Opinions please!

[Anton25]

Am in the process of writing a holiday story…( holiday challenge)I have a choice of submitting a story either with chapters or as separate stories? What is better in your opinion? Do readers prefer chapters..? Longer story..? I don’t see any rule from the holiday challenge that it has to be given as a story as a whole..

 

[lovecraft68]

You say holiday challenge, if you're talking about a Literotica contest the story can't be chaptered, it has to be a complete standalone story.

 

[MyBareTorso]

Am in the process of writing a holiday story…( holiday challenge)I have a choice of submitting a story either with chapters or as separate stories? What is better in your opinion? Do readers prefer chapters..? Longer story..? I don’t see any rule from the holiday challenge that it has to be given as a story as a whole..

Which contest/challenge is it that you're writing for exactly?

 

[ElectricBlue]

Stories submitted for Contests have to be standalone, not part of an existing Series. That logically extends to not allowing chaptered stories in Contests, even if the story was finished and all chapters submitted simultaneously. They'd be published with a time gap, which would mean multiple entries in the Contest, but only the one story.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Above is quite correct, but I believe that it would be permitted to enter, say, Chapter One in the contest and then the remaining chapters in succession if not entered in the contest.

 

[lovecraft68]

Above is quite correct, but I believe that it would be permitted to enter, say, Chapter One in the contest and then the remaining chapters in succession if not entered in the contest.

But you can't call it chapter one for the contest, that would have to be edited later, and the first installment has to have an enough of an ending to be considered an actual story.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Of course it would have to be stand-alone. Good point.

 

[SimonDoom]

There are two questions here, one being what is the right thing to do from the readers' standpoint, and the other how to comply with the contest rules. About the latter, I think Lovecraft is right. If you submit just part of your story for a contest it has to be presented as a standalone story and not part of a multi-chapter series. That doesn't stop you from, after the fact, publishing subsequent chapters to the first one.

As far as readers are concerned, the number 1 thing that newbies asking these questions get wrong is that they don't understand how long chapters have to be to maximize success with readers, IF that's what one wants. Chapters of 3 + Lit pages (3750 words each) tend to do better at Literotica than shorter chapters. So, if you have a choice, by all means publish your story in bigger chunks with longer chapters if you want to maximize positive response from your readers.

 

[Anton25]

Which contest/challenge is it that you're writing for exactly?

Holiday one

 

[Anton25]

Which contest/challenge is it that you're writing for exactly?

Summer lovin to be precise

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Good choice. It’s an easier ‘write’ than, say, April Fools’ Day. It gets a lot of attention and is just fun all around,

 

[Cagivagurl]

I cannot speak of contests...
Never entered one....
However... Story length... It depends entirely on the category in which you post....
Lesbian for instance.... The longer the story the better... In that particular category readers are looking for an emotional rollercoaster full of rich characters. More about the story than the sex.
Romance is very similar. Nobody gets criticised for story length, so long as it's a good story...
Other categories, IE, LW, a shorter more concise story length, 5 Lit pages is probably the upper limit...
Chapers over a long story... IMO A long story is better. I say that as both a writer and a reader.
As a reader, I hate chaptered stories. I have been frustrated in the past by writers who start a series and never finish... Now I wait until the last chapter is posted before starting the #1...
As a writer, I have tried both... A series. My longest being 17 chapters. Versus the longers stand alone story. My preference now is a long stand alone story regardless of the category. I think readers actually prefer it.
I think it comes down to what you prefer... Do what you feel is right and you can't go wrong. Trying to second guess readers is impossible. You cannot please everybody...
Rule #1... Have fun. It is our only form of payment.

Cagivagurl

 

[WhiteTailDarkTip]

I am struggling with this a little. I write long form (70k words or about 20 Lit pages) for preference but have just had a story series (7 chapters, ~125k words total) lauded by someone I respect.
I don’t think I could have written the series as a single story. Some of it had to gestate during the writing. It didn’t have to end where it did, that was just a convenient place to stop.
I am seriously considering a sequel because my subconscious is always putting forward ideas and scenarios for my characters.
On the other hand I’ve just put up a couple of stand alones at around the 12k - 3 page mark and they’ve been well received.
I’m intrigued by the idea that different readerships have different preferences. This may well influence where I publish in future.

 

[Norway_1705]

>>>>> Chapter 1: Here are my two cents.
At the end of the sentence, start a new paragraph.
Always?
Always.
This helps the reader untangle the sentences. And if by chance you don't go to the end, the astonishment of the readers will be such, that they will attach importance to that lack of new paragraphs, just as they do now.
>>>>> Chapter 2: Add chapters.
Oh, sure, a book became famous because it was an uninterrupted stream of consciousness, we know that.
But readers are human beings.
We are made to watch actors on stage!
The theater we create in our minds.
If you change the scene... if everyone falls asleep... if a long flashback begins, the audience at "The Globe" expects the curtains to be pulled over the stage, and a voice to announce, "A new chapter will begin in five minutes!" (go pee somewhere in 5 minutes!).
>>>>> Chapter 3. The Importance of Being Honest.
Giving a scene a title also helps the writer know whether he has described what he wanted to describe.
If a scene contains dozens of main events all at once, perhaps it deserved to be divided into twelve chapters.
>>>>> Conclusion and Goodbye
Lewis Carroll wrote a chapter nine words long ("Waking... and it really "was" a kitten, after all" 1764).
Am I better than Carroll?
Perhaps we will all say no.
If the author senses possible developments for his characters, he may ask the audience if they liked something more in the theatrical play.
Positive Feedback: Aeschylus did it, Shakespeare did it, and now you can do it too.

 

[lc69hunter]

Am in the process of writing a holiday story…( holiday challenge)I have a choice of submitting a story either with chapters or as separate stories? What is better in your opinion? Do readers prefer chapters..? Longer story..? I don’t see any rule from the holiday challenge that it has to be given as a story as a whole..

I read a lot of stories and also comment on them. I tend to pass on stories over 4-5 pages long. So give me shorter chapters. Just my opinion

 

[KeithD]

Above is quite correct, but I believe that it would be permitted to enter, say, Chapter One in the contest and then the remaining chapters in succession if not entered in the contest.

Not by tagging it as chapter one. That acknowledges that it's not a complete work. Standalone means a complete work.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Like Lord of the Ring The Return of the King cannot be considered a stand-alone work because it’s one of a series?
Like Alcott’s Little Women because if was first published in two volumes (now published as parts)?
Or the last six Harry Potter books or a continent’s worth of Discworld?

Making the difference no more the words ‘part’ or ‘chapter’ and the inclusion of a number strikes me as mere pedantry. In any case, Laurel has recently clarified the site policy. If it can be read on its own, it’s ‘stand-alone’ and compliant with site policy.

 

[AlexFourways]

Like Lord of the Ring The Return of the King cannot be considered a stand-alone work because it’s one of a series?
Like Alcott’s Little Women because if was first published in two volumes (now published as parts)?
Or the last six Harry Potter books or a continent’s worth of Discworld?

Making the difference no more the words ‘part’ or ‘chapter’ and the inclusion of a number strikes me as mere pedantry. In any case, Laurel has recently clarified the site policy. If it can be read on its own, it’s ‘stand-alone’ and compliant with site policy

Bit late to this, but of the examples, whilst the first two are definately part of a series. Harry Potter (apart from the last two) are fairly stand alone in that there is enough to allow it. Discworld stories are IMO (the H is never humble) are stand alone, but live in an alternative reality. Some benefit from having read ones in order, others (Soul Music for a random example) are sufficiently self contained to be read without knowlege or reference to the rest of it - in fact you need more 'roundworld' knowledge.

If you were going to do one long work, as Norway says_1705 says. Give it clear chapters and then readers can take a break and come back (or keep a tab open) but they know they can 'go and have a pee', or read something else to let your story settle in their mind.

 

[TheLobster]

You can totally submit chaptered stories in contests. The only requirement is that each submission be standalone. This is a flexible enough requirement that it permits:

• stories within existing universes
• stories consisting of multiple chapters
• stories that get a continuation after the contest ends

However, rhe question whether it's better divide a chaptered story into many submissions is outside the scope here. Contests do not allow it; "standalone" is a quite clear term here.