The Storyboard Forum As a Reader...

I often prefer to read rhyming poems that  flow well, but I'll read free form only if it has a good theme or some kind of repetition. As for stories, the length doesn't matter much to me. If it catches my attention early on, I don't mind reading a whole lot, I probably don't even notice it. Some stories, however, only need to carry on for so long, and some stories are just meant to be shorter. Hope this helps your curiosity :)

With poetry, I have to go with the rhyming style.  Granted, I've read a lot of bad poetry that rhymes, and I've read some good non-rhyming poetry.  Unfortunately, I tried my hand at poetry in college, and this is in the early '90s, mind you, (grunge music, non-linear, non rhyming poetry good!) so non-rhyming poetry just reminds me of all the horrendous refuse I polluted my class notebooks with.  Therefore, gotta go with the rhymes.  Call me jaded.

As for stories, definitely long, full length, all skeletons exposed stories.  I tried to get into the short story. Hell, my first favorite author was Stephen King.  But, once I finally got into it, it was over. What a gyp.  Plus, more than half the time, when you're reading a short story, all you're getting is an outline or a taste of what the author is planning for a full length novel.