I understand that it's tough to write something that establishes a place, time, characters, and atmosphere, and then to continue by including an actual story line and wrap it up within one posting.
But...
Much of what's posted in chapters is NOT really a story told in chapters, but a poorly told story told a short bit at a time. Imagine reading a story, that could be written as a large-print 25-page book for a beginning reader, but in this format:
Chapter 1: Intro to Timmy
Chapter 2: Timmy wakes up
Chapter 3: Timmy turns off the alarm clock
Chapter 4: Timmy falls back asleep
Chapter 5: Description of the wallpaper in Timmy's bedroom
Chapter 6: Timmy's dog hops on the bed and wakes him...
...
Chapter 102: Timmy has to decide between having oatmeal or eggs for breakfast
...
Chapter 921: Timmy leaves for school
...
Chapter 2012: Timmy falls asleep, and the day ends
Now, describing it this way is <B>fairly impolite</B>, but many of the stories feel that way.
Not all. But a lot.
The person who wrote that pointing this out and calling it "rude" was offensive, well, should look at the stories that continue to part 30 or part 60. It's like reading a story written by Anne Rice, who masturbates regularly into her typewriter and sends the resulting ejaculate to her publishers as finished work.
You might get the impression that I really like the story to go somewhere.
My solution: I read the first "chapter" of a story, skimming much of it to see if the "chapter" really tells enough of its own story to catch my interest. If so, I'll read the chapter more carefully and look for the second chapter; if not, I ignore the rest.
However, it's an imperfect solution born out of the desire to read some of this. I don't want people to stop submitting stories, by any means, but really would like authors to realize that a multi-part story is a liability. If you really want to tell a longer story, consider writing one segment of it and posting it, and make sure that the segment you post is self-contained and well-written. Then, if you really think that adding the rest before and after it will augment the strength of the story, have at it.
But remember: it is not a sin to tell a fragment of a story, while not finishing it ever. If the story's good enough, it'll have some good substories to tell.
Like that little fragment of a bigger story, that George Lucas released as a movie in 1977. Self-contained, although it had hints/hooks of tying it to a bigger story. (We could argue as to whether the additional material added since 1977 really makes it a stronger or a weaker story.)
Rule of thumb: if the chapter you're getting ready to post is to provide atmosphere, but has no plot or movement, either you should see if you're channeling Hemmingway (good, mostly) or Rice (terrible, always).
[You might get the impression that I don't respect Anne Rice as a writer. If she were a writer, then you're right, I wouldn't respect her as one. However, since she's not a writer....
]
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