Sequel or Second Chapter?

[Seanathon]

Still being a newbie to both writing and Literotica I have a couple of quick questions.

All of the submissions I have posted have been stand alone short stories but, like many other authors here, I get a lot of requests from readers for sequels or second chapters.

My first question is, if I decide to add to one of these stories, would it be better to make it a sequel (with a new title and an intro referencing the reader to the earlier story) or a second chapter?

And if I did decide to write a second chapter to an existing story, do I have to submit an edit of the first story to add "Ch. 01" to the title? Or is this something Laurel would automatically do once she saw a story with "Ch. 02" submitted?

Thanks for any info!

Seanathon's Submissions

 

[TxRad]

Still being a newbie to both writing and Literotica I have a couple of quick questions.

All of the submissions I have posted have been stand alone short stories but, like many other authors here, I get a lot of requests from readers for sequels or second chapters.

My first question is, if I decide to add to one of these stories, would it be better to make it a sequel (with a new title and an intro referencing the reader to the earlier story) or a second chapter?

And if I did decide to write a second chapter to an existing story, do I have to submit an edit of the first story to add "Ch. 01" to the title? Or is this something Laurel would automatically do once she saw a story with "Ch. 02" submitted?

Thanks for any info!

Seanathon's Submissions

If you are adding to the story then I'd do a chapter and yes Laurel will handle it if you place a note for her in the note section of the new submission.

 

[lovecraft68]

Definitely post the same title with chapter two so people who enjoyed the first one will spot it for what it is rather than possible miss it under a different title.

The second part of your question, I am a little unsure of. I think you'll have to submit an edit to add chapter one. You may want to submit that at least a couple of days before you submit the second chapter so it you can be sure it will post as Ch 1

Doing that should ensure that the stories be linked together as **** a 2 part series. On your home page

Edited to add I see TX Rad posted that laurel can fix it. Go with his advice on that one he's been around a lot longer than me.

On lit as well

 

[RejectReality]

You don't necessarily have to edit the original story at all. Since it started as a stand-alone, there's no problem in leaving it as-is without a chapter designation. The only time you get complaints about not having the chapter # listed is when the story drops off, requiring reading another chapter to get the end of the story.

The coding that groups the stories on your submissions page will also catch the first chapter without a # and group it with those that do have them, so no problem there, either.

For the purpose of grouping the stories on Lit, you'll have to go with chapters. There isn't code present yet that will allow you to group your own stories, so the only way you can get them to display together is by presenting them as chapters.

If you have a really good title for the second installment, it's not an absolute necessity, though. You could post it with that sweet title, and then put an author's note at the top saying it follows the characters from Story A.

You could even edit Story A to add a footnote that says there's a sequel, and list the title.

It's not ideal, but when you have a title you absolutely hate to give up, it's an option

 

[Bramblethorn]

My first question is, if I decide to add to one of these stories, would it be better to make it a sequel (with a new title and an intro referencing the reader to the earlier story) or a second chapter?

IMHO depends on whether it feels more like "two parts of a single story" or "two different stories about the same people".

And if I did decide to write a second chapter to an existing story, do I have to submit an edit of the first story to add "Ch. 01" to the title? Or is this something Laurel would automatically do once she saw a story with "Ch. 02" submitted?

For what it's worth, although "Ch. 01" will help alert your readers that there's more to come, you don't need it to have them link together. I posted "A Stringed Instrument" and then "A Stringed Instrument Ch. 02" and they linked just fine.

 

[SamScribble]

I might argue – in fact I will – that whether to have a subsequent chapter or a sequel depends largely on whether you are writing a short story or a novel-length (or novella-length) story.

In considering the hierarchy of literature, it is often said that the poem is the highest ranking form, followed by the short story. The poem is a story told in extreme essence and presented in a strictly-structured format. The short story is also (according to William Trevor and others) about essence. By definition it is a story, and it is short. A short story does not generally have – or need – chapters.

A novel, on the other hand, tends to be baggy by design. Way back when, one of my tutors claimed that a novel is an exploration of character – often a long and leisurely exploration of character. In defence of this idea she named several successful novels that came to no conclusion whatsoever; they simply ran out of pages. (Not that all successful short stories have ‘closed’ endings.)

If your story is a ‘story’ that can be told succinctly, with a beginning, a middle, and an end, I think that it should be told in one relatively brief burst of words. In other words, it should be told as a short story. And if the characters take on a life of their own, then maybe a sequel is called for.

But if you need 12 or 15 or 30 thousand words, it’s not really a short story, and you probably need to break it into chapters.

 

[Hypoxia]

The short story is also (according to William Trevor and others) about essence. By definition it is a story, and it is short. A short story does not generally have – or need – chapters.

Of course, writers may subvert the convention by building a short story from a group of very short chapters, just a few paragraphs each. But this approach probably works best with satire.

 

[robertreams]

I have discovered while taking the next step to e-publish, that most writers publish very short works and lots of them, many with the same covers and merely add II, 3 etc. However, Smashwords research shows that believe it or not, readers prefer longer works. On Literotica, though, I think your readers (fans) will find and read your stories more easily if you do continuation. That has been my experience.

 

[StrangeLife]

I think it depends a lot on the story.

Sometimes you can split the tale up in "scenes" that lend itself well to serializing - maybe even with a temporary cliffhanger. But other stories should be read in one setting. A couple of fine examples of the latter variety are TX Tall Tales That Old House and Patientlees Mrs. Maitland's SAD Valentine - both with page counts in the double digits but structured to be read as one story and both so well written and engaging that neither feels too long when you read them.

If one were to imagine TX's story serialized - in five parts for instance - many readers would stop after part one because of the slow build-up.