Quality or Quantity?

[Super Buu]

Like I said before, word count obviously matters to me but I don't care if those words are spread over a number of posts or just one. I always just put down the posts when I feel they're either getting too long, or the scene/event is done. It's pretty haphazard, really.

When I can, I usually prefer to write smaller posts just because it's easier to add to the story bit by bit. But at the same time, if you're holding a post back you can continue to edit it as you add on. There's a good and bad side for each method.

[Alexander Trafford]

Quality, no matter what. Would u rather read one uber long shitty post, or 5-6 small posts, maybe like a paragraph or two, but amazing quality. which one would be better? Obviously the latter.

[Hellfighter 17]

Originally posted by Yamu
Giving the reader conveineint stopping points is nice as when I'm online I'm usually doing 20 other things and being able to read to a spot and get a nice logical ending then coming back is appreciated.

A good writer would either have you so enthralled you wouldn't want to leave or would have natural stopping points within the roleplay. ;)

Originally posted by Burter Jr
I write small posts, does that mean my writing sucks?

That's what some of your arguements are pretty much saying.

They aren't as good as they could be. It doesn't bring me in as much. =\

[Burter Jr]

Originally posted by HellFighter 17

Originally posted by Yamu
Giving the reader conveineint stopping points is nice as when I'm online I'm usually doing 20 other things and being able to read to a spot and get a nice logical ending then coming back is appreciated.

A good writer would either have you so enthralled you wouldn't want to leave or would have natural stopping points within the roleplay.

Originally posted by Burter Jr
I write small posts, does that mean my writing sucks?

That's what some of your arguements are pretty much saying.

They aren't as good as they could be. It doesn't bring me in as much. =\

One came say the same about your writing, which is so long it makes it very difficult to get through in one sitting. Unless it's one of those rare incredible posts, I often find myself clicking away from the screen because I'm bored a fourth of the way through.

My length has nothing to do with you liking my writing. If I put five or my roleplays together and called it one, would you like it more? No. You arn't attracted to my writing, simple as that.

[Kazuya]

I would have to describe my writing as the Birth Control of Chubbs. Bj's however, would totally turn me off to ever being a lizard. That post when Burter gave birth to BJ...ouch. yeah...and HF? How in the heck does a machine reproduce? It just...blows all the science I have learned over the years to hell.

But, I say, a post should be as long as you have to make it to get your point across, never mind word count, just get your point across, whether it is only a few paragraphs or an epic post, as long as you can make it work, and be sure to fully convey what you are trying to do, word count and total length should not matter. It is your work, and you should take great care in it, or you will have no readers.

[Burter Jr]

Originally posted by Violet
I would have to describe my writing as the Birth Control of Chubbs. Bj's however, would totally turn me off to ever being a lizard. That post when Burter gave birth to BJ...ouch. yeah...and HF? How in the heck does a machine reproduce? It just...blows all the science I have learned over the years to hell..

I know you're being sarcastic, but in my defense, he IS an alien. He's not like, a garden lizard.

[Hellfighter 17]

Originally posted by Burter Jr

Originally posted by HellFighter 17

Originally posted by Yamu
Giving the reader conveineint stopping points is nice as when I'm online I'm usually doing 20 other things and being able to read to a spot and get a nice logical ending then coming back is appreciated.

A good writer would either have you so enthralled you wouldn't want to leave or would have natural stopping points within the roleplay. ;)

Originally posted by Burter Jr
I write small posts, does that mean my writing sucks?

That's what some of your arguements are pretty much saying.

They aren't as good as they could be. It doesn't bring me in as much. =\

One came say the same about your writing, which is so long it makes it very difficult to get through in one sitting. Unless it's one of those rare incredible posts, I often find myself clicking away from the screen because I'm bored a fourth of the way through.

My length has nothing to do with you liking my writing. If I put five or my roleplays together and called it one, would you like it more? No. You arn't attracted to my writing, simple as that.

They'd have all right to do so, that is their opinion. The more can mean the better. I am in no way saying always, but generally quality goes with quantity with me, for reasons that Cell said in the post above this.

Violet; I break the rules sometimes. ;)

[Kazuya]

Originally posted by Burter Jr

Originally posted by Violet
I would have to describe my writing as the Birth Control of Chubbs. Bj's however, would totally turn me off to ever being a lizard. That post when Burter gave birth to BJ...ouch. yeah...and HF? How in the heck does a machine reproduce? It just...blows all the science I have learned over the years to hell..

I know you're being sarcastic, but in my defense, he IS an alien. He's not like, a garden lizard.

I wasn't being sarcastic. I rather enjoyed that post you made about that, really. It just gave me insight that I would absolutely rather be made into a guy and castrated than be a lizard and give birth. You actually did that peice rather well. ^_^

[Burter Jr]

Originally posted by HellFighter 17

Originally posted by Burter Jr

Originally posted by HellFighter 17

Originally posted by Yamu
Giving the reader conveineint stopping points is nice as when I'm online I'm usually doing 20 other things and being able to read to a spot and get a nice logical ending then coming back is appreciated.

A good writer would either have you so enthralled you wouldn't want to leave or would have natural stopping points within the roleplay.

Originally posted by Burter Jr
I write small posts, does that mean my writing sucks?

That's what some of your arguements are pretty much saying.

They aren't as good as they could be. It doesn't bring me in as much. =\

One came say the same about your writing, which is so long it makes it very difficult to get through in one sitting. Unless it's one of those rare incredible posts, I often find myself clicking away from the screen because I'm bored a fourth of the way through.

My length has nothing to do with you liking my writing. If I put five or my roleplays together and called it one, would you like it more? No. You arn't attracted to my writing, simple as that.

They'd have all right to do so, that is their opinion. The more can mean the better. I am in no way saying always, but generally quality goes with quantity with me, for reasons that Cell said in the post above this.

Violet; I break the rules sometimes.

I understand what you mean, but what I mean is how you critisized my writing. I'm okay with that. But let's say I put five of my roleplays together and called it one. It the writing better now?

[Hellfighter 17]

It could be. It could very well help the flow, make it seem more well-constructed.

If you have a puzzle piece all by itself, compared to the whole puzzle put together, which makes it seem more smooth and together? As long as the picture makes sense, the latter usually does. Also, this does not mean you need thousands of your posts; my little cosuin has one with six pieces. =P

[Banned Dana]

New question...I believe...

Would you want 1 full paragraph of pure awesome kick you in the face hardcoreness, or perhaps a full page of keeps me entertained, but could probably be written a bit better? That's my entire argument right that. Personal, 1 paragraph isn't really shit, even if it's the uberest peice of writing ever.

All in all, I'd rather read 5-10 paragraphs of sweet writing, that could use some better work rather than 1 paragraph of pwnage.

[Yamu]

Originally posted by Android 13
New question...I believe...

Would you want 1 full paragraph of pure awesome kick you in the face hardcoreness, or perhaps a full page of keeps me entertained, but could probably be written a bit better? That's my entire argument right that. Personal, 1 paragraph isn't really shit, even if it's the uberest peice of writing ever.

All in all, I'd rather read 5-10 paragraphs of sweet writing, that could use some better work rather than 1 paragraph of pwnage.

That?s oversimplification of the issue I believe. One paragraph is to small to be even convinced its writing. Any DAY give me an short thread that has an original story that?s not just ?I need to get stronger let me fight some shit!? and is well written then some tome that?s tens of thousands of words of above average ?I?m a warrior?fight fight fight.?

I think ?flow? has nothing to do with length. I?ve never read short posts and thought ?wow if it were only longer?. If I begin reading a thread and I see the posts are each 10,000 words it turns me off right at the beginning.

[Kazuya]

I would rather have a full page of kickasstivity. There is no reason why one can't read over their work and check it for fluidity and maybe add some other stuff in there that would convey their idea better. I like long posts, but not super uber long posts. My average s about 2000 words, rarely do I go over that, but I try and do what I can with it. ^_^

[Ashe]

Originally posted by Super Buu
I loved the analogy Reijin used for one joiner post, that some stuff holds so little thought it's just like "Jan can run. Watch Jan run. Run Jan run."

Jeez, do you guys read everything that I post or something? Though I don't post much anymore.

On a very serious note, I am sort of on a fence as far as the arguement. I thought about it... I leaned towards "Quality". Then I realized that a lot of good but short posts irritate me by being too short and don't get much done, despite being descriptive. Then I leaned towards "Quantity" and remember specific people's posts, and join attempts. People that go "but I wrote 400 words!!!!" doesn't really mean much to me.

My stand has to be "overall enjoyability". Let me take Burter into an example. He doesn't write a large amount of massive RPs. He makes some shorter style posts, however, due to the way they are written (even if not wordy and descriptive, just the ideas) I find myself enjoying them. Its about writing style. Then look at Bra. He writes very great quality, and is currently one of (if not the) my favorite writers on this site. His posts are very long a large portion of the time, and he fills it with so much description. And yet I find myself engaged and enthralled enough to continue reading each line, flowing through it with ease and not finding myself lost a bit.

Personally I like a large portion of my work, especially after I go back later and look at it free of the personal irritation I have at how hard it was to write. My most recent post not being an example of that. "Invisitext" HORRIBLE FUCKING PIECE OF TERRIBLY WRITTEN SHIT! "/Invisitext"

Anyways, that's my stand on it.

[Kaden]

I want a post to do two things:

1) Progress whatever is currently going on (give the post a point)

2) Be not-shitty enough for someone to finish reading it

As long as it does those two things, I don't care about quality or quantity.

[Alexander Trafford]

Originally posted by Raditzu
I want a post to do two things:

1) Progress whatever is currently going on (give the post a point)

2) Be not-shitty enough for someone to finish reading it

As long as it does those two things, I don't care about quality or quantity.

Amen.

[Orion]

No offense to the people who say they get turned off by long posts, but reading is an essential part of becoming a better writer. You can get better by working at your style, adding description, etc. but in my opinion, the best way to improve is to read other people's work and see how they do it, which can give you ideas or open up other ways of writing. If you consider yourself a writer, I think it's pretty bad to say that if a post is big, you won't read it just for that reason.

[Orion]

If I read five pages of that voluntarily, I'd have to question whether I'm in a stable frame of mind.

[Hellfighter 17]

That's why we're saying that quantity comes with quality, not that quality comes with quantity.

[Jonathan Meer]

You're weird.

Anyway, the goal of a writer is to ultimately entertain the reader. To do this, you want to say what you can as powerfully as possible without using any extra words. Essentially, you need to cut the fat. In poetry, this is entirely crucial, utilized on a word-by-word basis, but it also has application to prose. If you can say three sentences in one concise sentence, DO IT. But not if it sacrifices some of the meaning.

This is more of a stylistic question, anyway. Douglas Adams was very concise with his writing (though he utilized redundancies for comedic effect, something that I dabble with every once in awhile), while Tom Clancy expounds on things a bit more. Both are pleasureable to read, I think. Find your niche in the writing world, and figure out what works best for you.

My final words are this: You don't need to describe every little thing to create a powerful scene. Describe two or three details vividly, and let the reader paint the rest of the picture. We can't steal that from them.