Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related Time Schedules for posting

I wondered how authors decide how often to post their stories. Say you've been using a once a week schedule, and you are really excited about the next part.

Are you ever tempted to post early? Do you feel it is important to space the installments?

Well, being such an ill-disciplined author and having such an erratic posting schedule because I take so long to finish things <g> I can only use my posting of Masques last year as experience. Basically because I can barely remember the others, they were so long ago.

And with that one, can honestly say that it was never a question of being tempted to post early. More like desperately racing my fingers across the keyboard to get the next segment finished before I had to post!

I haven't had such a terrifying, exhausting and just plain exhilirating writing experience in many years. It seemed that as soon as I posted one segment I was back on the race to get out another. For two weeks solid I didn't do much more of anything other than write - with the occasional short break to eat and sleep. And even then I spent a heck of a lot of nights writing solidly without a break from roughly 8pm till 5am - especially on the last few segments.

Best fun I've had in years!

LabRat (still slightly proud of the fact that in all that craziness she only missed a couple of scheduled posts )

I posted my first story (Anybody's Baby) as I was writing. I had a big buffer and thought I'd be fine posting once a week. But then the story underwent some MAJOR changes as I was writing, and I had to stop and explain the changes. And then I was so busy making corrections and changes that it was hard to get done on time. Combine that with the fact that the final parts were being posted over Christmas and I was having a hard time getting internet access because I was out of town. After that, I swore I'd never post as I went ever again. I'm REALLY glad I did it that time, because I got some much needed help and feedback. But now that I have wonderful BRs, I tend to finish the entire story before I begin posting. Then after I'm done, I go back and make any necessary changes. So, because my stories are done when I begin posting, and I can post as quickly as I like. And I tend to post very rapidly, usually every day or every other day. I'm sometimes tempted to hold out longer to draw out the suspense (and I think Labby's right about the length between the installments being related to the amount of feedback). But when I'm reading, I love stories that are posted quickly, so I like to give that to my readers. Besides, I think most of my readers know I'm done when I start posting, and I could be disembowled for holding out on them. <G>

Annie

I've never really understood the idea that someone would want to get a whole story written before posting... <g> At least not anything very long...

I didn't start posting Hearts Divided until I'd gotten the first third or so written, but then I couldn't resist the craving for feedback any longer <g> So, naturally, I ran out of buffer very quickly and started writing from week to week. Which is actually a pretty good way for me to work, because I have difficulty starting to write. Once I get started, I'm fine, it's just getting started (each and every time) that's a challenge. When I knew people were waiting for the next part in a few days... well, it was very motivating.

Um, anyway... once or twice a week is a decent posting schedule. Sooner or later it all turns into "as soon as I get it written!" anyway

PJ

i'll go with once or twice a week. most of my fics have been 1-parters, so i don't have particularly much experience here.


i can say, though, that you get more feedback if you post once or twice a week. post too quickly, and people end up moving to the next part without commenting on the last.

that happened to me with "cape of good hope." i got inspired thursday night, started writing, and posted part 1 on friday, when i was half done with the writing. i gave into the nagging and posted part 2 on saturday. then, it was a race to see if i could get part 3 properly written (and BRed) in time (i'd written some chunks of part 4 before getting back to part 3). i got that up on sunday, and the final part went up on monday.

thing is, comments dropped off sharply when i did that. i think people went away for the weekend, came back monday, saw it had all been posted, and never got around to commenting. i left with the impression that the story hadn't gone over too well, and was thus extremely surprised to see it nominated for a kerth. i think if i'd left a few days between posts, i might have gotten a lot more comments.

so, while the race to get things done was fun and exciting, i think i would have been better off taking things more slowly.

on the flipside, if you post too slowly, people forget what happened before and get confused.

as for the exact post schedule, it depends on you, your writing speed, the length of the story, and your post length. still, once or twice a week seems to be a good rule of thumb.

Paul

I usually wait until the whole story is written. I like to make sure it's complete and spell-checked. I've gotten writer's block in the middle of a story before, which is another good reason to wait.

I usually post once per day, or every few days, if it's finished. If it's unfinished, I try to post once/week.

Oh yeah, I know from writer's block... I wrote the very first draft of "Hubris" at least four years ago <g> But for me (not everyone, I know), posting deadlines do a marvellous job of chasing the block away. A friend of mine is the exact opposite, she says the stress would kill her <g>

But then, I wouldn't want to post while I'm writing unless I thought I had a pretty good idea of how the story was going to play out. The details always sneak up and surprise me, but I like to have an overall plot outline before I even start writing.

PJ

Well, I learned my lesson with Alien Gift (which I will finish, I promise!) to not post as I write. I react to the pressure of a deadline by freaking out, procrastinating and then saying, hey, it's late anyway... Yeah. Not good. Funny, I don't do that with school work...

So, if/when I write another story long enough to post in sections (and with AG, when I get it finished), I'll probably post every couple days -- long enough to get solid fdk (both praise and constructive criticism), but short enough that people don't have to wait too long -- I know I hate waiting. <g>

Plus, as I've learned with my novel this semester, I like the process of "write until the end so that it's all out on paper then go back and fix/add/make changes." I had one scene that I liked, but then later, as I was figuring out the main conflict of the climax, I realized that what I now wanted to do required that the character (and the audience) not know something I'd revealed in that scene forty pages ago. So I had to go back and completely change it. And I like how the overall picture turned out because of that, whereas if I'd been posting as I went, I would have either had to say "oh, btw, I changed something way back there and you need to know it, but that'll spoil some surprises for you" or else box myself in with what I'd already written.

Okay, so that doesn't have much to do with posting schedules, but it does explain why I'm not going to post as I write any more!

Bethy (who, like Pam, is tempted to start posting before it's done because she craves fdk...but she's going to have willpower next time. Honest.)

I've really enjoyed hearing everyone's different comments.

While I am a relative newbie to posting, I will say this:

1. I started When the West Wind Moves back in July when I was still a lurker and before I found the message boards. I started Fast Enough in September and finished it in February, when I finally joined. When I'm posting a story, I find that I am much more committed to working on it and working through the writer's block (WTWWM was 20 pages untill I posted FE, and it materialized into a full story as a result of comments and a wonderful BRed, Avia).

2. Both Fast Enough and WtWWM were completed pieces when I began posting them. STGTTIR is well, not, and I think I'm going to try the posting as I go style and then make revisions after I finish (this was decided after reading people's comments).

3. As for deciding when I post -once the comments from the previous section have died down, I post the next. Length? I like going for good ending points / cliffhangers of sorts.

Elle wrote:

LOL! Ain't that the truth!

Trenna, this is the first story I've ever posted in installments and I started out with a nice, secure buffer. Or so I thought.

And then, all of a sudden, poof! it was gone.

So I had to drop from posting 2 times a week (Thursdays and Sundays)to only once. Now I post on Sundays because that gives me a couple of extra hours at the weekend if I'm late.

I just hope my Muses stay tuned to me otherwise I'll be in big trouble!

As Pam said, it helps if you have the whole story already outlined. That's why I'm not panicking -yet!

You're right, Pam, it's those surprising details that sneak up on you and when they're written you go: whoa, did I wrote that?

Trenna - Ithink I'll vote for a once-a-week posting of stories!

Writing can be quite the adventure <g> I figure it's like planning an interstate (country) car trip. You know the roads you want to take and where you're going -- but you won't know what the road looks like 'til you get there. And if you're lucky, the details don't derail your plot!

PJ

I've posted stories to the lcfanfic email group and always finished the story before I posted. Now, the only story I've posted to a mb is "Zebedee's Sons" and I'm not done yet. I guess, as someone else already mentioned, I was desperate for feedback. I've only got two more scenes left to write, most of the first one is done in my head, but it's just so hard to get it onto paper. But with my hubby out of town until Wednesday, I should be getting a lot done this week.

As far as sticking to a schedule...uh, no. I thought I could, but then my buffer disappeared, and I realized I'm just gonna have to post whenever I can.