Normal Chapter Size.

[AngelAzariah]

Ora,
_____What is a normal size chapter for you? How many words is what I'm asking. I'm running from 500 something to 4000 something. Even after that, how many chapters would you say is too much for a book?

[wgjones3]

I'd say 2500 words is average for me; I usually try to write 15-20 manuscript pages per chapter in the first draft, then trim accordingly in the rewrite and edits.

[AngelAzariah]

Opens calculater.
_____Let's see, 90,000 words, devided by 2,500 words is... that would be 36 chapters easy. That's ok I guess. :p

[wgjones3]

Well, my last manuscript was 125,000 words and it had 40 chapters, so that's an average of 3125... so I guess I spoke too soon.

[AngelAzariah]

Ah-ha!
I got you!
!thumbsup!
Thumbs to you!
Arg!

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[ChristChild]

I have just finished my rough draft of my third novel and it is 184,656 words long and has 31 chapters, so my latest novel averages about 5970 words per chapter. I would guess my first two novels are similar.

Shane

[Turtle]

Hi,

An average chapter for me is about eight to ten pages, which is roughly 2500 words.

[AngelAzariah]

ChristChild,
_____I dropped by your site, and I was wondering why your sample pages are pictures. There's nothing wrong with it, I just remmember geo as being a limiting provider of space online. Anyhoot, interesting site, wish the first chapter would have been up to read in full. :cool:

Turtle, :) (I like that name, Turtle)
_____How many chapters per book would you say you have?

[Angelpen]

well, I write children's books as of now, so I can't really say from experience for other types of novels. For kids books I tend write 1000-2000 word per chapter, depending on the age level and the type of story.

[AngelAzariah]

Angelpen,
_____The hobbit was a children's book, and it's chapters ran around 4000 a pop. That brout me to this qustion: What age group's do you very what size for?

[venavino]

I'm looking at the lengths of these books. I cut my first draft (of my 1st novel) a little short because I was running over the 75,000 words that seems average for publishers in Christian Writers Market. Is it ok to write as many words as you want or are publishers pretty picky about not wanting to go over a certain length?

--Venavino

[wgjones3]

Publishers naturally want the lowest word count possible, because lower word counts mean lower production costs. Typially, each publisher will mention what the minimum and maximum are somewhere in the guidelines. The Christian Writer's Guild but a 100k limit on entries into their Operation: First Novel contest.

To me, the bottom line is, you've got to tell the best story you can, and if it takes 75k words, then don't use any more; if it takes 150k words, don't use any fewer.

[venavino]

Do you have a link for this first novel contest? Is that a good way to break into the business or is it better to submit to a publisher?

--Venavino

[wgjones3]

Just do a search on Christian Writer's Guild. All the info is on their site. You have to be a guild member, which is $150 per year I think, and I don't know how good a way it is to break into the business or not. The top three finalists all got publishing deals out of it but I have a feeling they would have had they gone a traditional route. Hard work and persistance are the only ways I know of.

[ChristChild]

ChristChild,
_____I dropped by your site, and I was wondering why your sample pages are pictures. There's nothing wrong with it, I just remmember geo as being a limiting provider of space online. Anyhoot, interesting site, wish the first chapter would have been up to read in full. :cool:


Thanks for checking it out. :) The sample pages are pictures because I took screen captures from the copy of the book my publisher sends me in pdf format, before I sign off on it. It was just easier to take a screen capture and save it as a jpg, because my version of Adobe Acrobat (for pdf) is just a reader, so I can't alter the pages. As a picture, it is also hard for anyone to take the text and manipulate it, unless they retype the whole thing. It therefore stays as is and can be passed on as it was written. :)

Thanks,
Shane

[AngelAzariah]

ChristChild,
_____I'm pritty fast, I could copy that page easy. In fact, it sounds tempting just for the practice. :p Then again, I did enough work for today. Oh one last thing, I would kill that music file that plays in the biggining. I almost xed off the site just for that. Just my personal openion mind you, no mallis intended. ;)

[ChristChild]

Yeah, I just added it recently. A lot have people said they don't like musical files to play, even though it is a small midi file. I'll go take it off now. :)

Shane

[AngelAzariah]

_____It's not a matter of not likeing the music or that it takes to long to load. I liston to music constently, while at work and play, so when a midi file blasts through my ThirdDay, or MxPx, or Bride, I get a little frustrated. After that, I worry that the whole site will have the music playing.
_____Glad we're on the same level there. !thumbsup!

[paulchernoch]

I agree that the typical chapter size varies by age group and genre. After checking some literary websites that discuss the topic here are my thoughts.

Some authors have had chapters as short as a few words or as long as the whole book. Definitely out there.

Many people read at bed time and want to finish the next chapter. Since some stuff takes longer to read than others (physics texts being on one end of the spectrum and children's books on the other) and some people read faster than others, this can vary. But bed time pleasure reading probably lends itself to chapters of ten to twenty pages.

Some people have short breaks of five or ten minutes to read. They prefer really short chapters - four or five pages.

Most fiction breaks a chapter down into multiple scenes. But some writers prefer to put nearly every scene in a chapter by itself.

Personally, the novel I am working on has chapters varying from two to forty nine pages, with most chapters between fifteen and twenty five pages long. (I average 420 words to the page.) Each chapter has one main point, and is long enough to make the point, no more and no less. I try to make every single chapter worth reading in itself, not just as a bridge from one to the next. ALthough if a chapter grows too long, I sometimes split it into two and restructure things a bit in order to give both parts an elegant beginning-middle-end.

Hope this helps.

- Paul

[paulajo]

While there is much resemblence in most all guidelines, in Writer's Market, publishers useally specify Writer's Guidelines for SASE. Some publishers will specify a cost for S&H. In all cases I query before submitting; this saves time and money, and normally gets better results. Publishers are people; they like and deserve respect. Follow a publisher's guidelines, paticularly when word-counts are specified.

[whitehawke]

Angel,
from a readers point of view (Mine in other words :p ) It's fun to read books that have different chapter lengths. When a book has a few very short chapters in it, I find myself thinking, I'll just read one more chapter before I go to bed. But, when I get to the end of that one, if can't help but read the next one too if it's short and before I know it, it's almost midnight. So, there really is no hard and fast rule. lol...that's probably not very helpful of me, is it? :D

[Merry]

Angel, dude, the question presumes you are striving for something normal in your writing. Therefore, where is Angel and what have you done with him?

[whitehawke]

Angel, dude, the question presumes you are striving for something normal in your writing. Therefore, where is Angel and what have you done with him?

LOL... Love it. Merry, you're a character..:) I look forward to meeting you one day. !thumbsup!
Your humor sparks with life. Wish you lived here in New Zealand.
Rulan

[Merry]

I always did say it would be great if we all lived about two doors down from each other....but then we'd never get anything done, I guess. The way things are going we might need an armed compound to call home and New Zealand is still considered remote.....hey..... :D

[whitehawke]

I always did say it would be great if we all lived about two doors down from each other....but then we'd never get anything done, I guess. The way things are going we might need an armed compound to call home and New Zealand is still considered remote.....hey..... :D

Yes Merry, I would have to agree. And it's hard enough to sit in this chair and work on my book, knowing that the very tool I am using is the same one that I use to come to this site and enjoy all you wonderful people. :D I could almost spend all day here. ;)

[Merry]

Hey, Whitehawk, do you really live up in the mountains? Whereabouts? Its just to those of us that live on hopelessly flat ground the mountains sound down right exotic.

[whitehawke]

Merry
We don't, sorry to say, but we use to live up on a ridge overlooking hills and plains.

[AngelAzariah]

Oh no, people are figuring me out... I'll hide me.

[whitehawke]

Oh no, people are figuring me out... I'll hide me.

lol....Angel, what are you up to?
Anyway, nice to see you back. Seems like you've been away for ages.

[AngelAzariah]

_____I've just been under stress. The bright side is I think I may have a way to calm down. I started the .gif thread for that reasion. Doing little bits of art can put my mind in a differant place. Unfortunitly no one as responeded to the dumb post. :confused:

[whitehawke]

Angel
Art, mmmm I use to do a lot of that. !thumbsup!
I hadn't noticed that thread until now. It's not a dumb thread as far as I can tell, but purhaps if you explained it better and/or renamed it people think more about it. :)