Your experiences writing / reading a series

[Djmac1031]

Thought this might be a fun topic to discuss, our experiences writing a series, reading one, or both.

When I started writing The Jenna Arrangement way back in August of 2021, I had no idea it would run 30 chapters. Hell, I had no idea it would actually become a series. It was only my third story and the only reason I'd added “Pt. 01” to the title was because I'd had so much fun writing the story and characters, especially Jenna, that I knew I wanted to write more about her.

Reader feedback of course encouraged me to continue. It seemed Jenna had struck a chord with them just as she'd done with me.

Problem was, I had no game plan, no outline. And no Endgame in mind. And so I continued in the only way I knew how, one small chapter at a time.

I did eventually at least set a few goals: to have the action, romance, sex etc ramp up with each chapter, while keeping the setting firmly where I established it in E/V. And so each new chapter became a new E/V adventure for the characters while also developing their relationship.

Of course over time I watched the readership numbers dwindle, and quickly understood that's just the norm, especially the longer a series continues. Even if the quality still holds up, there comes a point where some readers simply move on.

But those who stayed remained loyal and invested. And so I kept it going. Probably longer than I should have, but I regret none of it.

I do know when I finally decided to officially end the series that it had simply run its course and it was just time to retire it.

That said I also realized I'd left a lot of things unfinished, things I'd teased or set up but never paid off.

But ultimately I decided the series needed a final chapter and that if I decided to write about these characters again in the future (and I already have) that I could leave the series open-ended enough to do so.

And so in April of 2025 I published The Jenna Arrangement Pt. 30, the final chapter.

The series is still among my most popular stories; I've lost count how many times I've seen a new reader add Part 1 to Favorites then quickly move through the rest of the series. Im sure you all agree, that's a great feeling.

So is the feedback I still get on it. Readers still reach out to me to tell me how much they've fallen in love with Jenna. And that blows my mind, that she's become something to them, that they love reading about her as much as I did writing about her.

So... that's my experience with my series. I'd love to hear yours. How you approached it, how readers responded, whether it's still drawing an audience, etc.

Or if there's a series you enjoyed reading and wanna talk about what you enjoyed about it, you can do that too.

 

[Djmac1031]

Ah what the hell, I'm in a talkative mood.

I learned a LOT while writing the Jenna series. The differences and limitations in writing 1st Person VS 3rd Person. How to develop character arcs and growth. Writing dialog. LOTS of dialog.

Oh and how to write descriptions of clothing. Turns out it's really difficult for a guy to write a lengthy scene of two young women trying on clothing... who knew?

Writing the series truly helped me develop my voice as a writer. And I eventually learned the importance of plotting and looking ahead at where a story is going.

I experimented a lot as if went on, made plenty of mistakes along the. way too. I look back at some early stuff I wrote and cringe .

But still, Im very grateful to the series for what it taught me, and for the experiences I've had talking with its fans.

 

[StillStunned]

Nice post, and an interesting insight.

Me, I have several series, at least according to Lit's definition. Most of them are stand-alone instalments featuring the same characters. Those were never originally intended as series, but after the first story ("Too Cold Not to Fuck", "Flesh for Fantasy", "Lily In the Springtime", "Rulk the Rat and the Demon Dagger") I felt there was more to tell about the characters or the setting.

In most cases, I added a few more instalments and then decided I was done. Nobody's ever complained. With "Flesh for Fantasy" there was some closure, with the characters deciding to live together and adopt a kitten, but "My Little Sister Sal" and "Loving Lily" just ended when I got bored.

Others are still ongoing. Sometimes I mark them as "completed" because all the stories are self-contained and readers don't have to worry about being left hanging. I'll add to them as and when I have inspiration and discipline to finish a new story with those characters ("The Rivals") or in that setting ("City of Scum"). It's nice to have established characters and worlds to revisit.

The only two series that I embarked on to tell a complete tale over multiple chapters are "Dungeon of Desire" and "The Dome". Both times I've struggled. I hate plotting - once I know how the story's going to end, I lose interest. I managed to complete "DoD" in the end, but it took forever. "Dome" has been languishing with no new chapters for more than a year, although lately I've been feeling more interested in picking it up again.

The diminishing readership doesn't help, either. If I already know how the tale will end, and nobody else seems interested, there's little motivation to write it out.

So all things considered, I generally prefer connected stories featuring the same characters or setting over sequential chapters that tell a single story.

 

[Djmac1031]

My Little Sister Sal" and "Loving Lily" just ended when I got bored.

Yeah I had that happen with a couple of early series. In retrospect it should have left them as stand alone stories.

I hate plotting - once I know how the story's going to end, I lose interest.

I hate it too. Not because I lose interest. But because its hard.

So all things considered, I generally prefer connected stories featuring the same characters or setting over sequential chapters that tell a single story.

Yeah I've gone that route myself, most notably my Angels And Demons stories.

 

[Statius]

My Analea series. An elf/ orc love story, ambitious for a first time writer. What a pain in the ass that was. I started chapter by chapter; completed 7. Doing a re-read I found so many continuity errors and grammatical errors, typos, I decided to pull the whole thing. Problem was I didn't know how to pull a story for edit, so I retitled it, rewrote, and finished the whole damn thing; took the better part of a year to do. After getting all 16 parts published under the new title I had the original deleted. The thing that disappointed me was I put it under N/N, because of the length ( this was before I knew of the AH, so I had no idea how to ask anyone anything), and although vastly improved, the reads/ clicks and votes, favorites, are less than half of what they were when the original was in Non Human. Regardless I'm proud of the accomplishment, proud of the rewrite; I still like the story and the characters and think it reads relatively well.

It does beg the question for me, though what to do with my next long project which is an actual novel and where to put it if/ when I complete it ( also dealing with non human entities in a human world- also heavily reliant on 3 different mythologies).

 

[Voboy]

One of my first stories here was a three-parter. I did it that way because I was inexperienced and thought that was the right way to do it, and it did fine. But generally, even though nearly all my stories are interconnected, I do very few direct sequels/series.

My one big series was an SF piece. It began as a one-off for a writer event, and when I finished I found I loved the characters and settings so much that I wrote another. And then another. I had no plan for how long it should be, and I often left very long gaps between chapters. Eventually I started to feel pressure to get more chapters written, and even though I still enjoyed the stories, it became more of a grind and less of a joy.

But the readers stayed with me. Each chapter got about 2k views, no matter how long I made them wait. I was gratified by the series' reception; I won a couple of monthly contests, even. And I still loved the character.

Eventually, about 10 chapters in (I think there's 14?), I plotted out an ending and started working toward it. I brought it to an end and left it there; almost immediately, the views on all the chapters started to climb. I'm very happy I did it.

I resolved that if I ever wrote another, I'd finish the whole thing before posting. I think I've got 4/5 chapters done; the last might never get finished, and I'm not sure how good the story is anyway.

As a reader, I generally avoid series. It seems like too big a commitment for me. I'll sometimes dip into a 2- or 3-parter, but all the writers here who do 20 or 30 chapters are never going to get my views.

 

[Djmac1031]

And then another. I had no plan for how long it should be, and I often left very long gaps between chapters

that sounds familiar.

 

[dirk2024]

As a reader, I don't mind starting a series because if I like one, I'll probably like most/all of them and it saves me from having to search for more stories. I do prefer already written series as it can be tough waiting for a couple of months for a new chapter, but, I do read series that are in current production.

One series that is in current production is written by @RoyalAuthor and is called A Model Romance. It's in Erotic Couplings and features a man and woman who meet at Disneyland and start a torrid love affair. The series is "done" but a secondary series with the same characters/situation has started and is called A Model Engagement.

I also like Harem and SciFi stories and this one by @BreakTheBar is fun. Font of Fertility It features a young man who wakes up to find he is a Sex God, one of two, who long with other magical individuals, oversee the magical goings-on of our planet. BtB has several series that I enjoy, another one being The OF Girl. Another Harem story, this one in the E&V category, features three college students who spend the summer interning at a prestigious law firm. One is an Only Fans woman, then there is another woman and a man. There is a lot of story, along with a lot of sex.

One thing about series that I don't like, is when an author won't end them when it's time. I was reading one, that I won't mention, that was a SciFi story. The problem that sometimes crops up is an author feels compelled to make the story ever more fantastical in an effort to maintain readership. The problem is the story inevitably jumps the shark, when my willing suspension of disbelief can no longer be suspended. I read 24 chapters of this story before I had to bail as it was no longer plausible.


I am working on my own series, sort of. It will be in SciFi. I have three chapters mostly done. My plan is to write twelve and publish them altogether. We'll see how that works out...eventually...one day.

 

[Djmac1031]

One thing about series that I don't like, is when an author won't end them when it's time.

Ive had a few people tell me my Jenna series went on too long. So do the view / votes numbers, being honest.

The problem that sometimes crops up is an author feels compelled to make the story ever more fantastical in an effort to maintain readership. The problem is the story inevitably jumps the shark

that's a problem we see in not just LE erotica, but all forms of mainstream media. Eventually even the best series can become played out or caricatures of what they once were.

 

[NuclearFairy]

I have a chaptered story. The first story I successfully wrote. I broke it into six chapter segments and posted it like that. In hindsight, I think I should've gone for shorter or longer segments. Maybe posted it all in one block, but then if I'd done that I probably wouldn't have gotten as many votes on it.

I also have several related stories that I'm still debating with myself on whether or not to pull them into a series. They're complete stand alone stories, but related. I just don't know.

 

[Djmac1031]

They're complete stand alone stories, but related. I just don't know.

I have several stories like that in the Angels and Demons universe; my goal with most of them was to write them in a way that didn't require readers to have read anything already published that took place in that universe.

its not easy to do.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Everything I have written here is in a series, but only a few of them fit the Ch. 01, Ch. 02… paradigm. I have ‘series’ that are only thematically linked: e.g. Attempts At Serious Stories, or Little Emily Dreams. I have stand alone stories which feature subsets of the same group of characters: e.g. my half of the Angels & Demons stories I collabed with @Djmac1031 on.

Coleoidphila is broadly a short novel (62k words) in three chapters, but the first episode was very much stand-alone.

My actual novel, The Story of Nix, I split into six parts a) as each was at a different location (and sometimes with different cast members) and b) I stuck to around 15k words for each part as I was scared about overwhelming people. But I finished the whole thing before publishing; over six days.

My actual series are few and far between. The Kiss, Teaching Eden, and A Good Girl Gone Bad. None of them are that long, all of them ones I listed have six parts. I’ve never done a 20 chapter series. All of these I adopted a write / publish, write / publish approach for. Though I had an idea about the ending when I started.

I’ve more or less stopped writing series and gravitated toward novelettes and novella.

 

[NuclearFairy]

I have several stories like that in the Angels and Demons universe; my goal with most of them was to write them in a way that didn't require readers to have read anything already published that took place in that universe.

its not easy to do.

I think I've pulled it off with my squid guy stories! And, my unpublished half-elf/orc stories(I just want to write one more story about that group before publishing.). The other ones though, revolve around a central theme rather than reusing the same characters, so I don't need to work at it as hard with those.

 

[Erozetta]

I've only posted one series here (not currently up because I haven't reuploaded anything other than audio poems from when I deleted my account.) I should've released it as a single story. I was led to believe a work of 30k+ should be broken up, I've since learned better.

It was an I/T dad/daughter story that ended up being the story someone referenced when they contacted me to ask for a commission, so it couldn't have been that bad, lol. The entire premise was daughter's best friend is taken in by father and mother. Mother dies not long after. Then a few years later the best friend sets things in motion to get the father, the best friend, and daughter together.

I think if I were to do a series again, I'd rather it be a chain story or at least something episodic rather than linear.

As far as reading series.... My TBR of one offs is already in the hundreds... I cannot get into a series right now, lol.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Everything I have written here is in a series, but only a few of them fit the Ch. 01, Ch. 02… paradigm. I have ‘series’ that are only thematically linked: e.g. Attempts At Serious Stories, or Little Emily Dreams. I have stand alone stories which feature subsets of the same group of characters: e.g. my half of the Angels & Demons stories I collabed with @Djmac1031 on.

Coleoidphila is broadly a short novel (62k words) in three chapters, but the first episode was very much stand-alone.

My actual novel, The Story of Nix, I split into six parts a) as each was at a different location (and sometimes with different cast members) and b) I stuck to around 15k words for each part as I was scared about overwhelming people. But I finished the whole thing before publishing; over six days.

My actual series are few and far between. The Kiss, Teaching Eden, and A Good Girl Gone Bad. None of them are that long, all of them ones I listed have six parts. I’ve never done a 20 chapter series. All of these I adopted a write / publish, write / publish approach for. Though I had an idea about the ending when I started.

I’ve more or less stopped writing series and gravitated toward novelettes and novella.

Oh, and twice I converted series into a novella. While There Is Hope initially had ten chapters on my experimental Rollo account, I combined extended and rewrote it to form a novella on this account (with @Laurel’s blessing). And I started By The Horns as a series and then changed to novella format half way through.

And Bouncing Back I kinda left hanging at three chapters as I didn’t believe I was a good enough writer back then to give it the ending it deserved. I think I am now and I will come back to it some point this year.

 

[Rob_Royale]

I keep it short. Duologies or trilogies. I like endings.

 

[Djmac1031]

I think if I were to do a series again, I'd rather it be a chain story or at least something episodic rather than linear.

Episodic is what I strived for with the Jenna series. But the problem is eventually you run out of ideas that feel fresh and not a rehash of an earlier chapter. That's where I found myself at the end of it.

 

[Erozetta]

Episodic is what I strived for with the Jenna series. But the problem is eventually you run out of ideas that feel fresh and not a rehash of an earlier chapter. That's where I found myself at the end of it.

The one episodic thing I've had in mind for a while is a series of 750 word erotic horror shorts based around a haunted house. Each story would be about a room within the house.

Beyond that... Yeah, everything kinda gets stale after a while. I'd never do a "never ending" series. I think it would bore me.

As it was that one series ended about two chapters before I planned to end it because I got bored writing it.

 

[Djmac1031]

The one episodic thing I've had in mind for a while is a series of 750 word erotic horror shorts based around a haunted house. Each story would be about a room within the house.

Sounds cool actually.

I may do something similar based on my last story, Air E&V.

Its set in a nudist / swingers resort. Which leaves me open to telling all kinds of stories set at the same location but featuring different characters.

 

[Britva415]

I read @Publius68 's Tiki Totem Hotel series starting when the first one came out. It's the only series I have read this way. I have read other series start to finish, but I've otherwise only ever done that with already-completed series.

I could tell the series was going somewhere - that there was an end-game in mind already. And I anticipated that the series parts would be published on a timely schedule, based on the author's previous catalog. That's what really got me hooked - besides the overall premise and the first story's quality.

This is what it takes for me to proceed with a series. I won't pick one up in the middle, and I won't continue past the first installment if the premise isn't clear, the first chapter or episode isn't solid, there isn't a roadmap, and I don't have confidence the author will publish it soundly.

More than half of what I see published here on a daily basis is new chapters in an old series, and I ignore them. I'll only see the first chapter of a series if I happen to see it on the day's New Stories list or if I see it in the back catalog of an author I already am interested in.

As you might imagine, this pretty much means I only ever get interested in authors who (at least sometimes) publish stand-alone stories. Publius68 is the only author who has ever roped me in to a new series starting on day 1 with chapter 1.

It was a combination of right place right time, as well as a good first installment, a premise which suggested a plot arc with an end game, and a track record which the back catalog made obvious.

 

[Djmac1031]

More than half of what I see published here on a daily basis is new chapters in an old series, and I ignore them.

yeah, I totally get that. And its why I've moved away from series myself.

 

[FrancesScott]

I’ve found my anthology series approach to be rewarding. All the stories are set in the same locale and one of the characters has appeared in every single one so far (but has only been the FMC once).

It’s interesting to use established spaces - the pool, its cafe, the meeting halls in the adjacent municipal center, a coffee shop, and so on - in new stories. And it’s nice to have an ever-growing cast of supporting characters to draw upon.

But I nevertheless try to make each story stand-alone. The reader might appreciate seeing ‘old friends’ reappear, but I try to write in a way that it’s not necessary to have read any of the other anthology stories in order to understand any one of them.

 

[Britva415]

The time I wrote (most of) a series, it all came together quickly and I wrote and published five of its six chapters. I'll publish the fifth of six chapter one of these days, at which point the present fifth chapter will become re-ordered into the sixth position.

So it's kind of like I finished it without finishing it

 

[KittyOfSteele]

For me series are a mixed bag. It is something that I want to write. I mean, I always tell this book, but Treasure Island was a serialized work at first that I really liked, and even the full book feels as such. Thing is they are difficult to write for me. I only finished truly one series, which was the first work I uploaded here, and it extended for 10 chapters.

Part of it is mistakes on my part; I was new to the whole erotica work. I do think I had a good premise, but I performed it so poorly I thought of deleting it after years of staying in my profile. I did start another after, but I only got to three chapters because all I had was one story in me, and that was it. The other attempts are... Ugh.

My first two stories from oldest to newest fizzled out. It was fine it fizzled out because I meant for it to be an anthology, but then other characters and stories drew me more than those two because there was no excitement in them. The Stranger on the Phone was meant to be a four-parter that fizzled out because I got stuck in the cycles of guilt hesitation, and if I stare at the question I have on my wall, yes, I'm holding back out of fear of nothing. The The Woman at the Speakeasy is something that also fizzled out because of extreme doubts, and horror because the time of writing them was so terrible there were days where I was too anxious to even put on a word, and the resistance was too high, and I had no direction because sitting on my pants to write that sucked...

Only one series I didn't publish that was fully written, and now I don't want to publish not because it needs editing, but because I can do it much better. All those works mentioned I can do better. I just deleted some because they don't represent who I am.

But, as much as I like series, my experience was... stagnant. The only one I finished had most views mostly at the beginning. People read mostly the first chapter, and not everyone carried on. I still got comments though, so I knew people were hooked, to the point that someone wanted me to keep going. So I know I can do them, but my actual process is horrible.

I need to have the full work done. If I start publishing as I write or edit it, there's a higher chance of me dropping the thing than releasing it slowly. Plus, with the tightening on the guidelines, it's better to send the full work so it gets scrutinized, because I've seen rejections already happening from guidelines violations in episodes.

Publishing a series is cool, I'll admit that. It's producing it itself that drains me. I did like those who stuck up to the end though. And those works I left unfinished still remain on my profile because I want to keep them a bit like the unfinished portrait of James Hunter by Alice Neel. I do know however I'll pick them back up and do them again, but better. I don't know when, but I do know I want to do that, and I can do that.

Nevertheless I still want to release a series. Even if the process is draining.

 

[GemmaGemmaGemma]

I've written a couple of smaller series, but recently started my first big, ongoing harem modern fantasy series. I have been planning the transition into longer harem series for a while, and finally went all in a couple of months ago. This first series is about a succubus, which is a new thing for me, never written about one of those before, so it's been enjoyable. I've written 8 chapters so far, with 4 released on literotica. I'm keeping steady on a weekly release schedule so far which has been a solid pace. It was a new challenge to start writing with the consistency that I am now, and so far it's working out. The world building aspect of it all has been a lot of fun too.

The next big challenge is keeping to that schedule as closely as possible while debuting other series. The next one is going to be set within the k-pop industry. I like the idea of having some longer term urban/modern fantasy stories and some medium term slice of life/nonfantasy series.

My first two series being demon and k-pop related is a coincidence but maybe I will go and watch the film again, as a treat.