Professor Darklordcomp's first pro tip!

This is something I need to work on myself as a writer, but it is a good habit to get into when creating a story. Before submitting your tale onto this site try and have it completed are as close to completed as possible, this allows you to submit a chapter on your own time and keeps the passion for your story white hot within a reader since they don't have to wait very long for a new chapter to be released.

4733242
I will not deny that this is a very good advice, however, I am far too impatient for it. Why should I hold back if there is a chapter that's ready to be posted?

I think a good alternative would be to write several chapters before starting to post. Write six or so chapters, post the first one, work on the eight one. Once that's ready, post the second and start working on the ninth.

While this does depend on how you write, I do totally recommend this (and I learned the hard way that I, for one, need to do this.)

4733253
Another benefit of having the thing complete is that you can revise the story as a whole. The few times I have managed to finish something I was writing a chapter at a time, I thought of stuff towards the end that I would have loved to use or foreshadow earlier. I've done that in stories I finished as well, but I was actually able to fix it before I posted.

4733253 It's all in preference, but if you are writing a super long story having a bunch of chapters ready to be posted while you write more isn't a bad idea

4733242 I really wish that this was a well-known piece of advice, because it would certaintly be helpful to some authors.

Of course the counter to this: "But how will they know what they need to improve on if the story is already finished?"

4733277 You don't post each chapter at the same time, wait for comments and edit the chapters as you post them

4733253 That's what I do and I will swear by it.

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4733253
I'm in the same boat. I just cannot wait forever to post, especially since it can take a while for me to get through just writing a story. I've found that writing a few chapters before releasing one is a very reliable method that compromises the need to release a chapter and the desire to complete the stories.

I've also found that not releasing the story til it's complete {as was my primary intent recently} actually hurt my capability to complete it, because I found myself disinterested at the lack of feedback and my self-loathing.

4733242
Man, this is good advice. Which I botched because I've already published three chapters before even completing my outline.

Thing is, feedback is fuel. And when writing a project that will truly take three years to finish, it's very, very hard to just keep it to yourself without feedback for so long before building a fan base. Presently, I'm not publishing anymore but will continue outlining and drafting until it's ready. But I feel like I may be letting my fans down if I don't give them stuff semi-regularly.

You don't post each chapter at the same time, wait for comments and edit the chapters as you post them

By "edit" I assume you mean correct technical errors. Making story changes to an already-finished work could produce a butterfly-effect that would make your later chapters all need to be rewritten, eh?

4733242 If you're a noob writer, it's better to publish something as soon as you have it. Much better than producing 100k words of trainwreck.

If you can write decently, however, it's better to produce it whole, so that you can fix any part of it as you write it.

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4733277
Depending on how green the writer is, having good prereaders is probably going to be better for the fic than listening to comments, on the whole. There are a lot of commenters who will happily support 100k of trainwreck, which a prereader who knows their stuff can head off more easily. Of course the very newest writers might not have access to a good prereader or know where to find one, and in that case anything is probably better than nothing.

4733681 Even then we have a group on this site dedicated to prereaders and editors soooo

I think this is a great tip, and it makes a lot of sense! I've seen several wonderful stories go unfinished due to unfortunate events or other reasons. Sadly I have the opposite problem, writing too many stories at one time. Just to name a few, an OC HIE, a Spinoff of that OC HIE, A HIE from My perspective thanks to a Figurine, and editing those stories.

4733750 There are more writers than prereaders on this site. Not all writers are fortunate enough to get a prereador.

4733944 I never said that a prereader and editor made a writer, but I did say that we have a group for prereaders and editors who are willing to help anyone as long as you ask

4733976 Still, they can't help everyone. There are too many writers for too few prereaders. I may have a pot plant that converts carbon dioxide to oxygen, but I don't expect it to fix the global warming.

4733750
While that group, and a handful of similar ones, do exist to help, some of the very newest writers might not be aware of those groups in the first place...

4733981 Nuke the world into oblivion, that solves the global warming issue

4733989 and that is why i'm working to make those groups easier for new writers to access.

This a good tip. Only problem for me is, I don't know how long the story will be.
For example, the first 4-5 hours ( In story time.) in my story, already consists of 10 chapters.

4733242 Definitely one of those things that is easy to say, hard to do. I think a more acceptable watered-down version would be to 'plan out your story in detail before posting', so at least you have some idea of where you're going.

4733253 That's what I do as well, though unfortunately the workload seems to have caught up with me

4733242 That is something I'm trying to do but the drive to post what I have is very strong, but another thing I'm finding effective is actually write the story by hand first before transferring it to fim or google doc. Mostly when I try typing I normally get about a hundred words or so in a time of two hours because I'm constantly getting distracted, but turning off the computer and writing the story out by hand on a notebook I'm getting more written in a shorter time.

Granted for longer stories you will need more notebooks, but as long as you have the basic story outline finished and know how the first few chapters should be it should work. Another thing I'm likely about this is that when I'm transferring the chapters from notebook to google docs, I catch more mistakes or sections that don't make sense and correct it right there and than.

It really depends on a writer on how long he would finish his story. There are factors that would affect someone from finishing a story, from lack of motivation/inspiration to rl (we do have school/jobs after all; as I've said in my blog here, we're not working for Hasbro so as to be obliged to churn out a chapter or a story each day or even each week). So I am not too concerned if some people cannot finish or submit incomplete stories. Things do happen. Even Victor Hugo took decades to finish "Les Miserables". Of course, I'm not saying either to take one's sweet time and leave people hanging for a new chapter/story, but there's much leeway to allow others to get on with their lives and write their stories in their own time. Again, unless you work for Hasbro.

I have all the chapters. (the chapters not the actual story) I just need to write it!

4733242

I offer a counter to this claim. True, in some cases it would be prudent to have a completed story posted to the site. That being said however, I have absorbed that some writers seem to operate somewhat more efficiently in a way if they are working off the seat of their pants as it were. Granted, I know that this certainly does not work for all writers, but as an online phenomena, it seems to have a distinct effect in the way a writer will spin their story based upon reader input.

Additional Notes.
A few things I see in your post that could go both ways. As a kind of caveat in a way, I suppose it could be acknowledged that if a writer and/or reader is worried about the concreteness of the story in whether it will be prone to change due to outside influences, (Canon influences that introduces changes that could be drastic.) your technique does offer a sort of guard against unexpected changes, leaving the author to make changes to their story to suit the new canon if they so wish to or not, with a distinct advantage of not upsetting a few readers (Like myself for instance.) who may or may not be picky about the introduction of canon elements post story work.

Apologies if my reply is somewhat sloppy. Just woke up.

End note.