How long is the ‘perfect chapter’? Both to read and write?

Chapter length


  • Total voters
    43

Cossimeri

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I think the answer changes over time. I used to be hard into chapters that were between 1k and 1.5k words... but recently. I feel like 1,800 to 2,800 is the real sweet spot.
 

gogo7966

banishing a light and a dark. she/her
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there is no shuch thing as a perfect lenght for a chapter and what pepole want to read varies alot so just make your chapters whatever lenght you feel like
 

FeverDream

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I try to write around 1.5 to 2.5 words per chapter. Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to keep with my publishing schedule rn writing bigger ones, and I rather be consistent with that. Maybe with more free time, longer chapters
 

LostLibrarian

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The perfect chapter is long enough to give me the new information/development I want and short enough so that I don't get bored by the unnecessary stuff or fluff. It isn't really about the word count.

That said, in my writing I hit that point with around 1.5k to 2k words for most chapters. While reading, it really depends on the author. But I found, that a lot of longer chapters (especially from people who get paid by words) could be cut by half and still have the same amount of information. It's just unneeded repeats or fluff that doesn't achieve anything. It's the point where a lot of readers start to skim trough chapters without taking in all the information.


But the "perfect chapter" also depends on your target audience. SoL stories can get away with a lot more fluff or shorter chapters without that much development. On the other hand, there are short stories of 1.5k words with more information in it than some webnovels deliver in 20k words. But the language used makes reading them a chore...


So in short: think about the one key information or development you want to give the reader in your chapter. Write that one down. Add some fluff for the flow, but cut all the stuff, that isn't really needed. The word count you land on should be the perfect length...
 

K5Rakitan

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For writers, it is whatever you feel comfortable writing. Some writers may need to write shorter chapters due to life circumstances.
 

DavidSL

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Based on my experience reading serialized or web novels. Novels that have the theme of everyday life, romance, comedy or the like have an ideal length of between 1000-2000 words. Those of action, adventure, mystery or similar have a duration of 4000-6000 words. Although this is not always the case, some action figures have a very simple plot so they last much less. There really is no point of reference on this, the number of words written per chapters has a lot to do with the author's experience and the pace of the work. There are occasions where short chapters are made and at key moments they make it longer and the same thing happens the other way around.
 

Chaos_Sinner777

Imprisoned Soul Seeking Isekai
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At one point I thought I'd try to aim for about three thousand per chapter, but really I just write until it seems done? And so, a lot of them end up longer than that.
 

Yati

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If it feels natural to take a break in the story add in a chapter stop. . As a reader I do not really like when chapter ends are there because the writer reached a certain amount of words... I do not mind if a chapter is 800 or 5000 words. just do what feels natural for you while you are creating.
 

Ddraig

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Personally I am a fan of longer chapters. That being said 2~3k length is usually a good idea for webnovels.
Some authors do like to go for really fucking long chapters though, so it might be worth considering if making your chapters that long might be a decent idea *cough* Wandering Inn *cough* (Even the volume length counts for it are an outlier by a large margin)

If you are making a proper volume/ln though, there are usually 6 to 9 chps in a volume. Depending on you, the volume length ranges from 40k to 100k words (the tl'd versions, even volumes of same series differ in length by a lot). So 1 chp ~ 5k to 15k

Of course you can go full Horizon and be another outlier https://forum.scribblehub.com/threa...ook-be-in-terms-of-word-count.1773/post-46760

Here is a random comparison I found,
https://www.reddit.com/r/LightNovels/comments/lww64n
 

EternalSunset0

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Personally I am a fan of longer chapters. That being said 2~3k length is usually a good idea for webnovels.
Some authors do like to go for really fucking long chapters though, so it might be worth considering if making your chapters that long might be a decent idea *cough* Wandering Inn *cough* (Even the volume length counts for it are an outlier by a large margin)

If you are making a proper volume/ln though, there are usually 6 to 9 chps in a volume. Depending on you, the volume length ranges from 40k to 100k words (the tl'd versions, even volumes of same series differ in length by a lot). So 1 chp ~ 5k to 15k

Of course you can go full Horizon and be another outlier https://forum.scribblehub.com/threa...ook-be-in-terms-of-word-count.1773/post-46760

Here is a random comparison I found,
https://www.reddit.com/r/LightNovels/comments/lww64n
Didn't realize Arifureta had such a high word count. Then again, there are many sidestories per volume.
 
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