How long is too long for a story?

Forget what you've heard about the modern reader's short attention span. Lucia Moses writes that the optimum story length is about twice the standard 700-800 words: "It’s tempting to think the Internet has not all but killed our ability to slow down and sustain our attention in an era of slide shows, listicles and other easily digestible posts. But the truth is actually more complicated. It turns out that longer is better at drawing attention, but only to a point."

November 11, 2014

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