ratcreature | question about feedback etiquette for WIPs

I've just read this HP WIP (no the one with the "ma'am" all over the place btw), which hasn't been updated since October or so. Something I knew when I started reading. I really have no problem with reading WIPs, even ones with infrequent updates, those not likely to be ever finished, or abandoned ones. As those who've seen one of my (frequently lengthy) list posts on this subject on FCA-L or elsewhere probably already know. I like reading WIPs, and whether or not they get finished, as long as like what's posted I'm okay with having read whatever is shared. I usually remember enough to follow a story even if installments are months apart (I blame that on following infrequently published indie comics for years *g*), unless it's written in odd chunks with rewrites of previous sections and stuff being posted out of order. Though if the installments are posted too far apart I might forget about having followed a particular WIP, unless it's posted to my flist or I'm on an update list. Which is not to say that I don't like stories better if they're finished eventually, but the finished/unfinished status just isn't that crucial to me.

That said, I liked this WIP quite a lot (in case you're interested, it was "The Mirror of Maybe" by Midnight Blue), and considered sending feedback to the author. My first impulse was to write back that I liked it, point out a couple of the things that I enjoyed in particular, and then ask whether it's still active, because then I'd check the story from time to time. Then I remembered seeing posts how some authors find it obnoxious behavior to be asked whether they are still working on a WIP, especially if they're stalled and/or abandoned it. So I wondered whether I should maybe rather omit the part asking about future installments, or maybe not write at all. Considering that there apparently is a list for this story with over 4100 subscribers (and just how large is HP fandom anyway?) the author probably already gets enough emails nagging her about when (if?) the next installment is going to be posted. I could just join the other 1050 people on the update announcement list (the larger list is aparently for discussion too), and assume that the fact that the update list is still open implies that the WIP has not been abandoned (I assume that authors would close lists dedicated to WIPs if they truly abandon them), so that it's actually worth joining an update list.

So when you write feedback to a WIP that hasn't been updated in a while, but is not visibly abandoned, is it better to avoid the topic of potential future installments (and the related areas in feedback, like what you think will happen based on the story so far etc.) entirely? Or is it only obnoxious if the feedback doesn't just ask about it, but makes the kind of rude writing demands to continue that you sometimes see?

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For instance, real life troubles, more interesting (to the author) stories, or writer's block, in which case asking for more would likely be unwelcome.

I think the politic way is just to mention how much you liked the part that's written and ask for more, pretty-please-if-it-won't-inconvenience-the-author.

But you might get flamed--if the author has been asked a hundreds of times "When are you going to write more?!", anyone might get testy. And in the HP fandom, it could well be hundreds.

About MoM, from the group's FAQ, which seems a pointed way of asking readers not to nag the author:

When will the new chapter of MoM come out?
It'll come out when Midnight Blue is done writing it, all we can do is wait and see :). We at this ML are generally very protective of Midnight Blue, and if some members feel another is pushing her to hurry up, it could get nasty...

Yeah, it's probably best not to mention any future parts. The thing is, I really don't care that much whether fanfic gets abandoned, that I ask for more or faster writing, it's more curiosity about the actual state of the WIP, than applying "pressure" through feedback. I mean, I followed WIPs in TS which I loved far more than any HP story, and it made sadder that the authors removed the abandoned WIPs from their sites because they didn't want to be asked anymore about them, than the fact that they were abandoned. I don't tend to ask for more parts or nag, it's more like, when I write feedback for WIPs (unless I angst about it and walk on eggshells like now) the matter of the state of the WIP comes up as a natural part of the casual type of conversation like feedback I tend to write, as just the thing that's most obvious to mention when someone shows unfinished things. Like when someone updates very regularly, I might mention that, or that an update came very fast, otoh if there wasn't any updates for some time, just a note that it's not abandoned, but *that note* has been there for like six months or so, I wonder whether it's still true and not just a matter of not updating the website at all.

The thing is, I really don't care that much whether fanfic gets abandoned, that I ask for more or faster writing, it's more curiosity about the actual state of the WIP

Yes, it would be nice to know if the WIP might one day be finished (or if the author at least has hopes it will be), or if the author as definitely moved on.

I get sucked into WIPs (and there seem to be many in the HP fandom, you know?), and at times I get disappointed when I realize something I've been enjoying isn't likely to be finished. But I don't avoid WIPs, so I guess I haven't been traumatized unduly. And the surprise of a new part can be enough to get me to re-read the story again, so no hardship there.

My favorite Smallville WIPs (

liviapenn's "Altville" series

box_of_serial and

rageprufrock's "String Theory" (http://ling.anifics.com/stringtheory.html))don't seem likely to be updated for a long time. I hate to give up on them, though. *hopes*

I think the longest I've waited for a new part in a WIP and actually got one was well over two years or so for a TS WIP. Which was in the end even more crushing, because after the long hiatus (during which I had mostly given up on it) then there were posted three or four chapters in more or less regular intervals (like every couple of weeks), only for the WIP to be abandoned near the end after all, and pulled from the net. Actually I think I've waited even longer for another TS WIP, but there the update was only a little part. IIRC that WIP had been already abandoned for some time when I joined the fandom in early 1998 and I've seen an update in late 2000.

question about feedback etiquette for WIPs

if the WIP is stalled, there's probably more than one reason

Re: if the WIP is stalled, there's probably more than one reason

Re: if the WIP is stalled, there's probably more than one reason

Re: if the WIP is stalled, there's probably more than one reason