The length is to keep things readable. I know I have problems reading several pages of text on the computer if it isn't broken up somehow. You can always post your story in parts and then go back into the comments area and post the link to the next part in it. I'm pretty sure the image requirement was to keep the programming changes relatively simple for the Writers' Gallery. (Poor Tommy had a lot to do as it was.) I'll see about posting a 100x100 blank gif tomorrow so people can use that. It will offset the first paragraph or so by a bit, but it is one solution. Another solution is to make a fancy first letter of the story as the graphic like Medieval texts did. Cheers!