The EVIL that is abandon WIPs
WIPs: You can take your abandoned WIP and shove it where the sun don’t shine!
Okay, I brought it upon myself, I admit. Once again I’ve been screwed over by an orphaned WIP… and once again I rant and rave, telling myself I will never, ever, ever read another WIP in my life! (And it is quite likely I will break that rule and end up pissed off all over again.)
Dammit!
And of course, WIPs never tend to be some short snippet that you can easily toss aside - oh no - they are generally long, complex, emotionally engaging sagas that draw you in, offer you chocolates and flowers, encourage you to fall in love and then dump you for someone half your age or a sports car. They are the coitus interruptus of the literary world.
And I HATE IT! Some of my very favorite stories across fandoms are orphaned fics which will likely never be completed. They litter my FAVORITES folder like abandoned party hats, squawkers, and tweeters after a wild, celebratory shindig.
Why? Why? Why I fret, do writers even post WIPS? I seriously doubt it is that they set out to be cruel by leaving their readers in the lurch. Is it because they think positive feedback will spur them on to write more? Is it because they haven’t been in fandom long enough to realize that passions fizzle and they will likely be drawn into something else before they complete that novel length fic they set out to write? Is it merely because they feel the need to post everything they write, even if it will never be finished?
My hard drive is home to many of my own WIPS that I hope someday to complete. However, aside from the unlikely event that I find myself with only months to live, I will never post something that is not complete, because I refuse to do to my readers what too many have done to me - left me waiting at the altar.