Open Thread: Oracle Hotline

[mithen]

Writing emotional setback of the week: posting a sad chapter full of foreshadowing of terrible canon (non-comic) events, then discovering no one wants to read depressing stories foreshadowing terrible canon events! I know that the story is going to swerve at the last second and the terrible canon is never going to happen, but it belatedly occurs to me that since my readers cannot know this, they may well sensibly decide they want no part of a story that seems to be leading up to it, so they may never even find out it has a happy ending. D: Lesson learned: some kinds of stories are better off not being posted in installments! I had no idea it was going to end up being such a fraught story when I started, and that kind of on-the-fly plotting is fun but quite risky.

I know for some of you this isn't an issue for various reasons, but it seems a fair topic for the week--Writing and posting longer stories!

A. Write the whole story and post at once time?
B. Write the whole story and post in installments?
C. Write on the fly and see where the story goes?

Obviously C is no good when writing modern profic (though a lot of 19th century literature did just this), but I've had so many stories evolve from casual one-shots into something I've really enjoyed that I can never quite rule it out. I hope whatever process you do it 's going well for you!

Comments

[me_ya_ri]

I have to admit that I have absolutely back-buttoned out of stories that looked like they were heading towards that sad ending in the past. If I'm writing one like that (back when I did fanfic) I'd put in the author notes that happy endings are guaranteed for me and then make sure the final bit of the story made it clear that at least one person is absolutely determined not to let the sadness happen.

I've done all of the above, A, B, and C. B was always a rare one for me. I usually either posted as I wrote or wrote the whole thing and posted it. I tend to like writing on the fly even when it put me in tight corners. I found it helped me think faster and get out of corners in more interesting ways.

I've sort of done the C option with my profic. But it's at the novel level. Write this novel, get distracted and write that, that, those things over there and oh yeah, write that second novel. *grin* But it's not quite what you're talking about.

Writing is going this week. Not as well as I'd like but that's due to two audits at work this week. I'm seriously brain-fried tonight. I still have to get at least 500 words so I don't lose my streak. That said, I am having an absolute blast with the new world I'm writing currently. Epic fantasy short stories with an awesome team, gods and monsters and it's just cool.

Hope your sad chapter didn't scare too many readers off and that your writing goes well!

[mithen]

I have to admit that I have absolutely back-buttoned out of stories that looked like they were heading towards that sad ending in the past.

Oh, absolutely! I don't read fanfic to get walloped in the head with crappy canon events, that's for sure. I just hadn't realized how spoiled I'd gotten by having a reputation in DC fandom for being a reliable deliverer of happy endings. :) The penultimate chapter goes up soon, and I'm betting once it's finished and tagged as more clearly happy at the end people will read the whole thing.

I like writing on the fly too! I enjoy seeing things unfold, even (especially?) when they go in unexpected directions.

Ugh, I hope the auditing is wrapping up well! I'll let you know if my readership can recover from the Sad Chapter of Apparent Doom! :D

[prince0froses]

*hug* welcome to my world of writing by the seat of your pants. If it's any comfort to you, because I know your style so well, I didn't despair over that chapter because I know you do happy endings.

And you know that I live and die by option C, flavored with A. I have come to realize it isn't really by choice - it's how my nneurodivergence compels me to do work. I need the thing I sit down and write in one sitting to be self-contained (so, option A), but the whole work is nothing but C.

[mithen]

If it's any comfort to you, because I know your style so well, I didn't despair over that chapter because I know you do happy endings.

Haha, I've gotten so spoiled, because after 10 years of Clark/Bruce, everyone pretty much knows that if it's a long story it's going to end well! I hadn't counted on people not knowing that in wrestling fandom--seriously, I don't think I've ever written anything multi-part that didn't end more or less happily (there must be an exception but I can't think of one). Making people get through something across more than one sitting only to have it end bad would be such cruelty!

That's true, you've got a mix of A and C there! I actually really like seeing how reader reactions shape a story as I write, being able to say "Whoops, that wasn't clear" or "Oh, that's where it looks like this is going!" or "Oh gosh, yeah, that's a loose end I need to tie up." It does tend to result in a kind of lurchy style now and then, but it's also a lot of fun...