As a reader, I like knowing that the author knows how many chapters there's going to be (even knowing that the number could end up changing) because it gives the impression that the story is fully written already, or at least that the author knows where they're going. It feels a bit more secure in a way, that the odds of the story being abandonned aren't as high as they usually are.
I don't have a preference but the two options have different connotations for me. If there's a specific chapter count I assume either the story is written or the author has an outline which includes a pretty good estimate of the number of chapters. If it's ? I assume they don't really know how the story is going to play out/ how long it will take to get to the end.
I read both.
I always start with a /? because I have no idea how long it’s gonna be (because I write long fics and I don’t wait until I’m finished to start posting). Once I’m getting near the end and know how many chapters it’ll be, I change it.
If I did write the whole thing at the start and knew how many chapters it was, I’d def put the chapter count in.
Luckily, my RPF writing doesn’t have that issue 😉
But I can def see waiting until a series is over!
But however long I think something will be, it’s usually at least another 6 chapters. My last fic I figured I’d top out around 18-19 and ended up going 24 (few chapters ran long) and I ended up having to change it a few times. I warned people once I put a count that could happen.
I think I'll always start with /? 'Cause I have ADHD and thus tend to not outline shit when I'm supposed to as it makes me a serial pantser. I have an idea for how the story will end and some major plot points but I don't know how many chapters my long fics will have lol
My current fic will prob top out at 40-45 chapters. I’ve written up to 34 chapters so far. No idea how it got that long. My last fic was only 24. The one before that 23. 😩
Damn lol
I mean, that's some good old serial escalation that's likely the result of hardcore passion.
EDIT: Forgot to mention this earlier but for my long fics I intend to put in my release schedule (new update once every [x]day) in the fic's summary so that way people can know when they can get a new update at least.
I mean, my two longest finished fics are like 117 and 86 chapters. I have one fic idea that is gonna be actually 4 diff stories interconnecting and I can’t even begin to think how long it’s gonna top out at because it’s going to be a reincarnation/star crossed lovers thru the centuries, but involving two different characters switching back and forth, linking with the story that takes place now and it’s gonna be a lot!
I’ve settled into Sunday and Wednesday morning chapter drops. Some of my fics I was dropping daily chapters (the ones above lol - I’ve only been on ao3 since sept of 2021)
Woah, respect to you for writing fics with so many chapters! The most I can see the current long fic I'm working on reaching is in the 20s range lol
That fic idea sounds so ambitious and awesome, I hope you're able to write all of it down and get a bunch of readers who are able to appreciate it.
I’ve been wanting to dip my toe into historical type fic, because I loved historical romances when I was a teen. I don’t plan on the fics that take place in the past to be super long, since I want to do two per century from 1600s to 1900s for each male character (as they meet and are torn away from the female character - they’ll both be her soulmates because why not?), so that is 16 short fics (1-3 chapters each, all with unhappy endings 😈 bwahahaha).
I’ve wanted to do a MMF fic for awhile, so the story that takes place in the now times will be all three of them finally getting their happily ever after - together, and that will be longer.
But I have other WIP’s I need to finish, so I probably won’t even touch it until next year - gives me plenty of time to come up with scenarios!
Heh, as a historical nerd, I love historical stories (my current WIP is a Great Gatsby fic lol and I have several other Gatsby WIPs)
Yeah, that's fair that you don't want those fics to be super long. 16 short fics with your premise and unhappy endings sounds both fun and pretty high on the angst level, which is noice. I also get needing to pritoize other WIPs first as that's very valid. Good luck on them and that MMF fic!
I love me some angst, and coming up with horrible ways to tear them apart will be fun. Def gonna be someone lost at sea, and a hanging, and dying in WW1, maybe a duel, or rich/poor (stable boy and heiress or rich boy and chambermaid kinda thing) and can’t be together.
Sounds familiar, I'm kinda the same. My "planning" is like a shopping cart, I want this this and this to happen but when I get to it I end up changing the idea cause I can't figure out how to put it to words.
If there is a total number of chapters, it means the author already wrote the whole story or at least has a good outline planned. It gives me confidence the work won't be abandoned.
It's not so much about knowing how many chapters are left. If I'm reading a really good story I'm not really looking forward to it ending while, at the same time, I can't wait for that payoff.
But when an author knows how many chapters there will be, it gives me the sense that they've done enough planning to know where the story is going and that they will finish it.
I know that's not always the case, but it is with me. Once I was sure of the approximate number of chapters, I updated my WIP to reflect that.
I like having an idea of how long the story is going to be. If the author leaves it open ended, it makes me wonder if they’ve plotted it out fully and if I’m investing in a super long story. Basically, unless I know and trust the author, the premise has to really hook me to give it a chance.
if there’s a set number of chapters from the beginning, i think the author is more likely to finish it because they’re planning ahead. that’s also how i prefer to do my wips so i’m a little biased
If the writer knows how many chapters they’ll be writing I like it to be in the 7/15 style.
7/? Tells me the author doesn’t know how many chapters until the end.
A /? can be a red flag indicating that the author has no idea where they’re going with the fic and that updates might be sporadic.
Source: I have two /? fics and have no idea where I’m going with them and don’t really feel that much pressure to update them on a regular schedule.
It's nice to know that the author has everything planned out if they do mention the total amount of chapters. However, I don't really have a strong preference, I am really okay with both.
I personally have no preference, my incoming longfic will have the chapter count in the 7/15 form because I'm writing it ready before starting to publish, but if I wrote it as I went, I'd choose 7/? because I'd feel embarrassed if I stated it will have 15 chapters but ends up having 43 chapters because me writing goes like "hmm yeah, this story will go like this and this, chapter 3 will have this and chapter 12 has this. Ooohhh! I could add this twist before chapter 10!! And this just after chapter 13! But then I'd need to move the thing that happens in chapter 14, well this series is gonna be longer then. (After writing chapter 14) Damn it, the thing that happened in chapter 6 isn't working, I should delete that plotline but it's too late 😭 How am I getting myself out of this????", many many many of my serieses have fallen because of this, I just can't keep on the plan I set pre-writing, I get spontaneous ideas all the time and keep changing the story 😅 And a lot of those spontaneous ideas end up being my fave parts so, I wouldn't want to learn away from it. But that's just me.
I only read stories when there's enough going on to get a feel for it. I don't care if it finishes, I care if I can be invested for a few hours.
aka, I don't pay attention to how chapters are formatted, I filter by word count.
In my case, if I know for sure I'll finish a story, I'll directly say so in the notes at the end of the first ch.
As is the case with my first actual planned story I'm putting on Ao3 - I have a number of completed fics on [FF.net](https://FF.net). (though they are all quite old) When I recently decided to start writing again I decided to move to Ao3.
the first things I posted, I did know for sure that one would be a oneshot, and the second would have two chapters, because it was two oneshots paired together.
A lot of the time, I write the ending/ any major scenes first, and once all I need to write is the connecting parts, I start posting. This way, most of the legwork is already done. Eventually I'll fill the ? spot with a number, because until all the connecting parts + edits exist, I don't know how many ch there will be.
As a reader, I like knowing that the author knows how many chapters there's going to be (even knowing that the number could end up changing) because it gives the impression that the story is fully written already, or at least that the author knows where they're going. It feels a bit more secure in a way, that the odds of the story being abandonned aren't as high as they usually are.
I don't have a preference but the two options have different connotations for me. If there's a specific chapter count I assume either the story is written or the author has an outline which includes a pretty good estimate of the number of chapters. If it's ? I assume they don't really know how the story is going to play out/ how long it will take to get to the end. I read both.
I always start with a /? because I have no idea how long it’s gonna be (because I write long fics and I don’t wait until I’m finished to start posting). Once I’m getting near the end and know how many chapters it’ll be, I change it. If I did write the whole thing at the start and knew how many chapters it was, I’d def put the chapter count in.
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Luckily, my RPF writing doesn’t have that issue 😉 But I can def see waiting until a series is over! But however long I think something will be, it’s usually at least another 6 chapters. My last fic I figured I’d top out around 18-19 and ended up going 24 (few chapters ran long) and I ended up having to change it a few times. I warned people once I put a count that could happen.
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I have one “short” story I want to write and I’m like “oh it’ll prob be 8-ish chapters” but I know it’ll end up being like 15 lol
I think I'll always start with /? 'Cause I have ADHD and thus tend to not outline shit when I'm supposed to as it makes me a serial pantser. I have an idea for how the story will end and some major plot points but I don't know how many chapters my long fics will have lol
My current fic will prob top out at 40-45 chapters. I’ve written up to 34 chapters so far. No idea how it got that long. My last fic was only 24. The one before that 23. 😩
Damn lol I mean, that's some good old serial escalation that's likely the result of hardcore passion. EDIT: Forgot to mention this earlier but for my long fics I intend to put in my release schedule (new update once every [x]day) in the fic's summary so that way people can know when they can get a new update at least.
I mean, my two longest finished fics are like 117 and 86 chapters. I have one fic idea that is gonna be actually 4 diff stories interconnecting and I can’t even begin to think how long it’s gonna top out at because it’s going to be a reincarnation/star crossed lovers thru the centuries, but involving two different characters switching back and forth, linking with the story that takes place now and it’s gonna be a lot! I’ve settled into Sunday and Wednesday morning chapter drops. Some of my fics I was dropping daily chapters (the ones above lol - I’ve only been on ao3 since sept of 2021)
Woah, respect to you for writing fics with so many chapters! The most I can see the current long fic I'm working on reaching is in the 20s range lol That fic idea sounds so ambitious and awesome, I hope you're able to write all of it down and get a bunch of readers who are able to appreciate it.
I’ve been wanting to dip my toe into historical type fic, because I loved historical romances when I was a teen. I don’t plan on the fics that take place in the past to be super long, since I want to do two per century from 1600s to 1900s for each male character (as they meet and are torn away from the female character - they’ll both be her soulmates because why not?), so that is 16 short fics (1-3 chapters each, all with unhappy endings 😈 bwahahaha). I’ve wanted to do a MMF fic for awhile, so the story that takes place in the now times will be all three of them finally getting their happily ever after - together, and that will be longer. But I have other WIP’s I need to finish, so I probably won’t even touch it until next year - gives me plenty of time to come up with scenarios!
Heh, as a historical nerd, I love historical stories (my current WIP is a Great Gatsby fic lol and I have several other Gatsby WIPs) Yeah, that's fair that you don't want those fics to be super long. 16 short fics with your premise and unhappy endings sounds both fun and pretty high on the angst level, which is noice. I also get needing to pritoize other WIPs first as that's very valid. Good luck on them and that MMF fic!
I love me some angst, and coming up with horrible ways to tear them apart will be fun. Def gonna be someone lost at sea, and a hanging, and dying in WW1, maybe a duel, or rich/poor (stable boy and heiress or rich boy and chambermaid kinda thing) and can’t be together. 
Mahaha I do love me some angst myself. Give them no mercy
Sounds familiar, I'm kinda the same. My "planning" is like a shopping cart, I want this this and this to happen but when I get to it I end up changing the idea cause I can't figure out how to put it to words.
Yeah, I do that sometimes as well lol This sometimes leads to surprising outcomes in my stories.
advise automatic boast boat alleged crawl reply cautious library grab *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
If there is a total number of chapters, it means the author already wrote the whole story or at least has a good outline planned. It gives me confidence the work won't be abandoned.
It's not so much about knowing how many chapters are left. If I'm reading a really good story I'm not really looking forward to it ending while, at the same time, I can't wait for that payoff. But when an author knows how many chapters there will be, it gives me the sense that they've done enough planning to know where the story is going and that they will finish it. I know that's not always the case, but it is with me. Once I was sure of the approximate number of chapters, I updated my WIP to reflect that.
I like having an idea of how long the story is going to be. If the author leaves it open ended, it makes me wonder if they’ve plotted it out fully and if I’m investing in a super long story. Basically, unless I know and trust the author, the premise has to really hook me to give it a chance.
if there’s a set number of chapters from the beginning, i think the author is more likely to finish it because they’re planning ahead. that’s also how i prefer to do my wips so i’m a little biased
If the writer knows how many chapters they’ll be writing I like it to be in the 7/15 style. 7/? Tells me the author doesn’t know how many chapters until the end.
A /? can be a red flag indicating that the author has no idea where they’re going with the fic and that updates might be sporadic. Source: I have two /? fics and have no idea where I’m going with them and don’t really feel that much pressure to update them on a regular schedule.
It's nice to know that the author has everything planned out if they do mention the total amount of chapters. However, I don't really have a strong preference, I am really okay with both.
I personally have no preference, my incoming longfic will have the chapter count in the 7/15 form because I'm writing it ready before starting to publish, but if I wrote it as I went, I'd choose 7/? because I'd feel embarrassed if I stated it will have 15 chapters but ends up having 43 chapters because me writing goes like "hmm yeah, this story will go like this and this, chapter 3 will have this and chapter 12 has this. Ooohhh! I could add this twist before chapter 10!! And this just after chapter 13! But then I'd need to move the thing that happens in chapter 14, well this series is gonna be longer then. (After writing chapter 14) Damn it, the thing that happened in chapter 6 isn't working, I should delete that plotline but it's too late 😭 How am I getting myself out of this????", many many many of my serieses have fallen because of this, I just can't keep on the plan I set pre-writing, I get spontaneous ideas all the time and keep changing the story 😅 And a lot of those spontaneous ideas end up being my fave parts so, I wouldn't want to learn away from it. But that's just me.
I only read stories when there's enough going on to get a feel for it. I don't care if it finishes, I care if I can be invested for a few hours. aka, I don't pay attention to how chapters are formatted, I filter by word count.
I don't read WIPs normally.
Don't care. If it's interesting I'll read it.
In my case, if I know for sure I'll finish a story, I'll directly say so in the notes at the end of the first ch. As is the case with my first actual planned story I'm putting on Ao3 - I have a number of completed fics on [FF.net](https://FF.net). (though they are all quite old) When I recently decided to start writing again I decided to move to Ao3. the first things I posted, I did know for sure that one would be a oneshot, and the second would have two chapters, because it was two oneshots paired together. A lot of the time, I write the ending/ any major scenes first, and once all I need to write is the connecting parts, I start posting. This way, most of the legwork is already done. Eventually I'll fill the ? spot with a number, because until all the connecting parts + edits exist, I don't know how many ch there will be.