How Long Should Your Fanfic Be

[FlutterLegacy 25]

I'm writing a fanfiction, and I think it'll be pretty interesting.

 

I just wanted to ask what is an appriopriate length for a fanfiction that'll most likely be medium-sized. Whenever I'm reading fanfic, I usually stick to the 20,00-70,000 word length. If its too long, no one will wanna finish reading it. If it's too short, no one will want to even begin reading it.

 

So opinions? (Oh btw, my fanfic is going to be emotional, shipping, grimdark-ish, and overall a survival-of-the-fittest scenaro)

[duidamasterXD 9,626]

I'd just go with whatever feels natural to be honest. Just tell the story that you want to tell and don't limit yourself with preconceived notions of how long or short you think it should be.

Edited February 3, 2013 by DashForever

[Dusty Soul 2,611]

I don't usually give myself limitations, because that causes you to rush some parts, so I would say to just wright until you''v told your story, then go back and cut whatever you want out.

[Leafeon 2,701]

As long as it has to be. Make it as long as you can, but not if it means you won't be moving for too long. Paying attention to small details is great, though.

[LeoPrism 25]

Every story is to be as long as it takes to tell it. Some ideas develop to a complex storyline easily filling several novels, while others are one-shots of half a page. So no one can tell how long your story should be without exactly knowing it.

It's more a question of style; you can rush through the events, skipping everything the reader won't have to know to understand the story, briefly touching the characters or even summarizing main parts in a few sentences; on the other hand, you can unfold a huge load of details, showing every single aspect of the scenery, the complexity of the characters, and their mom's background-storys. (Plus, the style can be rather interesting or boring in general.)

Unfortunately, there is no absolute rule for this either; it depends on the atmosphere you want to create, the suspense, personal preferences...

 

What you want to do is avoid the extremes and see what matches your story best. The reader should be able to both comprehend what's going on comfortably (most of the times) and put themselves into the situation and characters, but without being dumped with much more information (most of the times). Make sure to focus on the relevant aspects of the story and keep in mind that sometimes less is more.

Edited February 3, 2013 by LeoPrism

[Sky Warden 2,243]

No. There's no "rule" in writing. Write everything you need to write. Even if it takes more than a million words, write it. If it only takes a thousand, write is as well.

 

Remember why we write my friend. Is it to be a famous author? To get a plenty amount of brohoof? No! We write because we like telling stories. If the story isn't end yet, write it until the story is finished.

 

Nopony will blame you because of "this fanfic is too long" if you really can hook them and keep them reading, which is one of the most important art of writing. See Harry Potter? I know that it's not a fanfic, but look at how long that series is, and see the fan's responds. We want more! We want more!

 

It's not the matter of length. It's the matter of keeping them reading your story.

[Harmonic Revelations 8,833]

I have done some complex calculations, and have figured out exactly how long your fan fiction should be. Behold, the pinnacle of science!

Edited February 4, 2013 by Harmonic Revelations

[Cliffhanger 5]

Every story is to be as long as it takes to tell it.

 

I couldn't have said it better than this.

 

The length of your story should be based on many things. How you percieve people will judge it by that length isn't one of them.

[Koori 156]

I have done some complex calculations, and have figured out exactly how long your fan fiction should be. Behold, the pinnacle of science!

 

And then Twilight Sparkle changed into an alicorn and lived happily ever after. 

 

There. I just wrote the shortest fan fiction ever.

 

But in all seriousness, there's really no limit as to how long a fan fiction should be. Although I myself tried to write my last fan fiction, "Frozen Heart", as long as it would seem like a real episode. Unfortunately, 2nd chapter came out longer than the first, but like I said, there aren't any real rules other than write a good story and avoid making too many misspellings and/or confusing sentences.

 

But if you DO get worried that the story is a bit too long as only 1 chapter, then see if you can divide it up into 2 chapters... or more.

Edited February 4, 2013 by Koori

[RoseLaflesh 38]

 

If it's too short, no one will want to even begin reading it.

 

I can see where you might thing the possibility a story could be too long (which I believe as long as you have a story to write, then it's just the right length), but I've never seen anyone worry about a story being too short (unless they really need to hit a minimum word count, which isn't an issue with fan fictions).  In fact, there are genres of writing that are specifically for shorter styles. There are different kind of short stories that range from just 100 words, 500 words, or even six words.

 

In fact, the shorter the story, the more skill it takes to do it right (you try writing a good six word story.)

 

Don't worry about the length, just worry about making the best story you can.