Chapter 2's

[Antfarmer77]

Ok, I told myself "Self...no multiple chapters or sequels" well nobody else listens to me, why should I eh? I posted the first chapter ( which I had planned on being the only chapter) in LW ( just to see what'd happen LOL...and everyone one seemed pretty nice). The one comment I got said it ( my story) didn't belong in LW, I'm not sure I agree, but anyways, the second part probably dosen't belong there for sure, so my question is, does it cause much confusion to put a second chapter in a different catagory?

 

[S-Des]

It does, but I've seen a number of authors do it. Would you rather have a little confusion and lose a couple of readers (because they don't check your bio page for the story) or get a bunch of low scores for having a story that doesn't belong in the category?

As for multiple chapters, I've seen several threads on the subject, as well as length per chapter and find most of them to be pointless. I've seen people say you shouldn't have a story more than 2 or 3 pages long per chapter, yet many of the highest scoring stories on the site are longer. Some people write 18 page stories, some give you 3-10 chapters for the same 18 pages. They all score based on the quality of the story more than any plan to appeal to the readers. I have my personal preferences, but they are just that. So do what will make the story the best and you'll be fine. Ignore the "experts", trust me...they're not.

 

[AchtungNight]

My answer: No. Not for me, anyway. I'm not the sort of reader who judges stories solely by the category they're in. Many categories here are somewhat vague and inclusive: Celebrities, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Erotic Horror, Loving Wives, Group Sex, and BDSM can all contain gay sex, lesbian sex, hetero sex, and various fetishes (maybe even more than one of these) and because of the themes and characters involved the stories in these categories end up where they are regardless. Novels & Novellas can include just about anything, ditto for Humor & Satire. Now there are some categories that get exclusive tales. Erotic Couplings is all male/female. Other stories can end up in certain categories even with a theme that seems to put them elsewhere. If a story's about a character's first time having sex, then it will probably end up in First Time if it's hetero sex and in Lesbian or Gay Male if it involves homosexuality. If it's about a real or fictional celebrity's first time, it goes in Celebrity. First chapter of something bigger, goes in Novels. You get the idea. It depends on general theme of the story, not anything specific. It also depends on author/publisher choice of course.

Now, there are unfortunately many readers out there who avoid certain categories for some reason. They don't want to read a celebrity tale, a piece of anal, or whatever. We have to respect their choice. Hopefully they will also respect ours and not flame us for writing in categories they don't like or in some cases read them anyway because they are our fans. When a reader puts aside their personal prejudices and judges your story fairly based on its quality and the effort you put in, that is one of the best feelings a writer can get. It's somewhat rare, sadly. Me, I try to judge every story I read with this in mind. You gotta recognize things like jokes, catchy lines, series, one-shots, hot sex, and good writing for what they are. No matter what the writer does.

Only my opinion.

One more thing- if a story has multiple chapters, I'm cool with it as long as the story's good. It just means I have more fun stuff to read.