Start as you intend to continue, or post what you have?

[Enigmatica91]

Currently I have 13 separate, but entwined stories in various stages of completion (centered around a group of seven female friends who appear in, or influence each in some way), however - the only one in any state I'd consider complete enough to publish is entirely girl-on-girl, approx 6k words as it stands. But the other 12 are not.

So, I'm unsure on whether to hit 'submit' on that one, knowing that the others alongside it are somewhat different to the others - or wait until another feels ready? I daydream for myself and write for my wife, but the reader's experience still matters - would publishing that particular story first create a false expectation of what's to come?

Across the various stories, there is a fair amount of similar subject matter, though not 'exclusively' women by any stretch of the imagination - leaving me a little uncertain as to whether I should hold off until another, more 'typical' story is ready, or just stop procrastinating about it and hit the damned button!

 

[AlinaX]

The trouble with waiting is that it might never be time.
If the chapter you have can be read as standalone, then go for it. Don't worry about expectations.

 

[ElectricBlue]

The trouble with waiting is that it might never be time.
If the chapter you have can be read as standalone, then go for it. Don't worry about expectations.

Agree. @Enigmatica91 - you might know you have a dozen interconnected stories, but readers don't. If you have a standalone story, get it out there, get some feedback, start writing the next standalone story.

Do an apprenticeship with a bunch of shorter pieces, learn your technical chops, learn your natural style. Only when you can walk, can you run.

 

[Cagivagurl]

I agree with the other two commenters.

If the story can live as a stand alone, then submit...
If they are part of a multi chaptered series, then perhaps I wouldn't be so hasty.
Speaking from my own experience, which is very limited.
I was very eager to submit a story. It was part of a series.
After posting, I then felt the weight of expectation to post the remaining chapter (Which weren't finished).
With that expectation weighing me down, I set about writing as fast as I could to post the remaining chapters.
In hindsight, it was the wriong decision. My writing was rushed, the quality terrible. If I were to read them today, I would see all of the errors and it would annoy me greatly.
My advice, and it's only my opinion.
If the story depends on the following chapters, don't submit until you have three or four ready to go.

There is also the readers to consider.
I have seen many angry comments on stories where an initial chapter is posted, but then a long wait.
It frustrates the readers... If it is a good story, then they are eager to read the remainder of the story...

Balance eagerness to post, with the realities...
Posting can energise you. Seeing people read one of your stories certainly boosts ego and confidence...
It fuels your desire to write..

Cagivagurl

 

[eroghost]

It took over a decade to get to the next chapter of an erotica series I'm making. Submit.

 

[Djmac1031]

If the first one feels complete, a full story unto itself, go ahead and publish. Perhaps with a little note at the end informing readers there may be more coming if / when it feels right, but make no solid promises.

If you only ever publish the one at least it's a solid story on its own.

 

[TheRedChamber]

It's probably good to just publish what you have, especially if you've never published anything before. Readers are a lot less interested in the masterplan, literary universe and connected web of characters than you are going to be. They're just going to want a good story. Having something atypical is fine for a first story, it can give you experience of publishing and allow you to get your typical stuff in better order (maybe). Nobody is going to expect you to have everything figured out with your first story.

The other thing is you could take a decade to write 1 million words of masterfully plotted 7 girl interrations over three decades, the Great American Stoker, and then publish and find everyone hates it (which is okay if you like it, but still a bit deflating).

 

[M_K_Babalon]

So they're interconnected. If you plan on releasing them all, and you don't really need the others to make complete sense of it, then do it. Eventually readers will figure it out, unless it's like reading Wolverine #4, and at some point it tells you see Captain America #26 and Moon Knight #13 to make sense of what the hells going on. At least you'll have something out here.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Herein lies much of the confusion faced by new writers here:

It took over a decade to get to the next chapter of an erotica series I'm making. Submit.

Is it a chapter to a stand-alone story or is it a stand-alone story that is part of a series?

If will stand on its own with defined beginning, middle, and end to the theme, then submit it. Otherwise, you should wait until the entire story is complete.

 

[ronde]

I don't think it matters if it's a stand-alone story or part of a series. Submit it.

The reason for that is each one should have a definite ending. If it's part of a series, leave a hook line so the reader knows something else is coming, but no reader is going to be waiting with bated breath for the next installment if you tell them it's coming. That's like the old saying that the check is in the mail. It's just an attempt to keep a reader base with a promise that may or may not ever happen. If you end the chapter, you can always pick back up with the characters on the next installment. It's good idea to mention the previous stories though, unless you want to write a dozen or so paragraphs reintroducing characters and what happened before.

The only caveat to publishing part of a series before all the series is complete is the problem of finding out you've written a situation or a character that's the opposite of what you wrote in previous submissions. You can't go back and change the first one, so you'll have to somehow explain what changed.

Also, if the incomplete stores have a bunch of characters involved, most readers aren't going to remember more than a couple, so you'll have to introduce them in each submission anyway.

 

[Enigmatica91]

Thanks for the advice and suggestions, all of you, much appreciated! I think I'll be spending the next few hours checking everything over once more, making sure I'm happy with how it reads, and then finally submit it.

Most individual characters appear in at least two parts, but described in such a way that whilst it might be an incomplete representation of them overall - everything relevant to the relationships between characters present and events mentioned in any particular story is self-contained.

It absolutely shouldn't require any further reading in order to understand the goings-on in a given piece, they're more like a loosely related collection of stories joined together by certain characters, with some occasional crossover between them than a multi-part series, per se. Each has it's own relationship or grouping of relationships that are the focus, and if it doesn't fit in, it's split off into it's own story rather than bloating another unnecessarily.

Some of the others might well have to be broken up into smaller chapters - the largest being over 43k words without quite being a quarter to completion - Those, I wouldn't even consider going near publishing until they're fully done with, and could be submitted on some kind of predictable schedule as they're edited down to something more reasonable. Easier said than done, I know!

This one however, should be a case of post and it's done, barring some atrocity I haven't noticed across numerous passes. There should be no need for a Ch.2+ to exist, but the next part involving the pair in this one takes place ~18 months later, leaving a reasonable gap of dead space to expand into a second part if there's a good reason to add more.

So then, I suppose the biggest barrier is me and my overthinking again?! Well, nothing new there!

Cheers,

E.