Animation Source Forums

I'm wondering. I'm writing my own sereis of fanfics right now and I want to know how long it should be. I'm a 15 years old and doing this myself, no professional help. I use size 10 font Times new Roman. I use the full page i don't do the bookstyle that Rotramel USMC uses.

i dont really know and i dont think it really matters. Ive been going to other message boards and some of the FF's there are over 100 pages long. Takes me forever to read them. By the was have you read my FF its called First Balto FF.

I like great and epic stories,so the more the better.And that is why I can't finish all my works in both Chinese and English,I have no time to write a long work I like!

Well I believe you should make up your story in your mind, and tell it the way you want. Then you'll not have to care about the number of pages you make, as long as you don't add empty passages on purpose.
But I would say that a minimum a 10 pages is required for a good fanfic, or else it's more of a summary than a real story...

I agree with Steet, mostly because I'm a writer myself.
Write however long (or short) as you need to get the story told.
My general rule of thumb is 'Don't send it in until you are pleased with it.'
In that case, no amount of bad comments should matter, not that you should worry about getting any!

Ahhhhh........yes,I am a writer ,too(IN Chinses).Sometimes when you create a character and made the plot,but at last you find you can't cotrol your story,it grows as it want,and become a long one at last.......as I always add new plot and short stories in my work and make it long.

That's a really difficult question to answer...
I agree with the others, a minimum of 10 pgs. is a good rule of thumb, but I just write until the story is finished.
They usually wind up being REALLY long, and take up a lot of time, but I've got some non-Balto stories that I've written that are only 15-20 pgs long. It just depends on when you feel you have conveyed the idea, the stories and the characters to your readers. That's when you end it.
Never over critisize short works either. When I wrote my first story (about a rock by the way) it was only four pages long.
Beginners will USUALLY start out small and get bigger, at least in my expeirience. So if you see a short fic, don't assume the person can't write, encourage them, and the next thing you know, their stories will grow.
It also takes some time to find out your identity as a writer.
Just let them stretch their wings before they fly.
I'd like to read your work, post it, and I will.

HAVE A GREAT DAY AND SEMPER FIDELIS!

- PFC Anthony E. Rotramel, United States Marine Corps
(Rotramel USMC)

well all i can say is just take as long as you need to get it done. On a different message board ive been posting an FF for a few months. And ive only just finished. 28 pages man. lol

You know, when I first started writing my story, I ran into that problem myself. Mainly, I tried to solve it by looking at it from the reader's perspective. Personally, whenever I go to read someone's fanfic, one of the first things I look at is the length of it. Stories that are extremely long make me think, "This will take forever to read," and I tend to only read the first few pages before giving up. On the other hand, stories that are extremely short, that lack detail don't seem to be quite as intriguing. So, I think around 10 pages is sufficient. Long enough to be descriptive and detailed, but short enough to keep the reader's attention.

However, if you find yourself still writing beyond that point (like I often do), you might want to try and break the story up into parts, like I did with mine. But, if you fall short of that mark, don't sweat it! One of the best fanfics I've read has less than a page long!