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Post by Donne on Jan 30, 2009 23:11:36 GMT -5
Now, of course this depends on the size of your chapters; I would call a short chapter anything under 3000 words, eh? I tend to post a 1000 to 2000 words in each chapter, but others post tens of thousands.
The main question: Fanfiction writers, how often do you recommend posting? And why?
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Post by vampirenaomi on Feb 4, 2009 12:26:06 GMT -5
I don't think there is one right way to do this, but as a reader/reviewer I prefer getting at least 5,000 words maybe two or three times a month.
I like long chapters because they give me something to chew and make the story go onwards. Nothing is as frustrating as seeing that a favourite story has been update only to realise that the story didn't actually go any further because the chapter was so short that nothing had time to happen.
As a reviewer I also like these longer chapters. I like to mention what I like/didn't like, and there's simply more material to comment on when the chapter is long enough.
But as I said, it really depends. I would expect an epic story about Kim and Ron saving the world from a threat like none before to have long chapters, but some carefree humour story can do with shorter chapters because it might be hard to keep the spirit up for too long at one go.
If one has the whole story finished before posting or is a very fast writer, I recommend taking at least a week between updates. This is simply because if you update every day, people won't review every chapter - and I assume that's what most authors want.
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Post by Ninnik Nishukan on Feb 4, 2009 12:40:29 GMT -5
Drag it out for months, then kill your main characters off with coffee.
Works like a charm.
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Post by vampirenaomi on Feb 4, 2009 12:49:16 GMT -5
Drag it out for months, then kill your main characters off with coffee. Works like a charm. An even better technique is to wait for several months to years and then post an author's note as a separate chapter so that everyone gets their hopes up about continuation and only gets to see a "I will not continue this story" notice. And I'm still bitter about that coffee thing because when I saw you had updated, I actually went to the grocery store and bought candy so that I could properly relax and enjoy the update. Imagine my surprise when I saw what the chapter was about. ;D |
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Post by Ninnik Nishukan on Feb 4, 2009 13:28:35 GMT -5
Drag it out for months, then kill your main characters off with coffee. Works like a charm. An even better technique is to wait for several months to years and then post an author's note as a separate chapter so that everyone gets their hopes up about continuation and only gets to see a "I will not continue this story" notice. And I'm still bitter about that coffee thing because when I saw you had updated, I actually went to the grocery store and bought candy so that I could properly relax and enjoy the update. Imagine my surprise when I saw what the chapter was about. ;D Ahahaha! Seriously? XD That made me laugh so hard!  *imagines vampirenaomi's sad face as bags of candy droop in her arms with disappointment* Well, the next-- err, last-- Maslow chapter will be a long a ss deal indeed, so you'd better stock up on candy again.  I just don't know when it'll be updated... >___> EDIT: Oh, and I agree with everything vampirenaomi said in her first post. |
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Post by YFWE on Feb 4, 2009 16:26:54 GMT -5
I voted for the last option solely because that's generally what I do. With the current fic I'm doing (in ADJL), I write 7,000 words per chapter on average, although it has been as high as 13,000. I just update when I can, generally with breaks of a month or two between chapters. Works better for me in the end. ;D
Ninnik's idea of killing the characters off with coffee is fantastic as well.
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