Long VS Short stories

[Djmac1031]

I'm curious as to whether you, as a READER, prefer longer or shorter stories.

I've tried to keep my stories shorter, even if it's a multiple chapter story. My thoughts are it's easier for the average reader (including myself) to digest a story in short chunks as opposed to one long sitting.

I'm currently working on a new story, one I have a beginning, middle and end to, bit can't decide if I wanna break it up into chapters or publish it as one long story.

 

[NotWise]

I'm curious as to whether you, as a READER, prefer longer or shorter stories.

I've tried to keep my stories shorter, even if it's a multiple chapter story. My thoughts are it's easier for the average reader (including myself) to digest a story in short chunks as opposed to one long sitting.

I'm currently working on a new story, one I have a beginning, middle and end to, bit can't decide if I wanna break it up into chapters or publish it as one long story.

What do you think is long, in word count?

 

[Panty Wrangler]

What is your metric for short vs long? 3K words? 5K? 10K?

 

[Djmac1031]

What do you think is long, in word count?

You'll have to forgive this newbie. How exactly does one determine word count? Lol.

I've been judging by pages. I try to keep mine to two, three max.

 

[SimonDoom]

A Literotica page is about 3750 words.

Just speaking for myself, I tend to like stories that are between 3 and 6 Lit pages. There are many Lit readers who like much longer stories. I'm not one of them. The stories I write are from around 2 pages to around 6 pages in length. That's what I write because that's what I like to read.

 

[Djmac1031]

A Literotica page is about 3750 words.

Just speaking for myself, I tend to like stories that are between 3 and 6 Lit pages. There are many Lit readers who like much longer stories. I'm not one of them. The stories I write are from around 2 pages to around 6 pages in length. That's what I write because that's what I like to read.

I suppose I need to investigate how to determine story length better. I've written several I thought were too long only for them to take up just a page or two here once published lol.

I will say personally, when I see a story that's several pages long, I tend to pass by unless the first page really grabs me. I personally prefer smaller stories that if need continuation are broken up into chapters.

But I'm wondering if that's doing a disservice to the story as people may miss the next chapter

 

[NotWise]

I suppose I need to investigate how to determine story length better. I've written several I thought were too long only for them to take up just a page or two here once published lol.

I will say personally, when I see a story that's several pages long, I tend to pass by unless the first page really grabs me. I personally prefer smaller stories that if need continuation are broken up into chapters.

But I'm wondering if that's doing a disservice to the story as people may miss the next chapter

I just skimmed your catalog, and it looks like you have one story over two Lit pages. It scored well.

In my catalog, two Lit pages (say 7,500 words) looks like a break point. Stories that are right at two Lit pages have wildly varying scores, but I don't have many well-rated stories that fall below that size. Judging from readers' comments, the shorter stories don't give them enough to "sink their teeth into."

On the other hand, long stories can score very well.

Personally, I won't read much more than three Lit pages. I think I have advancing ADD. But I'm one data point out of a million readers.

 

[DCO_65]

A Literotica page is about 3750 words.

Just speaking for myself, I tend to like stories that are between 3 and 6 Lit pages.

With regards to scores (not whether people actually liked or disliked the story). Because Literotica makes a reader and potential scorer scroll all the way to the end of the story before voting, in my opinion, only those who actually read the whole story or have a vendetta against the author vote. By my non-quantitative searches, stories over four or five pages in length consistently score better than shorter pieces by the same author. Is that because the jerk who wants to one-bomb all stories that don't (or perversely do) turn him or her on gets weary and goes on to one-bomb other (shorter) stories?

 

[TadOverdon]

I lean toward novels both as a reader and a writer.

 

[HeyAll]

As a reader, a 2 page story is the best, especially when the writing is concentrated and packs in a lot.

The majority of long stories on Lit need to be trimmed down, in my opinion.

 

[Djmac1031]

I lean toward novels both as a reader and a writer.

I suppose my question becomes do you prefer the novels broken down to short chapters or published whole?

 

[TadOverdon]

I'd rather read a book at my own pace than as it becomes available in fragments. It's not that strong a preference, though.

 

[Rustyoznail]

I’ve got a mix of shortish 3-4 Lit page stories and long 10+ page ones. I get more votes and views on the shorter stories.

 

[Djmac1031]

I appreciate everyone's feedback so far. Gives me a lot to think about. I suppose I'll just continue to wing it for now lol.

My Stories so far have been in chapters because most of them I don't have planned out at all.

My current new story I do have a plan for. With an ending.

Maybe I'll posy that one as a longer one and see how it goes.

 

[PennameWombat]

I suppose I need to investigate how to determine story length better. I've written several I thought were too long only for them to take up just a page or two here once published lol.

Per the other comments, assume 3750 words equals one Lit page (it can vary slightly, due to formatting, but it'll be close to that). I don't know what word processor you use to write your stories, but almost all of them offer a word count tool (Google Docs it's under Tools or Ctrl-Shift-C.) Once you have that, bit of division will tell you how many Lit pages your story will fill.

If you're reading a story using the new viewer, the word count is right at the top right. Or, scroll to the bottom of the first page and see how many pages. I have some stories in the 50,000-70,000 word range (up to 19 or 20 pages) and the SF&F ones do well, other categories not so much.

I have stories all the way down to the 750 word minimum. The ones in the 2-5 page range (7000-15,000 words) seem to get the most views and best scores, but many of my SF&F ones are 5-12 (and more) pages and do well, that category seems to more readily take to long stories.

 

[TxRad]

What is this short you speak of?

The only story I broke up into chapters on purpose is a twenty chapter novel. The first story I ever wrote. The unedited version is on here. For me, long stories seem to score higher on average.

The best rule of thumb I've came across is write as long or as short as the story needs.

I'm not a big fan of chapters. It might be different if Lit didn't allow chapters to take up space in top lists and allow them to dominate the monthly and end of year awards. This is after all a story site and the last time I looked chapters were not a story.

 

[ElectricBlue]

What is this short you speak of?

The only story I broke up into chapters on purpose is a twenty chapter novel. The first story I ever wrote. The unedited version is on here. For me, long stories seem to score higher on average.

The best rule of thumb I've came across is write as long or as short as the story needs.

I'm not a big fan of chapters. It might be different if Lit didn't allow chapters to take up space in top lists and allow them to dominate the monthly and end of year awards. This is after all a story site and the last time I looked chapters were not a story.

I think the main function of chapters is to make it easier for readers to navigate through long stories.

I take your point about the top lists, but I pay no attention to them, so that's not an issue for me.

 

[shewantsmore]

As a READER personally i prefer longer stories of at least 2/3 pages. I like where you can get into the characters, have a history or a reason why things are happening and can build the story,shorter ones its over before you can get into it

 

[rescatooor]

I'm probably a bit of an outlier here but I prefer a well-phased story over one that has numerous sex scenes that add little to the story. The couple of times that I have read some longer stories here (over 5 pages) I have been left a little bit bored and unsatisfied at the end, because sometimes you just hope there's something good waiting at the end. More often than not it's a sex scene that is a bit like a combination of all the sex scenes earlier, which were already a bit of a drag to begin with, and I am left disappointed in the end.

For me the ideal length is around 3 pages max., although I am sure that there are many stories out there that are justifiably longer than that. I do like an atmospheric, shorter story with barely any plot as well, but my experience is that most people demand more.

 

[lovecraft68]

I write long and read short because I usually like to read something quick in between my own writing so don't want to get bogged down

If a long story looks appealing I read it in 2 page increments.

 

[BarracudaSwordfish]

I prefer to write long stories as I like to develop characters and give them back story and life.

Most of my recent tales are 7-9 Lit pages and they seem to be doing well. I have written a few shorter ones, but my shortest, at 3 pages was the first of my 50 submissions.

 

[jsmiam]

As a READER, I have no preference on length, although to be fair, I may find the back key on a longer story more often than I do on a shorter one, if I’m just casually clicking around and on a limited time budget. Also, in my case, my personal definition of longer is 5 pages or more.

Regarding series; and just because you asked, and because everyone is entitled to their opinion, I hate chapters (a subtly different topic to length, but related.).

I mainly hate the clutter that series cause on lists, top, popular, or search results. But I hate happening across for example, chapter 72 of a series where I never saw chapter 1. Even if I was going to want to read it (which I’m not), I’m stuck deciding, do I start reading at 72? Or do I have to find my way to the first one?

In a perfect world there would be a “Hide series” button, where I could optionally not see them. And a “click to view first chapter in series” button. I also wish I could be a drummer surrounded by wealthy women who like financially supporting a man in leather pants. (I guess I should wish for leather pants too?) We can’t all get what we wish for. . Also, remember that this opinion, is just one opinion.. There are people who LOVE series, who found a story they liked and want more. My comments represent two cents worth of one person’s opinion. Write how and what you want.

On a positive note, although this wasn’t your question: As a writer, Longer stories are likely to score a bit better. To me one obvious difference maker is that it’s much easier for someone to give you a low score with no real thought if the score buttons are conveniently there to be clicked at the end of page 1. Whereas, they work a little harder to score later pages. Fewer casual clicks. Also, but excluding the trolling factor, a person who ends up reading all the pages, most likely was enjoying, or hooked, or engaged. So the person who happens upon the page to give a score more likely liked the story, if they’re still around after a few pages.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Personally, by the time I've introduced some characters,.got them together, and got them to have sex, it's over 10k. At which point they might as well have a bit extra plot and some more sex. Or more plot until they manage to get it on, leavened with some sexual thoughts or anecdotes.

My shorter stories haven't been so good - basically they're scenes rather than stories. I find short stories can work for Fetish and Toys/Masturbation because authors know what their audience want and can get straight to it, but otherwise they seem to offer too little, for me (and many short stories are by authors who just don't have much to say,.so I end up a bit biased against them).

SF readers like longer stories (and published books support that), which makes sense when you're looking for world-building but many (free or printed) are just too long and would benefit from editing.

I know there's an audience for short stroke pieces and often wonder if they are mostly slow readers or fast at climaxing? Different strokes for different folks, literally.

The only definite I think is that if you have a long multi-chapter story, keep the chapters a similar length, as a sudden short one will disappoint readers.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I suppose I need to investigate how to determine story length better. I've written several I thought were too long only for them to take up just a page or two here once published lol.

I will say personally, when I see a story that's several pages long, I tend to pass by unless the first page really grabs me. I personally prefer smaller stories that if need continuation are broken up into chapters.

But I'm wondering if that's doing a disservice to the story as people may miss the next chapter

If you use Word or Open Office or some other word processor, they will tell you the word count.

When I write, most of my stories just come out around 10,000 to 12,000 words long. I do have longer stories, and even really long stories but they are broken up into 10,000 to 30,000 word chunks.

I do have on series that I finally put together all in one word doc and it came out to be 215,000 words.

I have also tried my hand at writing a 750 word story.

ETA: As a reader if the story is interesting I really don't care how long it is. Yet I'd say around 3 to 10 lit pages are just right.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I was taught to keep readers on a roller coaster while they read.

To keep readers interested, no matter the length of the story, I find rotating between short, concise sentences, medium-length sentences, and long, more complex sentences. Likewise, I move between short paragraphs, followed by ones of medium size and a few longer paragraphs here and there. Along with that, action is interspersed with some slowdowns so they can catch their breath. At least, that is my goal.

In addition, my stories vary in length, flash, short stories, longer short stories. And I try to move between genres as well.

But that’s just me.
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