Long story vs Multi-chapter story

4 Apr 2020

I am hoping for help in figuring out whether a story I am trying to write would be better as a long story or better divided into multiple parts. It does have sort of natural breaks that are kind of "bite-sized", if you will. Which do you find yourself gravitating to: a long, completed story or a story told in multiple parts?

love from stormysyren

4 Apr 2020

I tend to prefer reading shorter material myself (mostly due to time and discretion concerns) but have certainly written my fair share of longer ones. These days, I tend towards breaking into smaller parts if there's a natural break, though. Experience and things heard in discussions have suggested not many people read 10K word long epics these days. Also, I often write for comps now and those generally have shorter word limits (not always, but usually). The two stories in my current sig could have been one but it felt natural to break where it does.

6 Apr 2020

That's great, thanks. I will definitely pay attention to word count.

love from stormysyren

7 Apr 2020

Temper your expectations for anything long enough to consider breaking up, and especially anything over 10k words. The Lush readership trends sharply toward shorter pieces. Which isn't a bad thing, because most of the other sites trend sharply in the other direction. Having a place where shorter work gets a fair/preferred shake is a welcome arrow in the quiver.

If you do break it up, don't draw out the releases. As soon as one is approved, put the next part in the queue. The natural bleed of readers to progressive parts will only increase with time between submissions. That means having the complete story ready to roll before you submit part 1. You don't want to get into a situation where life intrudes and prevents you from delivering the ending in a timely manner.

Give some consideration to potentially triggering content that will appear in later parts of the story. If there's anything coming later that you think might make readers squeamish, you might consider coding for it with part one, or perhaps utilizing the author note section, or both. ( Describing that the tags are there for later parts of the story ) Little will make readers balk more than starting something and feeling as if they were blindsided by the later parts when they appear. They not only back away from that story, they think twice before opening the next submission they see from you.

Let readers know up front how many parts to expect. Add 1 of 3 to the title, or leave an author's note saying how many chapters there will be. If it was originally written as a single story, and not written as a serialized story from the beginning, "Part x of x" is probably the better strategy. This is especially true if any of your break points don't feel like an ending to a chapter. Readers have a different mindset when they see "part" as opposed to "chapter"

Off the top of my head.

Good Will ---|--- Got Me Pegged <= Both almost famous, give them a read and get them one step closer!

8 Apr 2020

Quote by RejectReality
Temper your expectations for anything long enough to consider breaking up, and especially anything over 10k words. The Lush readership trends sharply toward shorter pieces. Which isn't a bad thing, because most of the other sites trend sharply in the other direction. Having a place where shorter work gets a fair/preferred shake is a welcome arrow in the quiver.

If you do break it up, don't draw out the releases. As soon as one is approved, put the next part in the queue. The natural bleed of readers to progressive parts will only increase with time between submissions. That means having the complete story ready to roll before you submit part 1. You don't want to get into a situation where life intrudes and prevents you from delivering the ending in a timely manner.

Give some consideration to potentially triggering content that will appear in later parts of the story. If there's anything coming later that you think might make readers squeamish, you might consider coding for it with part one, or perhaps utilizing the author note section, or both. ( Describing that the tags are there for later parts of the story ) Little will make readers balk more than starting something and feeling as if they were blindsided by the later parts when they appear. They not only back away from that story, they think twice before opening the next submission they see from you.

Let readers know up front how many parts to expect. Add 1 of 3 to the title, or leave an author's note saying how many chapters there will be. If it was originally written as a single story, and not written as a serialized story from the beginning, "Part x of x" is probably the better strategy. This is especially true if any of your break points don't feel like an ending to a chapter. Readers have a different mindset when they see "part" as opposed to "chapter"

Off the top of my head.

That's all great advice, RR. Thank you! I don't think this piece is too long to be interesting, but writer's bias is thick here. I am planning on submitting it as a whole soon, just first focusing on good structure and grammar and "flow". Now the tricky part is placing it in a category. It can easily go into Straight Sex with several tags, but she does call him sir and there is a play/dominance component that makes me think I should submit it under BDSM.

love from stormysyren

8 Apr 2020

Quote by StormySyren

That's all great advice, RR. Thank you! I don't think this piece is too long to be interesting, but writer's bias is thick here. I am planning on submitting it as a whole soon, just first focusing on good structure and grammar and "flow". Now the tricky part is placing it in a category. It can easily go into Straight Sex with several tags, but she does call him sir and there is a play/dominance component that makes me think I should submit it under BDSM.

While some sites have very picky and sometimes harsh BDSM readerships, my small bit of experience with the category ( and related categories of Femdom and Spanking ) indicate to me that it's not the case here.

If you have a Dom/sub dynamic, and it's not just a tiny part of the story, I'd say you'd be best served to go with BDSM. The readership numbers all appear to be higher than Straight Sex, which is something of a vanilla, catch-all category. You do have a particular kink, so categorize for it to maximize your readership.

Good Will ---|--- Got Me Pegged <= Both almost famous, give them a read and get them one step closer!

8 Apr 2020

Quote by RejectReality

If you have a Dom/sub dynamic, and it's not just a tiny part of the story, I'd say you'd be best served to go with BDSM. The readership numbers all appear to be higher than Straight Sex, which is something of a vanilla, catch-all category. You do have a particular kink, so categorize for it to maximize your readership.

Seconded. I used Straight Sex a lot early on in my Lush career but in recent years, I tend to look for any alternative that makes sense for the story. Straight Sex just isn't a draw for most readers.

9 Apr 2020

I always read the short description first and see if it grabs my attention then proceed.

"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance that principle is contempt prior to investigation."

Herbert Spencer

10 Apr 2020

You are all awesome! Seeker4 and RejectReality, thank you especially for your advice. I really appreciate all the work the moderators do to make sure the stories are up to snuff.

love from stormysyren

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