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Joined: Jun 2005
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Freelance Reporter
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OP
Freelance Reporter
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Posts: 74 |
Hey everyone, My roommate just asked me "how long is the longest fanfic you've ever read?" I wasn't very sure about it, but I guessed it was probably Wendy Richards' "Faux Pas." I then decided to go search through the archive to see if I've ever read anything longer than that. I noticed that there's no way to sort the files on the archive by file size. So I figured I'd go to Ol' Reliable: aka, the fans here on the mb's.  So here's the question: What's the longest completed/archived Lois & Clark fanfic out there?? Basically, what's the longest one you've ever read? I figure by starting there, we'll get a good survey of the longest stories ever written. 
"Oh--as usual--dear." -Giles
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Top Banana
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Top Banana
Joined: May 2006
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I'm gonna take a wild stab and say: "Masques" - at 1,546Kb by Labrat  But I'm not sure.
Angry Clark: CLARK SMASH!
Lois: Ork!
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Merriwether
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Merriwether
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Perhaps with "Long Strange Trip" running a close second at 1,376Kb.
lisa in the sky with diamonds
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Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: May 2005
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From what I've heard, Masques is the longest. 
I think, therefore, I get bananas.
When in doubt, think about time travel conundrums. You'll confuse yourself so you can forget what you were in doubt about.
What's the difference between ignorance, apathy, and ambivalence?
I don't know and I don't care one way or the other.
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Apr 2003
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Hi,
The Long Road Home by Erin Klingler
2,479 KB
MAF
Maria D. Ferdez.
---
Don't like Luthor, unfinished, untitled and crossover story, and people that promises and don't deliver. I'm getting choosy with age.
MAF
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Boards Chief Administrator Emeritus Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Boards Chief Administrator Emeritus Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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I then decided to go search through the archive to see if I've ever read anything longer than that. I noticed that there's no way to sort the files on the archive by file size. There is, but it's a little time consuming at the moment. If you download the Excel version of the raw data for the future database here on the Archive to your pc, you should then be able to sort the data by the kb column and have the stories arranged by length. LabRat (who was sure Masques had been beaten by this point...go figure. You mean no one's been idioti...er enthusiastic enough to write anything longer yet? Shame on you!  )
Athos: If you'd told us what you were doing, we might have been able to plan this properly.
Aramis: Yes, sorry.
Athos: No, no, by all means, let's keep things suicidal.
The Musketeers
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Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Apr 2003
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Ask... Five longest stories according to the Excel sheet.
1,546 Masques Doc Klein's Labrat
1,376 Long, Strange Trip L
1,282 The Long Road Home Erin Klingler
1,002 Caped Fear Doc Klein's Labrat
832 Faux Pas Wendy Richards
"You need me. You wouldn't be much of a hero without a villain. And you do love being the hero, don't you. The cheering children, the swooning women, you love it so much, it's made you my most reliable accomplice." -- Lex Luthor to Superman, Question Authority, Justice League Unlimited
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Joined: Jun 2005
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Freelance Reporter
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OP
Freelance Reporter
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 74 |
Wow thanks guys for the quick response. To a rather silly question.
By the way - Does anyone mind explaining to me how to sort the raw data as mentioned? (I just haven't used Excel in ages.) Also, I'm working on a Mac. (Okay now I'm off topic, sorry guys!)
Thanks!
"Oh--as usual--dear." -Giles
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Merriwether
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Merriwether
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Are you using Microsoft Office/Excel, AppleWorks, OpenOffice or something else? I can tell you MS Excel off the top of my head, but I'd have to wait until tonight to tell you AppleWorks. It should be semi-similar.
First thing to do, if you're sorting by size, is to remove Kb from all of the files. Excel is easy: highlight the column, go to Edit -> Replace, type Kb into the first box and leave the second blank, and click Replace All. Voila, all you have left are numbers. Then select everything. All of the data. You can select the header at the top if you want, but it won't make a difference. Then go to Data -> Sort. Choose the column (should be Column D or FILESIZE). Select Descending to make the numbers go from high to low. Click OK, and voila! Everything's sorted.
"You need me. You wouldn't be much of a hero without a villain. And you do love being the hero, don't you. The cheering children, the swooning women, you love it so much, it's made you my most reliable accomplice." -- Lex Luthor to Superman, Question Authority, Justice League Unlimited
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Jun 2004
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As far as the record for the longest fanfic, I think The Longest Roads: The Roads They Walked Alone by Raconteur will be the longest when it's finally finished (probably just in time for the 2012 Kerths). And I've read all the way through Masques twice, and both times I found it compelling all the way through. The story never lagged, never seemed to be showing characters just because it was their time to appear. And I loved the way LabRat brought in the clone Lois and did a masterful job of making her a real, individual human being. If you haven't read it, it's definitely worth the time investment.
By the bye, if you pull Masques into Microsoft Word, change the font to Times New Roman 12-point, and painstakingly go through the whole thing and take out the hard carriage returns, it's 567 pages long with 276,550 words.
Not counting the introduction/acknowledgements/disclaimers at the beginning.
Life isn't a support system for writing. It's the other way around.
- Stephen King, from On Writing
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Boards Chief Administrator Emeritus Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Boards Chief Administrator Emeritus Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Terry, thank you for the wonderful compliment! It's quite made my night. I'm delighted that you enjoyed Masques. And in particular, thank you for your comments about Eve. As you probably already know, part of my original motivation for writing Masques was that I'd always seen the clone as more a victim of Lex than his ally and I wanted to make her a sympathetic character if I could. LabRat
Athos: If you'd told us what you were doing, we might have been able to plan this properly.
Aramis: Yes, sorry.
Athos: No, no, by all means, let's keep things suicidal.
The Musketeers
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
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Okay, fine...I will put Masques on my reading list...  (I always thought the clone needed a break too. Don't know how I avoided knowing about that aspect for so long.)  Though I will be using TNR 10 with four columns and maxing out the margins. That gets me....(my, does find and replace take a long time)[gasp] 227 pages! I can do it? Um,I can do it. James
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
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The last update for this Excel file was July 2007.
Any updates soon?
James
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Boards Chief Administrator Emeritus Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Boards Chief Administrator Emeritus Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Oh, it's been updated since then - I think it's the counter that's lagging. Not sure when, but definitely towards the end of 2007. But, beyond that, it'll be next updated when I get the free time to do it. LabRat
Athos: If you'd told us what you were doing, we might have been able to plan this properly.
Aramis: Yes, sorry.
Athos: No, no, by all means, let's keep things suicidal.
The Musketeers
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
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Okay, fine...I will put Masques on my reading list... (I always thought the clone needed a break too. Don't know how I avoided knowing about that aspect for so long.)
Though I will be using TNR 10 with four columns and maxing out the margins. That gets me....(my, does find and replace take a long time)[gasp] 227 pages!
I can do it? Um,I can do it. You can do it, James!! It's a must-read, although I haven't read it more than once for some reason. I stayed up all night to watch my dog after his surgery a few years ago, and Masques kept me occupied til 8am! JD
"Meg...who let you back in the house?" -Family Guy
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Features Writer
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Features Writer
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As far as the record for the longest fanfic, I think The Longest Roads: The Roads They Walked Alone by Raconteur will be the longest when it's finally finished Actually, that one is finished and on the archive as of May 2007. It's the third installment that Rac is still working on. who was sure Masques had been beaten by this point...go figure Sorry, Labby, it has. By The Longest Road: The Roads They Walked Alone. And since it's been on the archive since May, I'm not quite sure why its statistics didn't show up for Karen in the Excel spreadsheet, because it is 1810KB according to the Archive. The new "longest fic ever"... Kathy
"Our thoughts form the universe. They always matter." - Babylon 5
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Boards Chief Administrator Emeritus Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Boards Chief Administrator Emeritus Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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And since it's been on the archive since May, I'm not quite sure why its statistics didn't show up for Karen in the Excel spreadsheet, because it is 1810KB according to the Archive. Oh, that's easy. Because this is a very old thread. Karen's post (and mine for that matter) was 2006 and Rac's story was submitted in March 2007. Jen - thank you! LabRat
Athos: If you'd told us what you were doing, we might have been able to plan this properly.
Aramis: Yes, sorry.
Athos: No, no, by all means, let's keep things suicidal.
The Musketeers
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Features Writer
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Features Writer
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Because this is a very old thread.  Hadn't even noticed the dates on some of the earlier posts in the threads! Sorry about that. It all makes perfect sense now... Kathy
"Our thoughts form the universe. They always matter." - Babylon 5
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Joined: Apr 2003
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Boards Chief Administrator Emeritus Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Boards Chief Administrator Emeritus Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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LOL - easy enough to miss when an old thread is suddenly resurrected. Been caught that way a time or two myself! LabRat
Athos: If you'd told us what you were doing, we might have been able to plan this properly.
Aramis: Yes, sorry.
Athos: No, no, by all means, let's keep things suicidal.
The Musketeers
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Beat Reporter
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Beat Reporter
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I'm currently writing a story (not for L&C) that's over 1000 pages in Microsoft Word, the text file was over 2MB last time I checked, and it is approaching 500,000 words. I think that's the longest fanfic (ever, in any fandom) I've ever seen (and I'm rather dumbfounded I've written it, tbh).
As far as L&C goes, I've read all of those top 5 length-wise listed by Karen, and I heartily recommend them! Wonderful reads. All of them!
Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.
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