Split one chapter into two. Should and could it be done?

Split chapter 1 into two parts

  • Total voters
    1
Twiska

Twiska

Virgin
Looking at my story map, I can see a massive drop from chapters 1 to 2 in terms of views. And chapter 1 is very long. I'm about nine chapters into a linear story. Should I split chapter 1 into two parts? And if I did, how would I put a new chapter in between chapters 1 and 2?
 
It would be useful to have a link to your story for the sake of the discussion.

Also, what's the average lenght of the other chapters? And what do you mean with 'very long'? Five thousand words? More? Less?
And what about the intrduction? Is it long as well? Or by first chapter do you mean the introduction?

You must know it's is pretty normal to have a progressive drop in views and likes to, to an extent, as your further progress down your story.

It's entirely possible people click on your story because you chose a very alluring cover or title, and then leave once they understand it is not their cup of tea.
 
Well keep in mind the more in depth chapters will naturally decline in views for all kinds of reasons. It’s difficult to keep the same viewers 20 chapters in, so naturally declination is going to happen. It’s the same reason the first season of a show is usually its best in terms of viewers and there’s always a drop off. What you have to think about is what the actual cause could be? Do you know for certain it is the length? Or could it just be the content overall? Many people will assess a story based on the introduction or first chapter. It doesn’t always have to do with length either. Have people commented about the length?

I’m also uncertain of how long is long in this case. I know people who will happily read a chapter that is over 1000 - 6000 words long and even longer. I think as long as the pacing is fine though, the length really doesn’t matter. The only time you might consider breaking up a chapter is if you have alternate paths in mind and want to leave it open for multiple branches.

That being said, being able to insert chapters in between would be nice or at least reorganizing chapters because man my Video Game ENP story is such a clutter filled mess because I didn’t consider the 500 names all being listed in random order. I wish I could reorganize it, but it’s kinda too late.
 
Twiska said:
Looking at my story map, I can see a massive drop from chapters 1 to 2 in terms of views. And chapter 1 is very long. I'm about nine chapters into a linear story. Should I split chapter 1 into two parts? And if I did, how would I put a new chapter in between chapters 1 and 2?
Click to expand...
The stats on your story aren't really high enough to warrant that kind of analysis yet. Regardless, it is pretty much inevitable that your first chapter will have several times as many views as your second. This is because the views aren't unique, nor are they guaranteed to be human. Whenever someone accesses your story, they're leaving at least one view on the Introduction chapter, unless they access it directly by story map or via another chapter, both of which are quite unusual. This includes yourself. Additionally, things like search engines might trigger views on your Introduction chapter. Views are almost meaningless, and certainly shouldn't be used to make decisions like this.

If you want to use stats to inform your writing, I would, for now, pay attention to your likes. You have distinct peaks at chapters 1, 5, and 8, which actually implies two things: firstly, that people who read and enjoy your first chapter are highly likely to continue onto at least the fifth chapter (as they have equal likes); secondly, there is something specific about each of those chapters that stands out to your audience. You could figure out what you've done well in those chapters and try to do it more often.

To answer your question directly, while 2600 words is very long for a CHYOA chapter, especially for an introduction, it is not currently possible in the system to split or insert chapters in the way you describe. You would need to delete all but the first of your chapters and copy them over to a new branch with the extra chapter added in. I don't believe it's necessary at all, but if you feel strongly enough about it I would recommend doing it now while you have less readers to confuse and less stats to lose.
 
Gambio said:
Sadly, what you want to do isn't possible. Your only option would be to edit the text of each chapter.
Click to expand...

Yeah, this also.

The short answer to your question OP would be no, as is not possible to add a chapter between two existing one.

You can still sort of do it though but either your save your work on your computer and delete and repost everything (you can also do the other way around and post a second version, then clean the old stuff), or you edit everthing shifting the chapter breaks, which would also mean changing the questions and the titles and ultimately probably adding one more chapter at the end.

It would be really cool to be able to just snip one chapter in, but as said, sadly it's not possible at the moment.
 
Yeah, being able to split a chapter into two would be neat. I kinda wish I could split Fred's first chapter of Dark Lord into two.
 
SeriousBrainDamage said:
It would be useful to have a link to your story for the sake of the discussion.

Also, what's the average lenght of the other chapters? And what do you mean with 'very long'? Five thousand words? More? Less?
And what about the intrduction? Is it long as well? Or by first chapter do you mean the introduction?

You must know it's is pretty normal to have a progressive drop in views and likes to, to an extent, as your further progress down your story.

It's entirely possible people click on your story because you chose a very alluring cover or title, and then leave once they understand it is not their cup of tea.
Click to expand...
Sorry about not linking it, here it is: https://chyoa.com/chapter/Introduction.971882
By introduction I mean the first chapter as that is what chyoa auto named the first chapter in a story. The first chapter is about 2,500 words. Chapter 2 is around 1,300 words.
 
I don’t think it’s too long. The introduction is usually long due to the word count rule anyways and also setting up the plots. If you wanted though, you could copy one half of the introduction, and paste it into a new chapter, and then move all of the existing chapters to that branch, and then delete the existing branches. This would do what you are asking but keep in mind any likes or views accumulated from the current chapters would go away. If you’re okay with that, then do it.
 
Twiska said:
Sorry about not linking it, here it is: https://chyoa.com/chapter/Introduction.971882
By introduction I mean the first chapter as that is what chyoa auto named the first chapter in a story. The first chapter is about 2,500 words. Chapter 2 is around 1,300 words.
Click to expand...

Well, the mistery is solved then. You chose a rather misterious cover pic and a vague title (don't mean it in a bad way..) and your introduction is longer than average and probably leans toward the full frontal exposition, which could scare away more than a few reader.

I don't think splitting it in two would change very much, you could try insterting a headstart where outiline what the story is gonna be about or what the reader ca expext form it before investing time in reading the said introduction wich probably comes of a little as a word of text.

But I don't really know what I'm saying, don't pay attention to me :p
 
SeriousBrainDamage said:
You chose a rather misterious cover pic and a vague title (don't mean it in a bad way..)
Click to expand...
Actually, I think the title and image are more than acceptable. Any title in the form of "The Chronicles of [made up word]" evokes the idea of a fantasy story, and the icon gives the impression of a succubus-like character. Even if it's not explicit, the story being about a demonic woman in a fantasy setting is implied.

I do agree that to maximise attention, a more grounded (preferably erotic) image and a more immediately descriptive title are best in general, but in the case of a long-form, somewhat plot-driven story it's better to have a title and image that align with your target audience. I'm not sure there's much benefit in trying to attract the type of readers that wouldn't normally enjoy your story regardless of branding.
 
insertnamehere said:
Actually, I think the title and image are more than acceptable.
Click to expand...

You got me wrong. I for one am one for misterious and vague cover pics and titles. If I were to wrote a story like that, I would probably chose something similar as I don't like much to put explicit images on the cover. They seldom hit the target in my opinion, and even when they do, they kind of spoil the characters or the story. Exception made for fanfictions.

It too, seeing it on the main page, clicked on OP story, a few days ago. I did it just out of curiosity, before this thread was even started I think, but actually didn't care much for this type of setting so I just didn't keep on reading.
I didn't feel hooked by the introduction, but that's just me, really.
That's just to give another explanation of why the introduction has so much more views.
 
Yeah that’s why I’ve gone and updated my descriptions because I’ve realized just how bad they are. Descriptions are important because they give the reader the first impression of what to expect. I initially basically just put the description as the introduction and vice versa and so there was just a wall of text, which I later realized is very very bad for the metadata as all readers will see is just a big wall of text and the title, which is not a great introduction.

Also a messy introduction can give the wrong impression, and will chase off viewers regardless of the length. Always think about your first impression if you are caring about the numbers or the retention span of your readers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top