New AFF, New Me?

[Daye]

Well the software upgrade seems to have brought to light for me, something thats been at the back of my mind for a while.

The biggest impact the software changes seem to have is the problem that a lot of the older stuff has suddenly turned in a big unformatted wall of text. Now this, from what the mods say, was inevitable but what it does mean that either me or one of them (and given the size of the archive that seems unlikely) to go through my old stuff and re-edit in the paragraphs.

For me this comprised eight chapters of a completed fic and 8 chapters of its sequel as well as the first two chapters of my other wip.

And really, I'm not sure its worth the effort. My posting rating as fallen slower and slower on these fics and more and more it seems the only reason I'm continuing to write them is that I don't want to leave them unfinished.

I feel like now and the software issues. Might be the time just to deleted everything from my profile and start afresh. But that's the kind of thing that gets people up in arms and my flood my inbox with angry people's mail.

So yeah, anyone got any thoughts about disillusionment with ongoing fics? Or opinions on deletion of stories, when you don't want to finish them?

[RogueMudblood]

As a reader, I can tell you that it is slightly frustrating to find an EWIP that is so very well-written that you just wish that there were another chapter to it. I can also tell you that if some of my favorite EWIPs - even though they're never going to be finished - were deleted, I would be very sad.

I can appreciate your perspective, though. You want to start fresh and not have those old fics that you aren't going to complete bogging down your profile. What I've seen several writers do, instead of full deletion, is put a big note in the summary ON HIATUS so that readers (other than those who only post about seeing more chapters) won't expect the work to be completed any time soon.

One of the benefits of doing it that way is that you still have access to all your reviews and comments that may have brightened your day, or offered some critical commentary that aided you in reassessment.

If it's something that you never intend to finish, you may wish to put it up for adoption.

Ultimately, it is your choice - these are your babies after all.

[JayDee]

Surely the effort to delete and re-post is more than the effort to re-post mis-formatted stories? An extra step! Keeping alla the reviews must be a plus too!

[Daye]

I'm not talking deleting and reposting. Just deleting. And writing new different stories.

[JayDee]

Whoa! Well, a whole buncha my old stories are no longer online for various reasons, including old pen names, (or in the case of 12 or so stories, the same reason) so I can support a desire to move on with new content. Some of my stuff didn't get properly finished either or no desire to do more, but I still get the odd email from folks who miss some of it, and you'd probably disappoint more readers with your non-niche oriented stuff so it's worth baring in mind the positive enjoyment effect that, even unfinished, it has had for those folks. And then if you don't feel like the effort, deleting and moving on 'cos writing ought to be about the stuff that you like doing best and screw the readers

I hope this makes sense. Boils down to "When it comes to writing, do what feels right!"

[Daye]

oh i don't know. het hp fic not involving Draco seems pretty niche to me. lol.

[JayDee]

Zing!

[spiralbreeze]

As a writer who left the site for sometime like 5 years, and came back, I haven't deleted anything, including the stuff which remains unfinished. When I have the time I will go into each story and properly edit everything, and who knows, maybe one day I'll finish the stories that are incomplete.

I have noticed that my older stories from 2004 and 2005 are all a hot mess in regards to their formats. And I know as a reader, I can not stand a huge wall of text, it hurts physically. I also know that I get really disappointed when something gets deleted, because I remember reading it, but then suddenly it's gone, even if it wasn't finished.

I'm for editing. Someone somewhere might still want to read it.