Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

I'd like to revisit an old topic. Chapter length. As an author I am constantly monitoring reader preferences and so far the vote goes toward shorter chapters, especially for e-Readers. What do you think?

As a long-time experienced novelist, I feel that a chapter is a dramatic unit. It dictates its own length, depending on the action you're describing. You can have a chapter that's only 1 paragraph long, or do an entire book with no chapter breaks at all. Your storytelling determines the flow. After all, it's your book. You're God. You make the decisions.

I like that advice.

I agree with you, Stephen. Sometimes, there is just a natural break in the action or a a perfect spot to end a chapter on a suspenseful moment to make the reader want to read further to see what happens. I don't think the length of a chapter has to be set in stone.

I agree with Stephen. Chapter length depends on the content of the paragraphs. I always keep going, even in children's books, until I reach that dramatic part. I usually end up with a mixture of chapter lengths.

I was told when writing children's stories to keep the chapter's short, but I don't always. It depends on the content to me. Others might disagree though. But as Stephen said, you're God.

So do I. I absolutely concur, Stephen! And the e-reader isn't costing publisher's [or trees] costly paper in scene/chapter breaks! And I love playing God! :-)

I'm with Stephen. The scene dictates how long a chapter will be. Sometimes it will stop at a critical dialog point for dramatic emphasis. Good luck with your stopping points.

Another author who agrees with Stephen. In my first book, I tried to keep the chapters all pretty much the same length, but I played it a lot looser with my second book and ended where it felt right. Of course, always looking for that little cliffhanger to make readers turn the page to the next chapter.

Readers want shorter chapters so they can put the book down. As authors, it's our job to make sure that doesn't happen

-Robin Allen

Robin wrote: "Another author who agrees with Stephen. In my first book, I tried to keep the chapters all pretty much the same length, but I played it a lot looser with my second book and ended where it felt righ..."

LOL, Robin, I agree totally with your last sentence! The last thing we as authors want is to give readers an excuse to stop reading before the book is finished. :)

Robin and Cheryl have it right. Readers get distracted so easily. We have to keep 'em hooked.

I try to keep all my chapters relatively the same length. If that means adding more pages to a chapter, I will put in a page break if necessary and add them. But I agree, sometimes a chapter ends where it does. I tend to prefer shorter chapters when I read so I usually try to keep my chapters to 10-13 pages. As long as the dialogue and action move the story forward and you're not just adding words for length, then all should be well. In my opinion, too many breaks makes the reader take a break, I know I usually finish the chapter I was reading before I set the book down, shorter chapters would have me putting the book down sooner. Use your own judgment, as stated above, this is your creation. :)

My chapter usually winds up around 8 to 12 pages. Although sometimes I run long and sometimes it's much shorter. I make them as long as they need to be to tell the story.

I'm with Stephen, and the rest of you too - my books are my creation and the chapter breaks go where I want them to, and I put them where there's a change in scene, or a dramatic pause. Apart from when I end up rambling on for far too long. In which case I either severely edit, or split it up. I've had Chapters that were only a couple of paragraphs and others that are easily 5-6k words long. As long as it works in terms of the story and doesn't mean the reader loses interest then it's fine.

Ny recent book has no official chapter breaks at all. There are six scenes (not labeled as such except, for convenience, in the ebook table of contents). The first is 5 pages long. The second is 6 pages long. Then the story goes 67 pages with no formal break whatsoever. Then 17 pages, then 33 pages, and finally 22. There are no stopping points withing the individual scenes; that's just the way they worked out. I imagine the readers will have to pause at some point to eat, sleep, go to the bathroom, go to work, or do other unimportant things rather than read the book, but they'll have to make their own decisions about that. I made the dramatic decision about the actions within the story itself.

In previous books I've numbered the chapters and only began naming them when I wanted easily navigable links for kindle editions. But with my next book I have chapter/segment names for an easily navigable table of contents, but no numbers. They seemed redundant.

I only number chapters. I read an article about short stories and they recommended making their chapter shorter. I love James Patterson book formats.

Short chapters are fine, in fact I often use them, but keep in mind that if, say, the main character murders his mother, robs a car, goes to taco bell and gets arrested all in the same chapter, you can have a longer chapter. Just a random example.

I vary the length of my chapters. Some are lengthy if I want to focus on one major point. Some are short if I am only introducing a point or a less significant character.

Katrina Parker Williams

Mine are as long or short as they need to be. However, I often have a collection of scenes that make up a chapter. Those scenes range from a few paragraphs to five or six pages. In Sylvianna the first chapter is the main character getting settled in at school, and it's broken into four or five little scenes. Scene breaks are noted by a double space in the text, and chapter breaks are noted by number. For the most part my chapters are fairly long, but you've rarely got more than three pages of reading before the next scene shift.

My chapters vary according to the story - some are 20 pages - some are 1/2 a page. I also use chapters for dramatic effect; my stories involve time slip (travel) and as such they have more than one scenario running at any one time. The chapters start and end as I chop from scene to scene.