Thoughts on breaking a story into 5 parts

[Dearelliot]

I like to break a story, one published story, into 4 or 5 titled parts, not exactly chapters, or a series. I like to do this when I have a big scene change because I think it prepares the reader.

I picked these titles at random as an example, they are not part of any story.
The cleaning lady
A day at the park
Friends visit

I'm asking if anyone has any thoughts or an opinion about doing this in a story.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I like to break a story, one published story, into 4 or 5 titled parts, not exactly chapters, or a series. I like to do this when I have a big scene change because I think it prepares the reader.

I picked these titles at random as an example, they are not part of any story.
The cleaning lady
A day at the park
Friends visit

I'm asking if anyone has any thoughts or an opinion about doing this in a story.

How long is the whole piece?

If it's already been published, why bother? Why don't you just run with the themes you like, and write new stories?

 

[Dearelliot]

I worried I couldn't make this clear...It hasn't been published yet, sorry for not explaining that well. I reread and have no idea why I said "Published" Stupid me.
It's a story I'm working on...I have pub other stories with part titles.
It will be around 12K to 15K

 

[Cagivagurl]

I worried I couldn't make this clear...It hasn't been published yet, sorry for not explaining that well. I reread and have no idea why I said "Published" Stupid me.
It's a story I'm working on...I have pub other stories with part titles.
It will be around 12K to 15K

12 -15 K is only one short story... IMO... A very short story. To break that into five parts seems pointless...

Cagivagurl

 

[Voyeurkenneth]

I like to break a story, one published story, into 4 or 5 titled parts, not exactly chapters, or a series. I like to do this when I have a big scene change because I think it prepares the reader.

I picked these titles at random as an example, they are not part of any story.
The cleaning lady
A day at the park
Friends visit

I'm asking if anyone has any thoughts or an opinion about doing this in a story.

I think I understand you. You're saying you want to add in-story chapter headings.

I've been doing this in my stories. Not sure if it's more for the reader's benefit, or more my inclination to provide fun titles. I like to think it helps provide a nice respite for the reader, before progressing on with the plot of the story.

 

[Dearelliot]

I think I understand you. You're saying you want to add in-story chapter headings.

I've been doing this in my stories. Not sure if it's more for the reader's benefit, or more my inclination to provide fun titles. I like to think it helps provide a nice respite for the reader, before progressing on with the plot of the story.

Yes and I agree...I think it provides the reader with the change...Not sure if it's a plus or minus though.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I worried I couldn't make this clear...It hasn't been published yet, sorry for not explaining that well. I reread and have no idea why I said "Published" Stupid me.
It's a story I'm working on...I have pub other stories with part titles.
It will be around 12K to 15K

I'd leave that as a single story.

* * * *

And use a simple section break to designate a major shift in scene, or focus, or point of view. Keep it simple, and use context to explain the shift. Readers are mostly clever, you don't need to hold their hand.

Look at most novels - at most, they have a chapter number, nothing more. You're not writing a script for a silent movie.

 

[Voboy]

Single story. Then break your sections with chapter heads in bold font. Bob's your uncle.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

12 -15 K is only one short story... IMO... A very short story. To break that into five parts seems pointless...

Cagivagurl

I've done it. 12k words, 6 parts numbered.

Also, 47k words, 13 parts titled.

The advantage is that it sections things up into bite sized chunks for the reader, but I guess that's just wrong and I don't know what I'm doing.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

The cleaning lady
A day at the park
Friends visit

Just come up with better titles. : P

 

[WaxPhilosophic]

Go for it! As a reader, I appreciate not being bombarded with long stories all in one go. Breaking it up in logical sections is nice.

As an author, I like it as well. Gives me a nice break to collect my thoughts for the next part. In fact, I did exactly what you're proposing with one of mine. About 15k words in five parts. https://www.literotica.com/series/se/492567881

 

[Cagivagurl]

I've done it. 12k words, 6 parts numbered.

Also, 47k words, 13 parts titled.

The advantage is that it sections things up into bite sized chunks for the reader, but I guess that's just wrong and I don't know what I'm doing.

You're probably right about that though...

Cagivagurl

 

[KittyOfSteele]

If you think it's going to make the story easier to read, or if it is for the benefit of the story, I don't see why not. I mean, Angels and Demons is a much longer piece of work work, but there are numbered chapters in there that occupy less than a full page, and Story of the Eye is just a bunch of vignettes bundled up together. Or maybe that's just me being a sucker for flash fiction and bite-sized stories in general.

Ever heard of Amadis of Gaul? The majority of chapters are really short, and like pretty much the entire chivalric romance genre, it's episodic.

 

[Baztrachian]

Single story. Then break your sections with chapter heads in bold font. Bob's your uncle.

^^^^

This.

 

[SimonDoom]

If your story is no more than 15K words then you DEFINITELY should not publish it in several chapters. Publish it as one single story.

If, within that story, you want to break the story into sections, you can, but if it's that short I'm not sure if it makes sense to have headings for them, especially because your proposed headings have no spiciness and don't add erotic interest. If I were you I would just indicate section breaks or scene shifts with an extra space and three or four asterisks next to each other.

 

[Dearelliot]

If your story is no more than 15K words then you DEFINITELY should not publish it in several chapters. Publish it as one single story.

If, within that story, you want to break the story into sections, you can, but if it's that short I'm not sure if it makes sense to have headings for them, especially because your proposed headings have no spiciness and don't add erotic interest. If I were you I would just indicate section breaks or scene shifts with an extra space and three or four asterisks next to each other.

The examples were just something I threw out...I write femdom /S&M/ incest...The examples wouldn't fit.

 

[Voboy]

I do this mostly when writing supernatural stories. No matter their length, nothing spices up a vampire tale like section breaks in Latin.

 

[SimonDoom]

The examples were just something I threw out...I write femdom /S&M/ incest...The examples wouldn't fit.

Fair enough. Just keep a few things in mind. A Literotica "page" is about 3750 words. That means a 15K word story is only about 4 pages at Literotica. People have done analyses on what length stories seem to draw the most favorable responses, and the results indicate that stories of at least 3-4 pages do better than very short stories of around 1 page or less. A chapter heading makes sense for a section that is long enough that you want to clue in the reader about what they're getting into, but I don't know if it makes sense if the chapter is only around 3000 words, less than one page. That's for you to decide, of course.

 

[Dearelliot]

Fair enough. Just keep a few things in mind. A Literotica "page" is about 3750 words. That means a 15K word story is only about 4 pages at Literotica. People have done analyses on what length stories seem to draw the most favorable responses, and the results indicate that stories of at least 3-4 pages do better than very short stories of around 1 page or less. A chapter heading makes sense for a section that is long enough that you want to clue in the reader about what they're getting into, but I don't know if it makes sense if the chapter is only around 3000 words, less than one page. That's for you to decide, of course.

Interesting, I try hard to keep under 15k thinking longer stories turn readers off.
Good to hear.

 

[Dearelliot]

and thank you all for your input.

 

[StillStunned]

When I was writing the fifth instalment of The Rivals (The Rivals Ch. 05: Orgy of Death), I decided it needed to be broken into sections. It's nearly 20k words, whereas the four previous parts were in the 6-8k word range.

So within this Chapter 5, there are the following sections:
Prologue: Blookmark
I. A journey through desolation
II. Meetings
III. Orgy of death
Epilogue

I felt comfortable doing this because it's not an unusual practice in pulpy sword & sorcery, and each of those five sections is a distinct part of the tale that's set in a separate geographic location. Separate sections let me shorthand the "and now they're here" of moving the story forward.

 

[AchtungNight]

Did this with a couple of my older longer stories. Helped to write each part around distinct events in the plot and include a sex scene in each part for those readers who are just reading for stroke purposes. Example-

“The Rendezvous”- Main plot was to get the four actresses in the story into a polyamorous relationship while also bonding as costars and friends.

Chapter 1- Keri arrives on set for her eventful day and meets Alicia, Erika, and Evan. Challenges to their bonding are established. They could be friends but there are obstacles. Keri gets attracted to the other girls and turned on by the film’s sexual tension- she takes a break to pleasure herself and from there decides to see if she can seduce the other girls or at least accept any advances they might make. She is still working through the obstacles between them, but is more open to possibilities.

Ch. 2- Alicia goes through a bad break up and Keri comforts her, then they hook up. Both enjoy the experience but aren’t sure where they go from here.

Ch. 3- The most aggressive of the characters, Evan, seduces Keri. They then decide to team up and see if they can get with both Erika and Alicia despite the obstacles.

Ch. 4- Evan and Keri get Erika into a threesome easily, but Alicia is not as enthusiastic about the idea.

Ch. 5- After some further emotional bonding at a swinger club in Soho, Alicia comes around to the relationship and the four girls enjoy a fun orgy.

There’s a lot more to the story but those are the main plot points around which I set things up.

 

[filthytrancendence]

Something else worth considering I didn't see mentioned yet is that things that are labeled chapter 2...3...etc. are just not going to generate the same level of readership as the first part did. Based on my own stories, it's a factor of about half.

It makes sense, thinking about it. When I am browsing stories, my brain mostly just passively filters out anything labeled with a chapter number of something I've not read before. Of course, there's a flip side to that coin, which is that for the people that are interested, it usually generates more traffic back to the earlier chapters for a bit, but that factor seems pretty small compared to the boost you get passively from labeling something as if it were the beginning of a story or a standalone story.

In my mind, the only reason to do something like this is to engage with the audience in a serialized way, putting out smaller chunks frequently as you get feedback on the direction you take. Or for yourself if you gain a productivity boost by publishing smaller bits as you finish them.

But in the case of your story, I'd definitely publish it as one work.

 

[Writer61]

Most of my stories have a prologue and epilogue, plus 2-4 sections indicated by a few words in bold text. The sections typically indicate major jumps in time. For example (from Naked on screen):

• Casting
• Costume
• Filming
• Premiere

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I write longish stories, typically averaging around 75K words. Scene breaks and chapter breaks are different in most instances.

I use separators such as (~~~) or (***) to denote scene breaks and chapter number or title (day of the week, time of day, POV change, etc.) to denote chapter breaks. My chapters tend to run between 3K and 5K.