A message to all authors out there

I’ve been thinking about this a lot…

Have you ever read a story with 30 chapters, where the first 10 are amazing, the next 5 are okay, and then the story seems to drag on?

on the other hand

Have you ever read a story with 15 episodes, and every episode was equally amazing?

Truthfully, I would prefer the second option. Your story doesn’t have to be long to be good!
I literally cannot describe how many stories I have loved but then they just got boring and seemed to drag on because the author made every episode super short to stretch out the 20 episode story and make it 60 episodes long. Now I’m not saying, “all long Stories are bad, all short Stories are good, because its not true.” All I’m saying is, your story doesn’t need to be 70 episodes to be good. But your story doesn’t need to have 3 episodes either.
I hope everyone understands what I’m saying.
Thoughts?

  • I agree with what you’re saying
  • I disagree with what you’re saying

0 voters

1 Like

Moved to Episode Fan Community since it’s about an Episode-related topic. If you have questions about anything, feel free to PM me and make sure to check out our Forum Tutorial for more info about where to correctly create topics. :wink:

I agree. Every episode needs to mean something to the main plot. If it takes 10, that’s fine. If it takes 50, that’s also fine. But they all have to matter.

6 Likes

I feel like you should have a somewhat planned out story. But I don’t really like stories that just fill in the gaps because they want to have a 50 episode long story.
It’s okay if you have 50 episodes, if your story is generally just a really long story. I think that the best stories, are ones that the author planned out.
Personally, when you first think of a story idea, you shouldn’t concern yourself with how many episodes it should be, or how many would impress audiences. It’s completely fine to also plan how many episodes your story will have and how long they will be- just as long as it comes along LATER in the process, so it really makes sense with your story.

1 Like

I hate it when a story feels like it’s run its course but the author keeps going just because they can’t bear to let it go.
If you’ve told the story you wanted to tell and don’t have a great idea for a sequel plot, let it go. Don’t keep beating a dead horse.

5 Likes

In my opinion, I’d say that it’s quality over quantity here. However, I do think that quantity does have some playing factor, but not too much.

Some stories do tend to drag on too long, stalling with things such as filler scenes and chapters in order to make the story longer or for other reasons. Some stories also feel too compressed with not enough breathing room to allow a good pace and flow for the plot…

Some stories are best left off the way they are because sometimes too much of a something good can turn into something bad, like sequels… but to avoid that point, you’ve gotta be consistent in your writing and ideas. Sometimes it’s fine to have no sequel, but depends on the author and the story. Anyways, I feel that the key is to find the balance in the pace of the story and keep all chapters relevant to the storyline. Another important part is to have one overreaching goal, so that the problem or situation that the characters are presented with in a story includes elements/chapters/scenes that contributes to driving the plot forward.

I think smart planning before the actual writing is all it takes. For example, planning what each chapter is going to be about and will have, what characters will be there, how the elements of this chapter will stay important to the plot and how it progresses it from one point to another. You get the idea.

Overall, I think that, long or short, it doesn’t matter as long as the author ensures that the plot is being moved forward, progressing at a reasonable and logical pace to the story. I just think it just shouldn’t drag too long to the point where nothing progresses, the scenes are irrelevant, and it just becomes stalling and filler. There is nothing wrong with filler, but the plot must progress and it shouldn’t be overdone, in my opinion.

4 Likes

If it has more than one storyline, that’s fine. You just have to pace the story. Don’t rush it or drag it. If it has multiple POVs, that’s also understandable. It all comes down to how you as the author, writes. Basically what everyone above said. If it’s well thought-out, then it can be long. But if it’s choppy and drags on, I won’t write it or read it. Some authors turn that drag-out into a series. At least, in my opinion, it can showcase an author’s creativity at times. So, as long as it’s well-written, it does not matter.

What do you think? Any thoughts?

1 Like