New To This Format

#1
Hello, I'm a lurker who's decided to stop lurking and emerge into the light.

I joined this website back when it was just translations for Royal Road and a few other LitRPG stories, so it's been interesting to watch it transform into what it is now.

Anyway, I'd like to try writing something, but... I can't really figure out how to get started. Therefore, I have a questions.

COVER ART: Do I need it? What's the deal?

CHAPTER LENGTH: What's acceptable? I've seen incredibly short chapters as well as incredibly long ones, and I'd like to know what's preferred.

EDITING: Hypothetically, if I leave a massive plot hole sitting somewhere in Chapter 3 and don't realize it until I'm writing the big reveal in Chapter 24, can I go back and muck around without raising too many eyebrows? I assume there's at least a method to fix typos.

RE: New To This Format

#2
Hello! I'm not really that good at writing, and these are my honest thoughts on your topics, so I'll try my best to answer them.

Cover Art:

To start off, I believe that you do need the cover art. It makes your novel stand out more and gives it individuality. The cover art itself helps advertise your story for you. It helps bring in readers the more interesting it is. It also helps capture what type of genre your story will be. Like for example, some novels write about a person traveling to another world. Pretty standard right? But your cover art could convey what type of story the readers will be getting into. For instance, if the cover art of the story is gruesome, people know that they are walking into a type of dark novel with lots of death and mature content.

Chapter Length:

For the chapter lengths, everyone has their opinions on what is a short, medium or long chapter. From what I can see, shorter chapters with more frequent releases tend to bring in more readers. So really it depends on what you want to do. What I wanted to do was release shorter chapters at the beginning of my story, and then once a certain point was reached, increase the length of the chapters. This was mainly to see if there was anything I could improve on and see if I could get some feedback and suggestions.
P.S I think 1,600 words is a decent length for a chapter, but some could disagree.
P.P.S It seems like readers are more active in polls than commenting. Though this just might be for me. I dunno ¯\_(o-o)_/¯.

As for the massive plot hole part, you can go back to that chapter and edit the post. That could easily fix your plot hole problem. You could also add a reason for why you edited the chapter above. If people do notice, just let them know. There's no harm really in trying to patch up your story and fix some errors here and there.

Hope this helps!
I gotz these blankets and this thing right there.
*Points at novel* The Legendary Aegis

RE: New To This Format

#4
Hey, welcome to the light!

Cover Art:
I think it's important, especially with how the new site displays stories. I applaud you for not letting it become an obstacle to you, though. I didn't make one for my first story because of a lack of artistic friends, but you should try to make one if you can.

Chapter Length:
There's no perfect length, every reader has their own preference. When I write, I try to keep chapters around 2000-2500 words, but I'll break that rule if I need to. 3000+ words can feel more daunting to edit and it's harder to read in one sitting as well.

Editing:
Unless you tell them otherwise, RRL readers should expect that your story is a work in progress. I think it's a good idea to edit and improve your chapters after posting them. Even if your current readers won't reread them.

Extra:
If you've submitted your fiction, then add a link to it in your signature. It's free advertising every time you post something!
To do this, open your control panel in the top right, go to 'user account' -> 'change signature'. Type in the name of your story, and maybe a short description, then highlight the name, click the link button and use your fiction page's url.
We Don't Want to be Main Characters!
A comedy featuring every trope I could find and some that I make up. - Hiatus.

After I Lost to the Demon King
A short story about a washed-up adventurer.

https://www.nodiatis.com/pub/21.jpg