Am I the only person who gets annoyed when a story ends with "To Be Continued"? In my opinion, only really LONG or involved stories should be continued. Everyone else should finish their stories before posting them.

OK, rant over

I don't get as annoyed at "to be continued" as I do at the ones

that never get continued. i.e. "Ball Boy", "Penis Trainer", etc.etc.

etc.

Authors here frequently have jobs and lives outside of writing castration fiction.

Your points are well taken, that an "to be continued ..." stories can be frustrating. I think they would be much less ... problematic ... if not for the "to be continued ..."s that have been abandoned.

NOW, I ask everyone who feels this way one simple question:

When you started reading a story you liked that was "to be continued" how many of you contacted the author or left feedback about the story on the message boards?

People don't do things that there's no pay off for, and for writers that pay off is usually feedback from readers.

If you are an unregistered "guest" here on the boards, or a new member ... get busy and participate.

Give feedback to authors, write your own stories, write MY story ...

Get involved in the community and the community will grow and thrive and authors will see the pay off for all of their hard work.

Ok now I am off my ... comments from anyone else?

While understanding that most of the authors have a real life in the real world that involves things other than writing fiction, I take Mal's comment to be about finishing a job before handing it to one's client.

A story that is eventually about three or four typewritten pages really should be finished before publishing it rather than being published one page at a time.

It obviously does not take longer to reach the end of the story. If one can only write, say, one page a week, don't publish the story one page at a time over a four week period, but wait 'til you reach the end in four weeks, THEN publish.

As to writing to authors, I've only written to two whose writing I felt was far above the level expected in the Archive.

I appreciate many of the stories, and really enjoy some of them, but it is unusual to find a developed storyline and interesting, well developed characters with realistic motives and actions.

The two authors I wrote to with comments about their stories wrote at such a level that the stories were saleable or nearly so.

While I understand your comments, Bboy, I'm afraid I must agree with Mal.

Take care,

Tomas (imported) wrote: Sun Sep 29, 2002 7:30 pm I take Mal's comment to be about finishing a job before handing it to one's client.

I have to disagree.

First, I don't like the word "client" too much. as if there would be any payment for the author.

Then, some amateur authors like to set up a story in a first chapter and develop it including ideas and wishes from readers. This is not only a great way for the author to train his skills but also a chance for the reader to be part of something interactive. This can be fun for both sides.

After all, this is a special interest group and not a literature showcase.

ringlo

"Never underestimate the power of encouragement." - (Matthew Reilly)

mal (imported) wrote: Sun Sep 29, 2002 2:12 pm Am I the only person who gets annoyed when a story ends with "To Be Continued"? In my opinion, only really LONG or involved stories should be continued. Everyone else should finish their stories before posting them.

OK, rant over

as a writer of many of the "to be continued..." stories, the thing that is really annoying and frustrating is the lack of appreciation for the work that goes into writing almost any story posted in the archives.

since you brought it up, mal -- how many times have you written a post on the message boards to thank them for the pleasurable time you received?

it certainly doesn't take as much time as crafting a story. in fact, posting a "dear _____, great story. really appreciated it ... keep up the good work." would take even less time than your rant.

it would be nice if you and others would at least be fair and give back a little something for everything you take, instead of just complaining that the free enjoyment you receive isn't everything you want it to be.

just something for you to think about.

david

Hi all

I'm with ANDROBOY on this one...I am one of those people who enjoys a good read..and your stories are just that..yet when it comes to putting pen to paper..well I just lack tallent...so any comments from me would be "Bang out of order" as would any comment from those who don't contribute to the archives excelent stories....

Keep up the good work..Stingray

As long as the author indicates in the title that the story is to be continued by using indicators such as part 1, chapter 1, etc., I see nothing wrong with posting an incomplete story. The reader may then choose whether or not to wait until all parts are posted before reading.

Although, generally, I write stories as much for myself, as for others, writing a story for this archive is often an interactive process. I’ve gotten ideas from other stories that I’ve read, or from requests by members. To quite an extent, the readers determine what is written. If I write two stories and get emails and posts on one saying, “Great story, looking forward to more, hot,” but get no comments on the other, my next story is more likely to be similar to the one that received favorable comments.

We are writing to a specific audience. One can’t even get a story published here unless something gets cut off. Even in this specific audience, there is diversity. Some have interests divergent from mine, so, although I attempt to cover a range of topics, I realize that my stories will never appeal to some readers.

The only pay that an author receives here is the self satisfaction of feeling that he has written a good story. Since many of us are amateurs, often the only way we know whether or not our writing is any good is from the feedback we get. Bboy could help out by occasionally posting how many “hits” our stories are getting.

Slammr,

When you submit a story you can use the "enhanced submission" form which lets you log in using the same username/password you use here on the message boards.

This associates that story with the official Archive YOU

Then there is a link on the main page where you can again log in with your username and password and see all the statistics for stories you have submitted using the enhanced submit form.

Give it a try, and once you get used to it I will associate your already-submitted-stories with your ID as well.

Don' go lippin' at the Landlord, pal.

That's a feature we put in place a LONG time ago for users interested in their hits.

:tongueout

Bboy already has enough work to do, as do the rest of us for that matter.



I was posting some top 40 stuff off of the main Admin. hits page, but it didn't seem that from the response or views, that not that many people were overly interested.

Now, as for the Enhanced Story Submission form AND, while we're on the subject, AND the rest of the features and links here at this hot dog stand!!!

EVERY DAY I get a pile of mail. "I can't log in." or "I can't find this or that." or "How do you do this or that?"

It's amazing!

What's even more amazing, such as the question that slammr 'asks', is how no one can seem to be able to find said links to features, nor figure anything out - such as story hits.

Now, to hurt some feelings.....

I have filters in place on NT2000 here that allow me let my 12 year nephew test things out without seeing 'where' he really is online. Certain words/images are blocked out by *****. Guess what? He's been able to register, log in, set up email, post test stories, etc. And HE'S had NO problems. He knows he's tested some "Archive" on the www, but he has no clue as to what Archive he's tested or where.

What really gets me is how we've tried to add features, make them easy to find in one links table to the left of the index page, only to find that no one seems to be able to find it! Is the index page really that complex and difficult to navigate?

I mean, geeez, I thought if a 12 year old could do it, anyone could. Maybe we need to just hold onto the lugnuts, because it's time for an overhaul. I don't know.