Writing Do you post your "Prototypes"?

[Cossimeri]

So as the poll suggests, I'm curious how you all handle your prototype stories.

By prototypes I don't mean the stories that are unfinished, but rather the ones where you're not completely sold on even the most basic elements. The stories you've written five chapters of and find yourself caught between "I'd love to write more" and "this is trash and it needs to be completely rewritten from the ground up".

I have several of these. Some of them I'd love to get open feedback on, but I'm unsure if posting them openly is the right call. Because if someone likes what I've written and I decide to completely rewrite it, it seems as if it would make people sad.

Do you have prototypes you post openly? How do you clearly communicate that to your readers? Has it worked out for you in the past?

 

[K5Rakitan]

“Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.”
― Robert Heinlein

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

It's more like, "I meant it as the original, but decided to make it a prototype after dismal reader feedback."

 

[Cossimeri]

It's more like, "I meant it as the original, but decided to make it a prototype after dismal reader feedback."

I feel this. When I started out as an author I kept abandoning plot lines just because one commenter would make a hate post. I have a slightly thicker skin these days.

 

[Envylope]

I feel this. When I started out as an author I kept abandoning plot lines just because one commenter would make a hate post. I have a slightly thicker skin these days.

One day, I will overcome the ultimate thick skin challenge of having @Tempokai read my story.

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

I feel this. When I started out as an author I kept abandoning plot lines just because one commenter would make a hate post. I have a slightly thicker skin these days.

Mine's with my story, DECK. The original version got the MC acting like 'emo incarnate', according to the readers, so I rewrote that. The newer version is a far cry from what originally planned.

 

[Frowfy]

I published my private story and regretted it deeply. Afterward, I made a remake with better planning.

Both of my stories are "prototypes". I don't follow any formulas. I try new things and wait to see the reaction. I made many mistakes in my journey because of it, but I learned a lot too. This way I created my own writing strategies and a sense of what is "right" or "wrong".

 

[Arch9CivilReactor]

I sometimes post my drafts here and get good reasons to rethink what I’m writing. Last time I realised that I myself wasn’t enjoying the process of writing my idea. I scrapped it for something else.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

So far I posted three as "Writing Prompts" in various threads (don't remember if I ever started one) and most of the rest only have two or three chapters - so, unless I do the "Cavalcade of First Chapters" idea that hit me this morning (would create a "book" where each entry was just the first chapter of something I haven't released and some author's notes), then the answer is: "Sort of"...

 

[Kenjona]

I posted a chapter or two of a draft story once on here, just to get an idea out of my head.

 

[3guanoff]

I only post my prototypes here. Anything more serious takes too much time (or skill) to write, so I never serialize those.

 

[ArtBusterBeeze]

I have prototypes, but I found that the best thing to do would not be to post them. Only thing is that mines, I can see where im going with but I have to write my main stories already.

I decided that before I post any of them, I would look for people to give test reads to. That way, if I get alot of support for it, I would try to move foward with it. Otherwise? I look to see what is so bad with it and try to fix it up for another attempt.

 

[anonjohn20]

Hell no. I don't want fans to be disappointed by an unfinished work; even bad stories have loyal fans. I will never be like a certain smut author here who has 17 dropped/unfinished works and 1 ongoing work.

I keep falling for it because I like this author's writing style, and he keeps destroying the story I'm enjoying with a permanent hiatus.

You'll see my awful work when it's finished.

 

[TreasureHouse]

Idk. I'm kind of winging it write(uh) now and will maybe throw in some polls once I have everything established. Part of me really wants to exploit the statistics page and lean into the tags people are using to find my story, but another part of me is like, "stay the course and everything will work out in the end."

Either way I'm torn between tossing it in the dumpster or keeping it going.

My biggest hurdle right now I have all these random scenes, but I have very little idea on ground work and lead ups to get there. Not to mention I'm a very temperamental writer, so trying to stick to a regular upload schedule will probably be the actual reoccurring make or break scenario.

 

[Thraben]

I have a 'post it to check if I want to write more' attitude.

I can be completely sold on a concept, think it fucks super hard, but be unsure if I want to finish it.

If I post it, I find out by how often I go to write the next chapter to post whether or not I want keep going with it.