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Forum: Bug Report and Feature Requests

not really a bug, but an anomaly.

Freyrs_stories ๐Ÿšซ

There's a recent story Tina & Josh

it seems to be posted as a single block or text but it's just shy of 70K words.

I remember back in the early days of the website that large stories may be automagically chopped up into chapters.

I understand that this practice was scrapped as bandwidth increased. But a Single chapter of that size seems that something is amiss with the system. If people are meant to read through 70K words in one sitting they have a lot more free time than me.

Just pointing out a possible problem with the revocation of an old rule.

Thanks, F.

Switch Blayde ๐Ÿšซ

@Freyrs_stories

back in the early days of the website that large stories may be automagically chopped up into chapters.

I understand that this practice was scrapped as bandwidth increased.

If I remember, it wasn't about bandwidth. It was about issues with early browsers. Now that the problem is gone, the system no longer needs to break the story into pages.

You don't have to read the long story in one sitting. If you put the story in your library, the system remembers where you stopped reading the next time you go to it (that might be a Premier feature).

Me? I write short chapters, one reason being your issue.

Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

@Freyrs_stories

But a Single chapter of that size seems that something is amiss with the system.

The system allows authors the freedom to do what they see fit with their stories.

A couple of years ago I added code to remember and return to where the reader had scrolled to in a long document. So nobody really needs hard document splits to have a marker.

However, I've been told that, many people don't know when to stop reading if there is no chapter break and especially if they're using the auto-scroll function, they get too tired if they're reading past their normal bed time and that interferes with their life.

The issue really is with inexperience authors, who don't know how to make their stories in digestible chunks and just go on writing and writing and writing.

Is it the website's role to guide authors to do the technically correct thing? Maybe.

But I get complaints from every side on everything that I implement that may restrict the freedom of somebody to do whatever the hell they want. I can't count the number of complaints that I received from so many authors about the system automatically splitting their chapters when the text ran too long.

But generally, I get less complaints about the text being too long than the text being mechanically split, so as the site's creator it's a win to receive less complaints :)

Switch Blayde ๐Ÿšซ

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

Is it the website's role to guide authors to do the technically correct thing? Maybe.

Chapter breaks should be left to the author. No system intervention.

There is no such thing as "technically correct" when it comes to chapters. My style is short chapters. Another author's might be long chapters, maybe even with multiple scene breaks within a chapter. It should be left to the author to decide.

The site can even make it "technically incorrect" by arbitrarily messing with chapters. It can screw up POV. When the POV character changes in 3rd-limited, it's done with a scene change which is typically starting a new chapter. Another reason for starting a new chapter is when the time and/or location changes. It could be confusing to the reader if the system arbitrarily messes with chapters.

The site's positioning of where the reader left off is a great feature. So great I thought it was Premier.

Replies:   awnlee jawking
awnlee jawking ๐Ÿšซ

@Switch Blayde

Chapter breaks should be left to the author. No system intervention.

I agree, but just as readers can change font sizes etc, they should also be able to schedule break points.

I was reading an exceptionally long chapter in a story yesterday and I ran out of steam. I paged down, skimming for what looked like the important bits so I could get to the end asap. Is that what the author really intended?

AJ

Replies:   Switch Blayde  REP
Switch Blayde ๐Ÿšซ

@awnlee jawking

I paged down, skimming for what looked like the important bits so I could get to the end asap.

That's why I write short chapters and prefer short chapters as a reader.

But I'm sure that's not what the author intended. I once tried to create suspense in a novel by having a cop stake out a church without telling the reader why. I guess I created too much suspense because my Beta reader told me she didn't really read the next chapter, just skimmed it, because she wanted to know why he was staking out the church. I had to provide more information during the stakeout so that wouldn't happen.

REP ๐Ÿšซ

@awnlee jawking

just as readers can change font sizes etc, they should also be able to schedule break points.

WTF?

How is a reader to schedule a reasonable break point before they read a chapter when they have no idea of the content of the chapter and the chapter to follow it?

Replies:   awnlee jawking
awnlee jawking ๐Ÿšซ

@REP

Readers should have some idea of how long they can comfortably read, and Lazeez's algorithm for page breaks was working pretty well before it was discontinued.

The reader wouldn't be overriding the author's wishes about chapter breaks so chapters don't come into it, any more than they did with Lazeez's algorithm.

AJ

Replies:   Switch Blayde  REP
Switch Blayde ๐Ÿšซ

@awnlee jawking

Readers should have some idea of how long they can comfortably read, and Lazeez's algorithm for page breaks was working pretty well before it was discontinued.

But the break was arbitrary. Simply based on size (not content). The break could be right in the middle of a paragraph. Would you not finish the paragraph simply because of the arbitrary break?

The remembering the position of where you stopped reading is the best way. It's like dog-earing the corner of the page in a paperback novel.

Replies:   awnlee jawking  Dinsdale
awnlee jawking ๐Ÿšซ

@Switch Blayde

The break could be right in the middle of a paragraph.

If a reader wanted a break after, say, 2000 words or so, hopefully the algorithm could hone in on the nearest paragraph break. But I have little confidence that every paragraph is less than 2000 words :-(

AJ

Replies:   Switch Blayde
Switch Blayde ๐Ÿšซ

@awnlee jawking

hopefully the algorithm could hone in on the nearest paragraph break.

Maybe it did. I don't remember. I made an exaggerated example to show that the system won't know where to break it from a reader's POV. It could be right in the middle of a fight and stop before the next paragraph where the person is either killed or escapes. Basically, the system would put in a cliffhanger. The reader wouldn't stop reading there.

I still believe what SOL has in place is the best way. Like the dog-eared page in a paperback. Leave it to the reader to stop or continue and remember where he stopped.

Replies:   awnlee jawking
awnlee jawking ๐Ÿšซ

@Switch Blayde

Basically, the system would put in a cliffhanger. The reader wouldn't stop reading there.

That's their prerogative - it's no worse than what Laz had before.

I still believe what SOL has in place is the best way. Like the dog-eared page in a paperback. Leave it to the reader to stop or continue and remember where he stopped.

I liked the auto-pagination system. When I shut my browser down, it automatically deletes cookies. I suspect that's why the current approach doesn't work for me.

AJ

Dinsdale ๐Ÿšซ

@Switch Blayde

The break could be right in the middle of a paragraph.

I remember seeing a break in the middle of a word, and I think it was a two-letter word.

Then again we have something like https://storiesonline.net/s/11279/the-flats by Lucy Reese. 424KB or 79334 words. One chapter. I mailed her pointing out that breaking it up into chapters would make it a lot more readable but she was not prepared to do that. The story looked very interesting but has been up on the site for over 7 years now but has not amassed enough votes to get past the "Votes: * | Score: *" stage.

REP ๐Ÿšซ
Updated:

@awnlee jawking

Readers should have some idea of how long they can comfortably read

That still doesn't explain how you can add a break point to a story that another author wrote so you won't read for longer than you are comfortable with reading.

I prefer Lazeez's solution of returning me to where I left off reading a story.

Dominions Son ๐Ÿšซ

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

However, I've been told that, many people don't know when to stop reading if there is no chapter break and especially if they're using the auto-scroll function, they get too tired if they're reading past their normal bed time and that interferes with their life.

I occasionally have this kind of problem. And at least for me, chapter breaks don't help at all.

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