Hiatus sadness

[Anonjohn20]

Me searching for a new story:

"Okay, this story has been uploading consistently for 4-8 months. This person cares about sharing his masterpiece with the world."

I proceed to read it till the latest chapter; it gets 1-4 more chapters over time and then infinite hiatus mode.

Eternal sadness.

 

[Corty]

You can try mine; so far, my record is pretty good.

 

[Nolff]

You can try mine; so far, my record is pretty good.

Ye sure?

 

[Anonjohn20]

You can try mine; so far, my record is pretty good.

five finished stories and one getting regular updates? Corty, you are on fire! 10/10

 

[Lysander_Works]

It happens. Sometimes people are run over by the random chaos that is life...
Hopefully it comes back at some point.

 

[fcures]

I been writing a story and I just don't have time to write more these days even though I want to...

 

[TheKillingAlice]

I'd say it's really terrible how people aren't writing.
*Just found out a second ago that one of my three stories was last updated 11 months ago*

 

[RepresentingWrath]

I'd say it's really terrible how people aren't writing.
*Just found out a second ago that one of my three stories was last updated 11 months ago*

 

[RiaCorvidiva]

Sometimes, after a while, we have to cut our losses, realize our story isn't being read / enjoyed, and just... move on.

 

[Navillus]

Unfortunate...

 

[Ruti]

Eternal sadness.

real eternal sadness is seeing a novel you just began reading saying its gonna stub soon, trying to get past the stub point, and being 2 chapters too late and you must either miss those two chapters, or buy the novel for the sake of those two chapters

oh and the 37 eternal Hiatus novels and the 31 deleted novels in my reading list

 

[Frowfy]

Sometimes, after a while, we have to cut our losses, realize our story isn't being read / enjoyed, and just... move on.

Sadly, true. I personally classify stories in two types: "Private" and "Public".

• A private story is made with your enjoyment (only) as a motivation factor.
• A public story is made with both your enjoyment and your reader's.

The thing about the public story is a problem when just one of the parts is enjoyed. If the readers like and the writer hates is hell, and the same when the writer loves and the readers criticize with their souls. In the first case, writing feels terrible and forced ("I don't want to write this!"), in the second you have an existential crisis for your tastes (Why no one like this...? Am I weird?) lmao.

There are many reasons a story could be dropped. Before becoming a writer I used to have "Eternal sadness" too seeing my favorite stories dropped. But now, in the skin of a writer, I feel just worried for the author. I hope this guy can achieve his goals while dropping this story. Depending of the case it could be the last story of this writer. Sometimes people are very insensible, many people don't know the weight of their words. An author needs to deal with all kinds of crazy people, if you don't have a strong mindset to endure it all hardly you survive after your "public" phase.

[Additional note]
And I don't know if is just for me but you can predict the end of your story if you think a little about it. So when I see a story without an end I just think about the previous structure, analyze the pattern and think about the possible endings myself. This way you never feel an empty hole.

 

[RiaCorvidiva]

The thing about the public story is a problem when just one of the parts is enjoyed. If the readers like and the writer hates is hell, and the same when the writer loves and the readers criticize with their souls. In the first case, writing feels terrible and forced ("I don't want to write this!"), in the second you have an existential crisis for your tastes (Why no one like this...? Am I weird?) lmao.

Definitely a case of the second for me. I thought I had a story that would be enjoyed. But I had a story that really failed to hook much of anyone.

 

[Frowfy]

Definitely a case of the second for me. I thought I had a story that would be enjoyed. But I had a story that really failed to hook much of anyone.

So relatable. I separate writers and readers as completely different beings, for a simple reason: it's extremely hard for a writer to judge his own story through the reader's eyes. There are chapters I really don't like and people love and there are chapters I love and people think are so-so. In the end, we shouldn't rely on our perspective but on the data we receive.

I usually work with teasers. If the first five chapters receive good feedback I keep writing. If the whole volume receives good feedback I decided to go until the end because now I have a "formula/feeling" that works, so I just need to polish it. My volumes are very short too (12-15 ch). My first story had tremendous good feedback because the formula worked, but my second had success in the teaser and failed at the end of volume. Just through attempts and mistakes you can somehow have the best filter of "This is good" and "This is bad".

It's very bold of me to talk about it with only 3 months of experience lmao. But is because I had too many shocks in this journey. My first skyrocketed and my second suffered enormous hate. I was living in a paradise and hell at the same time. So I needed to understand it in the worst way possible.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

Everyone who read The Last Progenitor has felt this 4 times. I just can't seem to nail down this story. I think I know why though. I started writing it when I was terrible at writing. And I got a lot of feedback saying as much. So I went on hiatus to get better at writing, but when I came back to write the story, I cannot reconcile the old plot with my new writing.

It's like a part of my brain wants to hold onto old characters and old story points, but doing that will create plot holes if I want to write it now. Now, I am stuck in this awkward limbo of wanting to continue the story and not being able to let go of things. I know what I should do. In reality, I should wipe the slate clean and create a more sensible story, but I cannot do it. No matter how many times I rewrite it, I want to hold onto certain things.

 

[RiaCorvidiva]

I usually work with teasers. If the first five chapters receive good feedback I keep writing. If the whole volume receives good feedback I decided to go until the end because now I have a "formula/feeling" that works, so I just need to polish it. My volumes are very short too (12-15 ch). My first story had tremendous good feedback because the formula worked,

I ended up writing the entire first volume (70 chapters) before posting, and only then was I informed that it was too slow and dense to be appealing. :(

 

[Frowfy]

I ended up writing the entire first volume (70 chapters) before posting, and only then was I informed that it was too slow and dense to be appealing. :(

I love slow pace, I'm a crazy slice of life fan. I once read 200 chapters of a 1/2-star-rated story and genuinely liked it. I can say that will exist a public even for the most strange shit. I am one of them after all lmao. But many of them never will comment something. They are the phantom readers you convinced and never will know they existed. Even in my dropped old story many of those readers appeared and said "Why are you doing it? This is great!". If you wrote it and genuinely liked it, know that someone in the world will have the same tastes as you.

But of course there are many ways to create something more for general tastes. One of them is the scheme of teasers I use but you can try other things yourself too. If you put your focus on something there is nothing you can't do o(*￣▽￣*)ブ

 

[Anonjohn20]

I ended up writing the entire first volume (70 chapters) before posting, and only then was I informed that it was too slow and dense to be appealing. :(

Sorry for taking so long to reply. Listen, it is impossible to create a story that 100% of people will enjoy. I remember as a kid disliking "The Catcher in the Rye" while my cousin loved it, and I also remember meeting a guy who hated "Lord of the Rings." Don't let 1 person disliking the story dissuade you. Nowadays I mostly read smut (a lot of it is either a bad translation or full of grammar mistakes from horny writers), and I somehow enjoy all the garbage I read.

 

[HungrySheep]

Sometimes life catches up to you. Unless you're privileged to be the 1% who manages to make a living off your webserial, you're likely gonna be forced to take a break at some point. Maybe the author's just dealing with something right now and they'll continue the story later!

 

[Anonjohn20]

Sometimes life catches up to you. Unless you're privileged to be the 1% who manages to make a living off your webserial, you're likely gonna be forced to take a break at some point. Maybe the author's just dealing with something right now and they'll continue the story later!

I see you're a glass half-full optimist. I used to be when less than 43 of the stories I've tried weren't on hiatus.