briarwood | Po-ta-to, po-tah-to...

amothea rants about stories posted in multiple parts here.

And she has a point. But there's a lot she's not taking into account. I think she assumes every reader is like her and wants to read a whole story all in one. I think a lot of people do, but I don't think everyone does. I so rarely have the time to sit down and read a nice, long fic from beginning to end, the other way suits me just fine. And though I don't like getting invested in a WIP, I love those cliffhanger chapter-endings from an author I trust to deliver next week.

But there's something else, and here I'm speaking as a writer not a reader: some very long stories are not meant to be read that way.

Most of my multi-chaptered stories are posted in chapters of between 6000 and 8000 words because that's how they're intended to be read. I don't write novels; I write serials. Each chapter builds up the plot, has its own beginning, middle and end, ends on a point intended to leave you (the reader) wanting more.

Just as a full season of 24 isn't intended to be watched in a wacky 24-hour marathon, a serialised story isn't intended to be saved up until it's finished and read in one long sitting*.

That doesn't mean you can't do that. I actually did do that with the first few seasons of 24; I loathe tv ads, so I'd much rather watch stuff on DVD and cram a full season into a weekend of square-eyed, ass-numbing fun. But watching 24 that way really exposes how preposterous the plots are and how impossible Jack Bauer's life really is. It takes something important away, and spoils the show.

Similarly, as a writer I can't control the reader's experience, and I don't want to. I can't stop you turning my carefully structured serial into a single block. I can't stop you waiting until I've posted the final chapter before you start reading. I can't stop you reading the last chapter first, if that's what you want to do.

But don't tell me I'm doing it wrong because my chosen genre doesn't fit your reading habits. Chances are if you're not a fan of serials, you're not reading mine anyhow; that's great and fandom's more than big enough for all of us. But you know what? Serialisation was good enough for Dickens...and it works for me, too. If/when I move to Dreamwidth, I'm going to keep doing it.

* Most of my longer stories are in fact available as single blocks, on my site or in the Archive of Our Own. The exception is where the story is a series, rather than a serial - stand-alone fics linked by an arc plot. Those are always archived separately.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Fair enough that people have their preferences as to what suits them for reading. Other people are going to have other preferences and so be it. However, the blanket assumption by a couple of commenters to the OP that the only reason for posting in parts or WIP is to obtain extra comments chafes me a tad.

However, the blanket assumption by a couple of commenters to the OP that the only reason for posting in parts or WIP is to obtain extra comments chafes me a tad.

THIS.

Oh, sure, getting the comments is one reason for doing it that way. But it's by no means the only one. Those comments on a serialised story are immensely valuable to me as a writer...one of the things I loved about posting Predator was seeing people speculate about who Jim was protecting and why and what did he know...I never would have got that if I'd posted the whole story in one because people comment when they get to the end.

But it's like I said - I post in parts because that's how I want people to read it. Serialisation is as much a skill as any other form of writing.

Couldn't she do the mature thing (or it's what I do, and I didn't think it was weird...), which is with a WiP wait until it's all been posted, copy it into word and read like that?

I don't have time to read a long fic all at once either, but I like to have it all there and read a chunk at a time at my own speed.

I suppose the only thing I sympathise with, is that you're at least talking about posting 6000-8000 words at a time. You do get people that will take a 10,000 word story and manage 5 parts out of it...

Couldn't she do the mature thing (or it's what I do, and I didn't think it was weird...), which is with a WiP wait until it's all been posted, copy it into word and read like that?

Apparently she does; her post was basically saying that if you can post 50,000 words all in one entry (as Dreamwidth allows) then you should. She's ticked because people crossposting to LJ still use the LJ limits (well, duh!).

You do get people that will take a 10,000 word story and manage 5 parts out of it...

That'd be 2000 words per chapter, which is still reasonable if the story is paced to fit that kind of length. That's the thing, here: I've seen fics posted in 500 word chunks, and 500 words does not a chapter make. That's a sure sign that the writer is just posting as it comes to her, no plan, no beta...in other words, it's a big "do not read" sign flashing over the fic.

But serialisation is all about getting the pacing right. I generally aim for around 6000 words per chapter, but I've written fics with half that or less. The trick is to keep chapters roughly the same length and for each chapter to work on its own. Not be stand-alone, but to be readable as a single chunk that's part of the whole. It's easier to explain with a diagram :-)

A good serialised story can be read like a novel, but is meant to be read the way a TV show is watched: one episode at a time.

Po-ta-to, po-tah-to...

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