More Short Chapters or Fewer Long Chapters

[nosliwec]

I recently submitted my first story and still waiting for it to post. While waiting, I have continued to write an additional chapter. My concern is, which is best? To do more chapters or longer chapters?

So far my second part is about 2 pages long. I am at a reasonable breaking point to shorten the chapter, but not necessarily the point I would like. The story I submitted would probably work well as the first chapter and would fill most of 3 pages here, but the second chapter was intended for the first full day between lovers and already 2 pages long and not even half way through it. If I broke it up in shorter chapters, I would probably label them Chapter 2a, Chapter 2b, etc.

I know I have read some long stories that took 5-8 pages and multiple chapters that length or longer. I also know people complain about long stories. So any advice would be helpful.

 

[NaokoSmith]

Hullo nosliwec (also yesterdays).

It's a personal choice thing. I know successful writers who post long chapters. However I myself find it hard to read beyond 3 pages at one sitting. The e-reading function for me lends itself to short and snappy. Some people are reading on their mobile phones even.

I deliberately chose to make very short chapters in my series. Some commentators did say they would have liked longer ones. I feel if you have more short chapters, that answers their request in a way though.

There is no wrong answer. Some readers will be happy to take time over a longer piece, others will read half and then come back for the rest of the story. I recently read JagFarlane's story to review for my blog, it's quite long by my e-reading standards and I enjoyed lingering over it. If I get a 1 pager, I feel a kind of relief cuz I can quickly snaffle it up and get on with things! but if it's short because part of the story is missing, I feel cheated. If you are posting a series of chapters, that may work in your favour. Readers may be eager to get to the next part of the story.

I think this probably also depends on what category you post in. I think some categories do lend themselves to longer stories, while others are more likely to have people cruising through looking for a quickie.

Welcome to Authors' Hangout Watch out when the trolls are trolling in the month of June! Oh, it's July so you may be safe . You can get excellent answers to writerly questions here, there are the word games where you can practice your skills and sometimes there is flirting.

Alright, there is often a lot of flirting <snerk>.

(PS Don't believe them if they tell you you have to post pix of yourself naked. But if you want to do that I believe there is Another Place where you can. )

 

[yesterdays]

NaokoSmith:

A week or so ago I looked at your blog on feminist erotica. Good stuff!++

 

[NaokoSmith]

NaokoSmith:

A week or so ago I looked at your blog on feminist erotica. Good stuff!++

Oh thank you!


I have a new Nude Day review up, in case you haven't seen that one yet. And if you have any stories which fit my bill ... uh, so to speak , send me a link!

 

[Weird Harold]

I recently submitted my first story and still waiting for it to post. While waiting, I have continued to write an additional chapter. My concern is, which is best? To do more chapters or longer chapters?

So far my second part is about 2 pages long. ...

Two Lit pages (3,500-4,000 words per page) or two word processor pages (highly dependent on font and margins)?

The answer to your question is, "It depends on the story." My personal preference is to aim for two full lit pages per posting with a partial page three -- 8,000 to 10,000 words. That target is highly variable, though. Some stories require more words and some less.

If you're planning a single story arc, then finish the story before posting so you can adjust chapter lengths and "retcon" where necessary to keep from writing yourself into a corner.

If you're planning on an endless "soap opera," then set a consistent word count for each chapter and try to hit within about 200 words; it doesn't matter what size chapter you settle on, only that you are reasonable consistent -- and even that is simply a rough rule of thumb. Many authors have been reasonably successful posting whatever length happens to fit any given chapter.

 

[PennLady]

It doesn't matter, as so many have said, because readers are all different and have different demands on their time as to when and how much they can read.

I'd also say an important factor for reads is how regularly the chapters come out. If you have the entire story done, and put a chapter up every couple of days, or even once a week, you may retain more readers.

 

[NaokoSmith]

I'd also say an important factor for reads is how regularly the chapters come out. If you have the entire story done, and put a chapter up every couple of days, or even once a week, you may retain more readers.

PL is definitely right on this one. I was obliged to take a long break from posting my chapters, and the readership and voting has plummeted. What I am really sorry about, though, is that I used to get great and useful comments and the last few chapters have had hardly any.

Thank God for my editor, who occasionally makes interested remarks in the story.

 

[FantasyXY]

I had this same question not long ago and started a thread on this issue. What I got from the responses is that a chapter or story needs to be as long as it needs to be to tell the story.

However, most people seem to agree that you lose a fair number of readers somewhere between two and four pages.

The thread also has some information concerning 'what the reader really needs to know in a story'.

As an author I have decided that I want to keep my stories and chapters in the two to three page range.

Hope this helps.

http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=1042295&highlight=counts

 

[nosliwec]

Weird Harold: My first submission was about 8000 words. My current chapter I have started is closing in on 7000.

I had initially thought to do the one piece. See how it went, like I said first time ever submitting anything I've written (since graduating some years ago). But I was curious what my two characters would do as I explored their lives further.

My intent is now to write and continue to explore this story further and submit further chapters a day or two after the initial chapter posts. At the rate I have been going i have been writing 5-6 pages a day.

Thanks for all the input. I think I might just split chapter 2 in parts and hopefully submit fast enough to keep the readers interested.

 

[Dyslexicea]

I'm not sure I have a preference but even with long erotic stories I tend to read only a few pages at one sitting, which surprisingly is not how I'll read a good novel, at times I stay up most of the night reading a novel I'm engrossed in.

As far as reading stories here I haven't been doing so lately, the last two I were written by Penn Lady, both of which I found well written and enjoyable. Most literotica stories I start I never finish and I'll know within the first page or two if I care to continue. This really has nothing to do with the type of story, I read almost every category, or if it's grammatically perfect, although really poor grammar puts me off, but if the story lacks a quality story line and good character development, as much as that's possible in a short story, I'm just not interested.

As far as chaptered stories, I won't read any unless all the chapters have been submitted, many times I've started stories here that I've liked, in some ways become invested in and the author never completes the story.

Perhaps my preference is more for stories submitted as shorter chapters but those chapters have to have a logical stopping point, not just I want to post something so the author stop wherever in the rush to submit. As I've already stated the story has to be completed and all chapters submitted and posted before I'll even look at it.

 

[Hypoxia]

I'm trying a (slow) experiment. I'm writing longer pieces in fairly standalone episodes, not numbered chapters. (Well, one episode got away from me and is now a 3-chapter miniseries. Cheeky bugger.) Each submission is usually 2-3 LIT pages, rarely 4, never just 1. I'm trying to get away from the viewer-dropoff phenom. This has worked so far in the developing THE BOOK OF RUTH story cycle. I'll see how it goes in the upcoming A TASTE OF INCEST cycle. There's a mental trick: write it as a loosely-connected story cycle, not a multi-chapter series.

How long should a piece be? Whatever is long enough. One thing with multi-chapter stories: Consistent size is probably good. That's my mythology, anyway. Sometimes, it's easy -- if a chapter grows too long, shift the last part into the next chapter. Alas, I can't do that with my imminent THE BOOK OF RUTH piece. How do I transplant 1000 words (bringing it down to 3 LIT pages) without screwing the continuity? [/me grumbles]

 

[nosliwec]

Right now the first part of chapter 2 is stopping at a reasonable stopping point. I too have started series and been disappointed by lack of conclusion or many months between submissions.

Which is part of why I decided to write myself. There was a weekend where there didn't seem to be any stories submitted for my tastes and thought I had some ideas for a story and see how it goes for me. Perhaps I should just continue reading but not writing, but at least try it out and see how it goes. I have a definite idea where I want the story to go and a definite flow I want.

I am not using an editor, myself. Maybe I will if I get enough complaints about it. I didn't get one this time because I thought I might lose my nerve sitting around waiting for response back. So decided to jump in. Perhaps an editor would help breaking up my chapters, but since I didn't have one lined up figured I'd stalk the forums.

I really hope people will enjoy reading my story(ies) as much as I have in writing them.

 

[Hypoxia]

I really hope people will enjoy reading my story(ies) as much as I have in writing them.

Put a link to you submissions in your signature and we'll know!

 

[Vanadorn]

Just write until it feels like there should be a break in the story. Sometimes the story will break naturally and you just have to wait for it while you are writing.

I prefer longer stories or chapters - but anything that hits the 5th Lit page risks taking too long. Lately my rule has been between 7,500 and 15,000 words per chapter. You can only do what makes you happy and ignore the peanut gallery.

-V

 

[Addicted2Writing]

Longer

I recently submitted my first story and still waiting for it to post. While waiting, I have continued to write an additional chapter. My concern is, which is best? To do more chapters or longer chapters?.....

Personally, I prefer, as well as readers appreciate, LONGER chapters. On Lit, at least TWO pages; in WORD, 20 pages or so is THREE pages.

I have seen more than once a one-page chapter, and several well-known and frequent readers comment that it was too short.

 

[nosliwec]

Put a link to you submissions in your signature and we'll know!

As soon as my first submission is approved, I will. Had a slight issue with my original submission.

I thought that importing a .txt or .doc would be fine. Except I used < dialog > would be a nice way to show text messaging without saying So-and-so texted back and forth. Only to find out the editors just copy the transcript and add html codes and the <> had some snags.

So now just waiting for my pending submission to be approved.

P.S. Actually, I was led to this forum from the How To forums on how best to show text messages in stories. So far, has been very helpful.

 

[Tx Tall Tales]

One page chapters piss off some readers. You will get comments.

Two to four seem to have no problems. Longer than four, you're probably better off breaking up into 2-3 page chapters.

If it's not going to be a long series (2-3 chapters), you can probably get away with one big story, 5-7 pages and not lose many readers, as long as they get the whole story.

Long stories may lose a few readers, but will often make up for it in higher scores, where the ones who stick with it vote.

Longer series will typically lose more and more readers with each subsequent chapter, but after the first two, scores will go up. It's a tradeoff.

After three chapters, your readers are involved in your series. It doesn't matter much if it's 2-5 pages per chapter at that point. Just not one pagers. They hate to wait for a chapter, and get one page. That's my experience.

Many of my highest scoring stores are 6+ pages long. My three ~Million view stories are all 7+ pages long. I guess I didn't lose too many readers on the way. Or maybe I did, and if they were 3 pages shorter, I'd have had two million views. (I don't think so). So longer stories work just fine, if you can engage the reader.

This may not be true for all categories, but it seems to hold true for Romance, LW, Group Sex, Incest

--

Of course none of this is official. It's just my personal experience. Free advice, you know what that's worth.

 

[nosliwec]

Well my first submission was approved. In waiting for approval, I had finished my Chapter 2, which I separated into 3 parts.

Chapter 2a is 6500 words, Chapter 2b is 8100 and Chapter 2c is 6500.

http://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=288417&page=submissions

Thank you all for your advice thus far. Looking forward to getting more in the future.

 

[squirrelzo]

Tx Tall Tales! Feel like I've just seen a celebrity. Can I get your autograph? Or a custom audio?

One page chapters piss off some readers. You will get comments.

Two to four seem to have no problems. Longer than four, you're probably better off breaking up into 2-3 page chapters.

If it's not going to be a long series (2-3 chapters), you can probably get away with one big story, 5-7 pages and not lose many readers, as long as they get the whole story.

Long stories may lose a few readers, but will often make up for it in higher scores, where the ones who stick with it vote.

Longer series will typically lose more and more readers with each subsequent chapter, but after the first two, scores will go up. It's a tradeoff.

After three chapters, your readers are involved in your series. It doesn't matter much if it's 2-5 pages per chapter at that point. Just not one pagers. They hate to wait for a chapter, and get one page. That's my experience.

Many of my highest scoring stores are 6+ pages long. My three ~Million view stories are all 7+ pages long. I guess I didn't lose too many readers on the way. Or maybe I did, and if they were 3 pages shorter, I'd have had two million views. (I don't think so). So longer stories work just fine, if you can engage the reader.

This may not be true for all categories, but it seems to hold true for Romance, LW, Group Sex, Incest

--

Of course none of this is official. It's just my personal experience. Free advice, you know what that's worth.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Dunno. The Queen of Lesbian fiction here, Colleen Thomas, sadly no longer with us, posted a 29 Lit page Lesbian sci-fi story that had us on the edge of our seats and scored highly. Almost like a novel. More than a novel!

Personally, I tend to click out of stories that tell me that she/he has written 'pages of verbiage ' before the action starts'.

Hook the reader in a story and she will hungrily follow you for however long you keep her interested. We all put down a book that enthrals us to go to sleep/work and pick it up later.

Lit does need bookmarks.

Sorry to be a bit antsy but my big criticism about Lit writers is they seem to think they need to write a bundle of tedious backstory before they develop their plot.

Let the characters develop their story as it goes along.

 

[lovecraft68]

One page chapters piss off some readers. You will get comments.

Two to four seem to have no problems. Longer than four, you're probably better off breaking up into 2-3 page chapters.

If it's not going to be a long series (2-3 chapters), you can probably get away with one big story, 5-7 pages and not lose many readers, as long as they get the whole story.

Long stories may lose a few readers, but will often make up for it in higher scores, where the ones who stick with it vote.

Longer series will typically lose more and more readers with each subsequent chapter, but after the first two, scores will go up. It's a tradeoff.

After three chapters, your readers are involved in your series. It doesn't matter much if it's 2-5 pages per chapter at that point. Just not one pagers. They hate to wait for a chapter, and get one page. That's my experience.

Many of my highest scoring stores are 6+ pages long. My three ~Million view stories are all 7+ pages long. I guess I didn't lose too many readers on the way. Or maybe I did, and if they were 3 pages shorter, I'd have had two million views. (I don't think so). So longer stories work just fine, if you can engage the reader.

This may not be true for all categories, but it seems to hold true for Romance, LW, Group Sex, Incest

--

Of course none of this is official. It's just my personal experience. Free advice, you know what that's worth.

My highest scored is 8 pages(and no sex , barely a peck on the cheek until mid page 7) My recent contest winner was 8 as well.

On average I am around the 6 page or so mark and have some 10 pages and up.

So I disagree with that theory anything over three lit pages is too much. If you can keep it flowing they will keep following.

The success you have here should by itself be enough to dispel the idea that people here are looking for quick wanks and have no attention span.

But, then again you have to be able to write well enough to hold that interest.

needless to say you do.

I received a private feedback on an incest story that said "Almost on the level of tx tall tales" One of the best compliments I've gotten here

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

My highest scored is 8 pages(and no sex , barely a peck on the cheek until mid page 7) My recent contest winner was 8 as well.

On average I am around the 6 page or so mark and have some 10 pages and up.

So I disagree with that theory anything over three lit pages is too much. If you can keep it flowing they will keep following.

The success you have here should by itself be enough to dispel the idea that people here are looking for quick wanks and have no attention span.

But, then again you have to be able to write well enough to hold that interest.

needless to say you do.

I received a private feedback on an incest story that said "Almost on the level of tx tall tales" One of the best compliments I've gotten here

Keep it flowing is t he correct answer BUT don't let the flow get away from you like the Little Rascals riding a home-made fire truck down a steep hill.

 

[lovecraft68]

Keep it flowing is t he correct answer BUT don't let the flow get away from you like the Little Rascals riding a home-made fire truck down a steep hill.

Yeah, flowing and rambling are different things.