Question for Novels/novellas writers

[LetsMisBehave]

I have two linked stories for which I had half-written follow-ups before realising that the historical backstory would take over the plot. I then realised the back story was more interesting than the original story.
I enjoy reading and writing Rashoman stories in which the participants more or less honestly regard the same situation very differently. I also enjoy reading and writing stories in which men and women react to their parents' actual or perceived hypocrisies or rebel against their certainties, and where people deal with their own economic realities or realise that they cannot count on having a long life.
Anyway, I have an outline for a series of interconnecting stories that will easily run to 200,000 words. The stories will involve at least seven main characters and take place in the UK between 1938 and at least late 1940. They have elements of first-time, non-consent/reluctance, erotic couplings, humour, group sex, mature, Loving Wives (well, really Loving Husbands, but hey ho), and even romance. It will probably need chapters where the erotica is very much a second player.
Logically, it belongs in Novels/Novella, but I would be grateful for tips on how to interest readers early on to give the longer story a chance. Do I make certain that there is some serious action on the first page of the first chapter? Do I have a character who appears in, say, the first four chapters and meets the others before going into multiple POVs?
Part of the reason for asking is that I appear to be a bad judge of what stories work best for readers.

 

[grey228]

I'd break it up into a series, so your individual stories function like chapters you can manage better.

 

[Bamagan]

I have two linked stories for which I had half-written follow-ups before realising that the historical backstory would take over the plot. I then realised the back story was more interesting than the original story.
I enjoy reading and writing Rashoman stories in which the participants more or less honestly regard the same situation very differently. I also enjoy reading and writing stories in which men and women react to their parents' actual or perceived hypocrisies or rebel against their certainties, and where people deal with their own economic realities or realise that they cannot count on having a long life.
Anyway, I have an outline for a series of interconnecting stories that will easily run to 200,000 words. The stories will involve at least seven main characters and take place in the UK between 1938 and at least late 1940. They have elements of first-time, non-consent/reluctance, erotic couplings, humour, group sex, mature, Loving Wives (well, really Loving Husbands, but hey ho), and even romance. It will probably need chapters where the erotica is very much a second player.
Logically, it belongs in Novels/Novella, but I would be grateful for tips on how to interest readers early on to give the longer story a chance. Do I make certain that there is some serious action on the first page of the first chapter? Do I have a character who appears in, say, the first four chapters and meets the others before going into multiple POVs?
Part of the reason for asking is that I appear to be a bad judge of what stories work best for readers.

I think you don't need to worry as much about having an early sex scene in that category, since the readers who choose to go there are presumably expecting to be in for a long haul in the first place. That being said, some kind of action is a good way to start things off in general, at least for many readers. It helps set the tone for what kind of erotica they can expect (or what they can't, if the erotic bits aren't the main element of the story).

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

I've written one novel length serial for the site, and I'm on my second one, with a third planned. One of the hardest parts for me is trying to make sure that I sprinkle enough sex scenes throughout the story to keep people interested and titillated as I get through the main plot areas. I started out with most of the chapters being based around one or two sex scenes with the plot being secondary, but by the time I get to the final couple of chapters, I find the plot taking over and the sex becoming secondary, but I still make sure that no matter what I have at least a one to one ratio of sex scenes and non-sex scenes, or else I'm worried I'll lose the audience.

I've had to use some contrivances - dream sequences, the filming of in-story porn shoots, and the like - to make that a reality, but that has been part of the fun.

I stuck with a traditional category, rather than going novels/novellas, and this was largely because I wanted more eyeballs, and that category seems really sleepy. I don't know if my stuff would work better over there or not, but it has been working okay where it is now.

Now, to be clear, I'm extremely new, even if I'm prolific, so your mileage may vary, but this is what has worked for me.

 

[Cagivagurl]

Having written both chaptered series and long stories, up to approx 100,000 words.
There's no magic solution. No one single thing that will make either work.
Having tried both, my preference is to post as a single story.
Lets face it, readers here are all adults and have normal attention / concentration spans. They can put it down and go back to it...
How to grab and hold the readers attention???
It's a good question, and again, for myself, it's not about sex... It's about story telling. Deep characters which I can connect with and feel what they feel.
I want to be able to imerse myself in the plot, see it through the authors eyes, feel their pain, or euphoria...
Make your characters interesting....
Make me want to turn the page...
Invite me into your tale...

If on the other hand, it's just a sex scene... Then I guess get to it...

I'm no expert, those are merely my thoughts.

 

[ronde]

Having written both chaptered series and long stories, up to approx 100,000 words.
There's no magic solution. No one single thing that will make either work.
Having tried both, my preference is to post as a single story.
Lets face it, readers here are all adults and have normal attention / concentration spans. They can put it down and go back to it...
How to grab and hold the readers attention???
It's a good question, and again, for myself, it's not about sex... It's about story telling. Deep characters which I can connect with and feel what they feel.
I want to be able to imerse myself in the plot, see it through the authors eyes, feel their pain, or euphoria...
Make your characters interesting....
Make me want to turn the page...
Invite me into your tale...

If on the other hand, it's just a sex scene... Then I guess get to it...

I'm no expert, those are merely my thoughts.

I have written two long stories as a series and both suffered a loss of reads over the three chapters. Now, I write single stories no matter the length. I think some readers don't like the time lapse between chapters if the story is posted as a series.

One of the best comments I've ever received was for a long story. The commenter said, "I thought it might be too long, but I couldn't stop reading."

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I currently have eleven stand-alone stories in Novel/Novellas, all as single long submissions and all of them having only implied sexual activity among the characters. All have a red H, with the average rating for the collective works being 4.8.

The point is, long stories work fine if they meet readers' expectations. Expectations that don't always include graphic sexual content.

Next is your expectations. Will you get thousands of views per day? Of course not. One of my stories, published 2 years ago still has only 898 views. However, it also has 619 votes, which is an amazing ratio of votes-per-view, and a rating of 4.84.

 

[LetsMisBehave]

Thanks for the replies. They were helpful. I will think further about the best way to tell the story I want to tell.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I currently have eleven stand-alone stories in Novel/Novellas, all as single long submissions and all of them having only implied sexual activity among the characters. All have a red H, with the average rating for the collective works being 4.8.

The point is, long stories work fine if they meet readers' expectations. Expectations that don't always include graphic sexual content.

Next is your expectations. Will you get thousands of views per day? Of course not. One of my stories, published 2 years ago still has only 898 views. However, it also has 619 votes, which is an amazing ratio of votes-per-view, and a rating of 4.84.

Totally agree. I have several stories in the 20K word range(Implying that might be a single chapter in your story). Some have sex in the first page, others not so much. One in particular doesn't have any sex until the last page and a half and it is right up there with the others on score; Red H and 87K views after three years.

Write a good story with engaging characters and you'll do fine.

 

[FidelityBoss]

I have two linked stories for which I had half-written follow-ups before realising that the historical backstory would take over the plot. I then realised the back story was more interesting than the original story.
I enjoy reading and writing Rashoman stories in which the participants more or less honestly regard the same situation very differently. I also enjoy reading and writing stories in which men and women react to their parents' actual or perceived hypocrisies or rebel against their certainties, and where people deal with their own economic realities or realise that they cannot count on having a long life.
Anyway, I have an outline for a series of interconnecting stories that will easily run to 200,000 words. The stories will involve at least seven main characters and take place in the UK between 1938 and at least late 1940. They have elements of first-time, non-consent/reluctance, erotic couplings, humour, group sex, mature, Loving Wives (well, really Loving Husbands, but hey ho), and even romance. It will probably need chapters where the erotica is very much a second player.
Logically, it belongs in Novels/Novella, but I would be grateful for tips on how to interest readers early on to give the longer story a chance. Do I make certain that there is some serious action on the first page of the first chapter? Do I have a character who appears in, say, the first four chapters and meets the others before going into multiple POVs?
Part of the reason for asking is that I appear to be a bad judge of what stories work best for readers.

That sounds like an ambitious and layered project. Hooking readers early is key, and starting with a compelling scene whether it’s tension, mystery, or an emotionally charged moment, can draw them in. If the story is character-driven, having one central character as a sort of anchor before branching into multiple POVs could help with reader investment. And hey, even if you’re unsure what works best for readers, as long as you are excited about the story, that passion will come through.

 

[FidelityBoss]

Having written both chaptered series and long stories, up to approx 100,000 words.
There's no magic solution. No one single thing that will make either work.
Having tried both, my preference is to post as a single story.
Lets face it, readers here are all adults and have normal attention / concentration spans. They can put it down and go back to it...
How to grab and hold the readers attention???
It's a good question, and again, for myself, it's not about sex... It's about story telling. Deep characters which I can connect with and feel what they feel.
I want to be able to imerse myself in the plot, see it through the authors eyes, feel their pain, or euphoria...
Make your characters interesting....
Make me want to turn the page...
Invite me into your tale...

If on the other hand, it's just a sex scene... Then I guess get to it...

I'm no expert, those are merely my thoughts.

If the characters feel real and the emotions hit, readers will stick around, whether it’s a single long piece or a chaptered series. Immersion matters more than format, and a strong narrative pull will always win out. And yeah, if it’s just about the spice, no need to overcomplicate just dive in!

 

[MillieDynamite]

Novels and Novellas are published as a completed work (though they can be part of a larger series). Don't publish individual chapters to Novels and Novellas.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Novels and Novellas are published as a completed work (though they can be part of a larger series). Don't publish individual chapters to Novels and Novellas.

There are hundreds of individual chapters posted in that category.

A quick look shows that a complete novel as a single submission is in fact, quite rare.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Novels and Novellas are published as a completed work (though they can be part of a larger series). Don't publish individual chapters to Novels and Novellas.

You can absolutely publish multiple chapters to N/N. Many are published that way. The best story I've read on lit so far was multiple submitted chapters to N/N. Whole story or chapters, there is no difference, no right or wrong.

Either way, people will click on your story and very few will read to the end. They will read the first hundred, or first thousand, or first couple of pages, or first chapter and quit it. If you post chapters, you will be able to tell by the views how many quit reading after one or two chapters. If you post whole story you won't be able to tell that.

Some people will claim that it's better to post chapters because it gives the reader bite sized bits to read a chapter per day on their lunch break at work or whatever. Others insist that readers prefer one large file. I have seen no hard evidence to support either argument whatsoever. Do what you like. I don't think that it matters.

I have two novellas posted here (one in N/N, one in Romance). Both are one large file. I could have done chapters but I didn't. I have plans for future stories to post as chapters. I just go by gut instinct.