Do You Prefer Shorter or Longer Chapters?

[Demesnedenoir]

Which explains why I've never met that book, LOL. I read a page or two in an Amazon sample out of curiosity... that was plenty.

One author comes to mind: James Patterson.

 

[Rkcapps]

I've found I'm an under-writer. I tend to set a goal of 2200 word chapters on first go. They increase to 2500-3000 after going via my critique partners and I expect them to increase again after an editor sees it. This is my first fantasy. I tend to only write 1-2 scenes per chapter (that works best for me - trust yourself. What entertains you? What will make you turn a page? When is that?). I choose the scenes that make up a chapter based on the story. Basically, I'll play out what needs to happen in a scene i.e. whether it's a proactive scene or reactive scene/sentence/paragraph (depends what is appropriate). Whatever needs to happen, however long is necessary, that's how long a chapter is.

Scrivener is fantastic for moving scenes/chapters around. And it's always easier to decide what best suits your story after you finish and can look at the bigger picture.

 

[Chessie2]

I keep my chapters within 1-3k. This is entirely because of the genre I write in and the length of chapters in similar books. How do I gauge a chapter? Intuition. Length varies depending on what feels right in continuously releasing information to the reader. Sometimes I need a few thousand more words, sometimes I need less. Also depends on plot point(s) and what is getting hit in each chapter. I rarely move chapters around once they are written though. If something feels off, I delete all of it and start again from where the problem is. I have to write linear or else I can't finish, so the chapter lengths reflect this quirk.

 

[Laurence]

I've found I'm an under-writer. I tend to set a goal of 2200 word chapters on first go. They increase to 2500-3000 after going via my critique partners and I expect them to increase again after an editor sees it. This is my first fantasy. I tend to only write 1-2 scenes per chapter (that works best for me - trust yourself. What entertains you? What will make you turn a page? When is that?). I choose the scenes that make up a chapter based on the story. Basically, I'll play out what needs to happen in a scene i.e. whether it's a proactive scene or reactive scene/sentence/paragraph (depends what is appropriate). Whatever needs to happen, however long is necessary, that's how long a chapter is.

Scrivener is fantastic for moving scenes/chapters around. And it's always easier to decide what best suits your story after you finish and can look at the bigger picture.

I appear to be an underwriter too. Seems like a much bigger issue than being an over writer, though at least I know everything that needs to be in is in...is adding more and more world building stuff around that bad practise?

Scrivener's my boy for life but the ease of use also makes me much more prone to re-editing the same parts over and over.

I keep my chapters within 1-3k. This is entirely because of the genre I write in and the length of chapters in similar books. How do I gauge a chapter? Intuition. Length varies depending on what feels right in continuously releasing information to the reader. Sometimes I need a few thousand more words, sometimes I need less. Also depends on plot point(s) and what is getting hit in each chapter. I rarely move chapters around once they are written though. If something feels off, I delete all of it and start again from where the problem is. I have to write linear or else I can't finish, so the chapter lengths reflect this quirk.

What genre is that may I ask? Linear just feels right to me too, since the story is being told in a linear fashion. I want to be thinking as much like my readers as possible.

 

[Chessie2]

I appear to be an underwriter too. Seems like a much bigger issue than being an over writer, though at least I know everything that needs to be in is in...is adding more and more world building stuff around that bad practise?

Scrivener's my boy for life but the ease of use also makes me much more prone to re-editing the same parts over and over.



What genre is that may I ask? Linear just feels right to me too, since the story is being told in a linear fashion. I want to be thinking as much like my readers as possible.

I write mostly historical romance now although I am working on an elven romance. So, romance.