How many chapters are enjoyable for a YA book?

Writer’s_Magic · Jul 3, 2018

I don’t know if you’re this kind of writer, too. But I’m the outliner/plotter. I got the flaw that I’m planning everything until I write. And that means how many chapters I’ll write, too. My genre—for this book!— is gonna to be YA. So, how many chapters are ok and enjoyable for my readers? Do you have any tip?

Skybreaker Sin K'al · Jul 3, 2018

I'm not sure; maybe its better to put it in terms of words, instead, given as there are some YA books where chapters last, like, 2 pages.

Writer’s_Magic · Jul 3, 2018

Skybreaker Sin K'al Huh? Sorry, I don’t understand it. What do you mean exactly by this?

Heliotrope · Jul 3, 2018

Mythic Scribes, why are words cut off on the left margin?

Heliotrope · Jul 3, 2018

YA is wide open. But the a average for fans is 80,000 to 120,000 words. Of course that is average. Less is fine.

Break if up into how ever many chapters you need.

Devor · Jul 3, 2018

Heliotrope said: ↑

Mythic Scribes, why are words cut off on the left margin?
Click to expand...

Is this a bug report? If so you should start a new thread in Ask the Staff so that Black Dragon will see it. The rest of us have limited ability to help with tech support.

Penpilot · Jul 3, 2018

I'm a pantser at heart, but I learned to outline, so I'm sort of a hybrid. I outline my plot, but other than basic motivations, I discover write my characters. My outlines lay out every scene from beginning to end. But the outline is constantly in flux. The story takes as long as it takes, and what's enjoyable isn't the number of chapters, but the quality of the story.

If the story is an exciting and engaging read from beginning to end, it could be 100 chapters and feel like 10. If the story is a miserable read, it could be 10 chapters and feel like 100.

Heliotrope · Jul 3, 2018

Devor said: ↑

Is this a bug report? If so you should start a new thread in Ask the Staff so that Black Dragon will see it. The rest of us have limited ability to help with tech support.
Click to expand...

Seems to be fixed now.

DragonOfTheAerie · Jul 3, 2018

Chapters can be super short or super long. The world count of the total book is more helpful to think about.

In YA, most articles tend to estimate the length of YA books as a lot shorter than most YA i read actually is. Idk why. They're the same or similar in length to adult books very often, as far as I can tell. Articles put them as shorter. Again, no idea why

X Equestris · Jul 3, 2018

Number of chapters doesn't matter that much. Even within one book, chapters can vary quite a bit in length. I had one chapter hit 7500 words, and another at about 2500.

As Dragon said, word count is more helpful here.

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How many chapters are enjoyable for a YA book?

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