Monday

[clevermanka]

Guardian/adjacent:
Undercut. Help.
Zhu Yilong selfcest.
Zhu Yilong's song from To Dear Myself is so Weilan it's physically painful.
Fanart: Happy Zhao Yunlan. Heavy petting. Battle Prof. Vacation! High school AU. Size difference.

Finished second revisions on Deconstruction and sent it to second beta because I'm feeling...idk, vulnerable about this one? Nervous? I want any story I post to be the best story it can be, but this one has a larger emotional investment, and not just because it's the longest thing I've written. While Ghost Story was largely an indulgence of letting me live in my beloved old house again and experience the wild ride of young love/lust and mid-twenties friendships, Deconstruction is a dive into such lighthearted topics as chronic illness, isolation, guilt and remorse, and adjusting to a life one didn't choose. As Beta One noted: It feels very much like this fic was a catharsis for you as you were writing it and that sense of tension and release just pours out of every word. Uh, accurate! It was very reassuring to know the emotions are there in force, and I want to make sure the rest of it is adequate to the feels so yeah,I'm subjecting two incredibly generous and patient betas with this monster and delaying publication by a bit because I have performance anxiety. 🙄 Bless fandom friends.

Speaking of publishing, Would y'all be so kind as to weigh in on a publishing schedule? There are 32 chapters, each chapter between 3k and 5k words. Does twice a week posting sound good? Maybe like Sundays and Thursdays? Is that too frequent? Not frequent enough? Serial readers, please weigh in? I let my paid account lapse so I can't make a poll, sorry!

Comments

[jo_lasalle]

When I read WIPs (I do sometimes) my instinctive comfort zone is ~10k/week - so if your chapters are in the 3k-5k range, I'd find two per week not too much. But this is very subjective and I have never in my life managed to write a 3k chapter of anything, so I'm not necessarily representative either as a reader or a writer. A three-day gap might also be short for readers who are busy and/or have other fandoms.

On the other hand, my recent experience posting fic by chapter was that most people who interacted with the story/me read it in the first two, maximum three days. (I was posting every five days; the chapters were between 7k and 14k.)

/my vote in this poll

[clevermanka]

Thank you!

Ghost Story's chapters were all fewer than 10k words and there were only ten chapters so weekly posting was an easy decision. I'm a little worried about feeling like I'm dragging out the story? If I post twice a week and start posting this coming Sunday (which seems Very Soon), I'll post the last chapter on December 31. That seems wonderfully appropriate but also A Very Long Way Away.

[jo_lasalle]

I'm a little worried about feeling like I'm dragging out the story?

I wouldn't worry about that, honestly. I've posted a story over a year, and will soon-ish post a story over roughly half a year. Two chapters a week does not at all seem like dragging anything out, to me.

Also, December 31 is basically the day after tomorrow, so. :) Enjoy the posting, please! You worked hard, you should have posting fun! (And not posting stress.)

[plingo_kat]

2x a week sounds great. (bless fandom friends!) At 3-5k each, that's easily digestible and quick updates are delicious.

(also, the undercut??!?! hi he's suddenly 3x hotter??)

[mckitterick]

You could just post x words each week, say 1-3 chapters at a time...

[write_out]

Finding the right beta(s) is a serious blessing! I'm happy you've got two trusted ones for your story.

I'm a serial reader; I prefer it when the author states the story is complete, but I've jumped in on true WIPs as well (and have been burned too, when the author disappears or abandons the fic). For completed stories, I'm happy with weekly updates when there are fewer chapters (up to 10ish) and with twice-a-week postings for longer stories. It keeps me engaged with the fic and it's easier for me to remember what came just before.

[winter_blossom]

I think with 32 chapters (that is an amazing achievement, Congrats!!), twice-a-week sounds just right. Too many chapters and people won't be able to keep up, too few and it might start to feel dragged out, since even with a twice-weekly posting rate it'll take 4 months to finish publishing. (4 months sounds great for a longfic, but 8 would be too much, I think?)

[clevermanka]

Oh, good! I feel a little less at sea, thank you.

you should have posting fun! (And not posting stress.)
Thank you for the reminder!

[clevermanka]

It's a relief to see people are pretty much in accord on this. glymr suggested the same to me over the weekend so I think that's what I'll go with.

[clevermanka]

I think I'm gonna go with the one chapter twice a week schedule.

[clevermanka]

My betas are such a blessing! I love using different betas so they can all teach me different things.

I appreciate your chiming in as a serial reader! It's reassuring to see there's such a solid majority opinion on this. Two chapters a week it is!

[clevermanka]

Thank you! I didn't intend to hit 100k with this story, but welp!

The one thing that makes me feel a little bad is the people I know who don't read WIPs will have to wait until 2021 to read this. 😕

[brandywine28]

I'll probably wait to read 'til it's fully posted, but there's always a chance I'll slip up and give in to the WIP-iness of it all. (Pretty good chance, actually!). Either way, though -- you do you! (And also, twice a week is definitely not too frequent!)

[clevermanka]

At least you know it's actually finished! 😄 I'm incredibly relieved that everyone who chimed in is on board with the twice-a-week posting schedule.

[tinny]

woo, the selfcest vid is awesome. O_O

[clevermanka]

Vidders are wizards, I swear.