One loooong story vs. chapters

[Iris]

I'm writing this story, see? Yeah, that's why I'm here...pretty obvious, huh? Anyway, I've got what MS Word tells me is 4 pages already, and most of that is setup/dialog. I've cut all of it I can cut without breaking it down to "This is guy. This is girl. They met and had sex." I think it's good...well, pretty good or it will be when it's done, but my question is:

Should I submit it upon completion as one long ass story, and we're talking loooong, maybe 10 pages or so, or should I split it into chapters? If so, where do I cut a chapter? I've just had my characters kiss for the first time. Would that be a good spot to cut it and leave some suspense or should I cut before that?

 

[KillerMuffin]

Most stories I submit run around 8 to 18 pages. You're good so far girl. Don't compromise your story for the sake of brevity. Lit has no word limits and is very fascile with page breaks.

As far as whacking down to chapters, see if you can find a natural "ending" point in the middle to set as chapters. I recommend you have the whole thing written before you submit if you're doing it that way. You don't have to submit all at once, if you choose not to.

 

[Bob Peale]

Should I submit it upon completion as one long ass story, and we're talking loooong, maybe 10 pages or so, or should I split it into chapters? If so, where do I cut a chapter? I've just had my characters kiss for the first time. Would that be a good spot to cut it and leave some suspense or should I cut before that?

Heh heh...Have no fear Iris...10 pages doesn't even begin to qualify that as looooong! Many of us suffer from "verbosus storyitis", but that's not a bad thing. My stories AVERAGE between 15 and 30 pages these days, and the only comments I ever get are thanks for taking the time to develop the characters and building a plot.

I will advise this however: most of the stories you see of mine are broken into chapters, only because I've learned over time that Laurel typically breaks a long story into parts to aid in faster loading. On the occasions where that's happened to one of my submissions, it was usually done somewhere around the 4 1/2 to 5 page range, so if my story runs longer than that, I break it into chapters so that I have control over where the break is made (this is probably clear as mud, but if you look at my story Yard Work ( http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=1228 ) you'll see what I mean; it was originally submitted as a single, nine page story).


Peace,
Bob

 

[cymbidia]

Originally posted by Bob Peale
I know what you're thinking, 'cause right now I'm thinking the same thing. Actually, I've been thinking it ever since I got here: Why oh why didn't I take the BLUE pill?

Ohhhh ... i just rewatched The Matrix last night for about the 10th time. GOOD movie. Hope the sequels are even half as intense.

 

[Madame Pandora]

I've had several readers (and fellow authors) tell me that if they see a story is over 2 or 3 pages, they won't read it. In fact, I've had some people tell me they hesitated to read my 2 pagers. (Those are "Lit" pages and not RL pages)

Most of my stories tend to fall naturally right around the 14 real pages (2 "Lit" page) area and I'm comfortable with that - and most of my readers seem to be comfortable with that. If something were going to be longer, I would break it down if I wanted it to be read.

MP

 

[Bob Peale]

Ohhhh ... i just rewatched The Matrix last night for about the 10th time. GOOD movie. Hope the sequels are even half as intense.

You and me both!

 

[Madame Pandora]

Matrix Lovers...

Hey guys...

If you like The Matrix you have to try and lay hands on a little Jap anime called The Ghost In The Shell which is where several ideas for The Matrix came from. Kinda like having to see The Taking of Pelham, One, Two, Three if you're a Res Dogs fan ;-)

MP