I was just talking to one of the directors at my school. She is a published author (nonfiction). On Friday, she told me that her editor told her to keep her chapters around 3500 words.
After taking part in trigger challenge #3--which is not my first 500-word-max writing challenge--I find that 500 words in a scene is a decent number. Just long enough to set the stage, introduce a character, and surprise the reader. After looking at a file for my first book, I average 500 words per scene, unless there is action. Action scenes exceed 1000 words. My first is 1494 words.
Anyway... my concern: I get carried away and don't break chapters enough. So, my question: is there a general rule of thumb regarding chapter length? Or in plainer terms:
How long should a chapter be?
After taking part in trigger challenge #3--which is not my first 500-word-max writing challenge--I find that 500 words in a scene is a decent number. Just long enough to set the stage, introduce a character, and surprise the reader. After looking at a file for my first book, I average 500 words per scene, unless there is action. Action scenes exceed 1000 words. My first is 1494 words.
Anyway... my concern: I get carried away and don't break chapters enough. So, my question: is there a general rule of thumb regarding chapter length? Or in plainer terms:
How long should a chapter be?
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