Chapter lengths?

[Blayze]

[


OK This question comes as a result of looking at the showcase guidelines. My impression is that Showcase is intended for snippets of stories, less than 4000 words at a time, or even only 1000 words. My first chunk of story is about 32500 words, so as I am going to have to break it up for review purposes, can anyone tell me what is an average chapter length?

Thanks

[Linqy]

Well, in the few starts I've made on novels my chapters vary from 10 pages to 17 for the one I'm working on currently...
(So yeah, I just posted the intro to my story in showcase, and that's only the first 3 pages.)

It all sort of depends on how many chapters you want to have in the end (I usually prefer books with a max of 20 chapters just for clarity) so I guess 10/20 pages is normal then..

Fun to see you're gonna post, I'll be sure to read and comment (if I have something useful to say XD)

[Blayze]

Might be an obvious question but roughly how many words/page? Thanks for your thoughts Linqy

[Linqy]

Well, I'm writing in Times New Roman 12pt. spaced at 1.5 lines (or something). And with that I average at about 500/600 words per page.

But keep in mind I'm a starter myself and have NO clue if this is a good standard

[The Blue Lotus]

IDK I have seen chapters that were two pages long, and others that were 50 pages... I guess that is up to you.

[mythique890]

When I write I aim for 3,000-4,000 word chapters, because I like to write a chapter at a time and that's about how far I can get in one sitting (if, by some miracle, I am uninterrupted).

I think I said this in another thread, and it's very possible I'm wrong, but I think it's considered standard for a manuscript to have about 250 words per page (Courier New or Courier Dark, 12pt, double spaced). Published works vary like crazy, so how many words per page you'll end up with in a printed format depends on the font, size, and spacing your publisher chooses.

Oh, and I agree with Blue Lotus. Dan Brown, for example, tends to have very, very short chapters. I can't think of an author with long chapters, but I know I've read some books that didn't have any. I kind of found that annoying because there weren't many natural stopping places and it was harder to keep track of where I was if I lost my place (page numbers and book marks make too much sense to use ).

[Blayze]

Thanks for the feedback, I guess I was just trying to work out how many pages I would get out of say 4000 words. Not important I know. I do think I will definitely use chapters, maybe 10 - 20 pages at a time which I gather i perhaps 2500-5000 words. I know when I read a book I normally try to finish a chapter when I need to stop reading, and for that reason I find very long chapters annoying.

[JCFarnham]

Mythique is absolutely correct about the standard manuscript format. If we go by that (250 words/page, 12pt Courier New, etc., etc.) and take it that the average chapter is around 20 pages in this format, you'll want to write about 5000 I guess.

Of course the better thing to do would be to break for a new chapter as per the tone of your book. In a thriller you may want to break at a particularly cliff-hanger-y point. In fact.. I would do that in any work of any genre. Your aim is to keep people reading and ending the chapter at such a point is by far the easiest way to do that.

If all else is too complicated, do what feels right to you. End your chapters where you would like the chapter to end if you were reading it. I mean you did say you dislike long chapters so ^^

[Angharad]

I don't think there is really an average chapter length. Some are very short, others very long. I'm finding that the chapters in my current WIP are on the short side, about 1100-1400 words. I'm not aiming for any particular length, that is just how they are turning out, coming to a natural stopping point.

[Rhëadïn]

I have the most radical suggestion of all! write and refine until you feel the chapter is complete.