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Post by girlyesterday on Nov 14, 2009 20:12:45 GMT -5
If you've read my stories, you'll find I write very short chapters. I'm always concerned that they may be too short compared to other stories I've seen but I just don't know. This is something that keeps cropping up for me time and time again.
My question to you is whether you think a chapter has a set length or whether it is entirely subjective and dependent on the story itself? How do you, as the author, decide how long or short a chapter is or needs to be? How do you know when to end your chapters? (Cliffhanger? Resolution?)
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Post by Stacy on Nov 14, 2009 20:38:05 GMT -5
Totally subjective for me. I go as long as the update wants and then I stop.
And yeah, I generally end on a cliffhanger.
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Post by thelunarfox on Nov 14, 2009 20:57:58 GMT -5
I agree with Stacy. Totally subjective. I've read books with chapters that were one paragraph long. And not necessarily all the chapters, just one or two chapters. I believe that chapter length can be used as a tool sometimes to affect the pace of the story.
Best advice I've heard is to just write the story, then go back and find the natural breaks.
As for the ending, cliffhangers are good because then you just HAVE to read the next one. But it really depends on the story for me.
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Post by raquelaroden on Nov 15, 2009 0:26:44 GMT -5
I have no idea how my chapter length is determined. I know that I cut some parts out when I feel it is too long, and a few times I have split up what was originally supposed to be one chapter into two. Sometimes things just don't fit together well in the same chapter. Other decisions are made based on whether I think the development is worth turning it into a twist (and ending the chapter right after you find the twist) or if it just needs to be revealed and dealt with right there. Like so many things, I'm realizing that I have no principled way of deciding these things, lol! I use cliffhangers sometimes, but I think I use twists more--so I'll reveal something surprising, rather than leave the readers hanging. It functions in the same way, because the readers (hopefully) want an explanation for how the twist came about, and will come back to see how you explain it away. What good questions.....I wish I had better answers.
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Post by mdpthatsme on Nov 15, 2009 0:54:37 GMT -5
If your story is in chapters than each chapter has a point to its own or later conflict. The length of the chapter depends on how effective you want it to be. Like thelunarfox said, some people write one paragraph chapters. I've seen one with only a sentence. To me...it's a little waste of paper, but that sentence has a meaning and may even be the theme or purpose of the whole book so it is important. When it comes to me, myself, and I on chapters, it depends on what I'm writing. If it's the Sims, I don't want it too long for attention and time purposes, considering I attach pictures to it. If it's plain prose writing, I like my chapters to be 4-6 pages at 12 sized Times New Roman font with 1.5 line spacing.
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Post by lhasa on Nov 15, 2009 4:40:44 GMT -5
I remember when I used to type out 20 page chapters in 8 pt Arial narrow font. Those were the days...
Nowadays, I tend to only write fairly short chapters (around 2-3 pages), but I may write a longer one if there is a need for me to solve a particular conflict within said chapter.
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Post by heredoncove on Nov 17, 2009 9:31:23 GMT -5
I tend to go with a feeling. Sometimes an update works short, other times it wants to be really long. I usually try to hit between 1500-2000 words for each update but I don't always hit the mark.
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Post by laura on Nov 17, 2009 11:00:14 GMT -5
My personal rule for chapter length is that there has to be some kind of movement (not necessarily a resolution, of course) in the conflict I've focused on. The length of the chapter also depends on how fast I want the particular conflict to unravel though too. Any time the focus changes in the story, that's a natural cue for me to break things apart. But that movement can be very small. I posted a LH update recently that was only 179 words and 5 pictures, but it still had movement, and earned its place in the story (IMO anyway, lol!). I don't often do the cliffhanger thing - I have before, and looking back on it, it doesn't really suit the kind of stories I tell. Instead I like leaving the reader with that feeling of inevitable momentum, which is a little different, I think - like you don't know exactly what you're waiting to find out, but you just know something's coming. I love stories like that! I just went and checked, if you're interested in the dorky stats, lol! My LH updates tend to average 1500-2000 words (though for some odd reason, I always measure my Sim-story length in terms of pictures rather than words - anybody else do that?), and my novel chapters average 3000-4000 words, which is about 10-15 printed pages. I'm a sucker for organizing and dividing things too though. My LH "rounds" are divided down into "chapters" and then about 10-15 updates each (my "updates" of course, are about the size of a normal chapter, and my "chapters" then the size of a novella, but whatever, lol!). My novel is projected to have four parts, with about seven chapters in each.
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Post by sb on Dec 4, 2009 2:31:09 GMT -5
I can't speak as a novel writer since I'm not, nor do I have any ambition to do that.
Sitting in front of a computer screen and reading a chapter, as a READER, shorter is better. I know people have privately told me they skim long pieces; resort to taking notes on the side; and generally have to work to get through it, which makes the experience less than pleasant.
I try to keep it short when I'm writing a chapter. Focus on the event, keep it tight and wrap it up. Passages rarely has more than 15 shots, and, since my work relies on imagery as much as text, that says something about the length. Chapters for Sessions are longer but still should not take more than a few minutes to read.
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