I'm wondering if I could post a brief blurb (about 800 words) from a chapter of story I've been writing in one of the relevant channel, or do I have to post a completed chapter on the site first and then ask for a review? Thanks!
I don't see why not, but 800 words is a pretty long blub. They normally clock in at 250 tops. 800 words would be longer than a lot of my chapters!
Thanks, and yeah, blurb is the wrong word I'm looking for. Likely excerpt, and I'm willing to cut it down to 340 words to make it easier for others. Just need to get a feel for how readers think about it. And yeah, this chapter I've been working on has been an undertaking to say the least. Appreciate it and thanks again!
Is 800 words really that long? One of my most recent chapters was over 3,000 words. Should I be shortening them?
I aim for about 1500 words for my chapters, largely because publishing in smaller chunks increases the time your story spends on the front page. The structure of the story can make them go as low as 500 or as high as 2500, though. How much of your story you need to post to receive useful responses depends on what kind of feedback you're looking for. 250 words (as suggested above) is less than a page, and so you'll receive feedback on things that can be fixed on a single page: grammar, spelling, clarity, word choice,etc . 800ish gets you comments on characterization, and for things like plot progression and pacing I'd be looking for at least 2000-3000. I wouldn't be going through that with a fine-toothed comb to point out grammar and spelling mistakes, though. That's also pretty unwieldy for a forum, so for those latter 2 I would suggest posting the story on the main site, and then linking it here. If you're only gauging reader interest, though, then I would just post the story on the main site and see how it does. You'll get a bigger audience there.
