Story length

[annielovesannie]

When you are writing your stories, how long do you usually make them? Mine is approaching ten pages on Word, and I was just wondering if that was too much?

 

[Harry Leg]

When you are writing your stories, how long do you usually make them? Mine is approaching ten pages on Word, and I was just wondering if that was too much?

3 or 4 word pages is roughly equivalent to 1 Lit page. Your story is about the average length of a lit story.

Having said that, there are stories that are very much longer and some that are only 1 lit page. Usually if the story is longer than yours, its broken up and submitted in chapters.

Dont forget to post a link to your story in your sig line once it goes up.

 

[annielovesannie]

Thank you so much! And I will be sure to do that!

 

[THROBBS]

7 1/2 inches

 

[TinyBeth]

My last story was 23 word pages and about 8000 words, which turned into barely three pages on Lit. And mine isn't one of the longer stories. My two previous stories were about half that length so right around where you are. I would say make it the length that feels right to the story. Lit has a minimum of 750 words, but to the best of my knowledge no maximum.

 

[LaRascasse]

Rule of thumb

1 Literotica page = 3750 words

A story can be upto 10-12 Lit pages. Longer than that, you should think about separate chapters. Though there are some really good stories out there which are single entities and MUCH longer (case in point "Culture Shock" 36 Literotica pages and one of the best stories on the site).

 

[LettersFromTatyana]

I suspect that part of the confusion about the relationship between pages in Microsoft Word (or the number of words in your Word document) and the number of Lit pages you end up with might be because Lit's pages are determined by characters, and not by lines or word count. I don't know for sure that this is how Lit works, but it would make a lot more sense that way. If this is the case, then while a certain number of pages or words might equal one Lit page for one person, another might need a different number due to a different writing style.

If you really want to know how long your story is, your best bet is to go to your submission page, create a new story submission, fill in some information, paste your words in, and then hit preview. When the preview comes up, you should be able to scroll down and see how many pages you have. You don't ned to submit what you wrote--if you click "make changes" at the bottom of the preview page you'll return to the submission page, and if you scroll down on that page and hit delete.


ETA: FWIW I just checked a couple pages in my stories, and it appears that I'm between 3,250 and 3,500 words for a Lit page, or roughly 8-ish pages in Word in Times New Roman 11. So you can see how each individual will have their own rough guideline for Lit pages.

 

[TE999]

The story you're writing should be as long as it takes you to tell it. Anything over three Lit pages (approximately 12-14 MSWord pages depending on typeface and paragraph breaks) runs a fairly good chance of being skipped by a lot of the readers who are looking for a wank, not literature.

 

[Handley_Page]

I suspect that part of the confusion about the relationship between pages in Microsoft Word (or the number of words in your Word document) and the number of Lit pages you end up with might be because Lit's pages are determined by characters, and not by lines or word count. I don't know for sure that this is how Lit works, but it would make a lot more sense that way. If this is the case, then while a certain number of pages or words might equal one Lit page for one person, another might need a different number due to a different writing style.

If you really want to know how long your story is, your best bet is to go to your submission page, create a new story submission, fill in some information, paste your words in, and then hit preview. When the preview comes up, you should be able to scroll down and see how many pages you have. You don't ned to submit what you wrote--if you click "make changes" at the bottom of the preview page you'll return to the submission page, and if you scroll down on that page and hit delete.


ETA: FWIW I just checked a couple pages in my stories, and it appears that I'm between 3,250 and 3,500 words for a Lit page, or roughly 8-ish pages in Word in Times New Roman 11. So you can see how each individual will have their own rough guideline for Lit pages.

And a very useful guide, if I may say so.
BTW; Times New Roman ?
As Times is a 'compressed' font, I'm rather surprised. My personal choice is Bookman Old Style (or ITC Bookman) or maybe Century Schoolbook, as they are more rounded and easier on the eye.

 

[xelliebabex]

The story you're writing should be as long as it takes you to tell it. Anything over three Lit pages (approximately 12-14 MSWord pages depending on typeface and paragraph breaks) runs a fairly good chance of being skipped by a lot of the readers who are looking for a wank, not literature.

Totally agree that you should write as much as it takes to tell your story.

Writing in ariel 11 point I find that 20-25 word pages is about 3 lit pages. (My average story)
I will reiterate that a vast number of lit users are looking for a quick opportunity to rub one out rather than the deeper story.

~ellie

 

[PennLady]

When you are writing your stories, how long do you usually make them? Mine is approaching ten pages on Word, and I was just wondering if that was too much?

There's no max limit on entries -- the last contest winner (Summer Luvin') was 12 Lit pages. Some time ago I saw an estimate that a Lit page is about 3400 words, so a 12-page Lit story would be about 40k words, give or take. I tend to post in 8-12k word blocks, a habit I've been in for some time, which is about 3-4 Lit pages. That's about what I have time to read at any given point, so I try not to ask more of readers than I can do.

And estragon has pointed out that one well-regarded story by... Oh, Sir Nathan or something, I forget, is about 33 Lit pages.

So, there you have it -- it varies.

 

[topace]

You should write a story until it is complete, or the chapter for the story you are working on is done. As long as you meet the minimum length and are following the submission guidelines here, you should have no problems.

 

[Weird Harold]

Some time ago I saw an estimate that a Lit page is about 3400 words, ...

Several years ago, I sampled 100 stories and came up with an average of 3,767 words, +/- about 400 words. The wide variance is caused by Lit using a character count (In the neighborhood of 14KB), plus "orphan" controls to break stories into pages.

Lit has upgraded software, but retain the goal of stories in 25KB pages, including ads -- or about 14KB of story per page.

 

[someoneyouknow]

This will probably make some people on here laugh, but I use Notepad to write my stories and I know that if I get around 60K in size, that's 4 pages when Lit pushes it out. Not sure how many words that is, but I've started to gauge how much to write based on that size.

 

[PennLady]

This will probably make some people on here laugh, but I use Notepad to write my stories and I know that if I get around 60K in size, that's 4 pages when Lit pushes it out. Not sure how many words that is, but I've started to gauge how much to write based on that size.

It made me smile, but in a good way. I figure whatever works for a person works for them, and nothing to laugh about.

 

[someoneyouknow]

It made me smile, but in a good way. I figure whatever works for a person works for them, and nothing to laugh about.

I was thinking more of the, "That's one way of looking at it!" laugh. The one you use when you see/hear something that is both comical but true. Looks like I hit my mark.

 

[JackLuis]

I have tried chapters from 1500 to 12,000 words and had a complaint about short chapters but never about long ones.

 

[Liquor69]

How long is too long?

When you are writing your stories, how long do you usually make them? Mine is approaching ten pages on Word, and I was just wondering if that was too much?

I've written some stories that are only one page and others that are much longer. I agree that the longer ones are often skipped by those who prefer a quick fix but overall, I can't complain with my results.

Some of my stories are only one page long while others are seven to eight pages.

Trust in yourself. Build your characters and bring them to life. Bring both their good and bad traits to life. Make them real and you will have a loyal following. It's not always about the sex. Sometimes we have to make the people real for the story to work. Good luck.