I miss being able to do polls...

[rabidsamfan]

Thinking of posting something to ff.n -- a New Avengers story I've been working on for a while with a couple of collaborators. Thing is, it's been so long since I've posted there that I was truly taken aback when the "test" file loaded its in entirety.

That's nearly 60,000 words. 99 pages in 12 point font.

And I can post it as one chapter?

*yikes*

So the question is, which do y'all think folks would rather have -- four shorter "chapters" or one long fic all at once? I know breaking it up would glean more comments in a different fandom, but I don't really know how many people are likely to read this anyway, so that's not a factor. Would it be less scary that way, though?

Any opinions?

*listens for crickets*

Comments

[shirebound]

For myself, I'd rather read something chapter-by-chapter. I think seeing a 60,000 word file would scare me to death! But I don't have much time to read, and like to eat things in little bites. :)

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Considering that you are among the people whose recommendations on what to read always makes me feel shiny, I will knock wood and hope you get more reading time.

Thanks for answering, though. I kind of waffled and made four big chunks out of it, but I think it works.

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

I like things in little portions, too! :-)

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Another vote for tiny! Thanks!

[semyaza.livejournal.com]

10-12,000 words at a time is more manageable. I don't like really short chapters, but if you divided the story into five or six parts it would be okay. Less than 10,000 would be too short.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

I ended up dividing it into four pieces. Tried five, but I didn't like where the breaks were falling in the last part and this seemed to make more sense.

[mariole.livejournal.com]

Personally, I think shorter chapters are much easier to deal with online. It's easier to keep your place. If you get interrupted, it's very hard to pick back up where you left off in a long fic, and you sometimes look ahead to something you'd rather not have read.

Very few people will read 99 pages in one sitting. Chapters is my vote. :)

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Chapters it is! (I like your reasoning. Very strong for "read it on screen", even though I tend to be a "print it out" person myself.)

[lame-pegasus.livejournal.com]

Post it in several chapters - makes it a lot easier to read.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Done! Hope that it works.

I revised it quite a bit if you care to look. I think it works. Came out a little more romantic, in a funny kind of way.

[clevertoad.livejournal.com]

And now for something completely different...
Me, I'd rather get the big fat chunk because threading through trying to pick up a bunch of little chapters drives me nutsy-fagin. I want it all in one place -- did my novel in 7 separate files and found that irritating enough -- have found it's much easier to go back and do revisions now that I have all you-don't-want-to-know-how-many-pages in one big honkin' file. That's the way I'm going to work on the next two novels, no matter how big the files get.

However, this is probably because I am still not up to speed on clicking through the sites to try to find all of the pieces of a given story. I want to download it all to my harddrive and read it from there, preferably in Word form where I can go in and insert comments. And I do like reading things all in one big chunk when I can sneak a chunk of private time. (hopefully tomorrow after i get rid of both of the boys for a day)

And however also, I'm the person who can't stand to put a book down in the middle and have been known to read till 3 a.m. on a school/work night.

Go with the majority opinion -- post the chapters and I'll just make big bambi eyes at you to keep sending me the single files.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

I like printouts too, which is why I was torn. But the majority said chapters so I ended up breaking it into four.

[ansostuff.livejournal.com]

After more or less switching fandoms from LOTR to Stargate I'm still as disapointed about ff.net as I was when I wrote and read hobbit stuff so I wouldn't bother going there at all unless that is the only (or best) place fics in that fandom are posted. It's amaziing that you're even allowed to post all that as one chapter! I'd say breaking it up.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

There really aren't very many places to put Avengers fic where it might be noticed. And even fewer for New Avengers! But while ff.n can drive me crazy, I think it's an important venue for fanfiction, and there has to be some leaven over there to make up for the dross!

[lothithil.livejournal.com]

I once posted a long story as a single chapter and received comment that breaking it up into several shorter chapters would make it easier to read. I personally will print out a long story rather than read it off of the computer... it wreaks havoc with my eyes otherwise.

It never ceases to surprise me, the things that get read that I post to ff.net... I would never, of all the stories that I've posted there, have guessed which one would be the most popular. I say post your New Avengers story--and be sure to give me the link!

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3649226/1/Berlin

I wound up breaking it into four parts. And I'm with you -- sometimes a printout is easier to cope with. If you'd rather get a single long doc email me as rabidsamfan over at gmail and I'll send you the lump.

[telperion1.livejournal.com]

Personally, I like short chapters. I'm a slow reader, and if a chapter is too long I get overwhelmed. So you can guess where my opinion lies. But I may not be representative of your readers, so go with what floats your boat.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

I divided by four. Still longish chapters, but I've got my fingers crossed it will work.

[melilot-hill.livejournal.com]

Personally, I prefer shorter chapter, as I usually read stuff on the computer and it's easier to stop reading and come back again later when there are several short(er) chapters. But I can imagine if you print stories, one chapter might be better.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Yup, that's the dilemma precisely. The printout folks want one, and the "read on screen" folks want more. I split it into four, which probably leaves both camps miserable...