Do people have a preference for the length of stories they read? I have read some that have been almost 50 chapters long and they were good and I have also read stories that were only a couple pages long and I have enjoyed them as well.
I think the one downside of some of the longer stories is they start to repeat and never really come to an end.
I think the one downside of some of the longer stories is they start to repeat and never really come to an end.
I agree 100%.
I happen to like short stories, but I believe I'm the exception on SOL. Saying that, the short story should have a plot, character development, conflict, etc., not just something thrown together.
The reason a short story is short is because it has few characters, no sub-plots, no sub-conflicts, etc. But it's still a complete, fulfilling story.
Some long stories are planned as epics, some are just soap operas with new episodes added until the author gets tired of it.
If you aren't sure, read something shorter by the same author, and decide if you like their writing enough to read something long.
At the other extreme, flash tends to be either a joke or an isolated scene that the author thinks is better on its own. Those can give you an idea of how bad the author's grammar is, but they may be too short to give you much of an idea of how well an author develops stories.
I prefer a long story, but I'm one of those folks who has migrated to that line of thinking over the years. For the majority of the genres that you find on SOL, I used to prefer short, snappy tales. And they have their place, but I prefer a long story where characters can breathe and develop.
That being said, some stuff is far, far too long.
I avoid the episodic / soap opera stuff as mentioned above, no shade intended. It's just not for me.
For straight porn, shorter is best, but for extended readings, regular chapters are optimal. However, I've always preferred keeping the story interesting, so I've always aimed for the standard 60K work definition of novels, so I've always aimed for twenty-some chapters at a time, so you avoid the never-ending repetitious tales that peter off over time.
Grandma loved her "soaps".
The day I went off to college, she was watching "Days of Our Lives".
Four years later, I came back with a degree, and she was still watching. The same actors were in the same room, still having the same conversation, as far as I could tell.
That's dramatic TV for those who've spent their entire lives gossiping about others, so it's an extension of that particular worldview, and the juicier the better, where essentially nothing ever really changes, it's just always solicitous.