NaNoWriMo: Semi-Hiatus for my Fanfics

I’ve decided that the month of November, I’ll be devoting most (if not all) of my writing time to NaNoWriMo. This will not only give me a block of well-defined time to work on my own original writing, rather than derivative fanfic, but it will also help me to decide what to do with the fanfiction that I have currently in progress.

I’ll no doubt finish Charming the Scottish Garden, and likely upload it all eventually, as well, since I’m enjoying the characters and the slowly developing romance in it. Draco’s Heart will likely also be finished and uploaded, though, because it’s practically finished already, and even though it’s not a fic close to my heart as Charming the Scottish Garden or A Long Vernal Season are, it’s a pretty straightforward fic to write: short and fast-moving, with a clear, pretty much single-note plot with only a few undercurrents to it.

A Long Vernal Season, on the other hand, is one I’m very fond of and enjoy writing, but it is complicated and the characters have a lot of depth to them. It’s very “plotty,” as one reviewer put it. It takes a lot of time and energy to write, and, RL permitting, I do try to update LVS at least three times a month. November will give me time to decide what to do with that fic, for as much as I like it personally and feel attached to the plot and the characters, reader interest in it has been dwindling over the last few months, since about the middle of Part Eight (the last chapter had two reviews during the week after I posted it and before I posted the next chapter, and hit-count is likewise dropping off).

Although I write for the satisfaction of it, writing to be able to post a long serial novel on a relatively regular basis is time-consuming, and when it looks as though an epic-length chaptered fic has been abandoned by readers, it might be best for the writer to take a good long look at the fic and decide whether it’s worth the regular investment of time to continue to post it on a regular basis — or even whether it might be better just to leave it as it is, though I really hate the thought of abandoning a fic in the midst of posting. I never knew whether to view writers who keep posting fics that get no reviews as Quixotic heroes, dedicated artists, thick-skinned individuals who don’t care whether people read and enjoy their fics, or simply deluded!

Anyway, I have another chapter of LVS in the works, and will likely be able to post that some time in November, even with NaNoWriMo, and as I mentioned, Draco’s Heart is almost complete, so polishing up a chapter or two of that to post during November will be a relatively simple thing. Charming the Scottish Garden has the next draft chapter started, and it would be nice to be able to finish that sometime relatively soon and post it, but I’m not in a rush for that one. It’ll be finished eventually — and it’s not a long fic, either.

But I do think that NaNoWriMo will give me some time to gain perspective on A Long Vernal Season and how and whether I will finish writing and posting it.

So my fics will be going on a semi-hiatus during November — and I hope that a lot of other fanfic writers will also be taking this month to write a draft of an original novel! It’s fun, and there are a lot of community-based activities all over the world, as well.

I hope that everyone has a great Halloween, a lovely and productive month of November, and, for those living in the US, a happy Thanksgiving!