is there an established ideal length?

[rae121452]

get your mind out of the gutter.................i mean for stories!

this has probably been discussed ad infinitum but i'm fairly new, so i'm not privy to the history.

is there a preferred or recommended length for stories submitted? there are a lot of people here who publish regularly and have done so for a long time, share your wisdom. is there a word count that makes the whole process smoother and less of a burden for all concerned?

 

[SimonDoom]

get your mind out of the gutter.................i mean for stories!

this has probably been discussed ad infinitum but i'm fairly new, so i'm not privy to the history.

is there a preferred or recommended length for stories submitted? there are a lot of people here who publish regularly and have done so for a long time, share your wisdom. is there a word count that makes the whole process smoother and less of a burden for all concerned?

No.

The majority of stories are probably under 3 "Lit pages" (3750 words per page, on average), but there are highly successful, highly rated stories of over 20 pages.

The needs of the story should dictate its length, not a pre-conceived idea of how long it "should" be.

But I have observed some things about story length:

1. If it's a "stroke" story, it doesn't need to be longer than 2 pages, or perhaps 3. Readers are there to, you know, not to settle in for the long haul with a long story. So if it's stroke you're after, 2 pages is a good length. It's possible to write a really good 1-page story, but my impression is a lot of readers like them a little bit longer than that.

2. The longer the story is, the fewer people will get through to the end The ratio of views to votes will increase as it gets longer.

3. There is some correlation between longer stories and higher scores, if that matters to you. That's probably because of self-selection; with a longer story the people who stick around are the ones that like it.

 

[oggbashan]

My shortest stories are 50 words long. I have to submit them in sets of 15 to reach Literotica's 750 word minimum.

My longer stories can be over 5 Lit pages and yet I get comments asking for the story to be longer.

The real answer seems to be - a story should be as long or as short as it needs to tell the story.

 

[Weird Harold]

is there a preferred or recommended length for stories submitted?

Each story should contain exactly the number of words required to tell the story the author wants to tell; not one word more or less.

Lit does have a minimum word count of 750 words for story submissions, but Authors like Oggsbashan bundle several flash-fiction stories into one submission to post shorter stories.

In practice, stories should be at least one Lit page (3767 words +/- ~400 words) but the needs of the story should be the final determining factor.

 

[_Lynn_]

Each story should contain exactly the number of words required to tell the story the author wants to tell; not one word more or less.

This.

 

[Voboy]

Good answers already, OP. SimonDoom’s is particularly accurate in my experience.

Listen to your writerly instincts. My first long story was posted in multiple chapters because I was concerned whether people would hang on til the end. Even then, I wasn’t sure that was the right move, but I’m not sure I was giving “my” readers enough credit.

Now, I probably would have posted it in one shot.

Long stories don’t scare me away as a reader, so I assume people like me will read my longer material. Simon is correct about vote counts.

 

[rae121452]

Good answers already, OP. SimonDoom’s is particularly accurate in my experience.

Listen to your writerly instincts. My first long story was posted in multiple chapters because I was concerned whether people would hang on til the end. Even then, I wasn’t sure that was the right move, but I’m not sure I was giving “my” readers enough credit.

Now, I probably would have posted it in one shot.

Long stories don’t scare me away as a reader, so I assume people like me will read my longer material. Simon is correct about vote counts.

i think that's really what i'm asking about...multiple chapters versus one long story. i've noticed that it takes longer to get published, the longer the story is. i'm sure it's a drag to have to review multiple pages before publishing, i'd rather visit the dentist than do that every day. so, it isn't only from the reader's perspective that i'm asking. i'm wondering if there is an ideal length that will satisfy the publisher's needs as well as the reader's and make everything flow more smoothly.

 

[NotWise]

i'm wondering if there is an ideal length that will satisfy the publisher's needs as well as the reader's and make everything flow more smoothly.

I've never heard Laurel express an opinion, and most of what I can say from experience about the rest of the question is that putting a story up in chapters can be a little risky.

When you publish in chapters you have to carry readers from publication to publication. Few people pick up on a story in the middle. There usually is a drop-off in readers between chapters, but that can be a BIG drop if you have an extra delay between chapters, or even if you publish a chapter on a holiday when few people are reading.

If you publish in one chunk you'll still get readers dropping out before they reach the end, and you'll probably have a high ratio of view/vote, but you don't have to worry about making mistakes between the beginning and the end.

Chapters do give you more feedback, if that's what you want.

 

[TJSkywind]

Length

For What It's Worth -

When writing, using single-spaced block paragraphs, I usually estimate about ten pages to one Lit page (a rule that seems pretty close from past experience), so if you're using a length guideline for your story, that's your approximate conversion.

Agreed about the length of the tale (pun if you like): write until the story is told. Truncate for clarity, not for brevity's sake.

* * * * *

"Oh my god!" she exclaimed. "It's huge!"

"I know," he replied. "It's gotta be at least fifteen pages."

 

[ElectricBlue]

When writing, using single-spaced block paragraphs, I usually estimate about ten pages to one Lit page (a rule that seems pretty close from past experience), so if you're using a length guideline for your story, that's your approximate conversion.

A comparison to a Word page is meaningless. People use different font sizes, line spacing; and dialogue rich sequences will have far fewer words than long narrative stretches.

Just use 3750 words for a Lit page, and you won't go wrong. It's the one common measure for length on Lit (everything else is pride, wishful thinking, envy, or disappointment).

A good rule of thumb is lots of white space, and avoid the dreaded 'wall of text.' Remember, many people read on small screens - do them a favour and avoid over-long paragraphs. After a while, it becomes automatic to break up your text (if you're writing kindly for your readers).

 

[DanOkeffie]

Good evening, I'm thinking about doing some audio stories. Do you have any idea how long, or what is the best length for me talking? I don't want to bore people. Should the idea story be at least three minutes or thirty?

No.

The majority of stories are probably under 3 "Lit pages" (3750 words per page, on average), but there are highly successful, highly rated stories of over 20 pages.

The needs of the story should dictate its length, not a pre-conceived idea of how long it "should" be.

But I have observed some things about story length:

1. If it's a "stroke" story, it doesn't need to be longer than 2 pages, or perhaps 3. Readers are there to, you know, not to settle in for the long haul with a long story. So if it's stroke you're after, 2 pages is a good length. It's possible to write a really good 1-page story, but my impression is a lot of readers like them a little bit longer than that.

2. The longer the story is, the fewer people will get through to the end The ratio of views to votes will increase as it gets longer.

3. There is some correlation between longer stories and higher scores, if that matters to you. That's probably because of self-selection; with a longer story the people who stick around are the ones that like it.

 

[NotWise]

Good evening, I'm thinking about doing some audio stories. Do you have any idea how long, or what is the best length for me talking? I don't want to bore people. Should the idea story be at least three minutes or thirty?

Check the length of stories in the categories Hall of Fame. I spot checked a few and the major range seemed to be 10-30 minutes, with many coming in around 15 minutes.

That seems very short to me.

 

[SimonDoom]

i think that's really what i'm asking about...multiple chapters versus one long story. i've noticed that it takes longer to get published, the longer the story is. i'm sure it's a drag to have to review multiple pages before publishing, i'd rather visit the dentist than do that every day. so, it isn't only from the reader's perspective that i'm asking. i'm wondering if there is an ideal length that will satisfy the publisher's needs as well as the reader's and make everything flow more smoothly.

Others will have different opinions on this topic, and they'll be able to point to stories that prove them right. But here are my thoughts on this:

1. Unless the story is really, really long, like over 15 lit pages (this is really, really long for me, but there are Lit stories much longer), and in some cases even if it is longer than 15 pages, your default position should be to publish it as a single story. Here's why:

2. Standalone stories in general get more views than chapter stories. People will click on a standalone story because they think they can get it done in a one viewing, whereas with a chapter they know they can't. Some will be turned off by this.

3. Publishing it as a multi-chapter story runs the risk that one or more chapters might not have all the things that readers in the category want to read. They'll downvote that chapter and not bother to read the next one.

4. In general, Lit readers seem to treat long stories really well. This surprises me, but it's true. They don't suffer too much in terms of views or votes.

5. In general, a longer story will have a higher score, at least higher than the first chapter of a long series, which tends to be the lowest scored chapter. Some readers, too, I believe think longer stories are weightier and more deserving of a high score. And also perhaps of being favorited. Being favorited is a good thing because, if the algorithm works as I think it does, it makes it more likely that your story will show up on "similar stories" lists at the bottom of stories people read. This, I think, is one of the main ways that readers discover stories they want to read. If your story gets enough favorites its views actually will begin to increase over time after the first few months.

Two reasons to publish as a multi-chapter series:

1. You're not done with the whole thing and you are impatient to publish (this describes me). But be warned: if you wait a long time between publishing chapters you will usually lose lots of readers. This happened to me, despite the fact that my scores kept getting higher with successive chapters. If you are confident you can publish the whole thing quickly, then perhaps go ahead. But if not, I suggest waiting until the whole thing is done.

2. If each chapter will give readers of the category in a story the payoff they want. What you don't want is 3 chapters of female exhibitionism followed by a gay male chapter. You might get away with the gay male stuff in the middle of a long standalone story. My Hot Mom series is an 8 chapter series where each chapter culminates in some form of incestuous behavior; I was careful to make each chapter consistent with the category and with the overall theme of the story -- the building relationship. It received good scores -- but it STILL lost a lot of viewers over the course of the series.

So, publish it as a single story unless you have a good reason not to.

 

[HeyAll]

Each story has its own sweet spots. Many of the highest scored and most favorited are long ones.

For me, the sweet spot is 2, sometimes 3 pages.

 

[Hypoxia]

The story dictates its own length if the voices in your head are doing their job.

 

[Valint]

1. Unless the story is really, really long, like over 15 lit pages (this is really, really long for me, but there are Lit stories much longer), and in some cases even if it is longer than 15 pages, your default position should be to publish it as a single story.

Personally, as a reader, my ideal chapter length is 3-5 pages.

If it's a longer story, and I don't have time to read the whole thing in one sitting, I'll usually just put it on my to-read list to get back to... eventually. Hopefully.

Making it multi-chapter at least lets me consume it in bite-sized chunks, and lets me know there will be natural breakpoints if I want to stop and come back to it later.

Of course, you can go to the other extreme as well. For me, a multi-chapter story with 2-page chapters is pushing it, and multiple 1-page chapters are going to get automatic downvotes.

That seems to be a common response. There have been a few authors recently who put up multi-chapter stories with single-page chapters, and the comments/voting were pretty brutal.

 

[NotWise]

Of course, you can go to the other extreme as well. For me, a multi-chapter story with 2-page chapters is pushing it, and multiple 1-page chapters are going to get automatic downvotes.

Lit readers may be a little unique. As I understand it, the recommended length for chapters in mainstream stories is about one Lit page. Maybe Lit readers prefer longer chapters because of the amount of skimming they do while they look for the next scene that grabs their attention. I don't know.

 

[Kojak01]

is there a preferred or recommended length for stories submitted? there are a lot of people here who publish regularly and have done so for a long time, share your wisdom. is there a word count that makes the whole process smoother and less of a burden for all concerned?

On literotica, there are readers that like long stories, others prefer short stories, the next group wants lots of chapters and, of course, there are those that detest stories with multiple chapters. Good luck making them all happy . Don't forget those that want "strokers" or those that prefer an actual storyline.

Personally, I like the stories to be around 3-6 lit-pages (10-20k words) but that's just a personal preference because I can read it on my way to or from work. But I've read and enjoyed both longer and shorter stories.

This preference also leads me to make multiple chapters for longer stories, even though I don't start publishing until the story is finished, except maybe for some minor editing. I also mention that in my author's notes.

Also, I don't start reading a story unless I know, I'll get an ending. Whether that ending is satisfying or not is a different thing. So when I stumble over a story with multiple chapters, I usually go to the last one and check at the end of the last page whether it says "The End". If it doesn't and the first few comments don't make it obvious that the story is over, I won't read it. A mention in the description (The finale of the story of X+Y) also helps.

I have one multi-chapter-story which I consciously split up in short chapters (roughly one-pagers). The ratings were good enough for me, but the comments were rather harsh in the meaning of "I want more and I want it now".

 

[SimonDoom]

Personally, as a reader, my ideal chapter length is 3-5 pages.

If it's a longer story, and I don't have time to read the whole thing in one sitting, I'll usually just put it on my to-read list to get back to... eventually. Hopefully.

Making it multi-chapter at least lets me consume it in bite-sized chunks, and lets me know there will be natural breakpoints if I want to stop and come back to it later.

Of course, you can go to the other extreme as well. For me, a multi-chapter story with 2-page chapters is pushing it, and multiple 1-page chapters are going to get automatic downvotes.

That seems to be a common response. There have been a few authors recently who put up multi-chapter stories with single-page chapters, and the comments/voting were pretty brutal.

Me too. My ideal story length is 3-5 pages. I get put off by really long stories. But judging from the results, a lot of people do not. There are some longer stories with very high favorite totals, which indicate that people read them.

You have to weigh the likelihood that some people won't start a long story versus the likelihood that in a multi chapter series readership will fall with each chapter. And some people won't even start to read a story if it's designated as the first chapter in a series.