[ SECRET POST #3063 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3063 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 054 secrets from Secret Submission Post #438.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Putting aside the fact that no, you're never actually entitled to something someone's creating and offering for free, the problem I always have with opinions like this comes from the inherent implication that writers start things without the intention of finishing it, or doing the best they can with it. That somewhere, a whole legion of writers are sitting behind their screens rubbing their hands in glee that they've pissed off their loyal readers by stringing them along and not finishing their fic.

Do you write, OP? It tends to be people who don't that make these kinds of remarks. If you do write, then I assume from your secret that you've finished every single thing you started, and have never had a single idea for anything longer than a oneshot.

Haven't you ever had circumstances take your time, energy and focus away from something you love? Haven't you ever had the very best of intentions, but life means you end up letting someone down anyway? If that's the case, you're either very young or very lucky.

A writer starts writing something because they're so enthused and passionate about it that they can't not. They start posting a WIP for many reasons - some people are motivated by their readers' enthusiasm, some people appreciate feedback as they go along. Some people simply post to gauge interest, because no one has 25 hours or 8 days a week; we have to choose where to focus our energies in life, and if a writer writes for engagement with their readers, or improves from feedback, you have to choose to let the fic two people read go, vs. the fic that thirty people read. That's just life. Again if you've never had to make those kinds of choices, you're in the minority.

You have no idea why writers stop writing. That someone may be writing in a different fandom doesn't tell you why they switched. They may have simply lost interest; they may also have found that particular fandom environment pretty toxic (and if complaints like yours were par for the course there, I wouldn't be surprised) and needed to do something different. Because you seem to be under the impression that, first and foremost, writers are apparently doing all this work as a personal, free service to you. Pssst, they're not; they write because they want to. You're no more making them write than they're making you read, hence there's no obligation in that exchange. No one's making you promises when they write a fic. They're just writing a fic. You decide for yourself at what level you want to interact. The creator has no obligation to cater to your choice.

People always talk about fanfiction being a practice sandbox for "real" writing. You know what one of the main skills you need to learn when it comes to pro writing is? Finishing your work? Bonus question: do you know what one of the toughest skills to learn is? Also finishing your work. You'll be hard pressed to find a writer anywhere, in any form of the craft, in any genre, who doesn't have more ideas they've started than ideas they have finished.

Writers abandon/lost interest in/lose focus for/move on from ideas all the damn time, for every reason imaginable from horrific to casual. You're just seeing that practice played out in public.

[(Anonymous)]

Excellent comment.

Even pro writers find it hard to finish their work sometimes. It's a legendarily difficult thing to get to grips with, and the subject of many books!

Expecting a standard that even professionals don't always manage to reach from amateurs who're doing it for fun is going to leave you disappointed.

I also get the feeling that a lot of these sort of comments don't come from those who write novel-length fics themselves. On top of that they haven't really thought about writing except from their own point of view, as a consumer of other people's work.

It reminds me of when I was a teenager and once wondered why directors didn't just make all their movies good, why they felt the need to make shit ones as well. I vowed that if I ever made movies, I'd only make good ones. Several years later, I learned that directors are mostly thankful when any movie gets made at all, the odds always seem against it and most movies never get finished. I also know a lot more about the creative process, and that failure is an essential part to taking risks and making anything that's worthwhile.