Wriging

Absolutely - I write fiction online (coming up soon!) so why wouldn't I read it online as well? I think any form or genre could work, but I definitely think you need to keep it short. A long narrative would be tough, particularly on a blog, but the stuff I write is often separate mini-stories that taken together paint a broad picture but still stand alone as well. If I had more on my site you could see what I'm talking about, but even the 'nonfiction' currently there is one single story line.

On another website I had several stories that were about 5,000 words. Very long for the web, but some people did read them (and I had photos alongside to keep people visually interested). I wouldn't recommend that length, though - I'm trying to keep everything on my blog under 1,000 words. So a writing style that lends itself to brevity, action and smaller 'chunks' rather than long chapters is, I think, the way to make it work.

I do already read some fiction online, but not much I admit. Occasional peaks at the New Yorker and stuff like that.

Good luck.

Hrmm. I write online fiction as well, and though I've deleted most of my projects I tend to find other online writers (who write fiction) are more inclined to reading other people's work. But what about, say, the average internet user? The one who randomly clicks through Digg's top stories and checks email and spends tons of time in Myspace? Will he/she take the time to find, read and enjoy online fiction?

Personally I'm not too sure ... if the format is right - like, say, extremely short posts, once a day, then it might work, but I haven't found anything like that yet.

To me this seems like unexplored territory - anyone else with insights into online reading habits?

I read fiction online, but usually it's short stories. I don't think I've ever read a full novel on my computer. (Closest thing to this was the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave.) I don't think I'd ever read a full novel on my computer: I'd print it out.

I administrate a writing community so I read a lot of fiction online.

I read alot of fiction online too--but mostly fanfiction, because that's what's there. I have read a few novel-length stories, but at the end, my eyes do tend to hurt.

E-publishing is becoming a much bigger deal, some authors getting e-book deals first before print with some major publishing houses. I think we're going to see e-readers become much more popular/accessable if the price drops (I want a Sony eReader, but I don't have $400 to drop on it) and quality improves.

And I know you don't need an eReader, but if i'm going to stare at a screen for hours on end (like I do my books), I'd like it to be a screen developed for just that.

@ Rose, what kind of online fiction? And may I have a link to your writing community?

@ Lisa, I don't think fanfiction's the only thing that's out there (heard of the Blooker prize, anyone?) but I'd like to know: why? Why fanfiction? Isn't the original book/movie/anime good enough?

I've never really enjoyed fan fiction. :( Regarded it as a medium that suffers from 'lack of imagination'.

If I'm going to read fiction online it'll have to be in bite-sized chunks, and large text.

My eyes take enough strain through working on a computer that the last thing on my mind is reading a novel on-screen.

If it was an option, I'd be more likely to print it and read a hard copy. It'd have to be a very good book however.

More sites are using large type sizes these days, which is refreshing.

Yeap, it is. And I've a penchant for the Georgia font, which I think presents words beautifully on screen. BIG BIG Georgia, at that.

The world looks bleak for eBooks, doesn't it? If you like it you'd probably print it out. Though I'm keeping my eye on Sophie, which they say will rock the eBook world (as well as make pdfs defunct).

But we'll see.

@shadowsun: i just haven't looked around for original online fiction, I suppose. I fell into fanfiction, and that was enough for me.

I think you'll find that with most fanfiction readers and writers, they do it because they love the story, and the world so much, that they want more.

I read HP fanfic (which is the larges catagory on fanfiction.com), and Dr. Who fanfic. I love the world they're in, and there is always another way for writers to show how you got to the end point. And Rowling herself reads fanfic (could possibly be why she pared Remus up with Tonks--that ship has been rampant in fanfics since HP fanfics started).

The only online fanfiction I avoid on purpose is Pride and Prejudice, but that's because there's so much actually published in book form, that I'd rather support the authors that way.

Interesting - I didn't know JK read fanfiction herself! And Dr Who!? Isn't that a ... Dr Seuss character? Hmm.

*scratches head in puzzlement*

Anyway, other news: an alpha version of Sophie will be out this month, and I can't wait to get my grubby paws on it. It should be interesting.

Dr. Who--british television show, doctor with no name (but commonly referred to in fanfic as Theta Sigma, so maybe in one of his many iterations he relayed his name) who has twelve regenerations; a timelord traveling through time.

And JK reads a lot of the stuff online. She's admitted to the fanfiction, and checks out Mugglenet and Leaky Cauldren often. She's even said she has to ban herself from fan sites while writing to not be influenced.

And I can see why - I get easily influenced when reading other novels while writing - sooner or later elements from said novel seeps into my writing, and I'll have to tear whole pages out.

Gee - less and less people are commenting about whether they read fiction online ... And I'm still not going to read fanfic. ;P

I enjoy the smell of the paper too much to read a book online. Something about the scrolling text bugs me too.

I have read fiction online, but that was years ago. Most of what I read were short stories. I don't know about following a novel online.

The vast majority of my posts are fiction. I started my blog when I found myself rewriting without end. The idea was to write one piece, give myself time to edit and correct it that same day, and post it. It took a while for a style to gel, but the last few months, I've been writing 900-word posts as serialized fiction. The most recent story starts with "Cousins" and runs through fourteen posts. I have no idea whether it's good, bad, or pedestrian. It is new, though.
A few people seem to follow the stories, if not every day, then most days, allowing time to catch up. Very rarely does anyone offer a critical comment. Very rarely do readers comment at all, but when they do, it's usually: Nicely written.
It started as an experiment and I keep thinking it has run its course, but then I'll start a new series and discover too many new challenges to give up.
I may not have an impressive number of readers but I do have more than if my fiction were locked in a file, coded to die long before I do.

I've been writing an ongoing fiction blog and I've found that the more I've developed my own the more interested in others I've become. It also helps to have a laptop with wireless that you can read on the couch! However, I can't wait for the perfection of digital paper so that fiction can really start to break out of its linear shell.

i read full novels on my computer.

i'd want the ability to bookmark where i was, so when i came back to the site, i could jump right back to where i started.

sorta how I read Sam and Fuzzy and how he has a feature like that.

I prefer to hold a book in my hands, to physically turn the pages and to feel the textures of a book.

I have read short stories online, or poetry, but my eyes become strained very easily.

While I enjoy reading fiction on-line I'd have to agree with Lorri and a few others here that books are preferred, for me. It's the tactile immediacy of the experience that seems to be missing with on-line fiction.

With that said I write fiction on my weblog but tend to keep it short. I have a category called folktales which by their nature, as I've inverted them, are typically short. I think this helps write them and read them... But yeah, the short of it is I read and enjoy reading fiction on-line. Many times it's preferable to another regurgitated post about the topic de jour.

@ thesirdanny, how do you read full novels online? Through ebook software, blogs or fanfiction? I find it interesting, since I can't figure out how you can actually sit through and consume so many words on a screen. Doesn't it strain the eyes?

@troped, paper still trumps digital paper: no batteries. That said, if they can build digital paper that harnesses energy from *insert natural energy source like the sun or your skin or the wind* I might just buy a Sony Reader. ;P

As a writer who had his first book published as a result of online publications I would say that I'm definitely in favour of it! My website www.adammaxwell.com gets thousands of visits every month and I am an avid online reader.

I think the key is knowing your audience - I'm not sure many people could get a novel to work online but brief snippets work excellently. I'm even doing an experiment at the moment and have started podcasting stories. Even if people can't be bothered to read for a couple of minutes they can often be bothered to listen for a couple. The podcast has only been live for a few weeks and is already on iTunes and receiving subscribers.

In short I think reader like to have it all ways so why not cater to that?

I probably would never read fiction online, at least not anything of any substantial length. I only read nonfiction online currently, and even that, I do in small chunks. I just can't get real excited about sitting in front of a computer for hours to read a book.

I'm like LorriM that I'm not crazy about the idea of reading a book on a computer, or any electronic device. The idea of laying in bed holding an eBook reader doesn't do anything for me at all. I want a bulky book with pages. Gimme' that dead tree stuff.

Do I? No.

Will I? Not yet.

I can't read long peices on computer monitors. Even the great LCD's we've got nowadays. I don't know if it's a form of ADD or what, but read long works I need to sit down somewhere and look at something that's not backlit.

As the newer screen and digital ink technologies progress, I'm sure I'll find my spot, but I just can't do it yet. I can read comics, even long ones this way, but dense and lengthy prose bothers me on a comfort level.

I do support and am excited about the proliferation of real literature on the net though! I consume mine in podcasts at the moment (Escape Pod, Psuedopod.)

I prefer to read a book, because I like picking it up and taking it with me. I'm not opposed to reading on-line fiction, and used to read a lot of fan-fics. However, I don't like sitting in front of the computer for huge chunks of time. I have been thinking about picking up a Sony Reader, because storage space it starting to be an issue with books, but I'm not convinced I'd enjoy the reading experience offered.

I can't stomach the idea of reading fiction online. I've never been a short story type (I prefer 300-1000 page novels), and my eyeballs would spontaneously combust if I spent my off-hours scrolling through black-on-white computer text.

Not only do I read fiction online, I publish very short fiction online at 100 Proof Stories, as well. I probably spend much of my online fiction reading going after flash fiction or reading my favorite literary journals. One of my favorite sites is Very Small Dogs -- also a source of very short fiction that I find to be quite compelling.

I listen to fiction podcasts, too. Love the New Yorker fiction podcast and KEXP's The Writer's Block.