WIPs and chains

[the_deep_magic]

Okay, this time I have a question for all the fanfic READERS out there.  I am confronted yet again with the quandary of the long WIP -- to post or not to post (before it's completely written)?  In that vein, I have some questions about your reading habits...

Poll Reader PollI myself fall somewhere in the "I'll read it if I know and like the author" camp, and my

Comments

[withthepilot]

Just realized that I picked options which fall under "I read WIPs" and "I don't read WIPs." It's late.

[the_deep_magic]

Woohoo, contradictory data! It's a real study now!

[therumjournals]

i did the exact same thing.

[halfeatenmoon]

I prefer long fics to be posted over a set schedule or all at once, but the only deciding factor in whether I read a WIP or not is whether the summary grabs me.

[the_deep_magic]

Not at all! You raise a good point about bending the story to fit the feedback. I don't know that I've ever seen a blatant example of this, but I can definitely imagine it happening. Most authors (myself included) tend to be comment whores, and even if I didn't do it consciously, I could see myself being influenced by particularly persuasive comments.

And a great big ICK to the writers who hold parts of their story hostage. They should have their internet cards revoked!

[medea_fic]

It really does depend who it is, and how long they've been around, and whether it's Pinto basically. Heh.

OTOH I never used to read WIPs before Pinto fandom, and now I do. And, sigh, write them myself.

I would definitely read a Pinto WIP from you, because I know you'll finish it, and even if you didn't for some reason, it'd still be a hell of a ride.

[yamx]

I normally don't read WIPs, even by authors I love, unless a) I'm the beta (*shrugs* What can you do, it's part of the "job"), or b) the author has a long history of reliably finishing WIPs in a reasonable amount of time.

I understand muses can be finicky, but I *hate* being cliffhung, and I've had quite a few WIPs (and one RL book series) that I loved and that was then abandoned by the author. Of course, that is their right, the authors not my bitch, as Gaiman said, but it's just very frustrating if it happens to a story I love. So I avoid the risk by (usually) not getting into the story until it's all posted.

With "finished, but posting in stages" WIPs, it depends also depends on the author's history for me. Because I've seen authors say that and then suddenly go on posting hiatus for months anyway (which is, again, their right, but frustrating to me.) So I tend to wait until the story is all there for them, too.

Also, I just like reading long stories in one go when I have a nice bit of downtime set aside.