[EllenShaw]

Hi, it's me again, looking for input from readers.

I've been working on another magnus opus, a story spread over three days with 12 fights and lots of back story, intrigue, continuity and scene setting. (Oh, for God's sake Ellen, give it a rest. You're no Jane Austen and no one wants to read 10,000 words on which gay MILF wrestler is shagging which.

Currently it's running to about 30,000 words and I've already decided to split it into three parts (like I did for "The gathering") but I'm wondering whether I should divide it even more? In part 1 there are six fights, four wrestling matches and two boxing matches. Should I post each fight individually? If so what do I do with the continuity pieces? Should I post parts in the comments or as separate topics? All thoughts and comments appreciated.

Ellen x

[fionaflex]

I don't mind you releasing them in your already made chunks. For ease of finding the fights you could certainly divide them between comments, but on the whole I don't see anything wrong with keeping the larger parts together.

[HumanPerson]

If the writer is good, then the buildup can be even better than the fight.

If the writer isn't, just get to the point and let my imagination improve on it.

[bbb1]

I prefer short

[Kiva]

I think you ask good questions. Namely, how is the best way to present lengthy stories containing multiple fights? It’s a challenge some of us have gone through. I’d say you are right to divide up your story, as 30,000 words is considered a novella. I think 3 sections of 10,000 words is fine. It sounds like your backstories, build-up and continuity parts are important for your story, so you don’t need to give them up. However, you might want to consider subdivisions within your three posts.

Most readers (including myself) have short attention spans. If I’ve learned anything about writing, it’s that the presentation and layout of the work is critically important in attracting and retaining readers. I cannot read a story that is a wall of text with no breaks. In my opinion, the key to preventing readers from leaving is to keep the narrative flowing as quickly as possible, build tension and suspense, avoid dull sections, and know what can be edited out, and keep your text easy on the eyes.

Regarding that last point, when I write a lengthy story, I’ll often include section breaks. I believe this has a psychological benefit to the readers by giving them the impression the story is not as long as it actually is, plus it gives the readers the message that a change is up ahead.

In my story, “Waiting at the Door” (11,100 words), I broke the story into multiple sections headed by Roman numerals. This gives the writer the advantage of jumping ahead in time or changing locations without the need for awkward continuity in your text.
https://www.freecatfights.com/forums/index.php?topic=102332.0

My story, “The Poacher 4 (13,375 words) was broken into sections whenever the scenes changed locations like a movie. https://www.freecatfights.com/forums/index.php?topic=89782.0

Six fights in one post seems a lot and might give readers “fight fatigue.” Here’s where subsections might help if you can find suitable points in your story to place the breaks Bonus points if you can find a cliffhanger for your break. Do you need to describe all 12 fights in detail? Are all the fights important in driving the plot? Are all the characters in the fights relevant to the story. If not, perhaps some fights can be short (e.g. first round knockout or quick submission). Can the narrative of some fights be truncated with a general summary, highlights and ending?

You’re a fine writer and I won’t be offended if you don’t go with any of these ideas. You will find a way that works for you. Best of luck!

[rin753]

I favor long build ups in my stories, but the key for me is that the build up HAS to be about the fight and not some extraneous "day in the life" stuff about the fighters.

In fact my most popular story, Chapter 1 of THE DINER, has no fight in it at all.  Just two women discussing the fight they are going to have.

Link to that one is in my profile if you are interested.

[Cf_Jam]

I find the context which lead to the fight exciting as foreplay. The process is important, what triggered and how the catfight was slowly cooked makes it even more exciting and helps to feel the intensity of actual battle.

[Lightweightfighter88]

For me the build up is just as good as the fight, to me a good well written build up really adds to the story.

[EllenShaw]

Thanks for the useful feedback everyone. Particularly Kiva - I loved your Poacher series.

I ended up posting Farm Girls as three separate stories. Part 1 had 6 fights and ran to 17,000 words - I should probably have split that into more parts. Part 2 had 5 fights and 8,500 words and part 3 had just one fight but a lot of back story and 5,500 words. I also posted a separate edit of the two boxing matches from part 1 (3,600 words). This also meant that I ended up with two stories in the wrestling section and two in the boxing section.

I think that, in future, I'll go back to posting shorter sections like I did for my stories "Back to basics" and "The gathering" a couple of years ago.

As my stories are often a mix of wrestling and boxing I'm wondering whether I might be better off posting in the series section, although I'd probably still want to post individual story parts rather than the chains of comments that people there (I did that with some of my early stories and didn't like it).