Stand Alone vs Episodic

[Shorngirl]

So, as I slowly grow accustomed to contributing again to this forum, I’ve noticed that episodic stories seem to be less well received than stand alone pieces. This applies more to works that rely on one reading them in sequence to know what is going on. The same is true with writing novels in a series format. The farther one gets from the initial tome, the less well read the books tend to be. For that reason, i think I am going to concentrate my efforts on stand alone stories from here on out. This goes back to the previous topic of story length also. Interested to see what your thoughts are.
Claire

[klaatu48]

I can understand that, and why it happens. I myself tend to be intimidated if I see something I’m new to has multiple parts I haven’t gotten to yet. That’s the main reason I tend to write my connected stories in what I hope is a standalone fashion.

[HSN Admin]

Definitely interesting as the longer a story is the harder it is to read it all in one go. Maybe the addition of chapter headings may help this?

From my point of view I find the episodic entries to be easier to consume but see your point Dreadlocks!

[FizzyC]

I understand the feeling Dread— anytime I write something long, specifically if it has multiple haircut sequences or whatnot, I’m always thinking if I should split them up and make them smaller rather than having it all in one go. Similar to you I feel like a lot of my ‘one-shot’ stories that I’ve written and that don’t have any sequel/prequel potential tend to be the ones that fare better than those with parts/have recurring main characters. It’s definitely a personal dilemma at times when writing now: should I write something really long and wait till it’s fully done before I post it? Or should I split them up into chunks of plot that all tie together, and release one at a time? As much as the latter feels more meaningful to me at times, especially with how some of my stories feel better with that ‘breathing room’ between, it doesn’t change the fact that people might be averse to looking at sequels/stories cut up into parts when they’ve no idea about the first story and may not be interested in looking at it. Furthermore, it kind of discourages me from keeping to a few solid original characters to develop, and I end up writing so many new ones just for the sake of a whole different, fresh plot for someone new to pick up and read easily.

[f35h]

A lot of what I’ve published here is split into chapters. I agree that these tend to get fewer views that the standalone short stories. I think this is pretty much inevitable for chapter 2 onwards; there will always be people who read chapter 1 and didn’t like it, but I think even putting ‘chapter 1’ in the title is enough to put people off, for whatever reason.

I feel I should add that I don’t publish here for views or likes; it’s nice when people appreciate my stories, but I write what I want to read, and apparently find it very difficult to stop wondering (and then writing) ‘what happens next?’. The answer, of course, is usually another haircut 🙂

There’s certainly an interesting challenge in writing a new story, with existing characters, which doesn’t rely on the reader remembering everything you’ve written before. I recall an interview with a successful author who said he was aware when writing the second book of a trilogy, that some readers would have finished reading the first book a day ago, some a year ago, and some might not have read it at all. You have to make sure that all of them still enjoy the second book.

[HSN Admin]

I think another thing to think of is that the current “views” stat doesn’t ascertain whether a story has been fully read or not, just that the page has been loaded. So it might be that people click on a long story but don’t finish it.

[Ginger Herten]

I think episodic stories don’t do as well for a couple of reasons.

One obviously is that if you didn’t like part one, you are less likely to bother with part two, etc. It’s pretty understandable, though sometimes part one is really just setting up the the characters for the action that will happen in later parts, so a lack of action in part one doesn’t mean that there won’t be action in the next parts.

Multi part stories of course mean dedicating more time and emotional energy to a story. I know I don’t always have the time and energy for a longer sequence, but sometimes I do. I think that even though fewer readers will get all the way to the end of a series, and the parts might get revisited a bit less, and the likes are diluted by getting spread out over the series, those that do make it all the way are very invested in the characters by the time they get there.

For me, sometimes subsequent stories in series are less likely to be to my taste, and I’m going to assume others have the same thing going on. Like the first story is the main character going long to short, and then the second story is short to smooth shave. I’m just not into full smooth bald though.

I’m a little torn about the numbering of a series vs leaving order up to readers. Of course Fizzy you turned that whole concept on it’s head by putting out “Rebellion” before “The Plunge.” I do sometimes wish that the “Vampber” series was numbered, because I lost track of which ones I had read and which ones I hadn’t yet about halfway through, and I do love urban fantasy, but they might have gotten less love if they had been numbered. I have neglected to mention on some recent stories that work as stand-alones, their relationship to previous stories.

It might help if series could have pages, sort of like author pages, but of course I’m always wary of suggesting things that mean more work.

I’m going to continue to write series when I am moved, just as I continue to write urban fantasy and sci-fi when I am moved to. I know they aren’t as popular as my stand alone dramatic romances, but enough people enjoy them that I think they’re worth posting, and I enjoy writing them.

[Gabriel]

To put a dime in the pot… Sometimes I like the characters in a story so much, that I want to read more of them. Like the Vampher series, lovely! Or think there’s more to explore (On the hunt 2/ Rayzor), so I really enjoy a follow up.

On the other hand a long stand alone story I also can appreciate, although I’ll have to read in in parts. But, what happens to me is that I’ll skim the story, reading rapidly till I encounter my stuff. Happens when I feel the tension
And wat to know what happens, so I leave parts unread. Most good written stories though I can read several times (filling up the gaps) and get my satisfaction every time (thank you authors!). As a contributor myself, I liked to cut my stories in pieces. The last ones just popped up and needed to be longer. The risk of sequel after sequel is the risk of repeating myself, with other characters. So 2 or 3 sequels I for myself see as possible, for more I lack the variation. I had a question for a nr 4 sequel, thought about it, started but I lack variation…Not finishing feels better then repeating.
But, I’m not as a good as several others here whose work (it is a lot of work! ) I really appreciate. So thank you Dreadlocks, FizzyC, Rayzor Ginger H, Stacey S… for all your stories and efforts. Publish as sequel or stand alone, I’ll read it and reread it.

[Author]

Posts