In <9607062141.AA06837@water.waterw.com> jhedge@waterw.com (Jeanne Hedge) writes:

Craig <fanfic@magister.apana.org.au> wrote:

[Guffety guff guff and whining!]  Hey I can insult it, I said it! :-)

But sometimes it helps to drop the story for a bit and come back to it
fresh.  Lessens story burn-out,

	Very true.  What bothers me (at least in my case) is that leaving it
can turn it into a `going to' as in: `I really must finish that one day.' said
a year after leaving it.  I suppose I was curious as to whether others have
the same problem and how they get around it.

[chomp]

I
mention this only because I've noticed what I sense might be the same tendency
with some others (at least concerning 'fics posted to the RAAC archive and not
withstanding the current hiatus) although perhaps for very different reasons,
I.E. someone begins what looks to be an excellent idea, writes a (sometimes)
huge chunk of story, posts it and then seems to give up.  Several examples
come to mind; `Prisoner Of War' (BGC),

Believe it or not, I have it direct from the author that this one is
finished (and I got that word about a week after the completed version of it
hit RAAS).  She has no current intention of going back to it, although she
hasn't totally ruled out the possiblity.  That's why it's titled the way it is.

	Hmm; perhaps I missed a portion?  The version I have is titled
Chapter-1.  I'll download it again and take another look.

[`We Just Want to Help You']

Good Lord, I have *got* to add a prelude to this thing, since very few
people seem to get it.  I can speak with great authority about "Help You"
since I wrote it.

[Explanation]

(and the end of the story *does*
say 'the end'

	Hmm, not mine.  I kept the version that first appeared on RAAS - I
wonder if it was truncated and Megazone re-posted it?  If others have been
asking where the rest is, that might explain it.  I can *definitely* assure
you that this version looks as though you intended to continue it.  My sincere
apologies - it makes perfect sense now.

= 'owari')  I guess I need to add a subtitle "Boy, Did *I* Get
the Wrong Alternate Universe"

	Not if the current version has `The End' in large friendly letters. :)

<snip>

I can only say that it can be
*unbelievably* infuriating to read a 300K fanfic only to discover that there
is no end in sight and the last update was in late 1994.

I hate that too.  I really think it's a good idea for people to finish their
stories before they post them.

	I suppose it's something of a quandary.  I *know* I wouldn't have
reached this point with DC (in light of my original works-in-the-writing) had
I not posted a portion and received favourable comments.  I've no real idea
what the answer is.  Perhaps people should consider whether they really have
any intention of finishing something when they start it, and pass it on to
someone they trust if they never intend to do more?

[...]

My point is, if I'd been sending the story in pieces to RAAS before it was
finished I wouldn't have *been* able to make all those changes because it
would have been too late.  And if I'd ultimately decided to abandon the
project, I would have embarrassed myself for having an incomplete and
abandoned fic out on the net.

	M'hmm, although RAAS/RAAC is a little different in that it's really a
pain in the neck for moderators to have to insert re-worked story pieces into
a 'fic (unless the thing has its own directory and is posted in chapters (as
I'd prefer for DC)).  Even then there's the problem of people who have
downloaded the first version wondering what on earth is going on should
something they already have be changed.
	I suppose that's why the FFML is so attractive, although even here
there are some 'fics very much waiting to be finished. :)

<snip>

Whew!  All that turned out longer than I'd intended.  I'm not really
certain why I started this, save that I'm dead tired, in a quandary about how
to end DC Ch-3,

OK, you're stuck.  Can you move on to Ch-4 without finishing Ch-3?

	Easily - it's set in the SM(original) and Yohko universes.  I'm just
concerned that if I start doing that I'll end up with 10 unfinished chapters
with no more posted, :( particularly since I set a date for more publicly and
haven't kept it.
	I suppose DC is somewhat unique in that the concept is so damned
*vast* (I've always been hopeless at short stories :) )!

If so,
do it.  You can always go back and finish Chapter 3 later, and maybe you'll
have better ideas then.

	Actually, it's probably not a bad idea, especially since, until they
begin to interact I can work on the build-up in each universe.

Another trick - write the story backwards.  No, not
the ending at the top of the fic, but write from the ending backwards to the
beginning.  I read an interview once with a SF writer (whose name escapes me
right now) who says he has to have a starting point and and ending point or
he can't write.  So he writes the beginning, then he writes the ending, then
he works backward to the beginning again...

	Something I've not tried as such, but interesting.  I usually just
write, then trim out all the extraneous buncum later.  Whenever I've tried to
plot extensively I've lost interest once the outline is complete (as though
the story were already written).

[...]

PS.	On a totally unrelated note; how do you avoid the [FFML] in the
Subject:?  I noticed that some posts don't have it and am curious about that
too (Gods, I must be tired! :-) )

It's supposed to be automaticly added by the system so people can easily
identify mail from this list.

	M'hmm, I assumed that but just wondered why some didn't have it and
thought there might be a trick to it.  ah well, just idle curiosity.

Jeanne Hedge

	Craig