A general letter on the length of chapters in fanfic

[timepiececlock]

Dear Avatar ficdom (and others),

Be not afraid of long chapters.

Apologize not for long chapters.

Shorten not your long-chapter-writing tendencies for the (illusory) benefit of your audience. Short chapters are not a benefit, they are a detriment. Long chapters means not only more of a good thing, but also more complete and coherent story progression, more time spent transitioning from scene to scene, and generally more care and attention to the overall plot. And if you don't believe any of that: they're also more like real books.

Write long chapters. Long and juicy and rewarding chapters.

Give us readers something to sink our teeth into.

Sincerely,

Rashaka


P.S. I myself am mentally, emotionally, and typographically incapable of writing long chapters. I have the quill's equivalent of ADD. This is my excuse. But those of you who talk about writing long chapters and then shortening them because you think people don't want to read a 20+ page chapter? YOU DO NOT HAVE THIS EXCUSE. You are in fact going against your long-chapter-writing nature, which is so very wrong. Anyone who tells you they want short chapters is lying. LYING. Peace out.



****************


EDIT to add:

So, I wrote a review last week, complaining about Zuko being a pod-person in the fic. I received this most amusing reply:

i reject reality and substitute my own. the zuko in the show is a new man in my fic!

At least she's honest. Still frustrating, but honest! I think perhaps I should use the above statement more often in my daily conversations:

"Make dinner? I don't need dinner. I reject reality and substitute my own!"

Comments

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Word. So much word. I mean, I grew up reading books for fun. All the time. Long-ass books. Length is not scary, it's WONDERFUL.

I think it must be a new-to-fandom thing since Avatar fandom is young and lot of the people in it are having their first fandom experience. But man... I think of other fandoms I've been in, like XF and Buffy and even Harry Potter, and it's like... there would be 30-40 page chapters sometimes. Huge, epic beauties! ::sigh:: Even some of the older anime fandoms.

Man, if I didn't love writing drabbles so much I'd curse them for handicapping fanficdon.

Meanwhile, check out this. It's a tasty Avatar fic with medium-length chapters (what's medium for most fandoms is long for Avatar ficdom.)

[memlu.livejournal.com]

Back in the day, when I was ALL ABOUT the Draco/Ginny, there was a fic that had at least one chapter that was fifty-thousand words long. I almost DIED I was so happy to have something so long to read; it definitely made up for the wait. (God knows how the fic's held up in the years since, but I'll always treasure the memory of going AHHHHHHHHHHH and scrolling and scrolling and scrolling and yes, Mem, yes, there's still bits left to read. ♥)

I think even before drabbles became the In Thing (and I remember a time!), fic was still rather short. Vignettes were the rage, I recall. (And oh man, like I have room to talk. MEM, THE SERIAL SHORT-SHORTFICCER.)

And oh! Thank you very much! TIME TO GLEE OMG.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I used to be all about the Draco/Hermione, myself. Then for a while I was really into Harry/Luna (they're still my OTP, though I'm not much into HP fandom these days), but H/L fics rarely came in that great of length.

Aaahh...vignettes! I was always a big vignette-writer. Still am, sometimes. Though now I do vignettes with dialogue instead of totally dialogue-less and internalized. Probably 40% of the the stuff on my ff.net account could be classified as vignettes.

Oops, well it turns out only the last chapter is longish (as it happens, the chapter I read today!), but still the fic's good and you'll probably enjoy it.

It's the second fic I've found on ff.net to feature Literally!Starving!Zuko (the other one's pretty good too.) I've decided I am a big fan of Literally!Starving!Zuko. Season 2 Zuko, on the run, poor and making sure Iroh has more to eat than him, and too proud to admit that he's starving... which means MAXIMUM INDIGNITY when comes the inevitable meetup with the Trio. Humility comes to even Zuko eventually... and there's something I like about the idea of Zuko being forced to realize what *real* banishment is like for most people who aren't lucky enough to have a whole ship when they get exiled.

Redemption through hunger pains!

[memlu.livejournal.com]

Admittedly, I was never big into Harry Potter. I was, however, big into the trashy romance epics. Also, Tom/Ginny, but finding decent fic for that was kind of like punching myself in the mouth.

Ahahaha that entire second paragraph could apply to me as well. Vignettes! NOW WITH DIALOGUE. It's a step up, right? ...right?

Redemption through hunger pains!

I want you to know I am actually, honestly, physically crying because of that sentence. I want this to be canon omg.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Redemption through hunger pains!

I want you to know I am actually, honestly, physically crying because of that sentence. I want this to be canon omg.


Me too. There's a famous literary architype or analogy somewhere in that idea, but my mind is blanking.

[memlu.livejournal.com]

I'm totally imagining Zuko shouting, "As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again."

Just sayin'.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

::sporfle::

::cackle::

That's fantastic. I was thinking of something older/broader than GWTW, but oh that sentence would make a fantastic icon. Next time we see grubby Zuko on a screencap, it's got to be done.

[memlu.livejournal.com]

GOD YOUR ICON. Way to take one of the most poignant moments in the entire series and MAKE ME LAUGH ABOUT IT. I need to go write goth poetry about the guilt I feel.

Ahahaha, but what could be more appropriate than Scarlett O'Hara's suffering? C'mon, let's be honest here. MY LOVE FOR THAT ICON WOULD BE ENDLESS.

[easytodistract.livejournal.com]

yeowch... but yes, Zuko should let Iroh have more to eat...

(feels heart break at the thought of Starving!Iroh)

As much as I want Zuko and Iroh to finally meet up with Aang, Katara and Sokka... I kind of doubt it will ever happen in canon since it's a bit to obvious. I'll still be praying for it though.

On HP fics, the only HP fic I read was a Harry/Snape fic but only because my best friend literally bribed me to read it. (This is the same friend who tricked me into reading Asimov's Foundation Series)

Apparently, Harry/Snape is a very popular pairing in HP fandom. Have to admit I had serious doubts about it, but it was nicely done and the romance was in the background plus Harry was older (sort of) Had to do with a magical mirror.

Unfortunately... that fic wasn't finished... still, I think. I so do not like it when I read a long story which has been left unfinished. However, the author did put a lot into it. It was very well-written.

[akavertigo.livejournal.com]

http://www.mediageek.ca/arsenicjade/home.html

GO HERE!