What is the "proper" length for a story?

[wantsomefun]

This isn't a smartass question. I've become conscious of it lately, because I post some of my stuff elsewhere, too. Those websites have "editors" who read, or at least skim, every story submitted before it goes up on the site. Some websites have a maximum submission length rule -- no more than 10,000 words. At 10,001, they'll reject it and send you a PM telling you to cut out the fat or break it into two parts.

Some of the stories on this site are lengthy. Others are rather brief. I'm talking about stories -- stuff that has some info about the characters and the situation before the first cumshot, things that have a plot and/or story arc. Vignettes, maybe, but more than just seven lines of text-speak.

So, my question, to both readers and writers, is this: How long do you like your stories to be?

[NewtonInk]

About half that long . . .

[Wolf_Knight]

As my only story had now reached chapter 11, I'll say that I like to let the arc of the story or at least the chapter I'm writing determine the length.

I have been an avid reader since I was a little kid. I was reading King, Koontz and Heinlein before I hit 5th grade. I read quickly so a longer story to me is better as long as it;s story and not just filler. While I read King, I am not a huge fan, but I prefer his longer stories as they have so much more plot and character development, not just fluff and filler.

[NewtonInk]

'Bout HALF that long . . .

OOOOOOOOO yes??

YES!!

OOOOOOOO ok!

MMMMMMMMMM

THAT'S a story.

[snowleopard3200]

WantSomeFun:

Honestly I feel it depends on the author, their writing style and the story itself. Personally I prefer to break down stories into smaller parts of about ten pages minimum and no more than fourteen.

This is mostly for my sake, as it makes it easier to manage the overall story.

Case in point, one story I am writing now, and have been on and off for over seven months has grown to ninety pages, and I can keep expanding for some distance if I so choose.

But for the Forum I am breaking it down into mini-chunks to manage it better. In the case of this beastie as it grows, I have had to learn to depend on key notes on certain pages, and usage of the 'find' function in the Word2012 program.

[ELaken-Palmer]

A story should be as long as it takes to properly tell it.
Comment on ALL the CAW12 stories in the STORY FORUM

[NewtonInk]

plot . . . setting . . . rising action . . . climax . . .

is there anything after climax??

[wantsomefun]

Originally Posted by ELaken-Palmer

A story should be as long as it takes to properly tell it.
Comment on ALL the CAW12 stories in the STORY FORUM

Yes, obviously. But what length story do you often find yourself reading and liking? In your own work, do you like your shorter pieces better than the longer ones, or vice versa?

Originally Posted by NewtonInk

plot . . . setting . . . rising action . . . climax . . .

is there anything after climax??

Maybe a shower?

[NewtonInk]

exactly

[Wolf_Knight]

Originally Posted by wantsomefun

Yes, obviously. But what length story do you often find yourself reading and liking? In your own work, do you like your shorter pieces better than the longer ones, or vice versa?



Maybe a shower?

In my own work I prefer the mid to longer stories. And in the work of others, if there is plot and character development where I get into the characters and story line, I want more. People don;t continue reading a series if they don't like the plot lines. I don't like the shorter ones because I feel that I left something out of the story.

As for after the Climax, if it's the climax of the story you need to wind down at least a little into the resolution of the tale. As for the secondary meaning of the climax, not every story is porn but let's just say that:

"I came spewing forth hot cum into her tight pussy" isn;t exactly a fittle line to end any story on

LOL

[snowleopard3200]

Originally Posted by Wolf_Knight

"I came spewing forth hot cum into her tight pussy" isn;t exactly a fittle line to end any story on

LOL

No its not exactly the way to end a story.

Now something such as this:

Her howls of uttermost delight and wonderment carried forth across the tundra, shaking our shared igloo and causing the massed herds of migrating Caribou and the great White Bears to pause and then join in on the eternal song of love being fulfilled. The very auroras of the night cast their shifting, flowing, dancing forms across the sky; each one of the silent ghosts up above our little world thrilling in the glee that ascends to the heavens.

As her back arches, my tongue and lips gently play across the hidden depths of her womanhood, inducing an ever accelerating series of throbs and convulsions as pleasure feeds upon pleasure, driving her to new and ecstatic heights she has never before achieved, the wonders of multiple universes and dimensions without end opening before her tightly shut eyes as her hands grasp my head on each side to make sure I do not stop.

After eternity upon eternity of delights flows crashing into her mind, a Nirvana of colors and lights, sensations and scents, perculate across each nerve and cell of her very being; the hide covering the door of our igloo blowing momentarily aside, causing our little fire to ripple in timing of her howls of abandomnent that could only compare with the pulsating, undulating forces at the heart of the sun...

And then, in an instant of eternal time, a new universe is born forth into the matrix of the cosmos for all to hear and behold; as she hits her release with a howl answered by the primordial wolves in Russia, a hundred miles across the great sea...a call of love and respect to one who understands in full the primal call all must answer to in their time...

It was matched only by my own howls of absolute abandonment as her mother applied the branding iron I had left in the fire to my tushie; for the crime of daring to please her daughter and not her as well...

Forever after my name among my people is declared, as is the mark forever etched on my tush: "Burn here for best results..."