How large is too large?

[Deeply_Twisted]

Hi all...

I've been contemplating submitting my story to the site, and I've noted that there are rules in place about large bocks of text, what format of document you should be using and what should absolutely not be in the story.

What I have not seen anywhere, is a recomendation of story size.

The beast I am working on currently is 30,000 words and I just submitted it to an Editor on the site to see if it's an acceptable quality.

If she gives me a thumbs up, should I break this into parts or submit it as is?

DT

 

[TxRad]

Hi all...

I've been contemplating submitting my story to the site, and I've noted that there are rules in place about large bocks of text, what format of document you should be using and what should absolutely not be in the story.

What I have not seen anywhere, is a recomendation of story size.

The beast I am working on currently is 30,000 words and I just submitted it to an Editor on the site to see if it's an acceptable quality.

If she gives me a thumbs up, should I break this into parts or submit it as is?

DT

There is no upper limit on a single story as far as I know and I write big stories. 30k could go in the novel, novella category but it can be broken up if you think it has appropriate stopping/starting points. It is up to you.

 

[PennLady]

Welcome.

There is a minimum length on stories -- 750 words. To my knowledge there is no restriction on maximum story length.

You should know that the editors here are not site-approved or anything. They are volunteers and have nothing to do with running the site or its administration or whatever else. One of the owners, Laurel, has the final say (at least as far as we have been told and know) on what gets posted and does not.

The basic no-no's are no bestiality and no underage sex or underage (that is, under 18yo) characters in a sexual situation. You could say, "I lost my virginity at 15," but you could not go into detail about that.

There is also no rule on whether to break things up or not. 30k words would be approximately 8-10 Lit pages. I've read that a Lit screen page holds about 3400 words, but that would vary with a few things.

I go by the fact that I generally do not have time to sit and read a story that long, so I don't ask my readers to do so. I post in 8-12k blocks, so about 3-4 screen pages. But there is no right or wrong. Other writers have posted longer stories here and done fine with it.

If I was your editor, I'd probably encourage you break this into smaller sections. But that'd just be me.

Good luck.

 

[sun_sea_sky]

One of my stories just squeezed into one page, and it was 3600 words. Based on that, I reckon your story would be about 9 pages which certainly has been done before. Be warned that readers may check out how many pages it is, and not bother reading at all if it looks like it might take 8 pages to get to "the interesting bit". However some categories this might not apply as much to, and if you have a strong opening (a strong page 1 basically) then they may well keep going.

 

[TxRad]

One of my stories just squeezed into one page, and it was 3600 words. Based on that, I reckon your story would be about 9 pages which certainly has been done before. Be warned that readers may check out how many pages it is, and not bother reading at all if it looks like it might take 8 pages to get to "the interesting bit". However some categories this might not apply as much to, and if you have a strong opening (a strong page 1 basically) then they may well keep going.

Just to see, I've broken up a few stories. Not bad scores but longer stories of my own that I think are not as good, score better in the long run.

 

[SandraMustard]

Don't mind me. I thought this thread was about something else...

 

[sun_sea_sky]

It's not the size that matters ...

 

[TxRad]

If she screams and runs away, it may be too large.

The story, the story... What else would I be talking about.

 

[MatthewVett]

I generally try to stick to within 4, and if it's going to be longer than that, I'll try to break it up, but that's just me.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

I aim for 10-11,000 words, but I almost always exceed the target. At 15,000, I start thinking of where the chapter breaks should go.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

From what I've seen, 4-5 lit pages is about any reader's limit in one go - about 15k words Go for chapters.

Readers come back for new chapters.

Long paragraphs are difficult to read on a rolling backlit screen and you do better to keep your paragraphs shorter than in books or kindle.