Dear Lush writers,
Recently, I have found myself returning quite a few stories with this note attached:
Dear cherished writer,
I really enjoyed your story. all 600 words of it. According to your notes, it is chapter 1 of your 34 chapter novel. May I gently suggest you take about 6 of those chapters and submit them as a single entry? More likely, more people will become invested in your story that way and actually read it in it's entirety. Just a suggestion.
Thanks,
head fairy bitch of LS
seriously, i'd like readers to chime in on this - and either back me up, or tell me i'm wrong - in my experience, the norm for multi chapter stories is that, unless they really grab someone with the first part, the readership falls off pretty dramatically with each chapter.
You can’t truly call yourself peaceful unless you are capable of violence. If you’re not capable of violence, you’re not peaceful. You’re harmless.
Yeah, I'll back you up on that. I have noticed a trend of declining votes and comments on multi-chaptered stories.
I uploaded two chapters of a story each consisting of around 2500 words - I believe that's about minimum. Any less than that is most likely to deter people from reading future chapters.
Site rules actually state that story submissions should consist of no less than 3000 words:
All stories, except for poems and those in our Flash Erotica category, must be made up of at least 3,000 characters.
In my experience, if you don't have at least 4-5k words per chapter, no matter how good those words are, a statistically significant amount of readers are irritated by the waits between chapters, and state that they want longer chapters to express that irritation.
That's overall, though. Here on Lush, where the bias is toward lower word counts, I'd probably cut that in half.
And you're always going to have diminishing returns on multi-chapter stories. No matter how good it is, you're going to lose people along the way.
Actually, I'm likely not to read it. Why invest my pleasure reading time on a story that is a novel, but they only give me 600 words?
My question is... what's the MAXIMUM word-count per post? I have three novellas of over 20,000 words each, and when I've tried to post them here, the submission page cuts my story off at around 16,000 words. I'd very much like to submit each novella in one post, without breaking them up, but... is this possible? Each story runs between 20K - 25K word-count.
I've noticed this as well, a lot of chapter stories with less than 1k worth of words. Seems kind of silly to me. I wouldn't waste my time with a story/novel like that ever.
When/if I post a novel I try to put it at least 3.5k words, sometimes longer. Depending on how long the series is going to be. But 1k or less is just doing a bunch of Flash Erotica stories but as a novel. Which you're not allowed to do under Flash stories.
I think it should be lower than 10,000 words. Reading a lot of text online is a strain on the eyes, and is tedious and frankly irritating. It's not like a book, which you pick up and put down at a page your choosing.
In the world's harsh wear and tear many a very sincere attachment is slowly obliterated.
Είμαι ταξιδιώτης τόσο στο χρόνο όσο και στο διάστημα
I just think, if you're going to post some serialized stories outside the Novels category, then the events in each chapter should line up with the requirements of the category. So, you shouldn't post a five-part series in the Anal category if the anal sex doesn't start happening until part 5. Whatever type of sex happens in those first four parts should determine where it goes. If there's no sex at all and it's just a chapter that's building story, then I guess it belongs in the Novels category.
I know that people are going to disagree with what I'm about to say, but it's just my honest opinion.
There are an elite band of authors on this site, all of whom have the ability to write to an incredibly high standard. Those elite authors can write stories of 5,000 words plus and entertain the reader all the way through to the end.
But the majority of authors on this site, including me, do not have the writing ability to turn out 5,000-plus word stories that people will enjoy reading. I am under no self-delusion. I don't kid myself by believing that I have the ability to write a long story with in-depth plot and character development and keep people reading right to the last word - it's not gonna happen.
I'm working hard at my writing, so I know how difficult an art it is to master. It's not like riding a bike or kicking a ball about in the park - creative writing is perhaps the most difficult skill to learn. It's an art form and a challenging pursuit.
Therefore, in my opinion, those that haven't yet accomplished the art of writing should keep their stories short and sweet, under 5,000 words.
Wouldn't you rather have a nice cup of tea?
Most of my stories have been averaging 5000-6000 words. I prefer publishing them in whole for the sake of flow. I like to take a bit of time to develop characters, setting, and a bit of suspense and tension before getting straight to the release. But if readers were to read a 600 word chapter that just introduces characters, and then another 600 word chapter about how one is attracted to the other, and then another about some challenge that prevents them from being together... By the second of third chapter, you'd start despairing whether clicking more is really going to be worth while. As a single piece the pacing works (I hope), but in a multi-part story, it wouldn't sustain interest.
There's also the bother of first becoming aware of a story at chapter 13, and having to go back and locate the first 12 chapters somewhere in the archives. How much am I really wanting to go back and read about Pirate Bill Woodpecker and his lusty bisexual half-mermaid sea-wench Susan, complete with all the historically accurate technical details about 17th century frigates right from chapter 1, when they've only just set out to sea by the 13th segment? Do I even know if this series is going to conclude or just fizzle out as the author loses interest in creating new episodes? Since there are so many of these multi-part stories on Lush, they do tend to clutter things up a bit. I like the idea of a 2000 or 2500 word minimum for anything not in flash fiction or poetry.
Don't believe everything that you read.
I actually read all of these posts before I chose to respond. Hopefully, I'll be able to articulate my thoughts clearly.
I have a few multi-part stories. Some are the continuation from a previous story that could be stand-alone pieces. These are the ones that were written AFTER the initial piece was written and submitted.
Others, were written first, but due to the 10K word limit (and not, this isn't a criticism toward this) they were too long and had to be broken up into two or more parts. When this has occurred that I submitted a story that was too long (mind you, this was way before I realized such a limit existed) the Mod who sent it back was very polite about bringing this to my attention. Thus, I find a logical break and submit the first half, wait 24 hours (Lush has a 1 story/poem posting per 24 hour rule) then submit the 2nd part and so on.
I have stories that range in size from under 1,000 words (my only Flash Erotica piece) to nearly 10k. I don't worry about the length. I know not everyone likes the longer stories, but sometimes, that's just how the story goes. If someone doesn't want to read a longer piece, that is their choice. I won't fault them for that. Yes, I have had some readers contact me about my long pieces and asking me why they are so long and why I don't write shorter pieces. The answer is easy... it really depends on the story.
Now, I have actually made a conscious effort to write a story within a certain word limit. Those were for certain Comp entries that had a specific word limit (hence why I have a Flash Erotica piece.)
I don't think we as writers should be "forced" to limit ourselves. If an author has a story that when they are done with writing, editing, adjusting, proofreading, and feel they are ready to publish is under 1,000 words or over 10K, then so be it. I would never tell an author their story is too long. I might (in a PM) bring to their attention where the story drags a bit... but only as constructive criticism. I don't expect them to do much more than read it and decide if they agree or not as it is only my opinion. I myself have asked a trusted friend or two to look over a piece of my writing to give me feedback and criticism so I can adjust my writing and make it better.
If writers are forced to "focus on the number of words" instead of drafting a quality story... the readers of Lush will suffer. If someone reads a part 1 of a story, but not part 2, it means they didn't care for the premise. I assume that part 1 of any piece will always have higher views because some will re-read it before reading part 2. They they choose to bless me with a vote & a comment... even better. A good multi-part story will do fine. Just check out anything that's earned a Series Award.
Mind you, I did not include my only poem in this because the word count on poems is much different than the minimum word count on prose.
Fairly stated, Nymph writer. The focus should be on quality, not on word count. That said, I've often been irritated to start a story, not in Flash Erotica, and finish it in 3 or 4 minutes. It does leave the reader feeling unsatisfied.
I do think people starting chapter stories should shoot for 2,500 words minimum. Anything under 2,000 words is frustrating.
