors. DON'T go PC in a sex safe zone. It is not a healthy impulse. PLEASE trust someone who has seriously been observing the outside of normal impulses for years. RELAX and learn.
I try to