Writing Bite Size vs Lenghty Chapters

[RinDes]

For those writing:
How many words per chapter do you normally aim towards?

For those reading:
Does the word count affect your choice in stories?

For me personally, I keep each chapter at shorter length, as a great way to challenge myself; depicting each story bit in fewer but well picked words, crafting each plot point with carefully written sentences. Some of my story on here have between 300 and 500 words, others between 600 and 800. And I also have unpublished stories with well over 1500 words per chapters.

But since I first started publishing on Wattpad, I've observed a large amount of people reading on the go; be it during work breaks, or when using public transit, many prefer bite size chapters that can be finished in a short amount of time. So when I started publishing some of my stories here, I didn't change the length for any chapters.

And I know that can be a big no-no for some, but if a short chapter manages to get to the point, with good writing and a clever structure, is a shorter length still problematic?

 

[IshiharaNiaoka]

For me 2k is enough more than that would make me skip chaps

 

[SailusGebel]

2k+ No. As long as you update every day, no.

 

[killjoy1307]

Bite size 1k-2k is good if you update daily. However, if it is less than 3 chapters per week, then better to get them above 2k+.

Is that even possible to get people hooked with less than 1k when there are not even a daily update?

 

[Succubiome]

Writing:
I aim for vaguely in the ballpark of 2k words per chapter in theory, but I'm pretty sure I've had chapters as low as ~1.4k and as high as around ~2.8k. I value the chapter being the right size to tell that piece of the story over consistency, when it comes down to it.

Reading:
If it's under 1k words per chapter, it better either be really really good or have a really really good interface, because clicking to the next page is usually mildly distracting. But I'm a fairly fast reader, and tend towards binge reading novels when I do read them.

 

[ParticleOfSand]

I set a minimum number for how many words per chapter. Until I reach that point, I continue writing. In my current book, that's 3k.

 

[CapitaoCaverna]

As a reader, I enjoy lengthy chapters, the bigger the better even when I usually read on the bus or when doing other things.

I just love those Wandering Inn chapters that go on forever.

But I, in particular, have a real aversion to short content, be it videos, stories or anything else.

As a writer, I usually aim for at the very least 3k words per chapter, but I do divide it in half here in SH, so 1.5k words.



Still, while I love longer chapters, there are a few masterpieces with 500 to 1k words that I really appreciate. As you said, if you're able to put meaning in every word, with no fluff, I see no problem in shorter chapters.

I don't really know how to explain this, but every story is different, every chapter should do at least 2 things at once, preferably more. Like, progressing the story, establishing character or tone, giving the reader information, set things up for the future... if your chapter only does one thing, then that's a bad chapter but, If you can do two or three things with only 500 words, go ahead, that's great.

I just think that's MUCH harder to do.

 

[Corty]

 

[LilRora]

When writing, I personally aim for ~3k if it's a more serious story and 1,5~3k otherwise.

That should also serve as an answer to the second question, because for me 1,5k words in a chapter is way too little for any detailed plot and worldbuilding. Each chapter should have something substantial happening within it no matter how many words it is, and it particularly annoys me when a single sequence of events (for example a fight + results of it) are split into multiple chapters. That just breaks immersion and doesn't let any tension build, especially when I'm reading chapters one by one as they are released.

I've once read a story that had an 11k words long chapter with the average at around 2k. And believe it or not, I noticed it only half a month later when I went to check for some reason. I didn't even realize that before - that's what well utilized tension does when it's not broken by shortening the chapters.

 

[bulmabriefs144]

I think the longest chapter I've written was 40 pages long. It had people doing a series of bounty hunts, so there was no breaking it up due to similar theme. Lately, I write shorter chapters on average. Closer to 4-6 pages. It's the number of chapters that usually stays consistent. Typically 20 to 30 per book.

 

[Vnator]

For here at least, I feel that smaller word counts would do better to capture people's low attention spans.

 

[dummycake]

the WORST thing is when you came to a point that would make a good ending to the chapter, but you didn't write enough words....

 

[BearlyAlive]

I generally dislike smaller chapters, but I'm one of those people that actually put 'reading time' as an actual slot on their internal timetables. It also takes me longer to load the chapter than to read it if it isn't at least 1k words long.

For writing I try to keep it between 1.5 to 2.5k words since those chapters are long enough to feel like a chapter, imho.

 

[NotaNuffian]

As a reader, not a writer because I am still experimenting, I prefer the content to be catchy than word count based.

That being said, if the word count is as short as the cat girl thing that used to be trending (~500 words per chapter), no. Because it is only good for simple short gags instead of fleshing out the world and character.

If the word count is too long, >4000 words, I might have to ask, what is wrong with you? Because usually this is the case of an author who tries to be specific specific, up to the point of even describing how the sword flies, how the enemy just did a backstep and yaddi yadda. To hell, he even described a wake-up blowjob with extreme details, "like how the girl is swallowing his entire member, how he felt his glans is poking her uvula, how she licks according to his shaft's vein and tickling the edge of his glans.

Too much words and all I can think of is "shit, am I reading a thesis?" This is the "a picture speaks a thousand words and the creator here only knows how to type" problem.

 

[Tyranomaster]

Bite size 1k-2k is good if you update daily. However, if it is less than 3 chapters per week, then better to get them above 2k+.

Is that even possible to get people hooked with less than 1k when there are not even a daily update?

I do 1.6k (my aim is 1.5k) and publish twice a week. I've hit trending multiple times and have over 1k readers across platforms.

It's doable.

The advice I've read from big name sucesses is that between 1.5 to 2k is the sweetspot for a variety of reasons. That said, there will always be readers who are outliers, but the vast majority prefer that length chapter.

 

[Chrono157]

For me, I typically aim to write chapters with over 3000 words because I like to get decently detailed with combat scenes to really create a vivid image of how the fight it going. As for when I'm reading, I prefer longer chapters because it allows me to waste more of my time and gives me an excuse for procrastinating something.

 

[Paul_Michaels]

Depends on the story but when I started I aim for anything over 1K. Now I've been aiming for 2K+ since I have a good base of readers

 

[Ungabungachunga]

I've been going bonkers at 4-6k a day, minus today. I like reading longer chapters personally so I take that into account while writing. But mitigating burnout is paramount

 

[Paul_Michaels]

I do 1.6k (my aim is 1.5k) and publish twice a week. I've hit trending multiple times and have over 1k readers across platforms.

It's doable.

The advice I've read from big name sucesses is that between 1.5 to 2k is the sweetspot for a variety of reasons. That said, there will always be readers who are outliers, but the vast majority prefer that length chapter.

Just curious. How does a novel get trending? Is it something with the readers hitting a bunch of favorites for your chapters, is it comments, or is it something else?
It's not like my novels need it but I always wondered how SH algorithm determines it.

I'm assuming my stuff doesn't get trending because I have them tagged as NSFW

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

Just curious. How does a novel get trending? Is it something with the readers hitting a bunch of favorites for your chapters, is it comments, or is it something else?
It's not like my novels need it but I always wondered how SH algorithm determines it.

I'm assuming my stuff doesn't get trending because I have them tagged as NSFW

Combination of all of those things, but it is not made to be public knowledge. If it was it could be exploited.