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Apparently a lot of people got off playing with the bleach bottle. And who am I to judge? If that author enjoyed themselves writing, and the enthralled readers enjoyed themselves reading, well, that’s fine because we all have different tastes, and some like their chilli to be very, very, bland. Our focus can also change, but still stay in the universe. My entire series started off with an (unreleased) smut fic, but then I go “what about this?” and POOF, I’ve got plot. So, the rest of these works generally do have plot, and, well, I still weave in some smut

It’s an anime/manga reference. Death the Kid is from the anime/manga Soul Eater and is obsessed with symmetry. His favourite number is 8 because of this obsession. XD

...well, that’s a pop culture ref I don’t get! Happens more and more as I get closer to middle age. With older stories at least, unless someone goes looking for a specific fetish or specific fandom (and not even then if it’s a very popular fandom with a ton of stories) people just aren’t going to see them as they are with the latest update stories. I’ve had a couple cases where an old story suddenly started getting reviews again, but both were because of them being linked/referenced elsewhere by somone else delving more deeply and greedily than usual (Thanks JRRT) in the archives. I suspect you’re right that readers who don’t finish a story are less likely to review it too, but not just because of hotness, but also when they don’t like it – While I almost always review stuff I’ve read and liked, even if I didn’t finish reading it, if I’ve hated something/can’t think of any positives/didn’t get far ‘cos it sucked, I’m much less likely to leave a review because pure negativity with nothing contructive is no use to a writer*, and I am not great at constructive criticism. Plus, “Christ, this is fucking dull, I’ve had more fun reading the bleach bottle while sat on the shitter, Ms E L James” is probably pretty subjective. *I mean, most writers. I used to love getting to share the non-story-reviewing flames in the old flames thread before having to delete them on account of the site’s no flames rules.

From a personal standpoint, I’d love to have an update feature that sends me an email. But from the other side of the issue, I also know it’s not as easy to code in features as people think because we’re working with what’s become a custom piece of coding in the archive. We can’t simply add in features we like, as we can do in the forum, because there’s no library of features for us to browse. Our coder has to write something that will work with the rest of the code seamlessly, and that’s not always possible. In a perfect world, i.e., one in which I win a huge lottery, I’d give AFF the money to purchase a brand new, super powerful package for the archive, and hire lots of minions to carefully migrate the databases to the new package. The reality is that we’re all volunteers running this place on a shoestring budget which barely covers the cost of hosting the archive. There isn’t anything left for buying software. We do amazingly well with what we have, though, I think.

It is 37 degrees Celsius out there. That’s 99 degrees Fahrenheit. (Otherwise known as really hot...)

Billion Dollar Harem just passed 100,000 Dragon Prints! I want to thank all my fans and readers for your continued support! I would never have gotten here without you guys, I am just humbled and amazed by the response and encouragement you all have provided me in the two years since we began this little trip together. Thanks again so very much.

I was keying off the word “nazis”, not 88. Speaking of 88, the daughter of Heinrich Himmler recently died at the age of 88.

I think you might have reviewed Just a Cat when I still had a HF account! Would have lost all the reviews I both received and made when I deleted it. And no problem! Curfew is a great little story, and hopefully story 89 is just as good!

Honestly, every bit of help we get is good. I tend to take this very seriously, because I’ve spent the last seven years volunteering here. I don’t expect everyone else to do the same, but it feels sometimes like a good, hard slap when someone says all we need to do is… and then proposes something that’s really very costly for a free-to-use, not-for-profit website that can’t even pay DG to keep it running.

I think you’re right about this one having had reviews, because I vaguely remember reviewing it. I might have made some comparison between your version of Valerie and Foxy Brown. It’s actually a really fun little show, about a brother-sister team of professional adventurers. (One of its working titles was Dungeons and Dayjobs). It started life as an internet cartoon; you can find a bunch of the shorts on YouTube. Yeah, the distribution of effort was about the same in my case. Clearly, I need to spend some time on Reddit. I had to visit Wikipedia to figure out what that was about. And it’s not grammar Nazis; it’s actual Nazis. (88 is apparently used by some neo-Nazis as a code for “Heil Hitler,” because H is the 8th letter of the alphabet.) And JayDee, thanks so much for reviewing “Curfew”!

I’m tempted/mulling it over.

Are you offering to donate your services? Because right now, paying coders is not something we can do, and we can’t ask manta to forsake actual paying work to design features for our archive which might not even work as planned, while we scrape together a minuscule stipend hardly reflective of the time and effort she expends. I do what I can by donating my time (and spare cash when I have it) to making AFF work. If I could code, I’d be offering that as well, because I believe in what AFF represents. This discussion crops up from time to time, and it’s really sort of frustrating. We’d love to provide the kind of snappy software which makes users drool happily, full of bells and whistles. Hells, as an infrequent contributor to the archive, I’d love it myself. But the reality is that we’re not backed by a deep-pockets not-for-profit like AO3, and we’re not a for-profit site supported by mainstream advertisers like FFN. We are an independent site dedicated to allowing adult members to write, free of censorship, and that means mainstream advertisers will RUN from us, and not-for-profits, despite their avowed dedication to progressive principles, will draw the line at some of the content we permit. Yes, we could get backers… IF we change what AFF stands for. I don’t see that as an option, do you? I’ll step off the soapbox now.

Hmmm… maybe we need more coders?

Happy Canada Day to our saner neighbors up North!

Put an alert system on that feature wishlist...

My chapters typically range 5-7k; though they have been longer and shorter. If I’m reaching 10k, I’ll generally be looking to see if the chapter should be split. I did experiment with one story, going deliberately shorter, around 2-3k, and overall, I liked the outcome for that story, but it’s not necessarily good for every story to be like that.

88? Beware, that might definitely get the attention of the grammar nazis

Had a quick check and 88 stories posted? Better get another one loaded quick before internet neo-nazis think it’s a subliminal message! Unless, you know, it is a subliminal message for neo-nazis in which case, um, you’d probably want to leave it. I guess. I see a lot of your unreviewed are also originals. Obviously this here is AdultFanFiction rather than AdultFictionPress and I sometimes feel that the original stories are something some readers are less likely to look for. The site analytics may prove that wrong though! Just thoughts as they occured on some of yours! Mighty Magiswords – No joke, I’ve literally never heard of this fandom. Generally if something from America doesn’t take off/even get released in my third world country I usually hear about the bigger pop culture stuff through internet discussions, but not this’n. So, yeah, I could see how it’s a less popular fandom! Brides of Evil – I can see where you are coming from. My one and only erotic fiction co-writing attempt was also kinda a bad experience. I basically did 95% of the work, the other person did 3%, 2% didn’t get done at all and they reposted it. I may strip out their contributions sometime, but leave an original idea credit (their contributions were literally the original suggestion of people to use – RPF – and a few lines near the end, most everything else was me) and re-do it as a fanwork. I found it a lot easier to take requests/prompts/challenges and then show a first draft to the person who made ‘em to see if there’s anything they’d like me to add, remove or modify. Much more satisfying experience. On the other hand, years ago I used to do play-by-post non-adult roleplay and that was quite fun. Huh. Curfew – That’s definitely a topic with a bit of a fanbase on AFF. I’ll add it to my “to Read and review as soon as I have more time” list, because reasons. Dear Hazel – Some stories in letter format have been very popular over the years, but I could see how it might be a tough sell. The Small Hours – I think it can be similar with some of the gory stories. There is definitely a reader base, but a lot of them dont want to leave a record they liked it or something. Also, at least with the gore fans, there’s a percentage of incredibly self centred and cruel folk who read them who aren’t disposed to review. Not so sure if that also applies to the kinks here. Satisfaction – feel good incest also appears to be the leading porn type at the moment, based on the number of folks on reddit complaining how they have trouble finding videos with anything else. A Day at the Beach – nearly 60K hits and no reviews is just plain rude. I can’t help ya with that one though. Thanks to you, and everyone else, for the thread contributions!

My cat found a christmas bow. Like the kind you stick on presents. I have no idea where he found it. He’s not an outdoor cat. Our christmas stuff is packed away in the attic only accessible through a closed off staircase in a closed off closet that he has no way of getting into… and he’s been playing with it nonstop for three days.

Like JayDee, I have an awful lot of stories posted, so I’m just going to list the ones that have received no reviews. Fanfics: Cartoons > Phineas and Ferb > The More, the Merrier - Dragon Prints : 1800 I’ve only posted 1 chapter of this so far, and said chapter is pretty much all setup, so I’m not completely surprised that there are no reviews yet. Cartoons > Mighty Magiswords > The Princess Hire-ees - Dragon Prints : 683 I’m guessing that Mighty Magiswords doesn’t have anywhere near as large a fan base as the other fandoms in which I write. Cartoons > ThunderCats > Brides of Evil - Dragon Prints : 8317 I’ll be honest: This fic just isn’t very good. I co-wrote it with somebody on Inkbunny; our collaboration wasn’t a great experience for me and did not result in a great fic. Originals: Erotica > Het - Male/Female > Little Rose - Dragon Prints : 2750 This story is only 1 chapter in, so I’m not too surprised by the lack of reviews thus far. Erotica > Het - Male/Female > Curfew - Dragon Prints : 7106 Now this one’s lack of reviews surprises me. This story, about a young woman who is raped by a pack of specially trained dogs, was partly inspired by the popularity of one of my earlier stories, “Caitlyn’s Punishment,” which was about a woman whose sadistic husband forces her to have sex with a series of animals. (That story has 13 reviews, which is by far the most that any of my original stories have garnered.) Maybe the appeal of that “Caitlyn’s Punishment” had more to do with the sadistic husband than the animals, I don’t know. Erotica > General > Pony Dearest - Dragon Prints : 6120 I'm not totally surprised about this one. My furry stories don't tend to be big hits on AFF (unlike Inkbunny, which is exclusively for the furry crowd). What is more, although this is a story about anthropomorphic ponies, it's not an MLP story, so it may not appeal to a wide audience. Original - Misc > General > A Perfect Mismatch - Dragon Prints : 2661 Well, it turns out y’all did me a favor by inspiring me to make this list, because in doing so, I realize that I put this story in the wrong place: “Original – Misc” instead of “Erotica.” I have just moved it. In any case, this story is part of an anthology series titled "Tales from the Glory Wormhole." Although authors can post their stories anywhere, the “hub” for the story is located on Hentai Foundry, where people can read the intro to each story and then click a link to go to the story itself. So reviews get posted on HF and not AFF. Erotica > Het - Male/Female > Dear Hazel - Dragon Prints : 3750 This story takes the form of a letter written by a man to the woman he desires. For that reason, nothing actually happens in this story, and maybe that’s why it hasn’t attracted any reviews. Erotica > Het - Male/Female > The Small Hours - Dragon Prints : 13625 Underage furry incest PWP clearly draws readers, but maybe not the reviewin’ kind. Also, it’s a very short story, so maybe people don’t feel like the time they spent reading it justifies writing a review. Poetry > Free Verse > Twins: An Incest Poem - Dragon Prints : 4941 If anything is less likely to attract reviews than underage furry incest PWP, it’s probably underage incest free-verse poetry. Erotica > FemSlash - Female/Female > The Single Mothers' Support Group - Dragon Prints : 24128 Erotica > Het - Male/Female > Keene's Really Good Week - Dragon Prints : 24042 Erotica > General > The Playground - Dragon Prints : 12998 All three of the above stories are furry stories, so there we are. Erotica > Threesomes/Moresomes > Satisfaction - Dragon Prints : 24595 I’ll confess that I’m disappointed by this one’s lack of reviews. I think it’s some of my best work in the feel-good incest genre. Erotica > Het - Male/Female > A Day at the Beach - Dragon Prints : 59977 More underage incest getting plenty of hits but no reviews. Erotica > Het - Male/Female > Everything She Needs - Dragon Prints : 20904 This one I understand, because it’s a sequel (to a story titled "Wild Side"), and sequels are never as popular as the original. (The exception is when the sequel has the word “Daddy” in the title and the original does not.)

That’s not what I wanted to hear, i kinda wish it had an easier way. Anyways, thanks for your response.

We don’t have an update notification feature at this point in time. Some authors maintain mailing lists for update notifications, or give them via Twitter or Facebook. If so, it’s generally stated in the story by the author. Alternatively, you can add a story to your Currently Reading section on your archive profile. Our FAQ here explains how to do that. It gives you a quick link to a story, and you can see the last time it was updated on that page as well. You can also see if the author has a “Promote a Story” thread, and follow that thread, with email notifications enabled.

The chapters I write tend to hover in the 2000-2500 word range, though I've had a few between 1600 and 1800 words, and a few that were over 4000. I've found that overall range is where I like the chapters I read to be, also - though I'm willing to make exceptions for exceptional prose.

I completely agree. Bite-sized chapters work extremely well in some works (especially if there are a lot of simultaneous plot threads); other works need longer chapters to really get you into a scene.

I personally don't like posting a chapter with less than a thousand words--unless it's in response to a challenge or is one of my drabbles. I think drabbles are my biggest challenge; describing a scene so that it draws people in with such a limited amount of words is difficult for me, because I. Like. Words. All of my actual chaptered stories, I try to keep a minimum of a few thousand words. Some are longer. Some are a lot longer. As a reader, I'm pretty much the same in preference. I love longer chapters, longer stories, the intricacies and details that can be revealed in a well-written work. Knowing this about myself makes me more aware that I need to branch out periodically, though, and so occasionally I find myself reading short stories, drabbles, and poems. Some are absolute gems--like the drabble collection A Karakura Ghost Story by black.k.kat on FF. And some writers are just worth reading, whatever the length of story or whoever it's focused around. DG and Kurahieiritr are right: the length of a chapter should probably depend the most on the story flow, style, syntax, and how it reads--both as a standalone chapter and as part of the whole.

Very true, DG. Some writers spend time with additional elements outside of dialog and basic actions so require more room for their writing to flow well. I tend toward longer chapters, and yet I have a strong group of followers because of my descriptions and emotional keys. Without such keys, the stories I write would be very lame reading. Style and syntax play an important role in any story chapter written. The best styles for one writer do not transfer well to another writer's style. With that being said, a short story writer does well with a few words to bring out the most of those few words actions and impacts. Longer novel writers need more room to create complex woven descriptions and very realistic characters. It really does come down tot he flow and harmonics of a story and the requirements to pull off the most powerful and enjoyable form.

Hah, I WISH I had time for recreational reading. I sorely miss it.

The chapters for my Transformers Prime story really do average over 20k words and I get a lot of great reviews, no one has ever complained about them being too long. I know that long stories can be intimidating but I don't think that you should dismiss a story just because its long. I think you should check it out, and if the writing is good it will keep you so engrossed that you will be wishing it were longer. DG, I realize you must be immensely busy and its cool if you don't want to, but if you could get around to reading Transformers Prime the Truth Revealed; I would really appreciate your opinion. It's a love story between Jack and Arcee, with lots of original concepts I'm adding to the Transformers universe. There is smut but its woven into the story... mostly. Chapter 4 the smut is mostly for the readers but I'm trying to make sure that it doesn't detract from the story. If you do check it out please keep in mind that I don't have a bata and so there are likely to be some spelling errors, but not many.

As a reader, it depends on how the chapter flows. I've read very long chapters, and liked them just fine, and the same goes for short chapters. It really depends on how the chapter itself READS overall.

Prefered length depends heavily on how the chapter is written. If it's especially dialogue-heavy, or if it's over the top in description, I prefer under 4k, but if there's plenty of narrative, I'd rather see it closer to 5k. Balance is key, of course, but that's my general rule of thumb for preferences.

Some of my chapters hit the 5000 word range, about 11 pages. The people who like to read my chapters hate it if I write 3000, or 6 and a half pages or shorter, so I get yelled at. Then again, I think it all comes down to the specific writing style. My writing appeals to people who like character driven prose. A chapter will always reflect the values of the character. That will take a few extra sentences to make realistic. An introvert will have different type of chapter feel than an extrovert point of view will reflect. Most people do not write that way, so fewer words work for them. However, if I forget to ground the character inside every word, I am in huge trouble. ROFl.

I personally tend to write somewhere between 1,100 words to 3,000 words per chapter. But for reading, I like a variety but if it's going to end up being a small book per chapter (say between 9,000 words and over) I tend not to read it unless it's a really good story and one that I want to read. And It has to move on, be good. Or be a one shot. One of the two.

I like long and short chapters both as a reader and as a writer. IF the chapter is well written I can read 20 pages without a problem. . . . IF . . . it is poorly written, I can't stomach more than 1 page before I have to leave and look for something else. So long as the plot is advancing and the details support the development, I will stick with any number of pages. My problem with most really short chapters is the lack of details for my imagination to work correctly in the max enjoyment category. Leaving characters in a blank space is one thing I have seen many fan fiction writers do over the last few years. I would rather read an extra page that places them in a grounded area than founder as I do with those types of chapters.

Chapters I tend to try and keep under 6k. The one I'm currently writing is averaging at just under 2500. Short stories on the other hand are anywhere between 140 characters (twitfics for DD+DT) to well, the skies the limit!

Don't worry about it Mudblood. I was just being a bit silly.

Storyline development is fine, but something as long as my senior thesis isn't something I'm going to read unless it's in print. Babisko asked for opinions, I gave mine as a reader. Yours may differ. We're talking about reading online - that's my opinion.

As a reader, I don't like super long chapters. Anything that makes my scrollbar look thinner than a sheet of notebook paper (yep, I've seen 'em), is too long, and I'm not going to read it. Around 3000-5000 words is generally good, but it also depends on what you're writing about. Some subject don't lend themselves to superbly long chapters. While expounding on things can be good, sometimes more is just more. And I don't think under 1000 words always indicates it being rushed. The DD&DT bi-weekly challenge here in the forums requires the submission to be less than 1000 words. It can actually be quite a challenge to write a comprehensive piece that fulfills the requirements without making it feel rushed or forced.

No one has flamed me. Why? What am I doing wrong? (Fandom: Harry Potter, writes: mostly slash and especially chanslash, OTP: consensual Lucius/Draco, tends to get some hatred out of my system by writing noncon Draco/Hermione ...though dubcon Lucius/Harry is still so much better because mindfuck is love.) How to make readers really angry? Anyway, there is only one good flame in the whole world and sadly it doesn't work in Internet. It is "Burning this text would be an insult to fire."