I've just started writing my first story which so far is just short of 6000 words as I'm reaching the sex scene. I am worried it will be too long to post in one go, but if I break it down then you wouldn't get any sexuality in the first scene, possibly cutting down the readership. What do you do to decide on whether to post in chapters or all in one go?
It is hard to answer without reading your story, but I will try.
You are permitted to go to 10,000 words in your story, so you have that option. Alternately, you can stop wherever you come to a logical break in your story. While a sex scene may seem mandatory, if your story is compelling enough, people will come back to read what happens next. The choice is yours but interestingly both avenues rely on the same thing: holding the interest of the reader.
I have written stories that stood alone and an episodic series with a friend here. In the episodic series, we tried to finish each chapter at a point where more was expected to happen soon.
If you're going to break a story up into chapters, the first of which has no sex, make sure they are posted shortly after one another, so that you catch that audience right away. People may like the first part, but there are a lot of stories on this site and it's easy to move on and forget that there's more of your story coming. Audiences DO trail away as series go on; be wary of that.
Of course, they still need to go through the verifying process and only one will appear on the front page per day, but you will be able to link them together if they have been verified.
Thanks guys. You've both been very helpful.
You should always write the story the way you want it to be - the way it is in your head. If you're looking to up your readership on Lush, write a short story and be done with it ;)
