How Long Is Tooo Long?

[JackLuis]

I'm just finishing up chapter #3 of Retirees and checked the word count. It's over 25K words!

Should I cut it to two and make Chapters 3 and 4?

That would make them about 3-4 Lit pages each. That seems the reasonable limit.

 

[3113]

Nine inches is too long. Then again, you know the saying, it's not the length but what a man does with it....

Oh, wait. Did you mean stories?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

When you run outta interesting stuff STOP.

Every LIT hack I know of is OCD for word count but the reader wants a new, interesting experience. They want old wine in new bottles.

 

[SweetMaj]

When you run outta interesting stuff STOP.

Every LIT hack I know of is OCD for word count but the reader wants a new, interesting experience. They want old wine in new bottles.

I just found this -> ¤, and I think it's a piece of your brain.

 

[PennLady]

I'm just finishing up chapter #3 of Retirees and checked the word count. It's over 25K words!

Should I cut it to two and make Chapters 3 and 4?

That would make them about 3-4 Lit pages each. That seems the reasonable limit.

I tend to limit my submissions (outside of contests) to 8-12k words, so I would break the story up. I find that's a good length -- short enough for people to read at one sitting, and long enough to satisfy, so to speak.

 

[PayDay]

Hmm...

When you run outta interesting stuff STOP.

Every LIT hack I know of is OCD for word count but the reader wants a new, interesting experience. They want old wine in new bottles.

I just found this -> ¤, and I think it's a piece of your brain.

As big of a chunk of brain as you found, aside, he still has a point.

Who cares how long it is if it tells the story from beginning to end? Readers more than likely do not count words.

If the 25k words has multiple plots in one, cut it if you like to do chapters, or submit it as a whole. I think either would work for fans of your work. Not to mention, very few of the 'critics' you may be worried about will click on Chapter 3 in their searches for new stories.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Brain or no brain, readers want novelty and tingle. Its what everyone wants from every experience, be it dining, movies, driving, whatever. And 99% of writers wanna cut corners, and serve up the same old shit. Writers substitute wordcount for quality.

 

[PennLady]

Who cares how long it is if it tells the story from beginning to end? Readers more than likely do not count words.

If the 25k words has multiple plots in one, cut it if you like to do chapters, or submit it as a whole. I think either would work for fans of your work. Not to mention, very few of the 'critics' you may be worried about will click on Chapter 3 in their searches for new stories.

No, readers don't count words, but they will look at pages and decide they do or don't have time to read it. If I check a story and it's more than four pages, I'll click off b/c I simply don't usually have time to sit and read that much. I admit it's also a habit I got into when posting on a now-defunct site and the editor told me she preferred +/-10k blocks.

I've said this before, but on LushStories, they limit you to 10k words or 40k characters at a shot -- when I first started posting there, a couple of readers told me that they liked the stories but the postings were too long. So now I keep it between 1-3k words on there. So it will depend on the reader, the site, what they're used to, etc.

 

[alwayswantedto]

<deleted>

 

[JackLuis]

I tried cutting it but I'd have to write a bridge section to reintroduce the characters and that will disrupt the story. Not sure if trying to please the readers is good for the story.

JBJ has a point though, that the length has to be long enough to tell the story and compact enough to to tell it well. I don't think that there is a lot of excess in this, but I tried to lead the readers in to a state of suspended disbelief and that takes some doing with the subject matter.

I had started this story with each Chapter 'self contained" so that each had a 'natural' ending' but would lead to the next chapter in character identification and development. Hummm! hard to do in a Soap Opera Series.

I need a critical Beta Reader, they are hard to find.