Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related A Few Odd Questions

Option C: Post in cutoff chapters as 1a, 1b, 1c, etc...

Toomi8, as another who also ends up with runaway chapter word counts (dratted muses yelling in my ear!!!), I've found that 6500 words is about the max I'll post. And I usually stop way before that - unless the pump is overflowing. Page count is tricky - a thirteen-page chapter with 10-point Times New Roman font is seventeen pages at 12-point font. Were I one of your betas, I'd advise you to find a scene break somewhere in the middle of that monster where it makes sense to break it into two separate chapters.

Many times I've built a too-long 8000-word chapter (for example) eight, then broken it in to chapter eight and eight-a. After some more self-editing, I usually expand those out a bit and get two healthy chapters (my eventual average on the two child chapters is between 4600 and 5200 words) that deal with separate aspects of the story. That way you're not worried about chapter length and losing information in a post.

Unlike folk4evernaday, I've never lost the back half of a chapter. I guess I'm not that adventurous, even if my characters are.

Popping in to add: My chapters typically run in the 10-20 page range. My version of Word defaults to Calibri 11pt and I do 1.5 lines spacing to make it easier on my eyes as I reread and edit. I find it impossible to stick to a page or word count min/max. I just end the chapter wherever it seems most natural to do so. And yes, I have had the occasional chapter or one-shot that has run well past 20 pages and have to break it into pieces. I find it easiest to just tack the rest on to a separate post within the original thread in that case. I personally hate the separate 1a, 1b, 1c thing.

DC, I forgot to note that after I get my story in order, I will renumber the chapters to get rid of the 8-a, 8-b, 8-c numbering. I don't much care for the 2a-2b-2c thing either, especially if the sub-parts are very short.

I use single spacing because I'm so used to it, but even in my personal letters (yes, I still write them) I'm now putting a blank line between paragraphs a la fanfic. I use Times New Roman 12pt because, again, it's what I'm used to. Like you, I also end chapters when there's a logical break point and it's time to change scene or POV. I've posted chapters of 3000 words or less because of that. And I try to keep both prologues and epilogues below 2500 words or they look like chapters instead of a setup (the prologue) or the final wrap-up (the epilogue).

There have been times when I'll go back to my older stories and read the feedback posts. It's nice to remind myself that someone liked my story enough to tell me.