I need help getting started on this site with writing stories.

[Sexwriter88]

I came across this site from another site and found it so interesting.
I am a former newspaper journalist of 30+ years of writing experience. I am in public relations now and don't usually write stories as part of that job like I used to. This forum gives me an outlet to write creatively in a different way.
I have already written some material which is now 8 pages long and more than 5,000 words. It is about a guy and a girl who meet and fall in love. I haven't gotten to the actual sex part, been laying the foundation. But I am almost there.
My question is should I post it in one setting in its entirety, or split it into chapters and post to the series section?

Thanks for any feedback.

 

[DanDraper]

We see plenty of stories that are broken down into chapters; if you feel it works I say go for it.
My only suggestion is don't take too long getting to the sex scenes, you don't want to keep teasing the audience like that.




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[Rustyoznail]

Welcome! I normally write technical specifications, so I understand the appeal of writing here.

A published page here is around 3750 words, and I have stories over 40,000 words (13 Lit pages) that haven't been split. Personally, I'd publish yours in one story with internal breaks where appropriate.

Good luck with it.

 

[Bisexguy70]

We see plenty of stories that are broken down into chapters; if you feel it works I say go for it.
My only suggestion is don't take too long getting to the sex scenes, you don't want to keep teasing the audience like that.




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I agree. If im reading erotica, im interested in the sex scenes and not the back history or boring things that lead up to them. Yes its good to have some dialogue but i wont read past a few paragraphs if theres no sexual interaction from the characters. Here an idea, start out with a hot sex scene as a flashback, then follow up with how the characters got to that point. Also several chapters are good to break it up. Give the readers a choice to jump to the sex scenes in some chapters. For those who enjoy more lengthy back story, they can read the beginning chapters. Im not much of a writer, i just enjoy reading as a form of inspiration for masturbation therefore im no expert. I will say this, write what pleases you and for your own enjoyment. If you like it, chances are others will too. Again, just stating my opinion.

 

[AlinaX]

Write the story the way it works for you, then either publish or seek a beta reader. 5000 words isn't long.

 

[Cagivagurl]

Welcome.....
I don't care about the sex scenes. I skip them...
I like erotica... The lead up is more important than the mechanics...
Advice....
Publish as one story...
My advice, not worth much, just an opinion.

Cagivagurl

 

[ElectricBlue]

From what you've indicated, I'd suggest you finish the story and publish as a single, standalone piece. As others have noted, 5000 words is a Lit page and a half, which is short, so far as this site is concerned. I assume your finished story might be twice as long, which is around three Lit pages. That's an almost ideal length, really.

This comes up regularly in the AH (Authors' Hangout) - I'd suggest you trawl through some of the older threads, where you'll find good discussion on the pros and cons of short vs long stories. Then you can figure out where your style and approach fits - whatever you choose to do, you'll be "right" - because there is no right or wrong.

FYI, 750 words is the minimum length, unless it's poetry. There's an annual 750 Word Anthology collection which would be worth looking into, to see what can be done with flash fiction. The longest story I've seen here was in excess of 80 Lit pages (about 280,000 words) - so don't fret about story length - any length that works for you is the "right length".

 

[Rob_Royale]

I'd suggest you trawl through some of the older threads, where you'll find good discussion on the pros and cons of short vs long stories. Then you can figure out where your style and approach fits - whatever you choose to do, you'll be "right" - because there is no right or wrong.

This is good advice for nearly any question you have about writing here. It's one of the first things I did when I started here last fall.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I'd suggest you trawl through some of the older threads, where you'll find good discussion on the pros and cons of short vs long stories. Then you can figure out where your style and approach fits - whatever you choose to do, you'll be "right" - because there is no right or wrong.

Great place to start, but I also suggest that you review some other authors' works in similar genres to you to see how readers feel about how they posted, either in chapters or as single, longer submissions.

 

[AchtungNight]

The How To and Reviews & Essays sections have lots of advice for various topics. Explore them.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

What is enjoyable is of course up to the reader. Some want ‘strokers’ - high-paced, instant arousal and context or backstory utterly irrelevant. Some want long buildups. Some actually don’t want the red-hot bits at all. There’s no right or wrong, so suit yourself. Truly.

Myself? I’ve certainly written strokers, but my average yarn is 8-10,000 words (two or three Lit pages) and use a bit of buildup, a fair bit of emotion and such. YMMV.

 

[Astraes_of_Nemedia]

I'm kinda in the same boat. I'm working on a story that is meant to be like a pretty typical sword & sorcery tale, ala Conan or Elric, but the sex scene is near the end of the story. I'm thinking about 3000 words-ish in.

 

[Djmac1031]

5K words here isn't very long at all; barely two LE pages.

 

[bumpercars]

The only reason I'd break a story into chapters is because there are distinct story arcs and I want to give them each space. Otherwise I'd keep it all together. Putting buildup in one chapter and payoff in another could be very frustrating for readers.

It sounds like the category for your story could be Romance? Definitely take a look at the categories before you decide which one should hold your story.

 

[Trionyx]

If you decide to do chapters, you might want to read older threads here about having the entire story completed before submitting the chapters every few days. I agree with others that what you have described so far could easily be submitted as one work. 20 - 30k works fine as a single submission.

 

[Jmanchu]

I came across this site from another site and found it so interesting.
I am a former newspaper journalist of 30+ years of writing experience. I am in public relations now and don't usually write stories as part of that job like I used to. This forum gives me an outlet to write creatively in a different way.
I have already written some material which is now 8 pages long and more than 5,000 words. It is about a guy and a girl who meet and fall in love. I haven't gotten to the actual sex part, been laying the foundation. But I am almost there.
My question is should I post it in one setting in its entirety, or split it into chapters and post to the series section?

Thanks for any feedback.

Whatever is easier. 5000 words is considered a little short for a chapter but not bad, I probably would write the entire thing first(I didn't for my current WIP story only because I wanted to publish my stories and I knew with my busy schedule it would take longer to finish my entire thing, and I just like the chapter formula a little more, but that's just me). Single stories can be anywhere from 5000+ like 7500 ish on average here, but there are plenty of stories that are far longer, 15000(I have one story that's about that length) or even a full novel length of up to 60000 or MORE. 8000 to 15000+ is a pretty good length for a typical story though.

 

[jsmiam]

…My question is should I post it in one setting in its entirety, or split it into chapters and post to the series section?...

Answer (opinion): do what you want.

Chapter stories tend to have diminished views (general trend) for each subsequent published chapter, but higher scores since the audience probably liked the previous chapters. There is that benefit to chapters.

I would second the thought that 5000 words, 10,000 assuming you add more, might be not long enough to bother with chapters.

Non-answer, pure opinion: chapter stories clutter up the place and annoy the hell out of me and some others I would donate money to Literotica to deploy a “hide chapter stories” button where I never had to see one more godforsaken chapter story

Disclaimer: you’ll notice I’m not saying chapter stories should be banned or that you shouldn’t write one. I’m just saying that there are people who can’t stand them.

Conclusion: it’s your story. Do whatever you see fit. Welcome.

 

[alohadave]

Non-answer, pure opinion: chapter stories clutter up the place and annoy the hell out of me and some others I would donate money to Literotica to deploy a “hide chapter stories” button where I never had to see one more godforsaken chapter story

It would be super awesome if new chapters could be append to the story, instead of being considered completely new stories.

That's one of the really nice features about the other site that I really like. Then you could have a new stories feed, and a recurring stories feed for new chapters.