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I know everyone's goal is to write some huge epic thousands of pages long that will blow everyone's mind when it's released, but as a reader, what do you personally prefer?

I mean, obviously people here do love the really long stories; just a glance at the featured ones is enough evidence for that. And I love them too, it's just that practically speaking, when I have a limited time to read I'm way more likely to tackle the shorter ones first. I know a reader has the ability to save and continue...but again, I'm curious how often you make use of it?

Sometimes I also wonder how often readers just straight up forget things they encountered in the middle of an especially long a story and fail to remark on it later.

I'm at a place in one of my WIPs where I'm trying to decide whether to push on ahead or start wrapping up certain plot threads in preparation for a Part 2. I know everyone hates abruptly ending 'chapter' pieces, but this one's near a sensible pausing point and already of a decent length in it's own right.

So I'd just like some opinions. In a situation like this would you rather read the entire thing in one go, or are you generally okay with shorter, multi-part stories? (And it's so hard to specify what I mean by 'short' when everyone reads at different speeds and pages have different amounts of text, but I'd be aiming for a play through that could be finished in about an hour, in one sitting.)    

(I know which one I'd prefer...splitting a story into three parts means 3x the feedback for the same amount of work..:P )

While I do like something I can really sink my teeth into, I rarely have the time to finish a novel-like game in one sitting.  I save a lot, but usually end up deleting the save because I've been away from the story for too long.  And one final thought...  Waiting for part two is like waiting for the new season of a television show to begin — I usually lose interest unless it is absolutely brilliant.

Good point about the wait...and knowing me once I had part 1 out the door I'd procrastinate forever on the next section.

I suppose I could just hang on to the first part until the other two were finished, then released them in a timely manner one after another. Sitting on them awhile would make proofreading easier too.

Then again I really like what Will did with his Ripper story of literally telling the player 'now is a good time to save and take a break'. Maybe I could make it work with something like that. 

Hmm.

For now I may just write it in three parts for organization's sake, and worry about whether to combine it when I start pasting it over to the site. 

I'm with the NewIAP on the length, to a point. Normally when reading stories here, I guess I prefer a medium-length story. If I'm looking for something that's 45,000 words, I'd be looking more at a novel. While that would be a lot of fun to read something that length in this format, I don't know if I'd do that. I guess I'd have to be more prepared ahead of time and plan that, as opposed to a short diversion.

As for the chapters, the hardest time I have with chapters on this site is seeing them at one time. I guess if I were to describe how I'd prefer that, I think I'd like them like novels that are trilogies and then expand forever -- each one should completely stand alone. Maybe later ones in the series could give a few nods to things that happened before, but I wouldn't want to be completely lost if I read part II without ever reading part I. I do try and read things as they show up on the site, but I know when I first started reading random stories, a part II without a part I sometimes didn't make sense. IMO, if the stories are that closely related, they should be in the same story.

I'd certainly like and read stories that were self-contained and could be finished in less than an hour.

It depends on how good they are, I guess. I have no problem with good stories spanning into the 500k words range, but I have certain preferences over stories. I don't like stories with too much description or puzzles. I like stories with more action, and where you have to work your way up to win, and where you have to out-smart your opponents. Something like that.

It's not about length for me, but what the writing is packed with. If it's dragged out, (something somewhat common with some writing styles here), I get bored if the story gets too long. But if it's filled with action and activity, then I'm willing to read a manifesto.

 

I think I could manage to keep them more or less self-contained. The main issue would just be keeping the length under control with the second two since they'll have to follow more characters.

In the first book, the main character has a mishap while traveling that leaves them in a country where they're a racial minority. They face suspicion, discrimination and verbal, even physical abuse everywhere they turn. It's only after being forced into a battle with members of their own race that they acknowledge that the people persecuting them have been the good guys and right all along. Thankfully by that point (in the happiest ending) they've been accepted as 'one of the good ones' and along with a handful of others are allowed to set up a small, segregated community on the outskirts of town. 

Ahem.

The second part starts up after a time skip and follows the main character's three kids as they go out into the world, and introduces some people that will be important later. 

The third deals with an all out war between the races and the ramifications for the community as a whole as they have to decide which side to take, when it looks like it'll be a loss for them and every thing they've built either way.

 

Another issue I'm going to have is limiting myself to only one 'true path' in the earlier games and making sure returning readers know which one it is, or certain things in the later stories may not match up with their own experience. (A supporting character who died in one path being spontaneously alive again, and whether another character is an enemy or a friend...) 

Maybe a short, optional recap at the beginning of each of the sequels?

That sounds like good division points -- thought that issue with the dying character, well, I don't know a good way out of that. I guess your options are either don't do that at any point in the story, which obviously limits your options; or just let it happen and hope no one cares...

I enjoy exploring every path of a well written story, so I won't have a problem with discontinuity (unless it is something that didn't occur at all in the previous one).  I understand that there are some, though, that read a story to one ending and never return.

A prologue or background page is always helpful, if for no other reason than just to refresh the readers memory.

It depends on whether I'm going for a good read or some quick points.