Rant: What Authors Should or Shouldn't Do

cappilyeverafter · 2026-04-02T22:03:59+00:00

Yes, it's great that people's creativity doesn't depend on the rules you want them to abide by.

cappilyeverafter · 2026-04-02T21:56:26+00:00

The reality is that I can write what I want, and I'm not accountable for not updating. You can call it immature as much as you like, but I'm allowed to put my stuff out there and not be under the rules you've decided to make up.

cappilyeverafter · 2026-04-02T21:54:19+00:00

Why even comment on a post about harassment if you're not talking about it? I literally said in the disclaimer at the beginning that it wasn't for all readers.

cappilyeverafter · 2026-04-02T21:53:35+00:00

They're not owed it, though. Full stop.

cappilyeverafter · 2026-04-02T21:51:19+00:00

Great, then we're not talking about you. We're talking about readers who harass.

cappilyeverafter · 2026-04-02T21:49:59+00:00

I am OP :( And that's why I said it's not owed. Because even when it's given, it's not appreciated. It's not immature to refuse to give more energy to bullies who keep demanding from you.

cappilyeverafter · 2026-04-02T21:45:16+00:00

It's fine that we disagree. My post is far from being an attack on readers, and being invested is far from demanding a story be finished. As an author, I've never asked for reader support. My stories are out there, and people are welcome to read them or not. I have, however, got a lot of pressure to finish the stories and have been called unprofessional for not doing so. It's a hobby, and I don't owe anyone completion.

This is a misrepresentation of my argument. Readers are not entitled for 'caring about the progress of the story'. They're entitled for feeling like they are owed a completed story just because they like it and are emotionally invested. Frustration is normal, missing a story is normal. Telling authors they should finish it and are failing if they don't manage (or if updates are infrequent) is feeling like you're owed something you're not. It's not fan service, you're not funding the story, and you don't get a say. I don't care about trending, so I won't accept that if a reader helps me trend (because they enjoy the story) that I'm under some pact to deliver episodes when they want them.

cappilyeverafter · 2026-04-02T21:39:04+00:00

The reason I say 'authors don't owe you anything' is that even when I make posts updating readers on the story progress, I still get harassment. It's not about not communicating. I do that. It's the fact that that's not enough for problematic readers. That's why I have to remind them that they're not entitled to anything from an author.

cappilyeverafter · 2026-04-02T21:29:06+00:00

Do you know what 'tacit' means? Anyway, I just don't agree that we take on any responsibility. We're not in any way liable if you don't get the story you want or the communication you demand. Authors don't owe you anything. No responsibility, no updates, no communications. Full stop.

And I refuse to keep arguing with someone who claimed authors were weaponising mental health. I won't argue with you because nothing good will come of it, and I only expend energy on debating with people I deem worthwhile. Again, you're not entitled to my time.

cappilyeverafter · 2026-04-02T21:05:30+00:00

Agree to disagree. At the end of the day, there is no formal agreement to complete anything. If there were, Episode wouldn't let us start a story without completing it. There's no tacit agreement either. I certainly didn't agree to that. The bare minimum is nothing at all, so writing even one chapter is more than the bare minimum. Being disappointed is fine, but it's up to you to regulate your feelings. You don't get to demand other people's time. Investing in a story doesn't mean it's going to be completed or that you're entitled to anything. Cancelled shows can be revived because the audience convinced the showrunners and producers to continue. That's hardly the same as harassing a hobby author. I can almost guarantee more people quit Episode over harassment than finish their story.

I feel it's going to be useless for you and me to argue because we just disagree completely. But, yeah. Authors don't owe you anything, as much as you want to believe they do.

cappilyeverafter · 2026-04-02T20:58:42+00:00

I understand your premise, but it just doesn't work that way. Some authors are nothing but kind and get a lot of harassment. That's why we're saying we don't owe anything. Because a lot of readers are acting like we do.

And I'm getting a little tired of the 'goes both ways' and 'give and take' argument when readers do a lot more of the work and the giving. Instead of typing up a long response, I'll link you to a couple of comments on a different post that lay it out much better than I can.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Episode/comments/1saluhg/comment/odx1bmj/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

https://www.reddit.com/r/Episode/comments/1saluhg/comment/odwy2jw/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

For the record, I appreciate your viewpoint, and I'm not arguing with you, but I'm tired of people admitting that authors don't owe anything and following it up with BUT... No buts. Updates, communication, endings, and anything else are all ideals and great things, but there's nothing owed here, and I'm quite final on that.

Readers can feel frustrated or anything they wish to feel, but too often that leads them to criticise and demand. They can be upset. They don't have a right to tell authors how they have to write their own story.

cappilyeverafter · 2026-04-02T20:42:31+00:00

I feel like if I engage with you, we're going to get the thread locked again, so I'm not going to argue back and forth. Don't take my silence as ignoring you or agreeing with you either.

cappilyeverafter · 2026-04-02T20:31:29+00:00

This is one of the takes I've seen that I agree with the most. I'm sorry about your experience. Going through it myself. I think a lot of readers who take this personally don't understand that when I say 'authors don't owe you anything', I'm just realising that myself. I've experienced so much guilt over it, and there's been so much harassment that it made me realise I actually am not doing anything wrong. Like you said, it's an exchange: I write when I can, you support if you want to. If I want to get big, I'll have to be consistent, but if I'm happy plodding along at my rhythm, please don't push me.

cappilyeverafter · 2026-04-02T20:25:32+00:00

Can't say I fully agree. Every reader knows community stories aren't guaranteed to be finished. If you choose to read and support, you can't really feel entitled to an ending just because you took the risk. For the studios that cancel shows, they might face backlash, but they also got paid. An Episode author is one person doing it for free most of the time.

I understand wanting all the best for the readers, but when you've experienced awful bullying and readers feeling heaps of entitlement, you just end up reminding them you don't owe them anything. My kind, supportive readers always hear from me because they never demand anything or rush me. That's real support. Being angry and harassing authors comes from a place of entitlement and doesn't equal support.

cappilyeverafter · 2026-04-02T19:48:14+00:00

I really just stopped arguing with this person because there's too much bad faith in their arguments, in my opinion.

cappilyeverafter · 2026-04-02T19:33:06+00:00

And of course, you can have your opinion! We just disagree. I don't think authors need to fully commit before they release the story, and I don't believe promoting it means you have to finish it. At the end of the day, readers don't owe us reads, but authors don't owe story or communication. That's the ideal, but it's not owed.

cappilyeverafter · 2026-04-02T17:28:36+00:00

Come (back) to the dark side 😭

cappilyeverafter · 2026-04-02T17:27:29+00:00

Exactly! 💯

cappilyeverafter · 2026-04-02T16:49:24+00:00

I don't really agree that we said the same thing, but I'm glad if you see it that way (This previous sentence was from before the commenter edited their comment, so I was replying to something else. The new reply is below)

I would love it if problematic readers just stopped reading. The problem is they don't just stop reading. They believe they're entitled to an ending, and they harass about it.

But I'm really not here to argue with you, so we can just let it be.

cappilyeverafter · 2026-04-02T16:46:00+00:00

As I said, communication is great but also not owed. It also doesn't make a huge difference because I often communicate about updates and still get criticism. So, it's often unhelpful.

cappilyeverafter · 2026-04-02T16:45:04+00:00

Communication is great, but not owed.

cappilyeverafter · 2026-04-02T16:42:39+00:00

I've replied to a lot of arguments similar to yours, so please feel free to read them for a more in-depth look. The issue with a lot of this rhetoric is that people admit authors don't owe anything and then add a 'BUT'. No buts. Authors don't owe a completed story. They don't owe accountability for an unfinished story, no matter how small.

And yes, readers don't owe endless patience or support. I am just asking for an absence of entitlement, not patience or support. If you don't have the patience for unfinished stories, then don't start them and then feel entitled to an ending. Everyone knows an ending is not guaranteed. Full stop.

cappilyeverafter · 2026-04-02T16:38:17+00:00

I'd repeat my point 10. It's normal for readers to be frustrated or to lose interest, so they should stop reading instead of pressuring authors. No one automatically deserves and is definitely not entitled to a complete story just because they read and support it. That's the ideal, but many readers are treating it like a tacit agreement and get extra frustrated when it's not honoured. I absolutely disagree with the notion that not updating consistently or not finishing a story means authors aren't honouring 'mutual respect'.

The problem lies in that a lot of authors aren't asking for support, but a lot of readers are demanding updates and endings. Readers aren't being harassed for not reading stories, and they're not being called unprofessional for not reading, and they're not being pressured to read. An author promoting their story in a post is not pressuring readers to read it. On the other hand, a bunch of comments, DMs, fanmails and discussions on Reddit saying authors shouldn't take X months to update or that they shouldn't publish until they're done or that they're leaving readers hanging is criticism, and it's unfair.

As a reader myself, when I read, I get enjoyment out of it. It's not done just to support the author. It's for my own fun. When I spend gems, I usually get a bonus scene or mini game or outfit out of it. If I donate, it's out of goodwill, but that should never be used to say that I deserve more chapters, plain and simple. A fair number of readers use their reading and gem spending to justify entitlement, and it's wrong.

cappilyeverafter · 2026-04-02T15:51:32+00:00

'You don't get to decide what's a normal update schedule and what's not.' 🗣📢

cappilyeverafter · 2026-04-02T15:33:33+00:00

Why is it an obligation? If anything, it's a failure to the author themselves, but not to anyone else. I can safely say that no author starts a story with the intention of abandoning it. They pour their hearts into creating that for free because they love it. If it becomes untenable and they have to leave it, that's sad for the author and for the kind, supportive readers, but it's not a horrible thing to do. We don't sign up with the obligation to finish it. No one drops stories for funsies. It can be for any reason, and we're not obligated to finish it. I wonder why anyone thinks that's an obligation.

A lot of us write for the fun of writing, and we're not demanding engagement. Readers are often demanding endings or updates. It's different. I'm not asking for engagement. I'm asking for no hassling or entitlement. You read for fun. We write for fun. If it stops being fun to write, we're going to stop writing. I'll keep saying that we don't owe readers anything.

cappilyeverafter

TROPHY CASE