"Wind" at AO3
In a week's time, I will be deleting as the wind behaves from my AO3 account for possible reworking. EA is on indefinite hiatus for now; if I find myself further unable to write the next chapter then I will take it down (with a week's prior notice) as well. Thank you for your understanding."Wind" will remain online, but I may tinker at it in secret
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That's what you're doing if you take down your stories.
By all means, go back and rework a story, a concept, a theme. Writers progress the more they do. But if a story changes so much you don't think it's quite the same, release it as a new one and leave the old up for fans to compare (I've seen other authors do so; it's interesting). If you can't continue a story because you've run out of inspiration or it just isn't working, leave it; you may find something in the future sparks you back into it with fresh perspective.
But don't destroy. We've got a bit too much of that in this world already. Leaving fics up may seem small to you, but it's a large thing for those that love them.
Incidentally, yours are some of the only Snarry fics I can pass onto other people to get them into the pairing in the first place (including my bro, who refuses to read ANYTHING slash; I did manage to get him hooked on EA because your writing was so good he stopped caring about any pairings the story might have).
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Thank you for your eloquent arguments. You're right: I am selfish. I had only thought of myself, of the pain I feel whenever I think of these stories (especially wind, 90% of which represents the first draft of a story written on a long plane ride foolishly submitted to a fest in order to honour an arbitrary deadline).
Thank you for helping me see that. I will keep the stories up, perhaps tinkering at them in secret, but they will remain online. And perhaps there shall be remixes of them, just as you suggested: new versions of the old.
*hugs*
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I don't think you're selfish, but you hadn't thought about the fics from a fan's point of view. I do get your point of view as well, since I cringe every time I see the one HP fic I have up on FFnet (one of these days, I'll rewrite it to get my point across without the sucking). But once something's out on the internet, it's very difficult to say it's suddenly all about you and your writing. At that point, it becomes about the fandom.
Now I could go and pull my crappy fic, but it has three reviews. Three people cared enough and/or liked the story enough to tell me something about it. That's three people who would be hurt if I pulled it, and enough to tell me I shouldn't.
YOUR stories, on the other hand, have hundreds of reviews and many followers and it would be a real tragedy to lose them.
I've tried to hit deadlines like that too. You are far better than I if you managed to actually submit before a deadline, even if you don't like the finished work. But I can see how trying to get a deadline means you dislike the pacing in the story. :P I'd rework the story and release it as a new story with a little note at the top saying the new story is closer to what you had in mind when you first started the fic.
WOOT!!! Remixes! XD Which means writing from you! ^^ Glee!
I'm a main beta for one other person (though, aside from a few grammtical errors, he really doesn't need a beta), but he uses me to bounce ideas and concepts off of, so if you want a beta for that, I'd be great. :) Heck, any chance I'd get to read new stuff from you, I'd take in a heartbeat. I'd suggest co-authoring something (just to get you to write), but I'm such a poor planner that I'd probably weigh you down. So I'll just beg for you to start writing again. *insert big sad puppy eyes here* Pwease?
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