Here's another question: Do you prefer writing beneath or above your definition of a "long post"?

A "long post" to me is 700 - 800 words, and I much prefer writing below that. Somewhere between 300 - 500 words is good for me. :]

I have to agree, although I post at roughly 700 words in most instances, no less than 500 typically (unless I really have nothing more to add). But 700 is pretty long.

I have a problem that while I love the thread I'm currently in, there is a lot of talking, so a long post for us is about 300-400 words. Anything less is SHORT. I would prefer to write more, as it feels more satisfying to spend all that time on something and have it come out big and impressive... but this works.

However... there is a girl on my site who causes trouble. Her posts are actually like, more than 1000 words. It always bothers us, because she just recaps like EVERYTHING, kinda unnecessarily, and her formatting is all odd. o.O

700+ words is "long", and to me like... 1000+ is "really long". I like long posts as long as I'm inspired when I write them/am not bored when I read them. I've written over 1000 words for each post in a long thread before, but I usually tend to be somewhere around 400-700 words nowadays. And I'm happy enough with doing that unless more is needed of me. But sometimes I can go on and on for days when I've got something to work with.

Anything up from 800 I would say is a long post. As for whether I like posting above or below that, I can't really say. It depends on the thread. Sometimes the character's situation and relationship with the other person(s) requires a good deal of thinking and describing, and I really like doing that, while other times all I need to do is a paragraph or two of action, which I like as well. So no preference for writing above or below the long post mark. Of course...as long as I never have to write another 5,000 + word post I'm happy. Heh. :pink:

My posts are normally upwards of 500 words. I think my highest word count was in the 800's roughly, but if I'm not getting much back from the other person/s it's hard to get even 500. I've been in several rps where there aren't many members and they all post like 1 or 2 small paragraphs not really encompassing much but what their charries said or did movement wise.

I like making really long posts it makes me feel smart, but I'm sometimes worried if they are too long so I try to limit myself. I have a bad habit of rambling about something, like what a room in a house looks like, for several paragrapghs and I'll be worried that it isn't really attention grabing.

Anywho, I voted for 900+ words because thats really a lot to read but it would be awesome to respond to.

I'd say 700 or more, but obviously long words make a long post even longer. xD

/end short post

Anything under 400 words is way short. Around 600 is a good medium. Anything over 1000 is long, and unless they have really good writing skills a boring read. But that's just me. This is a very subjective discussion because people have different ideas of lengths that work for them. Neither is right nor wrong. Just different. :)

I also have to agree that you can only work with what you're given. If the person before you is as short as a letter, you're not going to want to waste your time with a long reply.

Depends where the post is, and how I'm pacing the thread.

Generally, my first post will be over 1000 words and I mostly cut that back to the essential details so I end up with something like 700, but even that's a long post for me.

A normal length is somewhere between 200 and 500 words, depending on what sort of replies I'm getting and whether I'm concentrating on interaction or character development.

over a thousand words is long.
but then sometimes i find it gets tedious and is full of fluff that your characters can't interact around.

I can write long posts, but I have to have enough to say without repeating something I or someone else has already said, or inanely talking about the weather or something. I much prefer writing under that.

What happens at the moment on StC is that when players are around, we tend to post almost in real time, so posts generally are quite short but the action moves on fairly quickly.

That's not to say that long posts mean slow action, of course. If they're written well, with good description and no, or very little, repetition, they can be good.

I write about 400 words maximum in a post because I don't believe in rehashing eveyrthing and having my character react to every single statement, and I certainly don't believe in describing the weather and the colour of my character's underwear in every post just to meet what other people dictate as being a "long" post.

In fact, I've got a stock "long" post that is about 700 words that I wrote for a Triwizard Tournament app on a HP site and I use that if I'm ever told my application's sample post is too short (note to sites: if your word minimmum is three hundred, what will you achieve by making me write 600 in my sample? We both know I'm not likely to do it again...).

So I've put 500+ as a long post.

Hmm

For a long post I picked 700-800

Simply because the posts I post(!) are about 300-400, sometimes 500; yet they get the job done and it's great fun to RP posts that are relatively...easier in a way to type, rather than drabble on.
I mean - don't get me wrong - sometimes I have my odd waffle/ramble in the post, when I deffo can't control my own character(!) but that's on occasion. Flashbacks and daydreaming can contribute to the sort of ... longer posts!
But most commonly my posts aren't too long.
I've seen some sites where they just post 1000 words per post- it shocks me! Nothing bad I assure you but I always find that an exchange of conversation rather than lots of speeches at once are easier!

The kind of RPG I've come used to is much different than most of the sites advertised here in that what has been come to be looked upon by most people on this site, from what I've seen, as blasphemy (godmoding) is actually quite the norm. I just wrote a huge long spill on that, but I'll just post it in a new topic for discussion trying to keep ontopic. Anyhow, on these sites, a post can go from 700 words to 2000, so, somewhere around 1500 - 1800 would be the boundary for 'long' I'd say.

I said 900-1000 is long but I've posted 3000 or so several times before. I really have no preference as long as the post is engaging. I'll write whatever is necessary for a comprehensive but interesting reply.

Goood Morning!

Gee. I miss my car already : (

So I average around 500 words a post--or rather, I have done lately--on a purely personal basis, this is 'normal' sized but I do not ever aim for a number and I would never, ever, ever be so presumptuous as to say that any 'long' post was a bad thing or a chore. I genuinely believe in quality guaging instead of quantity and that goes for long and short.

If I crank out 600+ words, then I consider it lengthy but I don't see that as a failing. It's just a different sized post which more than likely surprised me because I don't make a habit out of counting my words. In fact, I had to go do a quick average on my most recent posts just to see what it was.

I enjoy it when my players produce something longer. 600, 700, 1000 words. Whatever. I enjoy reading it, everyone playing enjoys reading it. It's good stuff. I would enjoy it just as much if it was 200, 300 words.

I'll also note that when I write any post, I don't count any quotes I may have taken from other people's dialogue for my character to respond to. That's cheating.

I read some of the above posts after making mine, and I have to agree with one thing, at least.

Whilst my posts are short (getting longer!) in all of your eyes, my first post in a thread is like WHOA NELLY. Its looong. Haha.

After that, its like, hard to put in the details, because its rehashing, or going into crazy detail.

Depends on whether someone is waiting on me or not and my inspiration for the day. Sometimes, for suitably epic moments... eh, if no one's waiting on me, I might end up cranking out a 2-4k post, depending on what's going on and how much time goes by IC. If there's someone else that will have to respond to it, I try to keep it 500-1000 words so they don't have to waste a couple minutes looking for anything they need to respond to.

I really don't do word counts anymore, but I think my average is 300-500. Maybe. I think 600 and up is where they start to get lengthy, but that's not a bad thing at all. It's just above my average amount, but for an epic thread, I'm totally capable and willing to write that much or more.

A 1000+ words post is long, but it can be so enjoyable to read; while your average 400-500 words can be filled with nonsense.

To me -- and as snob and bitchy and 'slap her!' as it might sound -- "long" is more a matter of quality than quantity: give me a 1000+ words post of purple prose, going on and on -- and on and on -- with how blue the character's eyes are, or how even their fart smells good and I'll say that's some pretty long waste of words. Give me a well written 1000+ and I'll probably not really notice that I've spent the last ten minutes entertained with a single post.

The same goes with 400-500. Some can make me cry and ask 'why, God! Why?' then bang my head against the desk, while others can make me go 'whoa! I wished I could write that well.'

Hahaha! That's a very good point!

Whilst I write 'short' posts, I do try and make them of quality, rather than drag them out too long. I just get a major kick out of the replies I can get if I try my best, without worrying about the words. I count AFTER I post, so my post isn't framed by that 'ideal' number.

I love when I post with people I know, and they say how much they're enjoying the EMOTION or the FUN I have, even if its short... *shrug*

I used to think 800-900 was pretty long, but I've been in a thread with a friend whose consistently writing me 4000-5000 word posts. Normally I'd call that overkill - I didn't think it was possible to write that much with a single character without filling it with fattening fluff. I love her posts though, and I'm entertained the whole way through. Maybe that has a lot to do with the fact I adore her character.

Normally, 1000 words is long in my opinion. It really depends on the thread though. Sometimes there's so much your character has to say or do, and other times a simple bit of narrative and dialogue does the trick.

Hmmm... so do you think that for others a post can be considered the perfect length if you love the character? 'Cause no matter how much my friend posts, I always squeal with delight as I read, 'cause I LOOOOVVE her. haha.

I don't really think in terms of post length and what point I have to reach for it to be an acceptable post, so choosing a certain length for a "long" post is difficult for me.

Honestly, I don't usually count my words, so when I look at a post and think "wow, that's long," I can't really tell you how many words it is. (I could, of course, use a word counter, but I don't have any "long" posts right now.)

I don't count my words. xD Honestly, post length doesn't mean a thing to me, whether it's 'long' or 'short'. Only thing that matters to me is what the post is saying. Both long and short posts are good, and I post both. It depends entirely on what's happening in the thread and how many words it takes to cover what I want to say. *shrug*

I do sometimes check my posts after I post 'em out of curiosity, and the ones I've gone, "Hosnap, this is long, is it too much? O_o" tend to be in the 900+ word range. x3

I'm on the shorter-posts part of RP. I like writing action and dialogue and things that other characters can relate to, rather than re-writing my character's history.
I'm usually in the 300 range (go ahead, gasp) but I try to make it count, and my posts are getting longer.

Anywhere from 400-700 words can be a long post to me, in the right circumstances. Usually I only have about two to three average little paragraphs in my posts, unless I'm changing a setting and have a lot to describe. I'm all for a colorful description and interesting action/dialogue, but if there's no substance to a long post, it really shouldn't be very long.

800/900 or more is pretty long. Sure, if I'm inspired to write that much, then I will. The longest post I've ever done was a 7000 word one, but that was because it involved my character plus three people being NPC-ed plus was taking place over the course of about five days or so.

So it was kind of like a short story.

I usually post 300 words to 700 or so.

Sometimes when I'm in this thing where I post 1000 words to people and get it back and it's quality is wonder and the like, I'm fine with it.

1000 words or more of purple prose, however, is just evil.

I'm really the same as Bonnie and Rox. I write posts at the short end of the scale. Though I'm trying to make mine longer, and will try to reply to someone who's written something long with a post of a similar length. It doesn't always happen, but I try.

And even my short posts (hopefully!) give the other players and their characters something to react and reply to.

Frankly, I post at an average of 600-800 words. Usually, I find no one else writing at that pace and simply assume that it's long. When I go back to read it, I realize how truly long it is. So, in my opinion, a 400-500 post is average. Anything up is considered rather huge. But obviously, there a lot of factors to consider, like the originality, I hate over using the same material. So...I guess it really depends on the Thread itself and how the others are posting. That's just me though.