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PaperclipPerfector  5mo ago (text post)   3718 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for May 24, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Web serials are more like reading a series of novels.

I would guess most series clock in below this. Harry Potter for example is only about a million words.

Sure, but it's not competing with most series. Some people are looking for a more sprawling project. See comparisons here.

I don't know a lot of people who would buy an entire series of doorstopper fantasy novels and then read them back-to-back. It's a different story for buying the new Sanderson book when it comes out. Following a serial is even less of an imposition.

That's not to say it makes for good literature. If you're looking to uplift your human spirit or to gain cred with humanities majors, Tolstoy will be much more efficient.

I think most published series have a lot cut by editors to keep pacing tight. Serials obviously don't do that. Worth the Candle and Worm, another famously long web serial that iirc is also about 1.7 million, definitely suffer in my opinion from significant sections that probably could be largely cut and have any plot progress moved into brief sections within other arcs.

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