When people complain about long waits between chapters or stories I check their profiles to see if they are authors themselves. The right to complain about story frequency is earned by contributing stories to the community.
My hunch is that once a writer goes through the 10-15 hour process of actually writing a story and posting it, that writer will be much less keen to criticize anyone else's pace.
Darkroom series (light exhibitionist)
Amnesty Program series (first time)
So let me get this right, because YOU choose to wait until your story is completed before submitting it, means that EVERY other writer must do the same thing? As others have stated, writers do have jobs, families, other things that might keep them from knocking out a 10 part story "quickly". Or maybe they write because they are in the right frame of mind/inspiration to write. I don't think writers "hold out" on parts out of disrespect but more that other things came along to interrupt their flow.
I think if you are going to post up a story in sections do it weekly. And make sure you have each part done when the time comes. Even it is not the best you would like. It is just for the readers. You can always change it and makeit better when you are getting it to sell.
IMHO I reckon almost any story can have another chapter. But from a newbie author's point of view, I want to move onto new material and ideas.
I just wanted to add that I am willing to wait. I would prefer high quality writing than something quick and not as good as it could be. I read George R.R Martin and eagerly await his next book but I understand he wants to do his best. Historical fiction is another genre I don't mind waiting for because the level of research is incredible and it is important not to throw the reader out of the time period. I would publish nothing here if I tried to write the whole thing beforehand. Maybe in time I will be good enough to bust out high quality writing quickly but I am not there and I know that.
I do have people asking for the followups and they are coming but I am not happy with them yet and until I am I can't submit them and feel good about it.
There's a difference between stories in a series and chapters in a story.
My understanding of the OP refers to chapters, which are segments of a story. You need to read what has come before and what comes after for the segment to make any sense. They aren't meant to be read alone. When the delay between these segments is long and/or irregular, it's not a good thing.
The comic book example does make sense, but only if the segments are consistently released on the exact same timetable. I would still consider monthly to be a long gap for chapters of an erotica story.
A series is a different animal. For the most part, reading what has come before isn't so necessary, and reading what comes after isn't necessary at all. The driving force introduced in the story is resolved by the end of it.
It's a story. Maybe it's part of a larger story, but every section is a story in and of itself. Readers give you a lot more latitude to work at your own pace there because there's a ( hopefully ) satisfying conclusion to the major conflicts introduced up to that point. They're not waiting to find out what happened to the damsel on the railroad tracks or the hero hanging from the edge of the cliff. They're waiting to see what new adventures your characters are going to embark on next.
I read this thread and felt guilty, because last year I started a series and wrote five chapters in about five months, but then got distracted by other ideas, including competition stories, and never finished it.
So this year I made a resolution to finish it off, so I buckled down and got the last four chapters written before posting any of them. So they're all on a memory stick now, ready to go.
The first of them has actually been submitted today, and the other three will follow at three/four weekly intervals, I think.
22 February 2024 - How about a quick plug for one of my filthiest recent stories? It's all in the title - Naked Pool Party Swingers | Lush Stories Please read, comment and maybe give it a ❤️ - or even a⭐ if you really enjoy it! Thank you! Annie xxx
IMHO, I have only ever written for the fun and enjoyment of writing. The readers' comments and score are just a bonus for me.
I actually checked out a couple of my own stories. Yes there is one story that I never intended to a multi part story, but it could be. The way it ends for me was to be a sensual memory style ending. BUT after reading some of the replies to this thread and checking it out again, maybe it could be thought of as a bit of a cliffhanger in some readers' eyes?
I have only ever written 1 multipart story. Readers seem to love it, so yes I have given thought to how I will end it. When I published the first few chapters, I had not thought too much about how long it would be between publishing each chapter. I did write the first 4 or 5 before publishing it though. Now I am about to write the 8th chapter, I think it will be the last. Does that now mean for the few people who have enjoyed my story, they will be disappointed in it coming to an end?
Back to the main reasons I don't publish in a regular pattern.
Ideas come, the story is crap, no I don't publish it.
I don't get time between, work, family, my other releases in life, etc to write. So I don't bother trying to. As an example, I went twelve months between my last story and starting the multipart I am currently working on. I am sure I am not alone in this situation. I often wonder how the mods get any stories written - Hats off to you guys, without you, we can only wonder how our own stories would get here...
Just my opinion, take it or leave it...
One reason that I publish my stories here instead of putting them into an anthology and self-publishing them as a commercial ebook is that I like to get feedback as the story progresses, that I am able to try out new ideas and see how well those are received. I'm not offended myself if a multipart story I enjoy isn't finished yet. It would be different if I had paid real money, but since reading here is free, I enjoy what others share with me and am happy.
That's also what gives writing for Lush a different feel than writing for commercial publishing. Here, it is a hobby that I can enjoy without pressure, while writing to get a novel out (perhaps even with a deadline) can and often does cross the threshold towards hard work. I already have a full-time job, and like justalilfun wrote, work, family and other facets mostly dictate when and how often there is time to write.
There are a lot of brilliant, but unfinished stories here on Lush. I wouldn't want to do without those, even if some of them may never get finished. It is nice if a long story that I like gets continued every week, but I don't mind either if I have to wait six months. That's life.
I tend to write at about 5000 words a week (with bursts of manic output thrown in where I might write in excess of 5000 words a day) Unfortunately, those words are rarely pointed in one direction for long.
I love having a few open-ended stories up on Lush. I know it can frustrate readers when nothing happens for weeks/months/years but I think it's better that I have shared *some* of what's in my head. As a writer, they're familiar little worlds with characters that I can dip into when I've got time - I hope that this is how readers see them as well.
Each individual series is totally different. I know the entire story arc for 'Brother Sucker' and will almost certainly rattle off a few parts at some point in the future (then go annoyingly quiet again); I've got various scenes written for Amber which need to be tidied into something sensible. Ultimately I write for Lush when I want to relax and kick my writing heels up.
Now... back to that script I'm writing...
I'm new here, so give my response the credit you think it deserves. I'm a little confused by the point dpw is trying to make. His own series "Killing Curiosity" was posted in 3 segments from March 5th through April 15th. It obviously wasn't a completed work before he posted it. The delay that many writers face is a subjective and completely relative process. There isn't any justification due to anybody. As a "reader" I've never felt disrespected. It has never even occurred to me to think that.
I publish my chapters after I finished them. When I've got a lot of inspiration and I write multiple chapters I wait a couple of days until I upload the next chapter. I don't have the whole story yet, but I do have an idea on how I want the next two or three chapters to go. I try to give my chapters an ending like some TV-series do; I try to give the reader something to look forward to.
I only just started writing, so there might be better ways.
I think you just have got to do it the way you like it. If you want to write a complete story and then post it in chapters, then do that. If you want to upload chapters after you've written them, then to that.
Also, you don't always have a lot of time to write, so even though you want to finish a chapter quickly, sometimes you simply can't.
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