Story length? Category? Etc.?

[glynndah]

I know this question probably belongs in the Author or Editor forum but there are a lot more people here and I can use your opinions. How long should a story be before you break it up into chapters? Mine is over four thousand words, (five pages) and the people involved are having lots of fun and I hate to interrupt them. Do I just write "to be continued" at the bottom and post it what I have so far or should I just let the story last as long as they do? If it makes any difference, it started out as a exhibitionist story but they're in a hotel room and I don't think anyone is watching them. Should I post it at the Exhibitionist/Voyeur category or go elsewhere. Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

[flawed_ethics]

Well, at 4000 words, you're lookning at about 1.5 Lit pages. If memory serves me correctly, the program used by Laurel cuts a story at about the 2500 word mark, give or take for paragraph retention and other little tidbits.

That's not terrible for a single chapter, but if there is meat to the story, I would imagine it being a bit longer. Just my humble opinion.

As far as breaking a story up into chapters, that's up to you. If you feel it deserves to be broken up and submitted as seperate story posts, go for it. Know that you can also submit it as one piece and still get some quality feedback. The only difference will be votes. Chapters will get more votes, and you'll be able to tell which chapters fared better. Something to keep in mind if you like numbers to stroke your ego.

I'm anticipating someone will correct me on the mechanics of optimal Lit formatting, so take my words with caution. Congrats on having fun in the writing process though!

 

[silverwhisper]

i haven't yet even submitted anything so don't know how many words constitutes 1 page, although given what flawed ethics said, it looks like it's right around the 3200 mark or so.

i think that you should create new chapters when the story decides that's where they go, personally. have you resolved some of the story thus far while at the same time giving yourself stuff to do in a following chapter?

ed

 

[Weird Harold]

Well, at 4000 words, you're lookning at about 1.5 Lit pages. If memory serves me correctly, the program used by Laurel cuts a story at about the 2500 word mark, give or take for paragraph retention and other little tidbits.

Actually, the last time I did a sampling, an average Lit page runs 3,767 words, +/- about 500 words.

A 4,000 word story should definitely NOT be broken into chapters because it's just barely long enough to BE a decent chapter.

Whether a longer story should be broken into chapters or episodes depends on the structure of the story -- a story works best in chapters if it is written in chapters with logical breaking points for "cliff-hanger" chapter endings to encourage readers to look for the next chapter.

A story that is written to build continuously to a single climactic conclusion (pun intended) works best as a single posting regardless of the length. A story that builds to several peaks in the tension or suspense is better suited to serialization in chapters or episodes.

In short, the answer is do what is the story is best suited for, because every story is different and the answer depends on the story.

Also, don't worry about story length until you hit 10,000 words or so (about 200KB in text format). 4,000 words is barely out of the "flash fiction" category into the "Short-short story" category by normal print publishers' standards.

 

[Ravin the Poet]

It depends what you are going for. I am writing small part series, which are about two pages long each, but they are meant to be that. If your doing a series, then anything is fine. If it's a book, then 4000 words seems about write for a chapter.


Ravin

 

[glynndah]

Thanks for all the advice. The story now seems to be the the prologue to a series of vignettes. I've left the woman kneeling on the arms of the chair and the man... Well, the next story is almost finished. It was much easier once I knew what the point of it all was. I'm now beginning work on part 3. Once again, thanks!