I feel so ATTACKED reading some of these comments jk but I personally love longer episodes. I try to shoot for 2,000 lines per chapter (with character customization and different choices counted in).
Some readers actually spend money on tickets, and I want them to get their moneyās worth when spending tickets to read my story. And vise versa. Even though I earn my tickets solely on the free daily challenges, I really really HATE when I spend a ticket on the next chapter and itās only 2 minutes long.
Thatās what makes me abandon majority of stories lol
I think I first started noticing this idea for longer episodes about the time Dripping Mascara by @GenevieveM was at its peak. The only thing is: she was able to pull it off. Iāve noticed not many other people can.
As a writer I prefer episodes in more of a 7-12 minute range because it means I can get content out for readers faster. Iād rather be able to give you all one 8 minute episode a week than a 20 minute one every 2-3 weeks.
As a reader I start to lose interest if the episodes are too long. Especially if there are just long pauses/pans/whatever that are clearly just there as filler. Itās also easier to sit down and find time to read a 8 minute episode than it is to read a 30 minute one.
Also to people saying they use advanced directing and it makes it longer: Iāve read really good stories with advanced directing that arenāt super long.
My thing is: the readers choose to do this. Iāve bought passes before and Iāve never once thought: how dare the author make this episode so short when I paid money for passes.
Thereās no way I can read a long episode in one sitting. I canāt even sit down and eat without getting up at least once to do some irrelevant shit.
Also, as opposed to simply listening to dialouge with moving images (like watching tv), I instead have to read it, which takes focus for me, AND be exposed to moving images which is visual stimulation. So when Iām faced with an episode that passes 10-15 minutes, Iām mentally drained by then because of the combination.
It could be the most interesting story written in the history of literature with the most engaging content known to man and I would probably still leave to go play with my cat or something.
If youāve never been disappointed after an author publishes an extremely short chapter that 9/10 was just used as a chapter filler, then WHEW are you lucky. Maybe Iām reading the wrong genres or something
To remain on topic, I agree with what you said. I remember falling asleep reading a story that was over 15 minutes. The story is amazing, but I never finished that story and I unfavorited it.
15 minutes/long chapters requires too much attention that I do not have nor do I want to allow myself to have lol. Itās exhausting. Salute to those who can write those long ass chapters. But, I wonāt be reading it lol.
But thatās not what Iām talking about though. Iām talking about people CHOOSING to spend their own money on passes and then acting like authors are obligated to make episodes a certain length.
Same here, this is exactly why i stick with stories that have longer episodes, when I get tired I can always come back and finish without spending another pass
Ooh, I agree with you. When people tell me that they had over 4000 lines, Iām just like āokayā your story was still 2 minutes lol. Sorry, I just wanted to say that. This was completely irrelevant to the op
I donāt think 2000 lines is long. I read somewhere that 2000 lines was a good baseline start for a decent chapter, so thatās what Iāve personally stuck with. The first chapter of my story takes roughly 15-20 minutes to read but that could be shorter or longer depending on the choices you pick, how fast you tap through each scene, and how long it takes you to customize the characters.
Most people just have a short attention span, especially if the chapter theyāre reading doesnāt have many interesting things in it and feels like a filler chapter or like the same things are repeated over and over again.
Iām totally fine with reading a 25-minute long episode when I feel that itās worth it and if something interesting happens at least every 5 minutes to grab my attention again.
But if nothing interesting happens, I just feel like Iām wasting my time and lose interest in the story. There are many stories where I just left after half of the episode because I was just too bored to finish it.
I honestly struggle with making long episodes. I do enjoy reading long episodes when Iām boredā¦ but short ones when Iām busy. I just started a story and the most I can write to make it long is 500-600 lines. My episodes used to be like 300-400 lines long and I honestly felt like ppl hated them.
I feel as though if you have a good plot and longer episodes from like 600-800 lines are going to be bigger and better than shorter stories such as The Princeā¦ which had been out and promoted for months but only got 40 reads
Donāt you need 400 to publish?
Iām actively making mine shorter now. About 500-600 lines of pure dialogue (including character names) which ends up being around 1500 lines with directing for me and about 8-10 minutes reading time