One off or series?

[Vintage_DM]

I have written and posted here at Lit both. What do you think? Should the story be told in one go or break into several chapters? Your thoughts and comments.

 

[AlinaX]

Yes.

 

[burgwad]

I love me a good long one-off, but you'll get all kinds of answers here.

Chapters can work well if you sculpt your story into easily navigated segments (using the right tags, summaries, etc.). These segments should be juicy and focused, as you're probably looking to feed readers who just want snack-sized fun featuring a cast of characters/the work of an author they already know they like. But you probably won't get as much mileage out of a serial plot with slow-burn complexity or nuanced character arcs. In other words, these stories (the successful/popular ones, anyway) tend to be your pulp fuck-fests, where every chapter is simply a new kink or coupling to be explored rather than a meaningful development of an overarching plot. You *can* publish a complex, multi-chapter serial here, where X-rated sex may not even occur in every chapter, but different genres will have different tolerances / degrees of appreciation for this more self-serious approach.

One-offs work best when the story is just that goddamn good. My go-to example here is MrHereWriting's "A Mother's Worry." It's long as fuck, yes. But it's a titanic display of writerly talent, and an eminently readable mother-son story if you're into that. Stories like this, that remain sensible value propositions despite their colossal size, are rare. Lord knows it's what I aspire to (see also: my big-boned, little-loved output here on Lit), but I, like most I think, suffer from an inability to smell the stinkiness of my own shit. I write big stories I think are packed with fun, only to find that most readers just don't have time or interest, and that they are especially intolerant of any deviations from the norm (e.g., kinks that misalign with theirs [nvm how thoroughly you 'tag' your story, forewarning readers, you will still get complaints], stylistic writing that demands more cognitive engagement, chatty characters, etc.).

But note, I write the way I do for the love of the game. I just fucking love writing. I have a small stable of admirers, and I try to remember that they count for something. But here on Lit, with our stories' stats so front and center and painfully easy to check compulsively, it can be hard to appreciate what's actually going on at the level of craft, or to remember what inspired us to write in the first place. Sex. Boobies. Last night's wet dream. Etc.

TL;DR: What AlinaX said.

 

[AchtungNight]

I mostly do one-shots. Some stories are broken up for convenience. Counseling and Rendezvous are both meant as one big story in multiple chapters. Each Passion chapter and the rest of my stories are stand alone.

 

[VilHaMer]

Personally, I prefer a single story. For several reasons:

1. Whenever I see a Literotica story marked "ch. 27" or something like that, I just back away. I can't deal with that kind of commitment; it's like starting to watch a TV series that has been going for 20 seasons. It's even worse if there's no end in sight. Fine, I could get on with a series that I know is finished, so that I could eventually get through it, but I'm not in this for a neverending story.
2. When submitting to Literotica, things take a long time. I submitted a story 8 days ago and it's still "pending". I tried publishing a story in two parts once, and I found it incredibly frustrating that my readers had to wait for the second part to be published.
3. When I write, I want to complete a story. Have you heard about "The lord of the rings"? Amazing story, right? Fans all over the world have been requesting more for decades and I've never understood why. I mean, I can understand why somebody would like to know what happened to Aragorn's kids, what happens next with the dwarves etc... but LotR is about the quest to destroy the One Ring. Once that's done, the story is over; there's no point in continuing just because fans want to read more. The same principle applies here. If I write a story about two people developing a relationship, once that story is told, it should finish. Once the topic at hand is completed, the story should end.
4. Finally, I don't want to get stuck on a single story. I want to write other ones. If I start a sequence, I'd never feel like I could move on, even if that's what I want.

 

[yukonnights]

I do chapter style stories as a way to offer a longer complete story to those who may not have the time to get into a one-shot longer piece. I think it's easier for readers to perhaps one or two shorter chapters than one long slog where one might get lost as to where they actually have read to before stopping and going to bed.

I've had good success with this approach, and yes; I never submit Part#1 without having all other chapters written and submitted. Lit typically doles out / post a pending chapter every few days. I think many are like me a simply do not have the time to read hours on a long story no matter how well it's written.

That said; Like most things, there's no one way that is perfect or correct.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I believe a lot depends on the category of the story. Readers in some categories will prefer chapter submissions while readers in a category such as Romance or Novels/Novellas might prefer a longer single submission.

I will tell you that my loyal readers have stated emphatically that they prefer my stories in a single, long submission. So much so that I took down the four that I had posted in chapters and replaced them with the longer single version of each. Each scored well as a chapters, but they are doing slightly better as single submissions.

I still break up my series stories, but chapter stories now are all one-shot submissions.

 

[darkride]

How long is a piece of string?

 

[PenelopeX]

There is no correct answer. Some stories are shorter than others. Some tales have one interlude worth relating while others have more.