Delay between multi-part stories

[mikoli5763]

I am wondering what an acceptable delay between the posting of one installment of a multi-part story and the next. Due to the injury of a co-worker, I have been working more hours at my regular job and not been able to write. The situation at work is up in the air as to how long I'll have to maintain the present schedule.

 

[RoyceConnors]

I am wondering what an acceptable delay between the posting of one installment of a multi-part story and the next. Due to the injury of a co-worker, I have been working more hours at my regular job and not been able to write. The situation at work is up in the air as to how long I'll have to maintain the present schedule.

For me, once a chapter has been posted, I'll submit the next one. It takes close to a week to post, so it keeps the readers interested and not looking for the next one.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

A week's about right.

 

[PennLady]

I am wondering what an acceptable delay between the posting of one installment of a multi-part story and the next. Due to the injury of a co-worker, I have been working more hours at my regular job and not been able to write. The situation at work is up in the air as to how long I'll have to maintain the present schedule.

This question comes up a lot. A lot of people feel you shouldn't post at all until your story is finished, so as not to leave any readers hanging; plenty of stories are never finished. Other writers like the feedback as encouragement as they go along.

I tend to think that ideally a story would be finished. However, this is a free site and so I think people can do as they please but be ready for any negative feedback as a result of a long wait.

Views/votes/etc. tend to go down as a series goes along, even if it's posted with regularity, so if you post ch 2 of something months after Ch 1, you may get even fewer readers, as people won't necessarily want to go back and read the first chapter.

This is a long way of saying that there's no "acceptable" wait, except what an individual reader deems is acceptable.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

While PL is correct in the short-term, views go UP if the delay is long enough.

Why?

Because folks are never the same from one day to the next. Its human nature to change your mind. And it often takes time for change to work.

 

[lovecraft68]

I never submitted a chapter before the previous one posted.

Reason being just on the off chance for some reason a chapter, says, 4 was rejected and while I'm trying top get it approved 5 comes out and everything is screwed up.

Or if you dumped them in all at once who says the site could not somehow make a mistake and post one before another?

CYA and don't submit a certain number of days apart only submit when the previous is up and in good order/

 

[oggbashan]

How about ten years?

That's my maximum - so far...

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I never submitted a chapter before the previous one posted.

Reason being just on the off chance for some reason a chapter, says, 4 was rejected and while I'm trying top get it approved 5 comes out and everything is screwed up.

Or if you dumped them in all at once who says the site could not somehow make a mistake and post one before another?

CYA and don't submit a certain number of days apart only submit when the previous is up and in good order/

That's what I do, when one is up the flag pole I hoist the next one.

 

[Sebastian_Plz]

I guess I am different than the rest of the folks here. I post whatever stories I feel are ready to be posted. It does not matter to me if the story is finished is not, as long as the chapter is complete I will put it up. But that does not mean I have any intention of even completing the series.

Again, just me speaking here, I see Lit as more of a writing exercise. Seeing what stories, aspects, styles play out...what audiences dig and do not. My thought is if you're a good writer, people will find your material regardless of completion and appreciate even if there is ending in sight or fixed release date. Now if I was to be paid, or based my persona/writing on requests of others, then my opinion would change, but since I write for me and myself alone, I see nothing wrong with waiting for however long, or short, you wish to release chapters.

Just my $.02

 

[bashfullyshameless]

Seconding PennLady's answer: it's great if you've got the whole series already finished, but in the end, this is a free site and writing here is much more of a hobby than a responsibility. Some readers will complain, but there are people out there who would complain if you gave them $5 for free ("Only $5?? Why not $10??").

Write at your pace. Don't worry too much about it.

 

[johneb87]

I'm at month 6 on mine. Depends on your readers. Many of my readers do check in on me for the status. I usually like to post status updates to my bio and comments just to let everyone know I'm still working on it.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I am wondering what an acceptable delay between the posting of one installment of a multi-part story and the next. Due to the injury of a co-worker, I have been working more hours at my regular job and not been able to write. The situation at work is up in the air as to how long I'll have to maintain the present schedule.

I posted "Stringed Instrument" with about 4-6 weeks between chapters, and that seemed to go OK. A little bit of a wait can be a good thing, builds interest and anticipation.

That said, I think "regular" matters more than "frequent". Readers don't want to invest in a story that isn't going to get finished, and irregular posting is a big warning sign there. In your situation I'd leave a comment on the last posted chapter, explaining the situation so people understand you have a good reason for the hiatus.

 

[desertslave]

I also agree with PennLady, write at a pace that's comfortable for you. Life happens and breaks are sometimes needful. I mostly think of writing and submitting on here as an indulgence; I only write when the words insist on jumping off my fingertips.

I'm following a very long-sequenced story elseNet. The author had a great pace for a while, but Real Life(tm) intervened and we loyal readers have actually waited ofr a year between recent chapters. I'm very happy when a new chapter shows up, but I've learned not to be dependent on it.

That said, be prepared for cranky readers who think that they have some right to demand more from you when they want (as if they're paying customers? LOL). Some of them have an unimaginable sense of entitlement and can get rather nasty.

 

[drteetho]

Seconding PennLady's answer: it's great if you've got the whole series already finished, but in the end, this is a free site and writing here is much more of a hobby than a responsibility. Some readers will complain, but there are people out there who would complain if you gave them $5 for free ("Only $5?? Why not $10??").

Write at your pace. Don't worry too much about it.

I'm at month 6 on mine. Depends on your readers. Many of my readers do check in on me for the status. I usually like to post status updates to my bio and comments just to let everyone know I'm still working on it.

Pretty much these. It may be preferable to have a series finished first, but if you're like me and you don't think about extending a series until after the fact, and then when you start writing it soon mushrooms into something bigger than you even thought possible... well life's like that sometimes. If I had more free time I'd write faster... but I don't.

I try to update my bio too but I admit I sometimes don't update as well or often as I would like.

At the end of the day I write at my schedule and post something when I feel I have something ready and worthy to post. Not much more you can do than that, IMHO.

 

[slyc_willie]

I've gone both routes. I had a series posted here with chapters (each about 30-40k words) posting once I finished them. I was on a good roll with the entire series, until real life intruded and writing took a back seat to other obligations. Most of the chapters went up about a month apart, then a year and a half passed before Chapter Six posted, and then it lingered. My intention was always to finish it, but as I said, real life got in the way.

My most recent series posted eight chapters nearly back-to-back. I finished the entire thing before submitting any of it, then submitted all eight chapters at once. Laurel automatically parsed them into a two/three day delay between posting, so over a period of about two weeks, the whole thing was up.

I figure the next series I do, I'll use a middle ground approach. I'll finish the entire story, then submit each part a couple of weeks apart.

 

[RejectReality]

As far as what maintains the readers with the most effectiveness, twice weekly or weekly seems to work best ( with the whole story finished before posting, of course )

Daily ( the standard if you submit all the chapters at once ) doesn't seem to do as well, for whatever reason. It may be that those few days between create just the right amount of anticipation to keep readers hungry.

I personally will never again submit anything that isn't already complete. I've got one hanging over my head that's sometimes a joy to write, and sometimes tears open a wound that's probably never going to heal.

 

[sr71plt]

My multichaptered works are finished before I begin posting. For the same reasons others here have given, I don't submit the next segment until the previous one has posted. I do so soon thereafter, though.

Also, taking the idea from some others here, I put a slug in front of the first chapter informing the reader how many chapters there are and approximately when they all will have been posted. That way the reader doesn't have to worry about investing a read in something that may not end at all or within a reasonable time.

 

[slyc_willie]

Also, taking the idea from some others here, I put a slug in front of the first chapter informing the reader how many chapters there are and approximately when they all will have been posted. That way the reader doesn't have to worry about investing a read in something that may not end at all or within a reasonable time.

I did this with TnT, including an author's note at the beginning that there would be eight chapters total. Whereas on previous series I received a lot of clamoring for "more, more, more!" there's been none of that with TnT, even though the ending was intentionally left open for the possibility of a sequel series.

Maybe they're just waiting.

 

[sr71plt]

Maybe they're just waiting.

As long as they aren't waiting with sharpened knives, all is good.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Fuck readers.

 

[SecondCircle]

I do it pretty much the same as most here, with a big sort of exception.

I wrote a four chapter story in which the chapters were one long story. A whole. With these I completed them all, then submitted them one by one. The third and fourth chapter did have some hiccups that needed fixing before they posted so they took a little longer than expected.

On the other hand I do have some works that are "chaptered" but they aren't like the above story. I write a standalone story that has an ending but leaves room for a sequel if I should so choose. In this case, the time between additional chapters or "sequels" varies, because each chapter is actually its own story.

I do think any writer here should write at his/her own pace. Too much time between submitted chapters will not bode well for your readership, however, so I wouldn't measure that in years or anything like that.

Some of the stories of mine that have a bit of time in between haven't suffered any loss of readership. Some of the same readers return to find a sequel, as they are still out there reading, and they always express their delight at a story's return.

Just some of my experiences. Do it the way you see fit. Here at lit, there is really no wrong answer I guess.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

I have done both. With my earlier chaptered stories I put up each chapter as soon as it was ready. Views fluctuated between chapters, but there were various reasons for that--intervals between submissions were not consistent; categories varied; chapters varied in length. The longest interval was 15 mos., and that chapter had the lowest views.

Now, I write at least a rough draft of the entire story before I start uploading chapters. I'm halfway through a three chapter piece, and I'm anxious to get some of it up. I have veered from my outline, however, so I'm holding back to make sure I can still reach my destination via an alternate route.

This process will be tested later this year. My next project is estimated at 8 chapters, and I really don't know if I'll be able to hold on to it until it is complete.

 

[emap]

I have a different take on chaptered stories. Perhaps it's just with my stuff but people go and read everything I do then decide what they like best and ask me to continue that.

Course I intend on continuing all of the series that are not completed. Don't intend to continue one story that I have been asked to. In the last six months I've gotten requests to continue Emap, series about a cat girl goddess, Call me Booty, series about a gang leader trying to kill off another gang, and Sar, series about a lesbian robot special agent. Some people have asked me to continue vampire, and werewolf though I am stuck on that one, what sounds best to go with is rather the same as vampire and booty.

There is another one, a series of a series western in nature. I didn't think it would keep coming and also not as popular as it seems to be. People admit to bein desperate for more of that one. Go figure.

 

[4glory6]

I won't even start reading a multi-chapter work here until it is declared finished. Why should I waste my reading time on a risk that's just messing around? There are too many traps like this being posted to literotica.

 

[lovecraft68]

I won't even start reading a multi-chapter work here until it is declared finished. Why should I waste my reading time on a risk that's just messing around? There are too many traps like this being posted to literotica.

That's a good point, but the only drawback is if you see a series that looks interesting and maybe bookmark it to wait til its done and you get so9meone who is posting a chapter every 8 months or so.