Personal opinion - multi-part stories should have a feeling of stand-alone stories. Length of each "chapter" I hope would be indicative of the author telling that particular chapter. When you look at, for example, Buz's college series (link to Buz's Profile which is a GREAT example) ... each story is easily a stand-alone story one can enjoy without reading the previous one. His stories range from one under 1000 words to most in the 2,000 to 5,000 words range, and the finale over 7,000 words.
Regarding other lengths (hahaha)
A really long story (over 7K words) on screen is not enjoyable to me ... yet having said that, I have read some "longer" stories that have been totally engaging and fabulous.
To write flash fiction well, one has to be very selective about the word choice and how to convey much without using lots of filling .... but being sparse is entirely different and doesn't make that cut. To me, flash is similar to a well written poem - convey not just the scene, but evoke an emotion. That's a winner!
I was very disappointed once when I commented on a story that had really great potential, and it fell flat because the writer was in a hurry (or lazy) ... the writer responded with "my stories are more of an aperitif than the main course" to which I thought .... damn, reminds me of a fancy restaurant that gives you only one small new potato, a string of a green bean and a mouthful of braised pork on a very large white plate for $75. I should have been happy and honoured I got that! (not)
Anyways, I digress.
Give us the full, well-bodied and best stories you can write. A great read can be hard to find!
Van
