Okay, so let's say you've started your story, but suddenly, you're POUNDED CONSTANTLY WITH THE BLOCK OF THE ALMIGHTY WRITER! (Writer's block...come on now). The thing is that you shouldn't immediately confine yourself to the fact that you can't continue this fic, and you shouldn't let your peers influence you to rush updates and make a premature story just because of that.

I've seen many fics in which the authors, through separate chapters, constantly announce when they're going to update, or if they're going on hiatus, and etc etc. The hiatus, I can understand, however, I don't need to know when you update. These aren't like youtube vids in which some of the more popular uploaders schedule when they make new videos and tell all of their subscribers constantly when to expect something (and I think to combat this, that's what that 'story feed' feature on the sidebar was made for).

The point of the story is to make it seamless, and this doesn't necessarily mean it will not have timeskips (and in all honesty, stories with no timeskips at all tend to drag on forever and ever because some authors think that I want to know every single life detail in full trilogy about what's happening to the character). Some details don't need to take precedence. At the beginning of a story, it's fine to introduce the character's morning routine, such as when they wake up, how they get dressed, what they eat for breakfast, but if that happens in every single chapter where you repeatedly explain it, that's either just laziness for thinking of something new, or you're just looking for ways to increase word count (though the words don't really seem to matter to most people because I still see the shortest chapters ever).

You need to have a pace that you're steady and going at, regardless of whether people comment and say you're going too fast with the story or not. Perhaps it's balance. You need to find a pace that you're comfortable with that's just enough to satisfy the audience.

So let me help you with some things.

A typical mishap with writer's block is the fact that if left untreated (yes, it's a horrible infectious disease) for too long a period of time, the writer, unless they just plotted everything beforehand, tends to lose all memory of what they had planned, and interest afterwards.

1. In a saved word document, you can go down a couple of lines to know where you don't know what to write next, and write scenes that happen much later in the story. You can fill in the gaps later.

This is just so you know how exactly to plot your climactic scene, and write how you want it to pan out, and then perhaps it will inspire you to write everything else that leads up to it. I've done this a couple of times, and though they are posted, I think I love how I've written some of these scenes originally, uneditted.

2. Don't be pressured to rush.

If you're honestly so hung up on making the other person on the screen satisfied, that's kind of pathetic, because all they're using against you is pixels on the screen. You write and update when you want. I have some stories in my subscription list that update probably once every two months. I'm okay with the wait because it gives me something to look forward to, and it's a pleasant surprise when I get it, because I don't have to expect it constantly.

As for a person that updates rapidly, sure I get to know what happens next in the story, but if it comes too fast, then I don't care. Unless it was pre-written before being posted, there's honestly no way a chapter could have been extremely well-written and not planned within 8 hours of the previous update.

3. Allow yourself to accept some deviation.

Chances are, even if you have writer's block, you wanted something to happen in your story and plotted every single detail for it. Well, if you're having a hard time expressing how you want that to sound in words, you have to find some other way to express it. It's like learning a new language. If we're not advanced in our vocabulary, you have to use other words to express the same thought, perhaps simplified, but still getting the message accross.

Just like in any event in life, we don't move without change. That's how we progress, and even with something as minuscule as writing a fanfic, you can apply the same principles.

4. Finally, just don't be too quick to conclude.

Okay, so a little side story. I actually have not added any new friends that I honestly talk very much to here on AFF for over a year now, and part of this is because...how to word it nicely...they're annoying. Not with they're attitude, but with what they post. I get notifications for EVERYTHING on AFF (I have every checked in my settings), because that works for me, I don't get very many updates anyway, so I can have that leniency. What I don't like is whenever I see a 'friend' of mine (i.e. a person that randomly adds me and I, by some ungodly force, accepted) posts a blog about how they updated yesterday, and there were NO NEW COMMENTS!

Get over it. Do you know how many fanfics are updated daily on AFF? You could probably see your fic on the updates page once, and you refresh a second later, and it's on the third page. Not very many people will see your updates through those means alone. Not everyone likes to comment either (as for me, I don't have much karma because I only comment on fics that I honestly feel the impulse to mention something about. I won't comment with two or three words only).

So that goes two ways. You have either become extremely annoyed that no one notices, or you become too depressed and take it upon yourself that your fic automatically .

Don't. Do. Anything.

Just keep on writing how you want, and that's perfectly fine. In all honesty, I much rather enjoy receiving the comments from my close friends that I made like years ago than some random reader, but perhaps that's a personal thing.

So how the does the title of the chapter apply?

Simple. After you've started, DON'T STOP. (At least not til you're through and satisfied).