11 replies to this topic

[Kyuubi's Kit]

Well...Eh...Topic tittle basicaly...Anyways, I was just wondering this(And I wanna know for the fic I'm starting), but what do you usually look for in a chapter length-wise? I tend to preffer long chapters, but that's me. Usually it depends on how good it was written though. And I heard some people don't like chapters to be too long. Anyways, I want to be consistent, and just wanted to know.

[desaix]

Well, for short stories, it shouldn't matter much -- they should be oneshots, and long enough to tell the story, but anything that needs to be broken into chapters to tell as a story (about 20,000 words or so, maximum) should be treated as a novella or a novel.

I prefer chapters in fanfics to be roughly the equivalent of chapters in novels or novellas from the same genre and subgenre. The average chapter length in most full-length novels in the scifi\fantasy\alternate history\horror genre or the historical fiction genre, and most of the sub-genre in both of those categories save for comedy (Douglas Adams had some REAL short chapters at times in Hitchiker's Guide), is 4,000-12,000 words. I consider Naruto to be a fantasy\historical genre, and therefore would prefer chapter lengths about that size.

For something like, say, Maison Ikkoku or Love Hina (as close to pure romantic comedy as you'll find in anime), I'd prefer chapter lengths of 2,500-4,000 words, as fits the professional novelists' averages. For... well, as an example (even though I've never actually seen one) Princess Nine fanfics, I would ask for chapters befitting the length of most sports novels: 7-15,000 words. I could go on, but I won't.

But... well, these are just guidelines -- targets, if you will. Obviously, there are exceptions to any of these rules, but this is what I think is 'appropriate' to shoot for.

[Nes Mikel]

It's really all about personal taste, really.

For myself, I try to aim for about a minimum of 20 pages worth of writing (in Word, size 8 text) per chapter, which is about equivalent to 7000-8000 words usually. The longest chapter I've written thus far was about 12000 words and I was quite happy about it.

One thing I look for when I read stories is how long each chapter is. If it's less than 2000, most of the time I just skip it unless the summary really intregies me. Anything less than 1000, forget it. Usually I'll click on any story and give it a try if it's 4000~5000+. A general rule I found was that the longer the chapter lengths are, most of the time the fic turns out to be of better quality than the rest. Of course, there are always exceptions to everything - I've read many stories with long chapters that ended up being a pile of garbage, and I've read many other short chapter stories (usually drabble collections) and one-shots that were of great quality.

On a side note, one one-shot format I find myself enjoying is the 20 truths format, where the author sits on a topic and lists 20 interesting facts about that particular topic. One great example of this format at work is The Sh33p's Catch 22. While it's doesn't quite fit the 20 truths format (the fic lists 22 facts per chapter), I found myself enjoying it from start to finish. To this date I don't think I've read a fic in 20 truths format that was of poor quality. Most likely because there are very few of them out there, though.

[Vespar]

It comes down to preference really, but it also depends on the type of story you're willing to write.

In my opinion, Humor, Friendship and WAFF (Warm And Fuzzy Feelings) fics usually make good one-shots. The less use of detail, the better.

Then I also think that Action, Adventure, War, Sci-Fi and Fantasy work on the opposite principle.

When it comes to Romance and Angst, they're usually a toss-up. Technically, I'm sure they can go either way. However, keep in mind that when too little is written and it'll seem rushed and implausible. Too much and it looks like it drags on.


Also, it'll depend on what you want to write by chapter. If you've planned it all out and working on a specific way of story-telling or particular themes, it sometimes can't be helped on the length and you just got to stick with what's more effective.

[Shouri no Hana]

Hrm...I aim for 12 pages size 9 font as a min, my last chapter was 15 pages though....

[PeacefulPhoenix]

I can't write for crud. The best I can do in an hour is about 4 pages. Though, i was writing a fantasy story from out of my mind and i got about 7000 words... odd, it took me 30 minutes...

Anyways, I personally like 8000+ words per chap, unless the summary really intregies meh, but I still avoide if possible. I've found plenty of good fics, albet after a while of searching. Oneshots, on the other hand, I couldn't care if it was about 600 words, as long as it's good. and that really rare.

Like Desaix, it depends on Genre. Humor/Action/Adventure/Romance should be a bit longerthan 7000, but everythihng else I'd check for at least 4000.

Keep in mind, I mean per chapter. I've read So many good stories that were small to, but I prefer long stories. I need something to help me kill time!

[Shouri no Hana]

I've been complementing wether to start reading one of my favorite fics again, I stopped at around chapter 125 because I was getting bored of the series in general and moved to Naruto, now I'm going back and it's sitting at a whooping 225 chapters! and it's still going!

each chapter is 6000+ words long too, one way to kill time.

[MonkeysTotallyRock]

it depends on the fic.
humor? can vary from as short as like 1000 to 50000.
however for other, more serious chapters, i tend to make them longer. about 12 pages, but i have gone about 20 pages size 12 Times New Roman 1/2 inch spacing on all sides. it depends story to story, but the average is around 14.

[Nate River]

Pretty much agree with what has been said. It just depends on what you are doing. I've read fics that barely break a thousands words, but are really good. In those cases, the concept of the goal of the fic is generally pretty narrow so not a lot of words are necessay. Conversely, I've read long chapters that left me with the impression that the author was padding or that just dragged on and on.

That said, I think that most serious fics need at least a decent length for each chaoter.. I'm currently in the process of writing two fics and and the opening scene in each one required 1200 words and I still want to add a bit more to both scenes. When all is said and done each chapter will probably be around 10,000 words.

Still, I Genre is important too. To me, humor is generally the most flexible.

My approach has been to make a list of everything I want to accomplish for each given chapter and write to that rather than any set number. Whether a chapter is 1000 ro 10,000 words doesn't necessary make it bad or good. However, I, like others, do glance at fic length (and compare it with chapter numbers) and if it's below a certain number I don't even consider it unless the summary is really good, or its marked as a one-shot, drabble, or something that by its nature is short. That's because most of the time you can't do much with just 100 or 200 words. It's to little print to get anything accomplished.

Won-ton, the best advice I can give is to make a list of what you want to happen and then go from there. There isn't an ideal length and how long it needs to be depends on what you aiming to accompish. The other thing to watch for is not to rush each goal. You need to sort of walk through it as if it were actually happening. What do you see, what are you doing, and why is it being done?

For example, in getting Naruto and Sakura together it need to be something more that they meet, say I love you, and make out. As the manga itself has shown its not really that simple. In this case questions that need to be answer might need to be answered are....what about Sasuke? Has she gotten over him and if so, when and how did it happed? If she hasn't, why accept Naruto's love now? I can think of many more even without designing a more general plot.

My approach has been just this...I think about all the things I want to get accomplished in a given chapter (the list is usually about three or four major points, though this really is fic specific) and all the things that need to happen to get that accomplished. Then I add some basic description so that the author can "see" what is happening. Sometimes that is done "in chapter," done in previous chapters or is set for a later one.

I'm not saying this is the only way. It's simply what has worked for me.

[tombadgerlock]

Ah... i am myself in the process of writing a story, and my first chapter is surprisingly big- around 12k words. I really would like it to be smaller, but i can't see what to take off, as it would cut from the fic's general flow (information can always be given later, but it needs to be done in a realistic way, and....).

So i have a question: i hesitate, upon advice, to make a small prologue just to give an headstart because my first chapter may be too long. Do you think it will cut the flow or be unnatural as i haven't yet planned for it, or....?

[Aaron Nowack]

So i have a question: i hesitate, upon advice, to make a small prologue just to give an headstart because my first chapter may be too long. Do you think it will cut the flow or be unnatural as i haven't yet planned for it, or....?

Without actually seeing the chapter and the place where you're intending to divide it, I can't really say. However, I don't really see a 12,000 word chapter as being so long that it needs to be cut in two if you're even a bit worried that doing so will negatively impact the flow.

As for my general thoughts on the size of chapters... well, one look at One Hundred Days will show that I'm not opposed to very long chapters - the average chapter size is somewhere in excess of 20,000 words. I do think that's pushing it, though; the chapters are a bit too long as it is (in particular the monstrous Chapter 12, which is close to 30,000 words) and going longer would be a bad idea. If I was starting the story over from scratch, I would probably design the story flow around five-day chapters as opposed to week-long ones, to make the chapters more manageable.

As for the minimum... in general I look for 4-5000 words as a minimum chapter size, though an interesting title/summary can make stories smaller than that catch my eye. Its very rare that I look at things with chapter sizes of less than ~2000 words though, unless they're explicitly a collection of drabbles or something like that. Chapter sizes that short just generally tend to indicate very poor writing, though that's not a universal rule, of course.

[tombadgerlock]

Thanks for answering. It helps to have your idea of it, and it's true that i kind of forgotten how long your chapters were.

Oh. And if any of you were to want to read my story a bit before i put it on the net, just to tell me if i should cut it in two or just plain stop writing...i would appreciate it.