Chapters or Not?

[BlueYonder63]

Hi,

I'm new to this writing game. I've just written a story I am going to submit, but it's my longest so far at about 15000 words. Looking at the preview it will be about 5 pages long when submitted.

Will people be put off reading a story so long? Am I better breaking it up into chapters? I can split it into roughly 3 equal parts.

What do people think is best, and what do readers prefer - a long story, or shorter chapters?

Thank you for your help, it is really appreciated.

Blueyonder63 (Mel) X

 

[NaokoSmith]

Many people post long stories, I've read 8 or 10 page ones and I'm sure there are longer ones. There are long stories with Hot ratings, so it doesn't seem to affect that.

However I find that I sometimes log out of those stories after a couple of pages, meaning to go back. On this site my attention span expects at most 3 pages. I really like it when I see 1 or 2 pages, I know, how lazy! And I actually have read War and Peace cover to cover.

I decided to split up one of my stories into 3 bits, partly as the first two didn't have much sex and only the last third of it was a sex scene. I thought some people would like the sex scene alone. I was right! that one has the most downloads, although curiously, it's also rated the least Hot ROFLOL.

Good luck on here! If anyone posts a comment in here that's weird, they are weird, don't worry about it. Don't reply! unless playing games is your idea of a great afternoon's entertainment - most twisted intelligent trolls I ever came across. Love you all!

Whatever he says, don't send Tio any pictures of yourself naked. Just saying. Love him to bits, myself. So much so that I might even one day send him a photo of my foot without a pink wellie on it. Tio!

 

[PennLady]

This comes up a lot and the answer is that it's dependent on a lot of factors.

Many writers, including myself, prefer to post in 3-4 page installments unless it's a contest entry. Others will post longer stories. You can do as you like. For me personally, since I don't have time to sit and read anything much longer than 3-4 pages, I don't like to ask that of readers.

 

[sr71plt]

Five Lit. pages isn't as long as many of them are. I wouldn't open one that long without a really good reason to, but ones that long don't seem to suffer much in views and votes. In fact, some say the longer ones get better ratings because only the truly committed hang on that long. There will also be some who say one-page chapters aren't for them.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

The answer is, do whatever is best for your story. I prefer to read stories or story installments that are 3 pages or less, and I try very hard to post stories or chapters that are in that range. Nonetheless, I have posted stories or chapters that are four and five pages. I think one even reached six pages. None suffered due to length. Why do I sometimes exceed my own guidelines? Because in those cases there is no easy way to break it into smaller pieces.

 

[alwayswantedto]

<deleted>

 

[Ironiclaconic]

Lit is a bad format for reading long stories, as there is no easy way to bookmark where you left off. Different people have different levels of patience, but I would caution against adding an arbitrary chapter break. Do it if it is a natural episodic break or it is a good cliffhanger to draw people into the next chapter.

 

[carlieplum]

I would probably break it into two or three chunks, at natural break points.

 

[InSlowMotion]

The answer is, do whatever is best for your story. I prefer to read stories or story installments that are 3 pages or less, and I try very hard to post stories or chapters that are in that range. Nonetheless, I have posted stories or chapters that are four and five pages. I think one even reached six pages. None suffered due to length. Why do I sometimes exceed my own guidelines? Because in those cases there is no easy way to break it into smaller pieces.

Yeah, I think it has more to do with that. Unless it's one continuous scene from beginning to end, surely it can be broken down for ease of reading. That being said, as long as you can keep the reader turning the pages, a long story can work.

The thing with chapters is that they help divide the story into "acts", each one possibly with a straight out cliffhanger, or at least a conclusion that paves the way for the next one. It also helps the reader allocate their reading time (example: I'll read three chapters today and the next ones tomorrow).

 

[3113]

Chapters

I agree with most of the others here that Lit readership (generally speaking) perfers 3-5 Literotica page installments. A single story that goes longer will often turn away readers. This makes sense when you consider that 3 Literotica pages comes to something like 10 regular pages. Which is about as much as people can read while on their lunch break Which, means you might have a moot point if the entire story is only 5 lit pages--that should be fine. If your story looks like it's going to be fifteen Lit pages, however, then yes, break it up into chapters.

A few words of caution:

(1) Though it might seem obvious--don't give the chapters different names, that confuses things. So Title them: Hot Sex: Chapter 1, Hot Sex: Chapter 2... (or pt. 1/pt. 2, something like that).

(2) If possible, make sure your story is complete or nearly complete before you start posting the chapters. Writers want to post as soon as they write up a chapter--and then, somewhere in the middle, they stop writing and readers wait for months for chapter 3--and usually stop waiting. It's more fair to readers if your story is done and you can post chapter 1, 2 and 3 over three sequential days. Or all at once if you really want--but I think readers actually like being teased back for tomorrow's thrilling chapter

(3) Make sure that you put something hot and sexy in each chapter if you can. A chapter without sex--but with a good story--can do fine. But this is an erotica site and a taste of the sex to come in later chapters will get readers salivating for that next chapter.

(4) Put all chapters in the same category. Even if the story veers into other topics (group sex, etc.), pick whatever category the whole story would be in if it was in one piece and put all the chapters there. It just makes sense for readers looking for chapter 2 to go back to the category where they read chapter 1.

Hope that helps.

 

[BlueYonder63]

Thanks to everyone for the really helpful and constructive advice. You've generally confirmed what I was thinking. I prefer 2-3 page stories myself because of the time aspect, so will definitely break into 3.

It is one story, but can be broken sensibly, and still have a great deal of naughtiness in each chapter!

3113 also answered my next question about timing the submissions. It sounds like a good idea to post on consecutive days so I don't end up with Chap 3 being approved before Chap 2 etc.

I'll submit it in the next few days, and I hope you will like my amateur efforts.

X BlueYonder63

 

[jomar]

I agree with 3, though depending on the writing a story can do well when posted in different categories.

 

[sr71plt]

I agree with 3's points 2, 3, and 4, but you should be aware that this is a frequently discussed issue here--and quite a few posters don't agree with those points.

 

[InSlowMotion]

I agree with 3's points 2, 3, and 4, but you should be aware that this is a frequently discussed issue here--and quite a few posters don't agree with those points.

1 does sound controversial. I'm currently placing each chapter where it would belong, because they are mostly self-contained; each one can be read on its own. However, my next series puts a much greater emphasis on continuity, so in that case I would go with 3's suggestion.

 

[damppanties]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Laurel will post chapters of a multi-chapter story on consecutive days even when all of them are submitted at the same time.

 

[datedsoul]

Lit is a bad format for reading long stories, as there is no easy way to bookmark where you left off. Different people have different levels of patience, but I would caution against adding an arbitrary chapter break. Do it if it is a natural episodic break or it is a good cliffhanger to draw people into the next chapter.

Fortunately this isn't entirely true anymore. The mobile app remembers exactly where you are in a story.

Granted, that probably only helps 5-10% of the readers here, but at least it's something.