So, the reason I'm posting this is because I have a bit of a conundrum decision to make here. I just finished part 5 of my "Me and My Best Friend" story, but the length ended up getting a little bit out of control by the time I was done editing it and filling in all of the details. I'm talking 22 pages of single-spaced text on Microsoft Word long. It's kind of a three-part chapter, involving a car ride, a doctor's visit, and a shopping trip, so I'm kind of wondering if maybe I should split the thing up instead of posting it as one gigantic chapter.

So I'd really like to know everyone's opinion on this. When you're reading a multi-part story on the Archive, which of the following would you prefer?

A. One really long story part, 20 pages or more.

B. More story parts, but each part is a bit shorter, maybe 10 pages or so.

C. Lots of really short story parts that can easily be devoured in a few minutes each, 4-5 pages or so.

With that in mind, my options for this part of the story are as follows:

1. Post the whole thing, 22 pages, almost 17,000 words, as one gigantic chapter, with only an extra space used to separate the individual events of the chapter

2. Still post the whole thing as just one part of the story on the archive, but divide the one giant chapter into three smaller ones, thus clearly labeling the beginning of each new event within the story

3. Split the post and the chapter into two parts, which would result in one 12-page post/chapter, and one 10-page post/chapter.

4. Split the post and the chapter into three parts, which would result in one 3.5-page post, one 9-page post, and one 10-page post.

Thoughts?

I've had this issue myself from time to time. When do you break the story up?

When I was writing How to Breathe, I had what I intended to be one chapter. It all took place on one single day. My main character's birthday. In the end I had to break the section up into four separate chapters.

What I finally had to realize was that each part had its own self contained arc. My trying to keep them all together in the same chapter just wasn't working.

That has more or less been my rule of thumb for chapter writing. Each chapter should have a clear beginning middle and end. There can be breaks in a chapter, but a chapter is finished when some kind of resolutions happens. There is usually a natural point where you as an author will see it.

Long chapters are not a bad thing. There are some readers here on the archive that appreciate a longer entry. I myself usually submit chapters that are 15 to 25 pages in length. Some of my stuff is shorter, some longer. I write to what feels natural.

You mention

cheetaking243 (imported) wrote: Tue Nov 06, 2012 12:05 am a car ride, a doctor's visit, and a shopping trip.

It could be you should split the story up into three parts, and resolve each part individually. However, as the author, you will know the goal you have with your chapter. Once that goal has happened, you end the chapter. If it takes your character a car ride, doctor's visit, and shopping trip to achieve that goal, then that is one chapter, and you should not break it up.

Let me mention one of my last chapters of How to Stand Up (I use this for an example). In it, the character starts on a plane ride, he is then kidnapped and plots his escape while trapped in the trunk. He is then interrogated and needs to effect his escape at the moment it presents itself. Finally, there is a fire fight as he teams up with another character to get off of the military base.

That is FOUR distinct parts. However, the question posed in that chapter was, Is my main character ready to fight for something he believes in? It took all four parts to answer that question. Therefore, I couldn't break it up into multiple chapters.

I say, let your character guide you. If your chapter takes fifty parts to get where you need it to go, then it takes fifty parts to make up one chapter. Write it in as many parts as you need. Write in as many pages as you need.

I for one, like to read long works. There is nothing wrong with it. I know I'll read it. I know... so will many others.

Excellent advice. Thanks a lot!

Of your three choices, I'd go with 'B'.

For me, around 15 pages is good for a single part of a story. If I were submitting something 22 pages long, I would probably break it into to two parts. Unless there was no good point for a break in the story.

I did indeed decide to go with that option. The original title of the chapter was "Punishment, Prodding, and Panties," but finally when I did a full read-through again a few days ago, I considered Cainanite's advice and realized that there was indeed a clear break in the flow of the chapter's emotional conflict after the doctor's visit, and so I decided to split it up.

Length has admittedly always been one of my biggest problems when I'm writing. I can't tell you how many times during my college creative writing classes that we had an assignment to do a 5-page or 10-page story, and I ended up writing 20 or more. I suck at writing anything short and concise. The length always gets out of control. And even though I'm always afraid that I'm rambling on without saying anything and that my audience will get bored, I never know what to cut either. So that's how this 22-page monstrosity came into existence in the first place, and I thank both of you for the advice on how to tame it. I love writing here so much... it's given me a lot more confidence in my narrative abilities.

This place is the best!

(ノ^o^)ノ ♡♡♡

I have found that if you make a story one scene and one scene only then you can hold the length down.

Flash fiction is 300 to 500 words generally (not more than 1000 for sure) and that is a very dramatic look at one character in a situation that is dramatic. That means limiting characters to the main person and painting the scene in a few short sentences.

I can generally do a simple plotline and drama in less than 2000 words. However, if I start developing two characters and multiple scenes (places) then the stories easily go above 3000 and hit 5000. That's two or three characters and their development in the story.

I recently had a short story go to nearly 13000 words and when the editor and I got done with the final copy, there was an extra battle scene (2000 words) that we took out as "gilding the lily" and then compressed the rest of the story by about 10%. The result was a more satisfying read at 10K. Still long as the "ideal" length would have been 5000/6000. This story had six characters, three major scenes, and a monstrous villain.

Editing for length is hard to do because a writer always invests a lot in their own words. It's always painful.

I ahve learned to estimate how many words that I need to tell a particular story. That means that I know the plot's beginnings and endings.

I try to reduce every rough or first draft of a story by 10%.

Stephen King has a good book On Writing which describes techniques for editing. There's lots of references to it online.

Some of Franz Kafka's greatest stories were only 1 or 2 paragraphs. Dreams are short stories. Folk tales and fables are usually short - think of Aesop. If it hits the emotional mark, short writing can be more powerful than long. So I don't think there should be minimum word counts for stories here.

Chee I do,t care how lone or shot the story is if it is well writen and I like it I will read it Ernie

cheetaking243 (imported) wrote: Tue Nov 06, 2012 12:05 am So, the reason I'm posting this is because I have a bit of a conundrum decision to make here. I just finished part 5 of my "Me and My Best Friend" story, but the length ended up getting a little bit out of control by the time I was done editing it and filling in all of the details. I'm talking 22 pages of single-spaced text on Microsoft Word long. It's kind of a three-part chapter, involving a car ride, a doctor's visit, and a shopping trip, so I'm kind of wondering if maybe I should split the thing up instead of posting it as one gigantic chapter.

So I'd really like to know everyone's opinion on this. When you're reading a multi-part story on the Archive, which of the following would you prefer?

A. One really long story part, 20 pages or more.

B. More story parts, but each part is a bit shorter, maybe 10 pages or so.

C. Lots of really short story parts that can easily be devoured in a few minutes each, 4-5 pages or so.

With that in mind, my options for this part of the story are as follows:

1. Post the whole thing, 22 pages, almost 17,000 words, as one gigantic chapter, with only an extra space used to separate the individual events of the chapter

2. Still post the whole thing as just one part of the story on the archive, but divide the one giant chapter into three smaller ones, thus clearly labeling the beginning of each new event within the story

3. Split the post and the chapter into two parts, which would result in one 12-page post/chapter, and one 10-page post/chapter.

4. Split the post and the chapter into three parts, which would result in one 3.5-page post, one 9-page post, and one 10-page post.

Thoughts?