Chapter length?

[AlexBailey]

Hello Literotica,
(Hi Big L)

Thanks to everyone for sharing your time, energy and creativity. I've been an occasional literotica reader for years and you have inspired me to also be a writer.

My first questions for the forum are about chapter length:

My first story is about 73,000 words, with plans for a sequel. It is already naturally broken into two large sections, should I break it down more?

Are there any hard limits to chapter length?

Can anyone give me some tips for how to submit multiple chapters without making parts hard to find or without being a pain for the administrators?

Are there any posted guidelines regarding chapter length?

 

[KeithD]

In real life, chapter lengths are determined by content and can be any length. I've seen twenty-word chapters in novels that had the impact intended. For Lit., they have to be at least 750 words. Many Lit. readers will complain (falsely) that they are too short if they don't go above the circa 3,750 words that fit on a Lit. page. In literary terms, though, it's still content, not false reader expectations, that should determine chapter length. Ideally, the "can be read in one setting" guidance for short story length holds for chapters too.

The submission system will automatically put your chapters in place if you title them correctly (e.g., "Tammy Does Tallahassee Ch. 01") You can easily research this yourself. Pick out an author who does chaptered work, go to their story page, and see how they've titled their chapters.

 

[AlexBailey]

Thanks for the response, KeithD!

So let's see if I understand correctly:

73,000 words should be around 20 'Lit pages'. This means that if it was published on Literotica in one piece it would be 20 pages?

Judging by most of the stories I've read here, I like to have 3-5 pages per chapter. So I should probably break it into 5-7 chapters?

-Alex

 

[oggbashan]

Thanks for the response, KeithD!

So let's see if I understand correctly:

73,000 words should be around 20 'Lit pages'. This means that if it was published on Literotica in one piece it would be 20 pages?

Judging by most of the stories I've read here, I like to have 3-5 pages per chapter. So I should probably break it into 5-7 chapters?

-Alex

It doesn't really matter. You could have internal breaks in a single submission of 20 Lit pages or submit it as several parts. Anyone who wants to read the whole story will read it in one part or several.

 

[KeithD]

Technical wordage length should be less of a concern than logical content breaks are. There should be logical chapter breaks, by content, in 73,000 words. That's what should be the determining factor in sectioning.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Thanks for the response, KeithD!

So let's see if I understand correctly:

73,000 words should be around 20 'Lit pages'. This means that if it was published on Literotica in one piece it would be 20 pages?

Judging by most of the stories I've read here, I like to have 3-5 pages per chapter. So I should probably break it into 5-7 chapters?

-Alex

If you're going to chapter it, that's not a bad length to work to. I've got a 103,000 word novel here which is in twelve chapters of varying lengths, with each chapter broken down by its narrative requirements (not by some artificial formula). But roughly 8k - 12k each chapter.

The advantage of chaptered work is you get a much better idea how many folk actually read the whole thing. I have several chaptered pieces up now, and the drop rate is similar: 100% views on the first part, 50% on the second, steady state through to the end, 25% - 30%. I can easily see which chapters were re-read by some folk, and which chapters hit squiks, just from the variation in scores.

If you submit them altogether, Laurel will set a release at least every 24 hours. Or you can time your own releases (every two days, three days, a week, whatever) by submitting sequentially yourself. Doing it that way is subject to the length of the queue on the day, though.

I deliberately kept mine right away from any contest, so it didn't get lost in all that traffic. I ended up with something on the category front page for over a month, which was pretty good. The downside, overall, was that I took a long time to write it, so I went long periods of time with no content going out, which lost me some visibility, I think.

Like everything you do, there are pros and cons to single release vs chaptered release. There's no "right way" to get the content out. Good luck, whichever approach you decide on .

 

[AlexBailey]

Thanks everyone.

My story covers a lot of different kinks as the characters experiment so I'll look for ways to end and start chapters in the transitions.

Is there any problem with using different tags for each chapter?

Electric Blue mentioned how the first chapter may get 100% then the subsequent chapters get lower traffic often remaining fairly steady thru the end, does this change if a middle chapter gets more audience because it has different tags? I'm sure some of this is subjective but I'd appreciate your thoughts.

-Alex

 

[KeithD]

Is there any problem with using different tags for each chapter?

I haven't discerned any. If I have a tag that applies to only some chapters, I use it only for those chapters and I haven't noticed any backlash for doing so.

 

[RejectReality]

There may be some small bump from a particularly popular tag such as mom/son, and a larger one from a mention of something like that in the description of the chapter, but it's not likely to overcome the middle chapter stagnation by much.

If it's so good that someone opening it up is blown away, they're as likely to go back to the beginning as anything. The overall size of the readership may increase, but the curve doesn't usually have bumps like that.

Thanks everyone.

My story covers a lot of different kinks as the characters experiment so I'll look for ways to end and start chapters in the transitions.

Is there any problem with using different tags for each chapter?

Electric Blue mentioned how the first chapter may get 100% then the subsequent chapters get lower traffic often remaining fairly steady thru the end, does this change if a middle chapter gets more audience because it has different tags? I'm sure some of this is subjective but I'd appreciate your thoughts.

-Alex

 

[ElectricBlue]

Thanks everyone.

My story covers a lot of different kinks as the characters experiment so I'll look for ways to end and start chapters in the transitions.

Is there any problem with using different tags for each chapter?

Electric Blue mentioned how the first chapter may get 100% then the subsequent chapters get lower traffic often remaining fairly steady thru the end, does this change if a middle chapter gets more audience because it has different tags? I'm sure some of this is subjective but I'd appreciate your thoughts.

-Alex

I don't think tags make much difference to the overall result. The initial reaction is what determines a story's ranking and positioning, and that's a consequence of category and the run out of the gate.

Tags are more relevant in the longer run, I think, when people are searching for their favourite kinks. The more tags the better, in that case.

I tag individual chapters based on that chapter's content, but I don't see any consequences where I'd say, "Oh, that was good/bad tagging."

 

[KeithD]

Tags are part of the system's warning system. If chapter three suddenly has an incest element, for instance, and the rest of the story doesn't, I consider adding this tag for this chapter only as activating the system's provided warning system. It then becomes the reader's responsibility whether they read it or not. They've been given warning. (It's not the author's fault the tags come at the end of the story. We've been asking for them to be moved up front for decades.)

If the dropped-in element is way out of the range of the rest of the story, a warning note up front would be helpful too.

I have had comments of finding unexpected elements in chapters/stories. If I've properly tagged it, I've responded that I did so. It's not my fault either that the system puts the tags at the end or the reader doesn't look at the tags.

 

[SimonDoom]

Thanks everyone.

My story covers a lot of different kinks as the characters experiment so I'll look for ways to end and start chapters in the transitions.

Is there any problem with using different tags for each chapter?

Electric Blue mentioned how the first chapter may get 100% then the subsequent chapters get lower traffic often remaining fairly steady thru the end, does this change if a middle chapter gets more audience because it has different tags? I'm sure some of this is subjective but I'd appreciate your thoughts.

-Alex

A few thoughts:

1. Go ahead and use as many different tags as you like. In fact, the more different tags you use the more likely it is that people will find your story via searches. There's no need at all for all chapters to be tagged the same.

2. I tend to think it's best to publish all chapters of a story in the same category, but there's some difference of opinion about this.

3. Re your last question: In general, views drop with succeeding chapters, but the amount of drop decreases after a few chapters. There are factors that can give a late chapter more views than an earlier one: a higher score, use of different tags, publication in a more popular category, or publishing it on a lucky day with more viewers. But in general views drop over time.

 

[SimonDoom]

Tags are part of the system's warning system. If chapter three suddenly has an incest element, for instance, and the rest of the story doesn't, I consider adding this tag for this chapter only as activating the system's provided warning system. It then becomes the reader's responsibility whether they read it or not. They've been given warning. (It's not the author's fault the tags come at the end of the story. We've been asking for them to be moved up front for decades.)

If the dropped-in element is way out of the range of the rest of the story, a warning note up front would be helpful too.

I have had comments of finding unexpected elements in chapters/stories. If I've properly tagged it, I've responded that I did so. It's not my fault either that the system puts the tags at the end or the reader doesn't look at the tags.

I wonder how many people really use tags in this way. It makes perfect sense to do so, given the finicky nature of Lit readers, but I wonder if people really scroll to the last page to check out the tags.

I think the more common use for tags is for searching. I don't know for sure, but my guess is more people use tags to find what they want than to avoid what they don't want.

 

[KeithD]

I wonder how many people really use tags in this way. It makes perfect sense to do so, given the finicky nature of Lit readers, but I wonder if people really scroll to the last page to check out the tags.

I think the more common use for tags is for searching. I don't know for sure, but my guess is more people use tags to find what they want than to avoid what they don't want.

Probably not many. I see it as discharging whatever warning duties I have as an author here. I give what the system provides in the way of content declaration (or most of it. Lit. doesn't seem to know in its tagging system that murder mystery is a major--and legitimate--literary category). This is an adult site and my position is that adults need to accept responsibility for their own reading when they are here. That said, there are a lot who don't and who complain--but if I've properly tagged my stories, I don't accept their complaint.

 

[ElectricBlue]

It's not my fault either that the system puts the tags at the end or the reader doesn't look at the tags.

Agree this - I would have thought it an easy enough thing to tweak the system code to put the tags on the first page of a story rather than the last. That would be a major site improvement, both for readers and writers, I reckon. We can only hope it's being looked at...