Some questions from a Newbie

[Pedals2003]

I submitted a story, thinking it would be a one off. As such, it had a relatively long title. It has how changed into a series. The problem is, I know how to change the title, to add a CH.01 by adding EDITED but because of the title length it won't fit. Is there a solution? I'm about to submit Ch.04 but have to just put 4. I presume the mods. are changing it for publication.

CH.05 is now at 51,000 words and not complete. The previous chapters were about 4000. Ch.05 is a continuation of the scenario (beyond the time frame of the first four) but written from the perspective of a different protagonist. Do I publish as CH.05 as part of the series? Or is there a way of creating a link between the two, if I publish it as a novella? Thanks

 

[ElectricBlue]

I submitted a story, thinking it would be a one off. As such, it had a relatively long title. It has how changed into a series. The problem is, I know how to change the title, to add a CH.01 by adding EDITED but because of the title length it won't fit. Is there a solution? I'm about to submit Ch.04 but have to just put 4. I presume the mods. are changing it for publication.

CH.05 is now at 51,000 words and not complete. The previous chapters were about 4000. Ch.05 is a continuation of the scenario (beyond the time frame of the first four) but written from the perspective of a different protagonist. Do I publish as CH.05 as part of the series? Or is there a way of creating a link between the two, if I publish it as a novella? Thanks

Don't worry about the first chapter, it can stay with no chapter number.

Provided the remaining chapters are numbered:

Very long title Ch.02
Very long title Ch.03
Very long title Ch.04 etc

the site's auto-chaptering system will join everything together.

Chapter length is irrelevant.

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

You can ask the Admin to add the chapter numbers in when you post the next one, or if you try to edit the old one to add them in if they're too long. I've had to do that with my Character Guides and both of those requests were honored. Just request it in the 'notes to admin' section.

 

[StillStunned]

Or create the series manually and add whichever stories you want.

 

[Pedals2003]

Great, thanks for the advice, all. Still currently writing the 50,000 word epic. Don't want to stop while the inspiration is with me.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Laurel has always been great at changing titles when requested. The system limits on characters in a titles can be overwritten by her or Manu.

 

[Bamagan]

I submitted a story, thinking it would be a one off. As such, it had a relatively long title. It has how changed into a series. The problem is, I know how to change the title, to add a CH.01 by adding EDITED but because of the title length it won't fit. Is there a solution? I'm about to submit Ch.04 but have to just put 4. I presume the mods. are changing it for publication.

CH.05 is now at 51,000 words and not complete. The previous chapters were about 4000. Ch.05 is a continuation of the scenario (beyond the time frame of the first four) but written from the perspective of a different protagonist. Do I publish as CH.05 as part of the series? Or is there a way of creating a link between the two, if I publish it as a novella? Thanks

I think, if it was me, I would publish it separately, with a slightly different title, rather than call it chapter five of the existing story. Chaptered works both attract and repel certain different types of readers. It's an oversimplification, but one of the draws of chaptered stories is that each chapter tends to be relatively short, often something that can be read easily in one sitting, so to speak. A fifth chapter that's three or four times longer than the other four combined might not be attractive to those readers. That's on top of the fact that most chaptered works show a decline in views as the story progresses. You're obviously putting a lot of work into the next installment, so I can imagine it would be very disheartening if it gets published and gets much less engagement than the earlier ones, which is almost a foregone conclusion for a fifth chapter. That being said, if your perspective is that you're writing principally for yourself, secondarily for those people who are already fans, and everyone else is an afterthought, then it doesn't matter much which route you take.

In practical terms, as @StillStunned mentioned, you can manually create a series of stories with completely different names. You can also include HTML links to your other stories in the text (or pretty much any other page that's hosted by Literotica), so if you release Ch. 5 as a standalone you can easily refer interested readers to what sounds like the prologue to your upcoming work.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I think, if it was me, I would publish it separately, with a slightly different title, rather than call it chapter five of the existing story.

@Pedals2003 I'd echo this. Sounds to me like your current "chapter" has got a life of its own, so I'd submit it as a standalone story.

Don't assume that folk coming into it will need to know what's gone on before, that the build up to this 50k story is essential. It isn't, and it won't be. If your writing is strong enough, a 50k story should be able to stand on its own two feet.

Sure, it can relate to previous stories, and dedicated fans will see that, but the random new reader won't care. But if you publish it as Chapter 5 of something else, it's going to get lost, that's for sure. Give it a separate title - and it might even end up being chaptered itself - will give it more of a chance.

 

[YmaOHyd]

If it's 50,000 words and it's a continuation of an existing story with a different protagonist, I'd either submit it as ten 5,000-word chapters to the existing story or as an independent work. I would not publish it as Chapter 5 of the existing story. I think if I'd gotten used to two-page chapters from the perspective of Character A and the next chapter was fifteen pages long from the perspective of Character B, I'd dip out of the story completely unless I was really invested.