Story length: how long is too long?

[emap]

Generally to long is when every single person in the world goes holy crap that is long. Namely don't make it as long as War and Peace.

Though I do know one page of lit is 4400-5000 words so your looking at a rather long story, and really it does not matter, if it contains something people are interested in reading, they will read it, if it does not they won't. The only trick is drawing them in fast and getting interested in reading more.

I do sections because I can't stand to work on a story for long enough to write up a 20-30000 word story. Partly because I do so many other things I can only work on it so long before I go oh god why is it not done.

 

[snooper]

... Do you like a longer story with more plot/character development, and multiple sex scenes or do you like a 2-5 page story consisting mainly of a single sex scene? ...

It does not matter what I, or anyone else but you likes. When you have written your story and are completely happy with it, then, to misquote Mozart, "it has exactly the right number of words in it".

... Also, do you think that longer stories are easier to digest if they are submitted in separate parts (ie: My Story ch. 1, My Story ch. 2, etc.) ...

Yes.

... And if a story is broken up, do you think that each part should have some kind of sex involved to maintain the reader's interest?...

Not necessarily, and don't force the structure to create a sex scene where it wouldn't happen. For example your hero and heroine are out in a terrible storm which makes the road impassable for their SUV and they find an old cow barn with a leaky roof and a muddy floor covered in cow pats. This scene may be crucial as it sets up their "rescue" by a sadist, but it would not be natural that they suddenly strip off and have sex on the filthy floor while still being rained on.

Oh, and it is hardly necessary to say that I disagree with emap; War and Peace is not too long, because that long a book is needed to tell that long a story in that level of detail.

A few stats: according to Weird Harold (who knows everything) the average Lit page is about 3,800 words.
According to me 1 MSWord A4 page, single spaced, 12 point, Times New Roman, with some dialogue included, averages about 500 words.
So your 30 word pages is 30 × 500 / 3,800 Lit pages, which is about four Lit pages.

 

[Nameless_Rose]

Hello all. I'm new here at Lit, and am in the process of completing my first story (for the BDSM category). It's turning out to be a lot longer than I originally thought it would be (It will probably end up at around thirty pages single-spaced on Word. I'm not sure how many pages it would be on Lit). I just wanted to hear from some people about their preferred story lengths. Do you like a longer story with more plot/character development, and multiple sex scenes or do you like a 2-5 page story consisting mainly of a single sex scene? Also, do you think that longer stories are easier to digest if they are submitted in separate parts (ie: My Story ch. 1, My Story ch. 2, etc.) And if a story is broken up, do you think that each part should have some kind of sex involved to maintain the reader's interest?

I'm really interested in hearing some opinions from both writers and readers.