What is the ideal word count?

[DatingHollywood]

Hello!

I am a new writer and curious about story length.

Is there a certain number of words people aim for in their stories, or does length not matter quite as much as quality? (Obviously quality is the MOST important factor).

Is there a magic number between X and X that people tend to see higher views and better ratings?

 

[KeithD]

There is no ideal story length. It has to be 750 words or above. Other than that it all depends on what's in the story.

 

[thomas1965]

The ideal length is what is needed to tell your story, not more not less.

Is there a magic number between X and X that people tend to see higher views and better ratings?

Unfortunately the sites doesn't provide this info. You can do the stats yourself, though it would be very time consuming.

 

[OverconfidentSarcasm]

Hello!

I am a new writer and curious about story length.

Is there a certain number of words people aim for in their stories, or does length not matter quite as much as quality? (Obviously quality is the MOST important factor).

Is there a magic number between X and X that people tend to see higher views and better ratings?

I don't know about Literotica, but there are general rules for publishing (AFAIK). In the end, it depends on what you write. If you write for people who come here to read about sex, they could be satisfied with the minimum 750 Word Flash Story. But if you want to actually write a Story-Story, here's the word count I know about:

Flash-Fiction: 500-1,000 Words (Minimum on Lit is 750)
Short Story: 5,000-10,000 Words (Would convert on LIt to about 2-3 Pages, which seems to be the majority here)
Novella: >10,000 Words

How Lit itself will then Split your story into pages... I'm not entirely sure about that. The only thing I noticed is that there seems to be a 20,000 Character hard-cap (including Spaces) per page. But that is so weirdly enforced, I acutally got the impression that the admin(s) set that pagination by hand.

 

[NotWise]

Writing quality doesn't matter so much as story content. A boring story written well doesn't get many raves. I story that appeals to the audience can be raggedly written and still have fans.

Judging from scores, short stories aren't long enough to engage readers and tend to score low. 8letters looked at the trends and, as I recall, stories over two Lit pages (about 7500 words) tend to score higher, but there's a limit at something like six lit pages (say, ~22,000) words where the scores plateau.

Ultimately, most of us write for our own reasons, so you're better off pleasing yourself than anyone else.

 

[RelentlessOnanism]

Hello!

I am a new writer and curious about story length.

Is there a certain number of words people aim for in their stories, or does length not matter quite as much as quality? (Obviously quality is the MOST important factor).

Is there a magic number between X and X that people tend to see higher views and better ratings?

I'm not sure there's a magic number that will unlock five-star ratings and a place in the Literotica Hall of Fame, but in my experience I think a story being around three or four pages is the sweet spot for a lot of readers.

They don't seem to like very short stories. One year, I submitted three entries to the 750 Word Project and they are easily my worst-scoring stories. Almost everything I do gets a red 'H', but none of them did.

But very long stories don't get many readers. My last couple of entries scored okay, but they haven't had a lot of views. And they are on the longer side. I'm not one of the superstar writers who get hundreds-of-thousands of views, but even by my lowly standards, the audience was small.

Having said that, the readers seem to be dwindling away on Literotica for everyone.

 

[yukonnights]

There's no magic number, but one thing that is important is to keep the story accessible. By accessible, I mean format it in a way that busy people can find the time to read your story. Perhaps give some thought to how much time do you have to sit down and read? One way to achieve a good balance on length for a more developed/longer story is to craft it as a multipart/chapter format. By doing that you can write as many individual three or four page chapters/parts as needed to make it both, accessible and complete. One word of advice on the multipart approach; Write the story to a completion and then post it for reading — it doesn't hurt to tell people up front that the story is all written and pending release/posting.


IMO, the 750 word challenge is more of a challenge to write something that meets the appearance of a story rather than a fleshed our story with a developed plot, etc. I did that one year and the overall reception wasn't worth doing it again.

 

[GrantBricksly]

Like everyone else has said, there is no "magic number". Aim for quality. That is by far the most important thing. That being said I have noticed a few things. When I started writing again back in November, after years of nothing, I decided I wanted to try to enter some of the contests. First thing I did, was write the story I had come up with, and post. Didn't think much of it. It did better than past stories..but not nearly good enough to win. Then I wrote a second story, and that did better still, even getting that Red H, but still not good enough for a win.

So I did some digging. What I found, was that a significant number of the winning stories in past contests (as well as the higher scoring ones in that current one) had a minumum of 20k words, with some topping 60k+ And my stories were a measly 3.5k or under....

So, I set out to rethink my writing style. I didn't want to just fluff up the writing with extra words for no reason other than to add words...but I wanted to take the time to develop the characters, settings, plot better than I had in the past.

What I ended up with was a 60k word story that I am incredibly proud of. I haven't published it yet, but the few people that have read it (editors and friends) love it. I then wrote Anniversary Gift which made it to 20k. It has my highest rating, the most views and the most votes of any of my stories.

Now, again, I have 2 stories that have a red H that are only 3-4k long. So it's obviously not needed. But my 20k story is still rated higher. The story I am working on right now, has about 9k so far, and I expect it to be somewhere in the 15-20k range..

EDIT:
I definitely have noticed that there are people that just do not have time to read a story that long. I had several editors reject my 60k story because they just didn't have time for that. It's not a quick read...and while I still get votes on my 20k story each day...it's a slow process..because it takes time to read that much..

 

[AlinaX]

From a comment I made in a different thread:

It can be difficult to find a story we can properly relax into and enjoy. I know I have often spent an hour browsing in a bookshop looking for something both original and to my taste, and Literotica presents a similar problem. 9/10 titles hold little interest, and of those I dip into, maybe 1/3 will hold my interest.

Finding a good story and then having it end within 5-10 minutes can be frustrating, especially if it doesn't feel like a complete story. Too many Ch. 01s end just as things get interesting.

3000 words is probably a realistic minimum for a blend of sex and story that will reward those readers who put time into searching for a story. It's not that stories can't be shorter, just that the perception of time spent in reading vs time spent searching for something to read is an important factor.

The flip side of this is that many readers will be daunted by the prospect of starting a story that's very long (20k+ words) - but also many readers actually love long stories. So if you want to write long stories, then go for it. You will get readers, and they'll probably be enthusiastic too.

 

[RedLegoDragon]

The flip side of this is that many readers will be daunted by the prospect of starting a story that's very long (20k+ words) - but also many readers actually love long stories. So if you want to write long stories, then go for it. You will get readers, and they'll probably be enthusiastic too.

I've written several stories between 70-90k words in length, and for every comment that tells me it's too long and they didn't bother reading it I get someone telling me they loved how long it was. I enjoy writing long stories and I'm happy there's people who enjoy reading them.

I could probably game the system by writing shorter stories...

 

[OverconfidentSarcasm]

I've written several stories between 70-90k words in length, and for every comment that tells me it's too long and they didn't bother reading it I get someone telling me they loved how long it was. I enjoy writing long stories and I'm happy there's people who enjoy reading them.

I could probably game the system by writing shorter stories...

I mean, I obviously can't be sure of that, but I got the impression that many people who come here to read stories, come here to actually read STORIES. Like, if they wanted a quick wank, they'd watch a five minute long video on pornhub or something.

Yes, stories that go beyond three pages seem to discourage people from starting them. I know from personal experience that a story like that simply takes too long to read in one go. Since Lit doesn't have a system like other sites, that tracks the stories I open automatically in a library and sets a virtual bookmark in my cookies (so when I open the story up later on, it automatically jumps to where I left off), it's extra-hard to deal with time restrictions.

But if you split that 100k word story up in 10k word chapters, everyone get's what they want.

 

[KeithD]

I got the impression that many people who come here to read stories, come here to actually read STORIES. Like, if they wanted a quick wank, they'd watch a five minute long video on pornhub or something.

Your impression doesn't cover everyone who comes to this massive base, wide-ranging offerings Web site.

 

[AmberSolis]

Hello!

I am a new writer and curious about story length.

Is there a certain number of words people aim for in their stories, or does length not matter quite as much as quality? (Obviously quality is the MOST important factor).

Is there a magic number between X and X that people tend to see higher views and better ratings?

The ideal word-length is the amount of words needed to tell the story. Everything is subordinate to telling the story. Brevity is always a good idea, the least amount of words needed to convey the story, but even that is not a hard and fast rule.

 

[OverconfidentSarcasm]

Your impression doesn't cover everyone who comes to this massive base, wide-ranging offerings Web site.

And your ability to quote people is priceless. You do realize that I wrote exactly that, but you just omitted that from the quote you took of my post?

 

[KeithD]

And your ability to quote people is priceless. You do realize that I wrote exactly that, but you just omitted that from the quote you took of my post?

After the part I quoted, I didn't see the need to read further into your post. I'm not into self-flagellation.

 

[OverconfidentSarcasm]

After the part I quoted, I didn't see the need to read further into your post. I'm not into self-flagellation.

It was the half sentence before the part you quoted, at the very beginning of my post.
But that's Okay. You're obviously one of those people who like to correct others, while completely ignoring the fact that you very obviously failed to understand their initial statement, and then just dig your hole deeper when it's pointed out.

And by the way, I wrote about my impression of many people, not the majority of people, and most certainly not all the people like you somehow understood. So, please, go on. It's getting quite amusing.

 

[ElectricBlue]

The ideal word-length is the amount of words needed to tell the story. Everything is subordinate to telling the story. Brevity is always a good idea, the least amount of words needed to convey the story, but even that is not a hard and fast rule.

Brevity misses a key point with erotica, that is, that many folk want arousal; so if the story is too short, you're not getting the job done, as it were. Unless of course you're writing for teenage boys mowing the lawn, where all you need is a two-stroke...

 

[Euphony]

Brevity misses a key point with erotica, that is, that many folk want arousal; so if the story is too short, you're not getting the job done, as it were. Unless of course you're writing for teenage boys mowing the lawn, where all you need is a two-stroke...

"To tell the story" seemed perfectly reasonable and inclusive of the expected arousal aspects of erotica to my mind.

Trying to write flourishes to time well to meet the chasm divide that is male v. female sexual response cycle AND the variation between old v. young and individuals across identical demographics is too damn much for me as an author.

Paddle your own damn canoe, cocks, and clits my lovelies. I believe in you.

 

[AmberSolis]

Brevity misses a key point with erotica, that is, that many folk want arousal; so if the story is too short, you're not getting the job done, as it were. Unless of course you're writing for teenage boys mowing the lawn, where all you need is a two-stroke...

I think you missed the last part of my sentence, where I said, "and even that is not a hard and fast rule."

 

[ElectricBlue]

I think you missed the last part of my sentence, where I said, "and even that is not a hard and fast rule."

No, I saw that. I was merely pointing out that the "usual" convention with regard to short story writing, that brevity is a virtue, doesn't necessarily apply with erotica, because of the reason given. Some things are better with a little time added, unless, as I say, you're a teenage boy, where speed is of the essence. Sometimes you pad it out a bit, for a reason.

 

[AlinaX]

There's a thread in Lit Tech Support with readers wanting to avoid reading stories shorter than 5000 words.

 

[GrantBricksly]

There's a thread in Lit Tech Support with readers wanting to avoid reading stories shorter than 5000 words.

I saw that the other day..