Mechanics and terminology of submitting a long story

[DrHappy]

I’ve been writing erotica for many years, but so far only for my wife. I have hundreds of printed pages in a binder, but I’m finally getting around to submitting my first story to Literotica. It’s a little over 30,000 words. I’ve been digging through the FAQs, but I’m not 100% clear on some of the concepts of submitting long stories with chapters.

I’m assuming that I’ll want to submit this story in chapters and that they’ll be organized into a single story as displayed in PennLady’s submission listing. "Nothing Gets Through: 3 Part Series" is an example of hers.

How do chapters differ from Lit pages?

If I submit each chapter separately as a new story, will Laurel automatically figure out that they are for the same story if I include the chapter names in the title of the submission? My tentative story titles would be:

Untrusted Ch 1: The Meeting
Untrusted Ch 2: Memories
Untrusted Ch 3: Impact
Untrusted Ch 4: Ice Breaker
Untrusted Ch 5: A Rude Awakening
Untrusted Ch 6: Brothel
Untrusted Ch 7: Debrief
Untrusted Ch 8: Hanna
Untrusted Ch 9: Finality

Is it even possible to submit this in a single submission? Or are chapter submissions required in this case?

My chapters end at natural breaking points, but they aren’t independent stories on their own.

Also, if I understand correctly, if it’s broken in to multiple chapters (lit pages?), then its comments and rankings, etc… are for each chapter, and not for the whole story. Is this correct, and is it a problem?

 

[MelissaBaby]

I’ve been writing erotica for many years, but so far only for my wife. I have hundreds of printed pages in a binder, but I’m finally getting around to submitting my first story to Literotica. It’s a little over 30,000 words. I’ve been digging through the FAQs, but I’m not 100% clear on some of the concepts of submitting long stories with chapters.

I’m assuming that I’ll want to submit this story in chapters and that they’ll be organized into a single story as displayed in PennLady’s submission listing. "Nothing Gets Through: 3 Part Series" is an example of hers.

How do chapters differ from Lit pages?

If I submit each chapter separately as a new story, will Laurel automatically figure out that they are for the same story if I include the chapter names in the title of the submission? My tentative story titles would be:

Untrusted Ch 1: The Meeting
Untrusted Ch 2: Memories
Untrusted Ch 3: Impact
Untrusted Ch 4: Ice Breaker
Untrusted Ch 5: A Rude Awakening
Untrusted Ch 6: Brothel
Untrusted Ch 7: Debrief
Untrusted Ch 8: Hanna
Untrusted Ch 9: Finality

Is it even possible to submit this in a single submission? Or are chapter submissions required in this case?

My chapters end at natural breaking points, but they aren’t independent stories on their own.

Also, if I understand correctly, if it’s broken in to multiple chapters (lit pages?), then its comments and rankings, etc… are for each chapter, and not for the whole story. Is this correct, and is it a problem?

If you want each chapter to show up separately in your story list, you will have to submit each one separately. Yes, titling them as you did will indicate to Laurel that they are a series. I have never submitted multiples all at once, but I understand that if you do, Laurel will publish them in sequence, but not all at once. I think she schedules them a day apart. Someone who knows for sure will certainly chime in on that point.

Good luck with your stories!

 

[ElectricBlue]

If you want each chapter to show up separately in your story list, you will have to submit each one separately. Yes, titling them as you did will indicate to Laurel that they are a series. I have never submitted multiples all at once, but I understand that if you do, Laurel will publish them in sequence, but not all at once. I think she schedules them a day apart. Someone who knows for sure will certainly chime in on that point.

Good luck with your stories!

Yes, as Melissa says, with one caveat: use chapter numbering starting 01, 02 - so that when (if) you get to chapter 10 it stays in sequence.

A Lit page has nothing to do with chaptering, it's just how the data base manages page sizes (approx 3,750 words per page).

If you submit all chapters at the same time, Laurel takes care of all the joining up and sequencing on your contents page. Chapters usually release every twenty-four hours if you do it that way.

But - 30,000 words is not long by Lit standards - that's about 8 Lit pages. You'd probably be better off submitting that as a complete story. There nothing to stop you putting chapter headings in the text if your content is organised that way (<u>chapter heading </u> will underline your heading), but nine chapters in 30,000 words is less than one Lit page per chapter. That's too short, really. The ideal minimum length for a story or a chapter (whenever this comes up) seems to be around 3 Lit pages (10,000 words) - that's a guideline, not a rule, I hasten to add.

Yes - comments and scores are tied to the individual chapters. I'm not sure what you mean by "problem" though. Feedback and scoring is feedback and scoring, regardless how you get it.

 

[Hypoxia]

All the above. You may submit a batch of short chapters to be posted at one-day intervals, or (my preference) submit them in one piece, as a novella. 30k words ain't long here. I can point to a contest-winner over 70k words / 19 LIT pages long that gained many many views and votes. Have fun!

 

[MelissaBaby]

Yes, as Melissa says, with one caveat: use chapter numbering starting 01, 02 -

But - 30,000 words is not long by Lit standards - that's about 8 Lit pages. You'd probably be better off submitting that as a complete story. There nothing to stop you putting chapter headings in the text if your content is organised that way (<u>chapter heading </u> will underline your heading), but nine chapters in 30,000 words is less than one Lit page per chapter. That's too short, really. The ideal minimum length for a story or a chapter (whenever this comes up) seems to be around 3 Lit pages (10,000 words) - that's a guideline, not a rule, I hasten to add.

Or, if he really likes the idea of making it a series, he could shape it into fewer chapters.

 

[Javahead]

Or, if he really likes the idea of making it a series, he could shape it into fewer chapters.

Note the exception: if it's a contest entry, it needs to go as a single post.

 

[Voboy]

I'm nearly certain you'd get a better reception submitting as one 30k word story. As others have stated, that's not terribly long here, but assuming each chapter is about 3100 words... those are terribly short, IMO.

 

[Hypoxia]

I'm nearly certain you'd get a better reception submitting as one 30k word story. As others have stated, that's not terribly long here, but assuming each chapter is about 3100 words... those are terribly short, IMO.

Sub-one-pagers usually don't gain many votes. I've one hot series of three 3500-word pieces but they're the exception. 10 LIT page entries usually do well. Keep writing.

 

[DrHappy]

Thanks everyone for your generous tips and advice! The consensus seems that it would be better to submit it in a single submission. That will simplify the process as well.

Thank you, everyone!

 

[Grillytilly]

Don't make it a series

The reasons for making something a series are two:

1: (most often used) You finished one part of the story and it has come to a stopping point. There is more but you haven't written it yet but you're ready to release this part that you have finished.

2: (less often used) There is some legitimate story or formatting reason why it needs to be broken up into chunks. If you are writing for television and you need to tell your story as 30 minute episodes then you need to break it up. If you have a series of self contained stories that just so happen to have the same characters in it then go ahead and break it up.

From the sounds of things OP has a completed story that is already writing so they don't need reason 1. Also it is really one contiguous story not several adjacent stories with the same characters so no reason to use reason 2.

Therefore, OP should not make it a series but instead submit as one complete story.

Just my opinion of course but it's what I would do and then I'd start on part 2 because no story is ever really finished, just abandoned.

 

[DrHappy]

Thanks again for everyone's suggestions! I submitted it this week and it was published 17 hours ago. It's 9 Lit pages. So far, it has 4 reviews with a rating of 4.75. I've been a member of the forums since 2006, and this was a fun start!

If anyone is curious, the story is Untrusted. It has a bit of suspense, a few dark overtones, and some intelligent characters. I can't reveal too much without giving too much away!

 

[ElectricBlue]

Thanks again for everyone's suggestions! I submitted it this week and it was published 17 hours ago. It's 9 Lit pages. So far, it has 4 reviews with a rating of 4.75. I've been a member of the forums since 2006, and this was a fun start!

If anyone is curious, the story is Untrusted. It has a bit of suspense, a few dark overtones, and some intelligent characters. I can't reveal too much without giving too much away!

If you want feedback, I suggest you start a thread over in the Feedback Forum. You'll get a few writers drop by and comment.

Go here: http://forum.literotica.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1

 

[oggbashan]

Just one minor point:

If you want a story to be submitted in chapters and shown together then the first part of the title must be identical including spaces and the numerals should be 01, 02 etc otherwise when you get to 11 and beyond it will appear like this:

title 1
title 11
title 12
title 2
title 3