How long do you think people should wait between new chapters? I tend to update my multichapters every four weeks. Other authors up date every few months and others every few days. Does anyone have a time limit where they think updates can be too fast or too slow?
Well, I used to update every... month-Week or so, depeding on inspiration...
Now I don't bother, because I have actual stories I've created. I'm kinda moving away from writing fanfiction, but I still read it, and I still have all my stories up c:
I'd say the longer the chapter length (debatable) and greater complexity of the story, the longer it's OK* to wait for updates. A fluff fic without any real plot other than the pairing doesn't really take a lot of developing (or maybe I'm in the wrong fandom) so updates for that are frequent, two a week or so. (funnily enough, the chapters are short but there's often 100+ of them) Then the best fic since ever with 5000+ words in each chapter might not update for a month or four, more understandable.
I've tried and simplify it with word count, but one could blend an awful lot of story into 2000 words at a time.
*Right, "you have no obligation to comply to your readers demands. They want updates, you want to wait and work on it more." I get that. What I mean is 'how long it takes for your readers to get bored and move on from your story' because they probably will, unless your story is truly exceptional.
>>3 "how long it takes for your readers to get bored and move on from your story' because they probably will, unless your story is truly exceptional"
There's a writer whose story is fantastic. She takes months to update. But she's an adult, works full time and her stories are really good and her chapters are very long, so I'm always happy to wait.
I've lost readers by taking too long before.
However long it takes to write a good chapter is how long it should take to update. I used to try to get myself to post something (a chapter for any story I have running or a one-shot) a week, but that was more an attempt at self-discipline than trying to keep my readers happy.
I've found that readers come back, eventually, on their own. And if they don't, other readers will take their place in time. Old fics of mine still get favorites, alerts, and the occasional review. Not as much as when they were fresh, but people discover or rediscover things all the time.
As I writer I totally agree with >>5 above, but I've read a lot of stories that, although they're well written, seem to lose the plot and ramble because I think the author hadn't really thought it out before they started posting. The last major fic I wrote, I had a fairly good plot outline, but I started posting after writing only a couple of chapters, and I found it such hard work to keep it on track, even working to the outline I had! So I prefer to get my fics pretty much written before I even start posting them, and I try to update at least once a week, preferably every three or four days. That sort of gap between updates gives me time for any necessary tweaking!
I tend not to 'favourite' or 'alert' fics, for various reasons, so if I'm reading a multi-chapter fic, I don't like to wait too long between updates because I forget or lose interest in the fic.
As someone else said, if they are truelly interested in the story, they will eventually come back. Some people are going to just disapear despite the fact you are updating frequently. It is best to update at a pace that is comfortable to you.
All very true. To be brutally honest with myself I think I just need to write better stuff- I don't think I'm working at a good standard right now and that is affecting things.
Mmhmm, I'm guilty myself of being way, way behind updating my stories on ffnet and a few other sites.
I'm writing a series of stories for one fandom. I finished the last one in April, and said I hoped to be back with more in the summer. On July 1st someone emailed me and said "it's summer, you promised another fic, where is it?" :o/ Like an idiot, I wrote back as though I needed to justify myself! I mean, there was a lot of not nice stuff going on that was nobody's business but mine and my family, so writing was way down on my list of priorities for a while. Anyway, I just started posting the new fic last week, and already this person is demanding an update and saying she hopes I'm going to get on with it and not keep everyone (i.e. her!) waiting. I know what I REALLY want to say to her, but... I was brought up not to be so rude!!
Sorry - double post! I meant to say too that I always try to update at least once a week, and if I can't do that, I explain the fact and ask people to be patient. Most readers understand that, but JEEZ, this one person is so demanding!