I have noticed that when i do a multi-part story, the first chapter gets a good response in terms of comments, but subsequent parts seem to get significantly less. I am just curious, does that mean anything?
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There's Usually More to Say...
...about a first chapter, where you're establishing a story premise, than there is about later ones. (There are also more readers, though the ones who decide to drop out after chapter one are less likely to leave a public comment there, unless they're complaining about being misled by the header or something.)
One other thing: I think some readers (me, for one) are more likely to leave a word of encouragement -- a positive but relatively generic comment such as "intriguing start, looking forward to seeing where this goes" -- on a first chapter. That's harder (for me) to do after a story's under way, unless I have something more specific to say, most likely about the plot.
Anyway, I believe it's normal. While all of the numbers here (hits, kudos, comments) can be misleading, number of comments may well be the least meaningful of the three.
There are, of course, exceptions to the diminishing number of comments: writers like Lilith who use the comment section as a dialogue about the story have larger comment sections throughout. And those who take a story in an unexpected and (to many readers) undesirable direction -- or who hit a pet peeve (e.g., smoking, identity death) -- will usually hear about it in the comment section.
My thoughts, anyway.
Eric
Well...
As usual, the comments are posted for a variety of reasons, and some people who posted a comment in the first chapter (to encourage you continuing the story) may find themselves feeling awkward posting a general 'nice chapter please more' comment time after time. Others, who feel their comments need to have at least some substance, may come a little late to the party and find that the point they wanted to make is already made by someone else. And again, a general 'I agree with the comment above' comment may leave them feeling they aren't pulling weight. And, for some people, the story comes right before they go to sleep. Naturally they may feel weary and not exactly fit to comment at the moment...
And yes, any of the above reasons may apply to me, as they did before in several cases.
Faraway
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Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
Faraway
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
Another reason...
People who stumble across the story after a few episodes have already been posted will probably leave a comment on the first episode, then possibly only comment on further episodes if something particularly noteworthy occurs, or they have something to say which hasn't already been covered by previous commentators. After all, if you're playing 'catch up', you generally want to get up to date asap.
But bear in mind that none of the three statistics gives an accurate rendering of readers' attitude towards the story. The hit counts only show the number of times the page has been loaded - so it will include not only those reading the story itself, but those returning after reading it to catch up on the comments. Different people have different policies regarding the 'Kudos' button - some (like me) will hit it whenever they enjoyed a story, others will only hit it if they think the story/episode is excellent (say 9/10 or 10/10 in their eyes). Comments can be incredibly variable - but as I said above, if something particularly interesting, exciting or unexpected has happened, you'll probably attract more comments. Once you have a few, the best way to encourage more is to reply to them, turning the comments section into something akin to a forum thread - particularly if there's lots of speculation on future events.
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I have no idea
But I've noticed at least by my own experience that there is a general drop off in comments after the first story chapter is out. Then again as the title is dropped off the title page. Comments though rarely continue after the first 48 hours that anything is posted, even if it's still up in the listings.
Then there are the stories that are just that good that still garner lots of comments.
Try to focus more on the number of reads, I find that more satisfying even when I factor in 10-15% of them as mis-clicks I still get the rush of wow, that many people read what I wrote.
Bailey Summers
If This Is a Problem 4 U
If a diminishing number of comments on a serial is a problem for you the logical solution is to write and post the entire story as one.
There are many, like me, who will only rarely read a serial until all the chapters are posted. I've been burned too many times by too many writers.
Those who start a story and don't finish it are a full spectrum of writers from novice to pro -- and from horrific to awesome.
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
...and I'm just the opposite
Simply because it's almost impossible for me to finish an entire story like that at one sitting, and it's not possible to put a bookmark halfway down the page if it's a single file.
I'm quite comfortable reading serials, although it gets disappointing when half of them just dry up halfway through. It means I can read as far as I have time to and then bookmark the next ep. for the next time I have a free moment (as if).
Nice friendly chunks for me, please. And yes, I do have an attention span greater than that of a gnat.
Penny
Penny Lane
Don't they have Post-It Notes in the U.K.?
I'm from Mpls/St.Paul the home of 3M, the inventor of Post-It notes. I would be happy to send you a supply if you need some.
According to local legend Post-It notes were created by a 3M engineer who worked with adhesives for various kinds of industrial tapes. 3M is also the originator of "scotch" tape. He created Post-It notes to bookmark the hymnals for his church choir.
Of course, every two months or so I have to have all those sticky notes cleaned out of my hard-drive.
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
is there a limit to how big a single story can be?
i only ask because i write enormously long tomes (which is why it takes me years). wild horses was a bit more than 130,000 words, and two of the stories i'm working on now are as long. when geoff kindly posted wild horses here a long time ago he (rightly, i think) broke it into 8 parts. as a result it's not a 'random solo' or anything like that, so nobody knows it exists any more.
because i was in my married/postop/not-having-anything-to-do-with-transsexualism/hibernation phase back at that time i didn't give it the attention other authors give their serials as they post them. in fact i didn't give it any attention at all. geoff, bless him, took care of everything.
anyway, if and when i can finish a turn of the cards, which is one of the stories i'm working on now and the most likely candidate for release, it will probably be in one piece. maybe. except i suspect more than 100,000 words is too much for anyone to digest in one sitting.
yet it's not a serial, so i won't be taking people's comments into account as i write. i won't be going the lilith langtree route and diligently cultivating my audience (i really admire the way she does that, by the way - authors who complain they don't get enough comments really need to look at the way lilith works her audience; it's more like theatre than writing). posting as a serial really seems like leading people on, somehow, like the outcome of the thing isn't already set in stone.
so, post a very long story in one part, or in multiples? nobody can physically read a story that long in one go anyway, right, even if they wanted to? and if i do post it as a serial, it gets a week or two of attention and then it gets buried in the dungeons of bcts and nobody ever sees it again ...
i'm not complaining, by the way. just wondering what to do. is there a limit on story length per post? like a system limit. this is drupal, right?
should i give it to erin to put in the hatbox as a single story, and thereby ensure that nobody reads it? (i love the idea of the hatbox, and sure as heck don't need money for myself anyway, but i suspect few people pony up).
anyway, lots of rambling there, sorry, only one real question. shutup rebecca.
rebecca
not as think as i smart i am
Single stories
A single story is a bungalow, surely?
You can write a big story, sure. Don't forget, writers of normal books of big stories still break their text up into chapters of some convenient size, in the main. Each chapter doesn't have to end with a cliff-hanger.
Don't also forget that while the system may be able to cope with humunguous story files, your poor reader's computers might not. Won't somebody think of the readers?
Penny