Why your story isn't recced...

[amalthia]

Okay so your story is beta read, you're getting a ton of feedback, chances are I may have left feedback but I'm not reccing it, so what's going on?

There is a good chance you're hitting one of my biggest pet peeves. Posting a completed story over a period of days instead of all at once. If I find the story after it's all parts are posted there is a good chance I'll rec and feedback the fic...but lately because I am actively reading and looking for fics I'm running into this more often.

I rarely leave feedback for these stories and I'll probably never recommend the story unless enough years go by and I completely forget the author did that to the story. (but honestly, I'm not likely to forget because it gets to me on so many levels anytime I see the story I get upset all over again)

Now some people may be wondering..."but you recommend WIP..." yeah well I never said I was rational. For some reason WIP don't make me upset the same way. I wrote about this once trying to figure out why WIP work better than completed stories that are chopped into pieces...I think WIP have better story flow than completed stories that break off at an arbitrary word count number.

I guess for me I feel like the author is jerking my chain by not posting the entire story at once. It feels like a cheap ploy to gain more feedback and well this whole deal pisses me off. (I know this probably isn't the reason why some authors decide to post their completed fic over a period of days but I don't understand if the story is complete why not post it all at once and if it's not finished then why is the author saying it's complete?)

Anyway, I've been seeing this around a bit more lately and I'm baffled.

Comments

[wolfling]

I've done this with the Heart's Desire stories (as well as other things in the past.)

It's not done as a "cheap ploy for feedback" at least in my case.

Partially just because it's easier -- the Heart's Desire stories for one are all so long I'd have to break them up into the parts anyways to post them and when I'm also posting to a few communities, it's just easier to do one part at a time.

Also, I've come to appreciate the format of a serialised story -- just like the cliffhangers at the end of some tv episodes. Sometimes I like doing something like that and really the only way to do so is to post a story in parts.

As well, there are people who don't have time to read a whole 30,000+ word story if it's posted at once, but can read a smaller part daily and so are more likely to read a story posted in parts and bookmark the long one to read later, if at all. The way I see it is posting in parts let's those people read it easier and for those who prefer to read a story all at once (as I do often myself sometimes) they can wait until the last part is posted and read it all then (as I do in those cases.)

I can understand maybe not liking this format, but being told I'm "jerking people's chains" and all does kinda make me feel defensive.

Oh and if I say a story is finished, it's finished -- if it's a WiP I'll label it as such.

[amalthia]

See the problem with this is that most readers don't realize why the writer isn't sharing the completed story with them. Some people do like serialized stories, some people don't. Now I don't mind if a story is completed and it's part of a series. So there'll be a new part coming out soon.

I read very fast and 30k isn't really that long. I guess for me I like having the option to read it either in one go or over the course of a few days. I know some authors offer the single file version of their story and then post the same story a little at a time for the people who don't have time to read it. For me I like curling up on the couch and reading a long story in one go and feel it all at once.

The breaks interrupt the emotional climaxes of the story for me. But again, I'm just one reader out of many.

[amireal.livejournal.com]

I've had this discussion with people when I posted "And Be One Traveler" And there was actual shock when I suggested that people should control their own reading and here I broke it up for you, how is that different than if I'd posted it once a day? How is that LESS scary? There's 10 LJ posts, it would still be the same length if I'd spent 10 days posting. Go, chew in small bites. And people who want it all at once could go to the website.

But there is this real (and completely not comprehensible to me) fear of long stories.

[amalthia]

I don't get that either! I loved how you posted And Be One Traveler...okay it did take me a bit of time to read but I read it at my own pace and I loved it!

Sometimes I feel patronized when authors refuse to post their completed story because it's "epic at 20k words!" It feels like they think I can't read a long story in one go or it'll break my brain or something.

[diluvian.livejournal.com]

Personally, I can *feel* my eyes dilate with excitement when I find a long story and that little pip on the right-hand slider bar gets smaller... and smaller, as the page loads. Eeeeee!

::baffled by them other folks::

[xylohypha.livejournal.com]

Here via yin_again, and I have the same reaction that you do. Ooooh, a story I can get my teeth into! I have yet to meet a story whose length is sufficient to scare me.

[wolfling]

Everyone has their preferred way of reading fics. I myself generally like reading long stories all at once too. I just don't think it's fair to assume that people who don't post the way you prefer are doing it for selfish or questionable reasons.

And again, if someone posts a story in parts, you still have the option to read it in parts or all at once. Granted you have to wait for that last part to be posted to do the latter, but all that requires is a little bit of patience.

I know too when we do figure out where to break parts, we try to choose places that are natural pauses or places where we want the reader to pause for dramatic purposes. So it's not random breaks based on word count.

[melusina]

::nodding::

As a reader, I really like serials. I don't post all my long stories in pieces, but I have done it, when a story felt like it would be a good serial (episodice, with lots of cliffhangers, etc.) - those stories were written and posted with the serialized format in mind; I didn't randomly break those stories up based on word count, it was a purposeful decision because I thought my readers would enjoy having the story unfold over a set period of time. And, as you point out, those who don't like serials only have to wait until the story is finished and read it all in one fell swoop. . .

I don't understand how posting a WIP that may never be finished is better than posting a finished serials. . .

p.s.

[amalthia]

You didn't really come to mind when I was writing this. As far as I knew the Heart Desire series was an on-going WIP or a serialized story with each story completed in and of itself. Basically, I'm not sure my post really applied to you.

Re: p.s.

[wolfling]

Well, we post each complete story (and they've been around 30,000 words each give or take) in parts, one part a day until it's done. So yeah, we've been posting exactly in the way you say is just a cheap ploy for comments.

Which... not so much.

There may be some people who do it for that reason. But that's not the only reason it's done and I wanted to point out if you're automatically making that assumption, you're doing some writers a disservice.