I would say the girls is a collective group of younger women.

Ladies is, as Seeker says, old fashioned. I have heard females say "we're not ladies, we're women."

"Here come the girls" is definitely not singing about a group of children.

Coming late to the party but I agree the category is redundant. I think while any novel will be spread over a number of chapters already, it could go with the overarching theme of the novel; be that teen, lesbian, love story etc. Ii the author doesn't want their story spread over different categories for different chapters.

For example, I saw deviantsusie was vocal about keeping hers as a novel but her overarching theme is a teenager growing up in Ireland. There are chapters that deal with seduction, bdsm, reluctance etc but it could be all still be a teen novel.

I think the badge for novelist and a novel tag as the first tag would help.

Presently you can stumble into the middle of a novel without knowing it until after you have clicked on the story title if they haven't included a chapter number. If novel is a tag, that might help.

Hey, just saying hello. Long time lurker/reader but just now finally summoned up the courage to post a story so thought I'd grab a drink in here while it winds its way through the queue. How long is it taking at the minute? I guess it's slower with people on holidays?

I've have a beer please.

Schindler's List.. yeah, finally got around to watching it