wherein Liz asks about people's preferred story/chapter lengths

[edenfalling]

I finished editing "Out of Season" tonight. The final version is about 27,000 words, give or take some punctuation. (*eyes story in disbelief*)

My question is whether I should post it on AO3 and ff.net as a one-shot or split it into pseudo-chapters. It was conceived and written as a one-shot, so I think it flows better that way, but 27,000 words is awfully long and a lot of people prefer things split up for reading ease. (I guess this is the same general principle as splitting long chunks of narrative into paragraphs?) If I split it, the pseudo-chapters would be the same ones I used in the LJ beta draft of the story, which makes them about 10,500 words, 10,000 words, and 6,500 words long, respectively.

I personally don't mind ridiculously long one-shots, but I have had a few reader complaints about that in the past so I figured I'd ask for opinions. Thoughts, anyone?

Comments

[branchandroot]

I'd say post it as a one-shot. If that's how it's written, I wouldn't break it up; chapter splits impose a serious pause on the reading flow.

[edenfalling]

I think I'm going to post it as a one-shot on AO3, but as three chapters on ff.net, since ff.net is the place where I have previously had complaints about story length -- and those were for something nearly ten thousand words shorter than "Out of Season." *sigh*

[theodosia21]

I prefer to read stories on one page when possible, but it doesn't make much difference to me if you post it in chapters. The AO3 will let me view it on one page anyway. ^_^

[edenfalling]

I've decided to post it as a oneshot on AO3, but as a chaptered fic on ff.net. :-)

[marici.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I'll take good writing in any shape the author wants, right down to pink on black with a blink tag (though, if anyone actually did that, I'd save it as a text file and read that). That said, I think chapters should be for logical narrative transitions. If the story is one-piece in structure, publish it as one chapter. I read a lot on my tiny phone, and I just search the text for works from the last sentence I read if I lose my place.

[edenfalling]

pink on black with a blink tag

Good god, what a horrible thought. *wards off psychosomatic headache*

I broke the story into three pseudo-chapters to comply with LJ's maximum post length rules -- and I tend to write in fairly defined scene chunks, so it wasn't too hard to find workable split points -- but I always intended it to be a single story.

[grikmeer.livejournal.com]

Why not post it as a one-shot and in chapter format with a disclaimer at the beginning, with links to the other option depending on reader preference?

[edenfalling]

Well, double-posting on a single archive is general frowned upon... but in the event, I have decided to post the story as a oneshot on the AO3 (where I have never received nor seen chapter length complaints) and as a chaptered story on ff.net (where I definitely have received length complaints, and for stories nearly ten thousand words shorter than the one currently in question).

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

I would definitely break it up. I know feedback often drops over 10,000 words and it's hard for people to get a chunk of time to read something that long. 10, 10 and 6 is a perfect split. The story is finished, so even if narratively there aren't clean breaks (and I think there are), the reader can just jump to the next chapter easily. AO3 gives the option for full downloads and it's not that hard to do a cut and paste from ff.net if that's the reader's preference, but even there, if a reader is reading an iPhone or other mobile reader, I think she would prefer it in chunks.

[edenfalling]

I think I will post it in sections on ff.net, since that's the site where I received length complaints in the past. (I suppose that will also make "Do not stand at my grave and weep" look a bit less odd when I tack it on as a fourth "chapter" to keep it together with its parent story. *wry*)

[hungrytiger11.livejournal.com]

I'm inclined to say post it as a one shot, if that's how you wrote it. I mean, I've always gotten the impression that most people will leave the tab up if reading on a tablet or computer.....

[edenfalling]

I leave tabs open for days on end sometimes, if life gets in my way or I want to finish a story but I've gotten temporarily stuck in a boring patch. But then again, I am the kind of person who deliberately uses the AO3's "view entire work" option to put a multi-chapter story all on one page, so I don't trust my opinion when it comes to other people's ideal chapter lengths. :-)

[aishuu.livejournal.com]

Split it. 5,000 words or less is a good rule of thumb if you want a good response. Announce a schedule (every day, every other day, every week) and stick to it.

It's all about PR, unfortunately.

[edenfalling]

I am going to go with pseudo-chapters on ff.net, and may well only post one a day (formatting more than one a day is a freaking headache anyway *grumble grumble mutter complain*), but I put the whole thing up as a oneshot on the AO3. This is because ff.net is the source of my previous length complaints, while I have never seen any similar complaints in AO3 reviews (for me or for other people). So different formats for different sites, even if the words remain the same. *sigh*