Re-introducing a novel-length story

[Guest]

Hi Everyone-

Seeking some advice here on the best way to proceed with something.

A while back, I pulled one of my stories, "Sexual Immersion", from the Mind-Control section. Part of this had to do with questions of preserving my anonymity (certain sections were perhaps too autobiigraphical), but the story was exploding on me as well, meaning I'd thought the narrative was nearly over, but it kept growing (for the better, I believe).

I would like to post the story again, though with the knowledge ahead of time (perhaps even stated in the introduction) that it will only be available to be read for six months to a year. Readers who wanted to see where the story was going could finish the tale, or new readers could jump in. Did I mention that the story would have a revised title?

So here are the main questions about how to proceed: The story is novel length. Since it will have a limited shelf life by design (that anonymity issue again), it seems right to submit all of the chapters quickly, rather than doling them over time out as many do. Should the story go into Mind-Control again, all as one unit, or chopped up into sections? Should it go into the Novels and Novellas section, either chopped up or as one verrrrrrry long entry? Should the new title ("The Art of Following") say "formerly known as 'Sexual Immersion'" somewhere?

It seems like an odd enough situation that I wonder if something like this has ever happened on the site before. If so, what did or didn't work in resubmitting a story correctly?

Thanks in advance for any helpful suggestions,
Ghosthostblue

 

[slyc_willie]

It would be better to chop it up into chapters, making it easier for the readers. Where you put it is up to you, but N&N doesn't get a whole lot of reads (not sure on the statistics for MC). However, readers who look through that section know they're going to find long stories, so that works in your favor.

You might want to include at the beginning of the story (and maybe each chapter as well) an author's note indicating the original title, as well as why you are only going to have it posted for a short time.

 

[Darkniciad]

If you break it up into chapters and sumbit each as an individual submission all at the same time, they'll come out one per day until complete. That's standard site practice. As the story has been up once before, you shouldn't have to worry about a rejection grinding things to a halt. That's not too bad as far as "doling it out" goes.

The only other option you have is to post it as one long submission. Depending upon how long it is, that could hurt you even in Novels and Novellas. Looking at the bottom of the page and seeing 20+ Lit pages is daunting for anyone. 2-3 Lit pages per day is much easier to get into -- especially if you mention in Ch. 01 that the story is complete, and will post one chapter per day.

I would put it back in MC if it were me.

 

[ellynei]

What you put on the internet never disappears.

Unless there is absolutely no reason for it not to.


If you write a warning saying, "this will disappear this n that date", and somebody likes the something. They will of course copy that something.

If your anonymity is compromised in this story to the degree that it must not be available for the long term, then your anonymity is also compromised by the short term.


That being said, if you wish to honestly warn and inform readers:

Suggestion to Prologue on chapter 1: "I have previously posted part of this storyline in the story 'Sexual Immersion', which I removed a while back. I hope you will enjoy this the full and more well-edited story."


Epilogue on each chapter: "I am planning to remove these chapters date XX.XX.XX"

(Where 'I' refers to you of course.)