The Hero with a Thousand Faces

The Hero with a Thousand Faces is a Harry Potter story by Lori Summers. 
The story was serialized at ParadigmOfUncertainty, a mailing list begun by Lori for her stories and the stories of a few other fans, including Cassandra Claire.
It was begun in May of 2002 and continued to May 5, 2005. There was then a three year gap, something that caused a lot of discussion, and controversy, with fans. Fans hounded the author, both good-naturedly, and some much less so, for more chapters and closure to the story. In March 2008, Lori posted a summary of what was to have been the end of the story.
==Trilogy==
 
* Paradigm of Uncertainty
* The Show That Never Ends 
* The Hero with a Thousand Faces
==The End of the Story==
For years, fans asked the author when the next chapter, chapter thirteen, would be posted. 
Things appeared to come to a head in an early-to-mid March on the mailing list when a fan goaded the author into finishing the story, and then threatened to do it themselves. The resulting discussion, often contentious and insulting, was probably the last straw for the story's author. See A 2008 Discussion: Round One and A 2008 Discussion: Round Two.
In the end, "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" was not completed. The author posted this at the first page of the mailing list March 24, 2008:
==The Long-Awaited Chapter 13, and Summary of the End==
On March 24, 2008, Lori posted story notes for what was to have been the long-awaited end of the story.
The introduction:
==Reactions and Reviews: The Story Itself Via the Final Summary==
A small sample of comments from the story summary on LJ.
[kari]: 
[kayleenyc]: 
[dotty8608]: 
[Cindy]: 
[jenilee]: 
[Joey]: 
[pie is good]: 
[Susan]: 
[mione1977]: 
[abigail89]: 
[slice254]: 
[luvpumpkinpie1]: 
[cokieisme]: 
[kittykatkid]: 
[telligirl]: 
[evildiorama]: 
[gabby145]: 
[snowweisz]: 
==Under Constant Request for Completion==
Fans asked constantly when the story would be completed. 
Some sample comments: 
[2007]: "No offense, but you did say that you were going to provide closure at the end of august - it is now september. (Honestly, no offense, I love the PoU trilogy - but i was standing by your word that you would at least post the spoiler at the end of august if you weren't going to finish the book...)" Re: Hero with a Thousand Faces, September 8, 2007 
[2007]: "I'd emailed Lori a while back and she had told me that she had neither the time nor the interest to finish THWTF. Maybe she was yanking my chain, but if not, there's Cassandra Claire's Draco Trilogy. It's really kickass. The lady has a great sense of humor. You can find all three parts on the website www.fur-haven/draco. It'll keep u in splits. Re: Hero with a Thousand Faces, September 8, 2007 
[2006]: "We are ALL waiting. Please be patient. There are several messages like yours that comes through every week, and I don't get it. Would you really want to rush Lori for a less well done product?" 26801 Re: (PoU) The Hero With a Thousand Faces, March 13, 2006 
[2006]: [comment by Lori]: "Okay, I'm getting the feeling that some of you would like to read chapter 13. Seriously. I totally get your impatience. In fact, I'm flattered by it and I'm very grateful for it. But it's really not helpful. It just makes me feel bad and guilty and that is not a mood that's conducive to writing. It just makes me start associating bad feelings with the chapter and that's now how I want to feel about it. I don't know how many more ways I can say it. I am working on the chapter. I haven't quit. It will come out. No, I don't know when. I have a bajillion other things I'm working on at the moment. It will come out when it's done. That's all the information I have. Thank you very much for your continued interest." Chapter 13, July 31, 2006 
[2004: "I have every confidence Lori will finish this fic...in her own time. I certainly an not going to speak for her, and I hope this isn't off-putting but she's got more going on in her world than fanfiction. I'm sure she'll post the next chapter when she not only finds the time to write it, but feels like it's ready to post. In the venerable words of Yoda (who yells this at me everytime I click too fast on my computer) "Patience!"" Re: (PoU) Hero with a thousand faces, July 22, 2004 
A small sample of comments about having to wait for the next chapter: A Hero With a Thousand Faces - Part 13 - annual recurrence (May 2006), Fan Fiction - Hero with a Thousand Faces (March 2006)
===A 2008 Discussion: Round One===
In March 2008, a fan posted a long, snarky post asking Lori Summers to finish "The Hero with a Thousand Faces." It sparked many comments about WIPs, frustrations fans had when chapters to favorite stories were a long time in coming, fannish entitlement, the "obligation" that fanwriters had to their fans, and whether BNFs were fairer game for criticism than other fans. 
This discussion was at Bear with me..., a series of posts made March 5-20, 2008 at ParadigmOfUncertainty.
[huricaneh]: 
[Lori Summers]:
 
[huricaneh]: 
[Agata Zielinska]: 
[Alison]: 
[Jen Matthews]: 
[Kate]: 
[anychimp]: 
[huricaneh]: 
[Molly Ireland]: 
[freshwater]: 
[Pauline Greenfield]: 
 
[Brad]: 
[Lori Summers]: 
[Neiltkd]: 
[Brad]: 
[Ray Ramsay]: 
[freshwater]: 
[Lori Summers]: 
[Maria Elmvang]: 
[Brad]: 
[Liz Anne]:
[freshwater]: 
[Pauline Greenfield]: 
[blahblah1462]: 
[Julie Pavika]: 
[knightromance]: 
===A 2008 Discussion: Round Two===
This discussion continued a few days later when the fan who'd posted the original complaint said they were going to wait until Lori posted her summary of how the end of the-now permanently unfinished story. The fan was then going to write the ending of the story themselves. 
The discussion can be seen here: YOU ASKED FOR IT!, March 19, 2008.
 
[huricaneh]: 
[Lori Summers]: 
[Molly Ireland]: 
[katie ann]: 
[Molly Ireland]: 
[katie ann]: 
 
[Michael Evans]: 
[Potterblacklupin]: 
[Lori Summers]: 
[huricaneh]: 
==References==
Category:2000s