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77 lines
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77 lines
4.1 KiB
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## A question about reader participation in fanfic [Q]
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* Author: u/avret *SDHS rationalist**
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* URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/3h1bfy/a_question_about_reader_participation_in_fanfic_q/
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* Score: 3
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* Created: 2015-08-14T23:07:17
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### Post:
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Every so often in my fanfic, I leave challenges for my readers(normally in the form of asking them to solve cases). Once, a few chapters back, I made plot developments contingent on how well they thought up plans. This worked spectacularly, and the story progressed with the reader's ideas.
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In my most recent chapter, I decided to try that again, with the main character's life at stake. I received zero submissions within my time limit(assuming I get none in the next 48 hours). Should I end the fic with a sad ending?
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EDIT: I will be unavailable to respond to suggestions for 26 hours or so due to religious reasons.
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EDIT 2: One of my reviewers submitted an excellent solution(FFN name: The Anguished One). Thanks for the advice! I may write two endings anyway, just because.
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### Comments:
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> **u/alexanderwales** [+11] *Time flies like an arrow* (2 hours later)
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>
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> No, don't give it a sad ending unless that's what's most appropriate to the work. A piece of serial fiction lives on much longer than its initial run and the first audience that read along with it. I get comments and reviews years after the fact by people finding stuff I've written for the first time.
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>
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> If you give it a sad ending just as a matter of consequence, you're weakening the work for everyone who will read it in the future.
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>> **u/Pluvialis** [+2] *Second Age Sauron* (17 hours later)
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>>
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>> It depends on why the author is writing it. Do they want the fic to stand alone, or if is it more of a sort of DnD game where the purpose is the journey of writing it collaboratively with his audience?
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>> **u/avret** [+1] *SDHS rationalist* (a day later)
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>>
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>> Ok, I think I'll use a fake ending style thing and then put out a new chapter the day after. It should work well with the canon.
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> **u/Sagebrysh** [+6] *Rank 7 Pragmatist* (44 minutes later)
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>
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> I generally just hide all sorts of hints that my characters will figure out *eventually* but a perceptive audience could figure out far sooner. And then I don't say anything, and if people work it out, good for them.
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>
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> The whole 'testing your readers' think worked on the final exam, but that was a rather specific case, at the end of a very long fanfiction with an already very dedicated reader base. Its not something to really throw around lightly unless you *know* you have readers who would be able to figure it out.
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>> **u/Transfuturist** [+2] *Carthago delenda est.* (22 hours later)
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>>
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>> To be fair, he actually had a very low standard for winning. Partially transfiguring CNTs to decapitate the Death Eaters was not a hard leap, particularly with the excerpt at the beginning of the story. I think there were at least half a thousand comments with the expected answer.
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>> **u/DCarrier** [+1] (4 hours later)
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>>
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>> Didn't he also do it in Three Worlds Collide? Although he did give both endings, and it might be that the only difference is what's canon.
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>> **u/avret** [+1] *SDHS rationalist* (a day later)
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>>
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>> Ok, thanks. See my response to Alexander Wales for my plan about what to do.
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> **u/redrach** [+3] (20 minutes later)
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>
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> That seems rather harsh, especially on future readers. You're effectively punishing them for the disinterest (or incompetence) of your current readers.
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>
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> Perhaps you could write two endings?
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> **u/None** [+3] (4 hours later)
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>
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> Write the ending that happens, with a preface saying that "this is what happens!". At the end, leave a lot of white space, then "Fooled you! Tune in next time for the worst ending that doesn't end in death!"
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>> **u/Transfuturist** [+1] *Carthago delenda est.* (22 hours later)
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>>
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>> Write it like Clue. :P
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> **u/xamueljones** [+1] *My arch-enemy is entropy* (5 hours later)
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>
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> What's the story you're talking about?
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>> **u/alexanderwales** [+1] *Time flies like an arrow* (5 hours later)
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>>
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>> [Light in Despair's Darkness](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10630743/1/Light-in-Despair-s-Darkness)
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---
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