Just a question about chapter length...

  • Thread starter Deleted member 54065
  • Start date

What do you think? Should I...

  • Reupload the entire books, under the tag 'Web Version'.

    Votes: 2 40.0%
  • Edit the existing books and chapters; reup the 'excess' chapters.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Do not bother to cut it up.

    Votes: 3 60.0%

  • Total voters
    5
  • Poll closed .
D

Deleted member 54065

Guest
I think a chapter should accomplish moving the story forward, some can do it in less words, but if you split you chapters down the middle it may not be as satisfying to read. I haven’t done much creative writing, but I’ve written a lot of D&D campaigns and there is a similar concept where instead of getting exp for killing monsters, the players will get a new level once a new goal in the story has been accomplished.
This is a good point that you raised. Thanks for the answer!
Then I would probably choose to reupload the entire book. I don't think it's that easy to naturally cut chapters in two. It would be a lot more work to make it a smooth transition, and perhaps you would even need to rewrite the chapters. That's what happened to me when I thought of splitting my prologue. As you ask for opinions, I think you should make a separate version of your novel and tweak it a bit to fit the 2k words standard.
Thanks for the answer! As for the word count, I don't think I can trim it anymore, since I already edited those chapters three times and considered what should be removed relative to the overall 'feel' of the chapter. But yes, I appreciate the opinion! ^_^
 

eun_

New member
Joined
Jan 10, 2022
Messages
12
Points
3
Reader-wise, I would rather read a full length chapter than a chapter chopped into numerous parts. It's a pain to read a chopped chapter knowing that you only invested your time knowing nothing, learning nothing. The story didn't progress, and you still have to read the other parts to fully learn what the chapters were all about, thus wasting more time.

You can divide sub-plots and entire arcs, but a scene dedicated for a single chapter? I don't think so. Like the aforementioned stuff and glaring evidences as to why you should not cut up a chapter, the story itself just lose cohesion and a slog to read in general. It's also bad in a way that the readers might think of you as a cheap, petty person adding crap-tier cliffhangers here and there.

On the other hand though, 4k chapter is a bit extreme honestly for an average reader, as it would take nearly a quarter of someone's hour assuming they wanted to read the chapter word-by-word and not miss out on any important details. I initially would suggest trimming it down though upon quick searching your name on Google and your novel up on Syosetsu, majority of your words came from dialogues. I'd say It's all good honestly, unless you're writing a 4k exposition hell.

If you do really want to trim down your chapters, I would say cutting/trimming down the dialogues and overexplanations although it's probably not your type of prose and tad too much to boot. More importantly, your characters would lose their color and the banters between each other so only try this as a last resort.

This is just my opinion though, and hopefully you will find the best option in the end!
 
D

Deleted member 54065

Guest
Reader-wise, I would rather read a full length chapter than a chapter chopped into numerous parts. It's a pain to read a chopped chapter knowing that you only invested your time knowing nothing, learning nothing. The story didn't progress, and you still have to read the other parts to fully learn what the chapters were all about, thus wasting more time.

You can divide sub-plots and entire arcs, but a scene dedicated for a single chapter? I don't think so. Like the aforementioned stuff and glaring evidences as to why you should not cut up a chapter, the story itself just lose cohesion and a slog to read in general. It's also bad in a way that the readers might think of you as a cheap, petty person adding crap-tier cliffhangers here and there.

On the other hand though, 4k chapter is a bit extreme honestly for an average reader, as it would take nearly a quarter of someone's hour assuming they wanted to read the chapter word-by-word and not miss out on any important details. I initially would suggest trimming it down though upon quick searching your name on Google and your novel up on Syosetsu, majority of your words came from dialogues. I'd say It's all good honestly, unless you're writing a 4k exposition hell.

If you do really want to trim down your chapters, I would say cutting/trimming down the dialogues and overexplanations although it's probably not your type of prose and tad too much to boot. More importantly, your characters would lose their color and the banters between each other so only try this as a last resort.

This is just my opinion though, and hopefully you will find the best option in the end!
I'd say, I love your perspective on this.

Yes, it's actually trimmed-down already, having removed the words and dialogues that won't affect the 'feel' that I wanted for each chapter, or for that particular scene in general. I usually do my edits three times; first is for grammar and spelling mistakes, second is for redundancy or extra dialogues, and third is for polishing. And yes, I try to explain my story through the characters' dialogue, since I don't want to spoon-feed my readers that much. Thanks for this answer!

Whatever you like more. In the end, it doesn't really matter, after all
Hmm...I'd say, thank you still for the answer! I appreciate you taking the time to answer this thread.
 

Agentt

Thighs
Joined
Oct 8, 2020
Messages
3,448
Points
183
Reuploading the whole thing really seems the better option to me, it allows you to correct and edit things in your first volume, make it more newbie friendly?

If not, then you can just leave it be. Unless you are posting chapters earlier on one site than others, there shouldn't be any reason why the readerbase of two would interact and get confuse about chapter number.
 
D

Deleted member 54065

Guest
If not, then you can just leave it be. Unless you are posting chapters earlier on one site than others, there shouldn't be any reason why the readerbase of two would interact and get confuse about chapter number.
I never thought about that. Makes sense, actually. My readers could end up confused about the chapter numbers.

Thanks for the answer! I appreciate it!
 

Agentt

Thighs
Joined
Oct 8, 2020
Messages
3,448
Points
183
I never thought about that. Makes sense, actually. My readers could end up confused about the chapter numbers.

Thanks for the answer! I appreciate it!
Well, majority of people on novelupdates join it just for spoilers, so it was on top of my head that the readers would discuss it
 

LMStephens

One Complexed and Unusual Being
Joined
Dec 31, 2021
Messages
64
Points
33
My advice is to do what I do. I don't concentrate on word count, but I try to stick to 10 MS Word pages, more or less, when I write my chapters. I do this because, well, people can't bookmark a web novel. I have issues reading long chapters in web novels as well, partly because I like reading printed books and it's just the whole looking at a screen for a long time. It bothers my eyes.
 
Top