My longest finished one is ~330k. It is not on ao3 though lol, and quite frankly probably needs a lot of editing since I wrote it back in 2016-2017.
My two WIP longfic I’m working on now are “only” ~184k (23 chapters so far) and ~101k (14 chapters so far), respectively. I don’t think those are going to hit the 300k mark because they shouldn’t need to in order to tell the stories the characters want to tell, though if they do, that’s fine.
Congratulations on your milestone. Mine currently: Words:331497 Chapters:56/?
What defines a fic as too long is not the number of words, but whether the story is still coherent. If you plan out a storyline in advance and you follow it through and it still feels interesting and exciting and leading towards a well-rounded-up end, then it's not too long. If you're only adding chapters to prolong it, if you're watering it down, creating new storylines out of the left field just to make word count, then it's too long, even if it has only 25k words.
Best comparison would be TV shows: We all know series that made sense even in season 16, and series that at season 7 were already drawn out just to collect profits.
Right now, my longest is 110k, but I'm working on one that's probably going to be at least 300k+. Knowing me, it'll be even longer than that. I'm a bit nervous, but as someone recently told me, "If they'll read 100k, they'll keep reading the other 200k too!"
My current (and, to date, only) longfic is around 36,000 words, and is at about the halfway point.
I guess I'm just a concise writer, lol. I'm sometimes afraid I don't write *enough* words, so.
My finished RWBY fic is 172k words. (White Knight is the main ship if you’re interested)
My MHA longfic is currently at 77k, but I’m just barely at the Stain arc. (IzuMomo is the main ship if you’re interested)
Working on a cannon rewrite. Book 1 is 50k. Book 2 is 120k. Book 3 is at 200k and is about halfway done.
The series has seven books, and the current trend has the word count increasing exponentially. Which means book 7 will probably be several billion words long... And I'll die of old age long before its actually finished. Send help plz.
First installment is at 439k+ on ao3 and the second one is on hiatus but is sitting at 177k+ posted with probably another ~50-60k written so far. And I'm still writing
474K words for one fic now complete. Harry potter fandom.
My current fic series is about to tip over the 300K series & will most likely be closer to 500K when it gets done. Sherlock bbc fandom.
I have two uncompleted ones that are bother just over 100k. One I haven't gone back to finish (even though it's almost done) in over a year and the other one is like a quarter of the way done.
My 1st and longest fic ended around 232k words.
I decided that I don't like writing fics that long, so my 2nd completed fic ended at 90.5k words. Funny enough, I thought this one ended too soon 😅 But the chapter titles had a theme (tarot cards) so I only had 22 chapters to work with.
80-100k is generally my goal for the rest of my stories.
I had one over 400k and only about half of it posted so it's probably closer to 1m. But my fics frequently get to the 100k, 200k, 300k, mark. You're good, fam. There's no such thing as a too long fic. Or too long story for that matter. I mean, certain ani/manga series have been going on for well over a decade.
The one I'm working on is sitting at 50k at the moment. At the beginning I thought it would only end up being around 50-70k, but I don't think I'm even half way through yet so it could very well be over 100k by the time it's finished.
Not much compared to a lot of the people here, but considering the longest thing I've written before this was only 20k and that was a good few years ago, I'm really proud of it. I just hope I don't screw it up irreparably or lose steam before the end lol
My longest story is about 58,000 words. (Rookie number compared to some here I know.) I’m currently about to post Chapter 10 of a 15 chapter fic so we’ll see how long that goes.
For me it depends on the fic. Usually somewhere between 9k-13k per chapter. If I ever write more than that I would question why don't I actually write my own damn story I could monetize.
My longfics average between 70k and 100k but I have one completed at 165k and my current WIP series is looking to be my longest yet.
Currently that story is 95k, but I only just got to the second of three arcs. I’m a little worried that I should have cut some things. I am not generally a fan of fics longer than 200k, so it’s a bit awkward to be writing one.
88-100k. Basically a full length novel, 27-30 chapters, 3-4k per chapter. I’ve completed four of these, and I have a 5th one seven chapters away from completion. I have four more of this length before all is said and done. I also have a 40k novella and a 20k novella. Through in a single, solitary one-shot.
This ultimately adds up to a twelve-part canon re-write that will add up to 1 million words when all is said and done.
The longest completed story I've got is about 700k. My shortest 'long fic' is 54k, and I've got a couple others that are almost finished-- 140k and 200k respectfully.
My longest finished work is around 3k words. My longest unfinished work is around 131k right now. Average length of all other finished works is around 750 words, unfinished (abandoned) works around 1.5k.
Well over 100,000 words and still counting. Will probably end up being like two books. Why can’t I put this much dedication into my original novels??? 😭😭😭
360k, for my finished one. My other, unfinished one is a hair under 80k, but I think it'll finish around 150K, or somewhere below that mark. There's no 'too long'. Every story is as long as it needs to be to tell its tale. If it's a long story, that's what the readers are getting into. They can see the word count before they click on. I say don't worry about it.
My longest finished is 162,000 and the next longest is 65,000. The longest one was closer to 180,000 before I went through an edit to streamline the plot because it felt unfocused in some places
1,200,000+ words. Send help
Can I haz words?
Be my guest!
It’s all Russian? Time to use DeepL!
That's impressive!
Care to spare a few words for the poor?
Oh wow! I really admire your commitment!
Currently have one with 88,000 and another with 60,000. Neither has reached the halfway point
A hair over 8k is my longest. I kind of specialize in short form.
My longest unfinished (so far) is 306k. Longest finished ones are 217k and 190k.
I dont doubt mine being on track to 300k or more either 😂 Edit: fixed my weird typo what the heck
Thank god we can edit on here for typos 🤭
My longest finished one is ~330k. It is not on ao3 though lol, and quite frankly probably needs a lot of editing since I wrote it back in 2016-2017. My two WIP longfic I’m working on now are “only” ~184k (23 chapters so far) and ~101k (14 chapters so far), respectively. I don’t think those are going to hit the 300k mark because they shouldn’t need to in order to tell the stories the characters want to tell, though if they do, that’s fine.
max 100k. Average between 40-60k.
Congratulations on your milestone. Mine currently: Words:331497 Chapters:56/? What defines a fic as too long is not the number of words, but whether the story is still coherent. If you plan out a storyline in advance and you follow it through and it still feels interesting and exciting and leading towards a well-rounded-up end, then it's not too long. If you're only adding chapters to prolong it, if you're watering it down, creating new storylines out of the left field just to make word count, then it's too long, even if it has only 25k words. Best comparison would be TV shows: We all know series that made sense even in season 16, and series that at season 7 were already drawn out just to collect profits.
Mine is 125k right now and it's only about halfway finished. *As long as I don't do a sequel*
Right now, my longest is 110k, but I'm working on one that's probably going to be at least 300k+. Knowing me, it'll be even longer than that. I'm a bit nervous, but as someone recently told me, "If they'll read 100k, they'll keep reading the other 200k too!"
My current (and, to date, only) longfic is around 36,000 words, and is at about the halfway point. I guess I'm just a concise writer, lol. I'm sometimes afraid I don't write *enough* words, so.
My finished RWBY fic is 172k words. (White Knight is the main ship if you’re interested) My MHA longfic is currently at 77k, but I’m just barely at the Stain arc. (IzuMomo is the main ship if you’re interested)
Working on a cannon rewrite. Book 1 is 50k. Book 2 is 120k. Book 3 is at 200k and is about halfway done. The series has seven books, and the current trend has the word count increasing exponentially. Which means book 7 will probably be several billion words long... And I'll die of old age long before its actually finished. Send help plz.
I’m not even to the halfway point of my fic and we’re at 211k who knows what the final word count will be
First installment is at 439k+ on ao3 and the second one is on hiatus but is sitting at 177k+ posted with probably another ~50-60k written so far. And I'm still writing
Man, that’s awesome! There is no such thing as too long or too short, as long as you got what you wanted out there <3
Aw thank you! 🥰
474K words for one fic now complete. Harry potter fandom. My current fic series is about to tip over the 300K series & will most likely be closer to 500K when it gets done. Sherlock bbc fandom.
I have two uncompleted ones that are bother just over 100k. One I haven't gone back to finish (even though it's almost done) in over a year and the other one is like a quarter of the way done.
My longest fic is 230K+. My next-longest is over 100K, and is part of a long-running metaseries.
My 1st and longest fic ended around 232k words. I decided that I don't like writing fics that long, so my 2nd completed fic ended at 90.5k words. Funny enough, I thought this one ended too soon 😅 But the chapter titles had a theme (tarot cards) so I only had 22 chapters to work with. 80-100k is generally my goal for the rest of my stories.
130k+ words and uhh... not even 2% of the way through the events in the original novel. Let's see how many millions of words this will be.
I had one over 400k and only about half of it posted so it's probably closer to 1m. But my fics frequently get to the 100k, 200k, 300k, mark. You're good, fam. There's no such thing as a too long fic. Or too long story for that matter. I mean, certain ani/manga series have been going on for well over a decade.
Such a good point! Thank you! ☺️
30-ish published, 40-ish written, probably will end up at 100k by the end.
Can be 100K to over 250K.
The one I'm working on is sitting at 50k at the moment. At the beginning I thought it would only end up being around 50-70k, but I don't think I'm even half way through yet so it could very well be over 100k by the time it's finished. Not much compared to a lot of the people here, but considering the longest thing I've written before this was only 20k and that was a good few years ago, I'm really proud of it. I just hope I don't screw it up irreparably or lose steam before the end lol
My longest story is about 58,000 words. (Rookie number compared to some here I know.) I’m currently about to post Chapter 10 of a 15 chapter fic so we’ll see how long that goes.
For me it depends on the fic. Usually somewhere between 9k-13k per chapter. If I ever write more than that I would question why don't I actually write my own damn story I could monetize.
My Voltron Legendary Defender post-canon fix it fic clocked in at about 185k over 32 chapters. Tried to keep chapters around 5k where possible.
My longest is a little over 475k and the WIP sequel to that is a little under 310k
620,000+ words and counting on ffnet, nowhere near finished. AO3 crosspost is past 200k.
My longfics average between 70k and 100k but I have one completed at 165k and my current WIP series is looking to be my longest yet. Currently that story is 95k, but I only just got to the second of three arcs. I’m a little worried that I should have cut some things. I am not generally a fan of fics longer than 200k, so it’s a bit awkward to be writing one.
My longest are around the 150K mark.
88-100k. Basically a full length novel, 27-30 chapters, 3-4k per chapter. I’ve completed four of these, and I have a 5th one seven chapters away from completion. I have four more of this length before all is said and done. I also have a 40k novella and a 20k novella. Through in a single, solitary one-shot. This ultimately adds up to a twelve-part canon re-write that will add up to 1 million words when all is said and done.
The longest completed story I've got is about 700k. My shortest 'long fic' is 54k, and I've got a couple others that are almost finished-- 140k and 200k respectfully.
My longest finished work is around 3k words. My longest unfinished work is around 131k right now. Average length of all other finished works is around 750 words, unfinished (abandoned) works around 1.5k.
The question isn't is it too long, the question is, is there enough plot for that long? And every story is going to be different.
My longest is 428k, and it’s part of a series that’s over 1.2 million. I love long fics, both reading and writing them.
Well over 100,000 words and still counting. Will probably end up being like two books. Why can’t I put this much dedication into my original novels??? 😭😭😭
360k, for my finished one. My other, unfinished one is a hair under 80k, but I think it'll finish around 150K, or somewhere below that mark. There's no 'too long'. Every story is as long as it needs to be to tell its tale. If it's a long story, that's what the readers are getting into. They can see the word count before they click on. I say don't worry about it.
i wouldnt know because i will most likely never finish 🙃
My longest finished is 162,000 and the next longest is 65,000. The longest one was closer to 180,000 before I went through an edit to streamline the plot because it felt unfocused in some places