Finish Novels

[Cold_Sun]

1. A lot of novels get dropped midway or go on prolonged hiatuses on SH (actually on all web platforms). But there have been plenty of instances where I start a story but it gets dropped and after a point it feels like a risk to invest in a new novel again.​

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2. I have seen "other sites" that have a Writer's Pledge thing for authors that are serious about finishing their novels.​

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3. I think a similar one on SH would not only help readers find such fictions, but also motivate authors to write and finish their stories.

Disclaimer - I don't know if this is the right place for this thread or how the pledge thing works.​

 

[Yorth]

YES! Let's make the Writer to the end group here too!

 

[weakwithwords]

Uhm, no. This is a creative writers site, a place for authors to mix and match ideas and experiment. That readers get to read successful and failed creations are more or less a bonus.

A strict shackle might help a few authors improve, but it will generally stifle creativity.

It's like only thinking of the leechers without considering the seeders.

 

[AliceShiki]

1. A lot of novels get dropped midway or go on prolonged hiatuses on SH (actually on all web platforms). But there have been plenty of instances where I start a story but it gets dropped and after a point it feels like a risk to invest in a new novel again.​

​

2. I have seen "other sites" that have a Writer's Pledge thing for authors that are serious about finishing their novels.​

​

3. I think a similar one on SH would not only help readers find such fictions, but also motivate authors to write and finish their stories.​

​

Disclaimer - I don't know if this is the right place for this thread or how the pledge thing works.​

I wouldn't mind an optional Writer's Pledge that basically confirms you will finish your novel~

It basically serves to tell readers they can trust you to keep going I guess? It's not a bad thing~

 

[Ace_Arriande]

You mean the Writer's Pledge that most people don't even take seriously and that has no effect on authors other than making them feel even worse than usual when they quit, while also still listing plenty of dropped stories as part of their pledge? I mean, this is perfectly fine as a sort of community-run group, but in no way should it be any sort of official thing. If you want to avoid that risk, go read published books. The risk is just part of reading ongoing web serials.

Also what weakwithwords said.

 

[yansusustories]

I can see how it can be annoying for readers to start reading stories only for them to be dropped later on but there's always that risk whether or not you have a pledge. Stories that aren't updated anymore for (I think) 3 months also automatically enter the hiatus state, right?
Maybe the search function could be slightly changed in regards to story status though. Like, you can currently only search for either ongoing, completed, hiatus, or all stories together. Maybe it would be nice to be able to search for both ongoing and completed but exclude stories already in hiatus? Similarly to how you're able to exclude certain genres and tags.
Other than that, I think readers can just check the date of the latest update of a story, compare that to the usual schedule, and maybe take a look at the author's profile to see how other stories have fared if it's that much of a dealbreaker for them.

One thing I'm wondering about in regard to that: Are we able to not have works of certain authors shown? Like, if we discover somebody is notorious for never finishing anything, do we have an option to not have their things shown in search results? I guess blocking them might work (not sure though) but that might be a bit too drastic. Just having their stuff excluded (for whatever reason actually) might be a better idea.

 

[Sabruness]

Uhm, no. This is a creative writers site, a place for authors to mix and match ideas and experiment. That readers get to read successful and failed creations are more or less a bonus.

A strict shackle might help a few authors improve, but it will generally stifle creativity.

It's like only thinking of the leechers without considering the seeders.

^This.

 

[Cold_Sun]

I meant it as a voluntary thing, ofcourse not an enforced official thing.

Also, I didn't know the pledge doesn't work on RR to be honest. But I have found a few good ones from the list there though.

If it's a voluntary participation, I don't think how it would hamper creativity.

But if the tribe has spoken, so shall it be!
(Also I don't understand the leechers and seeder reference, sorry)

 

[JayDirex]

seeders = writers
leechers= readers

 

[Cold_Sun]

seeders = writers
leechers= readers

o.O I got that... I didn't realise the reference was to torrents

 

[Assurbanipal_II]

Do ut des.

Facio ut facias.

I see no problem in that, but that would require some support from the readers as well. I dropped a novel of mine due to a lack of exposure. After all, writing is a huge time investment for an author that has to be justified.

 

[TowerGuy]

I think the best tool a reader has to know whether the author is serious about the novel or not is checking chapter count and last update time.

Pledging to finish something doesn't make sense because there are always circumstances to change that. It's not as if the author will be punished in any way.

If there's no punishment, what's to stop authors from individually stating in their novel descriptions that they pledge with their readers to finish the story?

Even if it's about exposure (which would make the suggestion above useless), what's to stop authors from making the pledge to attract readers and them abandon it if the exposure doesn't meet their expectations?

My suggestion would be a special tag or something for highly active novels with at least 15k words" or something of the kind. Highly active meaning something like an average of 2~4k words in the past month. IMO, this is how readers can know an author is at least trying to be serious about their work, not empty pledges without consequences for disobeying it.

Yes, the reader can get this information by himself, but the special tag would make it much easier to see.

 

[AliceShiki]

You mean the Writer's Pledge that most people don't even take seriously and that has no effect on authors other than making them feel even worse than usual when they quit, while also still listing plenty of dropped stories as part of their pledge? I mean, this is perfectly fine as a sort of community-run group, but in no way should it be any sort of official thing. If you want to avoid that risk, go read published books. The risk is just part of reading ongoing web serials.

Also what weakwithwords said.

Oh... I thought it actually worked... Welp~

Guess it is a pretty pointless idea then... >.>

 

[ddevans]

The only completely safe time to read a serial work is after it has been completed. There is a status for completed stories:

Series Finder | Scribble Hub

www.scribblehub.com