I need advice about whether or not to abandon a story http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49386 isethia I've been writing a particular fanfiction story for a little over a year now (I started it December of 2010), and lately it's been getting harder for to right. I'm currently working on the seventeenth chapter, and at best I'm only halfway through, and may not even be that far. However, lately every time I try to work on it, all I can think is whether or not the people reading it will like whatever happens in the chapter. And, I can't keep working on it under those conditions, because I'm barely managing to get anything at all written because I immediately hate everything I write down. And I spend more and more time thinking about just abandoning the story. But at the same time, I feel obligated to finish it because there are people reading it on fanfiction.net. And, I feel guilty because I've only updated once since the end of October, because for a while I didn't feel like writing anything. And, now I have something else that I keep wanting to work on, but I don't want to abandon "The Long Road" when I know people are reading it. So, I'm not sure what to do. I was thinking about just working on it and trying to finish it. And then posting the remaining chapters once the whole story is written, if I feel like they're good enough. But, I don't know how that will take and I already feel bad enough about not updating during November and December. So, I could use some advice before what to do about this story ends up driving me crazy. Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:54:33 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49386?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1077499 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49386?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1077499 golfgal08 While it's always annoying when a story you're reading faithfully stops getting updated or takes forever between updates, most readers understand that the authors have lives and other stories that they might be working on. You could always ask in an author's note at the end of a chapter whether people would rather see slow, intermittent updates or if they would rather wait for you to finish the story and post it more regularly, knowing that there might be a longer time to wait until they get those chapters. Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:11:11 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49386?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1077537 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49386?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1077537 whitedove Well, first of all, if people are reading it and waiting for updates, then they like what you've done so far, and chances are they will like what you do next, so it's silly to worry about whether or not they will like it. (Plus a fanfiction you're following just dying part way through is like the worst thing ever!) But, feeling bad about a story part way through is just going to happen. One of my favorite web comic writers actually included "agonized self-scrutiny" as an important step in her guide on how she makes web-comics. Try looking up Neil Gaiman's pep talk from 2010, I think, he talks about feeling that very same way about a novel that went on to be a best seller. If it really is just painful to write, maybe take a planned break. You'll work on your new story until Saturday and then work on the old one until you have an update, or something, just to stretch those brain muscles. If you think being under pressure will help distract you, join us for the 60k/60 days starting in February. Tell yourself that you can start the new project as a reward for finishing the old one (especially if you finish before the 60 days is up ^u^). Self-criticism is just part of being an artist and it is tough, but don't you think the people who have been following your work for a year now deserve an ending? Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:18:14 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49386?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1077561 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49386?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1077561 Dennis Dunjinman That was my trouble with my own gargantuan Danny Phantom story, "Hail Storm". I had it stewing for a long time when I decided the ending was really a fake and had a whole second wind before it was truly complete. I posted it in '08 on a forum that quickly grew inhospitable and banished me during an unjustified power trip, and lost my audience, so I had no readers left. But I couldn't leave it hanging. The ending was there in my mind, I just had to figure out how to set it up and reach it. It took months, but I was determined before NaNo began this year that I'd grind out the ending as quickly as possible just to get it done and out of my head without a cliffhanger, to know that I was done and didn't have to keep revisiting it or have its incompletion haunt me. And I did finish it, two weeks and over 8,000 words later. Overall, I'm quite satisfied, though I don't know if anyone has read it since I posted the thing on dA and I don't get many pageviews. Meanwhile, while NaNo '08 was a success story, NaNo '09 had to be abandoned since it had no direction and in 50,000 words, it barely got off the ground due to all the waste and padding, and since no one read it, no one will miss it. It's all about how you think of your little tale. Do you like it and want to see it through? Then bite the bullet and get it out there. Abandoning the story would be a waste, and should only happen when the story is a waste. Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:54:07 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49386?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1077686 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49386?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1077686 isethia Yeah, I hate when stories I'm reading die partway through, which sometimes is the only thing motivating me to finish this. I don't want the people that have been following it to never know how it ends. I've actually gotten back into it this week, after forcing myself to work on it. And I am seriously considered doing the 60k thing, since that's what I'm going to aiming for those two months anyway. (And hopefully, that will allow me to finish the story and start posting the final chapters in April.) Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:36:28 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49386?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1093003 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49386?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1093003 whitedove You should join us! It'll be fun! Sat, 28 Jan 2012 06:53:36 -0800 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49386?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1097068 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49386?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1097068