How long are your chapters?

[SonicElectronic]

sorshab said:

Sounds like I'm the only one prone to do and be okay with short chapters. Come on, in the real publishing world, you rarely see 20-30 typed pages make into a single chapter in a book--that's just not how people read.

lmao, you're kidding right? I'm sure when they type their chapters up, Mercedes Lackey, for example, is well more than 30. I've read fanfictions and c/p to see how long they were and they were well past 30.

I like mine to be 30-50 (30 being minumum, 50 being the maximum), so roughly in the 40s in winword makes me happy. I go for novel length fanfictions because that's what I like reading and was accustomed to, I also want to write actual published novels so it's good practice. I hate short chapters, it's so annoying. When I sit down and want to read a fanfiction, for me personally, I want it to be like picking up an actual book and reading a chapter. so what if it's long, take a break, get something to eat, read the rest later. It's what I enjoy, they're hard to find in kp, but in hp, you can find a good many novel-length & good-quality fics :3

I also wanted to add that although I like my chapters to be 30+, it's not so much as the length that is important to me as to where I end the chapter. I plan out what I want to happen in a chapter, where I think it's a great place to end it in the whole story. Right after I plan my plot and details of the story, I begin to break it up into chapters even before I write. some are long because that's how long it takes to reach the end, some are short because of the same reason. While I like 30+, some of mine have been in the 20s and that's because that's where I needed to end the chapter. chapters aren't just pages numbers. if a chapter ends up being long for the sake of the story, then so be it and vice versa.

[allaine]

Generally I write my stories in 12pt Courier New font, and they virtually always end up being 9-15 pages. I'll go longer if I feel I need to, but I hate going shorter.

Usually it translates into 2800-4200 words.

Sincerely, Allaine

[Sorsha]

sonicelectronic said:

lmao, you're kidding right? I'm sure when they type their chapters up, Mercedes Lackey, for example, is well more than 30. I've read fanfictions and c/p to see how long they were and they were well past 30.

Admit I have never used c/p. Nor have I ever been able to finish a Mercedes Lackey novel--I'm a Robin Hobb fan.

Sigh. I suppose it all depends on the publisher, but from what I've seen with Terry Goodkind and Robin Hobb...

[Scoutcraft Piratess]

Heck, I think most "grown up people" books suck and stick primarily to children's stuff.

I just hate it when people use chapter length as a symbol of status.

[campy]

I prefer to write short & sweet myself. My four stories total just under 16,000 words in 7 chapters.

Average chapter length is left as an exercise for the reader. (That's me channelling my old freshman calc professor.)

[fazhou]

I don't get hung up on chapter length. Sure, I try to make them fairly even, but I tend to see chapters as being like an act in a play. You have the main storyline, and within that points of progression. When one of those points is reached, then that closes the chapter.

For example, in chapter one of my one KP fanfic "Shego Rocks," I introduce all the major characters, the problem Shego is facing and the beginning of her attempt to solve it. Chapter two illustrates the various pitfalls Kim has to deal with...and so on.

[Scoutcraft Piratess]

I just realize that I've never thought of anything in "chapters." I do sections. Maybe if it were to be published, I'd organize everything a bit differently.

[fazhou]

Right. I tend to write stories in "patches," not necessarily in sequence, then put them together. I don't worry about chapter divisions until I'm just about finished.