I definitely feed off comments. When readers are engaged, I know I’ve done something right. But, the other element for me is that, once I’ve established a character, I almost feel like I’m transcribing rather than creating. They become real for me (which may be a sign of mental health issues, but I’m no doctor!), and seem to want to tell their own stories.

Is not being able to finish them, Bike is the longest short story on the site.

I never set out to write anything with more than a handful of chapters. Sometimes tho’ the characters take over and demand you write more! Which is how come there are now 27 Gaby books - lol.

They don’t always flow easily from the fingers, I find the more I write the more research and back story needs to be done, much like Mr Dickens, the devil is in the details. But that doesn’t mean over burdening the reader with information, you still need to keep it moving along.

I have to admit that I don’t do more than have a rough theme to most of my longer pieces, once I get into the flow stuff seems to develop quite organically.

And re read what you write, if it entertains you it will probably entertain prospective readers.

Some writers spend years crafting their magnum opus, others rattle stuff out like machine gun so don’t set yourself too stern a timetable that you might not be able to keep to. If you get stuck, put it aside until your muse solves the issue.

I usually now only post from complete stories, my choice, it means postings can be regular and keep the readers engaged.

I don't post in chapters. Perhaps I should.

I find writing a short story very difficult. I've only managed a few. It takes me somewhere between 15 and 20 thousand words to tell a story. I try to make chapters about 1200 to 1600 words, so the chapters are rather short. Even at that, it sometimes takes years to complete a story. Like you, I seem to write as a sprinter. I rarely get a long story done without taking a break to do something else. Which is why I don't post in chapters. I don't want to leave anyone hanging while my muse gets around to giving me the rest of the story. I suppose that once it's finished, I could break it up and post a chapter or two at a time.

I usually find writing sequels a problem. However in the other genre I write I have a trilogy going and am nearly done with book three. About 20 chapters per book. It started in my mind as a single book, but as I told the story, it just got to involved to do in a single story. Then my muse provided two logical stopping points, (not ending points) so it evolved into a trilogy. Some how it just seems to flow.

That's the only way I can write. Just sit at the keyboard and let the story unfold onto the screen. When I get to a point where it isn't finished, but nothing more will unfold, I shelve it. l have a rough outline for each story in my head. When I start, I know the premise of the story, and just how it needs to end. As I begin writing, I fill in the points in the story that needs to take place for it to arrive at that end.

You might try working from an outline. I've had some writers tell me that they do that and it works well for them. You it start like I do, only before you write any part of the real story, you determine the steps necessary to achieve the end. Then you write the steps one at a time. Some writers can write salient parts first, leaving out the intervening steps and then go back and fill in the steps between those points.

I'd say think of each chapter as a short story and write a chapter at a time. The real difference between a chapter and a short story is that ending a chapter doesn't end the story, but instead it sets up the next chapter.

What's really important is that you have a good grasp of the back story. Not only the backstory for the story, but the backstory for each character that plays a main part in the telling. To that end, I set my stories in a location, I know well. I don't always let the reader know just where that is, but I know and it helps me to keep the long story from wandering. I then give each of my characters a job and a family background. Again, I don't always tell the reader any of that, but I know it.

Personally, I avoid reading multi-part stories nowadays: won’t even click on ’em! There’s just too much potential for disappointment later on. Standards might slip as the full magnitude of the regular writing task hits home; the story might head off in a direction I find implausible or distasteful; the pace of release might be too slow; the chapters might be too short to allow me to settle into the world and enjoy it. Also, it might never get finished, of course! So: no multi-part stories for me. I might read something once it’s been completed, but I find that serialisation generally has a deleterious effect on the quality of a tale.

I recognise those bursts of energy that you mentioned. I find that they form around an idea and they don’t necessarily come in sequence. I might get an idea for a scene near the end of a story and if so I write that one. (I don’t publish a disembodied scene, of course.) I always start writing at the beginning, but then I might have a big fight scene, or a moral dilemma, a grand finale, a happy ‘domestic’ interlude... it comes together in random insights. The only thing that feels like hard work is joining something up when it doesn’t quite fit.

This, I do by leaving it alone for a few weeks, thinking about it at times but not writing: chewing it over until something occurs. I find that driving, without the radio on, is ideal for plotting. For example, I evaluated numerous variations on the scary parachute jump in ‘Ground Rush’ before I settled upon it being a consequence of a team-mate taking drugs. I knew I wanted to put a character in mortal danger at that point in the story, but how and why? If I’d been forced to release an episode a week, I’m sure I’d have written something I later regretted.

Once I’ve worked out the plot, I write the missing part(s). When the story is basically complete, I circulate it among long-suffering friends in my writers’ group, who kindly point out any flaws or missed opportunities in the plot. While I understand that getting appreciative comments from readers might give you motivation, I find it much better to get two or three insightful comments from writers – even if they give you a shellacking!

Meanwhile, a copy editor goes through the manuscript and if it’s a commercial project I’ll spend some time designing the cover while this happens. Producing a novel (in fact, half of mine are novellas) is a long haul, but it’s incredibly rewarding. It’s also a very different process to pushing out episodes on some kind of deadline and with no clear end goal. If I wanted to do that, I’d be working in television :)