Oh. My. God. How do you guys keep your stories under 10k words?

[LucilleCF]

Hi. New writer. Looking for advice.

I seem to have difficulty writing short stories that are actually...'short'. I enjoy characterization, and laying the ground work for a story, but I find difficulty doing either of those things 'quickly' so to speak.

For example, the first story I submitted here was only supposed to be 3k words but it ended up being over 12k. The story I'm currently writing was also supposed to be on the short side, but I'm already 10k words deep. It's like my imagination refuses to let me be succinct; I start with an outline, but the story just keeps growing and growing once I start typing.

I realize how abstract my problem is as there is no one way to write a story. I guess I'm just looking for ideas; maybe someone else had the same or similar problem and overcame it? Or maybe I'm just venting/procrastinating.

Anyway, thanks is advance. Back to writing.

 

[SimonDoom]

Hi. New writer. Looking for advice.

I seem to have difficulty writing short stories that are actually...'short'. I enjoy characterization, and laying the ground work for a story, but I find difficulty doing either of those things 'quickly' so to speak.

For example, the first story I submitted here was only supposed to be 3k words but it ended up being over 12k. The story I'm currently writing was also supposed to be on the short side, but I'm already 10k words deep. It's like my imagination refuses to let me be succinct; I start with an outline, but the story just keeps growing and growing once I start typing.

I realize how abstract my problem is as there is no one way to write a story. I guess I'm just looking for ideas; maybe someone else had the same or similar problem and overcame it? Or maybe I'm just venting/procrastinating.

Anyway, thanks is advance. Back to writing.

I haven't read the stories yet, but it doesn't sound like you have a problem. 10K-12K words is very normal for Literotica. It's right about at the sweet spot in terms of getting many views and high scores.

Authors are different and their stories are paced differently. If this is the length of story it takes you to tell it the way you want to, then stick with what works.

If you really want to work on it, just force yourself to write a 7,000 word story (under 2 Lit pages) and see how it sits with you.

I personally find that 8,000-10,000 words is around the minimum it takes me to write a story that (a) adequately introduces the main character and the situation/conflict, (b) develops the characters and the erotic buildup, and (c) describes the sex that results. So your "problem" would seem to apply to me too, and I don't see it as a problem.

It's the quality of the words, not the number of words, that's important.

 

[Javahead]

Hi. New writer. Looking for advice.

I seem to have difficulty writing short stories that are actually...'short'. I enjoy characterization, and laying the ground work for a story, but I find difficulty doing either of those things 'quickly' so to speak.

I'm just getting back into the swing of things as a writer. But none of my recently reposted stories went over 4.5K words, and one was just over the minimum posting length of 750 words.

For stories of this length, I found that what worked for me was that it helped to have a detailed characterization in my head, or written down - but only the minimum relevant bits needed to actually be in the story itself. And having a single direction for the plot - short stories don't have the space to easily deal with multiple, complex, plot elements.

Perhaps a single key scene out of a longer, more complex story? Even a vignette? Set the background with just the relevant details of the current scene, build the tension, then release it. A small amount of follow-on is fine, but short and sweet works here.

I'm not saying that this is the ONLY way or the BEST way to write a short story - but it's what works for me.

And when I go to the point of setting up motivations, backgrounds, and a detailed outline I've found that I also run over, not under, my estimated length. I'm currently about halfway through a story I originally planned to come in at maybe 20K words. I'm currently just under the 20K mark, and unless I'm ruthless with myself and edit carefully after the first draft is complete I'll do well to keep the final draft under 40K.

Outlining and plotting is a wonderful tool for handling a complex plot. Outlining and plotting also encourages you to put in a lot more details to be developed. So you may want to try summarizing the story setup and plot in a single paragraph. If you can't fit it in, it's a clue you need to either accept that the story will grow longer, or trim some of the extra details.

Again - this isn't "Thou Shalt Write Thy Stories In This Manner" engraved in stone tablet. But points to consider from a fellow sufferer.

 

[KeithD]

A short story isn't a novel. The average short story in a mainstream competition now is 3,500 words--less than one Lit. page. It's true that a short story traditionally went up to 20,000 words, but that changed in the coming of the age electronics and the speeding up of life. If you understand the differences between a short story and a novel and go into writing a short story with the notion that the purpose is limited and every word counts, you can easily come in under 10,000 words. If you're writing to a platform like Literotica, where flabbiness is rewarded by the readers, you will find that difficult.

 

[oggbashan]

You could practice by writing 50 words stories as an exercise.

I have to submit them n sets of 15 to meet Lit's requirements of 750 words for a story, or they can be submitted as poetry.

A fifty-word story makes you think about the necessity of evrey word, and how essential that word is.

My How-Tos:

https://www.literotica.com/s/how-to-write-a-fifty-word-story

https://www.literotica.com/s/how-to-plot-flash-fiction

 

[AlinaX]

True. One of the reasons I love haiku.

But it's an entertaining challenge even to hit the 750 word mark.

 

[HeyAll]

I like getting straight to the point, while setting up enough backstory and settings and so forth.

Also, I try to be keenly aware that the story isn't boring. If I think it'll bore the reader, I take it out.

 

[Blind_Justice]

Under 10k words? Me? Nah. Not doing it

 

[ElectricBlue]

One of the key points of erotica is arousal. I don't think "normal" short story rules always apply, because of that. Nobody wants it over too soon, surely?

Slow burn has a place in erotica for a reason. 10k words is three Lit pages, which is a sweet spot for many people, that's one reason.

Not being dictated to by an arbitrary "rule" is another reason. It doesn't matter how long a story is, providing the writing is good and readers are responding accordingly .

 

[Paul_Chance]

Couple of common suggestions:

-Take a look at the story and see if it breaks down into a set of multiple interconnected stories

-Ruthlessly edit anything that is "more description of the same thing/event"

-Better yet, give the story to an editor with directions to help pull the story down

But, with that said, the length is generally fine as long as the story itself keeps moving

 

[SamScribble]

Out in the real world, most of the publications for which I write short stories want 3,000 words or fewer. But my observation is that Lit is a story site, not a short story site. Readers will happily read novella-length pieces. My only criticism is that many of the 12,000 or 15,000 word pieces are not worthy of 12,000 or 15,000 words. As Keith D says: on Lit, readers reward flabbiness. Never mind the quality, feel the width.

 

[NotWise]

Out in the real world, most of the publications for which I write short stories want 3,000 words or fewer. But my observation is that Lit is a story site, not a short story site. Readers will happily read novella-length pieces. My only criticism is that many of the 12,000 or 15,000 word pieces are not worthy of 12,000 or 15,000 words. As Keith D says: on Lit, readers reward flabbiness. Never mind the quality, feel the width.

I think part of this, rather than flabbiness, is that the erotic content pads the story length. Maybe there's 3,000 words (or far less) worth of non-erotic content, but then you throw in the sex and it's gets a lot longer.

A 3,000 word erotic story tends to be pretty unpopular on Lit. It's hard to get both good sex and a good story in under that limit.

 

[BiscuitHammer]

Well, tbh...

My chapters rarely are. 10k is kind of a minimum for me. I'm in no danger of winning NaNoRiMo any time soon. It's not unheard of my my chapters to be between 25 and 30k, and a few are more. My one-shot stories also tend to be rather lengthly because I'm not good at shutting up. :/

I have no advice. I sympathize, but I have no advice.

 

[Voboy]

My sex scenes tend to be about 5k words, subtract a thousand for a mere blowjob. I’m sure a handjob would be more like 2k, though strangely I’ve written VERY few.

Stack enough of those up, and you’re approaching 10k already. I won’t post stories I wouldn’t want to read, which means witty dialogue and enough exposition to make the characters into real-ish people. So my stories tend to come in around 20k words, and while some of that is probably me being verbose, the barest-bones acceptable story from me would probably run about 12-13k or so.

I don’t worry about it.

When I wrote commercially, I was expected to produce 35k minimum. It was a rare commercial fuck-story, I found, that didn’t feel “padded” on occasion. Though, sometimes, the magic happens and you crank out 42k or so without even realizing it. Fantasy stories were easier to write, for me.

I find, on Lit, that the category matters. SF stories can be a lot longer, for example. But I wouldn’t worry about coming in under 10k, OP.

 

[TomorrowGent]

<i>Deleted</i>

 

[NotWise]

I find, on Lit, that the category matters. SF stories can be a lot longer, for example. But I wouldn’t worry about coming in under 10k, OP.

Maybe the OP has a goal of keeping the story short. I did with my first few stories I wrote for Lit. They weren't very popular.

If you want to write a short story you have to plan the story ahead of time, and then write it in a short-story style, which is completely different from writing a novel. You have few words to give to characterization alone. Every word counts. Many words need to serve more than one purpose; e.g. describe both character and action.

I'm not sure there's much interest now in short story writing a la O'Henry and other great short story writers. It's an art, and it's not as popular as it once was.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I think part of this, rather than flabbiness, is that the erotic content pads the story length. Maybe there's 3,000 words (or far less) worth of non-erotic content, but then you throw in the sex and it's gets a lot longer.

A 3,000 word erotic story tends to be pretty unpopular on Lit. It's hard to get both good sex and a good story in under that limit.

Bingo.

I wrote two versions of the same story as an experiment. The non-erotic one was maybe 2/3 as long. What was considered salacious 40 years ago would be considered skimpy now.

 

[SimonDoom]

One of the key points of erotica is arousal. I don't think "normal" short story rules always apply, because of that. Nobody wants it over too soon, surely?

Slow burn has a place in erotica for a reason. 10k words is three Lit pages, which is a sweet spot for many people, that's one reason.

Not being dictated to by an arbitrary "rule" is another reason. It doesn't matter how long a story is, providing the writing is good and readers are responding accordingly .

This seems right to me as well. Arousal is a function not just of sexy words but of time. It may take a bit more time and words to set up an erotic situation and bring it to fruition than for a non-erotic story.

 

[AlinaX]

Wait, people write stories longer than 3000 words?

 

[Hypoxia]

Wait, people write stories longer than 3000 words?

Everyone but Ogg. Isn't the classic short-short tragedy just six words by Hemingway? "For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn."

How to keep a story brief: Stereotypes. Keep those BBC's and BBW's coming.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Everyone but Ogg. Isn't the classic short-short tragedy just six words by Hemingway? "For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn."

Another six words makes it a comedy:

"Turns out I'm not pregnant. Phew!"

 

[ElectricBlue]

As per usual, the minority -- the creators, inventors, and in this case, the authors -- have their own criteria for what is considered quality.

The majority -- the users, the hobbyist, the paying public, and in this case, the readers -- decide what is worth reading. They also determine who is producing quality work, but who "in the know" listens to the readers? Overall, the readers are the ones who decide whose names and books they read bulk.

How good are you if nobody wants to read your writing?

There are a lot of great writers with a cult following, and there are terrible writers with a large audience, so who do you want to be if you had to choose only one? The quality writer or the popular writer.

Is this observation related to story length or some other conversation?

Your opening line seems a little dismissive of the minority who might be writers with their own quality criteria; but without the writers producing the content, the reader base might be chasing its tail.

I'm not quite sure how readers dictate "quality" - your observation seems to be that readers determine what they read, sure, but popularity doesn't automatically infer quality. Quality means different things to different people, which is why we have so many writers each writing their own thing. Some cater explicitly for reader's expectations; others are writing what they want to write, come hell or high water.

 

[Javahead]

Everyone but Ogg. Isn't the classic short-short tragedy just six words by Hemingway? "For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn."

How to keep a story brief: Stereotypes. Keep those BBC's and BBW's coming.

"Me love you long time, GI!"

"Come meet my seester! She almost a virgin!"

"No sex please. We're English."

"In heaven, the police are English, the cooks are French, the mechanics are German, and the lovers are Italian. In hell, the cooks are English, the police are French, the lovers are German, and the mechanics are Italian."

Want more?

 

[myrionomos]

We have only put up one story at Literotica, but that came to 130,000+ words. There was still a reasonably significant readership at the end. In fact my guess is that some of the readers like a long story and some like a short one. And as Keith D has pointed out some like highly padded series that go on ad infinitum saying the same thing over and over.

Different strokes for different folks, and the Lit readership is big enough for most tastes.

 

[KeithD]

The majority -- the users, the hobbyist, the paying public, and in this case, the readers -- decide what is worth reading. They also determine who is producing quality work, but who "in the know" listens to the readers? Overall, the readers are the ones who decide whose names and books they read bulk.

Hate to burst your bubble but the publishers and distributors pretty much determine what quality the work is and who gets to read/buy it. Electronic self-publishing has made inroads into that, but not on any great scale. The publishers pretty much predetermine what's going to be a best-seller too. Sorry again to burst your little bubble.

Not sure what that has to do with story length on Literotica, though.