Hard to read high multi chaptered stories

MelissaBaby said:

In my current series, I plan to follow the character's relationship through their lifetimes. I think that as they age, they will struggle to find ways to keep the sexual part of their lives fresh and interesting. It seems fair, because that's what we creators do all the time.

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I find that multi-chapter stories will help with identifying with the characters, and also following them as their relationships grow, fizzle out, or stagnate helps to give the story a sense of realism. Otherwise, we'd be better off reading Penthouse forum, or the letters to the editor on the porno magazines.

Canchon said:

I find that multi-chapter stories will help with identifying with the characters, and also following them as their relationships grow, fizzle out, or stagnate helps to give the story a sense of realism. Otherwise, we'd be better off reading Penthouse forum, or the letters to the editor on the porno magazines.

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Well, hello, honey...

Mary and Alvin Chapter One

Canchon said:

I find that multi-chapter stories will help with identifying with the characters, and also following them as their relationships grow, fizzle out, or stagnate helps to give the story a sense of realism.

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Identifying: It COULD happen, depending on how appealing they are. I've some stories where all players are scum. I don't expect readers to like anyone.

Realism: Oh, I don't want too much of THAT! Yes, a longer series provides much space for dramatic tragi-comedy. But I've developed players in one-page tales.

I find myself attracted to three-chapter arcs. [The Mark Twain model: 1- Chase them up a tree. 2- Throw rocks at them. 3- See if they come down.] The three could encompass a few human generations or one busy day. Each episode might be told from a different POV. The three might be sandwiched in one submission or stretched out into six units. Each unit is a distinct chunk of story. That's all.

Here's a wrinkle. You don't necessarily want some of your characters as well defined in erotica as you do in mainstream literature. Erotica is meant to evoke different, usually more intimate, sensual, and intense, response to characters--in identifying with them--than mainstream literature tends to do. Closely and extensively personifying your protagonist may be throwing your reader out of the story rather than bringing him/her into it. You might do better in reader response to give the reader latitude to identify with a character.

Long stories

I look forward to reading Mary and Alvin when complete, but I do NOT want to be left hanging when Melissababy gets discovered and runs off to Hollywood to write the screenplay.

I like long ones, but only finished. I've been burned by liking a few chapters of stories never completed. I should have checked the publication dates before I started, but I was new to the site. (I'm an old guy, and I remember being burned by Edwin Drood; I ran down to the dock to meet the ship and they informed me that Mr. Dickens had passed.)

I'd support them cleaning up the site by deleting some of that. You know: stories left incomplete for five years, with low readership and declining ratings.

Of course, I fielded many complaints on one story I declared complete but the readers insisted it wasn't.

It is so hard for us to stay under 50,000 words. We're not writing stroke stories, although we like them as much as the longer works on Lit. We've set out to write longer works because those are the stories we're trying to tell. Does it cost us readers? Sure. But, we also have people who enjoy what we're doing. To each their own.

wayneandanntriskelion said:

It is so hard for us to stay under 50,000 words. We're not writing stroke stories, although we like them as much as the longer works on Lit. We've set out to write longer works because those are the stories we're trying to tell. Does it cost us readers? Sure. But, we also have people who enjoy what we're doing. To each their own.

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It's entirely possible to write a tight, interesting, erotic story in under a thousand words... and to imply that these are of any less worth than the interminable, yawn-ridden epics which grace some of Lit's archive is just plain wrong.

I could use a stronger word.

lonigan said:

I look forward to reading Mary and Alvin when complete, but I do NOT want to be left hanging when Melissababy gets discovered and runs off to Hollywood to write the screenplay.

I like long ones, but only finished. I've been burned by liking a few chapters of stories never completed. I should have checked the publication dates before I started, but I was new to the site. (I'm an old guy, and I remember being burned by Edwin Drood; I ran down to the dock to meet the ship and they informed me that Mr. Dickens had passed.)

I'd support them cleaning up the site by deleting some of that. You know: stories left incomplete for five years, with low readership and declining ratings.

Of course, I fielded many complaints on one story I declared complete but the readers insisted it wasn't.

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Well, that seems fair.

I will try not to kick the bucket before I am finished.

nickydra said:

It's entirely possible to write a tight, interesting, erotic story in under a thousand words... and to imply that these are of any less worth than the interminable, yawn-ridden epics which grace some of Lit's archive is just plain wrong.

I could use a stronger word.

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I did not get the impression that they were implying anything negative about shorter stories, which I said that they enjoy reading.

Perhaps you missed that the posters name is wayne AND ann triskelion. Perhaps you mistook their use of "we" to imply something broader than what they meant by it.

I hope you were not spoiling for a fight. It seems imprudent to me to get into an argument with someone who just stated that they can't stop writing at less than 50,000 words.

nickydra said:

It's entirely possible to write a tight, interesting, erotic story in under a thousand words... and to imply that these are of any less worth than the interminable, yawn-ridden epics which grace some of Lit's archive is just plain wrong.

I could use a stronger word.

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I agree, such a piece could be very erotic, a very fine piece, and of great literary merit.

But I suspect many readers on Lit might want a little longer than a thousand words to get a result. I suspect it comes down to what the readers want in terms of their personal satisfaction, as to how they would rate such a story. Let's not delude ourselves - it's Literotica, not The New Yorker.

I'm curious, when do we get to see something of yours?

electricblue66 said:

I agree, such a piece could be very erotic, a very fine piece, and of great literary merit.

But I suspect many readers on Lit might want a little longer than a thousand words to get a result. I suspect it comes down to what the readers want in terms of their personal satisfaction, as to how they would rate such a story. Let's not delude ourselves - it's Literotica, not The New Yorker.

I'm curious, when do we get to see something of yours?

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I only started writing a few months ago and made the immediate decision not to put anything 'out there'. I have shared the occasional one with others (and vice-versa) on a confidential basis and find doing so much more enjoyable.

That's obviously a personal thing. I have no great craving for any 'rating' and view this as petty.

Yes, you're right, it's Literotica... and this leads me to see the vast majority of what's said in a certain light.

Once again, as regards length, I take the view that erotic writing is best served by the 'scenario' format, short and snappy. If I'm in the mood for a novel, even a shorter one, I look to people who write on other matters: adventure, crime, romance, history, family fortunes. They are far better suited.

nickydra said:

I only started writing a few months ago and made the immediate decision not to put anything 'out there'. I have shared the occasional one with others (and vice-versa) on a confidential basis and find doing so much more enjoyable.

That's obviously a personal thing. I have no great craving for any 'rating' and view this as petty.

Yes, you're right, it's Literotica... and this leads me to see the vast majority of what's said in a certain light.

Once again, as regards length, I take the view that erotic writing is best served by the 'scenario' format, short and snappy. If I'm in the mood for a novel, even a shorter one, I look to people who write on other matters: adventure, crime, romance, history, family fortunes. They are far better suited.

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Have you considered that perhaps not everyone is as quick on the trigger as you are?

nickydra said:

Once again, as regards length, I take the view that erotic writing is best served by the 'scenario' format, short and snappy. If I'm in the mood for a novel, even a shorter one, I look to people who write on other matters: adventure, crime, romance, history, family fortunes. They are far better suited.

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We had an organized writing event this winter to produce 750-word stories. This is the linked list of stories; enjoy. I didn't participate because it seemed like an event to produce poorly-rated prose, but many good writers did. In my experience, as well as comments by others and other writer's results, Lit readers give relatively low ratings to shorter stories.

The event produced some very well-written pieces, but the readers didn't offer up a lot of appreciation. Many of the stories had little or no eroticism. It's very difficult to write a story with an erotic scene in such a short format. My favorite piece from the event was just a character study, but it was a good one.

So, while you may get your jollies from erotic vignettes, they're a challenge to write and there aren't many readers who reward the effort. It might be good if you did publish some of your writing here. That way you could see if the reading public agrees with your opinions.

MelissaBaby said:

Have you considered that perhaps not everyone is as quick on the trigger as you are?

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Shrugs.

I take it as read that people vary in almost everything.

Almost...

I must have mentioned dozens of times now that I'm talking from a personal viewpoint. On the other hand, many people dish out their personal views as if they're universally accepted truisms... something which surely needs to be challenged.

Anyway, returning to the res, what I think induces many Lit authors to write long-windedly is actually something very simple: the deeply mistaken belief that long necessarily equals good.

NotWise said:

We had an organized writing event this winter to produce 750-word stories. This is the linked list of stories; enjoy. I didn't participate because it seemed like an event to produce poorly-rated prose, but many good writers did. In my experience, as well as comments by others and other writer's results, Lit readers give relatively low ratings to shorter stories.

The event produces some very well-written pieces, but the readers didn't offer up a lot of appreciation. Many of the stories had little or no eroticism. It's very difficult to write a story with an erotic scene in such a short format. My favorite piece from the event was just a character study, but it was a good one.

So, while you may get your jollies from erotic vignettes, they're a challenge to write and there aren't many readers who reward the effort. It might be good if you did publish some of your writing here. That way you could see if the reading public agrees with your opinions.

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Oh, that's interesting. I'll take a look.

I agree that a short format is a challenge... but then so are the most worthwhile things in life, frequently... and you may have noticed that I'm not particularly interested in the concept of 'ratings'. I do not agree that the readership here on Lit equates to the 'reading public', in any case.

I will certainly concede that 750 is a limit which places undue stress on creativity... perhaps 1500 would have produced a good combination of 'challenge' and 'satisfaction', from both the reader and writer viewpoints.

nickydra said:

I agree that a short format is a challenge... but then so are the most worthwhile things in life, frequently... and you may have noticed that I'm not particularly interested in the concept of 'ratings'. I do not agree that the readership here on Lit equates to the 'reading public', in any case.

I will certainly concede that 750 is a limit which places undue stress on creativity... perhaps 1500 would have produced a good combination of 'challenge' and 'satisfaction', from both the reader and writer viewpoints.

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My least-read story has been "viewed" 2300 times. That certainly makes it far more public then a story exchanged confidentially among friends. Stories commonly get 10's of thousands of views, and the most-read stories go over a million. That's all pretty public.

My shortest story is just about 1900 words. I originally challenged myself to write about 1750 words and expanded it because the sex scene was very dry. Dry sex is bad sex. It's also my second-least appreciated story.

The 750-word project had a challenging limit, but doubling that doesn't really allow for the development that most of our readers want. I wouldn't say that most of them want to read novels, but I think it's a common experience that more readers appreciate stories that are at least two Lit pages -- generally beyond the length of a simple scenario or vignette.

NotWise said:

We had an organized writing event this winter to produce 750-word stories. This is the linked list of stories; enjoy. I didn't participate because it seemed like an event to produce poorly-rated prose, but many good writers did. In my experience, as well as comments by others and other writer's results, Lit readers give relatively low ratings to shorter stories....

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Ahhh. NotWise beat me to the punch.

Yes, there was a 750 word event that was an incredible exercise. Most of the writing was very good. Many of the pieces were non-erotic or character explorations. Some were erotica, mine included. I was struggling to add words to hit 750. I could have written essentially the same with around 725.

This is a non-exhaustive list of 750-word erotica, ones I remember by title:

https://www.literotica.com/s/got-drunk-went-home-had-sex
https://www.literotica.com/s/annes-anal-lesson
https://www.literotica.com/s/join-me-3
https://www.literotica.com/s/al-you-make-me-smile-again
https://www.literotica.com/s/always-20
https://www.literotica.com/s/body-swap-fucking-mom
https://www.literotica.com/s/my-daughters-cam-show
https://www.literotica.com/s/the-night-before-graduation


Originally Posted by nickydra
I only started writing a few months ago and made the immediate decision not to put anything 'out there'. I have shared the occasional one with others (and vice-versa) on a confidential basis and find doing so much more enjoyable.

I’m a new writer as well (began writing in Dec. 2018), so I empathize. But I think there’s tremendous validity to the experienced writers’ advices above: the best way to find the water’s temp is to just dive on in. What’s frigid to others may feel like bath water to you, and vice versa. Look forward to reading whatever you publish!

NotWise said:

The 750-word project had a challenging limit, but doubling that doesn't really allow for the development that most of our readers want. I wouldn't say that most of them want to read novels, but I think it's a common experience that more readers appreciate stories that are at least two Lit pages -- generally beyond the length of a simple scenario or vignette.

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My two most-viewed stories are one-pagers. (One is my lowest-rated, the other did okay.) My dozen highest-rated, in Incest or Group, range from 3 to 8 pages and are mostly in an 18-chapter series. One high-rated Incest piece is an 8-page set of short tales, most under one LIT page, joined in a framing device (folks sitting around a campfire, bragging). My lowest-rated, in various categories, are mostly 1-3 LIT pages.

My conclusion: Everything has some sort of audience. Authors write anything from mini-vignettes to thousand-chapter epics and *somebody* reads them.

We return to an author's motive. Why do we write and post, unpaid but for brownie points? We may feel compulsions to write. We may adore brownie points (views, votes, faves, comments). We may want to arouse readers, or piss them off, or play with their heads. Maybe it's just mental masturbation.

An author's basic task is to decide what to say. What's said can be any length.

Nobody has a clue what "more readers" like about anything at Literotica. I just throw it out there for whoever wants to read it and don't make up "more readers like" assertions.

nickydra said:

I only started writing a few months ago and made the immediate decision not to put anything 'out there'. That's obviously a personal thing. I have no great craving for any 'rating' and view this as petty

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You can always submit your stories and turn off voting and comments as soon as they are published. That would take care of your craving.

I haven't read this entire thread, so this has probably already been mentioned; The primary, and most important, criteria for a story's length is; It's what the author wanted.

Like the OP, each writer has their own reason for crafting a story. The OP enjoys sharing them in private, likes short concise tales, etc. The OP is learning and exploring this new hobby in the way that pleases him/her.

That same sentiment and reasoning can be applied to every person who ever crafted and published a story here. For many writers, myself included, the main reason to write in the first place is to learn, hone and become more proficient in writing a complete story. A more traditional longer story affords more opportunity to do that.

As was said above; The 750 Word event was interesting, and I received some favorable comments...but my biggest take away from it was that the results were not all that impressive. Over the years, I've read some well done 'short strokers', and admit that there is an art to doing them well. But I consider them more like a 'porn clip' than a 'movie'—two entirely different animals that cannot be compared or judged side-by-side.

nickydra said:

I only started writing a few months ago and made the immediate decision not to put anything 'out there'. I have shared the occasional one with others (and vice-versa) on a confidential basis and find doing so much more enjoyable.

That's obviously a personal thing. I have no great craving for any 'rating' and view this as petty.

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Fair enough, but maybe consider the written word and how it presents. You may not mean it this way, but, "view this as petty" (when added to similar expressions you've used in various threads) does come across as a bit "holier than thou," a little bit superior. When one person picks up on it, perhaps they're being overly sensitive, but when a whole threadful of folk react similarly, perhaps it's the way it's being said. Just an observation, mind, from a sensitive, over-indulged nervous nelly.

(Everybody else looks around. "WTF, EB?" they all say, "you've never been this sensitive before, are you not well?")

Okay, so you're not going to put yourself out there in the public eye, I'll accept that. Writing erotica is intimate, personal, and can bare your soul. Putting it up for public consumption and scrutiny isn't always easy, it takes guts, the first time. But if you're not prepared to do that, don't disparage those that do. So far, we've seen you dislike long stories, dislike mixing comedy and erotica, dislike whatever the fuck else, I don't know. Is there anything here you DO like?

Negatives are easy to find and express, but folk get more satisfaction from finding out what they're doing right, not wrong. Sure, they can improve on the bad, but we don't write for that - we write for this (on topic, the other topic):

by Anonymous
07/23/17
HAHAHAHA
Ah, so many lols. "She'd better be worth all this, thought Steve, I'm taking an awfully long time to get on the job." Preach, brutha.

by Learin
12/01/18
Hilaarious!
This is, hands down, the most wtf story I've ever read on Literotica. Personally, satire is hard for me to write. It's hit or miss. This is an enjoyable read.

by HarryHill
02/17/19
Sex should be fun-ny
a little humor goes a long way, imagination even further.

by Bramblethorn
03/23/19
Augh! You should be ashamed of yourself. 5 stars.

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Live

MelissaBaby said:

Well, that seems fair.

I will try not to kick the bucket before I am finished.

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Good! I've had a lit crush on you since we exchanged some talk a few years ago, and I'm still waiting for you to finish M&A.

lonigan said:

Good! I've had a lit crush on you since we exchanged some talk a few years ago, and I'm still waiting for you to finish M&A.

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Thank you! I wish I had more time to write, so that I could finish each chapter sooner.

Well seeing as I have 44 chapters in my story so far and 10+ more to go before the end, I figure I might put my two cents in.

The advice of writing for yourself is good. If you want to share it, great. If not, thats fine.

When I started my story, it was my first real effort to write anything for others. I personally wanted feedback because I am trying to develop my skill and it helps to have input. I hadnt planned anything for the plot, just had a thin idea and ran with it. Then it grew to be massive as I explored the setting and its not wrong to say I am along for the ride as much as my readers. I was expecting maybe a few chapters and then seeing how it went. However, I got encouragement and more ideas so I kept going. Now I am here. 330,000 words into the story and I am going to be sad when its over. I do have the ending worked out, its just a matter of getting there without rushing.

Not sure how popular I am with readers, I get a few comments every chapter. The story is in sci-fi & fantasy even though its steampunk and I heard thats a low volume group. Recently I had someone comment that he got 'square eyes' binge reading my whole story once he discovered it. Im just happy that some people like it.

I wasnt planning a novel sized story, but you just gotta go with the flow. I admit I am terrible with short stories, I always go over the limit as things pop in my head. Anyways, I think readers all have their own tastes just as writers do. So write however you want because someone will be wanting to read it. When its all done, I will keep it as separate chapters but will title the last one as the final chapter so readers know its a finished story.