Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related chapter length

Just curious. As a reader, I tend to prefer shorter chapters in a longer fanfic. It makes it easier for me to find the time to read and enjoy them, especially when my fun time on the computer can be limited. However, as a writer, I tend to prefer longer chapters. It makes me go into more detail and helps me develop the story better.

Which do you prefer?

Joan

Hi Joan,

As a reader I never thought about it much. I know that I never liked many super short chapters. However, as long as they aren't too short, I don't really have much preference.

As a writer I have a much more stringent set of guidelines. In longer stories I try for 3500 +/- 1000 words per chapter. That's enough to get something done but not so long as to tire out a reader. I'd guess that 90% of the chapters in my longer stories fall within that boundary. Some are shorter or longer, but those are exceptions. (They're really more guidelines than rules. )

As for your longer or shorter question, I don't know. Is 3500 words long or short?

Bob

As a reader, I admit that I like longer chapters, but then, that's because patience isn't one of my virtues and I hate waiting to find out what will happen next.

As a writer, I very rarely pay attention to how long or short my chapters are except to make sure that they aren't absurdly one or the other. And more often than not, I only check them by how many pages they are, which changes for every format you put it in.

In all, I like to judge more on the contents of the story than length one way or the other.

Interesting question!

As a reader, I prefer longer chapters, ideally posted ED or EOD, since the shorter the chapter and the longer the time between chapter posts, the more likely it is that I will forget some important facts about the story to-date. (Ever since my son was born, I've had a mind like a steel sieve.)

As a writer, I try not to post parts shorter than 10 pages or so. My first multipart post had started with much shorter parts and, based upon reader FDK, I wound up making subsequent posts much longer.

But I second Anti-K -- quality is, of course, more important than quantity.

Joy,
Lynn

There are industry guidelines for all the genres, such as romance, suspense, science fiction (hard science or not), and each publisher has guidelines, too. The best rule of thumb is to end a chapter at the end of a scene which both answers a question (either a small one introduced in the chapter or a big one which is part of the main plot) and entices the reader to quickly turn the page to the next chapter.

As to actual length, the numbers I've seen are word count rather than number of pages, and they run anywhere from 2,500 to 8,000 words per chapter, depending on the genre and that publisher's guidelines. And some famous writers get to trample all over those numbers. One of Ray Bradbury's last books had some chapters as short as a thousand words, but then who's going to tell Ray Bradbury he's wrong? Not me!

I know that's not much of an answer, but there's not a firm one, at least not one of which I'm aware. Most of the writers on these boards have a very good grasp of both when and how to end a chapter. At random, I present Female Hawk's "Trusting Me, Trusting You" series, where the chapter endings always provide local closure yet leave the reader drooling for more.

And she is not alone. AntiKryptonite's "Lethal Qualities" is another excellent example of this principle, as is Dandello's "Suddenly Blond(e)," which is due for another installment (hint, hint).

And it depends on the story, too. When I was working on "Rebuilding Superman," much of which took place in a courtroom setting, some of the chapters were longer than I would have preferred. But they needed to be, because there were a lot of pieces of information that I had to package together to make the story make sense.

To make a long post short (too late!), I think that a chapter needs to be short enough to hold in the reader's hands and long enough to say what the author needs to say.

I try for 14 pages or about 5,500 words. Short chapters seems choppy to me unless it is a vignette. The longer chapter doesn't increase the time between chapters. That's a function of other schedules and inspiration.

Artemis

Excellent point that content is the most important factor when it comes to chapter length along with providing some local closure. I completely agree.

I was wondering if any one felt that the internet reader prefered shorter bites of information. On some other groups I've caught that vibe. I haven't noticed it here though, and I've been very pleased by the quality of the fics.

Joan

Most of my chapters are 2500-3500 words. Maybe I'm a choppy writer, but I like to post things as quickly as possible.

I usually try for between 4000 and 5500 words unless the story demands a much shorter part. I think a very dramatic part can be shorter and a slower part can be longer.

As a reader, I find really short parts dissatisfying - but that can be overcome by waiting until there are a few parts to read at once.

As a writer, I think it's important that *something* happens in every part. Feedback isn't everything (although it is wonderful!) but it's easier giving FDK if there is something to actually comment on.

Corrina.

I can't seem to write a sub-10k word chapter to save my life. I've been breaking my chapters down to 5-10k word chunks lately because I started getting complaints, and I pitied my cross-eyed readers when I began to hit around 27k words a pop. I typically don't aim for any sort of word count at the onset of a chapter, though. The verbosity explosions just happen. I swear!

The L&C fandom has always been a little different from other fandoms, and I think that's been to our credit. I've written in a couple of other fandoms besides L&C and I've always been astounded on the (admittedly rare) occasion when people have said, "This was really good ... but it was so long!" If a story or chapter is well-written, how can it be too long??

In fact, when I've received those comments, I've always wondered whether the reviewer was over the age of 14. Based on my teenage daughter's experience with posting fiction online, many younger writers seem to consider 1000 words to be extraordinarily long. A generality, to be certain -- we've had some incredibly talented writers over the years in this fandom who happened to be of high school age -- but longer, more developed stories are something that the L&C fandom has always made it a priority to cultivate. And I think this shows in the overall high quality of our stories.

Kathy

Joan, I feel exactly the same way. I like reading shorter chapters, but I tend to write longer ones. Now if my muse would behave so I could write them.

There is always the Terry Pratchett approach. No chapters. Which can be really bad for your sleep when you read to the end of the chapter before going to sleep.