How long are your chapters? My first draft has chapters that goes from 20 to 35 pages in Times New Roman 12, space between lines at 2,0. Is that good length? Thank you all for the help, always.
10-12 pages 3,000 to 7,000 words. It doesn't matter about the length. All that matters is that used those words to tell the story. ^^
In my current work I have chapters ranging from 900 words to 7000 words (may break that one), a chapter is as long as a chapter is but I find 3-5000 words is about where I like them when reading.
Yeah, I don't think chapter length is very important. Good transition between paragraphs is probably more important.
To the OP - how many words is that? I tend to prefer chapters that don't go on too long. Too short is annoying too. Happy medium is best.
Too short is probably better than too long though. I think the mind likes variety on many levels, and maybe chapter length falls subliminally into that category.
In one of the chapters that has 20 pages, the number of words is at 5477 until now. I haven't editted it yet.
You know, I don't think I check the length of my chapters ever I know my scenes range on average, between 1-3 thousand words, with extremes of under 100 words to over 5,000 if something dramatic is going on... I use, usually, one or two scenes if one of them is long, between chapter breaks, and sometimes 5-10 scenes if there are a lot of little under 1000 word scenes in a sequence. I just go with when it feels natural.
individual chapter length or having them all the same size isn't important, as long as they don't get too long... what goes into the chapter is what matters...
2,000 - 7,000 words. It rarely remains consistent throughout. I might try and shorten some chapters in the rewrite but I won't lengthen any unless there's content worth adding.
Mine typically average about 5K now with some being shorter and some longer. I've had a few go past 10K and some below 3K.
The trend in modern fiction is to go with shorter chapters, James Patterson being the most dramatic example. But chapter length is pretty much determined by plot points or changes in setting, or the beginning and ending of a scene. In modern fiction, the trend seems to be toward lots of shorter scenes. We have shorter attention spans these days, I think. But then the Gospels are made up of very short chapters, so maybe there's something good about short chapters. I read a lot of novels now that I am reviewing them, and I prefer a chapter around 2000-2500 words in length. But to each his own, I suppose.
But, have you ever read a book and said to yourself, "That chapter was way too short." I can't honestly say that I've ever thought that.
I think that the most important thing when it comes to chapters, is that each chapter feels like a meaningful chunk of story. As long as that is delivered, and the chapter length fits the audience you aim for (a easy read book, or a book for children or young adults might prefer shorter chapters) I think the chapter length can vary greatly without anyone noticing.
I was just using a roundabout way of saying I don't like L. Ron Hubbard's writing. I should have just quoted "what goes into the chapter is what matters."
i knew you were kidding, gy... was just joshing you back... fyi, i can't stand his stuff, either... and james patterson's 1-2 page chapters are annoying as bleep... plus waste a lot of paper and are a cheesy way to plump up his too-short mss... with regular sized chapters, his novels would be novelettes!
I have a 5 page chapter, is this too short? I dont want to bother with a word count, so give me your opinion please! Also my prologue is 2 pages. Too long or too short?
The basic answer to this is that chapters should be as long or as short as they need to be. There's no prescribed length for them, I've seen chapters that have been fifty pages, and I've seen chapters that have been a couple of words. It's less about the length, but more about where the chapter breaks fall. If you read and write enough then you'll get a feel for chapters being enclosed scenes and ideas, and get a natural sense for where such break should fall in your story- more an organic process than a box ticking exercise. And in response to your "don't want to bother with the word count" statement, I think I should explain why word count is used in writing. Your measurements (5 pages and 2 pages) mean absolutely nothing to me. I don't know how big a page you're using, what font size, what font, how big the margins are. Or even if you've handwritten it. Word count gives a measurement not dependent on these factors, and thus which can be assessed more easily when asking questions like this one.
