I have 21 chapters in the finished book. They vary in length from 12oo words to over 8000 words. This is a minor question in my opinion. Is the variance something I should address or am I making a big deal out of nothing?
Torunn what goes on inside the 8000 word chapters. Are there many scenes? And if you ignore the number of words do the chapters each have a similar impact on the story? A similar time period? A similar amount of detail as seen by the reader? I guess I'm asking if the extended chapters are obviously justified or, as I found, I produced longer chapters where I had more experience and familiarity of the subject matter.
I don't see any issue. I've read books that had similar variations in the length of chapters. I would personally not go over 10,000 words in a single chapter, but if the longest is around 8000 that shouldn't be a problem.
I would like to say 'Yes, each chapter has a similar impact.' Consistent detail...yes. I went back and looked at the longest chapter which is actually 7285 words and it is the chapter when a several story lines converge.
So sounds justified. The only comment I'd add is, if you take a reading speed of 250 words per minute, your chapter takes half an hour. I'd find that a little long for casual reading. I like to turn the light out at the end of a chapter. But that's probably a very minor consideration and just me
