Chapters?

[Ireth]

Not a what-should-I-do topic so much as a want-to-know-what-you-guys-do. How long do you typically make your story chapters?

I typically aim for around 20 pages each, though they can be as short as 15 or as long as 25. I've also taken to typing up my stories in typical "manuscript format": double-spaced 12-point Courier New on standard 8.5"x11" pages with 1" margins. Your answers could be quite different depending on fonts and page formats. Care to share?

 

[Steerpike]

Mine are wholly dependent on how long it takes to accomplish what I want in the Chapter. In some cases, they may be long, and others may be quite short. I've noticed more authors recently foregoing chapters all together, and maybe that trend will increase as eBooks become a greater share of the market.

When I'm reading, I don't really have a preference - chapters of more or less consistent word length or chapters based on what the author wants to get across and how much space that takes. Either one works for me.

 

[Mindfire]

There's no preset chapter length for me. I just go until I feel that the current segment has reached a logical stopping point. 15-25 page chapters are rare for me actually. I tend to handle the action in short bursts. 13 pages is the longest chapter length I can recall writing. And I've written chapters as short as 2-4 pages- double spaced.

 

[bbeams32]

My chapters usually are based on the content I wish to present in the chapter, but in the book I just finished, i was pushing 5000-6000 words per chapter on average. In my current work in progress, I am striving to break chapters into smaller segments, though.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

The chapters in my WIP are 3k-6k words. The later chapters tend to be a bit longer, in the 4.5-6k range, whereas several of the earlier chapters are in the 3k-5k range.

I don't count chapters by page length because that can vary based on layout. If someone really wants to know how many pages they'd be in standard manuscript format, I could calculate that if I needed to, but since I'm planning on self-e-publishing this, there's not really any reason to, so I stick with word counts.

 

[Phin Scardaw]

mine is 9 1/2 inches...
oh wait, what are we talking about???

i think that modern readers respond more to shorter chapters, because attention spans are shorter and film has tempered us to expect a lot to come in little packages.

I wrote single-spaced chapters at about 10 to 12 pages a chapter in a standard Word document. That seemed a good decent length...

the most important thing to do is try to keep some consistency within the piece you're writing. short chapters followed by super long ones might throw the rhythm of.

 

[Penpilot]

Usually my chapters tend to be around 2500 words, but some are as short as 1000 words or as long as 4000. I find that if it's any longer, I'll try to split it.

 

[Mindfire]

mine is 9 1/2 inches...
oh wait, what are we talking about???

i think that modern readers respond more to shorter chapters, because attention spans are shorter and film has tempered us to expect a lot to come in little packages.

I wrote single-spaced chapters at about 10 to 12 pages a chapter in a standard Word document. That seemed a good decent length...

the most important thing to do is try to keep some consistency within the piece you're writing. short chapters followed by super long ones might throw the rhythm of.

Classy. lol

 

[Caged Maiden]

I really like to end some chapters with a sort of cliff-hanger so people want to turn the page, and others I just want with a nice tidy ending. That being said, I tend to think that if every chapter is ending, "and then they all went to bed for the night," it is lazy, and I would push past that part and into something more interesting even if my word# or page# goal was already met.

 

[Caged Maiden]

LOL @ Phin. How did I not see that before I responded for real?

This gives me a whole new idea for a thread.... better keep my wicked thoughts to myself. Thanks for lightening the athmos!

 

[Rullenzar]

Good question, being new to the game I wouldn't know but Steerpike brings up some good points. Some advice I have gotten is once your done getting your point across for that chapter don't go back and try to add more just for lengths sake because then you might start info dumping or over explaining something. However, if you go back and find you have ideas of new things you could add in then go for it.

 

[TWErvin2]

For me it depends on the content needed for the chapter. 1500 to 5000 words roughly.

But there is not official correct or incorrect length or pattern of length for chapters. Write and use what's appropriate for the project.

 

[Amanita]

Mine are between 4000 and 5000 words at the moment, but I'm not sure if they will keep that way. Usually, I have an ending for the chapter in mind and stop when I've reached it. Sometimes I split them if they're getting too long.
As a reader, I like a medium lenght. If the chapters are too short, it's harder to get into the story, if they're too long it's harder to pick the book up again if there's no "only one chapter, that doesn't take long". If the book is good, it will usually be more in the end. I have no idea how many words these kind of chapters have however. About seven "book pages" as a minimum and twenty as a maximum.

 

[Kristina.Fugate]

The chapters in my first book ran between 1500 and 2000 words, while the chapters in my second book were usually 2000-3500. I don't really aim for any set length, though--it's all about how long it takes me to present the information I need to give.

My only real rule is not going over 6000 words. Any longer than that, and I start looking for a place to split it up.

 

[The Din]

In my current NIP my chapters vary from 500-6500. A big part of this is due to juggling two POVs whilst keeping events in chronological order, there's nothing worse than changing POVs only to discover you've also somehow traveled back in time, imo. Long as something important to the story happens, a chapter can be as long or short as you like, though better to run one a bit longer than end a chapter halfway through a battle/steamy sex scene.

 

[kadenaz]

I use to do it like this: my story runs on two levels (because there are two protagonists). When a chapter is almost satisfying and you have a surprise going on, you cut the surprise, so readers will have to get to other chapters to know how a situation ended.

 

[Phin Scardaw]

LOL @ Phin. How did I not see that before I responded for real?

This gives me a whole new idea for a thread.... better keep my wicked thoughts to myself. Thanks for lightening the athmos!

What???

I was just talking about my margins!

;-)

 

[Poppy]

Not a what-should-I-do topic so much as a want-to-know-what-you-guys-do. How long do you typically make your story chapters?

I typically aim for around 20 pages each, though they can be as short as 15 or as long as 25. I've also taken to typing up my stories in typical "manuscript format": double-spaced 12-point Courier New on standard 8.5"x11" pages with 1" margins. Your answers could be quite different depending on fonts and page formats. Care to share?

Well I went out and bought every Harry Potter book and made a judgement of chapter length based on those.