Titles that omit "Part 1"

[TheArsonist]

I've noticed that in a lot of multi-part stories, authors post the first part without indicating that it is the first part of a multi-part story. (And I'm not talking about self-contained stories that are later extended, but stories where the first installment is clearly incomplete, "to be continued.")

I strongly suspect that this is, in most cases, a deliberate tactic in order to attract readers who might otherwise steer clear of stories that are not finished, or who just want something shorter. And my impression is that it's been spreading, to the point where now almost every other new series omits the "Part/Chapter 1" in the first installment title.

Is this an acceptable ploy? I'm personally inclined to consider it deceptive, and I have sometimes down-rated stories solely on this basis. But if it becomes standard practice, that's not really sustainable.

So what do you think: Is it a problem or just a personal peeve? And if it's a problem, can anything be done about it?

 

[AlinaX]

If it's an author who hasn't done any series before, it's probably innocent. Doing it habitually is a disservice to readers.

 

[John_Vandermeer]

As far as I am aware, there are no LitE rules for or against it, only evolving conventions. Like so many other things that are broken then —like implicitly kink shaming 1-bombs: not sure rating system was meant like that—it just becomes a learn to live with it situation. And do not expect any coordinated from on top change.

 

[ElectricBlue]

It's your personal peeve. Many writers start a story with the best intentions to write more, but life intrudes, readers don't respond positively, they run out of steam. Or they get petty smack downs in ratings and get discouraged from ever writing more.

I don't think it a deliberate ploy - you've got to remember that a lot of stories here are the first thing someone has ever written, and they simply underestimate what's involved.

When you've got some stories of your own, come back and make your point. Meanwhile, appreciate what people are giving you out of the goodness of their hearts. They owe you nothing.

 

[Seadog777]

Is this an acceptable ploy? I'm personally inclined to consider it deceptive, and I have sometimes down-rated stories solely on this basis. But if it becomes standard practice, that's not really sustainable.

Most of the time it's either an oversight and a mistake or it starts out to be a single story then morphs into a multi story.

Either way, "downvoting it" for something as trivial as this is pretty damn stupid.

 

[Mr_Twister_242]

I'm fairly new and recently published a story that will normally become the first in a series. It had an open ending, but I believe it was still worthwhile even if it was standalone. I didn't add part 1 since to me that made little sense as long as part 2 didn't exist, and I can't be sure I'll get around to writing it.

For me, someone is still innocent until proven guilty. And while there may be a few authors who do this on purpose, I imagine the majority has no ill intent. I find it quite offensive that someone would deliberately downvote a story that is totally fine, solely based on an assumption like that.

 

[TheArsonist]

Many writers start a story with the best intentions to write more, but life intrudes, readers don't respond positively, they run out of steam.

You seem to misunderstand the topic of this thread. I'm not talking about "Part 1" stories that are never continued. As you say, shit happens. I'm talking about stories that are written as the first installment in an ongoing series, but without giving any indication of this in the title, tagline or introduction.

Most of the time it's either an oversight and a mistake or it's starts out to be a single story then morphs into a multi story.

I'm sure that can be the case now and then, but I'm convinced that a lot of authors leave it out deliberately. And if they calculatedly misrepresent their story in order to lure in readers who would otherwise have skipped past it, I think it's only fair for readers to reflect that in the rating.

I'm fairly new and recently published a story that will normally become the first in a series. It had an open ending, but I believe it was still worthwhile even if it was standalone.

Sure, there can be borderline cases, and if you think the story is worth reading as a standalone and don't already know that it will continue, then that's fine. But there are many cases where the unlabeled chapter 1 is clearly just setup: some that don't even get to any erotic situation, or where the title and tagline (or category) are outright false if taken as a standalone.

 

[Seadog777]

I'm fairly new and recently published a story that will normally become the first in a series. It had an open ending, but I believe it was still worthwhile even if it was standalone. I didn't add part 1 since to me that made little sense as long as part 2 didn't exist, and I can't be sure I'll get around to writing it.

FYI.....You can edit it and add in "Part 1", even after it's been published.
I did the same thing when I wrote my story "Decision Time in a Marriage".
At this moment, I forget exactly how, I do recall that Laurel explained to me how to do it.

 

[Mr_Twister_242]

FYI.....You can edit it and add in "Part 1", even after it's been published.
I did the same thing when I wrote my story "Decision Time in a Marriage".
At this moment, I forget exactly how, I do recall that Laurel explained to me how to do it.

Thanks, that's useful to know!

 

[Seadog777]

I'm sure that can be the case now and then, but I'm convinced that a lot of authors leave it out deliberately. And if they calculatedly misrepresent their story in order to lure in readers who would otherwise have skipped past it, I think it's only fair for readers to reflect that in the rating.

Considering there are hundreds of thousands of authors here, I'm sure the word "lot" is applicable simply because of the sheer number. That's just playing the odds. LOL.

 

[Seadog777]

Thanks, that's useful to know!

You're welcome.
Laurel is GREAT.
It might take a few days for her to reply because of the sheer number of messages she gets.

 

[AlinaX]

If you find yourself writing a second chapter to what was never intended to be a series, then when you submit the second chapter with the format you want, e.g., "An Unexpected Addition, Ch. 02 Huh!" then you can add a note to the editor asking her to change the title of the first chapter from, e.g., "A Solitary Event" to "An Unexpected Addition, Ch. 01 Oh..."

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I have seen this too and agree that when it is clearly an intentional act, I will down-vote the story as well.

Again, we're not talking about stories that may or may not have a continuation when they get posted. We're talking about planned "teaser" stories that are purposely posted with the appearance of being complete when they aren't. The story has no ending when posted and may even state, "to be continued", but the title doesn't indicate this.

I have written series stories, chapter stories, and I have written stand-alone stories with cliffhangers that get resolved in a later stand-alone story. None have ever been posted with the intentional deception that the OP is referring to. A story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end.

 

[ElectricBlue]

You seem to misunderstand the topic of this thread. I'm not talking about "Part 1" stories that are never continued. As you say, shit happens. I'm talking about stories that are written as the first installment in an ongoing series, but without giving any indication of this in the title, tagline or introduction.

I still can't see why it's a problem. Chapter Two makes it obvious it's a chaptered story.

 

[TheArsonist]

I still can't see why it's a problem. Chapter Two makes it obvious it's a chaptered story.

Not when you only see Chapter One.

 

[OverconfidentSarcasm]

I honestly struggle to see this as intentional deception.

I believe it's more about people growing more comfortable with Lit's weird definition of serials, since it still doesn't have any proper chapter system. Or a warning system for incomplete "serials" by inactive authors that will never be completed. People just got used to unfinished work on here, so the aspiration to keep your titles and descriptions user-friendly is waning.

 

[EmilyMiller]

So what do you think: Is it a problem or just a personal peeve?

The latter.

And if it's a problem, can anything be done about it?

Not applicable.

Em

 

[ElectricBlue]

Not when you only see Chapter One.

Maybe, just maybe, the later chapters haven't been written yet, or the writer was far too optimistic when they wrote "to be continued," or they got hit by a truck.

But hey, you come on board and in your third post lay down a set of rules to make you happy. As I said above, try writing something yourself - that way you can be a role model for the rest of us.

 

[Voboy]

First off, it's as hard to generalize about writers as it is about readers. So a presumption that any of them are doing "the same kind of thing" is probably not all that valid. Other than this AH, which contains a tiny percentage of this site's writers, there's no forum where they'd easily get together and concoct this nefarious scheme.

Which brings me to my second point: I'm only speaking for myself, but the idea that we intentionally lie to readers seems a little farfetched to me. It's certainly possible, but Occam's Razor argues against it.

Thirdly,

It's your personal peeve.

I doubt a lot of readers care all that much, or else they'd complain. And the site tends to be responsive to readers. Or? There'd be more than this one thread about it. I don't think this is a widespread problem.

What I suspect happens most of the time? A writer does a story. They might not intend to do a sequel, let alone a series. But their muse makes them type one up, and they upload it. Then a third. A fourth. Etc. Meanwhile, that first story sits there with its original title.

To change it retrospectively, the writer has to remember to go back and resubmit it to change the title. She or he also has to know that can be done (which they might not, if they don't frequent the AH) and how to do it. And lastly they have to care enough to go do it. I strongly suspect that's most of what's happening here, OP, Occam's Razor-style.

You can believe there's a Machiavellian plot afoot. I prefer to believe it's just laziness and/or ignorance.

 

[TheArsonist]

Maybe, just maybe, the later chapters haven't been written yet, or the writer was far too optimistic when they wrote "to be continued," or they got hit by a truck.

You still don't understand what the thread is about.

The latter.

So you don't think it's annoying to find a new story with an interesting title and tagline, check and see that it's a length you're in the mood to read (let's say four pages), only to, when you get towards the end, realize that it isn't in fact what it was billed as, but only the lead-in to a much longer story (which probably isn't out yet)?

I don't mind longer stories, or series with multiple installments. But sometimes I'm in the mood for a novel, sometimes for a short story, and sometimes to try out the "pilot episode" of a new series, and I resent being "tricked" into reading something quite different than what it was presented as.

Other than this AH, which contains a tiny percentage of this site's writers, there's no forum where they'd easily get together and concoct this nefarious scheme.

It doesn't need to be a coordinated conspiracy for multiple authors to adopt the same tactic. Someone sees someone else do it, thinks "that's clever, I'll do that," and there you go. Or they simply notice, independently, that all other things being equal they get more readers on standalone stories than on ones marked "Chapter 1," and think "What if I didn't put Chapter 1 in the title?"

the idea that we intentionally lie to readers seems a little farfetched to me. It's certainly possible, but Occam's Razor argues against it.

There are enough threads with authors obsessing over their readership stats that I don't think it's at all far-fetched to think many authors will do something like this to pump them up. They (like some people in this thread) may not consider it deceptive, or they may justify it to themselves by thinking that if other people do it, they need to do it too to stand a "fair" chance.

I doubt a lot of readers care all that much, or else they'd complain.

If most authors aren't active on the forums, most readers certainly are not—and given the attitude shown by some posters towards members who haven't published anything, I don't blame them. But I've seen complaints about it in the comments on several occasions. (Of course, given that most comments are anonymous, it's hard to say whether it's a widespread annoyance or just the same one or two people complaining each time.)

 

[SimonDoom]

Is this an acceptable ploy? I'm personally inclined to consider it deceptive, and I have sometimes down-rated stories solely on this basis. But if it becomes standard practice, that's not really sustainable.

So what do you think: Is it a problem or just a personal peeve? And if it's a problem, can anything be done about it?

I think it's more of a personal peeve than a problem. I personally wouldn't downvote a story because I thought the author was being "deceptive," because there's no way I can know for sure what the author's motive was.

But if you felt, after finishing the story/first chapter, that it lacked a satisfactory conclusion, and the lack of a conclusion diminished your enjoyment of it, then that's a perfectly good ground for voting accordingly. I think "it left me hanging and I didn't like it" is a sound basis for downvoting a story.

 

[Euphony]

If it's an author who hasn't done any series before, it's probably innocent. Doing it habitually is a disservice to readers.

This feels like the likeliest reason but there's a small contingent of us who (neurotically?) loathe the aesthetics of introducing our grand tale long crafted title with a blunt "chapter 1" in tow.

Still default to reader friendly but it's always there... lurking.

 

[ronde]

Again, we're not talking about stories that may or may not have a continuation when they get posted. We're talking about planned "teaser" stories that are purposely posted with the appearance of being complete when they aren't. The story has no ending when posted and may even state, "to be continued", but the title doesn't indicate this.

I have written series stories, chapter stories, and I have written stand-alone stories with cliffhangers that get resolved in a later stand-alone story. None have ever been posted with the intentional deception that the OP is referring to. A story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end.

I agree. There's a huge difference between "to be continued" and leaving a "hook" at the end of a completed story. The hook doesn't promise anything. It just says keep watching because there might be another story coming. "To be continued" is an obvious revelation that the author had no intention of ending the story there and only wrote the first part to start something he or she may never finish. It's like the author is saying "I might and I might not depending upon how many votes and comments I get on this one."

 

[Jmanchu]

I have a series I'm working on here where I'm naming each chapter or episode by individual name, and at the start I have a disclaimer pointing out that it's just the start of a larger story at the top. I have a fuller title of the Episode and the number of the episode of the story right before the actual story as well. I did it partly because the actual story title of my series is long and pretty much fills up the entire title box with little to no room to add in "Ch. #" Thinking about it now, I could have shortened it by removing a word from the title to make room, but I'm already at Episode 3 trying to get Episode 4 ready. And, at the time, just calling each part by number seemed kind of boring.

My thought process was also that if someone wanted to check out my "Series" listed on the site they'd see individual names for each episode in a list.

In that note, here's hoping that the "Series" feature of the site gets more fleshed out since it's still in beta, maybe with an optional ability to show the ordered number of each individual chapter or episode right by it for the sake of that, along with somewhere that information shows up when it's published and on the directory of the list of stories.

Anyways, even if someone made something as a teaser. I don't think people do it necessarily to piss you or their other readers off or out of some deceptive, mischievous or bad intentions. If they intend to post more, they'll post more. Then again, that's just me.

P.S, My first publishing ever here I've written is pretty much what you described lol. When I posted it(different story than the series I mentioned), I didn't even think of chapter numbers or any of that as I was new to publishing stories online and I was more concerned about just getting something out at the time. Still am new to this.

 

[AlinaX]

This feels like the likeliest reason but there's a small contingent of us who (neurotically?) loathe the aesthetics of introducing our grand tale long crafted title with a blunt "chapter 1" in tow.

I'm not rushing to judgement on this.

1. I sometimes turn a series into explicit chapters, but sometimes I don't. The new series feature is actually useful for collecting stories like that.
2. I do think that if all the other chapters are explicitly numbered, then the first should be also.
3. When I write chapters, I do like each chapter to feel complete in itself, even if it does obviously sit within a larger story.
4. The character limit in the title does certainly present a challenge.

As a reader, it would (and does) annoy me to find what looks like a nice standalone story only to have it end prematurely before anything has really happened. I wouldn't down-vote it or anything, but...