Novels and long stories

[cahab]

Am I alone in finding the format of literotica makes it all but impossible to read the longer stories? I don't want to sit for days in front of a screen, shut in my study, reading one story that may or may not be any good.

People who write these stories complain they get very little feedback; well, quel surprise!

Would it be possible to put a link on first pages of anything more than, say five pages long with a link to a text file version of the whole thing, that you can either print out, or re-format for palm or whatever? Or does this create copyright problems?

 

[oggbashan]

As a notorious writer of longer stories I now accept that I will get very few votes on my extended pieces.

For NaNoWriMo I broke the story into shorter chapters and attracted more Hs than I had ever received.

Although I can write shorter episodes I prefer the pace and opportunities for development when the story extends beyond a couple of Lit pages.

So I have decided to compromise and write chapters that can stand almost alone and yet are part of the greater whole.

It is possible to download each page of stories that extend over several pages from Literotica and append the later pages to the first page to make the complete story. As long as the result is used by the reader alone and then deleted I would have no problem with the practice even though it does breach copyright law.

I can understand that reading from a screen is not as comfortable as reading from a book. After all I do sell books.

Og

 

[PAUL C]

long stories

I write long stories.

the earlier ones on this site are in their current format because I transfered them from another site.

they were all written as stand alone story parts as are my current efforts.

 

[Guest]

Long Stories

 

[Wills]

My Manipulation series is five stories each about three Lit. pages in length. They were broken into 'managable' bites after I raised the question of how best to post.

The three stories have received 109 votes between them over a three week period since the first was posted, 11 P/C postings and 15 e-mail feedbacks. Guess I'm a happy guy.

Will's

 

[SlaveMasterUK]

I typically write novels and novellas as opposed to short stories. I personally don't like writing a short story because I become too attached to the characters, and want to progress their story to the end.

I guess my writing style doesn't lend itself to chapterisation very well either. Rhiana was my first novella, 36,000 words or 11 Lit pages - since March last year it's got 22 votes and a H. due to the way the story progresses, I don't think it would work very well if it was cut into segments. It would feel too artificial.

The Fallen is 64,000 words - 19 lit pages!! and since mid-October has got... wait... 7 votes, 4,000 reads. This hasn't changed for about 2 months. The story is broken into chapters, but I made the decision to post as one story because it IS one story, not a collection of stories revolving around the same character.

I didn't want readers to think I had written one story and then added new chapters after a while, because that's not how I wrote it and not how I intended it to be read. Also, some readers might have clicked half-way into the story, which would potentially have spoilt the earlier chapters and would almost certainly take away the original spirit of the ending. Essentially the story has a high mystery element - you wouldn't pick up a crime novel half-way through and expect to enjoy it.

I was a little disappointed that The Fallen didn't get more reads after the time I put into it, but TBH I didn't really expect anything different. It was enough that Laurel gave it an E, that kept me smiling for a week

I'm thinking of looking around for other sites that cater for sci-fi writers posting novels and novellas; of course they would have to be happy to accept erotic content, as neither of my stories would make sense without it.

ax

 

[Boxlicker101]

My shortest story is about 1,300 words and my longest is a 22,000 word novella. The others tend to average between 5,000 and 7,000 words. That is too short to be broken into chapters and there are other problems too. To compare them to movies, the novella and one other can be compared to a full length movie like "Deep Throat" and everything else is about like a porno loop. A few lines of intro then I go down on her and she cums, then we fuck. There are variations, of course, and sometimes other people are involved but their interaction is about the same. I refer to it as smut, and make no apologies.

On the last story I submitted, I got some feedback and one guy said it was too long. It's just over 7,000 words, and about the first 300 is setting the scene and the rest is strictly stroke.

Anybody who wants to can print my stories and show them around or email them, and I have no problem, although I do want some feedback. If somebody is making any money out of them, I want my share, though.

 

[AngeloMichael]

My first story was 8 lit pages long and my second was 9. I got a small amount of feedback saying the stories were too long, but nothing about the length making the story difficult to read online. Also, for the most part, the feedback I recieved was overwhelmingly positive. My first story has over 200 votes and my second story over 100. I even got an "E" for my first story which I still can't get over. What a wonderful gift that was!

I did break my second story into 4 chapters, but I still submitted it as one story because I was afraid if I submitted the chapters separately the 2 middle ones would not be accepted because they are mainly the back stories of the characters with very little sex in them.

I'm a fan of long stories. When an author I love comes out with a book that's close to 1,000 pages, I'm not daunted by the task of reading it, I'm ecstatic. So I tend to write long and in depth stories as well and I probably won't be stopping that habbit, I don't think I could.

However, now that the difficulty factor of reading long stories online has been brought to my attention, I will make every effort to break my future stories up into smaller and well rounded chapters and post them separately.

 

[minsue]

One reader's POV

I definitely prefer reading longer stories and actually prefer the ones that aren't broken into chapters. I get attached to the characters, too, and am often frustrated by stories that I feel are too short. I don't really mind reading them in this format, but keep in mind that I carry my laptop with me all over the house in outside for every cigarette. I'd fashion a little harness for it so I wouldn't have to carry it, but that would be so unbelievably pathetic.

- Mindy

 

[Weird Harold]

that you can either print out, or re-format for palm or whatever? Or does this create copyright problems?

Lit's pages print from your browser in a readable format, and I've found that the stories C&P into a MS Word document for printing with very little reformatting required. Either is a "Fair Use" under copyright law, as long as it's for personal use.

I haven't heard anything about it for some time, but abut a year ago, Laurel and Manu were working on making Literotica accessible to PDAs and net capable phones.

 

[Quasimodem]

What about a special link to a PDF file download?

PDF files hold together. That's why they are used so much for distributing ebooks. One can even add bookmarks between the chapters, so the reader need not read it all at one sitting.

The writer could even leave a “form” feedback at the end, to cut-and-paste into an email. (Anything to remind and assist.)

Or would that take up too much space in the archive?

 

[snooper]

What about a special link to a PDF file download?
...
Or would that take up too much space in the archive?

Do you fancy converting 100,000+ stories to PDF?

Or even the 50 or so per day that are posted?

 

[cahab]

What about a special link to a PDF file download?

PDF files hold together. That's why they are used so much for distributing ebooks. One can even add bookmarks between the chapters, so the reader need not read it all at one sitting.

The writer could even leave a “form” feedback at the end, to cut-and-paste into an email. (Anything to remind and assist.)

Or would that take up too much space in the archive?

PDF files are used for ebooks because they can carry pictures, and in theory are more secure than text (though they can be exported to text).

Most files on Lit are originally uploaded either as text or rtf files. One could automate a process easily to add a header giving copyright information, as Gutenberg or asstr do. Once again I stress that I am not suggesting this for all files, just the long ones.

As has been said, if I really wanted to steal the stuff I could cut and paste it together anyway, so security isn't really the issue. Most computers, whether handheld or otherwise, can manage text, and if not text is easily convertable. I would love to be able to read Lit works off line, but the sad truth is I just don't have the time to re-format a novel myself. If I did, I would just read the damn thing on-line anyway. If you novel, or long story writers out therewriters out there want us to read stuff in the meantime, can I suggest you give a link to a site with a downloadable file as well, like this, with a request that people come back to vote?

Sorry to get all het-up, but this really bugs me. We have a site where people constantly complain that people have short attention spans, and won't read long pieces, and nobody ever puts this together with the format of the site! C'mon, people, it's two and two!

 

[oggbashan]

Sorry to get all het-up, but this really bugs me. We have a site where people constantly complain that people have short attention spans, and won't read long pieces, and nobody ever puts this together with the format of the site! C'mon, people, it's two and two!

Second try: My computer crashed with a blue screen of death when I tried to respond earlier today. Here is another attempt on the other computer.

Instead of directing people to another site I have modified my writing to fit Literotica. I write shorter episodes, in chapters, and have a definite beginning, middle and end to each chapter.

It is now working for me with increased reads, more votes and higher ratings.

It is easier to work with the limitations than try to avoid them.

Og (new shorter improved version).

PS. It doesn't stop me from trying to write like Swift.