Quality and Quantity
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Mellie
- Writing fanfic is not a terrorist action|Mech Pilot Fanboy
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Quality and Quantity
When it comes to the two aforemention topics, how do you decide the right combination? I mean write long and sloppy, it'll please some, but I never find myself able to accept what I wrote. At ff.net I used to get reviews telling me my side bar between the arrows should be small. In order to keep regular reviews, I had smaller chappies... The comment made me feel bad and I began to write a bunch of crap. So how do you know when a good mixture is reached?
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Andrea
- I owe Rose GOOD 1xR smut
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Personally, I think it's relative.
Long chapters are good, yes and no. Long chapters can be fun and exciting, giving the reader quite a taste of your fic, and rewarding him for waiting between updates. Yet, sometimes, long chapters can be tiring and redundant. Sometimes, too many things happen in only one chapter, too many twists in the plot that don't really give the reader time to understand it all at once.
This is why sometimes it's better to chop chapters in half.
Quantity and quality... Of course it's quality. I prefer reading one amazing one-shot, long as it may be, than reading a 20+chapter fic that's awful and unoriginal. It's all about creativity.
And you shouldn't chop your fics into little chapters just because you want more reviews. If people really enjoy what you write, having the same word count divided into 20 or 5 chapters shouldn't really make a difference. People review the quality of your fic, not how many chapters you write it in.
And just for the heck of it, a 3 or 4 thousand words chapter is good; not too short, or too long.
Hope I've been of some help.
Long chapters are good, yes and no. Long chapters can be fun and exciting, giving the reader quite a taste of your fic, and rewarding him for waiting between updates. Yet, sometimes, long chapters can be tiring and redundant. Sometimes, too many things happen in only one chapter, too many twists in the plot that don't really give the reader time to understand it all at once.
This is why sometimes it's better to chop chapters in half.
Quantity and quality... Of course it's quality. I prefer reading one amazing one-shot, long as it may be, than reading a 20+chapter fic that's awful and unoriginal. It's all about creativity.
And you shouldn't chop your fics into little chapters just because you want more reviews. If people really enjoy what you write, having the same word count divided into 20 or 5 chapters shouldn't really make a difference. People review the quality of your fic, not how many chapters you write it in.
And just for the heck of it, a 3 or 4 thousand words chapter is good; not too short, or too long.
Hope I've been of some help.
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Tomorrow
- Fanfic demi-god(dess)|Fanfic demi-god|Fanfic demi-goddess
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I definitely agree with Andrea. Quality over quantity.
The length of a chapter really makes no difference to me, as long as you END it in the right place. Yes, sometimes chapters may seem lengthy, jam packed, etc. However, viewing some stories in retrospect, sometimes an extremely long chapter is necessary, because of the point in the story where it breaks off. For example, my first and third chapters in "Kinship Beset" are 9,000+ words in length. Even I had to admit that the read was awkward, alomst tiring for the reader. Still, I needed to end those chapters at such points in order that the following chapters (especially their beginnings) flowed well in the story overall and carried the greatest impact. As long as the events in lengthy chapters are connected well, the size factor should fade wayside.
I hope that helps. ^_^
~Tomorrow
The length of a chapter really makes no difference to me, as long as you END it in the right place. Yes, sometimes chapters may seem lengthy, jam packed, etc. However, viewing some stories in retrospect, sometimes an extremely long chapter is necessary, because of the point in the story where it breaks off. For example, my first and third chapters in "Kinship Beset" are 9,000+ words in length. Even I had to admit that the read was awkward, alomst tiring for the reader. Still, I needed to end those chapters at such points in order that the following chapters (especially their beginnings) flowed well in the story overall and carried the greatest impact. As long as the events in lengthy chapters are connected well, the size factor should fade wayside.
I hope that helps. ^_^
~Tomorrow
The Importance of Tomorrow:
The clarity of the hindsight we obtain from a new day may be 20/20, but it provides us with biased knowledge of the experiences and emotions that were-- Not what could have been, if only we had the chance to look through those premonitory eyes.
The clarity of the hindsight we obtain from a new day may be 20/20, but it provides us with biased knowledge of the experiences and emotions that were-- Not what could have been, if only we had the chance to look through those premonitory eyes.
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Beer-monster
- The Chicken Dance Returns
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Write as much as you can write and breaks it when you feel the time is right. Don't type let the words type themselves and then you'll when to end or when to keep going.
That said a small target is usually helpful but don't be bound by it and make it quite broad. When I write honour and pride I usually have several scenes I want to do and I aim for a length of about 20-30 pages in Word. That's based on reading fics myself and knowing when I felt something was too short and too long. A fic can be really good but if it is like 80 pages long per chapet, when do you have the time to read it. I want to read it in one sitting but I have a life and things to do.
So I aim for 20-30 but I'm not bound by it. If it takes me longer...it takes me longer, if it takes shorter (when has never happened yet) then it does. So long as you feel for the right time to end, the fic will always be the right length
That said a small target is usually helpful but don't be bound by it and make it quite broad. When I write honour and pride I usually have several scenes I want to do and I aim for a length of about 20-30 pages in Word. That's based on reading fics myself and knowing when I felt something was too short and too long. A fic can be really good but if it is like 80 pages long per chapet, when do you have the time to read it. I want to read it in one sitting but I have a life and things to do.
So I aim for 20-30 but I'm not bound by it. If it takes me longer...it takes me longer, if it takes shorter (when has never happened yet) then it does. So long as you feel for the right time to end, the fic will always be the right length
Have you had your recommended daily allowance of ravishing? 
I believe in love stories but despise romances.
I want to write fics that slap all the standard fanfiction conventions around the face with
a wet fish and call them Betsy ~ me to Wicked.
Cupid's arrow is really a nuclear warhead...it leaves total devastion in it wake.
http://www.fanfiction.net/~beermonster
http://www.rakhal.com/florestica/beermonster/index.html
I believe in love stories but despise romances.
I want to write fics that slap all the standard fanfiction conventions around the face with
a wet fish and call them Betsy ~ me to Wicked.
Cupid's arrow is really a nuclear warhead...it leaves total devastion in it wake.
http://www.fanfiction.net/~beermonster
http://www.rakhal.com/florestica/beermonster/index.html
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Mellie
- Writing fanfic is not a terrorist action|Mech Pilot Fanboy
- Posts: 1606
- Joined: Tue Dec 31, 2002 1:55 pm
- Location: college
Ick, did I say that? I meant in order to keep regular postings.In order to keep regular reviews, I had smaller chappies.
like if I only had a small idea, then I wouldn't try and push it if I hadn't updated for like three weeks or more. And I am bad and usually just sit and write. What comes, comes. I usually don't beta my stuff...I just post. Well, I write as much as I can and then post. I never have a finished story and then post chapters. But maybe that might be better than trying to fit quality into a nice quantity.
Thanks for all your help, guys!
