Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Fun with Polls Chapter/Segment Length v. Posting Time

The question is pretty simple, but the explanation...

I'm looking at my next fic and it occurred to me that the total number of chapters could be very high. This is, in part, because the chapters are shorter. When I was writing/posting Learning to Love, I ended up with chapters in the 45-5500 word range. At times that got to be hard to keep up with. When I started my next fic, I put closer to 2500-3000 words in a chapter but the story itself isn't any shorter, if that makes sense. So a for instance: LtL would have been something like 80-90 shorter chapters instead of the 52 chapters it ended up being.

As I'm getting ready to start posting On The Other Hand, I'm a bit torn. Would I rather stick with shorter chapters and post every 36-48 hours or combine many of them into longer chapters and post every 60-72 hours or so? [I'm using those time frames because otherwise it'll take eons to post.] I have 36 of the current chapters done - consecutive with another 8-10 finished but not consecutive and I'm guessing the 36 is about halfish done, but not really sure on that. Could be more, could be less.

Anyway - I'm going to ask one question with those details because they're specific and one generic.

So would you rather have shorter chapters posted more often or longer chapters less often?

As always, feel free to explain your answer .
Carol

Edit: Is it possible to define TOO short or TOO long? Is it a word count thing? Or a page thing? [Different fonts or lots of short dialogue will take up more pages with less words than long paragraphs of description - that's why I personally usually go with word count when writing chapters.] A logical breaking point is obvious too, sometimes that makes it a bit longer or a bit shorter, but generally speaking... [I addressed this below before I edited this .]

Well, I put shorter segments more often because I feel it helps with the momentum of the story, but I really think it depends on the author and where the chapter breaks seem natural.

But as a personal favor to me, can you do the OTOH segments shorter and less often so my inbox doesn't burst?

I've put longer sections, because if there are a lot of very short sections I find it hard to keep track of who characters etc. are and sustain interest. I can think of several stories that I had a lot of trouble following when they were posted in lots of short bits, but read easily when they were archived as a single document.

Marcus - how do you define 'shorter'? Using me as an example [because I can and I know me ], when I'm talking shorter segments, I'm talking 2500-3000 words - usually 8-10 pages. I also know that, for some people, that's a 'regular' segment.

[Don't ask me how I ended up with 5000 words segments because I'm not really sure *sigh*.]

Now if a story were posted with say 2-3 pages at a time, I would tend to agree - not enough time to get into the meat of it and too short to make a real impression etc [talking about segments not just really short fics btw].

So - if possible - how do you define short for these purposes?

Carol

I voted for shorter chapters Carol. Personally I find it off-putting when I open a story and the scroll bar is like a cm long. I just think there is no way I can wade through all this and I either skim it or don't even bother. I don't like to miss out on good fics, but there are some that I haven't read because I just don't have the time or patience to sit down and concentrate for the length of time required.
That said, it's different when it's an author/story that I know and love, then I value longer chapters. But you need to reel me in first.

Go shorter! As for posting frequency, give people a chance to fdk and look forward to the next installment. Shorter chpts too often amounts to the same thing as long ones less often. I don't like to be over-worked, lol. But that's just me.

Gotcha there gr8 . I know I asked Marcus this too, but then how do you define 'short'? What's TOO short [for a story segment not a super short fic or whatever]?

What's TOO long?

I know it's hard to give a specific length but...


Carol

I was just going by your definitions of long and short.

I'm posting someting on ff.net at the moment so I've been comparing it to what other people post there (this site is full of fabulous authors btw , unlike said other site, but I applaude anyone who wants to try), and I've found I like to read (and write) chapters that are around 3k words. That's not too long, but enough to get your teeth into. I get annoyed when someone takes my spot at the top of the page with a 500 word chapter. Grrr.

My definition of short would be say 500 words or less.

Okay - that works . I used those because that was what I was looking at with OTOH, but I was wondering how everyone else would define too long v. too short. . I'm with you on the 500 word posts. 'Hey, look! A 72 chapter story that's 36 pages long!' Or something like that .

Is that pretty standard do you guys think?

Less than 2000-2500ish can [often, not always] be too short while more than 5000-5500 can [often, not always] be too long, particularly for people with limited time and multiple fics to read chapters of?

Carol [who is interested in general and not just for OTOH ]

ETA: Thanks, Marcus . Saw that after I posted this. Good to know.

Well, I only knew what a good length wood be from reading the FAQ and later comparing the scrollbar to get a feeling for how long the parts posted here are. So anyway, 4500 words seems to be a good post average, and it did come sort of natural for me, as in what I can do in a week with RL going on...

Michael

I probably should not respond to this since the only stories I read before they are finished are ones I'm beta reading. Why do I not read until they are finished - I'm got a zip disk full of unfinished stories from here. But I do have an opinion since I am a beta reader. A chapter length should only be determined by a natural break point. Trying to worry about word length is only going to hurt the story. Go with the flow, write the story and let the chapters fall where they may.

As for the frequency of posting once a week, every 2 weeks. Don't kill your self with a set post date. But then again post more often than every couple of months or once a year which happens often here.

Please have your story mapped out, a lot written and most of all FINISH the story. There is nothing more disappoint than finding out a story isn't going to be finished.

These are just my opinons, no offense directed at anyone. Just my preferences.

I agree with you, I have a couple of favs that are languishing and don't appear to be moving toward completion.

Thanks for your opinions guys [but feel free to still vote if you haven't yet ].

As for me, I've decided to go with shorter chapters, more often and once it's done, or close to done, post two chapters at once EOD or so. Otherwise, it'll be eons before it's done.

And for the record, On The Other Hand *is* mapped out, etc. and I currently have enough to post for a couple months AT LEAST on the above schedule. And really, if it came down to it, I could stick a line about... well, I won't put the line here , but could stick a line in at more than one spot and call it done and then the rest for a sequel. I know you weren't talking about OTOH in particular there. I admit to being a bit sensitive about it because I saw a recent post to that effect on MissyG's What's Love fic [not sure who it was] FDK thread. I do understand the frustration, but believe me when I say that no one is more frustrated about that than she is - in large part because of everything that's happened in her life since she was last able to work on it. I do know there are some people who stop fics out of apathy or whatever, but I'd bet that most who do do so because of RL problems rather than anything else. Just my .02 there .

Back to editing OTOH... Look for it no later than Monday [but hopefully this week ].

Carol