Mar
21st
2019
#21 · 1:40pm Mar 21st, 2019
Here's a semi-legitimate concern:
Is there, like, a point at which the wordcount on something will lead to people preferring it broken up into smaller chunks? Or not?
The followup to Mistakes Were Made continues to chug along but it's coming in rather hefty and ain't even done yet, and while I'd be happy just dumping the whole soggy mess onto people's laps I have the nagging suspicion that that's Not The Done Thing Around Here.
Probably nothing. And like I say it ain't even done yet anyway
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Cackling Moron · 251 views
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Personally anything above 10k becomes harder for me to want to read randomly. I leave those for when I have a couple of hours to do nothing.
5031025
On the one hand I'm like "Eh, whevs, big chunks who cares" on the other I'm like "The last one was about 13k and this one just got past that and still ain't even anywhere near done and I'm worried I'm getting into the territory of being actively hostile to the reader".
We shall see.
5031028
You can? What an age to be alive!
I think for "most" people, 10K chapters are about at the limit of what they're willing to casually read. Now if you're writing a doorstopper, longer chapters are fine, but not for lighthearted slice-of-life.
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But all I know is light hearted slice of life!
I have the tags to prove It!
I don't care about a word count.
"Long enough to suit the narrative." Is the correct answer to me.
5031043
It was less a concern about pure word count more whether it was poor form to not break it up.
You're quite right, of course.
I would say there is no real problem with 10k+ words as long as it is a singular cohesive thing. However if there are some kind of time jumps in there than it wouldn't hurt to split it at that point.
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I'm now wondering in what other could an author abuse their readers without actually writing a bad story. Maybe we should post the challenge to someone like Georg or GaPJaxie
5031046
Hmm, I'll see how it looks when I'm done...
5031047
No paragraph breaks, no punctuation to define dialogue. Boom.
I generally prefer chapters about 5k at most. Longer than that and it gets annoying if I have to stop and come back later, especially if the browser takes me back to the top of the page.
I'm really looking forward to the continuation of that storyline, but how you post it doesn't really matter to me. Make 27 chapters 1000 words each or dump it in one big steaming pile, I read nothing until it has a "complete" tag, then download it. A story works for me as an organic whole and I can't feel it one chapter at a time. And I've been burned too many times by stories never finished or with another chapter every two years to bother with "incomplete" anymore.
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I wouldn't get too excited about the continuation given I'm the one writing it.
I think the conclusion I've drawn from this is that there is no real answer and everyone has different preferences.
...finishing the thing first would probably be a good idea...
Generally, I think you get more reads from shorter chapters. People see 3 chapters of 4K words and they figure they can read one in 15 minutes, and if they have more time they can read a second chapter. With 12K block it becomes more of a commitment and people put it off. Like, watching Netflix, how often do you watch movies versus half-hour tv shows?
I think my inclination on the word count matter slowly but surely slides towards longer chapters. Doesn't matter that I have to wait longer, reading larger part at once is better than reading small chapters, sometimes even losing my latest line of thought about the story.
For me personally the sweet spot is somewhere between 3k - 8k words.
I like enough room for the chapters to be able to "breathe" and develop their ideas. On the other hand, I hate it when the chapter wastes words and just rambles on and on aimlessly.
5031147
I'm not...hugely concerned about the number of readers. I mean sure, I'd like to be a big-dick cool guy and have all the kudos but really I'm just writing dreck and am just trying to think of the best way of delivering it. Too much all at once may well be overwhelming, and not allow time and space for, uh, contemplation.
Kind of leaning towards breaking it up right now, which fits given the way it's working out.
Not like it's the worst thing! The worst thing will be the words themselves! Ha! Ahahaha!
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You may have a point about breathing room.
Although, being someone whose stock in trade is nothing but rambling I am deeply offended.
Personal opinion only but if I see a chapter of more than 8k I won’t read the chapter until I have a good hour or so to read it.
I read chapters on my break and lunch at work and if a chapter is pretty long I won’t bother until I’m home.
My preference for "will read whenever" chapters sits around the 5 to 8k range, and may even read them back to back if they're set up right and I have the free time.
9 to 15k is where I start considering how much time I actually have to read, and I may hold off on chapter updates until I have a little extra free time.
Anything over 15k ends up being held off until a time where I feel I can just sit down for a while and really burn through it.