WIP community

[geoviki]

I am toying with creating a community that tracks the status of HP slash WIPs (WsIP) that have been delayed or abandoned

ETA: This site wouldn't track all WIPS or even all popular WIPs hp_fictrack already does that), but would give a status report and perhaps the prospect of new stuff for those WIPs that seem to be a long time in coming out with a new chapter.

Even though I've been cutting back on beginning to read any new WIPs (with varying results), I still have a list of stories I follow that haven't been updated in a while. I have a feeling that some of you know what's going on with them (heck, some of you are their authors!).

I thought it would be useful to be able to trot over to a community to see the status as far as the fandom knows. Is that WIP abandoned? Is the author still involved in the fandom? Can a RL setback be causing the delay?

I'm thinking the criteria could be: HP stories, focus on slash but not entirely if readers have an interest in other stories, WIP update has either been delayed for 4 months OR has had a serious hiatus in its history (e.g., story has had a somewhat more recent post after a year-long dry spell), story is followed by a significant (and arbitrary) number of readers, fic has had more than 1 chapter posted.

This would not be a place to bitch about its status, merely a fact-finding community. It would be open to all, and allow posting by all. Entries that merely complain would be deleted.

So I'm thinking the "official" entries could look something like this:

Title
Author
Pairing
Rating
Summary
Date first chapter posted
Date last chapter posted
Number of chapters available
Current status:

Other entries would probably look like this:

Does anyone know the status of THE BEST WIP IN THE WORLD
(and if this fic gets an official entry, should these entries be deleted or not?)

The first entry would be an index to the fics discussed.

What do you think? Do you have any more suggestions? Advice? Voices (letters) of reason?

Comments

[dorrie6.livejournal.com]

I think this is a GREAT idea. Could the index entry be post-dated so that it is always at the top? Or maybe it just needs to be linked to from the user info.

I really love this idea.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Post dated, yes. I just went off to see how others do that, and got sidetracked with all of my friends new entries, then promptly forgot what I was doing.

That never happens to you, does it?

[dorrie6.livejournal.com]

Oh, no, of course not. Because I am so very together. Heh.

[millefiori.livejournal.com]

Oh, I think this is a wonderful idea! Maybe as well as the index, posts could be put in memories under categories such as 'slash' and 'het' and maybe even by pairing or main character(s), such as 'Snape-centric' or 'Trio fic'. Once the list gets going it would make it easier for people to find a specific story, and/or for the original poster to find the entry if the status needs to be changed/updated. I'd also suggest, on the official entry post, adding a line to indicate if the story/author has an LJ or mailing list connected with the story.

Does anyone know the status of THE BEST WIP IN THE WORLD
(and if this fic gets an official entry, should these entries be deleted or not?)

Hmmm. Deleting them would keep things 'cleaner' but then you'd lose any (possibly interesting) comments. Maybe keep them, with a bold ETA added linking to the official entry?

It's just my personal preference, but I'd really like to see it officially open to het, slash and gen. I think that it would naturally be very slash-heavy, since most of your 'audience' reads and writes slash. But I like to read and write het too, and it's hard for me to find it when the groups in my familiar little corner of LJ are exclusively slash only. But either way, I think it's a terrific idea!

[anehan]

I'd like to second your request that het and gen be allowed.

[umbralin.livejournal.com]

I think that's a brilliant idea.

[shakespearechic.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I think this is a wonderful idea. It will be a place where people can go for many stories (as opposed to tracking down individual author/writing LJs). And, as an author guilty of having a more than 4 months between a few updates (and over a year on one story *hides*) I LOVE the idea of letting readers know I really AM still writing. Just, eh, life getting in the way.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I think this is a great idea too. Do you know if there are any communities or groups out there for folks who'd like to FINISH someone else's abandoned WIP? (With permission, of course.) There are a few I'd love to see finished. And a few I'd love to finish myself, if I had the time.

[chuffing.livejournal.com]

I think this is a great idea. I will pimp it around for you and get you some more opinions. I would definitely be interested in a comm like this. :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_inzilbeth_/]

This is an excellent idea!

[tiamet.livejournal.com]

I think it's a good idea. I just don't have the time to track stories down all the time to see if it has been updated. Plus so often I have forgotten where I read the story. But I think it should just be all HP fics, not just slash. I am a fan of the slash and it is mostly what I read, but tI think it should be any and all HP fics. But it's a great idea.

[switchknife.livejournal.com]

A lovely idea, but what about hp_fictrack?

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

I wasn't that aware of that community, so thanks for pointing it out. Comparing this idea of mine with that LJ comm, I can see the need for both. For example, Al's Snitch! is listed as a tracked fic on that site, which is well and good, but I happen to know from reading his LJ back around Christmas time that he's pretty much left off writing it and has said so. Therefore, Snitch! would have an entry saying that (plus have a pointer to "FairyTale of New York" which is somewhat of a substitute for a true ending and the closest we'll probably have to closure. But no one would be allowed to whine about it, or I'll bitchslap 'em or something, huh?

Also, the first two links I tried there were bad; one sent me off to one of those horrible sites that all but hijacks your browser with spam windows.

My fantasy site wouldn't post updates as that site does. Comments below the main entry would give additional info as it arises.

Also, readers seem to want to include gen and het, and that site only focuses on slash.

Finally, WIPS won't be included if they are chugging along at a decent rate of productivity (and doesn't that sound like a Communist Five-Year Plan...we must up our quota of smut and right away or the Kommissar will not be pleased...)

I know you always have good ideas though; do you have any caveats or insights?

[christiangirls.livejournal.com]

That is a fantastic idea! If you end up doing it let me know and I'll make sure its pimped at the QQ every day for a week. :D

[painless-j.livejournal.com]

I've already told you that I think the idea is great, I'll pimp the comm as soon as it appears. You'll spare me much effort (searching, remembering, tracking) if I know there's a place where I can go and check the status of a WIP. But I'm ready to help in giving you info about non-H/D pairings :)