When you're 10 chapters in and fall out of love...

[lavender sky]

I hate it when this happens! After I've read several chapters and the farther I get, the more I don't like it anymore. Whether it's the storyline or a persistent "erk"... i just hate that I've invested time into it, encouraged the author via reviews, all to wind up disappointed.

Sometimes I continue reading despite my lack of real interest. Anyone else do this?

I'm sitting here adding countless fics to my faves and telling myself I need to finish ---XX--- story before I start another one.

One time I read a fic and its two sequels, hating the main character the whole time. I think the only reason I kept going was because it was such a trainwreck.

Do you tell the author what turned you off to the story before giving up on it?

Personally, I'd want to know what left a bad taste in the readers mouth, but do other writers want this as well?

[from.out.of.nowhere]

Yeah I do this. There are the stories which I've read and alerted but I have lost interest in, I get the alert in my inbox and groan yet continue to read even though I don't enjoy the chapters anymore. Not quite sure why I do this.

Recently I stayed up untill 3am reading a story which started off brilliantly but then went downhill so quickly. I couldn't bring myself to stop as I wanted to know what happens even though the last 5-10 chapters left me with a WTF face and feeling like that was a couple of hours of my life I'll never get back.

I don't tell authors if there's somthing I don't like or if I gonna stop reading their story as it's their story and they can tell it anyway they want but yeah I'm left feeling let down.

[LadyExcalibur]

I'll keep reading for a while, just to give the benefit of the doubt. As a writer? I'm not sure what I'd prefer. Recently, I found out that someone flounced a fic because I had Edward, a soldier, notice that Bella's toes were painted and he knew the color. The reader didn't call it out by name or anything and was VERY polite in making her observation. Now I'm absolutely fine with someone losing interest. Every story is not for every reader. But I had to laugh when I found out that was the reason. This reader felt it was out of character (it was somewhere in the first five chapters I think). I laughed because this observation was important because it turns out that this Edward has sort of thing for pretty feet, so it's only natural that he'd notice and this was going to come out in chapter 29.

I had based it on something my nephew said once and he was an Army Ranger, so I had my soldier's POV and I knew it was accurate, at least in this case. My nephew's actual words were, "I like when Dee has her nails painted that...what color is that baby? The thing that looks like brains and it's under the ocean?" CORAL. "Yeah, that." Later on, I had an actual soldier tell me he was reading the story and he corrected me on a rank issue and helped me rewrite a line of dialogue between Edward and his commanding officer. I was thrilled he took the time to help me and give me constructive criticism. He's deployed and using some of his free time to read my story??? Hell yeah I was happy to hear from him! I'm hampered in the military stuff because no one in my family knows I write fan fic and I can't exactly call up one of them and ask what rank someone would be if they served x number of years, had this much college, and weren't a trouble maker. So I have to guess based on personal experience and research of pay grades, etc. This soldier kindly offered to be my sounding board for all matters military.

Anyway, my point is, and I know it took me a while but I just had some chocolate and I'm hyper, that I'm not sure which I prefer. I almost think I would have preferred to be in blissful ignorance in this case? I never tell an author I've lost interest. I just move on after I finally get the feeling that this isn't going to be my kind of story. That doesn't mean it's not a good story, just not good for ME. So I quietly move on and I hope everyone is happy. Because I'm sure that there are lots of other readers who are still thrilled with the story. And that's fine by me.

[Lalina]

I’m a flouncer. I never used to be, I’d usually read a fic to the bitter end but then I ran across one that didn’t just jump the shark but the whole damned continent. It became completely ridiculous and even though I told myself to QUIT reading, I didn’t. The end left me queasy and nauseous, and I was mad at myself for not listening. Ever since then, if something bugs me, I’m out of there.

I generally don’t let an author know I quit reading. I think I’ve only done it once and that was because I was mostly disappointed in HER not necessarily the story (although, the story itself was going by the way of Breaking Dawn and getting much too complicated IMO w/o necessity) Most times I keep it to myself because I don’t know how they will take it if I let them know if Edward barks out laughter ONE MORE TIME I’m going to poke myself in the eye with a fork. A lot of times the reasons I flounce seem fickle even to me! Also, I don’t want to discourage someone or make them feel bad. And it’s such a fine line between a writer taking the information as constructive criticism as opposed to just criticism.

As a writer, I’m of 2 minds. A handful of times I’ve had readers come to me and tell me they are dropping the fic for whatever reason. Most times I can appreciate their candour, but if it is nothing I can change to make it better for them (ie: a plot point or character flaw important to the story) I feel somewhat helpless. All you can really do is thank them for their opinion and for reading up till that point and send them off. In a way, I’d almost not have known. I do want to know in cases where someone wants to flounce for something like my above irk where I can potentially change things (ie: repetition of a word, an action seen every paragraph etc) or an issue I know will change soon, cause at least then I can say *this won’t always be that way, maybe come back in a few chapters*. It’s a tough call…

So, to answer your question, when a fic goes left, I leave

[Jillian Landers]

Oh, good... I'm not the only one who is sort of on the fence with this one.

Here's my POV on this. I am VERY sensitive about my stories. I write these stories because I enjoy it. I most certainly am not being compensated in any way other than cool reviews and great friends I've made through writing these stories. Writing these stories will not advance my career, nor will it account for college credits. Just like everybody else in the fandom-- I write because it is a joy to me. My bestie, Starla, laughs at me because I'm constantly cracking myself up with dialogue and scenes that are to come. She laughs at how hard I laugh at myself. I'm constantly saying "Oh, damn, I crack me up" because ya know what? I do crack myself up. I'm funny!

So on one end... I really love what I'm writing and I entertain myself for hours on end coming up with little quirks and inside jokes for the story, etc. I love my Bella. So when somebody comes along and tells me how much they dislike my Bella-- I feel a little mama bear about it. I want to tell Edward to attack and then I want to bake Hybridella some chocolate chip cookies with blood drizzle on them for her. Crazy? Oh, I'm sure it is. And I'm quite comfortable being crazy. Crazy works for me.

On the other hand, if their issue is something fixable, or something I can clear up, I want to know about it. Without realizing it, in Bite to Break Skin there was some alluding to Edward being Bella's father. I didn't catch it, Starla mentioned it, but neither of us thought it was that bad. Edward is definitely NOT Bella's father. Talk about major ick. So when I got PM's from readers asking me WTF... I was thankful they asked me before dropping the story. There have been other tiny things that readers catch (things I want them to catch), that will be cleared up soon... tiny things that make the readers say "WHAT?!?"

So when I am reading a story and there's something that is bothering me... I take into account what is bothering me. If it is the character or the plot as a whole that is bothering me, I keep mum about it unless the author is asking for help. If it is a grammatical issue and the author knows about it and doesn't care-- I leave it alone. If it's tiny inconsistencies (like are present in my stories) I will PM the author to ask about it.

I am of the mind that suggestions about grammar and other critiques are best left private. You don't have to kiss somebody's ass, but you don't have to make them feel poorly with a public criticism either.

[LisaDawn75]

Personally, if I fall out of love with a fic, I'm gone. I just cannot force myself to read something that I do not like. There have been several fics over the last couple of years that I've just lost interest in. Sometimes it's the path the story has taken, sometimes it's because my intersts have changed.

I do not tell the author that I've stopped reading. Many times, I stop reading because it's my interest that's changed and it's nothing to do with the fic. And, I might also go back later on and finish the story, so I don't want to tell an author that I've stopped reading.

[jujubakiller]

I hate it when this happens! After I've read several chapters and the farther I get, the more I don't like it anymore. Whether it's the storyline or a persistent "erk"... i just hate that I've invested time into it, encouraged the author via reviews, all to wind up disappointed.

Sometimes I continue reading despite my lack of real interest. Anyone else do this?

I'm sitting here adding countless fics to my faves and telling myself I need to finish ---XX--- story before I start another one.

One time I read a fic and its two sequels, hating the main character the whole time. I think the only reason I kept going was because it was such a trainwreck.

Do you tell the author what turned you off to the story before giving up on it?

Personally, I'd want to know what left a bad taste in the readers mouth, but do other writers want this as well?

Yes, I used to do this a lot. I kept reading, and I felt like I was torturing myself.

So, I'm learning to stop reading, because in this fandom there's a lot to pick from, there's something for every one. On the matter of telling the author I'm not reading anymore, I think it depends a lot. Most of the times, if I have never left a review, or if I really hate the fic, I don't say anything. There were times that I PMd the author and sai that I was not reading anymore and explained why. This times I explained it was because I knew that I didn't like the fic anymore because of things that usually irritate me, but I know it's not bad writing, it's just me beeing picky.

[darcyfitz]

I've never come across a story yet that I fell out of love with. I think it's just that, with over 400 stories favorited, a handful capture my attention ahead of the rest and I'm not as quick drop everything. It's no disrespect to any author; I simply relate or delve into the subject matter more to some than others. I haven't submitted any work yet, so I couldn't tell you how I'd feel as an author, but as a reader, can I just say that one thing that does irk me is a dead story.

Real life intervens every day, all the time, and if a story starts but cannot be finished or updated regularly, I wish the author would say so. I would still leave it favorited, but I'd save so much time checking everyday for an update.

Another thing that irks is when the story is pulled my favorited list goes down, and I don't know which one it was. Couldn't an alert be sent? I don't know, just, something.

Usually what I do if a story loses momentum is come back to it later. Or I reread it again while a few chapters have updated, and I fall back in love with it once I'm not left waiting to see what happens. Luckily, like I said, I haven't had a story yet turn me off so much that I stop reading. A testament to the many awesome readers here.

[jujubakiller]

I've never come across a story yet that I fell out of love with. I think it's just that, with over 400 stories favorited, a handful capture my attention ahead of the rest and I'm not as quick drop everything. It's no disrespect to any author; I simply relate or delve into the subject matter more to some than others. I haven't submitted any work yet, so I couldn't tell you how I'd feel as an author, but as a reader, can I just say that one thing that does irk me is a dead story.

Real life intervens every day, all the time, and if a story starts but cannot be finished or updated regularly, I wish the author would say so. I would still leave it favorited, but I'd save so much time checking everyday for an update.

Another thing that irks is when the story is pulled my favorited list goes down, and I don't know which one it was. Couldn't an alert be sent? I don't know, just, something.

Usually what I do if a story loses momentum is come back to it later. Or I reread it again while a few chapters have updated, and I fall back in love with it once I'm not left waiting to see what happens. Luckily, like I said, I haven't had a story yet turn me off so much that I stop reading. A testament to the many awesome readers here.

I hate when this happens too! And then, after a few days I remeber the fic, but sometimes don't remember the exact tile or the name of the author and I can't look for it in FF. net or other site.

[lavender sky]

Usually what I do if a story loses momentum is come back to it later. Or I reread it again while a few chapters have updated, and I fall back in love with it once I'm not left waiting to see what happens.

I do this, too. Especially if an author decides to go three months without updating and then the story pops back up to the top. I don't want to re-read the last few chaps then the new one only to have to go through the same process again in another three months when the author updates again. Once I notice the author is really back in the saddle with updates, posting twp or three within a reasonable timeframe, I'll go back and re-read.