story length

[preternatural]

character development?

I'm waiting for my first story to get ok'd, it's all of 2 pages. I was kind of wary of spending too much time on character development, because I've noticed that the higher rated ones had very little of it. Is there a way to do the character thing without having your potential readers lowrate you or just tune out all together?

 

[sr71plt]

There really isn't any "everybody" or even "most people" to please on a site with the huge reader base this one has. Suggest you just write the story you want to write and be happy with the reader base you create with that.

 

[PacoFear]

I'm waiting for my first story to get ok'd, it's all of 2 pages. I was kind of wary of spending too much time on character development, because I've noticed that the higher rated ones had very little of it. Is there a way to do the character thing without having your potential readers lowrate you or just tune out all together?

I'm not sure which "higher rated ones" you're looking at. If you're looking at the same top lists I am, character development is a prerequisite. If you think about it, the folks who are coming for the quick sexual relief fix aren't hanging around to vote and comment afterwards. IMHO, it's the sentimental folks that are more willing to linger around long enough to give feedback.

Still, character development can be painful when it's done poorly. Here's a couple o' things I can think of off the top of my head to combat that...

1. Be as economical as possible.
2. Make the characters themselves interesting.
3. Sprinkle character details/observations around in your story, i.e, avoid the dreaded info dump.

There's bound to be better suggestions from the rest of the crowd here. Just thought I'd stoke the fire.

-PF

 

[_Lynn_]

I'm not sure which "higher rated ones" you're looking at. If you're looking at the same top lists I am, character development is a prerequisite. If you think about it, the folks who are coming for the quick sexual relief fix aren't hanging around to vote and comment afterwards. IMHO, it's the sentimental folks that are more willing to linger around long enough to give feedback.

Still, character development can be painful when it's done poorly. Here's a couple o' things I can think of off the top of my head to combat that...

1. Be as economical as possible.
2. Make the characters themselves interesting.
3. Sprinkle character details/observations around in your story, i.e, avoid the dreaded info dump.

There's bound to be better suggestions from the rest of the crowd here. Just thought I'd stoke the fire.

-PF

I agree with you, PF. Depending on the genre, character development makes the story.

 

[sr71plt]

I think the plot is primary to a story.

 

[Darkniciad]

The toplists are all heavily skewed by chapter stories, which trend toward more between the sex scenes.

If the topists were split into chaptered and 1-shot, you'd see a different picture where strokers with little to no story can score very highly, and often with vastly larger numbers of votes and favorites.

 

[_Lynn_]

I think the plot is primary to a story.

True. But weak character development doesn't help.

 

[shewantsmore]

If a story is well written and graps the readers attention then length does not always matter but of course the longer it is the more the reader can get into it

 

[preternatural]

thanks, everyone

for the varied and expanded answers. Maybe I was too worried about lengthening my story for no good reason. Again, thanks.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Current printed short story requirements ask for 20-27 pages. That's 3 to 4 Lit pages.

Size is not important (sorry SO). Colleen Thomas wrote a 29 lit-page sci-fi lesbian story that got huge readership and votes.

Recent contest winners seem to have stretched to 5-7 lit pages which gave them the chance to develop characters and plot.

I think Mistress Lynn puts her finger on the key point (sorry Paco). Erotica, just like all fiction, relies on character development to keep the reader turning pages. If you check out the top lists on Lit, in any category, character development - reacting to events -seems to get the best reaction, ignoring length.

 

[lovecraft68]

Current printed short story requirements ask for 20-27 pages. That's 3 to 4 Lit pages.

Size is not important (sorry SO). Colleen Thomas wrote a 29 lit-page sci-fi lesbian story that got huge readership and votes.

Recent contest winners seem to have stretched to 5-7 lit pages which gave them the chance to develop characters and plot.

I think Mistress Lynn puts her finger on the key point (sorry Paco). Erotica, just like all fiction, relies on character development to keep the reader turning pages. If you check out the top lists on Lit, in any category, character development - reacting to events -seems to get the best reaction, ignoring length.

I agree. The all time incest story is 42 lit pages long and has a 4.89 rating on over 4K votes.

If you can keep them interested people will read and vote well. It is insulting to think every one here has add or only reads until they get off.

I did back to back chapters in my series that were both 8 lit pages long, with no sex at all, and in the notorious stroke incest category. Both chapters are better than 4.8.

Write as long as you want. There's an audience for everything here.

In fact, my personal taste as a reader is to look for longer stories. One lit page stories are of no interest to me, I like decent build up and a sex scene that's more than three paragraphs.

I also notice the writers who brag about how prolific they are, are mostly turning out 3k stroke pieces that take no effort whatsoever. When I see a longer piece I have more respect for that author, whether they deliver or not.

 

[trigudis]

Word Length

I do believe that the minimum is 700 words and I am currently attempting to locate the policy that states this. Just saying. Fifty words is miniscule, a few lengthy sentences.

The minimum is 750 words. My work in progress is about 1500 words and counting. I don't want to go over 5,000. Attention spans aren't what they used to be.

 

[Klinsing]

Tone

I actually find tone to be most important in a story and that can be conveyed effectively sometimes in very short stories, and sometimes not at all in longer stories. I think reading back over to see what's working is going to be a good guide and adjusting with additional or different content. Not that I always follow that myself, but it's a goal.

 

[EquinoxRising]

Wow! You bumped a 2012 thread! Must have been bored to find this in the archives.

 

[FemLedRelAdv]

I'm glad Klinsing did.

I'm a first time author going through the volunteer editing at the moment.

I found these discussion point very relevant to me as my story turned out to be ~25K words. I'm now looking at creating some chapters I suppose.

 

[oggbashan]

One thing that should be noted is that there is a 750-word (I think) minimum for prose on this site. Shorter submissions will be bounced. I'm sure somebody can correct me if I got the specific number wrong.

You're correct regarding story submissions. The minimum is 750 words.

I do believe that the minimum is 700 words and I am currently attempting to locate the policy that states this. Just saying. Fifty words is miniscule, a few lengthy sentences.

Sometimes I write 50 word stories. Originally I posted them as Poetry which has NO minimum word limit.

But now I post them in sets of 15. 50 words x 15 = 750 words (and a few more for my copyright notice and the titles).

I have written a couple of How-Tos on writing 50 word stories and plotting flash fiction.

https://www.literotica.com/s/how-to-write-a-fifty-word-story

https://www.literotica.com/s/how-to-plot-flash-fiction

Non-erotic version for use off Literotica:

https://www.literotica.com/s/fifty-words-how-to

 

[Klinsing]

EquinoxRising -- it was the topic that caught my attention, an interesting one - so didn't notice the date of the last post. I tend to view these forums as truly asynchronous conversations - stretching out over time.

 

[sr71plt]

EquinoxRising -- it was the topic that caught my attention, an interesting one - so didn't notice the date of the last post. I tend to view these forums as truly asynchronous conversations - stretching out over time.

I think ER failed to see that the last post was in 2015, not 2012.

 

[David_C]

I wrote a story and broke it into 4 parts. I noticed that the readership got less with each part, even though they were all awarded a 'HOT' symbol.
Pt 1 8529 4.80
Pt 2 5559 4.76
Pt 3 5185 4.84
Pt 4 4087 4.88

In future I think that I will try one long story. If there are 4 or 5 sexual episodes it should keep people interested - or am I naïve?

 

[AlinaX]

Interesting thread this. A conversation oft repeated in Authors' Hangout over the years.

Declining readership is a well known trend for series. Effectively you're reducing the number of speculative reads, so that those reading later chapters are mostly readers who have read earlier chapters and enjoyed them. This is not a bad thing, really, but can be a little disheartening from the author's perspective - especially in categories where the readership is relatively low.

Regarding story length... my feeling as both reader and author is that anything much less than a Lit page (3750 words) is likely to be unsatisfying. (That said, I have several stories or chapters that are in the 2750-3750 range that do okay.) Three Lit pages is a nice target length, being effectively a 10k novelette.

There are certainly readers who will jump ship at the sight of a story going over about seven Lit pages, but there are also readers who will thoroughly enjoy these.

 

[WillyBoyIsHere]

I am redrafting a story... 16,030 words. Is that an acceptable length? There are 4 main sex scenes in it.
I have tried to set a background so the characters have some depth.

 

[AlinaX]

Length is fine.

 

[NewOldGuy77]

Length is fine.

Agreed. I think my longest is 27k words or so. It's my impression that the threshold for the Novels and Novellas category is 40K.

 

[AlinaX]

Not sure there is a threshold there. My one entry in N&N is about 40k, however.

 

[TheRedChamber]

Agreed. I think my longest is 27k words or so. It's my impression that the threshold for the Novels and Novellas category is 40K.

I think 40k is the industry standard absolute minimum for something to be considered a novel. Since the Lit category also includes novellas, you're absolutely fine, I assume.