How long a story should be ?

[Anjalisinha]

This is my first time publishing erotica on Literotica, and I’ve planned a multi-chapter story from start to finish. However, my first chapter is already 36 pages in a Word document. Should I break the flow and publish the first chapter in parts (e.g., A, B, C, D)?

 

[TheRedChamber]

No. The amount of words on a Word document page is going to vary by your current writing style/amount of dialogue/size of font, but using my currently open draft, it's about 333 words. That means a 36-page story is 12k words. That's absolutely fine for a Litertorica 'submission' in fact, according to some theories around here, it's darn near ideal.

A story can be any length, some would say publish even a full novel as one submission, but if you are going to break it into bits, I definitely wouldn't break it into chunks of much less than 10k depending on where the natural story beats occur. Everytime you ask a reader to seek out the next submission you're giving them a very clear invitation to NOT continue to read.

 

[NotWise]

We usually measure the length in words or in Lit pages rather than word processor pages, which are highly variable. Stories must be over 750 words, but the site sets no upper limit. Common advice seems to be to stick with chapters that are 3-4 Lit pages. A Lit page is about 3500-3800 words, depending on how long your words are. There is no reason I know of to not go beyond 3-4 Lit pages. The readers take it in stride.

 

[Djmac1031]

As long as it needs to be.

 

[Bamagan]

My advice: don't worry about the length too much, just make sure it's got good girth and maybe a bit of a twist or a bend.

 

[Djmac1031]

My advice: don't worry about the length too much, just make sure it's got good girth and maybe a bit of a twist or a bend.

Exactly.

Its not the length of your story, its whether or not readers feel satisfied when it's over.

 

[ronde]

This is my first time publishing erotica on Literotica, and I’ve planned a multi-chapter story from start to finish. However, my first chapter is already 36 pages in a Word document. Should I break the flow and publish the first chapter in parts (e.g., A, B, C, D)?

The majority of readers won't criticize you for the length of a story or a chapter as long as the writing is readable, meaning lack of typos and proper punctuation, and as long as it grabs and holds their attention. 36 Word pages is about my average for a single story. That's about 12k words. I've written others as long as 47k words and they didn't suffer from readership or votes.

 

[Areala-chan]

Long enough to reach the ending will suffice.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Finish the entire story before publishing any part of it.

You maintain better control of things like "where are the best places to break?" among other things.

Be patient.

 

[Anjalisinha]

My advice: don't worry about the length too much, just make sure it's got good girth and maybe a bit of a twist or a bend.

For this am sure

I have read so many stories from lit
My story character is more tha what margo needy it have read that story

Story is also buildup tight

She was inspiration for the story

 

[TiberiusPrime]

Personally speaking, when I'm writing multi-part stories, I usually like keeping each chapter between 6,000-8,000 words. If I have no intention of doing more than one part, I have no word limits then. I've got a WIP where I've already exceeded 8,000 words and we haven't gotten to the meat of the story yet or had a sex scene. Basically, write the story you want in the format you want.