Advice

[Guest Agaib]

Right now I have a work in progress that I plan on making into a two part story. The first part of the story can more or less be seen as a complete story without the need for an extension. For that matter, the second part can also. Unfortunately I'm at a loss on what to do. The second part of My story will have a different content warning from the first so I feel it's unfair to the readers to merely put it on the same story post.

On the other hand, I want more people to read My story and I feel as if I could alienate potential readers by posting it as a seperate story on AFF. I'm unsure exactly how dependant the second part of the story will seem to a reader on the first part.

So in the end My question is... Should a post a two part story as a single story on AFF or as two different story posts on AFF. Why or why not?

EDIT: In Case someone wants to know what story I'm talking about, you can click on the link to My author profile, the story I'm talking about is the one titled The House

[StoryJunkie]

Go for two.

I noticed on fanfiction, where you can actually see how many hits you get per chapter, the farther a reader goes into a story, the fewer hits you get. So, it would follow, using that logic, that the more chapters you have, the fewer hits to the end.

A couple of other factors, to my thinking are these:

A lot of people come to the site and read whatever random story that comes up. Nine out of 10 times, it'll probably be a puerile one.

Another reason that people visit the site is that they know someone who is a writer here and will look them up.

So, to sum up: short attention span.

Motive is selfish

short attention span.

I made up a really long fantasy, which I enjoyed emensely, so I didn't care enough to ask the question that you are so thoughtfully posing. I think the longest a story might be on this format, is probably 18 chapters. (Depending on the length of the chapter of course, I figure 4 - 6 pages each).

That's my opinion. Maybe I'm wrong, but that seems to be the way of it. Just ask yourself, when you read a story and you click on the drop-down chapter menu, do you leave if you see it more than 10 chapters?

[NightScribe]

Another reason that people visit the site is that they know someone who is a writer here and will look them up.

If people have been reading your stories and digging them, they'll definitely keep an eye out for other works. And as StoryJunkie said, you can keep track of your hits a little better.

I initially set out to write a trilogy, but it became a five part saga. Rather than post them all in one story, I've broken it into five separate ones. In my description/synopsis thing, I'd say "prequel to" or "sequel to" the first one. Old readers came back and new ones took a look, I can see the hits have gone up with each story. If I was posting it all as one, the final chapter total would be like sixty chapters or more. I put an author's note in each successive story and say it's a continuation of blah, blah, blah.

I made up a really long fantasy, which I enjoyed emensely, so I didn't care enough to ask the question that you are so thoughtfully posing. I think the longest a story might be on this format, is probably 18 chapters. (Depending on the length of the chapter of course, I figure 4 - 6 pages each).

My first three stories ran about 2,000 words a chapter, maybe 12 or 13 chapters. My fourth installment is a monster. Approximately 5,000 words for most chapters and the final chapter total will be 27. It was a conscious decision, but it's killing me (2-1/2 chapters left to go, thank God!) and possibly killing readers, but no one's complained yet. Still, I don't think I'd ever do it again, people do have short attention spans.

[Guest Serenanna]

I've been debating this same thing with my growing series of FMA fanfiction. I wrote the first one as a one shot, the second as a short multi-chapter, and the third as a long one shot, and the fourth as my multi-chapter epic (heh). It didn't occur to me till an off-site review suggested that I collect the first three into one multi chapter epic since they all exist in the same narrative thread/world.

But I am hesitant to do that since they can stand on their own, and they all have different pairings and content warnings.

If your second story can be read without having to read the all of the first, and has different warnings, then seperate them and make the notes in the opening clear on their relation to one another.

If it is a clear continuation that cannot stand on it's own, then forget about it and just post them as one.

It's sometimes like movie sequals. To use examples, you can watch any part of the Star Wars movies and have a finished story in one movie with a satisfying ending, but if you watch Matrix Reloaded (no comment), the story is obviously not over and not finished without seeing Revolutions (no comment). Does that help put things into perspective?

>.> And on the comment of chapter length, 4 to 6 pages? Am I wrong or old school for writing chapters and one shots that cap out at like 20 to 35 pages on Word? I've have a few complaints about it, but reigned it in on my lasted to try and keep it between 10 and 20 pages a chapter . . . still pretty bad?

Sere

[NightScribe]

Sereanna,

Regarding the chapter length. I think it depends. A friend of mine from a hundred years ago used to have an expression when they didn't want a long explanation; "just keep it terse and pithy." That always cracked me up and I tried to write chapters that way. Not terse, necessarily, but short and sweet, stick to the point. It doesn't always serve the best interests of the work, though.

I remember reading some really good stories on another site (that author was awesome), but one of them was just one long chapter that never ended and I lost interest. I felt he could have broken it into maybe three or four, there were plenty of opportunities where he could have, but I think he did it as a one-shot challenge.

I try to make each chapter a little story in itself, so readers don't drift away, I want them to come back for the next. It's tricky sometimes, you've got to find the right cut off point without losing the integrity of whatever's going on. Which makes me ask, why the hell do we do this to ourselves? We must be masochists.

[StoryJunkie]

Pithy. Mmmm.

er, about the pages. I've written chapters as short as 1 page, so...I'm a liar. I think I just meant that other one I worked on.

However, the House is an excellent story, and I look forward to whatever you decide to do.

[Guest Serenanna]

Ok, then I'm either a freak of nature with the reading patience of a saint, or . . . very very old. I remember on the Sakura Lemon Archive (showing my internet age again), most of the stories just went on and on and on in each chapter, but most of them were great back then, and had substantial chucks of plot between substantial lemon scenes. Since then, I must be stuck in that mode of reading and writing, which is probably why the drabble stuff doesn't appeal to me too much. Never could read or write short stories either. Overhaul is the shortest I've written at only 20 pages in Word with 1 inch margins, but it's still about 12,000 words total.

You know, now that I think about it, most of the stuff back then were also fanboy written materials that went on and on . . .

I'm not going to think too hard on that one.

I guess it's a case of whatever floats one's boat. What works for one author doesn't work for another.

Sere

[Guest yamsham]

Ok, then I'm either a freak of nature with the reading patience of a saint, or . . . very very old. I remember on the Sakura Lemon Archive (showing my internet age again), most of the stories just went on and on and on in each chapter, but most of them were great back then, and had substantial chucks of plot between substantial lemon scenes. Since then, I must be stuck in that mode of reading and writing, which is probably why the drabble  stuff doesn't appeal to me too much. Never could read or write short stories either. Overhaul is the shortest I've written at only 20 pages in Word with 1 inch margins, but it's still about 12,000 words total.

I've noticed this too. I posted something on ffn not too long ago. The chapters were between 4,000 and 5,000 words. Not terribly long in my opinion. But one of the reviews said I should make them shorter. I thought "WTF?!" Then I looked at some other stories in that section. Chapters were running 500 to, at most, 1500 words, and the authors were apologizing about the latter in ANs. 500 words is a micro-shorty to me. One of the first fanfics I read when I started getting into it ran 90,000 words in two parts. And the author explained she only broke it in two because the NG couldn't handle it any other way. It was meant to be read as one 90k word story.

Off the top of my head, some other stories I read way back when:

40 chapters, plus a couple of interludes. Average length per chapter, 20k words.

80,000 word story. No chapters.

One story was in four parts. I don't remember the word count, but the text file of the first part was 1.5 megs. The file size of 90,000 word fanfic I mentioned earlier was about 400k, so the first part of this one must have been about 200,000 words.

And these weren't bloated stories. They were tight and well-plotted. I did read stories with shorter chapters, but as a preference, I started to believe 10,000 words was a good length for a solid chapter.

If a writer were to post a story like that on ffn now, I doubt it would get any reviews beyond "Too long, didn't read, zzzzzz..." I find all this kind of weird. I used to skip stories with shortish chapters. I didn't think they could be any good. And now that's pretty much what a lot of authors are writing. I don't get it.

[Guest lightgoddess]

I think chapter length depends on the story and how much is actually going on. When I write, I actually think in chapters. I used to think that 1,500 words was a good size for a chapter, but as I've written more fanfics, I think that for a short story (12,000 to 18,000 words) about 3,000 words a chapter is good. For longer more epic stories, longer chapters I think are a must. Personally, I wouldn't want to read 72 chapters at about 1,000 words each. I'd get bored going from chapter to chapter because I read so fast...

As far as ffnazi.net, I do not post there. I was 'warned' that a G rated story of mine (that I posted at about 4 other sites) did not have a high enough rating at ffnazi.net. WTF?? So, I removed all of my stories and basically said the site was full of story nazis and left a link to the story I was 'warned' about. lol It appears that I should be glad I did because I prefer to write chapters no shorter than 3,000 words. For my longer fics, I tend to do about 10k words per chapter (give or take), and my readers rarely will say that it's not enough or too much.

I think that if the story is going to be a long one, longer chapters are wise, but if it's less than 70 or so pages, short chapters are okay.

[Guest Ertia]

The real question is-

Can both parts stand on their own as a complete work?

If so, then you have two shorter stories.

If not, then it's best to figure out how to combine them into one longer work.

I tend to read on my lunchbreaks and between cooking dinner and doing laundry, so I'm always looking for the 3000-5000 word pieces. Something I can gobble down in under an hour.

I know some people who would rather encapsulate themselves into a longer work, and let it consume them for days on end.

I'm using alot of eating analogies tonight. I think the diet thing is getting to me.

[Guest Melody Fate]

I've noticed this too. I posted something on ffn not too long ago. The chapters were between 4,000 and 5,000 words. Not terribly long in my opinion. But one of the reviews said I should make them shorter.

*Snorts* and I'm just the oposite. I really hate all these people who write these stories where the entire story or every chapter is like three paragraphs. If I can see the whole chapter in my browser, without having to page/scroll down, then it's pretty likely I'm not going to bother.

I write some godawful long chapters, I admit it. I did get a couple complaints in email, my opinion was "That's a matter of choice, and I chose to have longer chapters. You now can chose or not chose to read the story."

Critism is a wonderful thing, but some critics need to remember there is a high difference between opinion and fact. Bad spelling and poor grammar is a fact. Someone's chapters being considered too long / too short is an opinion.

[Guest yamsham]

I really hate all these people who write these stories where the entire story or every chapter is like three paragraphs. If I can see the whole chapter in my browser, without having to page/scroll down, then it's pretty likely I'm not going to bother.

And then they write, "plz rr my maganim opos, lololololo1111." Whatever.

Another trend I've noticed is that a lot of people seem to have a very loose interpretation about the length of a novel. 30,000 words (in 25 chapters, no less ) isn't a novel-length manuscript. It's a novella or perhaps a novelette, but not a novel. Maybe they've just never heard the term before, but I always liked it. Some of my favorite pro stories are of that length.

Novella. It's cute, don't you think? It's like the little short story that could.

[Guest Melody Fate]

Novella. It's cute, don't you think? It's like the little short story that could.

NaNoWriMo hasn't helped that. They talk about writing a 50 thousand words "Novel" in a month, and that's not really a novel.

Steven King has a rant about the land of Novella, compairing it to a sleezy south American country. It's in the back of one of his collections of stories... I wish I could remember which one, because it's pretty funny.

[Guest yamsham]

Steven King has a rant about the land of Novella, compairing it to a sleezy south American country.  It's in the back of one of his collections of stories... I wish I could remember which one, because it's pretty funny.

It's in "Different Seasons," and he was referring to the marketability of the mainstream novella at that time (1982). It fell into a literary No Man's Land. There were no magazines publishing them (probably still aren't).

It's ironic you mention it, though. One of my favorite novellas is "The Body." After King's gone, even if everything else he's ever done is forgotten, I think that's a story that will be reevaluated as a true 20th century classic by literary critics.

And thanks for forcing me to get off my ass and pull that down off the shelf. It's been years since I read it. Think it's about time for a refresher.