How long should a first chapter be?

GwynGang

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I wrote the first chapter of my story a while ago but I decided to rewrite it recently, but It went from 1700 words to over 3000 because of it. is that a good number for an introduction to the story or is it too long for a hook?
 

Succubiome

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It's fine! First chapters being a little long isn't uncommon, I think?

I would be careful if you set up the first several chapters being long if you're posting them sequentially, though-- if readers get the expectation for 3k words each chapter from the start, and then you switch back to the 1.7k you were doing before, they may be disappointed.
 

Corty

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Whatever number you will be able to produce for the rest of the story. Aim for a number that you know you can average constantly. Then, when inspiration kicks in, and you double a chapter length once in a while, you can tell your readers it is a double chapter galore, rejoice! At least, that is what I do.
 

LilRora

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It's not about how long a chapter is, but what the chapter is. Some stories occasionally have chapters upwards of 10k words long, but if they are engaging, people will still like them. The basic rule of thumb is that the longer the chapter is, the better your writing needs to be or you'll make it tedious and unenjoyable to read.

But I got a little derailed, so to answer your question, 3k words for the first chapter is quite a lot. Most stories hover around 2k. But 3k is absolutely fine, as long as it's not an exception; it definitely shouldn't be the longest chapter in the story.
 
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Gryphon

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3,000 words ain't that long. That's like 6-8 pages depending on how you format it, which is pretty much standard chapter length for novels. What you really should be focusing on, however, is the amount of stuff you have in your first chapter, and how well paced it is. Does your first chapter signal what your story is going to be about? Who's the main character? Will it be character focused or plot focused, or maybe disregard both character and plot for balls to the walls action?

This is the kind of stuff that your first chapter needs to provide. Use as many or as little words as you need to convey this information, and you should be golden.
 
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