Series that goes on too long: what do you do?

[SimonDoom]

Have you ever read, or for that matter written, a series and felt it went on too long? Are you the sort who will stick it out to the end no matter what, or do you bail on it?

I find I'm much less patient will long multi-chaptered stories than I used to be. I'm much less inclined to start them and much more inclined to bail on them. I think that's particularly true where there's no clear story arc, where it feels like it's just different variations of the same thing over and over. For an erotic story to hold my interest, I generally like to see it get steamier as the story progresses, and that's not always easy to manage from one chapter to the next.

I have, by the way, two series that I have not finished. I published three chapters of one and one chapter of the other and got stuck on what I wanted to do next. I'll finish them eventually, but I have other projects that interest me more.

 

[LexxRuthless]

Have you ever read, or for that matter written, a series and felt it went on too long? Are you the sort who will stick it out to the end no matter what, or do you bail on it?

I find I'm much less patient will long multi-chaptered stories than I used to be. I'm much less inclined to start them and much more inclined to bail on them. I think that's particularly true where there's no clear story arc, where it feels like it's just different variations of the same thing over and over. For an erotic story to hold my interest, I generally like to see it get steamier as the story progresses, and that's not always easy to manage from one chapter to the next.

I have, by the way, two series that I have not finished. I published three chapters of one and one chapter of the other and got stuck on what I wanted to do next. I'll finish them eventually, but I have other projects that interest me more.

That has happened with at least a third of my writing the past two years. I have five stories that just sprawled out of control, and I feel like I need to go beyond mere trimming back of the hedges and haul out a flamethrower. It's just tough to throw out so much writing, even when it is what has to be done. I can also relate to the "languishing ongoing series" experience. Those probably make me feel worse, since I know from the comments and e-mails that readers are waiting for more of those characters. They want to know what happens next. Half the time I read those, I'm thinking, "So do I!"

 

[TxRad]

Ah yes, chapters again. I have stories twelve or fourteen years old that get requests for another chapter. I even did a story where I killed everyone in the story and got requests for another chapter.

There once was a site where everyone wrote chapters and Lit was the place for stand-a-lone stories. The other place folded and all the writers there flocked to Lit. I've heard there are stories on Lit with well over a hundred chapters. Talk about flogging a dead horse.

 

[windar]

Have you ever read, or for that matter written, a series and felt it went on too long? Are you the sort who will stick it out to the end no matter what, or do you bail on it?

I find I'm much less patient will long multi-chaptered stories than I used to be. I'm much less inclined to start them and much more inclined to bail on them. I think that's particularly true where there's no clear story arc, where it feels like it's just different variations of the same thing over and over. For an erotic story to hold my interest, I generally like to see it get steamier as the story progresses, and that's not always easy to manage from one chapter to the next.

I have, by the way, two series that I have not finished. I published three chapters of one and one chapter of the other and got stuck on what I wanted to do next. I'll finish them eventually, but I have other projects that interest me more.

If I create characters that I like and others like as well, it seems reasonable to want to have them undergo new adventures. That's common in genres like mysteries and spy novels and TV series. People want to see Hercule Poirot solve the next crime and James Bond complete the next assignment and Tony Soprano (or his son) whack the next competitor...

And I tend to intersperse erotic scenes with all kinds of other things and the ending rarely involves sex-more typically an escape from a dangerous situation or not escaping from that situation. And as the characters face new situations they can grow and evolve while retaining certain core traits.

 

[KeithD]

The only ongoing series I do are very loose and can only be considered a series because they have linked characters (e.g., my Sam Winterberry, Clint Folsom, or Hardesty stories). Anything else I'm posting in chapters has been finished before I submitted the first chapter. I've occasionally picked up and added to one of these, but rarely. I don't have a problem in reading never-ending series by others because I just don't start reading them.

 

[ElectricBlue]

The first long thing I wrote, I published as I went along, but being a pantser, I had only a vague idea where it was going, and not much idea how to get it there. Then, in chapter ten or eleven, a plot twist and new characters arrived out of nowhere, and suddenly the thing snapped into focus, and I had the ending and the last line in my head.

It took another dozen or so chapters to get it there - I had characters travelling in both directions through time, and I m damned if I know how I managed to keep it all coherent, but I got there in the end, and wrapped it all up with a satisfactory ending.

I look back on it now and think, how the fuck did I manage to write that? My old mum was dying at the time, and actually died in the middle of it, so I suspect that fuelled my energy as I wrote it. Death, love and sex, I guess. It's in Erotic Horror, so go figure!

The next really long thing I wrote, my Arthurian myth story, I took a year off from publishing, pretty much, and wrote the whole thing before I released it.

Since then, I have many stories that could continue, but I make sure that each chapter Is self-contained and wrapped, or is written knowing the end is in sight.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Series are indeed a tender trap. I recently ended one at a high point rather than risk that stagnation you refer to. Hurt a bit, but so it goes.

 

[oggbashan]

Before I joined Literotica I had started writing an extended series about The Silverbridge Vixens. Most of them can be read alone but their story is incomplete. I don't think I could write any more because I am not the person who started their stories in 1999.

I have other series that I might add more to: Brigit; Caroline; Shelacta; Tripletit; and jeanne_d_artois' Laundry Tales.

I am least likely to continue with Caroline. I think the quality has deteriorated since the first two and I have gone on too long.

 

[MrPixel]

My Off Campus story has turned into an out-of-control series, so I’m seriously wondering myself how to contain it. Most is not published at the moment due to pending segues, but right now it stands at 300 pages in MSWord.

So, yes, advice would be helpful. As long as it doesn’t involve amputations.

 

[oggbashan]

My Off Campus story has turned into an out-of-control series, so I’m seriously wondering myself how to contain it. Most is not published at the moment due to pending segues, but right now it stands at 300 pages in MSWord.

So, yes, advice would be helpful. As long as it doesn’t involve amputations.

Without amputations? Difficult.

But my advice is: Write an ending NOW, even if it is an ending 'to be continued'. Post it and forget it for a couple of years.

I had a similar problem with my first erotic story written between 1996 and 1999. It grew and grew and became unmanageable. It was on 5.25 floppy floppies. I decided to rewrite from the start and had a second version going well until I looked at it and decided the first version was better. But by then the floppy on which the first version was stored had become corrupted.

But by the time I decided that I preferred the first version I had discovered Literotica and it wasn't suitable for Lit. It started with the main character's abuse as a child (in detail) and his attempts to reinvent himself and become someone his community would be proud of.

I said 'Sod it!' and abandoned the second version too. I still regret losing the first version but I could never, no matter how I cut it about, have made it suitable for Literotica.

 

[NightPorter]

I'm in the outline before I write camp. I still leave room for organic exploration as I write but I always know the Beginning, middle and end before I type, "Once upon a time." It helps keep my stories from going off the rails. Having said that, pacing is more important than length. People drop stories because its boring not because it's too long.

 

[lovecraft68]

Ah yes, chapters again. I have stories twelve or fourteen years old that get requests for another chapter. I even did a story where I killed everyone in the story and got requests for another chapter.

There once was a site where everyone wrote chapters and Lit was the place for stand-a-lone stories. The other place folded and all the writers there flocked to Lit. I've heard there are stories on Lit with well over a hundred chapters. Talk about flogging a dead horse.

In addition to the top list and monthly contest win advantages, many authors of endless series are doing it to drive a patreon where for some reason people will donate monthly to get sneak peeks at the next chapter that...they'll get for free anyway. But because Patreon is driven by a constant flow of new content, the one hit wonders will just keep limping along going into triple digit chapters that at the end of the day still don't comprise a story, because a story has an ending.

 

[TxRad]

Isn't this where we got called trolls once upon a time?

Or was that something else?

This getting old crap is getting old.

 

[lovecraft68]

Have you ever read, or for that matter written, a series and felt it went on too long? Are you the sort who will stick it out to the end no matter what, or do you bail on it?

I find I'm much less patient will long multi-chaptered stories than I used to be. I'm much less inclined to start them and much more inclined to bail on them. I think that's particularly true where there's no clear story arc, where it feels like it's just different variations of the same thing over and over. For an erotic story to hold my interest, I generally like to see it get steamier as the story progresses, and that's not always easy to manage from one chapter to the next.

I have, by the way, two series that I have not finished. I published three chapters of one and one chapter of the other and got stuck on what I wanted to do next. I'll finish them eventually, but I have other projects that interest me more.

When I was a kid and into my early twenties I'd stick with something no matter how boring, repetitive or outright crappy it got. It was a form of OCD maybe, the need to finish what I started. Once I got older and free time became more scarce, I learned to drop something that no longer interested me, and that's what I do these days. I recently stopped reading a series that was in its third installment and I stopped at book two in this one, which was book 9 all told because....jeez enough is enough, its not even trying, its just a cash grab (like anything Star wars these days...ducks!)

 

[pumpkindice]

In my experience, there is no good solution to this problem and no bad solution. I never write the ending for a story before I'm in the home stretch of finishing that story. I think when you have the ending in mind, the story doesn't follow the characters in a natural way, and it instead becomes a list of boxes to check so that you can get to the ending you've already decided on. That is, in my experience, both boring to read and to write.

Instead, what I'm trying now is to end the story by putting a firm last chapter on it. I just published chapter 19 of my ongoing story, and I committed to making it 24 chapters, with a final 25th chapter epilogue. After this next chapter comes out (chapter 20), I'm going to start winding things down and pushing towards the ending. I've got a vague sense of how I want to do this, I have certain events I want to include, but nothing concrete yet. I will craft an outline for the ending after I publish the next chapter.

This is my attempt to find a happy medium between starting a story with a predefined ending (what ruined the ending to How I Met Your Mother, in my opinion) and having the story spiral out of control forever. If anyone is interested, I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[MaiaEmpire]

Out of curiosity, I've written an odd dozen or so pieces that use the same primary character, but while it started as a chaptered story, I'm expanding it to more of a day-in-the-life structure. Self-contained stories, more or less, that involve the same characters. However, you don't necessarily need to know what happened previously, but if you're interested it's there. Am I setting myself up for trouble down the road, in that people will become uninterested?

 

[Djmac1031]

So I just finished chapter 19 of my series The Jenna Arrangement (currently pending)

I didn't set out to write 19 chapters when I started it.

But I fell I'm love with the characters, especially the main one, Jenna.

As a still new writer, I didn't start with a PLAN, although I probably should have.

That said, at this point it will continue as long as I can imagine new and fresh adventures for them.

I've noticed the readership for it slowly trail off, and that's fine. It still has a loyal enough following for me to feel it still worth the effort.

I don't know if I'll ever write a definitive ENDING for it or simply leave it open for readers to imagine the characters still exist, are together and happy long after I do stop writing their stories.

 

[Djmac1031]

I only have one chapter story on here so far and I got bored at chapter 5, slapped on a "This works" ending that leaves room for more later if I decide to add to it, but doesn't leave anyone hanging either if I never revisit it.

I have long works, including 4 novels that each average around 95k words, but it seems tedious to me to do chapters instead of a single book.

Part of it is that I get annoyed seeing the title so many times in my dashboard. Five is my max tolerance for repetition apparently, lol.

Lol. Yeah, plus I'm sure readers see "Chapter 19" (as in the case of my series) and think "nah, too much back story to catch up on," and move along.

That said, my series is like a little mini soap opera, and I try to keep each chapter pretty shirt for easy reading.

The goal being to keep readers entertained enough to look forward to the next chapter.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Out of curiosity, I've written an odd dozen or so pieces that use the same primary character, but while it started as a chaptered story, I'm expanding it to more of a day-in-the-life structure. Self-contained stories, more or less, that involve the same characters. However, you don't necessarily need to know what happened previously, but if you're interested it's there. Am I setting myself up for trouble down the road, in that people will become uninterested?

I don't think so.

I'm a lazy writer, so I have two main male protagonists who I place in many stories, each self-contained.

I know them so well they're really easy to write (once is a younger version of "me", the other a current age version of "me"), which leaves my creative energy to focus on my new female characters, who interest me more.

It's a technique that works for me, and also gives regular followers an easy way into a story, because they know my male leads too.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I wrote a short piece that grew into a novel (elsewhere), and had the beginning (the original piece) and endpoint and a number of middle bits, so then it was a case of fleshing out and making them fit together.

I've got one series here which is essentially a novel, but very much a number of connected chapters and a lot more 'bitty'. I started by wondering if I could do dialogue where two same-sex characters were distinguishable by their accents, picked a guy with the loveliest voice I know, wondered about a guy to pair him with, considered voices from round the country, pictured an ex-housemate, got a couple paras of chat going, speculated if guy1 might ever get with such a bloke, hastily wrote in him being a widower and then the idea of a bet to stop smoking, then recalled second guy being barred from a local pub for wearing an army jacket, realised first guy grew up in Northern Ireland and had Issues with such things so what would happen if they got together, insert lots of anecdotes about some friends, plan to have a crisis that gets resolved, how do I finish it?

I decided I didn't want to write their honeymoon, and had to go back to work before I could do more than a line about a wedding, so I decided A meeting B's family was enough of an ending, with a wee coda of a proposal scene because I'm clearly sappy when spending months off my head on codeine etc, and if you can't be self-indulgent when publishing stories for free, when can you? The advice "if in doubt, marry them" from a childhood book rang in my ears as I did it.

Though after about 10 months mostly in bed daydreaming the lives of these guys, there were lots of snippets I could add and I know them well enough that I can see them responding to almost any situation. So I wrote a story of them on holiday 6 months later, as a Nude Day story, and I was suddenly inspired to write about their Valentine's Day a year after, so I did. More of a scene than a story, but again, it's not like I'm getting paid for this.

I didn't publish the series until I had it finished, but editing could go on for ever. I think series should either know when they will end, or be open about that there is no planned ending, in which case it's just whether ongoing chapters continue to meet the standards of early ones. I'll excuse a lot in free fic, but certain TV producers ought to know better.

 

[Jay142]

Have you ever read, or for that matter written, a series and felt it went on too long? Are you the sort who will stick it out to the end no matter what, or do you bail on it?

I find I'm much less patient will long multi-chaptered stories than I used to be. I'm much less inclined to start them and much more inclined to bail on them. I think that's particularly true where there's no clear story arc, where it feels like it's just different variations of the same thing over and over. For an erotic story to hold my interest, I generally like to see it get steamier as the story progresses, and that's not always easy to manage from one chapter to the next.

I have, by the way, two series that I have not finished. I published three chapters of one and one chapter of the other and got stuck on what I wanted to do next. I'll finish them eventually, but I have other projects that interest me more.

I think we all face this dilemma as authors. I'm writing one now that might be going on longer than I usually would but I'm having fun writing it. I've also had some stories that I intended to be multiple chapters but was never inspired to write a second. I've added chapters a year later too. I've stopped worrying about this, realizing I'm writing as a hobby. We aren't getting paid for this so I write for myself and what inspires me and I'm not going to judge myself. Have fun writing and don't force things.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Yes and no. I have some stories that I have yet to finish and some that I probably won't finish. Those I probably won't finish I just couldn't go on with them for one reason or another. Then there are others I would like to finish but haven't been in the mood to.

The ones I have finished, everyone wants more. I too, like Tex, wrote a story where everyone died and there were comments from readers wanting more. I also have standalone stories where everyone read thinks it needs another chapter.

I have one that I just finished. I was going to post it in parts, there are some of those part already out there, but decided that it would work better as on long story. I'll probably pull the parts out there and then just post the new version.

 

[MajorRewrite]

Every series I’ve read declined quickly in quality after the first chapter.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I would distinguish between a story series (same characters, etc. but different plots) and chapters (same story in multiple parts).

I get a kick out of writing story series, with upwards of 33 chapters in some, and the readers seem to appreciate them. Chronological continuity and other challenges do require more organizational effort, but I keep pretty good records of "who does what when", etc.

I typically have two or three stories in the works at the same time and move between them as I get stale on one or another. Nothing gets submitted until complete.