Surprise! New story · 2:23pm Dec 23rd, 2017
It’s a surprise to me, too. Check it out: The Hesperus Gate.
Now, when I published Den Fjerde Væg, I promised that I would have more “normal” stories coming for this series. Unfortunately, The Hesperus Gate isn’t one of those. I was planning to publish a Ditzy-focused story or two before tackling this odd beast.
But then Rage Reviews did a contest, and I realized that The Hesperus Gate fit perfectly with the contest prompt. And that was the kick in the butt which convinced me to bump this particular story to the top of my queue and just do it. (For the record: though I’ve been planning this story in my head for quite a while, I didn’t actually write a single word until after the contest announcement—in keeping with the contest rules.)
My promised “normal” story is still coming. Eventually.
Time between learning of story and learning of story's cancelation: one second.
4756993
Yeah, that was confusing @_@
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4757002
My one regret is that the short deadline meant I couldn’t publish each chapter a week apart to better sell the fakeout.
But seriously, it’s a story that destroys itself. Cancellation is the only way it could end.
4757006
So wait, your jumping ship in the story was a metaliterary device?
EDIT: Oh, wait, I get it now. Man, I'm so used to the ways of this forum that I honestly didn't want to start reading a canceled fic and didn't read the whole thing. Sorry I missed the whole entire ruddy point because of it.
4757036
I fell into the exact same issue, and I'm sure we won't be the only ones. I'm wondering if that should be considered an incredibly good use of the prompt of breaking the 4th wall, or if it will be overall detrimental because so many readers will just pass over the story without ever giving it a second glance.
Perhaps leave the cancellation chapter but list the story as Complete rather than cancelled? Not a really great solution, but I can't really think of something better that solves the issue without lowering the impact.
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4757052
I was hoping the fact that the story was cancelled the very same day it was published might make people curious about what the heck was even going on. But I guess that was still way too unclear to anyone who isn’t either a captive audience or reading my mind.
I’ve gone and marked the story as “Completed”. Obviously, that last chapter hasn’t been changed at all.
4757091
It's not that the story being cancelled the same day it was published didn't make me ask questions so much as that the site has simply conditioned us to view the cancelled tag as shorthand for "This story isn't worth even checking out."
As I said, the story being marked cancelled was such an interesting and effective use of the prompt, it just might have been too effective.
It's not you, it's the pavlovian response that the site has built into us over years of being here.
4757102
It's unfortunate that the obvious perfect choice results in the wrong response in the reader. I wish there were a usable MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE tag...
4757036
I tell you, I was still interested because A) threequel to Alarm Clock and B) the "author's notes and apology" of the final chapter. I mean, that's better than just killing a story and not saying anything about it. Now, I'm way interested. :D
4757091
I thought maybe you were just having a bad day.
Count me in the confused group wondering why the story was marked [Cancelled]. I am glad I gave this blog a shufti before dismissing the story out of hand.
In terms of the narration, the [Cancelled] tag fits quite well (you even got the Author's
NoteApology down pat); in terms of FimFic site, the tag is a big red warning klaxon warning curious readers away...