How Long Should I Wait...

[StolenTurtle]

...between submissions of chapters in a story I'm writing?

The story is about half way done and I've already completed the first four chapters in just over a week and the first chapter posted today.

How long do you think I should wait before posting subsequent chapters?

A week, a month?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

-StolenTurtle

 

[sr71plt]

...between submissions of chapters in a story I'm writing?

The story is about half way done and I've already completed the first four chapters in just over a week and the first chapter posted today.

How long do you think I should wait before posting subsequent chapters?

A week, a month?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

-StolenTurtle

Your choice entirely. This was discussed recently on this forum, so you might be able to find that discussion. But each time on that thread that a poster indicated what didn't work for them, some other poster said that worked a charm for them. So, probably no magic bullet on that.

One of the most popular novelizations here had segments posting three or so months apart. When I posted my novelizations, I tried to keep the posting close enough together that someone reading along (and even here some said they didn't read any segments until the novel was all posted) wouldn't have to wait too long. But I didn't just post segments of the novels, because if I had regular readers of individual stories, they might drift away waiting for a novel they weren't interested in to post. So, the formula I used was two parts of the novel submitted each week and one unrelated, single-shot story.

I have no idea if that worked better than any other method would have.

 

[Darkniciad]

Try to base it upon how quickly you're writing. If you can help it, you don't want to leave more than a week between chapters. The rule of thumb is, the quicker the better. Daily is actually the best.

I know I don't have the time to pull that off, so I space mine out based upon how far I am ahead. I still always catch myself, but I do try to keep something resembling a regular schedule.

 

[Max ODrive]

Personally, I will NOT post a story until I've finished ALL parts of it.. that way if I have to change something at the very beginning to have something work out later in the story, I've not committed myself to something that may well turn out to be shit later because I couldn't wait to get something up. Not only that, but to me.. thats sloppy writing.

I posted "You Win Some, You Lose Some" as one work.. and at 7 "pages" some may say its too long to post as one work. I could've split it into 7 chapters, but then someone would have to wait a week, if I posted them all together and specified one chapter per day for them all to post. If I'd have posted one chapter per month, it'd take over half a year to get all of it read!!

Now while a writer can milk a mediocre story for a LOT of feedback by posting chapter after lonely chapter.. kudos for this little tidbit, a pat on the back for another.. to me, its just a way to fluff a story that hasn't got the balls to stand alone as a single unit.

I have found VERY very few stories that were posted in chapters that:

A) DIDN'T fit the above description
or
B) didn't lose my interest because the chapters were posted too far apart.

The >ONLY< reason I would EVER post in chapters is because the work is too long to post as a single work. And I'd make sure the chapters were posted close enough together (say, one per day) to ensure the reader stayed on track with the story without making them go back and read the previous chapters because they frickin FORGOT what the story was about.

Granted.. putting things in chapters gives readers an opportunity to feedback on each one so the writer is knowing what works and what doesn't.. but I can't see thats enough excuse to be lazy or impatient.

 

[sr71plt]

Personally, I will NOT post a story until I've finished ALL parts of it.. that way if I have to change something at the very beginning to have something work out later in the story, I've not committed myself to something that may well turn out to be shit later because I couldn't wait to get something up. Not only that, but to me.. thats sloppy writing.

I posted "You Win Some, You Lose Some" as one work.. and at 7 "pages" some may say its too long to post as one work. I could've split it into 7 chapters, but then someone would have to wait a week, if I posted them all together and specified one chapter per day for them all to post. If I'd have posted one chapter per month, it'd take over half a year to get all of it read!!

Now while a writer can milk a mediocre story for a LOT of feedback by posting chapter after lonely chapter.. kudos for this little tidbit, a pat on the back for another.. to me, its just a way to fluff a story that hasn't got the balls to stand alone as a single unit.

I have found VERY very few stories that were posted in chapters that:

A) DIDN'T fit the above description
or
B) didn't lose my interest because the chapters were posted too far apart.

The >ONLY< reason I would EVER post in chapters is because the work is too long to post as a single work. And I'd make sure the chapters were posted close enough together (say, one per day) to ensure the reader stayed on track with the story without making them go back and read the previous chapters because they frickin FORGOT what the story was about.

Granted.. putting things in chapters gives readers an opportunity to feedback on each one so the writer is knowing what works and what doesn't.. but I can't see thats enough excuse to be lazy or impatient.

I don't start posting until it's all done, either--for the same reasons. But others have said they do and it all works out hunky dory for them.

 

[Max ODrive]

Like I said.. thats fine.. for them.. but as I told one member here last night, I'm not here to play.. I'm here to hone my craft.

I'm not going to take the easy way out, I'm not going to try to pad my scores, and I'm not going to dig for easy pats on the back. If my stories aren't good enough to stand as single units, or at least as close together as time permits, then it doesn't need to be posted.

I've basically given up even trying to read any story with a title of "XXXXX ch.1" because I never know if its going to even HAVE a "ch.2".. and there's a BUNCH of stories floating around Lit that most certainly could've used a "ch.2" somewhere..

And there are SO many stories posted as chapters now, that.. unless I sat down and wrote up notes on the ones I may want to follow up, I'd never remember which one was worth the time to read the next one. Its easier for me to "just say no!" than it is to try to plough through multi-chapter stories.

Writers lose track of what they're doing in chapter-posts too, unless the whole story has already been completed. I've seen story after story go completely astray because even the AUTHOR didn't bother to go back and read the first couple of chapters to keep the flow going in the right direction! There's a couple of prime examples of this I could point out, but for the author's privacy I'll be kind..

So, no.. I won't post that way unless forced by volume.. and unless I'm extremely bored, and I managed to get hooked by one, I won't read that way either..

 

[sr71plt]

And there are SO many stories posted as chapters now, that.. unless I sat down and wrote up notes on the ones I may want to follow up, I'd never remember which one was worth the time to read the next one. Its easier for me to "just say no!" than it is to try to plough through multi-chapter stories.

This is pretty much a "can't win" situation. I will separate into chapters anything that's going to go over two Lit. pages (about 7,000 words?). I won't read any story here that goes onto a third page myself and there are others who say the same. (And yes, many, who just love plowing through seven pages at a sitting.)

So, you do what you think best and that suits you and gather whatever reader set that agrees with you.

But I do agree that I wouldn't post anything in segments that wasn't already completed before posting the first segment.

 

[StolenTurtle]

Thanks!

Thanks for all the varied responses.

I guess, in the end, it really is up to me.

I've decided to post them just after the previous one has been approved. This seems to be a fairly sufficient time frame since Literotica takes a bit longer than it used to to approve titles. I imagine it's because the number of submissions has grown substantially.

I, personally, like reading chapter submissions, but everyone has their own preferences. I know I can't speak for everyone so I won't try. Suffice to say, I have no bias toward individual chapter submissions or completed story submissions. My only constraint on either is time. If I know I'm only going to be online for a half hour, I go with the chapters. If I know I have plenty of time to kill, I'll read a several page submission. It really makes no difference to me in the end.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond.

Be well and keep writing!

-StolenTurtle

 

[StolenTurtle]

This is pretty much a "can't win" situation. I will separate into chapters anything that's going to go over two Lit. pages (about 7,000 words?). I won't read any story here that goes onto a third page myself and there are others who say the same. (And yes, many, who just love plowing through seven pages at a sitting.)

So, you do what you think best and that suits you and gather whatever reader set that agrees with you.

But I do agree that I wouldn't post anything in segments that wasn't already completed before posting the first segment.

Ha! You must have been posting at the same time I was. I didn't see this until I'd already submitted my last post.

Yeah, it is a 'can't win' situation. Everyone is going to have a different opinion and the best you can do is to just try to cater to the audience that connects the best with you and your writing style. But I try not to be biased because I find I tend miss out on a lot of good stuff when I am...

Thanks again!

-StolenTurtle

 

[Darkniciad]

Thanks for all the varied responses.

I guess, in the end, it really is up to me.

I've decided to post them just after the previous one has been approved. This seems to be a fairly sufficient time frame since Literotica takes a bit longer than it used to to approve titles. I imagine it's because the number of submissions has grown substantially.

I, personally, like reading chapter submissions, but everyone has their own preferences. I know I can't speak for everyone so I won't try. Suffice to say, I have no bias toward individual chapter submissions or completed story submissions. My only constraint on either is time. If I know I'm only going to be online for a half hour, I go with the chapters. If I know I have plenty of time to kill, I'll read a several page submission. It really makes no difference to me in the end.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond.

Be well and keep writing!

-StolenTurtle

That's not a bad time frame. You'll have a new chapter out every 4-7 days under current standards. You'll also make sure that each chapter is approved before posting the next one. The mods have been known to pop with a rejection for a single error in just the wrong place to catch their eye, or even hastily by missing some context and mistaking it for something outside the bounds of Lit standards.

The last thing you want is for Ch. 01 to post, Ch. 02 to get a rejection, and Ch. 03 to post before you can take care of the problem with 02.

 

[StolenTurtle]

That's not a bad time frame. You'll have a new chapter out every 4-7 days under current standards. You'll also make sure that each chapter is approved before posting the next one. The mods have been known to pop with a rejection for a single error in just the wrong place to catch their eye, or even hastily by missing some context and mistaking it for something outside the bounds of Lit standards.

The last thing you want is for Ch. 01 to post, Ch. 02 to get a rejection, and Ch. 03 to post before you can take care of the problem with 02.

Very true. It also give me sufficient time to tweak upcoming chapters for typos, plot inconsistencies and so on...

I'll do the first three chapters in this fashion and see how it works out. If it's successful, I'll continue to do the rest that way. Trial and error is the only way to really know if it'll work or not.

Thanks for your feedback!

-StolenTurtle

 

[Frinkles]

Well as a first time author, for what its worth...

I post in chapters and try to space them out one a week. I submit the next chapter as soon as the previous one is approved and posted. Otherwise, the story would be too long. Although I have been tempted, I have not relied on the poster comments to change the direction of the story (believe me I was very tempted about a week ago...YIKES!). I do have a direction in mind and a course of action planned out prior to starting a story. I also rely on outlines so I wouldn't call chapter posting "lazy" on my part. I do a lot of work to make sure that I finish and stay on schedule. That being said, I understand how some folks will refuse to read a story that is in chapters because they don't want to get caught up and then have the author suddenly stop and not finish -- the reader's investment in the time it takes to read a chapter or search for another installment is something else to consider.

I guess, until the readers learn to trust that a particular author isn't going to leave them hanging, you are always going to have that problem when it comes to posting in chapters. However, I am very comfortable with the method of submitting a story in "bite-size" chunks rather than 7 or 8 pages. That's just my humble opinion of course.

 

[sr71plt]

Although I have been tempted, I have not relied on the poster comments to change the direction of the story (believe me I was very tempted about a week ago...YIKES!).

I've gone both ways with the two novels I have posted here at Lit.

With the murder mystery "Death on the Rhine," I got a couple "oh I figured that out" e-mails close to the end, so I added a chapter, and then when an e-mailer speculated on that, I added two more chapters--twisting away from them and still having to work within the framework of the story. That was actually a lot of fun in the writing.

In "Wolf Creek" at about the point of five chapters from the end, an e-mailer started begging me to let the man have the woman (but of course that was going to happen--this was a Romance formula), and the e-mailer became more plaintive as the end approached. I just let it end as and when it had already been written to end, though.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Personally, I find stories in chapters dreary. Typically, the wait is much too long. Often the writer gives up and leaves the story half finished. So, with the exception of a few writers, I rarely read them.

Personally, were I going to do a story that requred chapters, I would post them all in "Novels & Novellas". I would get few reads and, most likely, few votes.

I perfer to do what I've done with the Harry Dick series and just post them as individual stories. There are seven more stories in the series left. Taken all together, there will be a novel there (Which no one will ever want to read).

 

[StolenTurtle]

Guilty

Personally, I find stories in chapters dreary. Typically, the wait is much too long. Often the writer gives up and leaves the story half finished. So, with the exception of a few writers, I rarely read them.

Personally, were I going to do a story that requred chapters, I would post them all in "Novels & Novellas". I would get few reads and, most likely, few votes.

I perfer to do what I've done with the Harry Dick series and just post them as individual stories. There are seven more stories in the series left. Taken all together, there will be a novel there (Which no one will ever want to read).

I'm actually guilty of the above violation of not finishing a work in a chapter series. But this was because the more I read the story and the more I let possible conclusions roll around in my head, the more I felt the story was already complete.

I still get people begging me to finish "The Bet Ch 01" as I only released one chapter. But I'm thinking that one chapter stands on its own and I've been toying with the idea of just editing the title so that it reads "The Bet" removing the "Ch. 01" from the title.

It's a strong story by itself and in actuality, it doesn't really need a second chapter.

The series I'm working on now is a doozy. I've already got the first five chapters written and am working on the sixth and seventh as we speak. I suspect the story will last for a good ten chapters or more. I'm having a lot of fun writing this story as it is very far removed from anything I've ever posted here before.

We'll see if my readers like it... :: crossing fingers ::

-StolenTurtle

 

[sr71plt]

Personally, I find stories in chapters dreary. Typically, the wait is much too long. Often the writer gives up and leaves the story half finished. So, with the exception of a few writers, I rarely read them.

Personally, were I going to do a story that requred chapters, I would post them all in "Novels & Novellas". I would get few reads and, most likely, few votes.

I perfer to do what I've done with the Harry Dick series and just post them as individual stories. There are seven more stories in the series left. Taken all together, there will be a novel there (Which no one will ever want to read).

I think they just are more of a challenge than a single-take story--and the challenge makes it interesting. I think there just must be something meaty in each chapter (including at least one sex scene if posting here) and that no segment is just a transition from the previous one to the next one.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

I think they just are more of a challenge than a single-take story--and the challenge makes it interesting. I think there just must be something meaty in each chapter (including at least one sex scene if posting here) and that no segment is just a transition from the previous one to the next one.

Sex scenes? Are we supposed to write sex scenes.

Very few of the stories I've posted have a sex scene. Steven King's The Dark Tower Series, all seven books (something like 4000 pages), contain only three sex scenes, as I recall. I don't think they are really necessary to a story, if the story is good enough to stand on it's own.

I write for plot, character development and story interest for the reader. The sex thing is way over done on Lit. I see the sex scene as a crutch to gain readers, not as some natural outcome of the physical and emotional interactions between the characters.

Jus my opinion.

And yes. I do novels too.

 

[sr71plt]

Sex scenes? Are we supposed to write sex scenes.

Very few of the stories I've posted have a sex scene. Steven King's The Dark Tower Series, all seven books (something like 4000 pages), contain only three sex scenes, as I recall. I don't think they are really necessary to a story, if the story is good enough to stand on it's own.

I write for plot, character development and story interest for the reader. The sex thing is way over done on Lit. I see the sex scene as a crutch to gain readers, not as some natural outcome of the physical and emotional interactions between the characters.

Jus my opinion.

And yes. I do novels too.

We've been over this ground before. No, there's no requirement to have sex in anything you write if you don't want to. This is a sex site, though, and the assumption I make when someone asks about writing works that will go well here also makes the assumption that a large margin of readers come here to read sex and be aroused. Again, I write nonsex stories and books too--I just don't flog them here, because the biggest market for them is elsewhere.

I'm pretty sure whenever someone asks a question here on how to reach readers here, I'll make the assumption that sexual arousal is important.

So, I guess we'll be having this point/counterpoint again soon.

 

[Guest]

Personally, I will NOT post a story until I've finished ALL parts of it.. that way if I have to change something at the very beginning to have something work out later in the story, I've not committed myself to something that may well turn out to be shit later because I couldn't wait to get something up. Not only that, but to me.. thats sloppy writing.

I posted "You Win Some, You Lose Some" as one work.. and at 7 "pages" some may say its too long to post as one work. I could've split it into 7 chapters, but then someone would have to wait a week, if I posted them all together and specified one chapter per day for them all to post. If I'd have posted one chapter per month, it'd take over half a year to get all of it read!!

Now while a writer can milk a mediocre story for a LOT of feedback by posting chapter after lonely chapter.. kudos for this little tidbit, a pat on the back for another.. to me, its just a way to fluff a story that hasn't got the balls to stand alone as a single unit.

I have found VERY very few stories that were posted in chapters that:

A) DIDN'T fit the above description
or
B) didn't lose my interest because the chapters were posted too far apart.

The >ONLY< reason I would EVER post in chapters is because the work is too long to post as a single work. And I'd make sure the chapters were posted close enough together (say, one per day) to ensure the reader stayed on track with the story without making them go back and read the previous chapters because they frickin FORGOT what the story was about.

Granted.. putting things in chapters gives readers an opportunity to feedback on each one so the writer is knowing what works and what doesn't.. but I can't see thats enough excuse to be lazy or impatient.

I don't agree at all, considering that most of my work is serialized. I post in chapters and I post the chapter as I finish it. I have only caught myself once making a mistake in the story line, and my fans caught it too and called me on it. I must be doing something right if they keep coming back. I also don't believe I write fluff. I believe in characterization and plot line above sex. If sex fits in that chapter then it is used, if not, my plot line stands alone.

Sorry, but that post just caught me wrong. I guess I'm a little tired of people putting down chaptered stories.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Sorry, but that post just caught me wrong. I guess I'm a little tired of people putting down chaptered stories.

Don't be upset, Danni. You know I've read your stuff and have no problem with it. My problem is, because I spend a lot of time in this forum I get stuck reading a lot of newbies who are writing "The Great American Novel" and just run out of gas. You, SK, Will and the established writers here, have come to the point where you really can write something a lot longer.

If you follow my posts in this forum, you will see that again and again I tell the new ones to slow down, chop their stories to the bone and write well, not write long dismal bullshit. That's something a writer has to grow into.

 

[StolenTurtle]

Don't be upset, Danni. You know I've read your stuff and have no problem with it. My problem is, because I spend a lot of time in this forum I get stuck reading a lot of newbies who are writing "The Great American Novel" and just run out of gas. You, SK, Will and the established writers here, have come to the point where you really can write something a lot longer.

If you follow my posts in this forum, you will see that again and again I tell the new ones to slow down, chop their stories to the bone and write well, not write long dismal bullshit. That's something a writer has to grow into.

I, myself, am new to the forum and fairly new to Literotica, but I am by no means new to writing. But I mostly write screenplays and short stories as opposed to erotica and novels. I've written award winning shorts that are available on my blog.

Right now I'm finishing up my first novel that has absolutely nothing to do with sex or erotica at all.

As far as new writers go, I have seen a lot who start out with good intentions but other things such as life tend to get in the way and they lose interest in their stories. I write every day of my life, whether it is a short story, a screenplay or my current novel. I can't imagine not writing, but everyone is different.

To lump all chapter stories into a group of "lazy" people kind of got my knickers in a bunch.

Oh well. Everyone has their likes and dislikes. I certainly don't discriminate on the style of story I read. A good story is a good story whether it is submitted in chapter form or as a whole.

I guess I'm flexible.

-StolenTurtle

 

[Hibbidyhai]

Hibbidyhai

I usually post each chapter as it's finished, regardless if there's a day, week, or month in between. Because of the format on this site I also try to make each chapter like an episode on a tv show in that each one can stand on it own as a short story, but that they all tie in together and followers will get more out of them (hopefully).