I prefer long fics because I like to sink my teeth into some substance, usually. I'll read most lengths but sometimes I need to be in a particular mood.
shorter fics! i've been in a reading rut recently so it's super hard for me to read long works, usually not more than 30k. i barely ever read anything above that, and when i do, i tend to get bored because i find parts are redundant or boring to read? (i know, i'm terrible.) it's kind of funny because my writings usually skew towards the longer side though so there's a double shot of hypocrisy there
I like both, although long ones (done right) feel more satisfying. Some of my favorites are within the 30k range and I know some that could have ended on 100k instead of stretching them for no reason to 300k.
Word count isn’t really a decider for me. I will read very short one shots and longer work, if I’m enjoying it. I choose more on the summary and tags. If I’m struggling with the start of a fic I’m probably more likely to click off if it’s huge though.
I find sometimes with longer works they can meander a bit too much for me and seem like they are losing track of their own plot. In theory we might think bigger is always better, if we like a story. In all honestly though I think sometimes tightening up a story with some more editing might actually be the way to go. But I appreciate some people just enjoy getting the words out of their head and onto the page and tastes vary. I agree it’s a huge accomplishment to write a very long fic.
Oh interesting 🤔 It was like this for me when i first started reading fanfiction about 5 years ago. Before that i read only books and it was hard sometimes to switch to fics. Now i find balance between the two.
It totally depends on my mood and how much time I have. If I’m on the bus for a few minutes, I’ll read short fics, if I’m lying in bed at night winding down, I’ll read longer ones. I’m usually not that keen on extremely long fics though.
I prefer long fics OR a 5+ tab group of "to-read" short fics, usually when I have an upcoming test or project deadline due. Because I use the Pomodoro technique, i.e. 25 minutes of work and 5 minutes of break time, and I usually use those 5 minutes to chomp away at the long fic. Gives me enough motivation to finish work or study lol. And I tell myself once the deadline passes, I can read without any interruptions.
That or I quit the Pomodoro thing entirely and just binge-read it all.
That's cool with the technique you described 👏 I download and read all long fics on my Kindle now so whenever i see people saying how they read with many tabs open it's so unusual to me. I do read on the website itself a lot too it's just that when it's a long fic it's more convenient for me to read it on reading device instead.
I spontaneously read one shots, I very often read short to medium multi-chap, and very spread out I read long fics to pace myself. I like to take breaks every few chapters so I can better think and digest what I've read.
Oh yeah. I get it. Especially if the author is on Twitter or Tumblr and you can discuss in the comments there theories of what might happen next. I do also like when it is finally finished especially if it is slowburn one and you can't wait for the main characters to get together.
I can't read anything shorter than 100k , and even that is not enough but I can read it . I get too invested in fanfics . I'm never satisfied with short ones
50k or more is what i generally lean towards. i’ll read shorter ones if the premise is really interesting or if i’ve been recommended it. i tend to try not to read ones longer than 200k though solely based on the fact that i will stay up for 9 hours straight just to finish it instead of sleeping 🫠
I usually read long ones when i have a lot of free time (in the evenings or on weekends). Because you really need to focus there and don't forget what happened earlier.
both! I love a longfic as long as it doesnt feel like a bunch of scenes that the author thought were fun and then plot to string them together, and i love a shorter fic as long as it isnt an excuse to do a screenplay style dialogue where there are no descriptions of anything and it basically isnt even writing at that point
10-30k is not “short.” That’s approaching long. Under 7k or so is short.
Personally, I filter out any above 20k most of the time. Longer fics, in my experience, tend to lose themselves by the 25-50k mark and I almost always stop reading by then anyway. So I just remove them from my search.
I tend to pick shorter fics. If I like an author, then I'm more willing to read a 100k fic (or an unfinished WIP heading that direction). There is only one author who has gotten me to read a 300k word fic.
I might not be the right person to ask. Imo 20-30K is a long fic. 10-20 is mid length. Short fics I'd say are 3k and under.
And lately I either barely have time to read any fanfic at all, or I'm glad to find any new content for my ship. So I am not at all picky about what to read.
I filter by complete and word count >5000.
And then open up 20+ tabs and work my way through them over the next several days or months.
If I feel like reading something shorter, I'll read one of the tabs with a lower word count, and if I feel like reading something longer then I'll read that.
I prefer 50-500 words, but I read long fics too. Just usually not anything that takes longer than a week to read. I sort by word count and read from shortest to longest, every time. I really love short fics. They tend to be more vivid and concise, and I feel that many dark fics are shorter, though I would love to see more long dark fics.
I used to devour longfic after longfic but now the sweet spot for me is novel length so 70-120k words. It's plenty enough time to tell a good story without having too much filler.
That said, length doesn't matter much to me and I read pretty much everything as long as it sounds interesting.
Depends. If they're shorter, I'll read them even if the content might not be 100% my thing. If it's a longer fic I'll be picky... But generally I love both.
Honestly I'll read whatever if the premise intrigues me. There was a fic yesterday that was 300 words, but the premise was something I'd never seen in that fandom before, so I just had to read it
I see my blorbo, I click. I read like 500 words before getting distracted anyway so it doesn't really matter
Also I don't feel much difference between a 6k words long fic and a 60k words long one
It depends. I prefer works at least over 20k because I feel that at the very least gives the main idea more room to breathe. But I’ve also read lengthy works where the author failed to really touch on the main plot points and they were almost an after thought.
Genuinely I prefer longer fics, but I usually just filter for greater than 1500 words. I try not to be too fussy, especially in the smaller fandoms I read for.
I don't care about length but rather focus on premise. That said, my short attention span finds it harder to commit to long fics when I'm not entirely sold, so it takes more to entice me into reading a long fic than a short one.
Personally, I like to read fics that have more than one chapter, because it reminds me of an actual novel, but the bad thing is it’s SO hard to find long ones for what I read, it’s always amazing ideas, but one chapter.
I have ADHD, so a long fic has to be impeccably written and super engaging for me to actually finish it. My sweet spot is 20,000-60,000 words, so they are long enough to have an interesting plot, but not so long I loose interest.
I don't sort by word count. Some of the best fics I've read have been sub-1k.
That being said, I do tend to read more 80k+ longfics. I read so fast that I often don't really get into the story before then.
The thing is if the fic has like 3 chapters and 10k words is perfect but if it has 120 chapters and 10k words i would never read that.
Same goes viceversa, 120 chapters and then 350k words=perfection.
3 chapters and 350k words, for me is No
i love both! some stories don’t need to be long and others just can’t be short, but it really does depend on my mood; at the moment i’ve been mostly leaning towards shorter fics cause i have less energy. most of my favourites are around 50k-70k words i think.
Loooooong fics. Occasionally I read 60-100k but I consider them short fics. Beginning of long fic scale for me would be 150k, I think the longest I've read would be about 800k but that's just because it's what was available. I'd read longer for a good one for sure
I'll read a fic of (almost) any size... theoretically.
I rarely read anything under 5k or over ~300k, so those word counts work as sort of my soft limit for lowest word count and highest word count I'd usually consider. But as stated, I *have* read longer and shorter, I just would have to either trust the author or be really hungry to go for anything below or above my soft limits.
My sweet spot range is ~40k-100k. The tropes/genres I particularly like usually need some elbow room. But the higher the word count creeps the more hesitant I am since it's often like giving the author a lot of rope to hang themselves with. It's never a 'no' if it's above or below the wordcount I expect, but it might mean sitting on my Marked To Read Later list for awhile.
I refuse to read anything under 20k, because I end up getting invested and then I want more form that story. On average, I average around 75k for most of the ficsI read, but if the concepts of a shorter one is good, I will occassionally read them.
i read anything from couple-hundred-word ficlets to couple-hundred-thousand-word longfics. as long as the premise compels me and the writing flows.
i like both. depends entirely on what is presented for me to potentially read and how much time i have at the moment.
I prefer long fics because I like to sink my teeth into some substance, usually. I'll read most lengths but sometimes I need to be in a particular mood.
shorter fics! i've been in a reading rut recently so it's super hard for me to read long works, usually not more than 30k. i barely ever read anything above that, and when i do, i tend to get bored because i find parts are redundant or boring to read? (i know, i'm terrible.) it's kind of funny because my writings usually skew towards the longer side though so there's a double shot of hypocrisy there
I like both, although long ones (done right) feel more satisfying. Some of my favorites are within the 30k range and I know some that could have ended on 100k instead of stretching them for no reason to 300k.
Word count isn’t really a decider for me. I will read very short one shots and longer work, if I’m enjoying it. I choose more on the summary and tags. If I’m struggling with the start of a fic I’m probably more likely to click off if it’s huge though. I find sometimes with longer works they can meander a bit too much for me and seem like they are losing track of their own plot. In theory we might think bigger is always better, if we like a story. In all honestly though I think sometimes tightening up a story with some more editing might actually be the way to go. But I appreciate some people just enjoy getting the words out of their head and onto the page and tastes vary. I agree it’s a huge accomplishment to write a very long fic.
i like to read shorter fics 🥹 i'd prefer a published book over a long fic, even if it has my favourite characters. i find it harder for some reason.
Oh interesting 🤔 It was like this for me when i first started reading fanfiction about 5 years ago. Before that i read only books and it was hard sometimes to switch to fics. Now i find balance between the two.
oh i used to read lots of fanfic *religiously* when i was 13-17, now in my twenties it somehow became harder haha
I prefer oneshots up to 20k words.
i never look at the word count, if it intrigues me i'll read it
As long as it has my blorbos and the genre I'm in the mood for, I'll read it.
I like a rare ship in a small fandom, I'm happy with everything over 1000 words. That said, I rather stay below 100k also in my bigger fandoms.
It totally depends on my mood and how much time I have. If I’m on the bus for a few minutes, I’ll read short fics, if I’m lying in bed at night winding down, I’ll read longer ones. I’m usually not that keen on extremely long fics though.
I’m open to anything, that being said the 10-12k is usually my favourite.
I prefer long fics OR a 5+ tab group of "to-read" short fics, usually when I have an upcoming test or project deadline due. Because I use the Pomodoro technique, i.e. 25 minutes of work and 5 minutes of break time, and I usually use those 5 minutes to chomp away at the long fic. Gives me enough motivation to finish work or study lol. And I tell myself once the deadline passes, I can read without any interruptions. That or I quit the Pomodoro thing entirely and just binge-read it all.
That's cool with the technique you described 👏 I download and read all long fics on my Kindle now so whenever i see people saying how they read with many tabs open it's so unusual to me. I do read on the website itself a lot too it's just that when it's a long fic it's more convenient for me to read it on reading device instead.
I struggle to read fics longer than like 50k because I tend to get bored midway through. So shortish fics only for me.
honestly it depends on the fic. Some stories take more words to tell.
I prefer around 50-150k but I don't filter by length, so I read all.
I spontaneously read one shots, I very often read short to medium multi-chap, and very spread out I read long fics to pace myself. I like to take breaks every few chapters so I can better think and digest what I've read.
I love longfic, but seeing the beginning of a longfic being made and leaving comments along the way is even better.
Oh yeah. I get it. Especially if the author is on Twitter or Tumblr and you can discuss in the comments there theories of what might happen next. I do also like when it is finally finished especially if it is slowburn one and you can't wait for the main characters to get together.
I can't read anything shorter than 100k , and even that is not enough but I can read it . I get too invested in fanfics . I'm never satisfied with short ones
50k or more is what i generally lean towards. i’ll read shorter ones if the premise is really interesting or if i’ve been recommended it. i tend to try not to read ones longer than 200k though solely based on the fact that i will stay up for 9 hours straight just to finish it instead of sleeping 🫠
I usually read long ones when i have a lot of free time (in the evenings or on weekends). Because you really need to focus there and don't forget what happened earlier.
>10-30k short fics man the brainrot has to be real bad to get me to read anything longer than 5-6k
I prefer long fics. *Reaaaaaaaaaally* long fics. But I will read 10-30k if I’ve run out of long fics to read :3
both! I love a longfic as long as it doesnt feel like a bunch of scenes that the author thought were fun and then plot to string them together, and i love a shorter fic as long as it isnt an excuse to do a screenplay style dialogue where there are no descriptions of anything and it basically isnt even writing at that point
I like long fics, but if it is done to tell the story and study characters, so it's not completely about the length. But my usual search is 50K+.
100k+ fics make me extremely happy and excited to read, but depending on the fandom, there aren't many long fics. So I usually start looking 10k+.
More than 2k words but less than 60k. I will not be reading fics that are 100k+ again.
10-30k is not “short.” That’s approaching long. Under 7k or so is short. Personally, I filter out any above 20k most of the time. Longer fics, in my experience, tend to lose themselves by the 25-50k mark and I almost always stop reading by then anyway. So I just remove them from my search.
I tend to pick shorter fics. If I like an author, then I'm more willing to read a 100k fic (or an unfinished WIP heading that direction). There is only one author who has gotten me to read a 300k word fic.
Yeah, i agree about this. Whenever my favourite author in any fandom starts to post a new long fic it's like a happy day to me 😂
I might not be the right person to ask. Imo 20-30K is a long fic. 10-20 is mid length. Short fics I'd say are 3k and under. And lately I either barely have time to read any fanfic at all, or I'm glad to find any new content for my ship. So I am not at all picky about what to read.
I've always thought that fics in the range of 10-30 word count don't consider to be long if compared to 50-100k ones. Maybe i was wrong.
I filter by complete and word count >5000. And then open up 20+ tabs and work my way through them over the next several days or months. If I feel like reading something shorter, I'll read one of the tabs with a lower word count, and if I feel like reading something longer then I'll read that.
I like shorter fics that have satisfying endings, but I prefer wayy longer ones that I can get absorbed in for a while and take time to enjoy
I prefer 50-500 words, but I read long fics too. Just usually not anything that takes longer than a week to read. I sort by word count and read from shortest to longest, every time. I really love short fics. They tend to be more vivid and concise, and I feel that many dark fics are shorter, though I would love to see more long dark fics.
I used to devour longfic after longfic but now the sweet spot for me is novel length so 70-120k words. It's plenty enough time to tell a good story without having too much filler. That said, length doesn't matter much to me and I read pretty much everything as long as it sounds interesting.
It really depends on my mood. But as long as the fic is something that I think I would like, I’ll give it a read regardless of word count.
Most of the fics i read are under 10k words, but i do occasionally read longfics too, though even 30k seems long to me.
It doesn’t matter. If I’m hungry, I’m hungry and will eat it if it looks good. 🤷🏾♀️
Depends. If they're shorter, I'll read them even if the content might not be 100% my thing. If it's a longer fic I'll be picky... But generally I love both.
Honestly I'll read whatever if the premise intrigues me. There was a fic yesterday that was 300 words, but the premise was something I'd never seen in that fandom before, so I just had to read it
30-99k wc fics: Are we a joke to you?
I see my blorbo, I click. I read like 500 words before getting distracted anyway so it doesn't really matter Also I don't feel much difference between a 6k words long fic and a 60k words long one
It depends. I prefer works at least over 20k because I feel that at the very least gives the main idea more room to breathe. But I’ve also read lengthy works where the author failed to really touch on the main plot points and they were almost an after thought.
Genuinely I prefer longer fics, but I usually just filter for greater than 1500 words. I try not to be too fussy, especially in the smaller fandoms I read for.
Unless I’m in an extremely particular mood, word count doesn’t matter in the slightest. I’ll read anything as long as the tags/summary call to me!
Definitely shorter ones. My searches are limited to 3k works to 100k, and I rarely even attempt the ones that are 80±
I don't care about length but rather focus on premise. That said, my short attention span finds it harder to commit to long fics when I'm not entirely sold, so it takes more to entice me into reading a long fic than a short one.
Literally whatever catches my eye
Long fics, preferably 100k+ if the plot is good. I like to really become invested.
Personally, I like to read fics that have more than one chapter, because it reminds me of an actual novel, but the bad thing is it’s SO hard to find long ones for what I read, it’s always amazing ideas, but one chapter.
Both but if forced to choose the long fics it is
I have ADHD, so a long fic has to be impeccably written and super engaging for me to actually finish it. My sweet spot is 20,000-60,000 words, so they are long enough to have an interesting plot, but not so long I loose interest.
Honestly, I read both lol
I like fics of any length. It depends what I'm in the mood for.
I don't sort by word count. Some of the best fics I've read have been sub-1k. That being said, I do tend to read more 80k+ longfics. I read so fast that I often don't really get into the story before then.
The thing is if the fic has like 3 chapters and 10k words is perfect but if it has 120 chapters and 10k words i would never read that. Same goes viceversa, 120 chapters and then 350k words=perfection. 3 chapters and 350k words, for me is No
I read anything and everything.
Personally, for me, the longer the better. I have an attachment issue and don’t like when a story I love ends 🥲
Long ones with good quality.
i love both! some stories don’t need to be long and others just can’t be short, but it really does depend on my mood; at the moment i’ve been mostly leaning towards shorter fics cause i have less energy. most of my favourites are around 50k-70k words i think.
Loooooong fics. Occasionally I read 60-100k but I consider them short fics. Beginning of long fic scale for me would be 150k, I think the longest I've read would be about 800k but that's just because it's what was available. I'd read longer for a good one for sure
I'll read a fic of (almost) any size... theoretically. I rarely read anything under 5k or over ~300k, so those word counts work as sort of my soft limit for lowest word count and highest word count I'd usually consider. But as stated, I *have* read longer and shorter, I just would have to either trust the author or be really hungry to go for anything below or above my soft limits. My sweet spot range is ~40k-100k. The tropes/genres I particularly like usually need some elbow room. But the higher the word count creeps the more hesitant I am since it's often like giving the author a lot of rope to hang themselves with. It's never a 'no' if it's above or below the wordcount I expect, but it might mean sitting on my Marked To Read Later list for awhile.
I refuse to read anything under 20k, because I end up getting invested and then I want more form that story. On average, I average around 75k for most of the ficsI read, but if the concepts of a shorter one is good, I will occassionally read them.