Multi-Chaps: Writing and Posting

[SeeMeInTheShadows]

Okay, as most topics I post in this area have to do with, I was pondering something and I wanted to get your opinon on. How do you write mult-chap story. Or, to be more specific, how do you post multi-chap stories. From what I can tell, there are three ways to go about this.

1. Post as you write
2. Write a couple chapter buffer and then post
3. Completely write and then post

Which one do you guys do? Which one do you think is the smartest. On first thought, one might say option three is the best, but I don't agree. I think that comments can give you a lot of ideas, you might improve as you continue writing, sudden strokes of inspiration don't have as much time to hit you, and, for me, I can never get it done.

I try to mostly do option 2, but how many chapters should you go ahead. I'm working on one where I'm doing a nice five chapters (granted, my chapters are short, each about 2,000 words) right now, but even that can sometimes lure you into a false sense of confidence.

And option one is good if you don't procrastinate. Which I do.

So do you do any of these? A mix? None of the above? Heck, just talk about writing processes for multi-chapter fics.

[Kittyclaw]

Umm I've done both one and two, and found that it really depends on how often and how much you write. I did the first one when I was posting my first mutichapter story, and I accomplished daily updates with it. But the chapters were small and I had the time and desire to write a lot every day. I tried option 2 with my story He Lives in You, but I didn't exactly take advantage of the time gap.

I would have said go with 3, if you already know how you want to story to go. But if you don't, and you're interested in ideas, 2's a good one if you're willing to keep up with the time you give yourself.

On a side note relating to this, I go into basically every story I write knowing at least the most basic outline of what I expect to have happen, but I know some people just start with an idea and see how it evolves later. For me I find I'll never finish a fic without a map though, so I'm usually outlining or summerizing or just bulletpointing plot points before I start work on each chapter. But I know some people like to just start writing to see where it takes them. I've never had luck with that, but is there anyone here you consitently does?

[Soul Jelly]

I've also done a mixture of one and two, but I prefer to write as I post. I'm too impatient to write an entire story before I upload it. I just am. XD Besides that, I really like hearing people's feedback and thoughts; it very rarely influences the outcome of a story significantly, but it can be helpful in making me think about the direction certain aspects are going.

@Kitty; I'll never finish a fic if I don't know how it's going to end before I start writing. XD I like having an outline and definitive points, and then throwing in extra things as they occur to me when writing.
Sometimes I feel the theme of a story doesn't become apparent until after you've finished writing it (this happened with my Ulrich/Sissi oneshot, for me), but I can't say the same for plot. Only very rarely does writing on a whim lead to a clear ending for me.

[Kittyclaw]

Soul, I agree with the bit about the themes completely. It's amazing what you can find hidden in your own work once you finish it and give it a second read :]

And now that I see Soul's comments about the feedback, it makes me wonder if the third option isn't really the worst, because you can't take in any one's feedback concerning your grammer/style/characters/et cetera. Meanwhile having a buffer means you can be getting feeback that, once people have seen a few chapters, can be more accurate/relavent.

[Snickie]

I'm trying to do a mixture of 1 and 2 at the moment. So far, until when I finally sent off chapter 1 to Soul to beta, only chapters 3 and 7 were ready to go (minus beta), and another three of them are halfwritten and waiting to be finished. So, I haven't really done any of these options. I just write when I feel like it and if it happens to be what's next in the story, then it gets uploaded.

Of course, I have a nice detailed outline that has everything I want to happen at certain points and lots of space for filler fluff in between, so if I come up with an idea that's not in the outline, there's space to add it in.

On that tangent about themes, here's a short rant.

Spoiler:

[memoire-blanche]

I used to do 1. I'm too impatient. Although it's not a good tactic, since updates depend on whether or not I am able to write a chapter, so the distance between them becomes ridiculously long. ;/
I'm recently trying out something between 1 and 3 - writing short summaries of chapters before actually writing them. It gives more opportunities for planning and helps organize the whole story and at the same time helps "posting as you write". It's quite effective so far. If I wasn't so lazy... ;/

[Guest]

I love how everyone has their own style of "getting to write". Some would say it's better to know where your story is going to end, others would prefer not having a specific destination and just riding the wave. I believe there is no guide for an ideal way of doing it because we all have our own way.

I would like to comment on the third option. I think if you go that way, you won't get many reviews. I have noticed this with some authors who publish complete multi-chaptered stories. Because not many people want to read it all at once. The story also gets pushed back further every day by new stories. Ofc, there's this easy way of bookmarking, but I don't think the readers favor this option.

I can never do option three because I can't get myself to write consistently. I do have a good idea where the story is going and if the plot allows more than one ending, I try to find the best way while keeping my choices. I still don't post more than one chapter at a time, but I may have more than one already written. Post as you write is the way for me.

[aelitaxwilliam]

^ If I ever wrote a whole story in one go, I'd stagger the chapters so they were posted once a week or something like that. You theoretically could get decent feedback and tweak your future chapters, as long as you don't have to make a major change.

I am completely guilty of the first option. I find that I really like feedback and speculation from readers, and I don't have enough self-motivation to go for option three. Option three would probably actually be best for me, since chapter buffers have never worked for me in the past. However, you can run the risk of wanting to change direction after hearing feedback. And if that happens, that's a lot of work down the drain.

As for planning, I plan really weirdly. I can't stand having everything down to the dot, but in general, I'll try to figure out the subplots and plan out five or six chapters in advance. It's too risky for me to plan further than that, because I'll inevitably change direction somewhere along the line anyway. Your characters evolve as you write (and this especially goes for original fiction), so some subplots change because they have to. It's kind of like "life happens, deal with it," except in story form.

[SeeMeInTheShadows]

I plan. I have one fic that has seventeen pages of planning on microsoft word that I've never gotten around to writing (but I swill some day, I swear).

I've tried to write entire stories out, and I never finish them, so option three doesn't work for me, personally. However, I've done option two and failed and I'm doing option one right now. And failing.

That's when I go write oneshots and drabbles. So much less pressure. (Though, I always feel bad when people put my oneshots on alert, because it's like...'it's never going to be updated. I'm sorry' and I feel guilty.

Personally, I think, if done right, option two is one of the best, for me personally, because you have comments inspiring you but if you write enough, they're not always left out of the dark.

[Kittyclaw]

I agree with Kelly on the planning thing, at planning out of subplots can wait because you never know what's going to come along. But at the same time I think if you don't know what your chapter/story is supposed to accomplish (get the characters to a location, reveal a back story, et cetera) you're going to end up leaving things unfinished simply because what you're writing has no purpose. Even drabbles aren't pointless--the ones we write here are supposed to reveal an emotion, show a snippit of someone's history, be a snapshot of friendship, so on and so forth.

And I'm always surprised when people alert my oneshots. It makes me feel bad too, but like Shadows said, never gonna happen. Sorry

[Stella Luce 333]

I pretty much always post as I write…If I attempted the other methods, it probably wouldn’t get done, lol. Like you guys have said, I like getting feedback as I work. It helps to see what my readers are thinking as they’re reading, which helps me figure out if they’re on the right track or if I need to nudge them in the right direction…

I sort of plan stuff out before I start. I don’t really use a formal outline (it never worked for me in English class), but I sort of figure out the plot at a really basic level, & keep it in mind as I work…

[Hika-chan]

i ever done both option 1 and 2--option 3 makes your review box less, that what i think before. but the dangerous thing from option 1 actually wasn't the 'will i continue it', because if you have the spirit, it would go flowly.

my fault, that time, is something called PLOT HOLE. and that's why, my MC was ended at the point you could call a 'mini-end', not the real end--as there still many thing to write. truly, i nearly cry and my friends nearly scold me to end it, but i have to--i can't insert an important OC from the past that sudden.

so i think, oneshot or multi-chap, the important thing is to design the whole plot

Dream out Loud! =)

[Soul Jelly]

so i think, oneshot or multi-chap, the important thing is to design the whole plot

I completely agree! You have to go in with some kind of plan in mind imo, especially if you want to save yourself tons of editing and possible backtracking later on.

[Kittyclaw]

Seconded. Or...thirded?

[Stella Luce 333]

I know what you mean! There have been a few times where I’ve started a story, thinking that the ending would come to me as I’m working, but then I get completely stuck in the middle, trying to figure out where I want to go with it…

[Soul Jelly]

Vaguely relevant so posting here - does anyone else get this? I mostly write oneshots so I don't have to feel the obligation to update (and ultimately disappoint people). I always mark finished works as "Complete" and yet I still get tons of people asking for updates and/or adding stuff to their Alerts list.

I'm wondering whether it's a problem on my part - do my fics feel unfinished, somehow? - or whether people are just silly. :p

[Stella Luce 333]

Maybe they just didn’t notice that it was marked Complete? I normally just skim the summary, so I know I don’t notice the other stuff right away…

[naruto'sramengirl]

A LOT of people do that to one-shots. I've noticed and wondered why myself. Stella's right for the most part. People don't really notice the little Complete sign.

[cya6]

As far as alerts on oneshots go, maybe it's just that the person wants to know if it ever gets updated. I mean, I've read stories I thought were oneshots and later found them to be multic fics, so I always just felt that it's better to be safe than sorry.

As far as 1 2 and 3 go, I usually do a mix of 1 and 3. I normally have my story planned out (in some cases a great deal) but I write and publish them one chap at a time.

It's funny, what Legend said about publishing lots of chapters at once and getting no reviews. I remember for XaJuWriMo I wrote out my story and was staggering the publishing of the chapters.
Then suddenly it was the end of the month, and I was worried that I wouldn't get credit for completing the challenge if I didn't have the whole story published by the end (even though I had completed it).
So I published the last 5 chapters within a few minutes of each other. I got a total of 180 hits and 5 reviews on the last five chapters combined. If I could have staggered it, my stats on that fic would be tons higher, but I wasn't sure, and it ended up severely hurting how many people read and reviewed.

[aelitaxwilliam]

^ I feel bad for saying this, but I'm totally one of the guilty party. *insert a guilty-looking smiley because I can't find an XL smiley that works here* If someone I like has updated more than one chapter, rarely will I review twice. But yeah, most people are just lazy like that. You seem to have a lot of reviews though, so yayyy for that (what story was this for? now I want to read it, unless you've taken it down)

@Soul; Nah, I don't think it's a problem solely on your part. I remember when I first started writing, I got a review on a one-shot saying that they wanted to know what was next, except I'd intended it as a one-shot, and it was marked as complete. But at least you know people are interested in your writing! That's never a bad thing.

And I am the empress of disappointing people. I have actually never finished a multi-chaptered story longer than two chapters.

[cya6]

Eh, it was The Other's Story

It's kinda long (it was for XaJuWriMo )

And if there are multiple chapter updates I'll only review on the last one, unless one particular chapter left an impression on me.

[watfics]

For the most part, I go by 1: posting as I write. With my current story, I had a general idea of where I wanted to take it before publishing; I had an ending in mind and other key details laid out. However, I also intentionally left many plot holes to fill just in case I have an epiphany or come across an amazing concept.

I kind of like to think of it as a manga, releasing chapters bit by bit on a (bi)weekly basis rather than all at once. As well, this gives me an opportunity to adjust and improve my writing style/skills along the way =)

[Stella Luce 333]

It also lets you leave your readers wanting more…which means that they’ll most likely come back & keep reading…

[Koneko on lyoko]

Can't believe I never saw this thread what the hell. Anyway, I'm guilty of option 1 and the obvious long wait that tends to follow with it ^^; which is why I tend to stick with one-shots, two-shots at a push, I never have the capacity to focus on a story for long enough, and I've never finished a multi-chap fic before -.-

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