Never again! (Until next time.)

[mrv3000]

I've recently broken my own rule about reading WIPs. And really it's only served to remind me why I don't read WIPs. In writing I was never able to write WIPs - I tend to write backwards - but this is about reading, not about writing.

For one, I hate cliffhangers. Okay, I don't mind them at a chapter break and I'm only mildly annoyed when there's a week between shows, but anything more than that and I honestly do hate them. A lot of times they're used simply because of a break, and not because of anything that would normally happen. Like "I'm pregnant!" or "Character X is DEAD! (We totally swear! Okay, maybe not.)" UGH. CLIFFHANGERS. They rate up there with ridiculous plot devices thrown in to sustain never-ending UST on shows. Or...badly done sexual tension. Or jumping over sharks!

For another, and more specifically related to fanfic, oftentimes you have no bloody clue when you'll be seeing another part. Or even if you'll be seeing another part. Will it be a week? Two weeks? A month? HELL. Remind me why I didn't wait until it was complete again?

And it seems like the better the fic is, the more frustrating its WIPishness is! Don't update a mediocre fic? Eh. No big. Don't update a fabulous fic? OMG. SHOOT ME. WHY DO WE LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE THIS GOES ON?

Now I know that writers don't owe anything to their readers. Being a writer of fic, I know nothing's worse than the pressures of writing at times, especially when the muse isn't around. But on the flip side I don't think that readers necessarily owe it to writers to follow an incomplete story from week to week (or month to month).

So the next time anyone hears me talking about wanting to read a WIP, slap me. HARD. AND THEN SLAP ME AGAIN.

Comments

[lunachickk.livejournal.com]

I completely agree with this post.

My other pet peeve is fic writers that beg for comments to "feed their muse" so they can continue writing their WIPs. Oy.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

UGH. Yes. The quickest way to guarantee I won't comment.

[jemster.livejournal.com]

Bwahaha! Can I just slap you anyways? Puhleese?! You're an immediate consumption kinds gal, aren't you? No patience. *tsk tak*

Part two of this comment coming soon!

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

*hangs head* Sometimes I have no willpower. :|

[jemster.livejournal.com]

Ah, don't worry about it. I don't like reading books that are WiPs. George RR Martin's series? People are eating it up but I won't touch it until it is done. But considering it takes like two frickin years for a book to come out I think I'm justified.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

I read book series, but not ones that are dependent on each other. Like murder mysteries that have the same characters, but they don't really have a single story that spans books.

[jemster.livejournal.com]

Like the Miss Marple series and such? Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series is dependent on one another so I ain't touchin it until it be finished! Arrgh!

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Yeah, like that. (I'm currently reading the latest in the Meg Langslow series by Donna Andrews.)

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

Heh. I read WIPs, but I'm a glutton for punishment. :-)

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

You must be! :D

[kilodalton]

I normally don't read WIPs either, I make a mental note of the name of the fic, and when I see that it's completed, I read it all in one sitting XD

At the same time, I'm working on my own multichapter right now, so in a way I feel a bit hypocritical. But whatever lol. I know where my story is going, so it's just a matter of actually writing it as opposed to figuring out the plot.

WIPs do break my heart a lot. There was a recent Ten/Rose one on Teaspoon that I broke my rule about since it sounded so interesting!! It was 20-ish chapters, updated about 2x/week, and I was getting really into the fic. Then ... it was completed, all right! ... but the last chapter completely torpedoed the Ten/Rose ship (in what otherwise seemed like a really shippy fic) by basically claiming that he didn't love he anymore, and ... just ugh. So even though it was "completed", I had spent about 5 weeks getting very attached to the fic and wish in retrospect that I had just marathoned it, so it wouldn't have felt as disappointing for me at the end =/

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

ACK! Yeah, I hate when fics take a very wrong turn. It's such a letdown. I've spent hours reading a single fic before and then it's like "Oh. Really? I'm so unsatisfied now."

[jupisan.livejournal.com]

I know what you feel about WIPs.
They are two that are really good and one of the two hasnt been updated in a month and the other in 2 weeks.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

URG. That's the worst. Every day you hope to see something and then...not.

[jupisan.livejournal.com]

I remember another wip and it was in the Who fandom.
the author hasnt updated in years.
I try to avoid WIPS but some are too good to avoid.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

YEARS. WAH.

[jupisan.livejournal.com]

Yep, I gave up on an update from that story.

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

*sighs* I hate that, too, and I am so guilty of doing it. I feel guilty for all my WIPs that are floating at the moment. Especially the one sitting on a cliffhanger. I used to be so good at zipping along with five balls in the air. Now I can half juggle one. But dernit, I will finish them all. One day.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

*pokes you and your WIPs*

[yourebrilliant.livejournal.com]

This is why, as frustrating as it is to write without input, I don't post a multi-chapter fic until it's all finished. I wrote one WIP, posting as I wrote it, and it went on for ages, drove me mental wtih the stress of trying to keep up, and wasn't very good because I didn't have the opportunity to change anything or move with the flow of the fic if that was different from the plot I originally planned. I abandoned it (shame, but I don't think anyone was following it ;D) and swore never to post a fic again until it was finished.

Like you say, some people prefer to have input as they go along and that's fine, but I cannot stand abandoned WIPs without any notice to say "I am coming back to this, promise" or "My life has moved on, I won't be coming back to this, sorry, you can stop checking back here!"

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

I'm the same. I've only posted a couple of longer fics (mostly I've done shorter stuff) but I waited and posted the long stuff all at once.

[nandamai]

I warned you! Or mocked you. I'm not sure which.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

You did. Wienerdogs are very good at warning mocks. XD

[tripocket.livejournal.com]

I rarely read WIPs unless they are by an author that has a strong history of completing stories. If they have more than one WIP left hanging I usually step away.

Another issue are fics authors say are finished but then say "oops I guess I need to do a Part II". I feel duped.

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the history of the author can sometimes be an exception.

And I have run across that occasionally - where the author ends without really finishing, declaring it to be a complete fic. But then going on to a sequel, which...really should have been counted as part of the original fic in the first place.

[needlereview.blogspot.com (from livejournal.com)]

I'm only a reader of fics so I know very well how you feel. In four years that I've been reading them I came to learn to know who finishes their work and who don't so I only follow WIPs of those fic writers. And I only read those fics by writers who I know writes respectfully of canon even if they're AU. It's a trust system, you see. Yes, fic reading is srs bsnz! LOL!

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

It is serious business! :D

Sadly I'm currently in a phase that doesn't even require canon resemblance. WHAT IS MY LIFE?