How long should a chapter be?

Question

I am just asking how long a chapter should be because yes I am writing a book because I see that I love writing. Also what is a good way to organize your plot etc.

Answer 1

how ever long it takes to get ur point across on something. it usually takes about 10 to 20 pages.

Answer 2

well i would definitely say that the chapter can be as long or as short as one wants it to be but i would say around 7to 9 pages

Answer 3

if you dont know the answer to these questions, i really dont think that you would be ready to write a book, short stories perhaps, but not a full blown novel.

to answer your question, a chapter needs to say what it needs to in as many pages or words as is required, so... how long is a piece of string!?

Answer 4

Depends on the book. Sorry I can't give you a more specific answer. I've seen books with 2 page chapters. Others with like 80.

Answer 5

The length of the chapter is entirely up to you.  I have seen books with one-page chapters and huge, long chapters in the same book.  

Basically the answer to your question is:  However long it takes.

If you get your work published and your chapters are too long or to short, that's something you can work out with your editor.  But there's no standard, and even if there were, it would depend on the genre, the intended audience, and the length of the book overall.

When you come to a point that feels like the end of a chapter, end it there and start a new one.  Don't try to squeeze a chapter down to 1,000 words or try to expand it to 2,500 just because of some arbitrary restriction on chapter length.

As for organizing your plot... I'm not really sure what you mean, so I may be answering a different question than what you're asking, but...

Different authors swear by different methods.  Some write key plot events down on index cards, and stick them up on their wall, some use the snowflake method (see link in sources), some do timelines.  I've known someone to make a map of their world, blow it up, tape it to a piece of posterboard, and map out the route of the journey her characters went on, with key plot points duly noted (hers was a journey-type fantasy, so this worked really well).

It depends on the story and the author.  Me?  I tend to do stuff like this:  JOEY PLAYING WITH BALL.  LOSES BALL, ROLLS INTO THE STREET, OH NO!  CASSANDRA GOES TO GET BALL FOR HIM, HE LEAPS INTO STREET AND PUSHES HER OUT OF THE WAY OMG THANKS SAVED LIFE ETC.  AWKWARD BECAUSE OF RACIAL DIFFERENCE.  HERE'S YOUR BALL, I WASN'T TRYING TO STEAL IT.

That was all just off the top of my head, so it sucks, but hopefully you get the idea.  I keep it in caps so I know to delete it after I've written the scene it refers to.

If your talking about organizing your plot as in, there's two things happening at once with different characters, should I complete one thing and then go to the other or alternate chapters, that's up to you as well.  You can put line breaks inside the chapter and switch that way.  Some authors use that technique to switch back and forth several times in a row for humor.  (note:  it's not the switching itself that's funny, it's what's happening or being said (usually being said).)

It depends on if you need suspense or not too.

Okay, hope I answered your questions.  Good luck!

Answer 6

A chapter could be anywhere from a page to a 100 pages long. No limits whatsoever, it's completely up to the author. Also note that chapters in one book don't have to have similar lengths.

Now, for organizing plots, most books should and tend to go as follows:

http://www.forgeofmindandsoul.com/pdfeng...

Imagine the pyramid as the book and the link above should help.

Best of luck!

:)

Answer 7

It depends.  I'm a HUGE reader, and I've read many books with many ranging chapters.  Some have had chapters like 30 pages long, and one book I've read (Arthur: The Seeing Stone) has chapters that are like 1/2 page long.  

Answer 8

Consider the market you are writing for.

Kids-you'd want to keep it shorter to keep them engaged. 5-10 pages.

Teens-you could probably go as long as 10-15 pages. Kids and teens generally have shorter attention spans.

Adults-you can worry less about it and concentrate more on the story itself. I would definitely NOT ever consider a 100 page chapter.

Consider what people do when they read. They might only have a few minutes to read that next thrilling chapter. If your chapter is too long, you run the risk of losing the reader's patience. This may sound funny, but a lot of people read in the bathroom, if your chapter is too long they will get numb legs. LOL I used to own a bookstore and my customers would joke about this all the time, but it is serious business.

It is my personal preference to never read a chapter more than about 20-25 pages, to me it become tedious.

Karen Syed

http://www.karensyed.blogspot.com