Publish part one or wait until all parts are done?

[MarcDwayne]

Hello

Nervous first time author with an long story ready to publish for the first time. For whatever crazy reason, I have turned a small work into a large work and want to publish in three or four parts. I have tried to find an editor and did get some wonderful feedback but in the end I have adopted this fledgling project as my writing school. A trial by fire. Part one of the story has been worked on to a point, I believe it could be published. This is really a case of 'publish' or 'perish in doubt' as I want to get some more movement forward. I figure, the feedback fire will hone me, scare me, destroy me or maybe even inspire me.

So - can I publish part one, and the pause while I go to work on editing the remaining chapters/parts?

Marc

 

[joy_of_cooking]

This is really a case of 'publish' or 'perish in doubt' as I want to get some more movement forward. I figure, the feedback fire will hone me, scare me, destroy me or maybe even inspire me.

Sounds like you've made up your mind and are asking permission?

Go for it. You won't be the first or the last. I did the same.

 

[AchtungNight]

It depends on if you want to change the parts of the story after the first or not. If you are happy, go ahead. If not, publish the first and see what readers think or if you should do something different with the subsequent chapters.

 

[8letters]

Hello

Nervous first time author with an long story ready to publish for the first time. For whatever crazy reason, I have turned a small work into a large work and want to publish in three or four parts. I have tried to find an editor and did get some wonderful feedback but in the end I have adopted this fledgling project as my writing school. A trial by fire. Part one of the story has been worked on to a point, I believe it could be published. This is really a case of 'publish' or 'perish in doubt' as I want to get some more movement forward. I figure, the feedback fire will hone me, scare me, destroy me or maybe even inspire me.

So - can I publish part one, and the pause while I go to work on editing the remaining chapters/parts?

Marc

Download the free version of Grammarly and use it as your editor. That will be fine for your first story.

How many words is your story? What category are you going to post in? If you post the story as a series, you lose one-third of your audience right off the bat compared to posting it as a stand-alone story. In a lot of categories, longer stories do better in terms of views and rating than shorter stories.

 

[Sinstories]

Went through the same thoughts when I was in the same position. There is no right answer, because the only opinion that matters is yours.

Some things to consider...

Don't expect a lot of constructive advice after you post. You may get some cheering you on and some potshots from the peanut gallery, but rarely anything that will make you a better writer. You aren't likely to hone your craft by fire, more shake your head.

Once you publish a part, that part is set in stone. If you are building a longer tale, you've set cannon so to speak and can't undo it (assuming that matters to you). I ran into a couple issues like that where I was stuck in a corner that I created.

Long gaps between parts lose interest (to be fair, interest is lost the more parts you have anyway). My experience is that the number of page views for part 2 of a series is half of what part 1 was, it drops slowly for a couple parts, then drops in half again around the 5th or 6th part.

Good luck, but never forget, this is for you, not anyone else. Do it the way you want to do it and if you don't like that, do it different the next time.

 

[MarcDwayne]

Download the free version of Grammarly and use it as your editor. That will be fine for your first story.

How many words is your story? What category are you going to post in? If you post the story as a series, you lose one-third of your audience right off the bat compared to posting it as a stand-alone story. In a lot of categories, longer stories do better in terms of views and rating than shorter stories.

Grammarly all done. Loving Wives. Part one is 36K word. It's close to 100K words is my estimation ...

 

[Stimtheone]

I used to get things done up until chapter three to start posting, just to make sure I was committed. I did an exception this time with my newest series. I say go for it IF you do plan to finish it off. Stopping midway is bad form.

Though, I say careful with the Loving Wives. There be some stiff haters there.

 

[MarcDwayne]

I used to get things done up until chapter three to start posting, just to make sure I was committed. I did an exception this time with my newest series. I say go for it IF you do plan to finish it off. Stopping midway is bad form.

Though, I say careful with the Loving Wives. There be some stiff haters there.

I am deep into the ending w part three .. hence my desire to publish part one. The ending has me stuck a bit. I read @NoTalentHack amazing LOVING LOVING WIVES essay. So I am fully armed with his wisdom waiting onto the gnarly Loving Wives category.

 

[MarcDwayne]

Went through the same thoughts when I was in the same position. There is no right answer, because the only opinion that matters is yours.

Some things to consider...

Don't expect a lot of constructive advice after you post. You may get some cheering you on and some potshots from the peanut gallery, but rarely anything that will make you a better writer. You aren't likely to hone your craft by fire, more shake your head.

Once you publish a part, that part is set in stone. If you are building a longer tale, you've set cannon so to speak and can't undo it (assuming that matters to you). I ran into a couple issues like that where I was stuck in a corner that I created.

Long gaps between parts lose interest (to be fair, interest is lost the more parts you have anyway). My experience is that the number of page views for part 2 of a series is half of what part 1 was, it drops slowly for a couple parts, then drops in half again around the 5th or 6th part.

Good luck, but never forget, this is for you, not anyone else. Do it the way you want to do it and if you don't like that, do it different the next time.

thank you BTW!!!

 

[KeithD]

I don't publish any part until the work is completed. What develops later can require adjustments in earlier chapters. Also, I think it's unfair to the reader to start reading a series that never is completed--and that that happens far too much at Literotica. But that's just me. Every time I start submitting a chapter series, I include a proslug assuring the reader the work is completed and letting them know when I anticipate the last chapter being posted.

 

[MarcDwayne]

I don't publish any part until the work is completed. What develops later can require adjustments in earlier chapters. Also, I think it's unfair to the reader to start reading a series that never is completed--and that that happens far too much at Literotica. But that's just me. Every time I start submitting a chapter series, I include a proslug assuring the reader the work is completed and letting them know when I anticipate the last chapter being posted.

I am deep into the editing the final two chapters ....

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Grammarly all done. Loving Wives. Part one is 36K word. It's close to 100K words is my estimation ...

If the overall story is that long, I would recommend that you consider posting it in the Novels/Novellas category. Your description and tags will draw readers to it and you will have an audience much more tolerant of a long story.

My second recommendation is one that I make here frequently, and that is to not post any part of a story until it is complete. I understand your impatience relative to feedback, but do you want this at the risk of giving up control of your story?

Find some beta readers and trust them. Myself, and several others here in this forum are frequently willing to beta read for a new author.

Finally, consider posting the story as a single submission once complete. I have several stories here well over 100K words and they all do well. I even had four of my stories that were originally posted in chapters or parts later changed to single submissions by the admin to make my readers happier with them.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Finish the whole thing, or at least have all the plot elements mapped out to the very end before you publish anything.

Your story will be better.

1 - As you write you will get new ideas and you will want to back integrate them into earlier parts of your story. You can't add a foreshadowing scene back into chapter 2 if the first 4 chapters are already published and you're working on chapter 6.

2 - Writing and publishing one chapter at a time will make your plot meander and make your characters soapy like a shitty ratings driven TV show.

3 - Most stories written one chapter at a time run out of steam at some point and never finish.

4 - You will get more readers if they know that there is an end.

5 - Writing serially is basically done for instant gratification. The writer writes something and is just excited to hear what the reaction is. If the reaction is good, they think up the next chapter or two. As soon as the reaction tails off, the writer loses interest and the story fizzles because the writer is into the positive ego kick of feedback more than the story itself.

 

[8letters]

Grammarly all done. Loving Wives. Part one is 36K word. It's close to 100K words is my estimation ...

Loving Wives. Gosh, I need to do some more work. I think at one point, I had a data set with stand-alone stories and series stories identified. My recollection is that LW had the lowest rate of series stories and was the only category where the average rating for series stories was significantly lower than for stand-alone stories.

I don't have that data set anymore, and I need to classify 25K stories before I can do that kind of analysis again.

36K words is a very large read, and I can see the argument for splitting up the story (I have a 68K word story that's done quite well, but it was drain editing something so big).

Do what you want. I just want you to make an informed decision.

 

[MarcDwayne]

If the overall story is that long, I would recommend that you consider posting it in the Novels/Novellas category. Your description and tags will draw readers to it and you will have an audience much more tolerant of a long story.

My second recommendation is one that I make here frequently, and that is to not post any part of a story until it is complete. I understand your impatience relative to feedback, but do you want this at the risk of giving up control of your story?

Find some beta readers and trust them. Myself, and several others here in this forum are frequently willing to beta read for a new author.

Finally, consider posting the story as a single submission once complete. I have several stories here well over 100K words and they all do well. I even had four of my stories that were originally posted in chapters or parts later changed to single submissions by the admin to make my readers happier with them.

Ok - I have pondered Novels/Novellas but the electricity of the Loving Wives category has me enthralled to a point. You just made some interesting points. I tried to find beta readers - but not from here. Outside here, what I found was this. If they are not fans or aware of the subject matter, it's hard to plod along. I eat up long stories ... so how do we find beta readers here?

 

[MarcDwayne]

Finish the whole thing, or at least have all the plot elements mapped out to the very end before you publish anything.

Your story will be better.

1 - As you write you will get new ideas and you will want to back integrate them into earlier parts of your story. You can't add a foreshadowing scene back into chapter 2 if the first 4 chapters are already published and you're working on chapter 6.

2 - Writing and publishing one chapter at a time will make your plot meander and make your characters soapy like a shitty ratings driven TV show.

3 - Most stories written one chapter at a time run out of steam at some point and never finish.

4 - You will get more readers if they know that there is an end.

5 - Writing serially is basically done for instant gratification. The writer writes something and is just excited to hear what the reaction is. If the reaction is good, they think up the next chapter or two. As soon as the reaction tails off, the writer loses interest and the story fizzles because the writer is into the positive ego kick of feedback more than the story itself.

It's very plotted out to the end .. and that dam foreshadowing is why I had a hard time cutting sections .. I appreciate this feedback ...

 

[MarcDwayne]

Loving Wives. Gosh, I need to do some more work. I think at one point, I had a data set with stand-alone stories and series stories identified. My recollection is that LW had the lowest rate of series stories and was the only category where the average rating for series stories was significantly lower than for stand-alone stories.

I don't have that data set anymore, and I need to classify 25K stories before I can do that kind of analysis again.

36K words is a very large read, and I can see the argument for splitting up the story (I have a 68K word story that's done quite well, but it was drain editing something so big).

Do what you want. I just want you to make an informed decision.

Really appreciate this .. and the size is a big concern for me but that' is what I created ... I am inclined to die by the sword and move to the next story ... and LW wives has a notorious low rating dilemma - expertly explained by @NoTalentHack - in his essay LOVING LOVING WIVES .... I am now back to considering holding off ...

 

[ElectricBlue]

Ok - I have pondered Novels/Novellas but the electricity of the Loving Wives category has me enthralled to a point. You just made some interesting points. I tried to find beta readers - but not from here. Outside here, what I found was this. If they are not fans or aware of the subject matter, it's hard to plod along. I eat up long stories ... so how do we find beta readers here?

You're in a Catch 22. Usually you find Beta readers because someone likes your content, but you've not yet published content for someone to like.

If you've written a novel, I'd finish it first before publishing, then decide what its major theme is, and publish there. It sounds like you're into the end game. It also sounds like you're contemplating Loving Wives as your category. I'd look closely at the scenery before you lock that one in.

My usual suggestion to new authors is to tackle small pieces first, to nail down your technical chops, to discover your natural style, to learn how to write. The potential issue with a first piece being that long, is, how good a writer are you? With shorter, simpler pieces you find out pretty quickly, but with a long story... does your ability match your ambition?

You don't know yet, because no-one has given you feedback. As I say, it's a Catch 22.

 

[MarcDwayne]

This is my opening ... part one of Catch 22 .... thank you so much for your feedback BTW - it is appreciated

Dark Days

It was another toss-and-turn night, complete with night sweats from the detox, trying to stay sober while crying into the darkness. I was praying for first light. The city was humid, and the loft's one air conditioner was no match for the heat that persisted into the night. There were no curtains on the massive line of windows that peered into the industrial east end of the city and the small bedroom window never caught a breeze. There was a time when I would be basking in the afterglow of another all-night love-making session. Her clothes were still on the open rail hanger, and some stacked on the floor. I would have to box those up, I thought.

As first light peaked in from the east, I got up, grabbed a towel to dry off and shuffled into the open area of the loft. I put on coffee, washed up and then sat at the dining table watching the sunrise. Even after no sleep, the beautiful reds and oranges melting against the azure sky were more rewarding to me than similar mornings being high and staying up all night. I sipped my coffee and pretended the rising sun would dry my tears.

I grabbed my phone and scanned to see if I had any texts from her. There was nothing. Some friends were checking in, but I wasn't ready to face anyone. I needed to figure my life out. I rubbed my eyes and then started a playlist we both loved; the loft was also my office studio. It was wired for sound and the speakers filled every inch. I sat there, drinking my coffee, trying to slow down and move forward at the same time. I missed her so much and hated her as well. I wanted to crack a beer or smoke a joint, but it was coffee for me this morning. I had to get my shit together.

The images still haunted me: the sounds I had heard while I stood frozen at the loft's door; the music that had been playing, only to merge with the obvious sex sounds coming from inside. I had been able to hear everything, and it had gutted me. I recalled being terrified and had quickly become nauseous as the lousy airplane food tried to return and announce my presence. My breathing had been loud in my ears that I was surprised they hadn't heard it. The hallway had been empty - my neighbors were asleep or still out on the town and I was thankful no one saw me frozen at the loft's door. I remember being in a slow-motion vortex; and what she was saying shattered me.

Anger was a faraway feeling I remember reaching for but could not grasp. As I try to sleep at night, what I heard loops in counterpoint to what I witnessed when I had quietly opened the door. How could I have been prepared for what I saw? This movie was on repeat - it was slowly driving me crazy, and I was desperate to continue drinking myself into oblivion, as I did the days following. It was the end of everything for Melissa and me, the woman I had wanted to be with for the rest of my life.

 

[UnquietDreams]

Hello

Nervous first time author with an long story ready to publish for the first time. For whatever crazy reason, I have turned a small work into a large work and want to publish in three or four parts. I have tried to find an editor and did get some wonderful feedback but in the end I have adopted this fledgling project as my writing school. A trial by fire. Part one of the story has been worked on to a point, I believe it could be published. This is really a case of 'publish' or 'perish in doubt' as I want to get some more movement forward. I figure, the feedback fire will hone me, scare me, destroy me or maybe even inspire me.

So - can I publish part one, and the pause while I go to work on editing the remaining chapters/parts?

Marc

I am a new writer on here as well, since the start of January, and had the same thing happen. I had the idea for a scene, it became a story, which became a trilogy. That was going to be a stand alone. It didn't happen that way, and I am twenty chapters into a sequel.

I am in the editing and rewriting phase and I plan to wait until it is finished before submitting it in groups of one or three chapters, as they are relatively small, but I broke them up as I would when writing a novel.

 

[ElectricBlue]

This is my opening ... part one of Catch 22 .... thank you so much for your feedback BTW - it is appreciated

That's five hundred words of close introspection, but it's passive, nothing's really happening. The guy's got out of bed, obviously numbed because Melissa's gone (but it's five hundred words before we know her name), and there's coffee. But that's about it, story wise.

You've got to grab your reader's attention right from the very first sentence, but your opener is like a monologue from Marvin the Paranoid Android.

How about you turn it around, and use that last sentence as your first? You'll be into your story straight away, and I won't have to read through five hundred words of not much going on, before I get to it.

 

[KachinaDoll]

A turn off for me is authors who publish Part 1 and then wait eight weeks before writing and publishing Part 2. How the hell am I supposed to remember what happended in Part 1? Would you go into a bookshop and buy the first chapter of a book and then return in 2 weeks to buy the next chapter? Publish as one story with multiple pages.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

A turn off for me is authors who publish Part 1 and then wait eight weeks before writing and publishing Part 2. How the hell am I supposed to remember what happended in Part 1? Would you go into a bookshop and buy the first chapter of a book and then return in 2 weeks to buy the next chapter? Publish as one story with multiple pages.

That's just how it is when you have a hobby that is so largely ego driven. Someone writes something and they immediately want to hear everyone agree with them on just how amazing it is, so they publish it as quickly as possible and sit around waiting for their bouquets. Of course the plan is to collect their Red H and all that deserving glowing praise and ride that energy into the next chapter(s) but when they don't get that return of love they go 'meh' and leave it hanging.

Hardly everyone does this of course, but the behavior is indeed rampant.

Think about it. Why is the delay 8 weeks (or longer)? Because chapter 2 isn't written yet. If the story and the craft was the priority, the whole thing would be written (or nearly written) and a chapter per week (or every few days) would be released, but the priority is not the story, it's the feedback, the ego-kick of the score, so they publish while the ink is still damp.

When you write from your heart, you care about the readers' experience. When you write from the ego all that you care about is the positive reaction, hopefully as instantly as possible - and to get a bit zen on this as well, time is always of the essence when seeking negative ego energy, while time is not a factor in positive heart energy. That's why the ego-driven story must be posted NOW! The story crafted with care is posted when it is ready.

 

[Paul_Chance]

Hello

Nervous first time author with an long story ready to publish for the first time. For whatever crazy reason, I have turned a small work into a large work and want to publish in three or four parts. I have tried to find an editor and did get some wonderful feedback but in the end I have adopted this fledgling project as my writing school. A trial by fire. Part one of the story has been worked on to a point, I believe it could be published. This is really a case of 'publish' or 'perish in doubt' as I want to get some more movement forward. I figure, the feedback fire will hone me, scare me, destroy me or maybe even inspire me.

So - can I publish part one, and the pause while I go to work on editing the remaining chapters/parts?

Marc

My ten cents - if you've finished writing the story all the way and you've just got the editing/rewrites to do, then by all means start publishing the chapters you have completely finished.

My advice is usually the opposite if you haven't finished writing at least the first draft of the entire work. You'll see many works on Lit where the author manages to write a few chapters and then the story just stops. Don't do that to the readers.

Write the draft, and they you can edit and publish in sequence.

That's just my advice as a reader.

 

[ronde]

I have two longer stories that I published as a series, but both were all written and proofed before I published the first one. The reason is that I inevitably realize in the second chapter that I have to go set it up in the first. If the first is already published without the setup, the second won't make any sense.

Another reason to finish the complete story is so you have an actual ending. I think that's the reason for the number of unfinished series on Lit. The author starts writing and runs out of steam somewhere in the middle. That's because the author is just writing without a plan for what direction to go to get to an ending. Readers will get upset if you leave them hanging with an unfinished story, so plan the plot from beginning to end, write the entire thing, proof it, and then break it into parts of the series or publish it as a novel.