I've thought about this before, mostly with writing, and never come up with a great solution.
Like if I post chapter 1 of a long story when I'm happy with it, but then when I'm working on chapter 5 I realize I need to make a change in chapter 1, what do I do? Do I keep going in the old version and put it on a "list of things to change for the finished version"? Or do I edit chapter 1 and make a change log for people who are reading along so they don't think it's an inconsistency? If they liked it better the first way, do I have to defend and explain myself? Whenever I improve things, personally, there's a certain amount of shame at how bad the old way was, so I'm glad when nobody else saw it.
My preference is to avoid all these issues by not posting WIPs, but as you say, you then lose out on the feedback and audience interaction and feeling of obligation to a community that might keep you going when things get rough.
I'm not sure I'd want to read a WIP novel that someone was posting in installments; I'd be like, "Get back to me when you're done." For some reason, I feel differently about comics. I'm more interested in seeing the process and the improvements, maybe because they're more visually clear. Or maybe it's just that reading a draft and then an edited version of the same story feels like work to me in a way that looking at comics doesn't, because of my own closeness or distance.
One way that I might present it is just to act like the draft/webcomic version is normal, then be all, "I've come out with an improved, edited version!!" You know--present the webcomic as the baseline and the print version is BETTER THAN, instead of the future print version being the baseline and the webcomic is WORSE THAN. Both spins are equally truthful but one is more positive.
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-09 08:40 pm (UTC)Like if I post chapter 1 of a long story when I'm happy with it, but then when I'm working on chapter 5 I realize I need to make a change in chapter 1, what do I do? Do I keep going in the old version and put it on a "list of things to change for the finished version"? Or do I edit chapter 1 and make a change log for people who are reading along so they don't think it's an inconsistency? If they liked it better the first way, do I have to defend and explain myself? Whenever I improve things, personally, there's a certain amount of shame at how bad the old way was, so I'm glad when nobody else saw it.
My preference is to avoid all these issues by not posting WIPs, but as you say, you then lose out on the feedback and audience interaction and feeling of obligation to a community that might keep you going when things get rough.
I'm not sure I'd want to read a WIP novel that someone was posting in installments; I'd be like, "Get back to me when you're done." For some reason, I feel differently about comics. I'm more interested in seeing the process and the improvements, maybe because they're more visually clear. Or maybe it's just that reading a draft and then an edited version of the same story feels like work to me in a way that looking at comics doesn't, because of my own closeness or distance.
One way that I might present it is just to act like the draft/webcomic version is normal, then be all, "I've come out with an improved, edited version!!" You know--present the webcomic as the baseline and the print version is BETTER THAN, instead of the future print version being the baseline and the webcomic is WORSE THAN. Both spins are equally truthful but one is more positive.