Chapter Length vs Content · 9:21pm Aug 22nd, 2020
We're starting to approach the end of the novel I've been writing for the last year or so.
And I'm running into the same sort of thing that seems to happen with every novel I write: the closer I get to the end of the book, the longer the chapters seem to get.
I don't necessarily think this is a problem. I feel like chapters should each contain either a cohesive set of events, a distinct part of the timeline, or both. And whenever I write a novel, as I get near the end, more and more characters' have their respective arcs reaching a critical moments at roughly the same time. So chapters end up being long.
What do you guys think? Is it okay if a chapter is especially long if all the content of that chapter feels like it belongs together?
Because the upcoming chapter of Magic of the Heart, Chapter 17, is looking like it might break 20,000 words, but I don't want to split it up. Just curious to know my readers' thoughts.
Keep an eye out for chapter 17 in about three more weeks!
~PRB
Chapter length really is immaterial opposed to the content of the chapter. It's far better to have a coherent story told in the chapter than worry about the length.
Most books have a chapter length of 10 - 20 k words.
One of my own stories on here has a chapter that's 30k ish. But that's fine, because to make it less would mean splitting the story up into several chapters that would disrupt the flow of the story.
i think that's true for just about any book in any series. i think the only exceptions are Junior Novelizations, but i could be wrong.
The flow of the story is much more important than setting a chapters length. As you said, sometimes when events in an arc are coming together it's important to keep that continuity.
To me, I'm fine with long chapters.
So, in online serial format (which is the vast, vast majority of fanfiction) chapter length doesn't matter too much, so long as you meet a minimum threshold of a thousand or so words per update. (500 words or whatever feels bad, even as a daily thing, serially, imo)
Really, the only upsides to shorter chapters are more frequent updates (which might change how you do patreon/commission/etc things) and being able to easily find your place again if you get distracted or misclick/type away from the page (esp. on mobile) instead of having to scroll through potentially ten thousand words to find your place again. Assuming that your general words-per-week (or month, etc) stay about the same, anyway.
personally, I don't mind periodic, huge updates.
5341068
Most novels have chapters of ~3000-5000 words, actually. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has an average length of ~5300 words per chapter.
Once you get past a certain word count (I'd say 8,000 words or so), it feels as though I'm reading a short story, rather than a chapter of a story. Some people seem to like that. I do not.
I like having breaks, even if you could argue that it disrupts the flow of the story. Between chapters being completed, there is a (hopefully) short period of time where the story will feel like it ended in a weird spot, and getting back into it a few months later might be difficult. However, once the following chapters are completed, readers will be thankful that it's easy to read each chapter.
Reading 20,000 words will take take the average English reader about 85 minutes (source), that's a long freakin' time.
It's your story, and I'll enjoy it regardless, but I think this is a question of artistic style vs. readability. Some stories are written for ourselves, and not for the reader—fanfiction often falls into that category. Publishing a work invites other people into that story though, and I want to be considerate of those readers.
If you feel it belongs in one chapter then I say keep it. On the other hand if there is a break then make it two chapters and release them both at the same time. 20000 is long so if there is a part we're there is a change in perspective, location or character make that a new chapter.
I would say that writing should be mostly how you feel it works as long as there are not a lot of obvious mistakes.