On Thu, 2 Nov 1995, Mr. the Rutsch wrote:

And I've never understood the complaint.  A number of authors ask for 
feedback to help write the next chapter.  I know I rely on it a little.
Even without that factor, considering how long it takes to write a long 
fanfic, when you're going to release the story in chapter format 
anyway, it's too hard to wait!  Understandable.

I agree with you --  I think that having a few chapters up for 
public release probably _increases_ the chance that the story, as a 
whole, will get done.  Can you imagine compiling a megabyte, or more, 
worth of fanfic for a single release?  I can hardly imagine _reading_ 
that much! <grin>

Yeah, it's annoying when multi-part stories you enjoy are stopped.  But 
would you rather they never have been posted?  The better complaint is 
against authors who don't finish their stories.

I do agree with Jeanne partially, too.  I really do think that a chapter 
(or discrete part) of a fanfic should be able to stand as a 
self-contained unit.  That may be a purely stylistic point, however ... 
I'm not a believer in the necessity of ornate introductions.  The pertinant 
data of a story should be innate, and readily extracted from the text.  
I think that a deficiency in this department is the real reason behind a 
lot of the dissatisfaction about incomplete work.  

CHL