If your writing partner up and disappears...

[Jacen Nimdok]

Now, this isn't necessarily a situation I'm in (not yet, anyway) but I am wondering how other people would deal with it or have dealt with it in the past.

Let's say you're writing with somebody on the regular, and you have a long-term story you've planned with them. Then for whatever reason, they just stop logging on to Chaos. There's no LOA, no messages, nothing. But time passes and it looks like they're not coming back any time soon.

You still have this big story you're trying to tell, but without the other person to participate, you're left at a standstill, unable to progress the plot. What do you do?

I already kind of know what the options are (find somebody else to write with, create your own character(s) to replace theirs in the narrative, do something else until they come back, etc) but I'm interested, as always, in hearing about other people's stories and experiences, what worked for them and what didn't.

 

[Ellie Mors]

As the person who has done this to people before, and have had it happen to me in the past, the best option is to either just drop the story (if it's too specific to the person) or use their absence as a reason (in character as much as out of character) to move on. Treat it like being ghosted by a date, just leave it behind. There's nothing gained by waiting around for a year.

 

[Kyra Perl]

I usually write with someone for a long time before entering any intense story with them. Kinda my way of learning who they are and seeing if they stable enough for that. I personally need friendship and consistency to enter into large arcs, and looking for that seems to have saved me from this predicament over the years.

But heaven forbid life happens and my partner needs to let a story go, I drop it and find a new thing.

Ellie Mors speaks truth. Don't wait around, find your new enjoyment.

 

[Fatty]

So basically my strategy here is to always give myself an 'out' so to speak. I never let my characters depend so wholly on another writer that it leaves everything at a stand still. Call it preventative maintenance.

Also, I generally let threads die where they do and don't usually poke unless I was having an exceptionally good time writing with them, and use my out to move on.

If the thread that died held some logical conclusion to it, I usually "head canon" it and move on in a new thread. If it was short and held little consequence or conclusion, I usually treat it as never having happened

 

[Jsc]

Since 2009, probably half of my stories have been abandoned in some form or another. Which, is totally fine with me and pretty run-of-the-mill for this genre of play anyway. I've adapted my expectations and methods accordingly.

First, Alekto speaks truth. Every end is just another beginning. And if you treat it as such, you'll never be disappointed.

Second, for me, I always take long stories in small chapters. And I never plan ahead with other people more than two chapters either. Because we usually can't give each other that. One of us is going to go AFK at some point in the next three months, or start a new faction, or join an Invasion, or just get bored with each other. So we set our expectations accordingly. We live only in the present and maybe, one chapter ahead.

Third, I don't do marriage relationships between writers. Because when they AFK or disappear, I'm left with a character missing half their soul. And that's just a terrible situation to try to write around. Now, dating, siblings, or work buddies? Sure. Those are manageable. Swap in, swap out. No biggie. But actually trying to write around a marriage where the other writer is poof? No me gusta.

Fourth, have an ending in mind. Or, always have an end goal. This way, no matter what happens or what gets in your way? You still have something to shoot for. It's for this reason my favorite place to start drafting a story is at the end. It's like my compass as I cross the stormy ocean. Always moving forward.

Fifth, always have your writing partner give you a schedule commitment no matter how vague or silly it is. For example, I like to ask people how often they prefer to post. Daily, Semi-weekly, Once a week, semi-monthly, once a month, or only during the summertime vacation, or between military deployments, or only when I'm at work. Etc. That way you always know how to gauge expectations or can tell up front if something isn't going to work out long term.

Sixth, shoot the chit with your partner on Discord or Skype. Just waste time with them and goof off together. I can't tell you how bonding with something else as just people makes them want to write with you more. Commit to you more. And feel terrible when they poof on you and come back sooner. Lol. I've even had people who poof'ed on me come back months later and actually buy me lunch to say sorry. Same country too! Wow!

2 cents. Hope it works out for ya!

 

[Pom Stych Tivé]

I was once so into my introductory storyline and I waited very long for my AWOL partner...like honestly over a year. I wrote up what I had hoped to see and decided to just post my mega-reply to my thread, adding that my character walked out on them. It sucks when that happens. Happened a few times to me already! I decided I would develop a bunch of separate plots between different people. This helps in retaining a sense of wholeness should someone disappear, instead of everything falling apart.

 

[Luca Ioneşti]

It's become kind of a joke with some of my friends how I have disappeared over the years and have rarely finished threads, but I'm almost always willing to pick things back up again, whether it's them that's been away or me. You do this RP thing long enough and you can, like me, pick up and finish a thread four years later.

As for character romantic relationships, I've found the people I've formed them with are interested in maintaining them, as we all go through seasons of life being more or less demanding. I've never really had someone want to move on, if I've been absent, but I wouldn't keep them from doing so if they wanted to... I just appreciate the courtesy of being notified, because we can get invested in our characters, so to come back not knowing and find that a relationship is no longer a thing can hurt, as I've seen happen to some friends over the years. But if that does happen, well, that's life too, and in the end this is just a hobby.

As for how I write around absences of other people without dropping them like a hot potato? Well, I'm pretty good at thinking my way out of a paper bag, sometimes... but really. Thinking of reasons why the other character is absent (sometimes you can even ask their writer!) and building out of that is something I've done at times. But this all can depend on the rapport I have with the other writer. I'm more likely to stick it out for people I'm fond of.