Quick opinion on Chapter word count

PGK · Mar 24, 2010

My chapters have always run naturally about 3.5-4,000 words each. I don't purposefully hold them to that standard it just seems to happen that way. The last chapter I finished, however, runs 13,000 words in length and I was wondering if that would stand out to a reader or not. It's really not that big of a deal for me as a writer, but as a reader I've noticed that I tend to feel overwhelmed if chapters start running longer than usual. If it's just me I'll leave it be and move on, otherwise I'll have to look into some sort of artificial chapter break to split it up.

Thanks.

Sevilla · Mar 24, 2010

It will stand out if that's the chapter the reader is in the middle of come bedtime

But does it matter? To the reader - probably not so much. Nobody's going to toss a book or badmouth it to friends because it had one long chapter.

I couldn't say what an agent or publisher would think about it.

And wow, you write long chapters. Most of mine are around 1500-2500 words.

third person · Mar 24, 2010

Was there a question here? And why would you not be true to your own work? Don't put an artificial anything in there. If your chapter FEELS right at 13,000 words, then that's right for your WIP.

CarlP · Mar 24, 2010

Chapter length has an impact on pacing, and pacing is important. If a chapter is too long, it can encourage readers to skim to get to the end. It's just human nature. Take a close look to make sure it really needs to be that long.

donroc · Mar 24, 2010

My chapter length can vary from three ms pages Times Roman font 12 to six pages. Often for the longer chapters, I use the *** for a break in scenes.

In my horror novel, the first chapter was one ms page.

Lydia Sharp · Mar 24, 2010

All I can offer is my opinion. I don't feel there is any right or wrong answer to this. However, modern authors should recognize that their readers are busy. Extremely. Busy. So chapter length could very well be a factor in building a fan base.

I don't mind long chapters as long as there are frequent scene breaks. I'm a busy reader, and I don't like to leave a scene in the middle. If a chapter or scene feels like it's running too long, I will get frustrated with the whole thing, even if it's a good story. Makes no sense, I know, and it's really not fair, but that's what this busy world has turned us into.

You asked if it would be noticeable. YES. If I was reading a book that averaged ten or so pages per chapter and then, suddenly, I'm in the middle of something three times as long... you bet I'm going to notice. And unless that is the most intense part of the book (as in, it's the quickest reading prose EVER so I didn't notice I'd just blown through thirty pages in five minutes), it would frustrate me. Just being honest.

And again, that's only my opinion. It's your story. Only you can decide what will serve it best.

leahzero · Mar 24, 2010

Chapter length is generally irrelevant to me--scene length is what's important. When I stop reading, I have to end in between scenes, rather than in media res.

I find that scene length is more of a problem in short fiction, actually: there is a tendency in short stories to stretch out one or two long scenes as the bulk of the narrative. Or, sometimes, to refrain from using line breaks to transition from one scene to another, instead using prose as a transition.

This makes it difficult to read the work in small units, so I'll avoid such a story unless I know I can devote the time required to read it start to finish.

If your 13k-word chapter consists of one long scene, then yes, I think you should consider dividing it in some way. If it consists of multiple scenes, you're fine.

cate townsend · Mar 24, 2010

Lydia Sharp said:
It's your story. Only you can decide what will serve it best.

Good advice. I'm not sure what type of genre you are writing in (maybe there are unwritten rules for some?) but don't let it worry you too much now. You can always insert breaks later, after you have gotten it into a more finalized version.

In my WIP, I didn't write chapters at all (only scene breaks), and decided that when I'm done, I'll go back and insert chapter breaks where I feel they should be. Some people can't write that way, though. Again, heed the above advice.

As for reading, truthfully? I barely notice chapter breaks.

Gillhoughly · Mar 24, 2010

third person said:
Was there a question here? And why would you not be true to your own work? Don't put an artificial anything in there. If your chapter FEELS right at 13,000 words, then that's right for your WIP.

What third person said.

I've had 2K word chapters and 15K word chapters.

One of my friends writes straight through and puts in chapter breaks afterward.

I've read books with no chapters at all, just scene breaks. All valid.

I usually pace them with 2-3 major plot points per chapter, unless it's an important long scene, then the whole chapter focuses on one issue. They run around 5-7K words.

Chapters are an old holdover from the penny-dreadful days when a writer would do a chapter a week for the newspaper, getting paid a chapter a word, ending on a cliffhanger so people would buy the next installment.

Now you know why Dickens and his pals wrote such ginormous books.

Feathers · Mar 24, 2010

CarlP said:
Chapter length has an impact on pacing, and pacing is important. If a chapter is too long, it can encourage readers to skim to get to the end. It's just human nature. Take a close look to make sure it really needs to be that long.

I agree with Carl. Also, I've had the experience as a reader where I've wondered "Is this chapter EVER going to end?" and then I start skimming, trying to find the important places so I can read them. It can wear you out for the chapters to come.

I'd try to break this up some if you can.

Caitlin Black · Mar 25, 2010

The only chapter that I ever thought was too long was in one of the "history" books by Tolkien (history of Middle-Earth... there's a lot of them). It ran to about 130 pages or so (memory - it could be different enough, but it was definitely over 100.) and I found I just stopped reading.

In fact, I never continued on with those histories. One day I'll get there...

Wayne K · Mar 25, 2010

My last book the chapters were 3-4 K, but the one I'm writing now is between 1-2 K. I didn't plan it that way--In fact I really don't think about it.

I could read a 17 K chapter, but you really need to keep my interest.

KTC · Mar 25, 2010

i make each chapter exactly the same length as my arm.

lucidzfl · Mar 25, 2010

This is an interesting question...

I used to only write 1250-1500 word chapters. I actually like writing page turners, and the idea of a 4 or 5 page chapter sounds good. Easy to read, and fall asleep after.

However, in my newest WIP, I discovered that when I got to that 1250-1500 word mark, I'd throw in a purposeful cliffhanger, and end the chapter and sit back and say, sweet, another chapter done!

I think I was unduly cutting myself off. So now, I write until I'm done writing. There are plenty of places in the work where I can do chapter breaks, so I'll just add them later. So my "chapters" are basically when I started writing, and when I stopped. They run from 3000 words to 6000 words.

ChristineR · Mar 25, 2010

I'd split the long one up. I don't think it matters much how long your chapters are, but I feel they should be approximately the same lengths.

However, this is one of those things that an editor could change if she didn't like the way you did it, so I wouldn't worry too much about it now.

Sevilla · Mar 25, 2010

Now I'm wondering if I'm the only person who takes no notice of chapters when reading. TBH, I couldn't tell you for certain if the book I'm reading even has chapters (although it must, I know). I'm one of those oddies, though, who can, will, and does stop reading mid-sentence. When the clock hits 12:29, off goes the Kindle, and I'm back to my desk

Wayne K · Mar 25, 2010

I never thought about it till I joined AW

PGK · Mar 25, 2010

Thanks for all the comments. I'm using scene breaks to split it up naturally, but since this is a story within the story it would feel weird to go: chapter 1-15 MC story, chapter 16, 17, 18, & 19 Antagonist story, and then the rest back again.

But like some of you said, I could just leave that call up to an editor. In my rewrite/editing phase I pay close attention to breaks (scene & chapter) because I (as a reader) only have time to read before bed and I like to be given the option to put the book down frequently. If I'm tired and I look at the clock and it's says I'm 30 minutes past bedtime I hate it when the next break is in 20/30/40 pages. This either causes me to look ahead and plan to put the book down sooner or leave it mid-sentence (which I hate). I don't care how good of a page turner it is, sometimes my eyes just can't read another word.

Chris P · Mar 25, 2010

PGK said:
My chapters have always run naturally about 3.5-4,000 words each. I don't purposefully hold them to that standard it just seems to happen that way. The last chapter I finished, however, runs 13,000 words in length and I was wondering if that would stand out to a reader or not. It's really not that big of a deal for me as a writer, but as a reader I've noticed that I tend to feel overwhelmed if chapters start running longer than usual. If it's just me I'll leave it be and move on, otherwise I'll have to look into some sort of artificial chapter break to split it up.

Thanks.

As a reader I rarely notice chapter lengths. I DO notice, however, if a scene drags on too long or seems cut off before I got into it.

As a writer, I use chapters as units of the story. One novel is travel fiction, so each chapter is divided into the countries the characters visit. A country they only pass through is a much shorter chapter (as low as 2500 words) than one in which they spend two weeks (up to 25K). In my WIP, each chapter is a scene that takes place over only a few hours, at most, and therefore each chapter is very short.

I don't think word count for each chapter matters as much as the pace of what happens in each chapter.

job · Mar 25, 2010

PGK said:
My chapters have always run naturally about 3.5-4,000 words each. I don't purposefully hold them to that standard it just seems to happen that way. . . . I'm using scene breaks to split it up

If I understand this correctly, you use traditional chapter breaks to split up the first 60K words, inserting them where the scenes end.
Then for 13K words, you don't put chapter breaks at the end of scenes.
Then you start using chapter breaks again.

Because of this, you end up with a humungous-long sixteenth chapter.

Yes. I think this would feel a little odd to the reader.

It wouldn't be, strictly speaking,the length of the humungo chapter that would puzzle the reader. She'd just want to know why you suddenly stopped chaptering.

PGK said:
this is a story within the story it would feel weird to go: chapter 1-15 MC story, chapter 16, 17, 18, & 19 Antagonist story, and then the rest back again.

I've read lots of books that shift from one POV to the other, or one 'story' to another, or one time frame to another, without giving up chaptering.

That is to say, IMO, there's no reason a 'story within a story' should be only one chapter long.

If you want to set off the 'story within a story' in some way that goes beyond simply letting the reader know that time and place have shifted, perhaps you could insert an introductory page before and after the 'inner story'.

The 'introductory page' could just say -- 'Twenty Years Before,' or 'Paris, The Secret Dungeon in the Rue Rivoli,' or 'Clive Dennison,' or whatever would signal the reader this was a new 'story'.

third person · Mar 25, 2010

To the people actually telling the OP to modify his chapter length: you have all heard of scene breaks, right? The OP can change a scene and still be in the same chapter. As for making EVERY chapter the same page length? Wow...

blacbird · Mar 25, 2010

Yet another thread starting with a question that can be answered: "Go look at some published books."

caw

third person · Mar 25, 2010

blacbird said:
Yet another thread starting with a question that can be answered: "Go look at some published books."

caw

Indeed. This is one of those things where your inspirations should be your guide.

PoppysInARow · Mar 25, 2010

CarlP said:
Chapter length has an impact on pacing, and pacing is important. If a chapter is too long, it can encourage readers to skim to get to the end. It's just human nature. Take a close look to make sure it really needs to be that long.

I would disagree. If readers are skimming it's not due to how long your chapters are, it's because you're failing your job to keep the reader interested in the story. You can have long chapters and a steady pace for you novel. But if a reader doesn't like your book based on chapter length, then there's something else going on.

There's preference, yeah, but if you write a good story, it shouldn't matter if the reader prefers long chapters, short chapters, first POV or eighth. They'll make an exception for your book.

Quick opinion on Chapter word count

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