Vignettes/Sketch Stories Versus Longer Fiction

I think you're right about that. It depends a lot on fame. And I think you also hit the nail on the head with Harry Potter.

You rarely find other writers saying that about their peers work, especially if said work is wildly successful, because it can be perceived as sour grapes, but a few respected authors of work for younger readers, which was HP's audience, came out and said the same thing about the last 2 or 3 Harry Potter books. They were a lot longer than they really needed to be, and it's another example of the author falling in love with what they've created and not knowing or being willing to cut any of the extraneous information out.

Yeah, I think that there's a case of that with a lot series-almost self-indulgent, really.

It is, it's just a shame that their fame allows them to do that without as much editorial input which could help the work and make it more accessible to readers.

I'm joining this discussion late as I've been vacationing and not checking in these last three weeks. I do agree that 3,000 words seems like a comfortable length for most readers. Whether they are reading an episode or a short story and when I'm drafting I frequently check my progress regarding length. As has been stated, characters are important. But I always work on having an ever present setting. So many stories have compelling characters and interesting plots but they all seem to take place in an unnamed setting. In my very first story I completely neglected a setting. It took place in a school during the day and an apartment at night. It's only focus was the spankings. Now in my stories You can travel to the Everglades, Hawaii, the Virginia countryside, Istanbul, the Island where I lived and garnered my pen name, even Eastern Europe. Keep an eye pealed for a story set in Vietnam. My muse tells me to finish unpacking before I settle down to write.

As an avid reader, I agree with Islandcarol. I really prefer not to read stories of more than 3,000 words. I do love series, but if there is a lapse of a month or more in between stories, I sometimes have to go back to re-read the story before to refresh my memory. However, if the story grabs me from the beginning, it doesn't matter the length, I will quit reading and go back and pick it up where I left off.

I particularly like the very short stories that leave a fair bit to the imagination.
Enough information is given to take you from beginning to end, but enough detail is missed out to let you manipulate the story to suit your own fantasies and preferences.
Dr Grace is very good at this IMHO and I've adapted many of her short tales (in my head of course) to suit my own circumstances.
I suppose at the end of the day quality always outweighs quantity.

I think setting is crucial to longer spanking stories, but I find I don't rely on it as much in shorter works. And barb, I can see where having ridiculously long gaps between serials would get annoying. tysout-not to plug my own work, but I feel you might enjoy some of my shorter works, if that's your thing. And yes, quality does outweigh quantity.

Obviously it depends on the stories and characters, right?

I think short, slice-of-life stories work really well for this topic. We're talking about a situation that doesn't normally happen spontaneously, and we're also talking about an event that doesn't actually take very long - outside of an intense, planned session, it's something that's going to take only a few minutes, even if you're going to spend hours (and more) thinking about it later (and perhaps before, depending on the circumstance). A good story probably should at least hint how the relationship between the parties allows for the spanking to be a possibility, an incident that triggers the spanking, and a brief description of how the parties react to the spanking (contrite, content, aroused, all of the above). Tough to do in less than 1,000 words (though some manage it admirably), pretty easily accomplished in stories under 3,000 words.

Plus, the genre has a lot of us reading the stories for the "good parts." With a fairly compact story, you can hit all the necessary elements, with the bulk being killer, not filler.

Of course, some characters just need to be explored a little more. Maybe it was a character intended as a one-off who takes off on a life of her own (SNM's April from the "Backfire" series comes to mind, or Jack Crawford's "Cherry"); perhaps the relationship between the characters involves regular spankings, and it takes more than one story/chapter to get into all the wonderful ways spanking manifests itself in the relationship (DJ Black's "Lizzie Baines" would be a good example). Some of these characters you just don't want to see go away, and thankfully the authors treat us to their new inspirations. A series like Goodgulf's "Crossing the County Line" provides a unique scenario, and engages through nearly 20 episodes to explore the different characters' relationships to spanking, without ever getting old or tired. A series allows that further character development, in smaller increments in each episode, gives the readers plenty of "good parts" while letting us get more attached to the character with each new installment.

All important points, for sure. I like to write a lot of slice of life stories, as you mentioned they work well for the genre.

And I will have to read some longer pieces to get a feel for it, and I'd like to write a few longer series myself with the "good parts" thrown in.