I know that your not supposed to ask an author when will they update their WiP. So I ask this as an aspiring writer/author. I’d like to hear opinions on small frequent updates vs the larger ones that take a while to come out. I can’t decide which way is better for me. I feel like I’m holding out on my readers when I’ve got a chunk to update but withhold it so I can upload a huge chunk. (I have a lot of branches and usually only update when I’ve written a bit for each branch).
Frequent large updates 
But if I have to choose between small, frequent updates or large, slow updates I prefer slow and large updates, mainly because I’ll only have to read the whole thing every once in a while as opposed to about every week or so. As fun as it might be, that just takes up a whole lot of time, which will probably result in me only reading the thing once a month or so anyway.
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As an author what I have done so far, and will be doing in the future, is releasing updates on a chapter to chapter basis.
For me it’s just easier doing it that way because I find it easier to fix bugs at the end of a chapter rather than having to constantly compile and re-upload my game; which is the case when releasing small frequent updates.
Hmm. I’m more in the ‘I wonder about this too’ camp, but I’m planning on updating my story about once a month- I guess every other month if I split my time between my two projects (I haven’t decided yet). But I’m not sure if I consider it a big update or a small update. What would you call an update size of somewhere between 5k and 10k more words (per playthrough)?
I like the chapter by chapter idea, but, err, at least for one of my stories, it would be difficult to divvy up chapters. Still, I think that’s about right. Once a month or once per chapter sounds good to me.
I was doing one update a month but then I put my first one on hold for CScomp and now its nearly 2 months since the last update. Per chapter will probably work best for my wip from the comp but not so much with the first wip. It’ll probably be about 3 - 4 months an update if I do it that way. Interesting to hear others thoughts and how they handle this.
I was doing an update per finished chapter up 'till the CS-comp, but my current chapter is getting a bit out of control, so I’ve split it up into parts at some points where most branches converse into one main branch before splitting up again, and update the game once I’ve completed one.
Personally, I don’t really care, as long as there will be an update. And the WiP will eventually complete.
It seems tiring to keep playing the same wip over and over just to get another page and a demo over. I say do it in half chapter updates to keep things fresh and to keep attention.
I would say small, frequent updates until you have a handle on the coding and what direction you’re taking the story. Once you’ve got that down, switch to larger, more infrequent updates with more content.
From my own experience (I have done 3 updates so far) I feel that small updates don’t really get you that much feedback (I suppose people don’t want to read the entire thing again only to get some new bits and pieces…). So I think I will be switching also to big updates…
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I prefer large slow updates, ones that consist of a whole new chapter or path.
After such an update I can focus my attention on this WIP, play through the new content, and give feedback on it. During the breaks between updates I play other WIPs as well. If all these WIPs have frequent small updates I have to switch attention more often and am therefore more likely to get lost and miss something.
I dont have a problem with juggleing wips its juat i just want to get into the game and get relax in once ive gotten to the point i last stopped at. Or else im just like okay, well thats a nice sentence. Then do it all over again, then i usually lose interest
I’m a perfectionist; I’m anxious about showing my work to a larger audience until I’ve edited and play tested it. So I started doing a thing after my Day 1 demo where I moved to a smaller audience of testers (I think I’ve got about 30 by now?) That’s where I upload my progress semi-frequently, so I can get some feedback before releasing a big update to the public.
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Seems like a good test group. I hope for another update from your wip.
I think I’ll update part of the branches for a bit. Then go back to the larger updates? From the sounds of it, people are happy to read whenever as long as there’s an update? And most writers like to have the part perfected before uploading it?
‘Perfect’? Hardly. Just have it pass quicktest to make sure there are no game-stopping errors and have it run through a spelling check is enough for me. Then again my WiP is still in it’s Alpha stages, so it doesn’t have to be that perfect just yet.
Yeah, perfected by running the tests. Honestly I don’t run it through a spell check straight away because I reread a lot of my work. I like to do spell checks after the chapter is finished so if I read something that’s missing earlier on I can add it then.
Learned more about writing and prose by writing my wip’s than I ever learned at school. Sad but true
Wait, there are supposed to be classes at school where they teach you how to write stuff? 
Other than writing a formal letter, I mean?
Yeah!? They teach that in Australia. English class covers how to write stories, poems, their structures and themes. How to write debates and analytical reports styles. For instance a science report has a different structure to mathematical report. That’s considered the “standard” here. Covering different types of writing. Back when I went to school, many years ago; I actually didn’t learn how to write a letter in English class. I learned that in IT class when I went to uni. They didn’t teach those things in your English classes?
I think we covered sonnet structures in English class at some point. We never had to write one though. I have to mention that English isn’t my main language, so that could be the reason, but I don’t think they covered anything more substantial than basic poem structures and writing letters and what a report should somewhat look like in the lessons dealing with my main language either. Aside from the letters I can’t remember having to write much aside from the regular grammar exercises though.