First Time Author Question

[SmithicusMaximus]

So this is my first post. I am extremely new to erotica and writing in general. I'm 26 and haven't really written much since high school (just finished freshman year of college for Electrical Engineering).

I started writing a story that is currently at 15762 words. I wrote an outline and started filling in scenes that came to mind first. I have a paragraph overview of the plot as well as a character sheet.

I'm not trying to get ahead of myself, but is it worth posting "chapters" of my story as I finish them? Have people in the past posted sections of a story on literorica to then publish them as the full story later?

One reason I'm asking is that the first ~4900 words are plot and character development. I don't know if that is too much or what is considered normal for a short story or chapters.

I also don't want to say that I am writing a book, because that seems like taking on unnecessary stress, but based on my outline, and what I have written, I have a lot left to write. Any input is appreciated and I hope I didn't overlook this info if it's posted elsewhere.

 

[NotWise]

So this is my first post. I am extremely new to erotica and writing in general. I'm 26 and haven't really written much since high school (just finished freshman year of college for Electrical Engineering).

Welcome aboard! You'll get your sea legs under you soon enough.

I started writing a story that is currently at 15762 words. I wrote an outline and started filling in scenes that came to mind first. I have a paragraph overview of the plot as well as a character sheet.

I'm not trying to get ahead of myself, but is it worth posting "chapters" of my story as I finish them? Have people in the past posted sections of a story on literorica to then publish them as the full story later?

If you want to post chapters, the general advice (and my advice based on experience) is that you should write the whole story before you post any part of it.

I'm sure people have posted stories in chapters/parts/sections and then taken them down and republished it in one piece. I don't see that there's very much point to doing that.

One reason I'm asking is that the first ~4900 words are plot and character development. I don't know if that is too much or what is considered normal for a short story or chapters.

I also don't want to say that I am writing a book, because that seems like taking on unnecessary stress, but based on my outline, and what I have written, I have a lot left to write. Any input is appreciated and I hope I didn't overlook this info if it's posted elsewhere.

A lot depends on the category and how it's written. A 5K lead-in wouldn't be at all unusual in SciFi/Fantasy or Romance. I think I've written more than that in I/T. On the other hand, a 4900-word story or chapter is about 1 1/3 Lit pages. That's a little short, and you may get some push-back from readers.

Have fun writing it, and buena suerte.

 

[UsuallyPresent]

Welcome!

I don't think there's any hard and fast rules. People have posted chapters and whole stories - longer than novel length in some cases. People have done chapters and then removed them and reposted the whole all combined. And all sorts of things in between.


Personally, I'm in the midst of writing a very long story, and I chose to post a handful of chapters at a time.


In general, the readers seem to appreciate longer stories that have multiple literotica pages per post if you're going to split up the whole. That's around 3,500 words per lit page, in general. So if you've got a story less than, say, 15k words, it's probably best to post it all at once. If larger, post in 7k-10k chunks or thereabouts.


All those are 'rules of thumb', break 'em as you need to, but in my experience they're generally good ones to follow unless there's a critical need, like a cliffhanger or a plot point that makes for a satisfying break point.


Good luck, there's a good crowd here - I hope you have a good time. I sure know I have!

 

[BelleCanzuto]

Welcome aboard.
A couple of basic points:
1) A Literotica short story seems to be longer than "commercial" short stories. One Literotica page is 3500 words, and one of the authors here did stats showing that around 8 pages generated the best reception here. So, long stories, and stories verging on novel length do well.

2) readership for several of the categories appreciate "slow burns" or stories that have a build up. From what I've gathered Sci-fi, Romance and Mature especially. But, most of the readerships won't penalize a writer for taking time to develop character if it's well done and doesn't come across as a data dump.

3) so, if you can weave the character/world building into the action, or sprinkle it through the story, that seems to be better received.

4) find authors here whose writing you like and try to analyze what they do that appeals to you.

5) it's sometimes helpful to start with a shorter, stand alone story, to get the hang of things, and then work on your longer story.

6) don't be afraid to edit. There's a forum where you can ask for someone to read your story and give feedback (beta read), or even edit it for you. Personally, I write a story, then leave it alone for a few weeks and then go back to look it over, check for typos, and rewrite.

7) don't be afraid to ask questions. We're a lively and opinionated bunch, and you may wind up with more advice than you want, but you'll usually get something helpful.

Welcome to the fray, and I hope you enjoy yourself.

 

[Maeven_quinn]

So this is my first post. I am extremely new to erotica and writing in general. I'm 26 and haven't really written much since high school (just finished freshman year of college for Electrical Engineering).

I started writing a story that is currently at 15762 words. I wrote an outline and started filling in scenes that came to mind first. I have a paragraph overview of the plot as well as a character sheet.

I'm not trying to get ahead of myself, but is it worth posting "chapters" of my story as I finish them? Have people in the past posted sections of a story on literorica to then publish them as the full story later?

One reason I'm asking is that the first ~4900 words are plot and character development. I don't know if that is too much or what is considered normal for a short story or chapters.

I also don't want to say that I am writing a book, because that seems like taking on unnecessary stress, but based on my outline, and what I have written, I have a lot left to write. Any input is appreciated and I hope I didn't overlook this info if it's posted elsewhere.

I don't think there is a rule for chapter length. It's more about about if chapters end at places that make sense to stop from a structural stand point. I once heard that the over arching story is a three act plot, and every individual scene is also a three act plot like fractals all the way down.

So if your chapters are well contained, splitted them up by length shouldn't be a big deal.

For me personally 12k long stories are about my sweet spot of what I like to read online. 20k seems to be the max. A lot of erotica online is published around 6k words.

Hope those numbers help you decide.

 

[HeyAll]

One important thing to keep in mind is that, generally, the longer the wait for each chapter, the bigger the decline in readers because people forget about it.

I think it's best to complete the whole thing them submit every two days. Just my opinion.

 

[SimonDoom]

If your story is in the neighborhood of 15,000+ words, then absolutely DO NOT publish it in separate chapters. Publish it as a single story.

There is data on this. Stories that are around three Literotica pages (3750 words, roughly) or more do better in terms of scores and comments than shorter stories, generally speaking. I think a good rule is never to break apart a story of 25,000 words or fewer.

If you have a novel-length story, then go ahead and publish as you go. But if it's fewer than 25,000 words, finish the whole thing and publish it as a single story.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

My latest was just published this morning. It's 15,000 words long. I have several longer works up here that are a lot longer... in the 90,000 word length. I also have some that are separated into parts, not chapters, parts that contain several chapters.

 

[gordo12]

One important thing to keep in mind is that, generally, the longer the wait for each chapter, the bigger the decline in readers because people forget about it.

I think it's best to complete the whole thing them submit every two days. Just my opinion.

If your story is in the neighborhood of 15,000+ words, then absolutely DO NOT publish it in separate chapters. Publish it as a single story.

There is data on this. Stories that are around three Literotica pages (3750 words, roughly) or more do better in terms of scores and comments than shorter stories, generally speaking. I think a good rule is never to break apart a story of 25,000 words or fewer.

If you have a novel-length story, then go ahead and publish as you go. But if it's fewer than 25,000 words, finish the whole thing and publish it as a single story.

Both posts above are great advice. The sweet spot for shorter stories is in the 2-3 page area 7-10,000 words. Longer stories are even better because the readership that follows them through to the end is more dedicated and vote higher. Trolls tend not to engage with those long stories. They prefer the 1/2 page stories they can read in a day or two.

PS: Welcome!

 

[Voboy]

I posted two early stories as chapters, and now I look back on them and wonder why I did.

16k is not a particularly long Lit story, so there's no reason to post it in chapters, at least not without a concrete reason. Plus (more importantly) you need to look at practicalities: if you post in chapters on Lit, it's usually a good idea to include sex at least once in each chapter.

So. If your "chapter one" is 4900 words of character development, and this is a sex site, how many people are likely to return for Chapter 2?

Just post the whole 16k as one story. My longest story here is more than twice as long as yours, and I consider a story "short" at about 10k words. Granted, I'm not the infallible arbitrator of any of these things, but your story is right in the sweet spot for readable, successful stories, lengthwise.

If you're concerned about the quality (rather than the quantity) of your writing, there comes a point where you need to stop editing and post. Only you can figure out where that point is.

 

[married40scouple]

I recommend getting an editor and have him or her give you the honest feedback you need. The person will point out items you missed. You don’t want to be discouraged by getting bad ratings on your first post due to typos and plot misses.

Good luck and enjoy the experience!

 

[GroverLang]

I started writing a story that is currently at 15762 words. I wrote an outline and started filling in scenes that came to mind first. I have a paragraph overview of the plot as well as a character sheet.

I'm not trying to get ahead of myself, but is it worth posting "chapters" of my story as I finish them? Have people in the past posted sections of a story on literorica to then publish them as the full story later? .

I would follow the advice of writing the full story before you submit the first chapter or, at least, have a detailed storyline in your head so you aren’t constantly thinking “what comes next.”

As for writing in chapters and then, at a later date, asking for it to be deleted and submitting it again as one story it can be done and successfully.

Early on I wrote a story in five one page, 3k to 3.5k words, and submitted them two days apart. It was a disaster with the ratings slightly above 4. I asked for it to be deleted and submitted it again, same title, as a 16k story. It currently sits at 4.87. I also submitted a three chapter story and although they all just squeezed into red I pulled it, submitted it as a 30k story and it’s on 4.83. But I’ve also got a one page story on 4.79. All in different categories so perhaps the length of the story is accepted differently in different categories.

All you can do is release the balloon and see where the wind takes it.

 

[OralHungryWayBack]

I recommend getting an editor and have him or her give you the honest feedback you need. The person will point out items you missed. You don’t want to be discouraged by getting bad ratings on your first post due to typos and plot misses.

Good luck and enjoy the experience!

Thank you for the good advice . I have found that typos are an affliction , like the common cold. After a decade of writing blog posts , I learned that the most careful editing and proofreading always failed me . I learnd very quickly that I had to take post publication action . I have never posted anything without finding typos . I had to learn to edit HTML on my blog site . It was self defense . Even then , some things just don't stay fixed .