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Currently I'm working on a new story, that I'll start posting once I'm reasonably sure that I'll actually be able to finish it. But I ran into a practical question, so advice is welcome, either as a reader or a fellow writer. How important is consistency in chapter length?
As I have it now, the shortest chapter so far would contain two scenes, that count a mere 1300 words combined. The longest chapter so far isn't finished yet, but I'm at 2800 words at this point and expect it to reach at least 3500, if not 4000 words. That's just one scene and originally I had planned to add the next scene to that chapter as well, because it makes sense in the chronology of the story. So worst case one chapter could be three to four times as long as another. Is that something that would bother readers?
Let's be honest: I don't write stories, I write porn. Whatever plot there is to my stories, is usually the kind of plot we all know from porn scenes/movies. That's also why I'm usually having difficulties to wrap up a story in a satisfying way (at least to me).
Usually when I start posting a story, the writing is actually already finished. As in: if I wanted to, I could post all the chapters at once, but I chose to spread it out a little over time. I made an exception (merely out of a lack of patience) for "Dollars and desire". I was still in the middle of writing the concluding chapter, when I posted the first chapter to the story. I made the exception because I felt pretty sure that I'd be able to finish the last chapter I was still working on.
So what's the link between the first two paragraphs in this post? Because I'm not really writing stories, there's not much of a story arch. While working on the final chapter I had in mind, another idea popped up. A chapter I could insert earlier in the story. In a "story", maybe rather a "set up" centered around facials, it was a good idea, I only thought of it a little late.
When thinking of where in the story to place that new chapter, I realized that ideally it would be the new fourth chapter. Only, I had already posted the chapter that was to come after it. Again, as there isn't that much of a story arch, it could come after the "first time" chapter as well, which is now the plan. But that's why it's taking longer to publish the next chapter: unlike what I'm used to, this (probably shorter) chapter is still being written.
I hope this rambling made a little sense. But as I said in the beginning: I don't write stories (or coherent blog posts) so much as I'm writing porn.
At the time of the last blog post, I was working on three different stories. Hitting the break on my writing, gave me an opportunity to think about my earlier work. Specifically about "Southern fantasies", a story that was officially "finished", but more because I lacked inspiration for more chapters than because of a real ending. Once again, it was proven to me that doing nothing can help break through a writing block: I can now announce that 3 more chapters are coming. Again, just like almost a year ago, there still isn't an ending for the story. There just are idea's to fill some chapters with, the first of which is getting close to completion. A word of warning though, re-reading parts of the earlier chapters to get re-acquainted with the location and the characters, showed me how much the writing style has evolved in a year. I suspect that readers who take on the story in one go, will always notice the break between the first chapters and the new ones.
Recently I ran into some problems, that I don't want to delve into. But it does mean I won't be publishing any new chapters or new stories for the time being. Could be weeks, could be months, could be permanent, I really don't know. I'm sorry for leaving you (at least for now) with yet another unfinished story on this site.
Apparently my last (short) blog post wasn't published. I suppose because I accidently hit "save draft" instead of "save & publish". Right now that post is out of date so it's also not much use posting it anymore. Besides, I wonder how much of an audience blog posts actually get?
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I've decided to take a short break from "Family Friend". Instead of a new chapter in that Archives story, I want to publish a new story from my own this weekend. It will be a short one of just one chapter, but it's one of my personal favourites (at least among the stories I've written, I don't think my work can compare with some of the great works from some other writers). As such I do hope it will be well received.
And don't worry, next week there will be another chapter of "Family Friend" (there's a total of 15, so we're about halfway).
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