Novel How long are your chapters?

Discussion in 'Genre Discussions' started by Kratos, Jul 31, 2008.

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  1. SonnehLee

    SonnehLee Contributor Contributor

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    I haven't divided my story into chapters yet.... I tried, so, I guess, one of chapters is more than 100 pages long.
     
  2. Kratos

    Kratos New Member

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    Yeah, I was just curious.
     
  3. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    ok... i stand corrected... shouldn't have questioned your motives... apology tendered, m
     
  4. Kratos

    Kratos New Member

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    No problem. :cool:
     
  5. Daisy

    Daisy New Member

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    I am finding that I liked consistency, which is something new for me.

    I recently started forcing myself to keep my chapters consistently between 20-25 pages. In my past work, I felt my short chapters interspersed with my very long chapters created choppiness and uneven pacing. I'm sure a more experienced writer could pull it off, I'm just not there yet.

    One thing I will say about forcing myself to remain consistent within these parameters this time around is that I have been able to practice the art of pacing. This has been a great help to me and is one of the areas where my work definitely fell short.

    Because I know in advance that I have x pages/x words/ within each chapter to present the scenes, keep the reader interested and leave him/her wanting more by the last page of that chapter, it has helped me edit and chop unnecessary wordiness, which is another problem I have.

    *Also loved the mini skirt rule, btw.*
     
  6. Chef Dave

    Chef Dave New Member

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    It depends upon what I'm writing.

    My fantasy chapters run between 4,000 and 6,000 words. My anecdotes run about 1,300 to 1,500.
     
  7. illuminati

    illuminati New Member

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    I've written a one-sentence chapter and a 20 000 word whopper. In writing, Form follows Function.

    What I usually do is determine the amount of words I would like to average for a novel. I then decide how many chapters I think might cover those words. Remember, I'm working on averages, so nothing is carved in stone.

    For the purposes of this example, let's assume that I want to write a novel that I believe would work well at about 100 000 words. I then break those words up into 20 chapters, which means around 5000 words per chapter. Some chapters will turn out at around 2000 words, and some at 7000. This is merely a guide I set for myself; a blueprint.

    At 5000 words, I then set an average of 6-8 scenes. This means that an average scene is anything from 600 to 800 words, give or take. This is short enough to prevent the reader from becoming bored, yet long enough to establish enough detail to drive the story forward.

    Now I can sit back and work it out. If I write a scene of 800 words (give or take) per day, I've reached my goal. 120 scenes/days like this, and I've written the first draft of my novel. That's 4 months for a first draft novel.

    That means that by the time you've re-written and sent it out to a publisher, you could be done with the first draft of your second novel before the acceptance/rejection comes back.

    Lather, rinse, repeat.
     
  8. Ladder Writer

    Ladder Writer New Member

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    I would say keep chapters as short as you can; with longer chapters you run the risk of losing the attention of your reader. Longer chapters also make your novel seem like a heavier read. It is especially important if what you’re writing is quite intense or weighty to break it down into smaller chapters. I don’t think that chapter length is always relative to the length of the novel – I think people often make the mistake of thinking that because their novel is long they should therefore stick to long chapters. Chapters can stop before the scene or in the middle of action – this acts as a page turner. I do like the mini skirt approach – long enough to cover the essentials, but I would say however that you can sometimes get away with occasional flashing!
     
  9. illuminati

    illuminati New Member

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    Although I agree with you, Ladder Writer, one should keep in mind that readers read scenes, and not chapters. If your chapter is only 1 scene long, then yes, keep it to the mini-skirt thingy. If you have multiple scenes, your scene should be short enough to make the reader think, "hmmmm... I can push through this one quickly..."

    When he's done reading that scene, he then flips the pages to see how long the next scene is. Before he knows it, it's 2:00 in the morning and he's swearing you for keeping him out of sleep, regardless of how many chapters he read (or didn't read.) So instead of the chapter being a mini-skirt, it's the scene that becomes the mini-skirt.

    Look, for example, at how Stephen King wrote 'Salem's Lot. They are loooooooong chapters, but the scenes are relatively short, so you keep turning dem pages, thinking that you'll quickly squeeze in one more scene before lights out.

    Again, Form follows Function. What you're writing will ultimately determine how you write it. For example, an action adventure that's fast-paced will have shorter chapters & scenes to keep the action flowing and intense.

    I believe that what works for each writer will be different. Artists are like that. One painter paints with water colours, the other with oils. One uses light strokes, the other plasters it over a number of layers. The trick is to discover what works for you and then to master that form regardless of what works for others...
     

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