Your opinion on short threads

[Wolk]

Most decent threads I see on CHYOO are pretty long. They're mostly really good and it's obvious people put a lot of effort into writing them. But at the same time, there are not that many of these threads, because it takes so much time to write one. Personally, I often read to a point when I want to add a thread, but then realize that I don't have enough to make a good long one and think "Oh, well, screw it."

So, my question is, what do you think of people submitting short threads(as in two to four paragraphs) to your story? If it's not too much trouble, please also explain why.

 

[SausageKing]

hmm...

Im new here, and I only have one story under my belt, but I wouldn't care so much about length, as i do quality of writing... Not to sound elitist, but I just want the thread to be interesting with a similar style of writing. If that's the case, i wouldn't knit pick about it being 2 paragraphs or 200.

 

[niceguy2002tim]

I make up the current 25% that said no.

Hello,
well I just voted on your poll and so far there have been 4 votes. I am the only one to say no, however. I am not sure this accurently represents the Chyoo community. I think a couple more people have to vote because I know from experience that there are other who agree with me.

If a thread is 200 words long it's too short. When I get a short thread I usually reject it and ask the writer to "beef" it up. Add more descriptions and so on. I also offer sugestions on content that could be added, questions that I think are left unanswered and other things that would make it better.

When I am reading a story and I read a couple threads that are 350 or more words then I come upon a short 2 paragraph one I feel it takes away from the story. It kills the momentum and breaks up the flow of reading. Since after each thread you have to click the buttons and such to move to the next thread. When I read a good story I get in a certain mood and when I have to wait for the next page to load it makes me lose the mood. I have a 56K modem so it's slow, and if I vote than it takes a life-time!

So in conclusion... I'll be honest, I do not like short threads. Acceptable is 300 words or more.

-Tim (niceguy2002tim.

 

[jakelyon]

No

In general I don't care for short threads. They just do not develop the story enough. Personally I try never to write less than 500 words per thread, and hopefully hit 750. I think in order to really move a story forward it is hard to do it in less than 400 to 500 words.

I think some short threads may be the result of people trying to beat the Chyoo clock.

There are always exceptions, and I have approved a few, but overall I would encourage writers to submit longer threads.

 

[gystex]

A short thread can be used to set up a situation that will require further choices, I think. I see no reason in padding a thread just to make it long when all it's doing is, for instance, establishing the gender and hair color of a character. There's an example in (shameless plug warning) "Doing the Sorority" wherein the second threads, if you pick "yes", are only about fifty words long. This was simply so I could turn two choices into eight.

I think that it's fine and good for the editor of a story to set up a situation like that. For me to accept something along those lines from an outside submitter, however, I'd want to know where he/she plans to take it from there. That also goes for threads which are short on detail or plot but long on words. It's possible to say very little in 800 words but quite a lot in 200. Verbosity alone does not a quality thread make.

 

[jakelyon]

I agree to a point...

I agree with the assertion there is a place for short threads. There is often a perfect place to put a short option thread in to create additonal paths to take a story down.

What I see all to often are threads that do not deliver enough detail and lack descriptive elements that would add to the story. Moving to conclusion too quickly, or leaving incomplete thoughts. There are many stories out there that could be great but they have been damaged by short threads.

Here are some examples where I think some longer threads would have created a better story:

Cartoon Lover

Your Ultimate Dream Girl

The Government Idea

All of these have great ideas that would benefit from some longer introductions, or longer threads to develop them.

In any event I might be full of crap, but that is what I think.

 

[bungakawa2000]

I agree with gystex.

As with sex, the lenght of a thread matters little. It's all about what you do with it.

Bunga

 

[lilguy]

why not add a 800 word thread to cartoon lover

I here the editor of that story is a FUCKING GENIUS

 

[niceguy2002tim]

... this has to be said...

Fucken Genius can't even spell "H-E-A-R".

Sorry Lilguy.

 

[Vance]

I don't have any of my own stories, and as a rule of thumb I always try to match as close as possible the style and length of a typical thread in the story I'm contributing to, which hopefully allows my contributions to the story to blend in well with the rest of the threads. If I see that the story as a whole has shorter or longer threads, then I'll try to match the size of vary it up if it isn't clear.

Actually, contributing a thread that's much shorter or much longer than all the other threads in a story tends to disrupt the smooth transition from one plot to the next.

 

[SparkyMan]

I voted 'No', but...

Everyone has listed valid points.

I don't think it's hard to come up with at least 250 words to describe a scene, or even to give someone options. However, if it was clear that the author of the thread was trying to "set up" a situation where they wanted to multiply the threads (i.e., a transitional thread in order to get four different threads), I might be inclined to let it go.

I agree with the fact that if all the threads are long in nature, that any submissions should follow suit. I personally don't like short threads because they seem to multiply into a million other "short threads", which then makes it difficult to read.

I like to think of CHYOO threads as chapters to a story, or plot scenes in a movie. You would never see a chapter in a book that is less than 200 words, and you would never see a scene in a movie that is only a minute long.

There is plenty that can be said of the character, their appearance, or their state of mind. There is even more so that can be detailed about the scene's environment.

Wow! See I've just written a thread that's more than 200 words!