Chapter Length

[Malik]

I change my chapter lengths as the action increases. Toward the end, as many things are happening simultaneously in different places, I have some chapters that are less than a hundred words long.

 

[BWFoster78]

I don't shift PoV at all in my story and so far I've only started a new chapter where I felt that a significant enough amount of time has passed since the previous scene - like between days or after a long trip or something along those lines.

Every thread about chapters on this site that I've read basically states that you can break up chapters however you like. My editor, interestingly enough, has a different opinion. She says that, "a chapter is a single unit of tension."

 

[Steerpike]

Every thread about chapters on this site that I've read basically states that you can break up chapters however you like. My editor, interestingly enough, has a different opinion. She says that, "a chapter is a single unit of tension."

All you have to do is look through any number of published books, whether in fantasy or otherwise, to see that your editor's definition is too restrictive. Some authors take the approach your editor suggests; many others do not. I see more of your editor's approach outside of fantasy than within it.

 

[Philip Overby]

Maybe I haven't paid enough attention to every single novel I read, but I find the books I enjoy the most end chapters with some sort of built up of tension so the reader will want to read the next chapter. A hook or tease of some sort. If every chapter just ends with nothing of major significance happening, or just abruptly ends, it may lead me to go read something else. I've had to work on this myself in my writing as I've heard in some of my chapters it feels like nothing is happening. I know not every chapter has to be super action packed, but I do believe it needs to have tension that builds throughout. This is in my own case. I'm not suggesting every novel should follow this standard.

I tend to think that genre fiction often follows certain conventions because readers like to have something somewhat familiar in the format and structure of what they're reading. Sure, it can veer off the path sometimes, but I'm struggling to think of a novel that I enjoyed that just ended chapters whenever the writer felt like it.

 

[BWFoster78]

All you have to do is look through any number of published books, whether in fantasy or otherwise, to see that your editor's definition is too restrictive. Some authors take the approach your editor suggests; many others do not. I see more of your editor's approach outside of fantasy than within it.

You know me - I've never met a rule I didn't like

Speaking of which, I went back and found her actual quote, and it was, "a single unit of conflict," not tension as I originally wrote. I don't think that matters a whole heckavalot, but I wanted to be accurate.

Seriously, though, I've found that the advice caused me to focus each chapter around a central theme of a particular conflict. Not saying that everyone should do so, but I like, so far, how it has transformed the way I'm telling my story.

 

[Steerpike]

You know me - I've never met a rule I didn't like

Speaking of which, I went back and found her actual quote, and it was, "a single unit of conflict," not tension as I originally wrote. I don't think that matters a whole heckavalot, but I wanted to be accurate.

Seriously, though, I've found that the advice caused me to focus each chapter around a central theme of a particular conflict. Not saying that everyone should do so, but I like, so far, how it has transformed the way I'm telling my story.

I don't think it is a bad approach at all. I see more of it in thrillers than in fantasy. In a way, it's too bad you don't like detective-type novels, because with respect to this approach to chapters and a lot of the others approaches to writing you advocate, two of my favorite authors - Michael Connelly and Robert Crais - have pretty much perfected it and hit it out of the park time and again.

I think the approach would also work well with fantasy, or really with any genre, but I don't see it that often in fantasy works.

 

[Caged Maiden]

In first drafts, chapters are whenever I feel the story calls for it, for example, when a scene ends or a new one begins. In my current novel, though, I make each chapter a day. A day may have one POV or it may have three, but it's a given amount of time, from wherever the first event of a day begins, to the end of that last scene (sometimes stretching a little after midnight). I actually enjoy how it turns out that a lot of the tense scenes occur at night, therefore, I have a great opportunity to close in the middle of a scene and finish the scene (beginning at midnight) in the next chapter.

I keep my chapters as close to 3000-3500 words as possible, because I thought it was important to keep some kind of consistency. That being said, there are some which naturally fell outside my aim, and I left them as I needed them to be written. Chapter title list:

1. Vendetta (Revenge) 4128
2. Dono del Cielo (Gift of the Sky) 2941
3. Inchiostro e Ceneri (Ink and Ash) 3605
4. Marchio del Tradimento (Marks of Betrayal) 3390
5. Odore di Ratto (Smells Like a Rat) 3925
6. Lettera senza Firma (Letter with no Signature) 3147
7. Pallido Corvo (Pale Ravens) 3060
8. Morte nella Notte (Death in the Night) 3242
9. Il Casetta con una Fregatura (Cottage with a Catch) 3625
10. Anime Inquiete (Restless Souls) 2989
11. Seconda Impressione (Second Impression) 3422
12. Una Rosa Legata in Ferro (A Rose Bound in Iron) 3523
13. Invisibilità (Invisibility) 3055
14. Il Anatra Deludente (The Disappointing Duck) 3532
15. Una Gabbia Lussuosa (A Lavish Cage) 3153
16. Rivelazioni Ubriaco (Drunken Revelations) 2939
17. Generosità (Generosity) 3567
18. Anticipazione (Anticipation) 3191
19. Dono Inestimabili (Priceless Gifts) 3885
20. Delusione (Disappointment) 3844
21. Sospetto (Suspicion) 2975
22. Il Cacciatore (The Hunter) 3488
23. Prove Inconfutabili (Irrefutable Proof) 2814
24. Il Battesimo del Fuoco (Baptism by Fire) 3589
25. Bei sogni (Beautiful Dreams) 3290
26. Nobiltà (Nobility) 3231
27. Ballo Formale (Ball) 4243
28. Dolorosa Onestà (Painful Honesty) 3973
29. Macchia di Sangue (Bloodstains) 3325

 

[AnneL]

In my WIP, my shortest chapters are about 4 K and my longest clocks in at over 9K, but I think I average about 6-7 K. I generally try to keep them consistent with each other in length and to not have more than 3 or 4 scenes in each chapter. They get shorter toward the end. I switch POV at chapter breaks, and I try to mix up the order of the POV a little so it doesn't get too predictable as to who's up next. However, I find that I sometimes force myself to write stuff to get a consistent chapter, which is not helpful, and in my next project I'm going to try using more short chapters. I do like to end the early ones as more complete rather than total cliffhanger, and then move toward cliffhangers as the book progresses.

What I really struggle with is ending scenes, chapter ending or not, with something more interesting than someone leaving the room, arriving somewhere, going to bed, etc -- in othere words, not with the things that are natural transitions in our daily lives.

 

[Xitra_Blud]

My chapter lengths vary too much. Most of my chapter are short though I guess around 3,000 words. I definitely like reading short chapters, too. It's the only thing my attention span will allow.

 

[HUnewearl Shiro]

My current piece is holding around 2400-2500 per chapter, though some of my other, less important pieces are 1500 per chapter or thereabouts.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

I find myself liking shorter chapters more and more. Of course, I like fast pace without a lot of description, so...

My chapters are averaging in the 1000-2000 word range.

Glad I'm not the only one.

My prologue is 1300 words and my first chapter is 2000. I thought I'd aim for 3500-word chapters, but as I was writing I asked myself, "Am I setting the scene, or delaying the action for the sake of word-count?" I'm writing in first-person present, so there really can't be too much description if the character narrates what she is thinking. I think I did a decent job building to the action with the length I ended up with, but if I make a significant revision, the chapter will likely become shorter.

It's likely that my chapters will average 1500 words. Maybe some will be over 2000 later in the story, but I won't panic if I remain in the 1-2K range.

 

[wordwalker]

Another advantage of short chapters is that longer scenes can become multiple chapters, with a chapter break for punctuation.

Which means if you have an extended scene, the reader starts to see that chapter length gives him no clue how soon the scene is going to resolve. It could just keep chaining chapters together and pile twist on top of twist until the reader's so keyed up that--

Well, my writing's all about suspense, but I've never been that ruthless.