Probably a weird or stupid question to ask, but does the word count of a story or large chapters (chapters with a large amount of words in them, say 5000 or so) affect whether or not you would read or continue to read a story?

Also, this is my first thread question ever!!!

5000 is by many people not considered to be a large amount of words. It's more about how they read. I've posted 6000 word chapters and had people complain that it seemed short. You don't really have to worry about your word count driving people away until you're going over 10-12k in a single chapter. Even then, it's not really a huge worry. Write your chapters as big as you feel like they should be and your story will be better for it.

I think 5000 is okay by me, but 10000 would really be pushing it, unless there's some sort of recommendation (e.g. like/dislike, synopsis) accompanying it.

960239 There are actually people who get scared away by too many words, it's a bit sad. I don't care if the story is long or not as long as it's written well.

Depends on the person.

For me, I like to read short chapters because my attention span is low

Others may enjoy long chapters, so anywhere between 3000 - 5000 words would be a viable target to reach. I tend to try and hit this word count wherever I can.

depends from person to person
smaller chapters are easier to keep track of,
longer chapters seemed more immersive and people tend to take more enjoyment reading chapters ~5000 words long.
but smaller chapters with a faster release rate can also work

When I write, I try to shoot for six to eight thousand words. Seems to be the magic number for that balance between brevity and detail.

960239

For multi-chapter stories that begin with long chapters, I tend to read the comments to see if it's worth reading, or else I skim it. If it's good, I'll read it in earnest. If I happen across a story that's already a good ways in, and it has chapters consistently over 10,000, I skip on it. Generally, length doesn't matter if I catch it when it's first posted. Background Pony is the only story I've kept track of that had extreme lengths (one chapter was 43,000 words), so I've yet to be turned off of a story because it got too long.

(Coinicdentally, yesterday I started a discussion about whether a 10,000 word one shot should be split into three chapter by saying that it should)

For me it depends on how much time I have available. I'm willing to read a long chapter if I have nothing but time (and the chapter is sufficiently interesting), but if I'm in a hurry, I'm going for something short.

Honestly, there's A LOT of leeway around this one...

I mean, I regularly read Robert Jordan's stuff, and you know how big those fucking chapters get sometimes. The final chapter of my first completed book was just short of 10k words, which is about the longest single piece I've ever written - even more so since it was written basically in one sitting to meet the deadline, 18 hours of straight writing on the boat+bus ride home and in my room.
My usual mark is about 4k or so, though, and I feel like that's usually what works best in terms of size. Unless you're depicting an epic battle of some kind, or something else that's too large in scope and too cohesive to split up, it's usually better to make breaks here and there.

Reading-wise, it really doesn't matter to me how long a chapter is. If the story is good, then a longer chapter is just better - because it means more plot advancement is had.

So long as the chapter feels right where it ends, and the story hooks me in some way, then it doesn't matter too much the size of the chapter. Heck, I just came across a fic the other week that looked intriguing, however it was sitting at nearly 30 000 words for its first chapter. After skimming the one or two comments on the new fic I figured: why not? It's a Sweetie Belle story, which is particular to my interests, and if I didn't like it, I could just stop reading it. Sure, I had to stop partway through to catch some sleep, but damn, it was a fine read, even over two sittings.

I personally don't understand why people take issue with number of words. For me, when I sit down to read... I sit down to read, so length doesn't matter. Plus I tend to be a fast reader.

I suppose it has to do with the way the chapter is presented.

To me, word count isn't as important as pacing and presentation. Bad pacing, excessive purple prose, and unnecessary digressions can turn 4000 words into a slog. On the other hand, I've breezed through 15000+ word chapters and wondered where the time went.

My chapters have been as short as 5k, and as long as 20k; sometimes you can't break something up.
I have no problem reading large chapters; I've read a lot of Stephen King, and he's not bothered by length.
Trying to keep it short, while still telling what you want to tell can be tough.

So long as I'm enjoying the story I prefer longer chapters. If I'm not enjoying the story I won't read it, regardless of the chapter length. There's a special kind of joy when a story you really like updates with a chapter that's longer than the norm for it. I tend to end my chapters when I feel they're done, simply put. In my story the shortest chapter has been 7k, while the longest has been double that at 14k.

Word count shouldn't matter so much as plot and presentation. If you have a 20,000-word chapter of sheer gold, I'll enjoy every sentence of it.

That being said, truly massive chapters initially discourage readers (myself included) because it makes the chapter seem like a mountain to climb; the same applies to stories with many, many chapters. Vice-versa, short stories and one-shots tend to be read more often, as they're seen as popcorn fics that someone can read in five minutes before moving on.

The way I see it, 1,000 - 2,500 words is considered short for a single chapter.
2,500 - 5,000 is considered decent length.
5,000 - 8,000 is long.
8,000 - 10,000 is pushing the limit.
10,000+ is just too long for a reasonable chapter. However, if there's a good reason for it to be long (e.g. climax of the story, large plot progression, or the author's chapters are naturally longer), I overlook this.

If you think 10-12k words chapter are long, I made a 23k words long chapter for my story.

I very much do think word count does matter. Sadly I didn't realize that untill ages after I published my story, which is like 45k words in three chapters. No matter how good I think parts of my story is, I need to republish it with more chapters and less words in each, for it to be successful.

Regards
Ferlathin

960239
People tend to start to complain in increasing quantities as you trend upward from 10k words.

Before that point, I've never really seen anyone complaining.

Also, the larger the story, the less likely you're going to pick up new readers as you go, which I think is a bit obvious. It's harder to commit to something 200k words long than 60k. Admittedly though, I hunt long stories to put on my ebook reader, for consumption while traveling. But... that's probably not overly common.

Really though, it depends on the story. Something really complex and engaging? I'll probably still come out of a 16k word chapter wanting more. Something light and fluffy? I usually prefer 3-6k word chapters.

I admit though, lately I've been digging smaller updates for the simple fact that they come faster. But some stories really can't support breaking up a dense plot into such bite-sized chunks.

960239 Honestly, if it's over 10,000 words per chapter, it's kind of a turn-off for me.

So long as it's not like, 100-200 words (Some things, such as prompts for brevity or that 'Discord Insults' thing get a pass) I'll read any length, and I seem to hit roughly 6k without even trying.

960239

5K isn't really that long. From what I have learned, 10K is considered kind of a threshold for people who prefer shorter chapters. I aim for 7-9K, but tend to drift toward 10K after a few chapters. Though, how you use the chapter to establish plot points and progress the narrative is more important than lenght, so you shouldn't use arbitrary word counts unless you end up with ridiculously long chapters with multiple tens of thousand words. (In which case you may have a problem with your story structure.)

Basically, if 5K is what you normally produce at the most, you don't really need to worry about it.

960239
I try to do about 8,000 words/chapter for long-runners, 4,000 for shorter fics, and multi-chapter one-shots get whatever feels right.

For example, when writing Scootaloo and Celestia: Adventures in Twilight's Gall Bladder, I figured that chapter length would not be an issue with my readers.

3397514 I tend to lose focus 4000 words

3397123 But dat revival of a thread doe

3397707 This is like, the 7th thread I've revived recently like a boss

960239
For the most part I don't really care about the length of chapters. It's the total word count that I worry about, especially if it's marked as completed. I typically don't bother with anything "completed" that's less than 5k words.

Otherwise chapter length really doesn't matter to me. I've read stories with chapters over 30k words long and other stories that rarely had chapters over 2k (One of those had like 40 chapters because they were so short.) Most my own chapters were between 3-8k the majority being right around 5k.

When it comes to word count, I generally lean towards bigger chapters. I like it if I have something to read for a long time, not just a couple of minutes. Therefore, I like multi-chapter stories with long chapters (approximately 10k words per chapter).

When writing I take the same approach, I usually set 12k words per chapter as my goal, however, it's more of a guideline than anything. Most of the time, I write until I feel that the chapter is complete.

As long as the words total is at least 1000 words a chapter, then I am good.

3398028 I take it you're not much for one-shots? meh, it takes all kinds.

960294 Ah! Fellow Robert Jordan reader. Huzzah!
960239 It really depends. The longest chapter I have ever seen was eighty thousand words, while the shortest was about fifty (actual published books), so it's all a matter of what type of reader you are. Two of the best known fics here, The Immortal Game and Know Your Mare, have chapters on opposite ends of the spectrum. Immortal Game hits 20k at one point, and KYM hits 100. Both are good, so it's really quality that matters in my mind.

960239
Chapter lengths above 15k worry me.

Most "novel-length" chapters are between a few hundred and maybe a bit over a thousand words long, if they're really long ones. I tend to stick towards the shorter end of the spectrum compared to other writers here. I rarely stray far over three thousand words a chapter, because it increases the time between updates. Many of the long chapters I find here can just as easily be divided up into their respective scenes and called different chapters themselves and not lose much in the translation. It's a better system this way simply because shorter chapters feel more intense by virtue of how much information you're cramming into them. That, and it's easier to find a stopping point between shorter chapters than long.

Speaking as a writer whose own book is generally going to be between a few hundred and a small thousand number of words per chapter, it's generally better just to hypercompress as much information as is needed into a smaller word count. It's more of an art than a science, however.

I tend to write 20 - 40 K word novella-length stories with 2 - 6 K word long chapters. Hope it's not scaring anyone off.

960239
I would, however if the chapter is 14,000 words long, count me out.

Thank you all so much. I greatly appreciate your suggestions. I you guys.

960239 For fanfics: Yes. Stories with word counts are normally something I don't read, mostly because its hard to find the time and read a large chapter. I can read novels with long chapters but mostly because it's easier to read the chapter over time. With fanfics, I have trouble reading long chapters because I don't want to leave, come back after a while and forget where I left off only to have to start over. I think about 5,000 word chapters for fanfics are my limit for what I'm willing to read, otherwise I put it off until I have all the time in the world. But, if the story is really engaging I'll be willing to read more because it's easier to read, otherwise it's just boring and tiresome.

960951
This is actually pretty accurate. Genre and target audience play a role in average chapter length, too, as children have a lower average wpm than adults do, so average chapters will be shorter.

3401534
That's actually great. Anything below 4k is a bit thin if you're writing something like fantasy, but less grandiose stories can work just fine with 2-6k words per chapter.

I shy away from stories with chapters that have 2000 or fewer words. I download stories and toss 'em on my Kindle to read wherever I am, so I usually look for longer, more substantial stories to take up my time. 15k-20k word chapters don't deter me, since a story's pacing isn't dependent on chapter length, but what the words written actually accomplish in terms of the narrative. Compared to a lot of the novels I read, ~3-5k words is actually pretty damn short for a chapter, anyway.

But, there are always exceptions, Austraeoh (and its sequels) being among them.

I aim for 8k words per chapter, no less than 3k and no more than 10.5k except when I throw in an occasional interlude under 1k. Prologues and epilogues I prefer to generally be shorter, like a quarter to a half-chapter in length.

This seems to please my readers.

Something I read once said that men on average prefer shorter chapters and women prefer longer ones because of the difference in how much time each gender wishes to commit when sitting down to read or whether or not time is actually an issue at all.

Chapter breaks should be chosen on the basis of switching between segments or threads of the story. Finish chapters when possible on either cliffhangers or climaxes, so that the chapter either hooks the reader to keep reading or presents him with a story segment accomplished. When finishing on a cliffhanger, have the next chapter switch POV and even sub-setting to keep the reader in suspense. But don't leave a cliffhanger dangling for too long or the reader will lose interest.

I think what's important is making the initial chapter or two seem easy to digest and not a mountain to climb. But after you've hooked an audience, then you can start getting longer. But, there isn't anything wrong with big chapters besides making the audience feel a little uneasy at first, as their not sure it's worth the investment (thus making the early chapters a bit shorter to hook them before they're hit with long chapters).

Generally, I keep away from stories that have less than a 1000 words a chapter. It's basically my rule: if a story doesn't have a 1000 words average a chapter, good-bye!

960239 I'm probably weird for saying it but 5,000 is insanely small to me . . . Then again I'm the type to read 30,000 in about 35 minutes or so . . .

960239 just depends. Sometimes chapters are meant to be short and others long.

960239
There are a lot of people that get scared away by large word counts, though 5k isn't really that large for a chapter. Most mine are around there as well. On the other side of the spectrum there are people like me that usually won't read something labeled complete unless it's over 5k words. I don't read a lot of one-shots... The only ones I've read were either parts of a series, or had a high enough rating to get my attention.