Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related Story segment sizes

I'm pretty sure this has been asked before, but I'm too busy writing to go searching several months back for the posts. <g> How big is "too big" for a story segment on these boards? I've been averaging in the 25-30K range for my M2 posts (which for me is about 10 pages, give or take) but this last section of the story keeps growing ... and growing ... and right now it's looking to be about twice that.

Do I need to be changing my numbering to reflect an additional part? Or can these boards (and its readers) handle a 60K individual segment?

How big of a part have you posted successfully?

Thanks,

Kathy

well, i'm not sure if there's an upper limit, kathy. the boards FAQ says the following:

so, i figured 50k is about the upper limit. that's why i decided to split chi beta, only for some reason i ended up cutting into 4 instead of 2. i'm just used to shorter posts, i guess.

personally, i prefer shorter posts, as long as they're frequent enough. i know a lot of people have schedules that make it hard to do a lot of reading at once, and there's already a thread up about how people are falling behind due to the december fic rush.

of course, it does depend on the story.. how long it is and the mood and the natural breaks, etc etc. i remember labby playing with post size when she was posting masques. ended up doubling the original length per post, iirc.

do what feels right, i guess. or, if you want, post a poll. i'm not really sure there's a right answer.

hope this helps more than confuses.

Paul

Well, if you want to split the difference, you can label a thread "part 9" (or whatever) and post half in the first post and half in a reply... that gives everyone tons to read but won't mess up your TOC

Personally, I go with about 6 pages, which is more-or-less 20k.

PJ

Thanks, Paul. I should clarify, though, sorry ... the section is one where I don't think the readers will prefer it be broken up, even though it will take more time to read. My question was really more about what the boards could handle, whether any authors had played with the upper limit -- if there even is one -- and how many pages they'd had success with.

As I go back to check the Archive now, though, "Into Each Life" was 50K and I posted that all as one post, so I know I can go at least that high. I guess the question becomes whether 60K would be pushing things!

Edited to add: Thanks, Pam; I hadn't thought about doing it as a reply to the same thread. If the entire 60K+ doesn't come through, that's definitely an option!

Kathy

Personally, back when I was still writing, I generally wouldn't post a part that wasn't about ten pages, and it could've gone to as long as 14 pages. This was due to two factors. First I never posted more than three times a week since I used to post before my storied were completely finished. And second, I write the stories episodically. I don't write then figure out where to break them. I figure out what I want to say within that instalment (chapter?) and write to that end.

On a couple of occasions, in answer to one of Wendy's evil challenges I've written responses which exceeded the limit that the board will allow me to post. I don't remember exactly what that was, but I think 15 or 16 pages is about the upper limit for the format that I write in. In those cases I've broken it up into two instalments which I label A and B and post them at the same time.

Shorter instalments are fine if the writer posts on a frequent schedule, but they can be a bit frustrating if we get this little teasing taste, then no follow up for several days.

Tank (who makes it clear that this is just the opinion of an old retired writer)

oh, okay. well, since it seems like the issue is settled, i guess i'll take this opportunity to hijack the thread.

i've got the opposite problem.

my latest fic is 20k. it's currently being BRed, but i'm not planning to post until jan, seeing as how i'm not the only one desperately behind in my reading.

in any case, i've got a bit of a dilemma. i've asked my BR, but i thought i'd take this opportunity to ask for a general opinion. here's the problem:

20k is short enough for one post, but i don't want to post the whole thing at once.

the fic itself is 8 pages long in courrier 10.

there's a break i'd really like to torture the readers with 2 pages in.

3 pages in, there's a time jump and a POV shift. it's the most natural break. i almost have to use it.

there's a possible break 5 pages in, but i'm tending to leave it alone.

6.5 pages in, there's another, somewhat better possible break.

looking just at the story, i'd use the first 2 and post in 3 parts. if i did that tho, i'd be posting 2 pages then 1 page then 5 pages, which seems weird and unbalanced.

going for balance, i'd use all the breaks, and end up posting 5 parts, each about 1.5 pages long (give or take). that seems rediculous.

i'm kinda leaning towards 4 parts, using the first, second, and fourth breaks. that'd mean part 1 would be 2 pages, part 2 would be 1 page, part 3 would be 3.5 pages, and part 4 would be 1.5 pages. it works well with the flow of the story, i think, and even though part 3 would be twice as big as average, they're all short enough that i think it'd be okay.

not sure, tho. i mean 4 parts for 20k seems silly. i could post daily, or maybe every other day.

so, assuming my BR doesn't tell me i have to do some major rewriting, those are my options.

oh, and i'll be posting to the ficlist, too, since i made my original help request there. that's a consideration since i don't want to flood people's inboxes with huge messages. (not that a few k would be, but 20 may be pushing it)

so, mostly i'll be going by my own thoughts and my BR's suggestions (since she actually has the story and understands the flow and stuff), but i'd appreciate any general thoughts.

Paul

If it's that short, Paul, it really doesn't make sense to post it in more than one part.

If you post parts which are too short, you only frustrate your readers. I was certainly feeling that way with one story which is apparently to be in six parts (I think), of which two very short parts were posted recently. The sections were far too short for me to get 'into' properly, and I'd almost made up my mind not to read any further sections but to wait until the story was finished.

Unless a story is really long enough to justify posting in instalments, you're just creating artificial cliffhangers, IMO, which just may not work.


Wendy

I think I'd like to disagree with Wendy. <g>

Well, I agree with her in principle and in general - but I think the writer should get to have some fun too and if you make sure to tell your readers up front that you're only posting a two part segment because you don't really want to miss out on the fun of a particularly good cliffhanger, I think they might forgive you - just this once.

I'd definitely not recommend it as a general rule though - I do agree that a story split into many segments when it clearly has no need to be can be very irksome to read. I certainly have found that in the past myself too.

And, yes, it was a good lesson I learned when posting Masques. (Think it was Paul who mentioned this, but no time to double check - sorry!) I'd been advised that 5 pages was the average post and started out that way. But it just didn't suit the pacing of the story at all and simply ended up frustrating both myself and the readers as to how slowly each post moved things along. I switched to 10-15 pages per post and that worked very much better. So you do have to take the story into account with such things, I think, along with any other considerations.

LabRat