How many chapters is normal?

redsun28 · Aug 1, 2008

I know this is an idiotic question because each novel has a different number of chapters, depending on the author's taste. I was just wondering what seems like the normal (or more like average) number of chapters that are in young adult novels?

I am currently writing a novel and it only has 9 chapters. (not sure about the number of pages because I haven't finished. I only have 9 chapters planned). Does 9 seem a little short? Most books I read are around 20+ chapters...

Mr Flibble · Aug 2, 2008

Some novels only have the one chapter

Whatever feels natural, whatever works best.

9 or 900.

smoothseas · Aug 2, 2008

Shorter chapters make for faster pacing.

If I was targeting a specific publisher(s) I'd check what they currently had in print, average out, and plan from there.

roncouch · Aug 2, 2008

redsun28 said:
I know this is an idiotic question because each novel has a different number of chapters, depending on the author's taste. I was just wondering what seems like the normal (or more like average) number of chapters that are in young adult novels?

I am currently writing a novel and it only has 9 chapters. (not sure about the number of pages because I haven't finished. I only have 9 chapters planned). Does 9 seem a little short? Most books I read are around 20+ chapters...

Whether it's young or "old" adult novels, the content is more important than the total number of chapters. Many of my chapters are two-three pages long. Some publishers want and expect fiction, for example, to be 60 to 70 k words. Just keep writing! Good luck!

sunnyxlove · Aug 2, 2008

I normally write 15 chapters, but like stated above, it doesn't matter about the number of pages/chapters, but the content. For example, you can also have a classic book that is short (like the Great Gatsby)

roncouch said:
Some publishers want and expect fiction, for example, to be 60 to 70 k words. Just keep writing! Good luck!

sorry if this is a newbie question, but what is 70 k words?

Bufty · Aug 2, 2008

There is no 'normal'.

Why did you break after each of those 9 chapters?

Folk who read in bed usually close the book after a chapter. Chapters often end on a cliffhanger or just before or after an exciting moment - to encourage the reader to pick it up again and read the next chapter.

Seaclusion2 · Aug 2, 2008

My last completed novel had 28 chapters (83,000 wds), but it was a piece of garbage.

Richard

Bufty · Aug 2, 2008

The content, not the length, of a Chapter controls the pacing.

smoothseas said:
Shorter chapters make for faster pacing.

If I was targeting a specific publisher(s) I'd check what they currently had in print, average out, and plan from there.

willfulone · Aug 2, 2008

I wonder sometimes if chapter breaks are really necessary or if a chapter has run too long and I should have done a break sooner. Sometimes the "feel" for a break, as suggested above, does not hit me. Of course, sometimes it is obvious. But sometimes I am stuck when it seems like a transition that requires a break in chapter, but said break may be "soft" to me and I waver over the "Enter page break." I guess this is a peril of not having an outline.

To OP:

Did you outline for 9 chapters? It seems (to me) that you are saying it is 9 chapters long and you have not finished yet, thus you determined 9 to be the limit or the goal. If that works and the story fits, your book will be 9 chapters. If you continue writing, you may end up with 10 or 11 or whatever at the end. The posters above mentioned it is based on content (I believe so too, just cannot find content breaks sometimes myself on soft transitions). Thus, you may or may not end up with 9 at the end of your writing.

Orchid · Aug 3, 2008

redsun28 said:
Does 9 seem a little short? Most books I read are around 20+ chapters...

sunnyxlove said:
9 doesn't seem extremly short. The length of chapters vary between novels, so it could be that rather than have 20 shorter chapters, you have 9 longer chapters. Word count is more important in deciding whether the novel is too short.

sunnyxlove said:

sorry if this is a newbie question, but what is 70 k words?

Click to expand...

70 k is 70,000 words. 'K' is slang for thousand.

JJ Cooper · Aug 3, 2008

My first thriller has 50 chapters in a total of 80K (80,000 words).

As long as each chapter has a beginning, middle and end and what Bufty said:

Folk who read in bed usually close the book after a chapter. Chapters often end on a cliffhanger or just before or after an exciting moment - to encourage the reader to pick it up again and read the next chapter.

JJ

Jill · Aug 3, 2008

Chapter should end with a hook. How many times have you laid in bed at night thinking, 'I'll turn the light off when I get to the end of this chapter' only to find that you are hooked into the next.
I've had a varying number of chapters in my books with an average of 22 but the wip already has 18 and I'm only 40k down with a proposed finished length of 100k or more. I could end up with 100 chapters at this rate!

Bufty · Aug 3, 2008

I do hope if anyone with me is getting laid in bed they're not thinking about turning the page to get to the next chapter! :snoopy:

.....How many times have you laid in bed at night thinking, 'I'll turn the light off when I get to the end of this chapter' ...

stuckupmyownera · Aug 3, 2008

My husband insists that chapters should be short enough to read on the toilet. :ROFL:

Harper K · Aug 3, 2008

I just picked up the two YA novels nearest to me (both of them published this year) and checked for their chapter counts:

Siobhan Vivian's A Little Friendly Advice - 37 short chapters
Daphne Grab's Alive and Well in Prague, New York - 14 longer chapters

Both novels look to have a similar wordcount. (Alive and Well has more pages, but the font size is bigger.)

So there's some variation, but I've noticed that the trend in YA tends toward short chapters. I remember Laurie Halse Anderson's Twisted had something like 60-odd chapters over the course of a 200-page book. Personally, I'm wearing a little on the super-short chapters, but they do make it easy to find a good stopping place when you don't have the time to sit down and read the whole book.

Lucca · Aug 4, 2008

It's not YA, but Dan Brown's Davinci Code has over a hundred chapters...and it's not a super thick book.

I just revised my MS (100,000 words) from 20 chapters to 55.... the chapters were feeling a little too long and I wanted to try to end chapters with a "hook," to keep the reader going, like Jill mentioned.

BUT, I'm not sure that number of chapters is a make or break deal for agents, editors, or publishers. It just seems to me like it would be a pretty easy revision to adjust the number of chapters/chapter breaks, right?

Telstar · Aug 5, 2008

Lots of good advice here.

Personally i like 5-15 pages chapters, i.e. not too long. I recently split one chapter of my current WIP because it became big as much as two average chapters. Feels easier to read but one part is a bit weak at the end (i.e. not a cliffhanger or a strong ending anyway).

roncouch · Aug 5, 2008

sunnyxlove said:
I normally write 15 chapters, but like stated above, it doesn't matter about the number of pages/chapters, but the content. For example, you can also have a classic book that is short (like the Great Gatsby)

sorry if this is a newbie question, but what is 70 k words?

70,000 words

maestrowork · Aug 5, 2008

My first novel has 38 chapters. 70,000 words.

I have no idea how many chapters my WIP has. Probably at least 30.

Each chapter should be a unit -- beginning, middle, end. It can have different scenes, with different POV characters, but it has to be a logical unit, whether plot-wise or based on themes. And preferably the end of the chapter would make the readers want to flip the page, even if they had wanted to go to bed after reading that chapter!

cara k · Aug 5, 2008

I don't even worry about the number of chapters until after I've finished the WIP. I put in page breaks throughout, then at the end, go back and decide which breaks should become new chapters. Don't worry about your number of chapters right now. Just write!

--Cara K

Manderley · Aug 6, 2008

I've just read "The Weekend Novelist" and the authors of that one seem to think that all novels have - or ought to have - 20 chapters. Of course, these guys also suggest you learn writing by watching a film adaptation of Jane Eyre, instead of, you know, reading the novel the adaptation is based on ... :crazy:

maestrowork · Aug 6, 2008

Is the "weekend novelist" synonymous to "amateur novelist"?

Manderley · Aug 6, 2008

maestrowork said:
Is the "weekend novelist" synonymous to "amateur novelist"?

Hehe, pretty much, yeah. I bough it for the chapter on symbols, but I could hardly make it through it. I've never seen so many references to films and t shows in a book about novel writing before, I actually had to take a second look at the cover just to make sure it said 'Weekend novelist', not 'weekend screenwriter'.

Charlie Horse · Aug 6, 2008

Manderley said:
I've just read "The Weekend Novelist" and the authors of that one seem to think that all novels have - or ought to have - 20 chapters. Of course, these guys also suggest you learn writing by watching a film adaptation of Jane Eyre, instead of, you know, reading the novel the adaptation is based on ...

Weekend novelist. :roll:

Yeah, and you can learn how to play piano in two hours.

kct webber · Aug 6, 2008

My last novel has 53 chapters--including the epilogue. I don't know what's normal.

How many chapters is normal?

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