So I have been on Wattpad for a few years now. I'm on it almost everyday, it's like a drug to me. However, ever since I joined, I have seen the ups and downs of the fanfics and their specific fandoms/series, and Wattpad in general.
So what did I do...
So...summer break finally starts. With that time, before I start studying for finals, I thought I talk about something that really has been on my mind whenever I'm writing Mysterious Fates.
Its worth noting that majority of Wattpad users and readers use the mobile app by now. People can only scroll down so much, especially on a screen, and the advice given to both veteran and new writers is that the min/max number of words per chapter should be about 2000 words.
But who's to say that it has be that short? Sure, long chapters require a lot more time and commitment, but if a person if writing a full length novel, then the chapters might as well be as long as they need to be.
Long chapters, in my honest opinion, help in establishing plot that is required to be stretched out for a long period of the story and shorten the number of chapters in the novel if necessary. Honestly for me, if you are serializing a story, then the chapter needs to be satisfying. Short chapters don't really work in the long run, because they lack the commitment that is needed from the audience, especially if its a fantasy story.
People say that short chapters are more consumable and easier to read but for me, that only works for comics, or if you are updating weekly. For monthly updates, or even random ones, it doesn't work because then whatever cliffhanger you have will wear off and people will lose interest in your story.
There's this PPG fanfic called "More Than Human" by SBJ on fanficton.net. Her chapters are long as fuck, but the payoff (in addition to the effort shown) is there because there is enough content that has a significant amount of world-building and character development to become invested in the story. And sure, that hasn't been updated in forever but that's kind of the point I'm making. Even if it hasn't been updated for a really long time, people are still coming back to it to refresh themselves and/or remember parts of the story that they truly liked.
(For me the most favorite part was the Beach Chapter oh my god that chapter is a fucking goldmine)
If the chapters are short, and if the story has not been updated, people are going to lose interest and not come back to the story. This also backfires if there are not many chapters in your story to begin with.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that all stories may have a interesting premise but the length of chapters, especially in serialized stories, do matter in more ways than one.
Short rant, but eh. Also my birthday is coming up in a few weeks (aka next month) I swear, I keep feeling even more lonelier everytime I get older Ihonestly dont know why. Oh well. I know this was a really weird subject to rant about but what do you guys think? Comment below, ect, ect. Sayonara till then.
ALSO COMPLETE UNRELATED HAS ANYONE SEEN THE NEW HTTYD 3 TRAILER AND THE NEW ORI TRAILER (hiccup has grown and definitely for the better lmao)
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