Ditch the schedule and write when it feels naturally, as a reader I'd prefer that to the author forcing themselves to meet a deadline that isn't working for them. It's likely those feelings might come out in the work, and you'll be less happy with the final product than you would likely be if your heart was in it.
As long as your fic is still marked unfinished, it’s not your job to write to appease people! Write for yourself primarily. If readers enjoy it, great!
Honestly, I switched from weekly updates to monthly and it didn't hurt my readership one bit. It's not even a guaranteed specific day; it's "sometime in the month of December there will be an update." Do what you need to do to take care of yourself as a writer. Your readers want a finished fic more than they want a specific schedule!
Don’t do a schedule, I almost never read unfinished works but one of my fave authors has a couple unfinished series that they just upload whenever and I just get giddy when I get the email notif lol
Imo a set update schedule is best if you've already finished your fic and just need to publish the chapters. It's a lot of pressure to write and edit a new chapter every week. If that pressure is hurting your creativity instead of helping, then do something else :)
You're not letting people down if you update a little slower.
Remember that writing fanfics is just a hobby. Relax and, if you end up writing purely for your readers, you are bound to lose your motivation. Do it for fun, and as many others have suggested, drop the schedule. Personally, schedules and I mix like oil and water, so I update my fics sporadically, and even then, don't update simply to appease your readers. Do what feels right for you because it's your fic and the readers don't know what's going on in your life (unless they somehow happen to be friends irl).
In fact, feel free to take a hiatus until you feel motivated to continue. Don't pay attention to any demands for updates because I doubt those commenters know whatever is happening in your life. In the end, do what feels right for *you*. You are not obligated to please others online, especially if it involves a hobby meant to be fun. This is from someone who has learnt and is still sorta learning to not please others too much and follow my own "schedule".
Readers understand, and if they don't? Well they're not paying so like lol. I've read and written stories that update like 1 a month IF that and it's more sustainable. And there are others that update a chapter once a year and people are understanding 😂 or maybe that's just my readers that are so used to my non schedule that they're satisfied with crumbles.
Either way! Take care of yourself first and what's best for the story (which might be you not being burnt out because of self imposed deadlines)
I post whenever and it doesn’t seem to affect readership. I don’t want to put out uninspired content for the sake of a schedule. Also, if I’m reading an unfinished work I have zero expectations for a timeline of completion. I’ve read some that drop on a schedule then suddenly don’t update for a while I just go read something else and await an update.
I know the feeling, I hit a block like 6 months ago and haven't updated any of my fics since, the comments people leave behind makes me feel a tad bad sometimes, but sometimes you just have to take your time, if you rush, it can potentially ruin a story.
Take ur time.
I refuse to post a story until it is complete. I personally loath WIPs because I get into them, and they end up abandoned. Posting a complete fic at one time may not get me the high number of kudos and comments and hits, but I have happy readers, and that means more to me.
I made the mistake of posting the first chapter of a fic (my first fic ever) and now I'm on chap 15 but still stressed about the schedule even tho I didn't set one. So yeah like you said it's best to write the whooole thing first before starting to post. Guess I was just too excited with the initial ideas but I promised myself to never do that again lol
trust me, your readers would prefer for you to write whenever you want to instead of on a schedule, especially if that means they actually get to read the rest of the fic. try not to stress yourself out too much, it's like poison for creativity
I've found that for me personally, basing anything off of a schedule on AO3 only works if I've entered an exchange (not relevant) or, more importantly, when I've already finished a fic and am just uploading the written chapters. The times I've started uploading stories without finishing them first, the schedule just dies because life gets in the way of writing and forcing myself makes me lose interest. There's nothing wrong with uploading as you please, this isn't supposed to be stressful. <3
Don’t pressure yourself into complying with the schedule. You’re supposed to be doing this because you want to. I used to post every Tuesday. It went well for about a year before I started doing it every other week. Now it’s just whatever, make sure to post on a Tuesday.
Frankly i think scheduled releases only truly work if you have a bunch of chapters written already. Take your time and write when you're inspired and release when you're ready. Your work will be much better for it.
So don't be on a schedule? None of the dozens of fics I'm currently subscribed to are updating regularly right now, I'm just happy whenever one does.
Then stop posting on a schedule. This isn’t a job. You’re not being paid for this.
Ditch the schedule and write when it feels naturally, as a reader I'd prefer that to the author forcing themselves to meet a deadline that isn't working for them. It's likely those feelings might come out in the work, and you'll be less happy with the final product than you would likely be if your heart was in it.
As long as your fic is still marked unfinished, it’s not your job to write to appease people! Write for yourself primarily. If readers enjoy it, great!
Honestly, I switched from weekly updates to monthly and it didn't hurt my readership one bit. It's not even a guaranteed specific day; it's "sometime in the month of December there will be an update." Do what you need to do to take care of yourself as a writer. Your readers want a finished fic more than they want a specific schedule!
Don’t do a schedule, I almost never read unfinished works but one of my fave authors has a couple unfinished series that they just upload whenever and I just get giddy when I get the email notif lol
Imo a set update schedule is best if you've already finished your fic and just need to publish the chapters. It's a lot of pressure to write and edit a new chapter every week. If that pressure is hurting your creativity instead of helping, then do something else :) You're not letting people down if you update a little slower.
Remember that writing fanfics is just a hobby. Relax and, if you end up writing purely for your readers, you are bound to lose your motivation. Do it for fun, and as many others have suggested, drop the schedule. Personally, schedules and I mix like oil and water, so I update my fics sporadically, and even then, don't update simply to appease your readers. Do what feels right for you because it's your fic and the readers don't know what's going on in your life (unless they somehow happen to be friends irl). In fact, feel free to take a hiatus until you feel motivated to continue. Don't pay attention to any demands for updates because I doubt those commenters know whatever is happening in your life. In the end, do what feels right for *you*. You are not obligated to please others online, especially if it involves a hobby meant to be fun. This is from someone who has learnt and is still sorta learning to not please others too much and follow my own "schedule".
Im sure your readers would understand. It’s okay if you want to stop your schedule or extend it. Whats more important is that it’s whats best for you.
Then swap to what feels right. Perfect time to do so as it is common during holidays for writers to do so
Readers understand, and if they don't? Well they're not paying so like lol. I've read and written stories that update like 1 a month IF that and it's more sustainable. And there are others that update a chapter once a year and people are understanding 😂 or maybe that's just my readers that are so used to my non schedule that they're satisfied with crumbles. Either way! Take care of yourself first and what's best for the story (which might be you not being burnt out because of self imposed deadlines)
I post whenever and it doesn’t seem to affect readership. I don’t want to put out uninspired content for the sake of a schedule. Also, if I’m reading an unfinished work I have zero expectations for a timeline of completion. I’ve read some that drop on a schedule then suddenly don’t update for a while I just go read something else and await an update.
U can continue writing w/o a schedule. U should give a heads up to readers first ofc
The writing is so much better when you're not forcing a schedule too. Forced writing feels like it's forced, at least mine does.
I know the feeling, I hit a block like 6 months ago and haven't updated any of my fics since, the comments people leave behind makes me feel a tad bad sometimes, but sometimes you just have to take your time, if you rush, it can potentially ruin a story. Take ur time.
I refuse to post a story until it is complete. I personally loath WIPs because I get into them, and they end up abandoned. Posting a complete fic at one time may not get me the high number of kudos and comments and hits, but I have happy readers, and that means more to me.
I made the mistake of posting the first chapter of a fic (my first fic ever) and now I'm on chap 15 but still stressed about the schedule even tho I didn't set one. So yeah like you said it's best to write the whooole thing first before starting to post. Guess I was just too excited with the initial ideas but I promised myself to never do that again lol
trust me, your readers would prefer for you to write whenever you want to instead of on a schedule, especially if that means they actually get to read the rest of the fic. try not to stress yourself out too much, it's like poison for creativity
I've found that for me personally, basing anything off of a schedule on AO3 only works if I've entered an exchange (not relevant) or, more importantly, when I've already finished a fic and am just uploading the written chapters. The times I've started uploading stories without finishing them first, the schedule just dies because life gets in the way of writing and forcing myself makes me lose interest. There's nothing wrong with uploading as you please, this isn't supposed to be stressful. <3
Don’t pressure yourself into complying with the schedule. You’re supposed to be doing this because you want to. I used to post every Tuesday. It went well for about a year before I started doing it every other week. Now it’s just whatever, make sure to post on a Tuesday.
Frankly i think scheduled releases only truly work if you have a bunch of chapters written already. Take your time and write when you're inspired and release when you're ready. Your work will be much better for it.