[Meta] What is the Average Length of Your Story Hour Installments?

[Shemeska]

My updates tend to be around 9-14 pages in Word, though there might be the occasional 20 page update. But the longer ones I try to cut myself off at the most logical point and leave the leftover material for the next update.

 

[PieAndDragon]

Less that a thousand average. I'm trying to vary the viewpoint between the PCs, resulting in several shorter postings per playing session.

 

[el-remmen]

I went back and did a sampling of 10 installments from a little more than a year ago, and I have been prett consistant. . . I would have guessed that the further back I go the longer the installments are, but the average for those 10 was 3711.5 words / installment.

 

[el-remmen]

Just wanted to bump this in case people haven't seen it, as it was posted over the weekend.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

Well, you asked for it:

[Sblock=Word Count for each installment up to my current installment]I keep track of this data for my personal use, so it is easy to supply here:

2,637
3,333
2,530
2,936
3,291
2,958
3,656
3,537
3,893
3,361
1,027
1,181
1,726
1,941
1,148
1,226
1,382
1,730
1,161
1,417
1,137
2,023
1,157
1,515
1,932
1,463
1,759
1,459
2,460
1,128
2,214
1,596
2,122
1,279
1,854
1,687
2,316
3,150
2,431
1,294
1,823
2,002
1,947
2,209
1,355
1,479
1,142
2,052
1,799
1,368
1,556
1,715
2,046
1,390
2,544
2,308
2,190
2,523
1,538
1,161
1,576
1,521
1,250
1,123
1,553
1,539
1,573
1,692
1,737[/Sblock]

[Sblock=Statistical Analysis of the Above Data]
That averages out to be 1,909.54 words per installment. {Note, the first 10 skew the data}

If anyone is interested, I currently average about 6 installments per chapter. My average words per chapter is currently at 11,820.09. My longest chapter was 10 installments at 17,920 words. My shortest chapter (not counting the current one I just started with my latest update) is 4 installments of 5,486 words.[/Sblock]

I used to teach math, so statistics are a love of mine.

When I write, I never stop unless I've done 1,000 words. I find that I can write at most about 2,500 per sitting. Actually, when I first started my Story Hour (Bitterness Overcome) that was part of why it updated so infrequently. I would try to write between 3,000-4,000 words and it was simply a daunting task. I can easily whip out 1,500 words in about 40 minutes ... so I can update more frequently.

Actually, for me that change alone is the difference between writing about 6,000 words per week rather than the old 3,000 I used to do. And the thing is, I enjoy writing the 6,000 broken into 4 or 5 chunks much more than I enjoy writing 3,000 words done all at once.

I don't know about other readers, but I tend to read better when a post is 2,000 words or less. Even some of my longer posts in my own Story Hour feel too long to me. I'm of the camp that would rather read 1,500 words three times a week than 4,500 once.

But, as they say - different strokes. We all beat to a different drummer, and not all of us can write/read as often as the next guy. Just like there are varying opinions on use of color in the text I think there are varying opinions on text length itself.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

Word count wise...I have no idea.

I have a minimum, though. I make sure to write AT LEAST 1 full page. Note that this is in Wordperfect, with 10 Font, so one page is a bit more than text for me than for some.

If you are looking for a word count estimate, I always type in Word, Times New Roman font, size 10, and with standard 1" margins all around. I find I get between 650 - 700 words per page. Of course, if I do a page where there is no dialogue I can get and much as 800-850 per page. But dialogue and the spaces that follow it take up much room for words.