Multichapter idea.

[jaykaythree]

First of all, lemme say that you on this thread are the absolute best for help and feedback.

That was the pleasure -- now to the business.

Some of you know that I've had this idea kicking around in my head (and likewise, in Drafts) since February. It may turn into multichapter ... something with which I have
e x t r e m e l y
 limited experience. My only previous multichapter story rolled out bing-bang-boom over the course of ten days in September 2021.

I was wondering ... does that approach work for you? That is to say, do you prefer to write all the chapters and then post them in quicker succession, so as to keep readers sharp and their memories fresh, or to do a slower rollout as they finish? (In addition, it took me the longest to do Chapter 1; 2 and 3 were pretty much put together on the fly, if you don't count the time I spent rolling them over in my head before committing them to cyberspace.)

Also, there's the question of categories. Is it better to go with putting all the chapters the overall arc (Romance, in this case), or to adjust each category listing by what it is? I did that the other time -- 1 was First Time (as indeed it was for both my leads), as was 2 (what came of that first time). However, I shifted gears and did Romance for 3 (not really HEA, but close enough to count, I guess).

In this tied-together "chapter", I have about 3500 words or thereabouts, which was about the chapter length of the three in the 2021 story, so I guess that might work. As mentioned, the overall arc is Romance, but Chapter One has no direct sex; it is, though, strongly implied, as evidenced by the existence of the male lead's son. The Romance aspect, or something close to it, also figures in the male lead's desire to keep on good terms with his ex-wife, who reciprocates.

I've been here two years, and am still finding a decent writing voice; thanks to so many of you, I think I might be getting there.

And thank you for bearing with so long a post.

 

[PennameWombat]

Do you mean your entire planned story (three chapters?) is only about 10,000 words? I would never do that as multiple chapters. (My current Nude Day entry is standalone and just over 19,000 words.) I do have plenty of multi-chapter (each subsequent requires reading the previous) and serials (same main characters, but meant to be readable out of order). All of my ‘chapters’ in these are 15,000 to 25,000 words and each one is self-contained, a complete plot line in that story that ties into the overarching plot lines in the ‘full’ multi-chapter story.

I have one, ongoing numbered series which has seen a long gap between chapters five and the yet-to-come chapter six. Plenty of folks here will say “don’t post any of it until it’s completely written.” Clearly I disagree with that. And I definitely don’t understand why anyone here thinks the readers are being short-changed. Hey, uh, it’s not like they’re paying money here… I’m writing for fun, so I write what’s fun at the time.

Probably why I don’t have a thousand followers.

The above said, my other series were rolled out (both trilogies) with more alacrity. I did not write them completely before posting, but I had the full plot lines well in mind, and those two series rolled out in parallel over three months, total. But again, each of the six total entries was 15,000 - 20,000 words.

One series I stayed in a single category, the other one Laurel decided to switch the middle chapter to a different category when I submitted. My personal feeling is to try and keep multi-chapters or serials in the same category. But, since for me these are connected (by characters, plot lines and themes) that makes sense to me.

I don’t read or write Romance, so can’t offer anything useful on that aspect.

 

[MelissaBaby]

First of all, lemme say that you on this thread are the absolute best for help and feedback.

That was the pleasure -- now to the business.

Some of you know that I've had this idea kicking around in my head (and likewise, in Drafts) since February. It may turn into multichapter ... something with which I have
e x t r e m e l y
 limited experience. My only previous multichapter story rolled out bing-bang-boom over the course of ten days in September 2021.

I was wondering ... does that approach work for you? That is to say, do you prefer to write all the chapters and then post them in quicker succession, so as to keep readers sharp and their memories fresh, or to do a slower rollout as they finish? (In addition, it took me the longest to do Chapter 1; 2 and 3 were pretty much put together on the fly, if you don't count the time I spent rolling them over in my head before committing them to cyberspace.)

Also, there's the question of categories. Is it better to go with putting all the chapters the overall arc (Romance, in this case), or to adjust each category listing by what it is? I did that the other time -- 1 was First Time (as indeed it was for both my leads), as was 2 (what came of that first time). However, I shifted gears and did Romance for 3 (not really HEA, but close enough to count, I guess).

In this tied-together "chapter", I have about 3500 words or thereabouts, which was about the chapter length of the three in the 2021 story, so I guess that might work. As mentioned, the overall arc is Romance, but Chapter One has no direct sex; it is, though, strongly implied, as evidenced by the existence of the male lead's son. The Romance aspect, or something close to it, also figures in the male lead's desire to keep on good terms with his ex-wife, who reciprocates.

I've been here two years, and am still finding a decent writing voice; thanks to so many of you, I think I might be getting there.

And thank you for bearing with so long a post.

Whether holding all chapters to release at once or submitting as you go "works for you", is really two questions that both deserve consideration.

If what you want is to maximize readership throughout the course of the story, having a completed series you can present to readers on a timely schedule is preferable. But does that works for YOU?

I spent three years writing a 36 chapter, 340k word series, releasing each chapter as I wrote them, generally about one a month.I think I would have gotten a larger readership if I had finished the whole thing and published the chapters on a weekly schedule, but I doubt very much that, being relatively new to writing, and to the site, I would have completed it while spending that much time working while receiving no feedback. I also think that over the course of the project, my writing improved, precisely because I was getting input from readers and other authors.

As for categories, I prefer to put all chapters in the same category. The truth is, the huge majority of those who read chapter five, just to pick a number, will have read chapters 1-4. I doubt that many new readers will jump into an ongoing series just because it pops up in their favorite category.

 

[oneagainst]

If I have 80k or 100k words, that's usually 17 to 25 chapters of 1-2 lit pages. I'm loathe to publish 20k or 30k in one drop because I don't think that's good story structuring... a chapter has a single purpose, and if you're still on the same thread for 30k without splicing in other elements, I think it's hard on a reader.

To keep the story flowing for the readership, only posting when it's all done and then rolling out on a strict, dependable schedule - such as twice weekly - seem to yield best results. If you take 4 years to post 8 ch chances are you are no longer taking to the same audience.

As for the categories question, both approaches seemed to work equally well. I guess good tagging is your friend.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

I don't write chapters, I write stories that are close to 100K words so I break them into parts, ending each one at a break point that makes sense. I've done it both ways, writing the whole thing first and then publishing each part a week apart or writing each part and publishing it before writing the next part. I don't recommend the later unless you are a really fast writer (I'm not, although my last 100K four-part story was written in three months). However, I noticed that publishing a part of a story every three months does tend to lose reader interest (although once it is all published, that issue goes away).

 

[ElectricBlue]

10,000 words is three Lit pages - I'd publish that as a stand-alone story. If you had a much longer story, that's pretty much the ideal chapter size.

 

[32aa]

All of my stories have been multi-chapter with the longest one being 24 chapters. I prefer to write the entire story before beginning the submitting process, This is mainly because I am constantly going back and either adding something that came to me in the middle of the night or changing something to fit where my current story is currently headed.

And like what's been mentioned above, it keeps the reader focused on the story instead of having to reread a previous chapter to get up to speed on where things are at.

But, that's just me.

 

[djrip]

The chapter 1 with no sex is the new one you haven't submitted yet, correct? I would recommend keeping going at least until there is some sex or a good sexual situation. Readers invested in a long story may be okay with a no sex chapter in the middle, but I think leading with one as chapter 1 will hurt your readership. A 1 page chapter is fine if it's got what readers want, but 2 or 3 or 4 pages is also a great length for a chapter. Don't rush one out before it gets far enough along to hook people just because you've hit 3k words or so.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

I’ve seen chapters as short of 3000 words (1 lit page and just over) and some of 10000 to 20000 (looks in the mirror embarrassed at that last one but it was a finale @oneagainst ) , I’ve also seen a prologue that has no sex but hints it’s coming.

If you open with that off the bat and you have fans they’ll likely read it to gain an idea of where your story’s going, and I imagine that the Romance crowd will be extremely forgiving of that.

 

[jaykaythree]

Yeah, I think I can go with fleshing it out like 10K or so (last October, I put up a standalone that topped 14K).

 

[oneagainst]

I’ve seen chapters as short of 3000 words (1 lit page and just over) and some of 10000 to 20000 (looks in the mirror embarrassed at that last one but it was a finale @oneagainst ) , I’ve also seen a prologue that has no sex but hints it’s coming.

If you open with that off the bat and you have fans they’ll likely read it to gain an idea of where your story’s going, and I imagine that the Romance crowd will be extremely forgiving of that.

Uh, pot calling itself black, I've got a 15k chapter in the middle of the next book (the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, coinciding with the Midnight at the Lost and Found story event). I've also got 1 page chapters. I guess the chapter stops when its job's done, but generally seem to average 4-5k words per section naturally.

 

[Emilymcplugger]

Uh, pot calling itself black, I've got a 15k chapter in the middle of the next book (the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, coinciding with the Midnight at the Lost and Found story event). I've also got 1 page chapters. I guess the chapter stops when its job's done, but generally seem to average 4-5k words per section naturally.

Myself, I’m somewhere between 10,000 to 17,000 usually with natural breaks/stopping-off points in between.

In the biggest chapter I’ve wrote most of that was ONE all-consuming orgy. I don’t like to toot my own horn (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it) but it was pretty awesome.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I don't write strictly for Lit but when I post here I do consider the feedback I have received from previous stories.

To that end, I have and always will complete a story before posting any part of it. Otherwise, you give up control of the characters and plot by having to follow what was previously written, even if it no longer holds to the premise that has developed as you wrote.

A chapter is only a portion of a story. Anything more is not truly a "chapter" but a "series". All chapters should be posted in the same category here regardless of what the major theme for a particular chapter might be. It is still only part of a larger story and the category that the story should be placed in as a whole body of work. Tags do the rest.

I no longer break my longer stories up (based upon feedback from readers), but when did, I would submit everything on the same day and let the Lit system handle the release of the chapters or parts day after day.

Finally, remember that your story will have a life after all the chapters are posted. The vast majority of your readers will see your story after it is complete and all the chapters are posted. Plan for the long-term.

 

[joy_of_cooking]

I no longer break my longer stories up (based upon feedback from readers), but when did, I would submit everything on the same day and let the Lit system handle the release of the chapters or parts day after day.

How do you indicate when you want a story to be released? Just add a note asking Laurel to space them out a bit?

 

[oneagainst]

How do you indicate when you want a story to be released? Just add a note asking Laurel to space them out a bit?

Yes... in the notes to admins section, I've been putting "Please publish on 2nd July" - works...!

 

[BobbyBrandt]

How do you indicate when you want a story to be released? Just add a note asking Laurel to space them out a bit?

If I submit something like eleven chapters, one after another, the first one will post in about three days, and then the rest follow in each of the next ten consecutive days. I have never requested anything different but I assume a note to the admin when submitting might provide different time frame options.

This of course assumes that none of the parts or chapters get rejected for whatever reason.