fanficrants is bringing the I-want-to-punch-someone-in-the-face again.

This should not surprise me.

So, of course, I'm doing the usual whiny thing and going to bitch about how people are stupid OMG in my Livejournal, because what else is this thing for if not for whining about my butthurt in? Not that I have exactly been butthurt specifically, but Hell. It's my journal and I'll bitch unproductively if I want to.

The bitch in question is related to this post: I'm in the comments thread here. It's not really worth going to check it, though, as a lot of what I said is going to be rehashed over here.

The rant itself is about WIPs, the writing of, and unannounced hiatuses. (Hiatii?) Real life issues are not obligatory, but they are touched upon. As you may have imagined, this touched a bit of a nerve with me and this nerve is called Seuche. Oh, and I'm guilting about That One Powell/Ken Fic With The Really Stupid Name. I want to update that, but the sad fact remains that I am not in the mood to write the scene I'm stuck on. I will be soon enough, I know. Right now? No.

I don't want to wreck a good thing, though, by forcing the issue.

Personally, I don't see the point in updating simply to say that I've done it, all the while knowing that what I've produced is not up to the standard of the rest of the fic. That was what kwept me over Seuche, and why I'm hanging fire over Roses in Rain and yes, the Powell/Ken. I want it to be good when it happens, so I'd rather step away for a while than post what was very clearly poorly-written, substandard crap simply so I could say 'look, I updated'. I personally think that would let down anyone who'd taken the time to read my fic far more than going on hiatus would.

I am far happier with what I've got for Seuche Chapter 26 than I would have been if I'd forced the issue in the hope that nobody would think I took my readership for granted and had a commitment problem.

Sometimes, Real Life does happen.

Yeah, I was annoyed by the implication that 'real-life issues' was little more than lazy author's shorthand for 'can't be bothered to try now, thanks, maybe if I pity whore at you you'll all leave me alone'. No doubt sometimes it is, but not every WIP author develops the vapors over every little thing (blame the sensitive artistic temperament!) and uses it as an excuse to fail to update. Life bit me in the ass in 2006, and it bit hard. I wasn't to know that would happen back in 2004, when I started posting Seuche.

I didn't want to go on hiatus either, and didn't even really mean to. My writer's block for that fic made me quite profoundly miserable. But still, I'd rather do justice to it than update for the sake of it.

Sure, I understood what the OP was saying. If you go on hiatus and dion't explain yourself, it's only fair to expect people to ask why.

Still, it seems only fair to expect people to, you know, steer clear of uncompleted fanfics - and most WIP ficcers will say somewhere that their story is still ongoing, wheter in author's notes or summary or even just in that little 'ongoing' doodad the Pit stucks on stories unless you tell it not to - if they really don't like reading unfinished work. It's not like the WIP ficcers are strapping them down Ludovico-style and forcing them to read chapterfics leaving off at inopportune moments all day.

If it's a two-way street for us, it's a two-way street for you guys, too. If people don't like works in progress and don't like not knowing for sure if they're going to be finished or not, the simplest thing to do is not to read them until they're done. It's not that difficult not to read a fanfic, surely? I don't read fanfics all the time.