Forcing Page Breaks

[usable001]

This post is a topic that deserves its own forum thread, but for the reasons stated in this post below, I don't think I should be the one listed on the OP.

My impatience won, and I created the forum thread anyway.
https://forum.literotica.com/threads/a-34th-category-suggestion-short-stories.1657268/

If you agree with my suggestion, follow the link and say so.

 

[dmallord]

Yes, which is why I said at the beginning and repeated at the end of that post that discussing the creation of a short story category needed its own thread. The statement which inspired that train of thought was just a side comment, here.


Edit:
While nothing currently posted here was written with the intention of being excessively short (a second reason this thread is inappropriate), some of the things I have written in the past have been. In addition, Literotica doesn't list word counts on its author pages, like some other sites do.

I have been entering word counts at the beginning of my stories. Also adding tags up front since readers tend not to look at those either.

Oddly, when you submit a story for a 750-exact-word event, folks criticize that too as being too short.

 

[Voboy]

Oddly, when you submit a story for a 750-exact-word event, folks criticize that too as being too short.

They do, and I can't fault them. I, too, think it's too short. That's one of the reasons I stopped writing those.

That's a constraint I don't feel like living with as a writer, and I don't feel like I'd want to read any of them either.

 

[Britva415]

My short story takes place in three parts and has three locations

Imagine if there were a way to just use words to convey this.

Then consider writing that.

Keep in mind, printed pages present exactly the same situation you described, and people publish stories like yours in them just fine. Now: The web isn't paper, and I personally find it abominable that Lit page-ifies things the way they do, but, are we writers or are we typesetters? I'm confident that you could write your way out of this concern by telling the story in a way that makes the sections clear.

Another thing to think about: What if it was being read out loud, and the hearer had no awareness of pages or typography or anything other than the words? How would you use words to make things clear to them? This really isn't just a what-if. There are readers here who read our stories exactly this way.

 

[ElectricBlue]

They do, and I can't fault them. I, too, think it's too short. That's one of the reasons I stopped writing those.

That's a constraint I don't feel like living with as a writer, and I don't feel like I'd want to read any of them either.

They're a useful little skill test of your ability as a writer, to see if you can write shorter pieces and still get positive engagement. Some of my most delicate little pieces are in the 750 - 1k word range, and nearly all of them do okay. So my readers, at least, don't mind them.

 

[dmallord]

They're a useful little skill test of your ability as a writer, to see if you can write shorter pieces and still get positive engagement. Some of my most delicate little pieces are in the 750 - 1k word range, and nearly all of them do okay. So my readers, at least, don't mind them.

Exceptional writers can pull that off.

I’ve written several of those 750-word stories. Can’t recall how they scored at the moment. I do recall getting comments that didn’t reward the effort. Noted that the length didn’t allow for the fulfillment they needed. I expanded some of those into longer stories. How did they fare? Not sure, as my recall is vague at the moment.

But I’ve read yours. Yep. As I recall, you can certainly pull them off.

 

[IWroteThis]

Exceptional writers can pull that off.

I’ve written several of those 750-word stories. Can’t recall how they scored at the moment. I do recall getting comments that didn’t reward the effort. Noted that the length didn’t allow for the fulfillment they needed. I expanded some of those into longer stories. How did they fare? Not sure, as my recall is vague at the moment.

But I’ve read yours. Yep. As I recall, you can certainly pull them off.

There was a lot of length-specific blowback this year during the event. Most of the negative comments about length that I received made it clear they clicked on the 750 Word Project stories specifically to attack the project. Sadly, the design of the ratings sweeps means single page stories see little relief from such broadscale attacks.

I still have 2 from previous years that bear the HOT icon, but several others have since been knocked below that threshold.

I have been entering word counts at the beginning of my stories. Also adding tags up front since readers tend not to look at those either.

Oddly, when you submit a story for a 750-exact-word event, folks criticize that too as being too short.

There are a lot of people who enjoy the short stories. It's just that the ones who don't have been getting more vocal about it.