Story Length Indicator, is it possible or even of interest?

20 Dec 2009

Would it be possible to have a way to indicate the length of a story, either number of pages or number of words? Sometimes I click on a story that appeals to me, and can only guess at how long it is and how much time it will take to read it when the page appears. More often than not, I don't have a lot of time to spend reading stories on-line, but with interesting ones I'll come back and read through them.

So would it be possible to have, for example, a word count feature when a story is submitted, much like the one for submitting to Twitter? If possible, could it be automatic for the word count to be included, rather than have people actually indicate the word count?

I don't even know if this is something that a lot of people would find useful, but I know that sometimes I've read comments from people criticising a story for being too short, rather than too long. There is one story in Novels that I would have liked to read, but it's posted as an entire novel, probably close to 35 or 40,000 words, at a guess, and I wish it weren't that long. My personal preference is for between 1,200 and 1,500 words at one reading. In the case of an entire novel length story which is posted in one go, I am more likely to abandon it if I don't know how much time I need to give to it. Once I have an idea, I can easily come back to it after having gotten through a section.

Another thing would be in the case of really lengthy stories or novels to insist that they be broken into manageable chapters which would be posted separately. However that could just be my personal preference and not in great demand with other readers here. In that case, just ignore all of this.

geek

Yes, I'm a total reading geek. I'll run and hide now...

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Thanks.

20 Dec 2009

Quote by gypsymoth
Another thing would be in the case of really lengthy stories or novels to insist that they be broken into manageable chapters which would be posted separately. However that could just be my personal preference and not in great demand with other readers here. In that case, just ignore all of this.

Yes, I'm a total reading geek. I'll run and hide now...

Thanks.

Gypsy;

I am guilty of wanting to submit long stories in one go. Simply because that is how I enjoy reading them, and not have to wait for the next installment, or take time to click to a new page etc... (I am very lazy sometimes!!!!!!) What you say does make sense though.

And I agree with you. Is it possible to have a counter of how many words, or how many pages would be fabulous!

Living life and enjoying life are two different things... just need to figure out how to do both at the same time to live it right!

Woman... GO FLY A KITE!!!!! Take a slideshow walk with me on a walk through the parks of Inner Mongolia, China. Then enjoy the tale of a very traditional day in the life of a white Woman in China.

20 Dec 2009

Talk about word count and such got me to wondering if Lush has any guidelines regarding submission length, either min or max?

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20 Dec 2009

Quote by RumpleForeskin
Talk about word count and such got me to wondering if Lush has any guidelines regarding submission length, either min or max?

Rumple Foreskin

I know this answer!!! I asked it already!!!

And the answer is.... NOPE! Well, for length. A story can be as long as you want it to be from what I was told. As for minimum length, I do not know.

Living life and enjoying life are two different things... just need to figure out how to do both at the same time to live it right!

Woman... GO FLY A KITE!!!!! Take a slideshow walk with me on a walk through the parks of Inner Mongolia, China. Then enjoy the tale of a very traditional day in the life of a white Woman in China.

20 Dec 2009

I personally would not want a maximum length limit...some of my stories are ten or more pages in Word...
You can get an idea how long a story is when you click on it by how small your scroll bar appears on the right...also, if you click under it, how many clicks it takes to get to the end...
I hate multi-part stories because I read the first part and never remember to look for the rest...so, I have not written a multi-part story for that reason. If you look at the number of views for stories that are in chapters, there are always less views for later chapters. I just figure that if someone starts a story and finds it interesting, they will continue to read it...
Alan.

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20 Dec 2009

Quote by Exakta66
I personally would not want a maximum length limit...some of my stories are ten or more pages in Word...

I had to ask, as the one I wanted to publish here first was fifty pages in word, and I wanted it in one submission (hope the moderator who had to read that thing enjoyed romance stories!!!!). Most of mine are about fourteen pages if I just want a wham-bam story. And yes, in my mind, Tequila was a wham bam story.

Living life and enjoying life are two different things... just need to figure out how to do both at the same time to live it right!

Woman... GO FLY A KITE!!!!! Take a slideshow walk with me on a walk through the parks of Inner Mongolia, China. Then enjoy the tale of a very traditional day in the life of a white Woman in China.

20 Dec 2009

Quote by Exakta66
I personally would not want a maximum length limit...some of my stories are ten or more pages in Word...
You can get an idea how long a story is when you click on it by how small your scroll bar appears on the right...also, if you click under it, how many clicks it takes to get to the end...
I hate multi-part stories because I read the first part and never remember to look for the rest...so, I have not written a multi-part story for that reason. If you look at the number of views for stories that are in chapters, there are always less views for later chapters. I just figure that if someone starts a story and finds it interesting, they will continue to read it...
Alan.

I already try and estimate the length of a story by seeing how small the scroll bar at the right is, but I really have lost patience with clicking under it to find out how many clicks it takes to get to the end. That in itself is yet another thing that takes up my time. Having a word count would tell me more about what it in store in terms of reading it.

Personally, if I find a story interesting I'll go back and read subsequent chapters, and prefer doing that. By the same token, if a long story is posted in one go, and I know what the word count is, I can get myself organised and set the time aside to read it, as my schedule permits, and I'm one of those people who do remember and go back to a story for the subsequent installments. To each their own method, I guess.

My first story here on Lush runs for a total of over 6,000 words, is posted in four chapters, and has 3326 view counts for the first chapter, 2,474 for the second, 2,218 for the third and 2,051 for the last one. Frankly, that is an acceptable rate to me, and gives me an idea how many people were interested enough to follow the story through to the end. OTOH if it has been posted in one go and received 3,326 views, I wouldn't have a clue as to how many people followed it through to the end.

20 Dec 2009

Quote by Woman
Quote by Exakta66
I personally would not want a maximum length limit...some of my stories are ten or more pages in Word...

I had to ask, as the one I wanted to publish here first was fifty pages in word, and I wanted it in one submission (hope the moderator who had to read that thing enjoyed romance stories!!!!). Most of mine are about fourteen pages if I just want a wham-bam story. And yes, in my mind, Tequila was a wham bam story.

Your story is the kind of thing I was thinking of, Woman, because the posted length of it is daunting to me to anticipate reading in one go, and if I were to start and then come back to it, it would be another scramble to scroll down and find the spot where I left off.

What about chapter headings? I haven't scrolled down in your novella, but if it had numbered chapter headings, that would make finding my place easier when going back to keep reading it.

20 Dec 2009

Hey Gypsy...I don't think 6000 words is that long for one story. There is another site I post on with a word count, I know of one story I have with about that many words and it is nine pages in Word. If I broke it up, I would run the risk of people reading the first chapter and never remembering to finish. Besides, my stories don't always break into chapters real easy...
Alan.

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20 Dec 2009

The minimum story length is 1000 characters (except for poems).

This sounds to me Gypsy that you want some kind of indicator before you click through to the story page?

I usually find once I'm on the story page itself, I can roughly tell is size by the scroll bar.

20 Dec 2009

Quote by gav
The minimum story length is 1000 characters (except for poems).

This sounds to me Gypsy that you want some kind of indicator before you click through to the story page?

I usually find once I'm on the story page itself, I can roughly tell is size by the scroll bar.

FYI - 1,000 words is about 4 double-spaced pages.

20 Dec 2009

What would be nice is if you are reading a nice story and lets say your boss walks in or kids and you want to save your place to return there but how can you there is not a highlighter or a book mark this would help me. and if some stories were broken down into chapters would be nice too.

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20 Dec 2009

Hey Ali...Gav said 1000 characters...I know, I have stories on here that are only a page and a half. My early stuff was pretty short. So, the minimum length is not hard to meet...

And redhot...you looking for a "boss key" in case you get caught at work? You got spoiled by that "other" site...

You know you want it, you know you need it bad...get it now on Amazon.com...
Lush Erotica, an Anthology of Award Winning Sex Stories

20 Dec 2009

Quote by gav
The minimum story length is 1000 characters (except for poems).

not very well checked then load of 600 word stories .. one yesterday

20 Dec 2009

Quote by Exakta66
Hey Ali...Gav said 1000 characters...I know, I have stories on here that are only a page and a half. My early stuff was pretty short. So, the minimum length is not hard to meet...

And redhot...you looking for a "boss key" in case you get caught at work? You got spoiled by that "other" site...

I didn't see "characters" - I mistaken read "words. Well, if there are a lot of four-letter words....

All kidding aside, stories should have substance than "A and B had sex," of which we receive (and reject) a fair amount.

20 Dec 2009

I've seen on some sites they have an approximate reading time for the article which is rather nice. It's only rough though, I generally get through it in half the time.

We could have a word counter / approx number of pages - but those have their limitations too - some people are on laptops, others have huge screens etc.

20 Dec 2009

Quote by gypsymoth
What about chapter headings? I haven't scrolled down in your novella, but if it had numbered chapter headings, that would make finding my place easier when going back to keep reading it.

Actually, that sounds like a lovely compromise!! YAY!! and since we are able to edit our stories here, I can do that now and have it resubmitted PDQ!

Is it possible, to have pages that you can flip/click on to get to the next page? At the moment, we see the whole story with a scroll bar. I personally like it, but what about an option to show less and flip pages?

Living life and enjoying life are two different things... just need to figure out how to do both at the same time to live it right!

Woman... GO FLY A KITE!!!!! Take a slideshow walk with me on a walk through the parks of Inner Mongolia, China. Then enjoy the tale of a very traditional day in the life of a white Woman in China.

20 Dec 2009

In Word 2007, go to the Status bar at the bottom and it should display the word count there.

To turn on Word count in Microsoft Word 2007, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the Status bar at the bottom of the window

2. Select Word Count

20 Dec 2009

Aslong as we dont have to push anymore buttons.
I do my reading at night on my iPhone and little buttons are very hard to click on a touch screen.

I would love a word count indicator, it would save a lot of tine button pushing on my part. Id far rather read 3 long well written stories with incredible detail than 6shorter ones.

20 Dec 2009

Quote by Necho
Aslong as we dont have to push anymore buttons.
I do my reading at night on my iPhone and little buttons are very hard to click on a touch screen.

I would love a word count indicator, it would save a lot of tine button pushing on my part. Id far rather read 3 long well written stories with incredible detail than 6shorter ones.

I was thinking of just one button. "View Less"

And I agree. Incredible details where you senses are filled, you can actually feel what you are reading? Yes. I agree.

And when I submit any further stories that are longerish, I will add chapters.

Living life and enjoying life are two different things... just need to figure out how to do both at the same time to live it right!

Woman... GO FLY A KITE!!!!! Take a slideshow walk with me on a walk through the parks of Inner Mongolia, China. Then enjoy the tale of a very traditional day in the life of a white Woman in China.

20 Dec 2009

Maybe add an autoscroller so the lazy people like myself don't even have to use our mousewheel? Voice activated of course.

Thanks Gav!

20 Dec 2009

It would be cool if Gav could add a thingy that could time how long your average reading speed is and then auto scroll for you like that... I dont enjoy using my voice confused5

21 Dec 2009

A couple weeks ago I read a page on WritersDigest that said the average short story length is 5000 words.

Just a FYI, a random nugget of info I picked up recently.

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21 Dec 2009

Quote by gav
The minimum story length is 1000 characters (except for poems).

This sounds to me Gypsy that you want some kind of indicator before you click through to the story page?

I usually find once I'm on the story page itself, I can roughly tell is size by the scroll bar.

Some kind of indicator either before clicking to open the story, or at the top of it once it's opened. If a story appeals to me but seems to be long, I usually read part of it, finish it if I'm taken in and it's not too long, or get back to it later if the scroll bar seems to be very tiny and high up at the side, meaning it's a longer one.

Word count works well for me, because in addition to writing I've also edited and critiqued stories for other people, and I'm used to gauging how much time it's going to take to read. I usually check my own word count as I write, and certainly check it when I'm proof-reading a file.

The suggestion of being able to book-mark your place in a story is a good one too.

21 Dec 2009

Quote by Woman
Quote by gypsymoth
What about chapter headings? I haven't scrolled down in your novella, but if it had numbered chapter headings, that would make finding my place easier when going back to keep reading it.

Actually, that sounds like a lovely compromise!! YAY!! and since we are able to edit our stories here, I can do that now and have it resubmitted PDQ!

Is it possible, to have pages that you can flip/click on to get to the next page? At the moment, we see the whole story with a scroll bar. I personally like it, but what about an option to show less and flip pages?

Terrific! Thanks, I'll have a look at your novella.

The option of flipping pages is interesting, too.

21 Dec 2009

The other site I belong too has the pages set up to be about one page in a Word document, and you can flip through the pages, or click on view all. I do not know if I explained it well or not!!

For me personally, I love how this site has the story all laid out for me as that is the way I prefer it. But I can understand how not everyone might enjoy this.

Living life and enjoying life are two different things... just need to figure out how to do both at the same time to live it right!

Woman... GO FLY A KITE!!!!! Take a slideshow walk with me on a walk through the parks of Inner Mongolia, China. Then enjoy the tale of a very traditional day in the life of a white Woman in China.