Quantity vs Quality (Open-minded opinion)

D4isuke

Depressed Pervert who loves writing good smut.
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Some readers prefer that more, fast chapters mean the story can be more engaging in terms of quantity.

Some readers prefer that slow chapters mean the story can be more promising and appreciable in terms of quality.

But as you know,

Quality takes time to refine the story into proper structure

,while

Quantity takes pressure to catch the story for "active" readers' engagement.

--------------

Quality stories has less or no cliches to follow based on others' work since originality is their intention... even mainstream or not, unless you want to subvert it. For example, how I subvert my story in R-18, Hentai, and mature genre is to give it much action-based plot and necessary uses on "fetishes" rather than a pure vanilla or "advance level of fanservice" for just a mere fapping. Well, of course, there might be worth fapping session, but it is wider than that. Topics, conflicts, tension, drama, or anything are much adding fundamentals to immerse more than fapping. Plus, I have written some women who wants to get naked or more revealing because it is effective on their male enemies due to "voyeurism". What I planned in the first arc which I'm currently writing in such phase is to give an "overlook" of one particular setting. Themes, cultures, characters, and conflicts within its place is what I executed in the beginning, then next one will be the rising tension.

In other works like Konosuba, where the show ridiculed the "usual tropes" in a sense that the writer of the series did a good job to bring satire among tropes. Let's say, gender equality, Kazuma ridiculed Kyouya Mitsurigi's attitude as "plain, boring, and usual protag of most every anime series", not listening the long speech by vanir-possessed darkness because he CAN (or should i say, straightforward action), Kazuma's proactiveness in his likes and dislikes, moral complexity, and anything else. Re:Zero has also followed it in dramatic way like suffering = plot, and totally a quality "show, don't tell" series, but they only tell about the lore and some worldbuilding elements while they show through Subaru's way and others to immerse through the story they drive into.

On the other hand, Quantity stories are pretty much what "Bleach" series do — New Arcs, New Characters, New Conflicts, then the next arc forgets the elements from the previous arc and moves on to the next new one. It's pretty much like "town hopping" trope in every usual MMORPGs. They want numerous chapters even fillers "just to add the immersion"... that's what their purpose probably is, and the quantity causes the series to be rushed like how Darling in the Franxx probably did. One Piece also might overly consider on that since the world is so expandable and more fillers are likely to come and waste time for readers/watchers to spend. As I said before, it takes pressure rather than open-minded time to think smoothly about the flow for consistency around the situation from point A to point B with logical sense.

I think most readers need to appreciate the long time wait for the authors to think every pieces that needed to be attached and outside the box. Think about what, when, how, why, and who. The authors need to formulate the plot and characters through situation that is relevant from point A to point B. They needed to portray and explain how each character act in this or that way through their personality, ideologies, and comprehensions, but I think we need the readers to understand the long-term plan for the authors since "quality takes time"... despite you're professional, it's really hard to convince the readers through how the story portray in that way and why.
 

BenJepheneT

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to summarize my thoughts (because i'm lazy), I see quality and quantity like homecooked meals and fast food. they both bring different types of catharsis and enjoyment. hand crafted goods and instant gratification. both have their own values and are worth digging through either way.

what i really hate are people who claim one to be superior over the other, with the "quality gang" bashing the others for "lack of taste" and vice versa on "pretentious high horses". if you are the kind of guy to go into arguements online to dictate people's enjoyment on certain media, do realize that no matter how mad you get, the other guy will probably not be convinced otherwise and remained entertained by said media while you stay mad.
 
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quality is kinda subjective to me. if i like the chapter enough, it is quality. it doesn't matter how fast or slow they churn it up.

but i prefer if they're consistent enough to at least complete the story. i hate when my favorite stories always get dropped in the middle.

well, in the end it's their choice. if i could get more good things to read, it's my pleasure.
 

yunano34a1

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As someone who normally posts long chapters and currently feel burned out, I highly agree with the quality part. It really is frustrating as a writer that you have so much limited time to craft what you can do at best and prevent some predictable mistakes.
 

D4isuke

Depressed Pervert who loves writing good smut.
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what i really hate are people who claim one to be superior over the other, with the "quality gang" bashing the others for "lack of taste" and vice versa on "pretentious high horses". if you are the kind of guy to go into arguements online to dictate people's enjoyment on certain media, do realize that no matter how mad you get, the other guy will probably not be convinced otherwise and remained entertained by said media while you stay mad.

on an additional note, "quality" and "quantity" aren't mutually exclusive

Elitists like those didn't have any respect of "other people's enjoyment". It's like they bashed the good counterpart of the ones who say the simple word "Trash" while they merely look for one or other "subjective" element, yet the simple solution for that is to ignore their comment since it doesn't bring enlightenment if they're seeking for a mere subjective thing. Unless some of them give a good roast of mindblowing facts and opinions with decent knowledge if those "blind people" thinking and commenting of it in opposition.
 

Assurbanipal_II

Empress of the Four Corners of the World
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Personally, I am more of a proponent of quality rather than quantity, albeit less by choice than by necessity due to me being a slow writer.

But on the other hand, I see a many chapter spammers here on scribblehub that deliberately try, sometimes with success, sometimes not, to game the system at the cost of rushed content. My views of them are not favourable, but that is just a minority opinion and nobody seems to care anyway.
 
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CupcakeNinja

Pervert Supreme
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Some readers prefer that more, fast chapters mean the story can be more engaging in terms of quantity.

Some readers prefer that slow chapters mean the story can be more promising and appreciable in terms of quality.

But as you know,

Quality takes time to refine the story into proper structure

,while

Quantity takes pressure to catch the story for "active" readers' engagement.

--------------

Quality stories has less or no cliches to follow based on others' work since originality is their intention... even mainstream or not, unless you want to subvert it. For example, how I subvert my story in R-18, Hentai, and mature genre is to give it much action-based plot and necessary uses on "fetishes" rather than a pure vanilla or "advance level of fanservice" for just a mere fapping. Well, of course, there might be worth fapping session, but it is wider than that. Topics, conflicts, tension, drama, or anything are much adding fundamentals to immerse more than fapping. Plus, I have written some women who wants to get naked or more revealing because it is effective on their male enemies due to "voyeurism". What I planned in the first arc which I'm currently writing in such phase is to give an "overlook" of one particular setting. Themes, cultures, characters, and conflicts within its place is what I executed in the beginning, then next one will be the rising tension.

In other works like Konosuba, where the show ridiculed the "usual tropes" in a sense that the writer of the series did a good job to bring satire among tropes. Let's say, gender equality, Kazuma ridiculed Kyouya Mitsurigi's attitude as "plain, boring, and usual protag of most every anime series", not listening the long speech by vanir-possessed darkness because he CAN (or should i say, straightforward action), Kazuma's proactiveness in his likes and dislikes, moral complexity, and anything else. Re:Zero has also followed it in dramatic way like suffering = plot, and totally a quality "show, don't tell" series, but they only tell about the lore and some worldbuilding elements while they show through Subaru's way and others to immerse through the story they drive into.

On the other hand, Quantity stories are pretty much what "Bleach" series do — New Arcs, New Characters, New Conflicts, then the next arc forgets the elements from the previous arc and moves on to the next new one. It's pretty much like "town hopping" trope in every usual MMORPGs. They want numerous chapters even fillers "just to add the immersion"... that's what their purpose probably is, and the quantity causes the series to be rushed like how Darling in the Franxx probably did. One Piece also might overly consider on that since the world is so expandable and more fillers are likely to come and waste time for readers/watchers to spend. As I said before, it takes pressure rather than open-minded time to think smoothly about the flow for consistency around the situation from point A to point B with logical sense.

I think most readers need to appreciate the long time wait for the authors to think every pieces that needed to be attached and outside the box. Think about what, when, how, why, and who. The authors need to formulate the plot and characters through situation that is relevant from point A to point B. They needed to portray and explain how each character act in this or that way through their personality, ideologies, and comprehensions, but I think we need the readers to understand the long-term plan for the authors since "quality takes time"... despite you're professional, it's really hard to convince the readers through how the story portray in that way and why.
slower updates have nothing to do with quality updates, and vice versa quality doesn't necessarily drop with release speed.

If i like a story, i like it. I want more of it. Unless something drastic happens where its obviously a big drop in quality of storytelling or characters making uncharacteristic decisions then i wont say the quality actually dropped. I don't require master level writing techniques anyway. I mainly like a story for the situation and the characters and how they react to things.
 

weakwithwords

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Ben^2, err, that's more complex. Let's go back to using:

BenBen, in your analogy, I would have used fine dining vs fastfood. Home-cooked meals vary greatly depending on how "loving", how busy, and how good the one cooking is.

Quality vs quantity. Protoss vs Zergs.

Dessert. You can be nibbling on something exquisite or munching (bulk eating) a sack of cheap but tolerable sweets. For the former, you are restrained by the cost. The latter is determined by your bottomline taste.

You can enjoy either.
 

D4isuke

Depressed Pervert who loves writing good smut.
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Ben^2, err, that's more complex. Let's go back to using:

BenBen, in your analogy, I would have used fine dining vs fastfood. Home-cooked meals vary greatly depending on how "loving", how busy, and how good the one cooking is.

Quality vs quantity. Protoss vs Zergs.

Dessert. You can be nibbling on something exquisite or munching (bulk eating) a sack of cheap but tolerable sweets. For the former, you are restrained by the cost. The latter is determined by your bottomline taste.

You can enjoy either.
Let's say the home-cooked meals are the "mediocre" quality since it's common and daily meals you can find, cook, and eat.
 

Ral

Well-known member
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Oct 15, 2019
Messages
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Well, serial fiction is known to be the most demanding way to write a story. This is what Wikipedia says:

Some writers were prolific. Alexandre Dumas wrote at an incredible pace, oftentimes writing with his partner twelve to fourteen hours a day, working on several novels for serialized publication at once. However, not every writer could keep up with the serial writing pace. Wilkie Collins, for instance, was never more than a week before publication. The difference in writing pace and output in large part determined the author's success, as audience appetite created demand for further installments.

Writes twelve to fourteen hours a day!

Serial fiction is hardcore.

Many circumvents serial's crazy writing pacing but still have its advantages by serializing instead. Don't be confused, Serials are written and published in parts. That is, you publish as you write. Serialized story is a story written to completion or near completion then published in parts.

If you are a slow writer, do a serialized story instead. Serials is for the hardcore.
 
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D

Deleted member 22014

Guest
To me, Quality vs Quantity is just like drinking a coffee brewed by an experienced barista and comparing it with the instant coffee powder you could buy at the supermarket. You won't drink in a cafe occasionally, but you could buy the instant coffee powder in bulk.

My writing is not that good, and there is some chapter that I found lacking.
I always try to reach target words per chapter even though most of it is just some bunch of crap explaining a load of indecipherable nonsense. When I write and see how many words I have reached, I feel content by it.

But, yeah ..., If I could, I want to make my story to have more quality. And not trying to reach words target.
After all, I don't quite like to read something that has less substance and just a filler.
 
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