An author like question, Chapters vs Novels

[Just_John1]

I've noticed that subsequent chapters of a story lose readership at an alarming rate. The original story may have high reads, high ratings but the subsequent chapters taper off pretty quick. I've only done the third chapter of one story at this point, with several left hanging after the second chapter.


I prefer to do alot of character development in my stories. I spend alot of time (and words) working on personalities of my characters which is really the fun of it for me. Some character traits are ones I wish I had, some are traits I wish my S/O had. Some of it is just living vicariously through the characters that I write about.

I don't have as much time to write and my interests vary from day to day so I struggle with sticking with one story to its conclusion. I've preferred to write several stories at once, concentrating with the one the floats my boat at that particular time.

So... (panting out of breath... No I haven't been ogling your AV again Tatelou... although the effect is essentially the same) The "Quandry" is; is it better to hold a story back spending ungodly hours on it to find the premise sucks, or do you think the readers will lose interest in the story if they have to read it all at one time, OR is it best to post it in chapters and just accept the fall off in readership? I would do a poll if I knew how, but I don't.

There... an author like question of absolutely no significance, hope this helps gauche! (Congrats on all the Lord of the Rings Oscars).

JJ1

edited because I can't type...

 

[snooper]

I suspect you will get every possible opinion.

I really believe that the answer is to please yourself, literally. Whatever you prefer to read is probably the best for you to write.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

One significant problem with posting chapters is that you have to contrive each chapter to be at least to some degree a stand alone story. In a novel format, if yo wish to build erotic tension betwen a couple you can take an entire chapter so describe their day, the overtones and implications, then start the next chapter and have a fuckfest. If you do that here your buildup chapter will probably get few reads and skipped by many since there is no sex and the wild night looses a lot of it's power because the build up to it is in the chapter nobody finished because there was no sex.

I suspect that each suceeding chapter of any story looses readers. In the first place anyone who didn't like the characters from chapter one won't read Chapter 2. Secondly a lot of folks won't start with chapt two since they think they will be lost because they didn't read chapter one, yet they may not feel like investing the time to read one and two and thus skip to a stand alone story. Finally, aftert wo or three chapters, unless you have a really strong idea and are really good the continuing exploits of so and so become forced or contrived many times. I am not saying that is the case with all writers, but it certainly is the case with some and if your reader has come across this phenomena often he/she may decide to just skip it or read only the first chapter where the ideas are likely to be strong.

-Colly

 

[destinie21]

I keep a list of the people who have sent me feedback and the stories they sent fb on. When I have a new story posted in whatever series I email the folks who like that series. If you take time between your stories (sometimes for me it's months) the readers may a)forget you or b) not be checking for your stories.
In anycase I always get a lot 50- to the hundreds when I post.

 

[Just_John1]

THat's a great idea

Destiny, I do have some feedback from people that like one series or another. That's a good idea.

Colleen... Congrats again... I do struggle writing the lead in paragraph but enjoy the challenge of doing the "here's what happened last time" without it becoming a here's what happened last time. One of the cheap tricks I use is to have a character reminisceand bring new readers up to speed. I don't get enough time to write lately and if I did it as a Novel then it'd never get posted...

Thanks for the responses. I appreciate them.

JJ1

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I've posted one novella as an entire finished work, and two others as a serials, chapter by chapter. I did notice a falling off in the serials, but overall they got more views than the novella. The novella on the other hand got more votes per view, and higher votes overall. Certainly people who stick with the novella do so because they like it, and that's where the higher votes come from.

I prefer doing it as a serial. The feedback comes quicker so there's more encouragement and motivation for finishing it. I make every chapter able to pretty much stand on its own. I too find that the summation doesn't take long, but then my plots are pretty simple.

As far as character development, there's no reason why you have to make readers wait pages and pages before there's something that grabs them. You can have a grabber scene and then work on their character. Writing a novel in serial form forces you to include a payoff in every chapter, which I think is important on a site like Literotica, where the attention span is awfully short. I know I'd lose patience very quickly in a story that took a long time to get interesting. I'm not that patient or that trusting.

---dr.M.

 

[Black Tulip]

I'd like to add a more technical question.

Right now I am writing a story that needs more space so I thought it would turn into a novella. I write in chapters, forcing me to make sure every part is interesting.

How do I submit when it's ready?
Do I submit it as one story in the novel category?
Or do I submit each chapter in the novels department? All at once? Will they get posted in the correct order?
Or do I submit each chapter as a story on its own? If the latter, I would need to work in some summary.

 

[Just_John1]

How do I submit when it's ready?
Do I submit it as one story in the novel category?
Or do I submit each chapter in the novels department? All at once? Will they get posted in the correct order?
Or do I submit each chapter as a story on its own? If the latter, I would need to work in some summary.

I think I come out about the same place as Dr Mab (Nice to see ya again Doc... its been a while! Hope all is well.) If you post it as chapters of a story they need to stand alone which will require some updating, prequel, this is what happened last week. I prefer the chapters because, as Doc says, the feedback comes quicker which gives added motivation to keep writing and finish the story.

I've never submitted a Novella so I don't really know how they work and it takes me a while to get each chapter finished if I'm writing a series so they list chronologically anyway. I don't know what would happen if you posted a bunch of chapters at one time. From looking at the numbers individual stories seem to get more reads than novella's but, as we've said the readers taper off with each chapter.

Now that I re-read that, I know that's been absolutely no help at all... Dr. Mab will be able to tell you what happens in Novella land.

I think I'll stick with chapters posted one at a time and just accept the drop off in readership.

JJ1

 

[Black Tulip]

I do not have that many stories yet, but I found that my favorite category so far provides little views and votes anyway, going by what other authors say. The numbers are fine by me, beats nobody reading my stuff.
So that would not be a reason for the choice of one over the other.

As I'm still writing, loose chapters while going along is not an option because the story as a whole is not yet finished. It is one story really, I just need more room to tell it because it's more complex. And one of the characters will be growing from love to hate.

 

[Just_John1]

Sounds cool

I look forward to reading it. Please let me know when it posts.

JJ1

 

[pop_54]

I'm posting a 50,000 word plus novella as roughly 10,000 word chapters at the moment, as and when, (or if), I finish editing/correcting.

Eventually all chapters, (which are not stand alone, just basic continuations), will be removed from the board and lumped together as a novella, and re-posted as such. Whether it will attract more or less readers I don't know or really worry about, I am writing it as a novella and will post it as such.

I no longer worry about readers or votes, people like it or lump it, I write as a hobby to please myself, not for a living, and shall continue to do so. Of course like all here, I hope to entertain someone, but if not, so be it.

pops

 

[gauchecritic]

My very first story to Lit. was (unbenknownst to me) the first part of a long series. Still unfinished and not that long.

Each part (so far) has quite an extraordinary amount of sex in them. Each part also stands by itself as a 'jump in, jump out' story.

Characters to appear in later episodes make themselves known and seem to be incidental but alluring. Who are they? Hopefully they are intriguing.

When they appear in their own part of the series there is no reference to previous episodes.

So I suppose I'm talking about a series set in one place, with many characters rather than a novel(ette). A sort of literary soap-opera.

The reads and votes (and feedback) are broadly similar. Maybe I have a fan club. I do know that I got feedback from the same people for each part. It's been a while since I've been there. Looks like it may be time to go back.

Gauche

 

[lucky-E-leven]

You're quite entertaining, Pops. I wouldn't sweat it.

Does anyone know what's too much of a novel/novella? I have a novel saved here and never imagined doing anything to it, but have been urged by a friend to find a way to post it.

Are there any length requirements or restrictions? Word limits? Just curious.

~lucky

And is there a decided difference between a novel and a novella? Or do the girls just get to say novella because it sounds prettier...

 

[Black Tulip]

Lucky,

I found this on another site:

Book Length

Plus Novel: traditional full length (80,000+ words)
Novel: full length (45,000-80,000 words)
Category: mid-sized (30-45,000 words)
Novella: smaller (15-30,000 words)


Pop,

Does that mean you will be submitting the whole 50.000 or so in one go? Like in one text?



Gauche,

An extraordinary amount? I'm striving for a noticeable amount. Will that do?

 

[Octavian]

I have the same dilemma at the moment.

My first story was a long one and whilst I have been rewarded with some fabulous feedback from the people who have read it, I know a number, including some Literotica luminaries, were put off by the length. And hell, I was new to Literotica anyway.

I was only ever going to write one story but somehow I have got the bug again. Now that I have almost finished my second serious story I have decided to post it chapter by chapter (six so far approx 3000 words per chapter.)

My point, and I have only just realised this, is do what you want. If I lose readers because some chapters are not wall to wall sex and they don't like to waste time on things such as plot development, so what!
Likewise, if they are intimidated by the length.

I am not a writer in the sense that I can produce purple prose but I do believe I can tell a good story. And a good story, whether it is posted as a one-off or as a succession of chapters, will retain readers


And echoing destinie21, I too have kept a list of people who sent me feedback and they will be contacted as soon as my new story appears.

Octavian

 

[lucky-E-leven]

Wow! Thanks Black Tulip.

Looks like I am on the extreme other end from the novella. Mine is 160,000 + words. Sheesh. Maybe it's time to hack it up and put the thing on a diet. Not for lit, then, but not to worry. I still read it when I need motivation and my friend really enjoyed it.

Thanks for sharing.

~lucky

 

[dr_mabeuse]

As far as posting: if it's a novella, post the whole thing as is. One of the downsides to novellas is that there's no other description of the category: you have to describe it yourself. There's no way to tell people that one chapter is group sex and the next is incest or whatever.

If it's a serial novel, I post them as I write them and just append "Chapter 2" etc to the end of the title. One thing you might want to consider is labelling the last chapter as "final chapter" or some such, because there are people who won't even read a serialized novel unless they know for sure that it's finished. Publishing the chapters separately allows you to assign each chapter to the proper category too.

Personally, I try to keep my serial chapters to around 10,000 words, which is something like 3 Literotica pages. I find reading off a screen to be a very unpleasant experience, and seeing that a story extends beyond 3 Lit pages is very discouraging to me and often enough to make me give up unless I'm really into it.

---dr.M.

 

[Just_John1]

And echoing destinie21, I too have kept a list of people who sent me feedback and they will be contacted as soon as my new story appears.

Octavian

Octavian,

Good to see you again, its been a really long time. Please be sure to include me in that mailing list. As a first story it was a long one, but with all the stories I've read I still remember that one. Well written and held the readers attention through the whole thing.

Pops.

I do write as a hobby, I can't support myself with writing either. I got lucky in the story contest this year, but I just don't seem to develop a following. Maybe its that I don't post often enough.

Gauche,

I've read several of your stories and they do stand as "jump in Jump out stories very well. I try to do the same thing. I've noticed that some writers come up with a new title for each chapter and even though they are chapters of a series, they stand alonst just as well. Perhpas that's the answer.

Lucky, 160,000 words? Awsome! it has to be a fun read just to keep your attention that long. I'd love to read it.

Thanks everyone for their responses. Gives me something to think about.

JJ1

 

[pop_54]

Lucky,

I found this on another site:

Book Length

Plus Novel: traditional full length (80,000+ words)
Novel: full length (45,000-80,000 words)
Category: mid-sized (30-45,000 words)
Novella: smaller (15-30,000 words)


Pop,

Does that mean you will be submitting the whole 50.000 or so in one go? Like in one text?

Yeppers love, that's how it was written for the NaNo thingie in November last year, and that's how it will eventually wind up.
It will be in chapters of course, and correctly paragraphed for on screen reading, but the whole thing will be there from start to finish. I visualise about 70,000 words plus by the time I actually finish writing and editing it, (it's at 54,000'ish at present).

As for the good Doctor's comment about categories This stories got the bloody lot somewhere or other So it would be impossible to categorise anyway.

 

[SadieRose]

My point, and I have only just realised this, is do what you want. If I lose readers because some chapters are not wall to wall sex and they don't like to waste time on things such as plot development, so what!
Likewise, if they are intimidated by the length.

Octavian

I have to agree with this. If YOU don't enjoy the stuff you write then it's hardly fair to expect that anyone else should. I always have to be completely into a story or an idea before I can work with it.

Most of my stuff begins as a flashpoint, a single scene or a character development and goes on to become something much longer and more involved. The material posted here is mainly random experiments with sex scenes that I've had on file for a while. The Novella/Serial "Habit" is developed from a piece that I did as an exercise with a friend and re-editted to turn into an erotic novel. Basically I was trying to find out how long I could maintain the impetus of keeping at least one decent sex scene in each chapter before I (a.) ran out of plot or (b.) died of exhaustion.

(I think it was Poppy Brite who said that she writes her sex scenes very slowly because it's not so easy to do with one hand! )

Go with the flow. And above all, enjoy it!

Sadie

 

[minsue]

Of course like all here, I hope to entertain someone, but if not, so be it.

pops

Pops, you are one of the most entertaining people I've ever met! (or not met. whatever.)

- Mindy, always amused

 

[Black Tulip]

Although this isn't my thread, I do want to say thank you for the answers I got: thank you

Oh, and JJ1,

Thanks for the lift.

 

[KenJames]

I've noticed that subsequent chapters of a story lose readership at an alarming rate. The original story may have high reads, high ratings but the subsequent chapters taper off pretty quick. I've only done the third chapter of one story at this point, with several left hanging after the second chapter.

I guess I'm atypical. I usually write a complete long story and then break it into chapters for posting, often with the chapters in different categories. My later chapters often attract more views and votes than the early chapters.

 

[KenJames]

I find reading off a screen to be a very unpleasant experience, and seeing that a story extends beyond 3 Lit pages is very discouraging to me and often enough to make me give up unless I'm really into it.

Me too. That's a big reason why I break my stories into chapters.

 

[Just_John1]

Re: Re: An author like question, Chapters vs Novels

I guess I'm atypical. I usually write a complete long story and then break it into chapters for posting, often with the chapters in different categories. My later chapters often attract more views and votes than the early chapters.

I can't just sit down and write a story all at one time, my interests vary too widely and too quickly. When I try to force myself to write a chapter in a particular story when its not my first choice I struggle (reason 124 out 10,000 and counting why I'll never make money with writing). It seems that the later chapters lose from the first chapter and then kind of hold in a range. I guess that would represent the core readership so to speak. The ratio of reads to feedbacks seems to hold pretty steady as well.

I do struggle with categories though, particularly if the story spans several but I'm learning.

Blacktulip... I'll offer you a lift anytime... can it be one of those iceskating lifts? Huh please? ok perhaps not... a boost then anytime you'd like.

JJ1