Writing How Many Words Should I Put?

[Wlel]

As a newbie author here, I want to know your opinion as a fellow author or reader about how many words should be written in a series.

How many words should I put in each chapter? 1K? 2K? Or 3K?

And is there a standard about how many words someone has to write for each chapter?

Thanks in advance!​

 

[SailusGebel]

Depends on your update schedule.

 

[Prince_Azmiran_Myrian]

I have always thought, 'whatever amount works best for your story'. But I write for fun, not as a job

I write over 2k for most of my chapters. But I've read stories with more and less. Longer can tend to have a neverending effect because breaks are farther apart.

 

[placeintime]

There isn't a standard on how many words someone writes on each chapter. You can write whatever number you want. A good rule of thumb to follow is If you do short chapters, I think you would want to post more frequently and for longer chapters, you can post them seldom. It also really depends on how much write in a day too.

 

[LilRora]

Generally it varies wildly and it's not really possible to say how long your chapters should be. My personal advice is to post either ~3k word chapters twice a week or ~2k word chapters thrice a week, but that number can be really hard to pull off in practice and keep up for a long time.

Short (~1,5k words) chapters are good for lighter stories, but need to be posted rather frequently, and long (3k+ words) chapters are good in plot-heavy and/or serious stories, but need to be well-written and engaging or they will become tedious to read. Between those two is a sort of neutral ground that's safest to thread, and that's where most stories end up, so readers are used to that chapter length.

Try not to go lower than 1k words though, because there is very little happening in such short snippets and most people lose interests in such stories if they are not posted at least 5 times a week.

 

[Corty]

Whatever you feel comfortable with. Stick to that.

I can only give you my own example:

I committed myself to a minimum of 2000 words per chapter, 5 chapters per week. That is a good middle-ground (for me) where I can easily keep it up or go over that, producing longer chapters when I feel good about writing. If I'm not in the groove, 2000 words per chapter are something that is still doable. You can also break it up, produce a minimum of 1000 words per chapter and do two chapters a day instead of one. But I wouldn't go under 1000 words per chapter. That can feel very short for a reader.

The key is imo consistency. Keep the chapters coming and readers will take notice.

 

[Deleted member 54065]

In my novel's first arc, I wrote chapters with a minimum of 2k (for the main chapters) and a maximum of 6.7k. However, I realized that it's kind of tedious to read so the next arcs (2, 3) now average at around 4k words per chapters.

This is because my work is isekai fantasy. However, I wanted to explain my concepts well without spoonfeeding readers on the first chapters, aside from writing a proper build-up to my climaxes.

I'm also writing a low fantasy work. There, I averaged around 2k words per main chapters.

So yeah word count per chapter depends on your story, your style and your genre.

But, if you want your work to be something like a reader on the go (those who read whike on the way to work, or school, or those who subscribe to phone novels, like in Syosetu) can easily digest, a chapter of around 1k to 1.5k words is recommended.

 

[melchi]

As a newbie author here, I want to know your opinion as a fellow author or reader about how many words should be written in a series.

How many words should I put in each chapter? 1K? 2K? Or 3K?

And is there a standard about how many words someone has to write for each chapter?

Thanks in advance!​

Personally, I think for a webnovel chapters that take shorter than 15 minutes to read are less desirable. 15 minute chapters split the story into nice chunks. Chapters that are less than 2k don't usually take 15 mins to read. Spending more time clicking next makes the experience less enjoyable. That is just my opinion.

 

[Whitephantom]

People already said good stuff here so to sum it up in a way. More words makes you have less uploads. Less words lets you have more uploads. The median to that is 1k-3k+ wrds. Of course 1k-2k is for short to medium novels, 3k+ for more gurthy works. Me personally i write 4k+ words since i really cant upload 4-5 times a week(Plus sometimes im lazy to just write). All in all its a feeling type of thing, just write what you feel like writing in the time spam you can write and see where you end up
Here's the novel im currently spending a good bit of time re-writing

Spoiler: https://www.scribblehub.com/series/478660/the--knights-of-euvoria/

The 13 Knights Of Euvoria

Gaizen, a boy who leads a cruel fate comes home from school after being scrutinized by the class. With a expectation to lay eyes on his Grandmother, But fate makes it to be that His Grandmother is found stabbed, and dieing. He then goes to bury his only family member...

www.scribblehub.com

 

[Ilikewaterkusa]

As a newbie author here, I want to know your opinion as a fellow author or reader about how many words should be written in a series.

How many words should I put in each chapter? 1K? 2K? Or 3K?

And is there a standard about how many words someone has to write for each chapter?

Thanks in advance!​

Start with 1k since you’re new and just be consistent and write everyday.

 

[LuoirM]

5

 

[Lloyd]

2k is standard but i do less lately cause it's more fun

 

[Seseal]

As a newbie author here, I want to know your opinion as a fellow author or reader about how many words should be written in a series.

How many words should I put in each chapter? 1K? 2K? Or 3K?

And is there a standard about how many words someone has to write for each chapter?

I think you should just try it out and see how your chapter flows from beginning to end. And, of course, depending on what kind of story you write. The word count will vary, but, you know? Give it a go! ><

 

[CapitaoCaverna]

Now, I'll give you my opinion as a reader.

I love huge chapters, reading a chapter that's more than 5k words feels great, but those usually take much longer to finish.

I feel that a good number of words is around 2k. Anything less and the chapter feels too small, more like a snippet than a proper story. I tend to lose interest in such short stories because they don't give me time to get involved in the chapter.

However, some of the most important things for a story are consistency and fast updates, One update a week is probably about the minimum, two updates are better, but anything above that will only help you increase your number of readers.

In short, I suggest updating at least twice a week, with chapters of at least 2k words, I also suggest posting the first chapters fast, updating once a day for a week or so before slowing down, just make sure your readers know it's just a boost in the beginning, not something they should geet used to.

 

[MajorKerina]

All of them. All the words. Except for the ones you don’t need to put. Every last word. Until the brain people tell you to stop.

Seriously though, the number of words you use for chapter can vary wildly. I typically find prologues either run long or they tend to be somewhere around 500 to 1000 words. The same can be true of chapters. If you really hate yourself, you can make your chapters be a standard 2000 to 5000 words.

What do you find sustainable for your level of writing? Also you need to consider if a chapter is going to be just one scene and whether people find that interesting to read or if it’s going to be multiple scenes along a theme you want to express at length. What readers enjoy writing can also very. I find you get more readers on the low end because they’re able to very quickly read and finish the chapter and then look for the next one. The problem is some readers are quite ravenous so they will tear through so many words. It’s probably best to hit a middle ground between very brief and casual and long winded.

 

[Domoviye]

Go with what's comfortable for you and fits the story.
I tend to stick around 2000 words, plus or minus 500 words. This works for me as I have room to play, I don't need to use much filler to reach my average, and I don't risk burning out.
And don't worry about how often you post. I put out one chapter a week and I'm getting great responses. The important thing is consistency in posting and quality.
So find what's best for you and the story. Then go with it.

 

[K5Rakitan]

Don't worry about the word count. Write what fits the story. Some stories are great short stories. Some stories need longer to tell.

 

[Gibbs505]

Now, I'll give you my opinion as a reader.

I love huge chapters, reading a chapter that's more than 5k words feels great, but those usually take much longer to finish.

I feel that a good number of words is around 2k. Anything less and the chapter feels too small, more like a snippet than a proper story. I tend to lose interest in such short stories because they don't give me time to get involved in the chapter.

However, some of the most important things for a story are consistency and fast updates, One update a week is probably about the minimum, two updates are better, but anything above that will only help you increase your number of readers.

In short, I suggest updating at least twice a week, with chapters of at least 2k words, I also suggest posting the first chapters fast, updating once a day for a week or so before slowing down, just make sure your readers know it's just a boost in the beginning, not something they should geet used to.

I just posted a chapter on Ti Lepus, of 5000+. Have a look if you like! The book will end up with 179,000 words plus!

 

[Shamiko]

For web novels, I enjoy reading chapters that have 2k or fewer words, but if you want to publish your story, 4k to 7k words per chapter is a good amount (20 to 30 pages).

 

[Chaosvalnir]

Frankly, it involves writing style, genre and story boarding. Most of my chapters are roughly 5k words though it does sometimes go as low as 3k and as high as 7k depending on the necessary content of the chapter