Another question, sorry, splitting up chapters

[CoffeeWithMonkeys]

I am about to submit a longer story, it's 17 chapters. On Google docs it's 44 pages, 22xxx words.
So how would you split it up here?
And since I've only submitted one story and it was a short one, how do I submit a longer one? The whole thing all at once? A few chapters at a time? One chapter at a time?

Sorry, I'm sure all this info is right here somewhere and I am just missing it.

THANKS!

 

[NOIRTRASH]

I asked the same question a while back. My tale is long. I'm told you can go chapters or whole hog. See what the great minds say, I imagine both ways come with plusses and minuses.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Actually, 22,000 words is considered a short story here or a short novella. Submit the entire thing. Now when you get into the 50,000 to 100,000 word range, you might think about breaking that up.

My first story here was 110,000 odd words long, I broke it up into five parts, each with an odd number of chapters. I have since taken it down and published it as a whole book.

My partner, Blind_Justice and I, submitted a contest story. It was 11,000 words long...a short story.

 

[Handley_Page]

I am about to submit a longer story, it's 17 chapters. On Google docs it's 44 pages, 22xxx words.
So how would you split it up here?
And since I've only submitted one story and it was a short one, how do I submit a longer one? The whole thing all at once? A few chapters at a time? One chapter at a time?

Sorry, I'm sure all this info is right here somewhere and I am just missing it.

THANKS!

A Lit paqe is about 3500 words. so a 22000 word story would be something over 6 pages.
Most folk seem comfortable with 3-6 pages, so I suggest you think in terms of
splitting the story so as to leave the reader looking forward to the next part.
However, there ARE stories (Novella) which are long.
I think it depends upon your target readership.

 

[SusanJillParker]

Being that I'm more of a novelist than I am a short story writer, I prefer breaking up chapters than dumping one big story on the board.

Writing chapters allows me to reread, reedit, and rewrite stories.

Moreover, readers may see something and have a suggestion in a chapter your already posted that you didn't.

Writing chapters keeps me in the heat of the story.

 

[PennLady]

I agree with Handley. 22k words shouldn't be an issue.

If you want to break it up, for whatever reason, just find breaks where it makes sense to you, and make sure the chapter is at least 750 words, which is Lit's minimum.

When you submit, in the title field write something Story Title: Chapter 0X (I recommend the leading 0 to keep all chapters in order in your author's page listing).

 

[CoffeeWithMonkeys]

Thanks everyone! I think I figured it out.
Yeah it's not long, but longer than the short story I submitted here before so I wasn't sure if I should split it up or what. I deiced to split it into 4 longer chapters since it was 16 shortish ones. Submit each chapter separate.

But thanks! I get so confused sometimes. Most of the time actually!

 

[Hypoxia]

If you submit this as a series of 2-LIT-page episodes (about 6000-7500 words each) you'll get increasing vote scores from decreasing numbers of readers. If you submit it as a single piece, especially as a contest entry or in a popular category, you may grab more eyeballs.