What's your preferred story length to read?

If the first 1000 odd words hook me, I'll go on as long as the author likes. If it hasn't caught me after about a page, the second thousand words had better be a cut above. If you have a 5000 word story and it's still 'meh' at 2000 words, I'm bailing.

I chose 2-4k words mainly because my concentration is rubbish, I'd rarely start to read anything over 6k unless it by was one of the handful of writers I really like. I do read a lot of flash and micros just because they are such a small investment of time and the really good ones are very rewarding.

I have only written under 10 stories so far. The 2-4k seem to be the most popular. The longer ones definitely get fewer readers.

One with a start and a finish and good stuff in the middle.

Great poll and question. Agree the 2-4K is the sweet spot. As a writer I typically fall into that range, not by design but probably because I run out of ideas or motivation. As a reader, same sweet spot but if the quality is there the word count is less important. In all the cases I can think of over 4000 words it was a series broken into smaller chunks of 2-4K. Like others above i want to know about the characters, what they are thinking and feeling, who they are. I love browncoffee's work, I loved how she would get inside the heads of her characters. (One example, many great writers here do this.)

Coincidentally, have 32000 words of a new story (non-erotica, may go on sister site) so this is rather timely. There are some good natural breaks that will keep a Chapter to 2-4K but in other spots I'm wondering what edits I might need to either create a break in the right spot or link the end of a chapter to the next chapter. Also toying with the idea that each Chapter would stand on its own as a "read'. (difficult because the story builds on the previous and the reader would miss some of the context.) I'm expecting the story will reach 40,000 words and I'm already editing heavily. Its crossed my mind to only post the ending Chapter because i think its the strongest and I'm pretty sure if I post 8-10 Chapters by Ch 10 all the readers will have dropped off and NOBODY will read the ending.

Personally, I like novelas, full on soap operas, so 10k word* type chapters.

Or if I want a laugh, then I hit up micros.

I like stories that I can visualize myself being in it.As for length not too long that I get bored and move onto something else and not too short that its just a flash and its over.I like it to build up and then climax to the orgasmic end.

Unfortunately, in many instances, it is governed by the time I have available.

I'm not sure that I have a favorite or preferred length when reading. That said, I do hold off reading something labeled as first chapter if there are standalone stories with an equally grabbing title or summary.

Probably not a popular opinion, but I usually don't waste my time reading micro and flash stories; they feel lazy to me, like the author had a partial idea and dashed off the story during their lunch break. [Edit: this is probably due to noob authors misunderstanding what these stories are supposed to be, but I still don't enjoy them in general.] Sure, I know, there's an art to distilling a story down to so few words, but I'd rather read a fully developed scene than a synopsis of a scene. 1.5k words is generally the lower limit for what I'll find interesting. My own stories tend to come in around 3.5-5.5k words, and I like that sweet spot. On the other end of the spectrum, I won't read a 6k+ story unless I have a lot of free time lined up, and 10k words or a 50-chapter novel is a no-go for me.

I totally agree with the 2-4K word range being the sweet spot. It offers enough space for a compelling plot and character development without being too lengthy. What do you think makes this length so appealing to readers?

I am new to Lush, but to me the 10k limit feels very restrictive as a writer and a little odd as a reader. I like long stories with deep characters. I am a sucker for slow-burn romance. I want to be fully immersed in the characters' emotions and motivations before the clothes come off.

Quote by YourMomThinksIAmCute

I am new to Lush, but to me the 10k limit feels very restrictive as a writer and a little odd as a reader. I like long stories with deep characters. I am a sucker for slow-burn romance. I want to be fully immersed in the characters' emotions and motivations before the clothes come off.

To be honest, 10K stories are largely too long for here in my experience. I find you get more views and interest at 5K or less. Under my current profile, I haven't gone over 7.5K. There's a large segment of the audience looking for stroke material and a longer, more involved storyline doesn't provide that, I guess. So I remain fine with the limit.

Not a preference, but I mostly read before bed. I noticed I read the 1000 word or less stories. I read others too but those for sure.

Quote by YourMomThinksIAmCute

I am new to Lush, but to me the 10k limit feels very restrictive as a writer and a little odd as a reader. I like long stories with deep characters. I am a sucker for slow-burn romance. I want to be fully immersed in the characters' emotions and motivations before the clothes come off.

As a reader, 10K is a huge commitment of time. Erotic short stories usually suit shorter ranges from what I have observed. Anything longer, it's best to be broken up into a series.

As an author here, I find that more people will read my stories if they are shorter. So, I keep the stand-alone stories shorter and break the longer ones down into chapters.

As a story moderator, I sigh out loud when I have to mod a 10K story. It's just a lot to look at in one sitting.

Quote by techgoddess
As a story moderator, I sigh out loud when I have to mod a 10K story. It's just a lot to look at in one sitting.

Especially when it lacks proper dialogue formatting and violates a rule ever third or fourth paragraph 🙄😠 (yeah, I been there, done that).

Quote by Seeker4

Especially when it lacks proper dialogue formatting and violates a rule ever third or fourth paragraph 🙄😠 (yeah, I been there, done that).

YUP!

Sometimes, it's just a lack of knowledge of grammar rules, and I don't mind working with an author to figure out how to fix the mistakes. It only becomes disheartening when they don't carry over skills learned to the next story. 🙄

Quote by Chet_Morton

... I usually don't waste my time reading micro and flash stories ...

Says the guy who has now written a dozen micros. 😅 But the rest of my post still stands.

Quote by techgoddess

As an author here, I find that more people will read my stories if they are shorter. So, I keep the stand-alone stories shorter and break the longer ones down into chapters.

As a story moderator, I sigh out loud when I have to mod a 10K story. It's just a lot to look at in one sitting.

I’ve read some of your stories and really liked them. I do a lot of expository writing for work. Basically, I’ve done no fiction. I did submit one story here and have not gotten any feedback. I would love to hear from someone with experience to see if my work has any potential. Hope you’re doing well!

I much prefer long stories with chapters, character development and plot twists.

Shorter stories that people can read during the course of a wank get more eyeballs and higher scores. They just do. I notice a very substantial dropoff when I go beyond 4k words, and I usually try to stay below that, or closer to 3k if I can, which I find to be a good balance between appealing to a broad swath of readers while still exposing some sense of story progression, character development and illumination of internal feelings.

If the story I want to tell needs more than 3-4k (which it often does) and it's not a competition entry, I find it almost always better to split into chapters.

UPDATE 10/5: see Parts One and Two of Daphne's Halloween (in my sig) for an example. This started as a monolithic story, but expanded to over 6k with all of the emotional development I wanted to include, not to mention all of the hot orgy sex. Since it has a natural breakpoint in the approximate middle anyway, it works a whole lot better as two chapters IMO.

I like the stories that have character, location, and plot development. I really don't care for the quick "let's fuck" stories where the characters have a name simply to tell who is who and getting to the climax (pun intended). I like to know what is going on inside the character's. What are they feeling and thinkings about? If it's all just about the mechanics, what's the point of reading - go watch a video. The point of reading is to get that point of view you can't get anywhere else.
I will usually try to keep chapters down around the 4k mark. Sometimes the story demands more or less. So, I split the chapters according to what the story needs.

If I was after readers, I'd write shorter stories. But I'm more interested in telling the story I want to tell than trying to convince anyone they should read it. I stick to my vision and they go as long as they need to. The last non-competition story was about 15K words split across two installments. I don't mind if the length turns many readers off, it's still one of my favorites that I've published here, and that's all that really matters to me.