Re-visit

Concerned Reader: Hey, Esle, I just noticed something weird.

Esle: Congratulations! I'm sure I have a gold star around here somewhere...

C. R.: Don't patronize me.

Esle: Sorry. Go on.

C. R.: Well, you know your story, A Teatime Visit?

Esle: You mean my first and still best-received fic that came so very close to the Featured Box, and probably would have made it in if I had just waited to submit it until after they expanded the box to ten slots?

C. R.: Yeah, that one... you sound kinda bitter. You wanna talk about it?

Esle: No, I'm fine. What about it?

C. R.: Well, I just noticed that it's marked "incomplete" all of a sudden. When did this happen?

Esle: Shortly after I clicked the Edit button and changed it off of "complete."

C. R.: Fine, be a smart-aleck about it.

Esle: I take it you want to know why I have marked it incomplete?

C. R.: That would be lovely, yes.

Esle: Well, dear reader, I have marked A Teatime Visit incomplete because I now have a new chapter written for it.

C. R.: Get the hay out of town.

Esle: It's true. Visit is going to no longer be a one-shot. As soon as I get this new chapter edited, it will be a two-shot. And after that, who knows? Maybe a twenty-shot.

C. R.: Why? Why would you do this? A Teatime Visit was perfectly self-contained. Why would you risk upsetting the crisp pacing and snappy dialogue, not to mention taking all the air out of the twist ending, by tacking on some new chapter?

Esle: Well, there were elements that I felt could stand to be explored deeper. Character interactions that missed their chance in the first chapter that are worth making space for. Questions that need answering, jokes that deserve to be told.

C. R.: You just want a way to back-door Visit onto one of the update slots in the Featured Box, don't you?

Esle: Why, I am insulted that you would accuse me of... okay, yes, maybe that's a little, tiny part of it. But really, the new chapter is good on its own merits, I promise! I wouldn't put it up unless I really thought it added value to the original story!

C. R.: *Sigh* Fine. I guess I can't stop you. Just make sure it's worth the risk that you could be ruining your most popular fic. ...And get to work on the next chapter of Zecora Tries Her Hoof At Clop. I need my rhyming pony porn fix.