Well... this is interesting

[Iveechan]

On the 27th will be the one year anniversary of "Guilty by Design". I can't believe how fast the time flew, and it's only six chapters long so far (that's about less than half of what I have planned). I also noticed that since starting posting it here, it's gotten less replies with each update. Ah well. The point of this thread (besides being an attention whore and shameless advertising) is what rate do you update your fics?

The first three chapters of Guilty were all finished within a week of eachother, a fair pace. However, nearly six months passed before chapter four was ever completed, then it was about another month or so before chapter five was done. And just the other night I finally completed chapter six. The problem I have is that, while I have the whole story planned out, the actual writing and finding the correct wording is a hassle and I'm very indecisive. And with every chapter, I ALWAYS had trouble with endings. I could have most of a chapter completed, then never finish it until anywhere from a week to a month later.

However, I see other fics that have over fifty chapters and get updated frequently. How do you guys do it? Seriously... it's amazing. And wow, then we have fics with sequels, and that's another fifty + chapters there.

[PancaKe]

I dont know how some people do it either. I guess there are just some people who put out chapters like they've got writers diarrhoea. And then there are others who have trouble with the completion of one chapter. For me, it varies, sometimes ill have the flow of chapters jsut coming out. Other times, it'll be hard to do a page, and every chapter will seem empty and worthless.

I always have trouble withendings too. I start stories off, then forget about them and I'm like, yeah, whatever.

But I guess it varies author to author

Oh yeah, congrats on teh one year anniversery!!!

~Mist

[classy_cat18]

It's all about the timing. I bet some authors put their ideas on paper as soon as they get them. Some probably had a whole fic brewing in their mind until they decided to post it here. Some are just very creative.

[Chris 2.1]

My chapter length varies. Every night I'm usually online, and Im on TPM, MSN and word ^^, writing away like a beaver with a pen. In the updates topic, I can maybe have a chapter one week after another, but recently with schoolwork I've been slower, which I think is better. Monica's Revolution started in....well early 2004, and We're on Ch14, Ch15 being written.

[Dragonfree]

I'm quicker with my favorite chapters. That's because my favorite chapters are the ones I've been planning in my head for a long time, know every line of the dialogue by heart and stuff, and therefore know exactly what to write besides looking forward to completing it.

When the next chapter is going to be a filler of some sort, it usually takes me very long to write.

[Whisper in the Wind]

yeah, I have the same problem with filler chapters as well. Although battle chapters seem to be quite easy for me

[The Decapitated Mole]

Meh, don't complain about replies--I don't get any.

But that's partially my fault, and the reason why is linked to the topic of this thread. It only takes me an hour or two to write a chapter for the new Hiro, and only 5-10 minutes for a chapter of the old one. The problem, however, is not the writing. Once I start writing a chapter, everything just flows out. I don't even bother to look up at the screen until I'm done. The problem is motivation. It takes me nearly 3 months sometimes just to force myself to start up that 15-year-old excuse for a computer I do my writing on and get started [how sad is that when my computer is older than I am? :P]. I'm not sure what it is. Sometimes I'm tired, sometimes I'm busy, sometimes I'm just too angry or tense or [though this has been happening less and less frequently] depressed to write anything even semi-funny. Otherwise, I'd be cranking out, like, a chapter a day. But because it takes me so long to get up a chapter, usually by the time I do the people I had who replied have forgotten about the fic or left. And then I stop writing it after a while [temporarily, as I have done many times in the past] because nobody replies. Then the few people who did read it leave by the time I post it again, and I have to wait for, like, 9 months before I can post it again, just so people will have forgotten about it, or there will be new members who will post in it. It's a vicious cycle, which is not described very comprehensibly back there. But whatever.

o_0
jimm

[Gavin Luper]

My mind boggles when I see people churning out chapters practically every week, it's just ... freaky. Although, I wouldn't complain if I could do it again myself, but I usually focus on quality over quantity.

As for the rate I post at, it really just depends on whether the mood grabs me or not. I first posted LTL in december 2001 and by February I was on chapter 17 or something, so that went really fast. But these days I go a lot slower, mainly cause I know that the end of the fic is coming. One chapter every two weeks is my goal, although sometimes it becomes one every two MONTHS.

Eh well, I keep raving on. lol. Happy 1-yr fic anniversary anyway!

Cheers!

[Chris 2.1]

I suppose chapter LENGTHS are also important - not having Microsoft Word on my cmputer, I have to judge each length by the size of the wordpad file. I think 30KB, and the smallest 20. I don't know how that transfers to page length, but I feel that my chapters don't reach a quota for their length, they end on a point that resolves a situation, leaves a cliffhanger or in another way just seems to round up the events in a chapter. Ch15, for example, was just heating up as it reached 28KB, so instead of it ending up the size of 2 chapters, I split it into 2 :P

Makes sense.

[Tainted]

I dont know how some people do it either. I guess there are just some people who put out chapters like they've got writers diarrhoea. And then there are others who have trouble with the completion of one chapter. For me, it varies, sometimes ill have the flow of chapters jsut coming out. Other times, it'll be hard to do a page, and every chapter will seem empty and worthless.

I always have trouble withendings too. I start stories off, then forget about them and I'm like, yeah, whatever.

But I guess it varies author to author

Oh yeah, congrats on teh one year anniversery!!!

~Mist

I've been writing 'Zedrelthus' for roughly six months or so and I've got around 11 chapters done, writing is tough stuff, and I can't spit out chapters that quickly.

Regarding Mist's post, I tend to think of endings before I start a story, it's just how I think... then I work the plot backwards, so that the ending makes sense and everything piles to a climatic cease.

But maybe that's just me.

Adieu,
Zak Hunter

[mr_pikachu]

For me, it's not about the writing, it's about the having time to write. The end of high school has been wreaking absolute havoc on the fics I have going now. Even when I have time to write, I'm so drained from my schoolwork that the writing is uninspired. I cannot wait for this horrific schoolyear to end so that I can write over the summer.

To answer your question, it varies from a week to a few months (the latter being my more recent pace). I'm still getting into the thick of the plot in WDAMO, and it'll take some time. I mean time as in chapters, and hopefully not as in more months. :P