Word count

[Snugbug]

I know from personal experience that the stories on here vary in length quite a bit, but as writers, what length works best for you?

 

[oggbashan]

Whatever is appropriate for the particular story. My posted stories range in length from 50 words to 50,000...

 

[Snugbug]

Whatever is appropriate for the particular story. My posted stories range in length from 50 words to 50,000...

That's fair I guess, in the past I've had a tendency towards short stories, like less than 1000 words, and they were ignored or I was told it was too short, not on here but other sites. I'm trying to go for longer now.

 

[Hypoxia]

A story should be just as long as it needs, no more, no less. Well, maybe a little...

LIT's Minimum submission length is 750 words. The maximum has not yet been reached.

A LIT browser page is about 3750 words. Page lengths in the Android app vary with device and orientation. Many LIT readers and writers are comfortable with stories or chapters of 2-3 LIT browser pages, 7500-11000 words. Others like more or less. It's up to the author.

What works best? Depends on the story. Some are three one-page chapters. Some are a half-dozen or a dozen multi-page chapters. Real long pieces usually get higher vote scores because only approving readers last till the end. Real short pieces may get many reads but few votes. Category is important too, more so than word count.

Do what you gotta do.

 

[Handley_Page]

I'd suggest between 7000 and 10000 words;

 

[Snugbug]

A story should be just as long as it needs, no more, no less. Well, maybe a little...

LIT's Minimum submission length is 750 words. The maximum has not yet been reached.

A LIT browser page is about 3750 words. Page lengths in the Android app vary with device and orientation. Many LIT readers and writers are comfortable with stories or chapters of 2-3 LIT browser pages, 7500-11000 words. Others like more or less. It's up to the author.

What works best? Depends on the story. Some are three one-page chapters. Some are a half-dozen or a dozen multi-page chapters. Real long pieces usually get higher vote scores because only approving readers last till the end. Real short pieces may get many reads but few votes. Category is important too, more so than word count.

Do what you gotta do.

That's quite helpful! Thank you

 

[sr71plt]

If you are trying to develop a style that competes in mainstream contests, hit for under 3,500 words. For Literotica? At least 8,000 words would be good--onto the third Literotica page. My stories here probably average something under 5,000 words.

 

[Snugbug]

If you are trying to develop a style that competes in mainstream contests, hit for under 3,500 words. For Literotica? At least 8,000 words would be good--onto the third Literotica page. My stories here probably average something under 5,000 words.

I'm not sure if I'll take part in any contests yet, but that's definitely good to know!

 

[ElectricBlue]

If you are trying to develop a style that competes in mainstream contests, hit for under 3,500 words. For Literotica? At least 8,000 words would be good--onto the third Literotica page. My stories here probably average something under 5,000 words.

Copy that - for a stand alone story, 3-5 Lit pages seems to be good; chapters can run a little tighter but agree, get to the third page at least. Give readers a decent read and time for the...plot... to develop.

 

[SimonDoom]

The typical Lit story, if there is such a thing, consists of two parts:

1. Situation that leads to sex (broadly defined)
2. Sex

My experience as a longtime reader and less-longtime writer is that 1 Lit page (3750 words or something like that) usually is too short, because either the lead up to the sex or the sex gets shortchanged in a story of that length. 5,000 to 10,000 words (1 1/2 to 3 Lit pages) works well for stories here. But there are some good shorter stories and a lot of good longer stories, so this is no more than a rough guideline.

My shortest story is about 3,800 words and my longest story is just over 17,000 words, and my average story length is about 8,000 words. That is, if you count separately published chapters as separate stories.

 

[TxRad]

The story should be long enough to get the reader off but short enough that they don't injury their left hand.

 

[Hypoxia]

The typical Lit story, if there is such a thing, consists of two parts:

1. Situation that leads to sex (broadly defined)
2. Sex

Sometimes this is expanded to:

1. Sex
2. Flashback or elaboration that justifies the sex
3. Sex

Get-em by the balls and their hearts and minds will follow.

 

[NotWise]

Among what I've written, my favorite stories ("Oscars Place", "The Third Ring") tend to be fairly short. It takes some effort to tell an intense story in a few thousand words, but when it works there is an impact. Longer texts (my "Valentines for Cinderella") need more story to hold them up, but if you have the story and the characters then a lot of people will appreciate it.

 

[PapaPalpatine]

I know from personal experience that the stories on here vary in length quite a bit, but as writers, what length works best for you?

Making your story an enjoyable read should always come first; word count is, at best, a secondary concern.

 

[SamScribble]

If your intention is to write a short story, then the only limit is what can be comfortably read in a single sitting. For me, that's two or three Lit pages. The moment I see six pages, nine pages, I'm not even going to click start. But there are people with other views.

 

[TamLin01]

Shorter is better.

Of course, the appropriate length for a story depends on that story. There's no formula. But shorter is still better.

In my case, there'd better be a damn good reason for going over 10,000 words. In most cases, going over 8,000 usually indicates that the story is sloppy and needs pruning. Usually.

 

[gordo12]

I've seldom seen GOOD one page stories. That's quite rare. Only really good writers can pull those kind of stories off.

Someone else pointed out a page is around 3700 words.

I'm good with 2-3 pages when I read. Anything over that and I throw it in future reading file. I just don't have the time for that long a story. I do check the length before starting to read.

As far as writing goes I have numerous stories (published elsewhere or unpublished yet) that vary from 4k up to 50k. Whatever telling the story takes.

 

[sr71plt]

I've seldom seen GOOD one page stories. That's quite rare.

I have, and, maybe it's not popular here at Literotica, but it certainly isn't rare in the real literary world. The upper limit for most writing contests in the mainstream literature world is 3,500 words. That's less than one Literotica page. Literotica writers and readers just have been made accustomed not to need to value every word they put in a story and tight plotting. Verbosity and irrelevance is rewarded at Literotica.

 

[SamScribble]

I have, and, maybe it's not popular here at Literotica, but it certainly isn't rare in the real literary world. The upper limit for most writing contests in the mainstream literature world is 3,500 words. That's less than one Literotica page. Literotica writers and readers just have been made accustomed not to need to value every word they put in a story and tight plotting. Verbosity and irrelevance is rewarded at Literotica.

Ain't that the truth?