How many stories would you post at the same time?

[Deadman]

Curious about how many stories you’re writing and/or posting.

I have a few stories that are WIP and I’ve been posting some of it. I also have a few stories that are finished.

Wondering how many you try to post at one time? How often do you post as well?

 

[BronxWench]

I am the poster child for “Are you incapable of completing a story?”

I have 2 co-written WIPs here on AFF, 2 more WIPS on AFF that are all my fault, and something like 4 WIPS that may or may not end up here, depending on whether or not I get laughed out the door at my publishers.

I do have quite a few one-shots and a couple of completed stories, so I’m capable of finishing things. I just… don’t?  

[Deadman]

32 minutes ago, BronxWench said:

I am the poster child for “Are you incapable of completing a story?”

I have 2 co-written WIPs here on AFF, 2 more WIPS on AFF that are all my fault, and something like 4 WIPS that may or may not end up here, depending on whether or not I get laughed out the door at my publishers.

I do have quite a few one-shots and a couple of completed stories, so I’m capable of finishing things. I just… don’t?  

Okay so you’re cool with having more than one story being posted at the same time I guess. Good to know.

I have a story I’ve started posting now that the site is back up that’s got 4 chapters, trying to space out the chapters for being posted. And I have a 7 part story that I wrote mostly while the site was in read only. Trying to decide whether I should start posting that or wait till the 4 part story is posted.

Also got an unfinished story that I posted 6 chapters of before the site went read only and managed to write 4 chapters while it was in read only but still have 6 chapters to go at least before it’s done. Partly because I added chapters I hadn’t intended to.

[Desiderius Price]

Ignoring the recent AFF website issues… normally one story/chapter at a time, spread days apart.  If I “shotgun” blast them all at once, I don’t really get a good feel from the hitcounts.

[Deadman]

45 minutes ago, Desiderius Price said:

Ignoring the recent AFF website issues… normally one story/chapter at a time, spread days apart.  If I “shotgun” blast them all at once, I don’t really get a good feel from the hitcounts.

What do you mean by days apart? Two? Seven?

I’ve gotten into thinking in terms of a month between chapters. At least to give myself time to write more.

Now I have a bunch of stuff that I can post. Trying to figure out if I should post more or not.

[Desiderius Price]

19 minutes ago, Deadman said:

What do you mean by days apart? Two? Seven?

I’ve gotten into thinking in terms of a month between chapters. At least to give myself time to write more.

Now I have a bunch of stuff that I can post. Trying to figure out if I should post more or not.

Depends on how fast I write them, which seem to be monthly now…   I usually like to wait at least one week between finishing a chapter and reviewing it for posting, that’s balancing the desire to post with catching at least the glaring grammar and other issues. 

Thought you were sitting on a stockpile of finished yet unposted chapters… I’d do those at least 2-3 days apart, as it’d also stay at the top of “freshly updated” stories for longer.

[Deadman]

6 minutes ago, Desiderius Price said:

Depends on how fast I write them, which seem to be monthly now…   I usually like to wait at least one week between finishing a chapter and reviewing it for posting, that’s balancing the desire to post with catching at least the glaring grammar and other issues. 

Thought you were sitting on a stockpile of finished yet unposted chapters… I’d do those at least 2-3 days apart, as it’d also stay at the top of “freshly updated” stories for longer.

Yeah, I am sitting on a pile of them to some extent but I do worry about getting to a place where I don’t have anything new to post. I have 4 chapters of my Scooby Gang Time series and all 7 chapters of a new complete story that I’ve been working on for several months. I also just posted the first chapter of Kendall and Veronica Go to Kinks Castle which is a 4 part story, so 3 more chapters.

But like you said, it’s good to stay on the freshly updated side. If I post these stories that quickly, I end up down the list when new stories get posted or updated. That’s why I’ve been spacing them out. Like you, I enjoy re-reading them to make sure I didn’t do any spelling or grammar errors. There’s been one or two stories/chapters I posted where I reviewed it 3 times over a month before posting, found some errors but then realized after posting that I didn’t catch some.

[Desiderius Price]

17 minutes ago, Deadman said:

Yeah, I am sitting on a pile of them to some extent but I do worry about getting to a place where I don’t have anything new to post. I have 4 chapters of my Scooby Gang Time series and all 7 chapters of a new complete story that I’ve been working on for several months. I also just posted the first chapter of Kendall and Veronica Go to Kinks Castle which is a 4 part story, so 3 more chapters.

But like you said, it’s good to stay on the freshly updated side. If I post these stories that quickly, I end up down the list when new stories get posted or updated. That’s why I’ve been spacing them out. Like you, I enjoy re-reading them to make sure I didn’t do any spelling or grammar errors. There’s been one or two stories/chapters I posted where I reviewed it 3 times over a month before posting, found some errors but then realized after posting that I didn’t catch some.

You’ll almost always find something you missed if you go back to it, I know I do.  Usually, it’s trivial enough that I’ll tweak it in my local copy and websites.   As long as you make a reasonable effort, I think most readers understand...it’s not like we’re getting paid to do this full time.  It’s a hobby, I’m an amateur, and so it’s basically second draft quality at most.  I actually experimented a while ago… I deliberately wrote short chapters (~2k) and limited myself to ONE proof/edit, overall, I liked the speed the story developed at due to that.  However, my main stories… longer chapters let me get more into the meat of the tales.

[Deadman]

2 hours ago, Desiderius Price said:

You’ll almost always find something you missed if you go back to it, I know I do.  Usually, it’s trivial enough that I’ll tweak it in my local copy and websites.   As long as you make a reasonable effort, I think most readers understand...it’s not like we’re getting paid to do this full time.  It’s a hobby, I’m an amateur, and so it’s basically second draft quality at most.  I actually experimented a while ago… I deliberately wrote short chapters (~2k) and limited myself to ONE proof/edit, overall, I liked the speed the story developed at due to that.  However, my main stories… longer chapters let me get more into the meat of the tales.

I totally get that. I kinda started out doing things that way. I just wrote whatever came to mind and my chapters were short. Most of the early chapters were less than 1,000 words long because I always got straight to the point and wrote from First POV, which meant I was focused on whatever was happening right in the moment. Only later on did I add longer chapters.

It wasn’t until much later that I started writing longer stuff. Most of it was of the more sexual kind. I had one or two chapters that were in the 10k area because they were very... detailed. Now most of the stuff I post here is in that range. There’s one story that I haven’t posted anywhere in which each individual chapter is 20k words.

[Desiderius Price]

6 hours ago, Deadman said:

I totally get that. I kinda started out doing things that way. I just wrote whatever came to mind and my chapters were short. Most of the early chapters were less than 1,000 words long because I always got straight to the point and wrote from First POV, which meant I was focused on whatever was happening right in the moment. Only later on did I add longer chapters.

It wasn’t until much later that I started writing longer stuff. Most of it was of the more sexual kind. I had one or two chapters that were in the 10k area because they were very... detailed. Now most of the stuff I post here is in that range. There’s one story that I haven’t posted anywhere in which each individual chapter is 20k words.

Oh...my first fanfic/story, the start of it… pure dialogue in committee style, discussing how to better Harry’s falling marks (because he’d been spending all his time in the owlery writing love letters to his muggle girl.)  I certainly wouldn’t write it that way anymore!  I’ve grown to figure out way better ways to have done it.  I also wrote in PRESENT TENSE, which… wasn’t great either.

One trick I learned ages ago for details, don’t describe it ALL.  Instead, draw focus to one specific detail, ie, a tear in the green lamp shade, and it gives the illusion of depth without pages of detailed description.

[Deadman]

4 hours ago, Desiderius Price said:

Oh...my first fanfic/story, the start of it… pure dialogue in committee style, discussing how to better Harry’s falling marks (because he’d been spending all his time in the owlery writing love letters to his muggle girl.)  I certainly wouldn’t write it that way anymore!  I’ve grown to figure out way better ways to have done it.  I also wrote in PRESENT TENSE, which… wasn’t great either.

One trick I learned ages ago for details, don’t describe it ALL.  Instead, draw focus to one specific detail, ie, a tear in the green lamp shade, and it gives the illusion of depth without pages of detailed description.

Sure, I will do things like describe things after the fact while in the present tense. For instance:

While I am busy with this, they were doing this.

What do you generally find works best in terms of description? I started out separating dialogue and actions in different lines. But more recently I’ve combined dialogue in actions such as:

“I really shouldn’t.” she starts, before considering her options, “But maybe I have a better idea.”

I figure so long as I’m clear about who’s saying what, everything is fine.
 

[Desiderius Price]

20 hours ago, Deadman said:

Sure, I will do things like describe things after the fact while in the present tense. For instance:

While I am busy with this, they were doing this.

What do you generally find works best in terms of description? I started out separating dialogue and actions in different lines. But more recently I’ve combined dialogue in actions such as:

“I really shouldn’t.” she starts, before considering her options, “But maybe I have a better idea.”

I figure so long as I’m clear about who’s saying what, everything is fine.
 

Past tense is the more popular one when it comes to story writing.  While present tense is slightly more “immediate” to the engagement, past tense is way easier to be consistent when you’ve got multiple POVs that you’re exploring.  (A challenge would be to write a story completely in future tense )

A short while ago, I had to reformat the first chapter to my first fanfic (as I was checking its reviews, I noticed that website, that shall-not-be-named, had deleted/lost newlines leaving a big ugly blob of text).  Still, that left it as a wall of “Harry says… Lupin says… Dumbledore says… Ron says…” dialogue – I’d like to think my writing’s improved these last two decades!  I do use a lot of dialogue, a bit more description than writing of old – hints to wardrobes, weather, the environment, etc.

Your blurb…

“I really shouldn’t...”  She mulled it over.  “Maybe it’d be better if—“

But yep, you can mix in action with dialogue…  Don’t go overboard, should be light.  If it’s heavy, new paragraph.  So, this would be too much:

“I really shouldn’t...” She pulled the trigger, he squirmed in agony as he convulsed, the life drained from him.  “Maybe it’d be better if—“

So more of…

“I really shouldn’t.”  She brandished the semiautomatic.  “Maybe it’d be better if—“

She pulled the trigger.

Also, that short action paragraph can break up a wall of dialogue too.

Obviously, writing’s an art form, no true right or wrong, unless it descends into revoltingly bad—even that can be occasionally justified

[GeorgeGlass]

On 2/23/2023 at 2:47 PM, Deadman said:

Curious about how many stories you’re writing and/or posting.

I have a few stories that are WIP and I’ve been posting some of it. I also have a few stories that are finished.

Wondering how many you try to post at one time? How often do you post as well?
 

I try not to have more than about 4 different partially posted stories going at the same time, because I don’t want to keep the readers of any given story waiting ages while I work on the others. In fact, the only reason I make the limit as high as 4 is that, with my ADHD writing style, I usually have at least some of every chapter of a story already written by the time I finish and post chapter 1. 

I also limit myself to having no more than 20 stories in the writing stage at any given time. Only when I finish a story do I allow myself to take a new one out of my Ideas file and start writing it.

[Desiderius Price]

3 minutes ago, GeorgeGlass said:

I try not to have more than about 4 different partially posted stories going at the same time, because I don’t want to keep the readers of any given story waiting ages while I work on the others. In fact, the only reason I make the limit as high as 4 is that, with my ADHD writing style, I usually have at least some of every chapter of a story already written by the time I finish and post chapter 1. 

I also limit myself to having no more than 20 stories in the writing stage at any given time. Only when I finish a story do I allow myself to take a new one out of my Ideas file and start writing it.

Funny enough, I’m at four posted WIPs too.  1) My potter fanfic, 2) Jefferey, which is backstory to 3) Dolbourne Chronicles, which is backstory to 4) Fiends, which is, itself, backstory to the initial (unpublished) smutty oneshot.  Got some dabblings on the sequel to Demons, another one focusing on Kent after he departs 2) and rejoins the narrative later.  That ignores the software I’m writing at the same time to help keep all those details ORGANIZED!

[Wilde_Guess]

Hello, Deadman, Desiderius Price, and all.

How many stories do I have going at the same time?  Hmmm…  I don’t abandon anything.  However I have a few stories under my other pen-name that haven’t seen attention in a long time.  Under this pen-name, I have three WIPs.  That’s just how it turned out.  I work on each one when I’m “inspired” to write that particular story.  Of course, the biggest down-side to having more than one story going at the same time is that you can get writer’s block or write yourself into a corner in multiple stories, for multiple the frustration!  The benefit side of that coin is that if you get into a log-jam on one story, you can write another, and your working on “another” story might help you solve your log-jam on the first. 

Some authors will work multiple stories, others only one at a time.  Likewise, some authors (including me) will start posting with few or no “reserve” chapters and post when they’re able and willing.  Others will only ever start posting once the entire story is entirely written.  Once again, that’s up to you.

As for the tense of your writing; outside of character conversations and experimentation, you will typically write in past tense.  You are, after all, recounting something that has already happened, even if the occurrence you’re describing has only happened in your imagination.  Writing in present or future tense in the body of your story can be and has been done without coming off as certifiably insane, gaining undesired governmental attention, or being utterly unpleasant to read.  However, this is not even remotely easy to do while still creating an enjoyable story for your reader.  It also gets exponentially harder to pull off the longer your story gets.  Even the critically acclaimed examples of present/future tense literature can be an almost painful drudge to read, even when the underlying story is good. 

 

[Desiderius Price]

47 minutes ago, Wilde_Guess said:

Some authors will work multiple stories, others only one at a time.  Likewise, some authors (including me) will start posting with few or no “reserve” chapters and post when they’re able and willing.  Others will only ever start posting once the entire story is entirely written.  Once again, that’s up to you.

At the start of WIP, I generally bank up a few chapters/episodes to make sure the story idea’s decent.  But after that, I’ll usually post when the chapter’s ready to be posted.

[Desiderius Price]

49 minutes ago, Wilde_Guess said:

As for the tense of your writing; outside of character conversations and experimentation, you will typically write in past tense.  You are, after all, recounting something that has already happened, even if the occurrence you’re describing has only happened in your imagination.  Writing in present or future tense in the body of your story can be and has been done without coming off as certifiably insane, gaining undesired governmental attention, or being utterly unpleasant to read.  However, this is not even remotely easy to do while still creating an enjoyable story for your reader.  It also gets exponentially harder to pull off the longer your story gets.  Even the critically acclaimed examples of present/future tense literature can be an almost painful drudge to read, even when the underlying story is good.

I’m not an English major, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express recently, and my verbal SAT score was… maybe it reached average, if that?  I’ll try something, fumble, and learn from it (well, more often than not).  My first story/fanfic was written in 2-3 months at the start of my writing habit (two decades ago!), and while style improved, it’s ALL in present tense.  It wasn’t until I was a fair way into the sequel a month or two later that I understood the (major) pitfalls and decided to switch to past tense.  (POV’s messed up too.)   Now that the sequel has passed the million word mark, rewriting into present/future tense would be murder.

[Deadman]

1 hour ago, Wilde_Guess said:

Hello, Deadman, Desiderius Price, and all.

How many stories do I have going at the same time?  Hmmm…  I don’t abandon anything.  However I have a few stories under my other pen-name that haven’t seen attention in a long time.  Under this pen-name, I have three WIPs.  That’s just how it turned out.  I work on each one when I’m “inspired” to write that particular story.  Of course, the biggest down-side to having more than one story going at the same time is that you can get writer’s block or write yourself into a corner in multiple stories, for multiple the frustration!  The benefit side of that coin is that if you get into a log-jam on one story, you can write another, and your working on “another” story might help you solve your log-jam on the first. 

Some authors will work multiple stories, others only one at a time.  Likewise, some authors (including me) will start posting with few or no “reserve” chapters and post when they’re able and willing.  Others will only ever start posting once the entire story is entirely written.  Once again, that’s up to you.

As for the tense of your writing; outside of character conversations and experimentation, you will typically write in past tense.  You are, after all, recounting something that has already happened, even if the occurrence you’re describing has only happened in your imagination.  Writing in present or future tense in the body of your story can be and has been done without coming off as certifiably insane, gaining undesired governmental attention, or being utterly unpleasant to read.  However, this is not even remotely easy to do while still creating an enjoyable story for your reader.  It also gets exponentially harder to pull off the longer your story gets.  Even the critically acclaimed examples of present/future tense literature can be an almost painful drudge to read, even when the underlying story is good. 

 

See, I don’t really get the need for past tense. Partly that might be because I’ve written some screenplays, nothing that’s been made, but in that format you’re supposed to be writing in the present tense because it’s about taking whoever the reader is along. As if it’s happening in real time. Which made the fact that I wrote in First POV when it comes to fanfic an easy transition to screenplays.

I try to limit myself to writing only one story at a time, but more recently it’s been difficult. I have chapters in the 10k words or more category so I focus pretty much entirely on that one story before switching to another story. However, now I’m working on a story where one has over 10k words, but the other each chapter is only around 1,000 if that. So it’s a little weird to be shifting and realizing I don’t need a 30 page story to play out.

That being said, I have a bunch of story ideas piling up in the 10k or more category that just keeps getting longer. I have about 6 different fandoms I want to cover all with multiple chapters that are going to be in the 10k words per chapter range. Part of me just wants to start in on them but I gotta be disciplined.

 

[Desiderius Price]

10 minutes ago, Deadman said:

See, I don’t really get the need for past tense. Partly that might be because I’ve written some screenplays, nothing that’s been made, but in that format you’re supposed to be writing in the present tense because it’s about taking whoever the reader is along. As if it’s happening in real time. Which made the fact that I wrote in First POV when it comes to fanfic an easy transition to screenplays.

TBH, I’m a foreigner to screenplays.  In stories, I’ve found that past tense flows & reads easier, and first person POV makes head-hopping confusing, even if I qualify who “I” is for a chapter/scene.   Thus, my writing style is now generally past tense & third-person (limited) POV—treating that person as the “camera” to the scene/action.

[Desiderius Price]

14 minutes ago, Deadman said:

I try to limit myself to writing only one story at a time, but more recently it’s been difficult. I have chapters in the 10k words or more category so I focus pretty much entirely on that one story before switching to another story. However, now I’m working on a story where one has over 10k words, but the other each chapter is only around 1,000 if that. So it’s a little weird to be shifting and realizing I don’t need a 30 page story to play out.

Right now, I’m typically jumping between two, as the mood strikes.  The potter fanfic, and the Jefferey story.  (And the Jefferey story mostly because I need to get it to the point to support my other originals.)

[Deadman]

3 hours ago, Desiderius Price said:

TBH, I’m a foreigner to screenplays.  In stories, I’ve found that past tense flows & reads easier, and first person POV makes head-hopping confusing, even if I qualify who “I” is for a chapter/scene.   Thus, my writing style is now generally past tense & third-person (limited) POV—treating that person as the “camera” to the scene/action.

I can understand that. I have done some writing in Third POV, though I tend to go more omniscient in those stories to showcase as many points of views as I can.

But the thing that I enjoy about First POV is that the reader can imagine themselves in that scenario. It’s actually part of how I got into writing in the first place. I used to imagine what I would do in whatever scenario the character was in and write that. So I feel like there’s more emotional connection people can get through a First POV situation.

[Desiderius Price]

11 minutes ago, Deadman said:

But the thing that I enjoy about First POV is that the reader can imagine themselves in that scenario. It’s actually part of how I got into writing in the first place. I used to imagine what I would do in whatever scenario the character was in and write that. So I feel like there’s more emotional connection people can get through a First POV situation.

I can still write into the character’s head with third person.  About every story I’ve written, there’s occasion to need to focus on other characters that aren’t the main characters… even if its a short side-bar.  Thus, this becomes a bit more jarring in first-person, and so I simply use third person as that’s simpler to pull off.  There are definitely more talented writers out there than I am, so mileage may vary.

[Deadman]

6 hours ago, Desiderius Price said:

I can still write into the character’s head with third person.  About every story I’ve written, there’s occasion to need to focus on other characters that aren’t the main characters… even if its a short side-bar.  Thus, this becomes a bit more jarring in first-person, and so I simply use third person as that’s simpler to pull off.  There are definitely more talented writers out there than I am, so mileage may vary.

Well the way I get around that is by shifting POVs either within the chapter or in the next chapter. So I can get the perspective of one character while it’s happening and then how the other character feels about what just happened. But when I go to Third POV, I usually have to choose which character to focus on. At least that’s been my experience when writing.

[Desiderius Price]

5 hours ago, Deadman said:

Well the way I get around that is by shifting POVs either within the chapter or in the next chapter. So I can get the perspective of one character while it’s happening and then how the other character feels about what just happened. But when I go to Third POV, I usually have to choose which character to focus on. At least that’s been my experience when writing.

Weird, I find the flip is an issue… easier to keep it straight for me and the reader to keep it third POV, avoids switching around who “I” means.

[Wilde_Guess]

For what my opinion is worth, each POV for a story has its place, its advantages, and its disadvantages.  Third person perfect allows the author to tell the reader their entire tale, including any internal thoughts for any character the author believes relevant.  However, this POV can make it more difficult for the reader to connect with the author’s intended protagonist.  And, sometimes, having the reader know more about what’s going on in the story than any of the participants can make it more difficult for the reader to connect with any of the characters, or even the story as a whole.

Third person imperfect POV forces the reader to connect to the story via the “lead” character, or at least the “focus” character where the “lead” changes, a la George RR Martin’s famous series.  This also restricts the reader’s view to that of the lead character.  Many people when writing about Harry Potter often mention or even complain about the “Harry Filter.”  And Rowling did break from the Harry Filter to third-person perfect POV at a few key places through the seven books.

First person POV portrays the story through the experiences of the lead character literally first-hand.  This gives you both the lead character’s insights and myopias.  In some cases, you can switch first-person POV from one character to another—however, this is not common, and needs to be explained within the confines of the story itself.  And, just like third person imperfect, the reader’s view of your tale is restricted to the experiences and observations of the lead character.  First person POV is quite literally being given ‘permission’ to read the diary or journal of the protagonist.  You seldom read the diaries of say two siblings side by side for any length of time, and the likelihood of believeability tends to  drop with each POV change.  But, there are exceptions.  If one of the secondary main characters tells an extended yet needful tale to the protagonist within the first-person POV story, you can just change the POV to simplify things.  Or, if the reactions of others to the tale is needful, you can “fight the army of uncooperative quotation marks” in order to capture the reactions of others hearing that story.

Mickey Spillane in his Mike Hammer series, and Rex Stout in his Nero Wolfe series both used first-person POV.  And, both authors still have a loyal following even today, many decades after their demise.  However, third person perfect and third person imperfect are more commonly found.  Steven King has used both first person and third person imperfect.  I’m pretty sure he’s also used third person perfect, but I can’t cite examples right this second, so I’ll say “probably.”

When mentioning tense differences between a prose story and any form of a play, you need to remember that a [*]play is not just a story.  That play is also the instruction set for the director, actors, and other technical personnel performing that play, whether on a theater stage for a live audience or on a soundstage for cameras [and studio audience if you work at Desilu or are being produced by Norman Lear.]  Outside of dialog, those are always present tense, because the director needs the lights changed right f??king now, not when it’s convenient.  In a prose story, however, it’s assumed that you quite literally had time to actually write a book about what happened, so the activity portrayed has definitely finished happening.