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Most of my stories end up being somewhere in the 17K to 20K word range and I've always posted them in a single posting. But I just finished a story that comes in at just over 49K.
I've never posted a serial before. I have the ablity to do an interactive table of contents. So it would be easy enough to break it into chapters for folks to read. That would give them the ablity to read as many chapters as they wanted and then come back to it later and using the table of contents pick up the story where they left off.
The other option is to simply break it into chapters and post it as a serial. New territory for me. The question is, which would my reader prefer and if I post it as a serial, just how long should the chapters be? How often should I post? Since I've finished the story, I could post it daily.
I've just finished it and it will need some editing and proofing. Not to mention formatting, which do off line so that I can just cut, paste and publish. So I have a few days to make up my mind.
Of course any one who's interested could offer to proof read it. A second pair of eyes would be welcome.
Comments
Some thoughts
First, every author here has different ideas about how they want their story to be presented.
Balanced with that, most readers have a 'sweet spot' for story length. The problem with this is that everyone's sweet spot will be different, since we're all reading at different times and under differing circumstances. Some are reading on the way to work, some are doing it over breakfast or late at night, some are in hospital waiting rooms (don't ask).
In my case I tend to baulk at stand-alone stories or chapters that are more than about 12,000 words or so. My problem is that that there are just so many good stories on BC and a long one will soak up my time. My own chapters tend to end up in the 6,000 to 9,000 word region but there are always outliers. I know that some writers here manage to have chapters that are 2,000 to 4,000 words and they are perfectly sized for what they do.
It has to be said that I do, on occasion, read much longer tales, especially if I know the author and have liked their previous works. That involves some dedication. There are usually no internal index links of the kind you suggest which makes going back more awkward. For me, that means that the tale would be better broken into chapters.
Chapters often resolve themselves at some crisis, cliffhanger or other natural break point. I discovered that, not by design, many of my own chapters cover a day's activities. Of course that doesn't always fit in with my 6K to 9K target size so I may have to trim or elaborate.
Posting chapters: Erin would prefer that you don't post every day since it can overload the front page, which is too long already! What often happens then is that earlier chapters get removed (from the front page, not BC!) and I have to pull the latest one up, then scroll to the bottom and keep clicking the 'previous' link to get to something I am familiar with, then read on.
It is probably better to post on a regular schedule, but that can be 3 days, 4 days or weekly. That gives your reader time to absorb the post and build anticipation for the next one. Many here post weekly. I can't write that fast!
Penny
I can't write that fast!
Neither can I. That's why I won't post anything that's not complete.
Thanks for the input. Still on the fence about just how to post.
I know what you mean about the need to go back to previous chapters to find something that I'm familiar with. When there's too much time between serial postings, I often have to go back and read about half the previous post to catch back up with the story line. That's another reason I hesitate to post a serial.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
It's just me ...
I seem to find a story chunks of (max) 5,000-7,000 words the most comfortable. Shorter is always fine. Some very good stories don't even make it to 'drabble length'.
Somewhere at about 10-12,000 words, my background feeling starts shifting from "What a great read!" to "Doesn't this thing ever end?". My eye tends to "glaze over" when the story starts turning into a "solid wall of text".
And does any author want my second reaction?
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The overall >story< can be just about any length - most famously here, Angharad's "Bike".
Then "Tommy- The Trials and Tribulations of a Girl?" by Teddie S. came in at about 215 chapters, but each chapter was a steady, and comfortable-for-me 4-6,ooo words.
For very long chunks, if I get distracted, it can be hard to pick up where I was reading last. With smaller chunks, skimming the first 75% (words 1-2,999) to get to the un-read 25% (words 3,000 to 4,000, isn't so painful.
But if I'm scores of screenfuls 'down' in a 40,000 word story and my browser crashes, or my machine shuts down from a power glitch ... sad.
~~~***~~~
Here Begineth Paragraph The First
One thing I've seen are stories posted as single 'units' from BC's point of view, but have internal markers (row of decorations like tildes and stars, whatever, to internally announce chapters. This can be very fancy, or just plain text that you can type.
~~~***~~~***
Paragraph Secundus Whence We Meet My Logorrhea
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The >mechanics< of setting up a multi-chapter story on BS, or the 'polite-ness" issues of "how often should I/may I post?". - That's outside of what I can help you with.
Out of curiosity
What about long stories (book length 120k+ words) that post several obviously delineated titled chapters (number AND title, in a larger font) in a single 'part'? Posting a book that's meant to be read chapter-after-chapter as individually posted chapters - especially when the chapter length can greatly vary - is something I've resisted for years. My hope is for the reader to be able to really lose themselves in the books, which I'm not sure the individually posted chapter method achieves as well.
Debated this with myself for forever and a day it seems like.
Very long stories
The problem with very long stories is that, for most readers, they cannot be read at one sitting. Some of us have other things to do, like write our own stories, sleep or even feed the cat(s).
The alternative, which I suspect many people use, is to download the whole thing onto a local device where it can then be devoured at leisure. The reader software you use will have its own bookmarking method which means you don't have to keep track of where you are.
Downside: I find that either downloading the web page as is or choosing the 'printer-friendly' alternative means I have to spend time editing the file into something my reader software can tolerate. This can take time I could better use elsewhere: see above.
Penny
Downloading
In my early experience on the internet, I was an AOL user, dial up. There were two problems with that. One was when you were online, the phone was blocked nobody could call you. Two was that AOL took a dim view of you tying up the portal for long periods of time and sent out nasty emails to those who did threatening to discontinue or physically limit your use.
To that end, I did just that. I downloaded thousands upon thousands of stories into my word processor. And yes, stories from some sites were not too compatible with word. FictionMania for example puts a paragraph break each time a line wraps. If the author didn't use a double space to separate paragraphs that was a headache to make readable. What's more, word often wanted to wrap the line before FictionMania did.
Since I got DSL (and now fiber) I no longer have to do that. But even after I got DSL, I continued the practice for some time. Old habits die hard.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Debated this with myself for forever and a day it seems like.
I too have resisted posting by chapter. However, I participated in, and was the posting author of, "One Dozen Roses." In my opinion ODR was a master piece and deserved to be read by all. 7 authors, 12 stories of Trans folk named Rose. It weighed in at 36046 words. For BCTS, that's a long read. For the average reader that's 2 1/2 to 3 hours if read straight through. But the whole idea of the effort was to present it as one story.
As the posting author, I saw the problem with that and polished up my HTML skills to create an interactive Table of Contents just so folks read one story, walk away and come back, use the TOC to jump straight to the next story and pick up where they left off.
The TOC worked flawlessly. However, either the word didn't get out or didn't sink in that readers could do that and it didn't get the readership we were hoping for, nor the Kudos it deserved.
This story is only one story and weighs in at
over 40,00049,192 words (after first edit). I'm going to have to do something different to gain readership.Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Internal markers
Those internal markers only rarely indicate the start of a new chapter. When they do, the following line will have the word 'chapter' in it or a number indicating progression.
To my mind, those are pointless. If it is a new chapter, why not post it separately? Sometimes, though, that will result in very short chapters which makes me wonder why the author chose to break the story up that way.
For me, I use internal markers for a number of purposes. It can indicate a change of viewpoint and/or a passage of time, but not necessarily a significant passage of time that would require a new chapter to start. I used to use these almost randomly but now I've standardised on certain forms my readers will come to understand as they progress through a story:
- - - = either a brief interlude, occasionally a flashback or occasionally action occurring in parallel
* * * = a change of viewpoint or a period of time during the same day has passed
~o~O~o~ = a new day, but not necessarily the following day
There may be others used to make special points, which will be apparent from the context.
Penny
One of my own
I use and internal marker of my own creation.
Usually, it simply means that a minute by minute narrative has jumped ahead in time some times a hour, sometimes a day. If it's more than a day I'll usually add a bit of text, something like "Two weeks later," or some such.
When I publish my work at Smashwords, I have to do chapters and I usually add that marker at the end of each chapter.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Markers and other effects
I only use what's on my basic (UK) keyboard, and not all of that.
The problem with getting too fancy is that you have no idea what hardware or software the reader is going to be using. That includes basic things like character sets and languages, as well as screen size, shape and display methods.
To ensure that I don't cause anyone problems I try and keep to simple ASCII characters and I do not include or insist on certain fonts being available. Microsoft, I'm looking at you. The only 'unusual' characters I decided to use are the double-chevrons around non-local speech; however, these can be found on the keyboards and in the character sets of several European countries.
TL;DR: I try to keep my text to the lowest common denominator.
Penny
My homebrew separator
My home brew separator
is a jpg file. Almost all devices will show that, even monochrome displays.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
FWIW
Personally, I never read serials, though I might might make an exception for something if I know it’s been finished. Even so, I prefer a self-contained story. (I know that some readers hereabouts copy-paste a serial and turn it into a homebrew epub...)
Everyone needs a good proofreader/copy editor. After that stage has been completed, I always set a completed story aside for a few days, then reread it with fresh eyes: a story can ALWAYS be improved in places. Have fun with it!
Sugar and Spiiice – TG Fiction by Bryony Marsh
I hear you
Hi Bryony,
I'm with you. I often balk at serials. Sometimes, if the teaser interests me, I'll wait until the final chapter is is posted and then go back binge read the story. If the author posts Chapter 1 of 9, or some such and it looks like it'll be interesting I will sometimes take a chance. The other exception would be if the author has a track record of finishing their serials.
I personally won't post anything that is not complete at the time I post it. I've decided after much advice that I will post this as a serial. The title will be "If It Was Your Husband" and it will be posted as:
with the note that the story is fully written and edited. I've currently sent it to the one and only person to volunteer to edit for me and I expect a quick turn-around. They've edited for me before.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt