Chapter length?

[Tim Murray]

I've read many books with different chapter lengths, some short and some long. In the end, the story arc and writing style kept me interested.

What are the advantages/disadvantages of short vs longer, or does it fall into the personal preference category?

 

[The Judge]

Apologies to those who've heard me say it before (this isn't the first time the issue has cropped up...) but to me chapter lengths are just a form of structural punctuation for the novel -- long chapters are like long paragraphs with lots of involved sentences connected with commas and semi-colons; short chapters are like short, punchy sentences with full stops and never a semi-colon in sight.

Short chapters, ie to me 2k words or fewer, are good for pushing a story along such as in a thriller, or at exciting times. Long chapters allow for greater immersion in character detail without being continually interrupted, which are better for fantasy. But to my mind, there's a limit of about 7k words, and I'd personally split a chapter of that length into two, to ensure story momentum.

 

[tinkerdan]

We say you want to hook the reader and never give them a chance to fall out of the story. So that might argue for no chapters.

On the other hand I've heard readers complain or warn that "this novel" has 50 page chapters, as though that's a bad thing.
(Think bathroom breaks.[Do you want someone reading your book in there?])

My thought is that a chapter is as long as it needs to be and you can always shorten them by tightening your work and removing things that don't move the story along; but in the last analysis they still end up as long as they need to be.

Though it is possible to try to make them all the same size; which would probably send me into some sort of fit.

Still there are a few on-line authors who write sections of their continuing stories that are approximately the same length on a regular basis on their blog-websites.

I was almost going to balk at this:

But to my mind, there's a limit of about 7k words, and I'd personally split a chapter of that length into two, to ensure story momentum.

::but reason set in; and it just about fits when you do the math.

 

[HareBrain]

For me, a chapter should have at least one satisfying thing of consequence (ie important to character or plot, and ideally both) happening in it. Short chapters that don't have this tend to irritate me; it's like finding one course of your meal is just a pair of lettuce leaves. Apart from that, I don't much care what length they are, but I tend to range from 2k to 8k myself.

 

[ratsy]

My current book, they are ranging between 2 - 3,000 words. I may play with the starts and stops though after I'm done

 

[Jackie Bee]

I've never noticed the length of chapters in the books that I read. In my writing, I usually end up with 2k-3k words long chapters. I guess it's personal preference more than anything.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I tend toward 12-1800 but go down to 500 and up to 4000. It all depends what I'm trying to acheive.

 

[Heir]

As I'm writing YA and therefore read a fair amount of it, I notice the chapters are shorter than in adult. I'm comparing fantasy books here. Supposedly this is because teenagers have a short attention span (most people have short attention spans, it's just that teens tend to be more fickle), and so that's what publishers push for. That's not to say there aren't YA books with longer chapters, or adults books with shorter ones, but generally this is the case.

In my own writing, I always end up with 2-3k words on average, and I can normally tell when it's going to go more than that. I think the longest chapter I've written so far is 5-6k words, whereas one of my friends aims for at least 5k words per chapter. They end up with 20 or so chapters and I end up with 50. Even so, we both manage to open with a certain character and plot issue, and have resolved some aspect of it by the end of the chapter. In other words, there's no filler chapters, even if some of my chapters end up being only 1k words or less.

long chapters are like long paragraphs with lots of involved sentences connected with commas and semi-colons; short chapters are like short, punchy sentences with full stops and never a semi-colon in sight.

That's how I tend to write them. If I do a 'short' chapter, it's usually because I am focusing on something that needs its own space to be effective, but also doesn't need to be drawn out beyond reason.

 

[Juliana]

As a reader, I like chapters short enough that I can say, 'one more before bed'.

As a writer (of mostly children's novels), my chapters tend to fall between 1500-1800 for middle grade, and 1800-2200 for YA.
Also, I agree with this:

For me, a chapter should have at least one satisfying thing of consequence (ie important to character or plot, and ideally both) happening in it.

 

[Edward M. Grant]

I've had a wide variation. The last novel had chapters around 2,000 words each, the one before that averaged over 3,000. For the latest one, I've gone all Patterson, and made each scene a chapter. So they vary between 300 words and 5,000 words, and average about 1,000. I'm starting to like that approach, but I'll have to change the way I format the print version, as putting the first page of each chapter on the right side would leave too many pages blank.

Mostly, I've just been saying 'oh, there's a good cliffhanger, let's start another chapter'. Usually with a switch to a different character.

 

[StuartBurchell]

Jonathan Maberry's first chapter in Patient Zero is just thirty-three words long.

Some books have hundreds of chapters, others have few.

Some writers choose to have a chapter cover a scene or by a person's point of view.

At present I am trying to edit my story and I find my chapter breaks difficult and trying to find a similar length for them, but I'm making these chapter breaks artificial and un-natural.

Maybe I should go without chapters, just leaving a gap between scenes? I would like that approach and think readers would like to break their reading at such a convenient break than forge on to the end of a lengthy chapter when it's late at night and you need to get up in the morning to go to work.

Thoughts?

 

[Juliana]

Maybe I should go without chapters, just leaving a gap between scenes?

I think chapters are useful tools, even if just for conversation's sake: "Which chapter are you up to?" "Did you read that bit in chapter 7?"

Also, I think we're so used to chapters/TV episodes/little nudges to take a break and get up to pee that unless the author is writing something very literary and trying to be clever it might backfire horribly.

Why don't you try reading some of it out loud to get a feel for the natural rhythm of your prose?

 

[Glitch]

As a reader, I like chapters short enough that I can say, 'one more before bed'.

I rarely read before bed, but I do tend to read to chapter breaks. If I'm on a train I won't start the next chapter if I think I won't finish it before I have put the book down.

My current wip averages just under 1k chapters.

 

[LittleStar]

I certainly like breaks or short chapters if I'm reading before bed (which at the moment is where I read), I'll stop sooner than I would have if the next chapter is 30 pages long, but if there's a handy break in scene 10 pages in, then that's fine, I'll read a bit more.

I echo the 'how long it needs to be' idea as well as great advice from HB, that something needs to be furthered in every chapter.

I have been pondering this question of chapters myself for he last few days, and wonder what are people's takes on chapter breaks in the middle of a scene, a tv advertisment break for effect and suspense. Eg:-

*The baddy shows up to the dinner party and announces their taking all of the mash potatoes*

New chapter

*POV tells the baddy that the mash is for everyone to share, take the caviar instead, no one likes that*

Or should the whole scene be one chapter? I think I kinda lean on this side of the fence, but if thats the case we might be looking at some pretty long chapters

 

[ratsy]

Another thing of note. I seem to have a much easier time with chapter breaks with things in 3rd person. You stop a scene, switch POV's and do something else, knowing you will get back to the ol' cliffhanger. My new book is in 1st and I find it harder to actually find stops so often I just keep writing, and a couple days later I go back and look for a sensible chapter break.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

As a reader I don't really care to be honest but I'm a fast reader and can get through a book in 2-4 hours (bit longer if the kids think it's my job to feed them or do other motherly stuff).

As a writer I tend to aim to tell a story in a chapter. Once that story is ended the chapter has ended. A normal chapter is 2-3000 but I have ones as short as 400-600 words and I had one 9,000 chapter I split in two.

I do consider how much an average reader can fit in during that 30 minutes- 1 hour before bed to try and leave it at a nice place but not everyone is an average reader.

On the other hand I've heard readers complain or warn that "this novel" has 50 page chapters, as though that's a bad thing.
(Think bathroom breaks.[Do you want someone reading your book in there?])

I thought that was what bathroom breaks were for

 

[Juliana]

I thought that was what bathroom breaks were for

They are if you have kids and need some precious reading 'alone time'!

 

[tinkerdan]

Okay,then: complementary hand sanitizer with each signed copy of the book.

 

[Loren]

I think 3K words is an accepted average, but if you try to parcel your book into neat little squares like that I am sure it will suffer.

I have a couple of chapters that are not much longer than 1 page long. They are specific points to be made in the novel and those points are concise. Conversely, I have another that is 14K long, but I expect to parse that down to at least half of that, very soon.

 

[PartialMitch]

I tend to feel (both as a writer and a reader) that chapter length should be all about pacing. If a chapter is long, but the narrative pulls you forward, then it's nothing to worry about—especially during a climax of some sort. Of course, some authors forgo the chapter-based framework entirely.

Terry Pratchett is possibly the most notable example. He once said something along the lines of (paraphrasing, it's been a while since I read that interview), "life doesn't happen in chapters and Homer didn't use them."