Longer or Chapters

[Dudeinahat]

Which do prefer a longer more complete story all at once wish multiple scenes
OR
A multi chaptered story each having or maybe two scenes to them?

Which do you think most readers prefer?

 

[Voboy]

No offense, but this question gets asked at least three times a month. Scroll down in the AH and you'll find much discussion of this.

The upshot is that readers do not shy away from longer stories, and you should feel free to post them... if they're well-written.

 

[Jay142]

I've done it all from short chapters to long ones to multiple chapters in one submission. I'm not sure it makes a difference to the readers. I do what is easier for me. We aren't getting paid to write stories so I err on the side of my preferences. I've broken up long stories into chapters in one submission realizing some people may not be able to finish the story in one reading and trying to make it easier on them. Do what's easier for you because you'll be criticized for whatever you do. You can't please everyone.

 

[Seadog777]

Break it down into chapters.

When it comes to Erotica, I can barely get past 2 pages, per story.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

I've done it all from short chapters to long ones to multiple chapters in one submission. I'm not sure it makes a difference to the readers. I do what is easier for me. We aren't getting paid to write stories so I err on the side of my preferences. I've broken up long stories into chapters in one submission realizing some people may not be able to finish the story in one reading and trying to make it easier on them. Do what's easier for you because you'll be criticized for whatever you do. You can't please everyone.

I've done the same. I wrote a fun, fairly erotic book, "Unleashed. When I decided to publish it on Lit, I broke it into chapters. It was pretty well received, though I'm not sure if it would have done as well as one long story. I know I often feel daunted at the prospect of reading a 70,000 word story, even if the author is good. I sometimes tell myself I'll get to it, but life gets in the way, and I never get around to reading anything too lengthy. With chapters, I can go onto the next part of the story, and keep reading when I have time. Everyone is different, and I know some readers enjoy a book-length story.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Both. Long standalone stories work, long chaptered stories work.

They'll both get readers, but not necessarily the same readers.

But as Voyboy notes, this is probably the most frequent question we get in the AH. Browse a few older threads, you'll get all the pros and cons.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Break it down into chapters.

When it comes to Erotica, I can barely get past 2 pages, per story.

Yes. That's you, but it's not an absolute rule.

The longest single story that I've seen on Lit (no longer here, as the author took it to market) was eighty Lit pages, that's over 300,000 words. It had high reader numbers, judging from the comments left.

The consensus guidance, every time this comes up, is a good chapter length is 2 - 4 Lit pages (8 - 15k words). Two Lit pages is actually quite short, in terms of Lit content.

 

[MelissaBaby]

I just play it by ear. My WIP is coming in at about 70k words. I thought about dividing it into chapters, but I just intuitively feel like it's one long story and works better in that format.

 

[Rustyoznail]

The main criticism readers have with chapters is the writer bails before the story is complete. At least have the story fully sketched out and try and release new chapters regularly.

I've only done full stories. Internally I use ===== to show a break in the scene.