[ SECRET POST #5308 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #5308 ⌋

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


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 32 secrets from Secret Submission Post #760.
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

[fscom]

01. https://i.imgur.com/fEmYKrM.png

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, I feel this! Another part is that it's hard to build an audience when you're slow. Not that I do it for an audience, but it can be helpful to have one around.

[(Anonymous)]

I feel both you and OP. I'm also a slow writer and I really want to build an audience, but I only write when I feel like it (it feels like work otherwise) and I only post when it's all done, so I can go months to a year between uploading a new work.

[iff_and_xor]

If the fic is good, I don't mind having it in my subscriptions for months or years. Then I get a notification out of nowhere that there's a new chapter and it's like this lovely unexpected present.

[ava_tara]

1000% Agree --- and it always seems to happen right when I am trying to decide what to read next as an unwind; prompting a reread and reaching the new chapter. Always excellent

[(Anonymous)]

Exactly this. I have a fic I follow that updates for a bit and then takes a break for 6 or so months. Whenever she comes back and posts a new part, I'm like, "Thank you for giving me the excuse to re-read this entire thing again!"

[(Anonymous)]

(Cozy Werewolf Anon)

Hey, as an author who also has health issues and has been writing a long time, please take care of yourself first! Those who love your work will bookmark you or subscribe and will be there when it updates.

I know it's easy to feel guilty about it, because I know I do. Then I remind myself like, 24 people tops, have bought my first book and I honestly have more readers btwn my blog and Royal Road putting it up for free. (Which is depressing, thanks Zon.) I'm not a performing monkey for 20 odd people. (And yes, I did have more readers in fandom, it still applies.) You aren't a performing monkey either.

-big hugs- I hope you find something to help you. Keep doing what you're doing as long as it makes you happy.

[tabaqui]

I get you re: slow writing. My own writing has slowed to a crawl these last few years, and it really sucks.

But like CWA said - you're not a performing monkey. If you really want to, maybe put an Authors Note at the top of every first chapter of whatever fics you're still working on, saying that for personal reasons your writing comes along slowly and you have not abandoned anything.

After that, anybody who bitches or pesters you is just a jerk; ignore them.

[(Anonymous)]

I totally understand that sometimes things are out of your control, but I have to be honest: if you know that you are a slow writer and sometimes can’t update for a year(!) at a time, and you know that it upsets you when people rightfully assume that the fic is abandoned because of it, then the most obvious solution is not to post the fic until it is complete.

[(Anonymous)]

Same anon - that said, I agree with above comment that people who pester writers about incomplete fics are jerks, anyway. Frankly, I just delete bookmarks if fic aren’t updated after a certain amount of time. I would never dream of commenting on the fic to ask for updates. My comment above was more about protecting yourself from those kinds of comments, not because I think you are necessarily doing something wrong for posting WI very slow P.

[(Anonymous)]

Maybe try mentioning this in the author's notes?

[(Anonymous)]

Hey hey! No shame OP! It is what it is -- whether it's the slow writing or health problems! I read a fic a couple of months ago where I left a comment (just appreciating the story and the writer's ability, and letting them know I'm looking forward to whenever they update, if they do) on a story that hadn't updated in months. The author was kind enough to respond to my comment and let me know they just had no inspiration at the moment, but they may update in a few months. And that was swell! I suppose i get it too, as i write, and when the well of inspiration runs dry...who can say when the rains will come again?

Anyway, maybe occasionally responding to a comment, or leaving an A/N on the alarm chapter you publish to the effect of: "hey, thanks for reading! I might not update for a while, but this story will be finished!"

Some authors whose work i read do this, some get more in detail and others just say "RL kicked me in the butt for a while/writer's block/the muses left me for a while but I'll be back/ I'm a slow writer/whatever", but it's just a little note to let your readers know the show will go on, even if the intermission is hella long lol.

And some stories i just bookmark/leave for later and check on in a few months when I'll find an update or two. As a reader, fic is fun, but I also recognize that this is someone taking time out of their day to make something and share it. And unless I'm paying for something commissioned, lol who the fuck am I to be entitled to another chapter (which I would Obviously want, but hey!).

Whatever works for you, OP!

OP~

[(Anonymous)]

First, I want to thank the secret maker for making my comment secret a real secret! <3 the image is both adorable AND accurate lol

And also, for the commenters: I do have author notes both on my profiles and on the first chapters of my fic regarding my updating speeds. It's one of the reasons I get so bothered by the assumption I've abandoned my works. I've literally told my readers I'm slow as molasses already.

Re: OP~

[(Anonymous)]

Commenter above you

Oh. Then that's just on them being dumb. Lol.

[kaffy_r]

This. This. This. This.

I am glacially slow, largely because of a disorganized writing method. I took 11 years to finish one novel-length story, FFS. But, like you, I never give up. And readers have been kind.

So ... go, you!!!

[(Anonymous)]

I have no health problems and I have a story I've been working on for five years. Other stories I've kicked around for just as long. Keep trucking, OP.

[(Anonymous)]

once a YEAR??!? sis.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, frankly there’s slow and then there’s sloooooooooow. Even if OP does include notes, I don’t think they can really blame or be upset by readers daring to question whether the fic has been abandoned.

[(Anonymous)]

I’m following fics that haven’t updated in several years at this point. Every time one of them updates, it’s such a nice surprise!

[(Anonymous)]

I have a friend who says he won't read my fic until I'm halfway done because he claims two weeks between updates is too long. Even though it takes him a week to READ a chapter. Dude, just tell me you don't want to read it. Guilt trip not needed.

You do you, OP. Update on YOUR timetable. You're not gonna make everyone happy regardless.

[cuddyclothes]

I feel this, as a writer and a reader. I put in the author's notes when it's going to be slow posting. For instance, for about a year my mother was very ill and dying. I put in the summary that due to an ongoing family problem, this fic would be much slower in coming. In the story I'm working which is going even slower, I put in a chapter called Interlude apologizing. Sometimes writing is just fucking agonizing.

Please don't feel guilty for not writing if you have stated clearly that you post when you post and haven't abandoned your fic.

As a reader, I've sometimes checked the author profile to see what goes on when they don't update. Some people like the OP update slowly, some say RL/mental health/etc. Rather than the profile, if writers felt comfortable doing so, I'd hope they'd put it in the summary. I've enjoyed several fics that have been written over a period of many years. If it takes that long, it takes that long.