Friday, January 13, 2006

Does size matter?

Ladies I'm talking about the size of the story. Dirty minds? I hope so but this isn't about anatomy. I've been lurking in a few groups and read posts where readers were upset over the size of some stories. Some preferred the longer novels while some wanted stories novella size and below.

It's hard to tell how long a story is when going by page count. Those vary by format (page size and spacing). The authors go by word count.

Personally, I like varied reading materials. If I've just finished a long novel, I'll look for a novella. I also enjoy anthologies where I can try a couple of authors at once.

So tell me ladies, what kind of stories do you like? Are you an anthology kind of gal? Do you like the long novels? Is a novella from one author your fav? Do you prefer shorter books in ebook and longer stories in print?

One of our SiN ladies had a poll going on size but I can't find the totals. If you're out there, let us know the results. Anyway readers, post your preferrences. I'll pick one winner to win choice of one download. You can pick from any title on JenniferCloud.com

Thanks,
Jennifer

12 Comments:

Blogger Darragha! said...

Size doesn't matter. It's the content that counts.

I've read short stories that stayed with me for years, and lengthy novels that were chloroform on paper.

Sometimes snippets of books stay with me forever. A brilliant line or amazing cover. Amazing cover="A Great and Terrible Beauty" by Libba Bray. Brilliant line=something about two lemon wedges and a pot of strawberry jam in "Noble Intention" by Katie MacAlister. Gods, I laughed so hard at that.

Okay...even one of my own books has a bit of brilliance in it. It's a part of the "conversion and baptism of the Viking" scene:

"What is this monstrosity?" Leif asked pointing to the statue of the man on the cross.
"It is a Crucifix. The man is Jesus Christ."
"If he is your god, why is he not enthroned?" Leif asked.
"He is," Petur answered.

Does size matter? Not to me. It's the guts, baby.

9:33 AM  
Blogger Michelle said...

Hi Jennifer,

Ditto on what Darragha said:
"It's the guts baby."

Size only matters for certain things, Like when you're dividing a candy bar and you want to make sure it's exactly in half, but we all know that's not possible, there is always one side that is slightly bigger. Yep by golly, size matters at that moment.

Or, when there are only four oreo's left and a little bit of milk in the bottom of the carton and you have to share it. It's almost impossible to get exactly the same amount of milk in each glass, so yep, size matters there too.

Oh, how about when you're trying to decided how much turkey each person will eat at Thanksgiving, important stuff when determining the SIZE of the bird you need to buy.

Wow, can you tell I haven't had breakfast yet? I'm gonna go eat, but to reaffirm my answer to your question, for me, with books, it's the story that matters not size.

Michelle Hoppe
www.michellehoppe.com

9:53 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

If it is a very good book, size doesn't matter. I have read some good books that were long and I have read some good books that only had about 80 pages. As long as it is a good book, I will read it.

10:53 AM  
Blogger Meljprincess said...

In this case size doesn't matter. If a story is well written and well researched I wanna read it no matter the length. Long or short I've found some stories to be quite stimulating and often fulfilling.

1:03 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

*smiles* i have to agree that it's the content that matters. i don't want to plug through a book that's just going on for too long and has lots of filler. i'd rather have a shorter book with more meat to it.

Still, one can't help but wish for certain favorite stories to go on forever.

Anthologies are spiffy because i get more good stories in one place. But since not all the stories are that good, i also love my single-title books.

Okay, i need food. i really really need food. i'll be back!

Many blessings,
chibi-hentai

2:04 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Size doesn't really matter. After I read a long story I like to read a couple of short stories before starting another long one. As long as it's a good story, it doesn't matter what length it is.

Maria

2:12 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great, this is good to know. I like the fact the readers feel content is what counts. I hate writing filler. I love novellas because of the tightness of the plot, but then I get mad when a Feehan story is over -- they can never be too long.

Rae Morgan

2:12 PM  
Blogger jennyowl said...

I prefer medium (30K) to full length stories. I tend to avoid very short stories because I like a developed plot and the length isn't conductive to that. That said, I do have a few favourite short stories.

2:42 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have to agree with you ladies on this one. It's not the length of the story that you remember but what's in it. It doesn't matter if the story is 10 pages or 300 pages long; if the love, sex, laughter, tears, heartbreak, etc...stays with you after you finished the story; then it's a keeper.

3:25 PM  
Blogger ladycat713 said...

With ebooks I generally prefer shorter but that's only because I don't have a ebook reader as of yet and my computer is old and prone to the occassional glitch and overheat.

4:14 PM  
Blogger Dee S Knight and Anne Krist said...

Jennifer, the poll was done by Vanessa Hart, and the readers that responded to her said they liked longer (novel length) stories best.

I agree with the rest of the group here, that if a story is good, it's good.

Dee
www.deesknight.com

5:03 PM  
Blogger Pamk said...

I don't really have a preference as long as it is a good story. It just seems to me that some of the shorter stories are imcomplete and not finished. It's funny because me an friend was just discussing this a couple of days ago because we had both read the same short story and we both felt it lacking pertinent info in regards to storyline. Went onto read a novel/novella length book by the same author and it was fantastic.

8:06 PM  

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