Writing Split Chapters or No?

[Sairren]

I've been recommended to split some of the chapters I have up at the moment. I don't mind doing this, but not sure about it. Most of my chapters are 3k+ words long, with only a few being less than that. So a lot of my current chapters would get cut into two parts and some cut in three. I just want to get other people's opinions on the matter. It wouldn't change how often I post, only increase the number of "chapters".



My own opinion on it is that I want to find out what would be more appealing to people overall. I write a new chapter once every week, and release it in full. But if people would rather it be divided into pieces, that's also fine with me.

 

[EternalSunset0]

Mine was at 6k for the first volume. Forced myself to split the chapters into 3k, and now, I kinda regret it because the "first chapter hook" ended up being at the end of the 2nd chapter.

I'd say 3k words a chapter is fine. Shouldn't be too much of a worry imo. I'd rather read 3k words with content than 1k or less chunks that barely advance the plot.

 

[Sairren]

Mine was at 6k for the first volume. Forced myself to split the chapters into 3k, and now, I kinda regret it because the "first chapter hook" ended up being at the end of the 2nd chapter.

I'd say 3k words a chapter is fine. Shouldn't be too much of a worry imo. I'd rather read 3k words with content than 1k or less chunks that barely advance the plot.

That does help, though some chapters I write go over 4k and 5k.

 

[RedHunter2296]

I would tell you to make the chapters the size that you think is correct. I don't know how you had planned how to start and how to finish the chapter, but if you ended it feeling satisfied then that's fine. Because maybe trying to reach a fixed number of words you have to fill in or maybe on the contrary eliminate things that you had originally planned to write.

Although at least try not to make it too long, because readers like to be able to complete one chapter per session. But if you make them overwhelmingly long that they have to pause it in the middle of the chapter for another day, this will only make them forget the plot or complain about the size.

 

[AKnightWithaKnife]

I wouldn’t split the chapters up as you wrote to make one chapter not two and splitting it may have negative impact on story clarity

 

[CrusadeAgainstFurries]

Meanwhile me, who only writes around 700 words each chapter...

 

[Wlel]

Meanwhile me, who only writes around 700 words each chapter...

View attachment 6941

Don't worry mate, i got your back (650k words/chapter)

 

[Agentt]

Meanwhile me, who only writes around 700 words each chapter...

View attachment 6941

Don't worry mate, i got your back (650k words/chapter)

And there me whose chaps are 100 words. Atleast a few weeks back they were.

 

[NotYourTypicalMan]

As a reader i find it boring to read a chapter over 2K words. 1-1.5K words are the best size of chunk that i can bite relaxly while im drinking my tea or coffee.

 

[jinxs2011]

I think that anything that goes much over the 5k mark should be split up. One novel I read has chapters that can reach up to 7k+, and with that one I legitimately notice myself thinking, 'am I nearly at the end yet?'

As for myself, I generally aim for 3.5k and overshoot to somewhere around the 4-4.2k words region. As both a writer and a reader I feel that with anything smaller than 2k words, very little can actually happen in a chapter. Or maybe i'm thinking of less than 1k. I've only really read one novel like that and I never actually checked the average word count. Just checked and it was 1k. So maybe 2k not so bad. But 1k definitely too little.

 

[Reisinling]

Meanwhile me, who only writes around 700 words each chapter...

View attachment 6941

Don't worry mate, i got your back (650k words/chapter)

I made a thread with Scribblehub stats according to that data (now 2 weeks old) 700 words is bottom 15%. It was the same for me, but after I saw how low it is I decided to increase the chapter length to over 1000.

Also as you can see on the charts - it seems the most popular novels have ~2 000 words per chapter, so do what you want

 

[OvidLemma]

In my personal opinion, the length of your posted chapters should be enough to cause a small but noticeable advancement in your story's plot. Some writers manage to get that in 1,000 words and some take 3,000. I personally write chapters without regards for length, and they usually end up being 6,000-9,000 words long and each chapter has a pretty significant arc and plot advancement. For SH, I split my chapters apart into 2,000-3,500 word segments, depending on what works best for splitting the chapter. For SH purposes, I treat these as separate chapters. I decided on this length, since I can always turn each full chapter into 2-3 SH posts and because this is the length I prefer for a casual read - I don't always have more than 10 minutes to read a chapter, and so a 10,000 word monster is likely to bog me down. But a 1,000 word chapter isn't enough for me - I'd rather wait for you to post three 1,000 word chapters than read one per day across three days.

 

[Arkus86]

As a reader, I found my sweet spot to be around 4k words, at least for online reading, and I agree with @AKnightWithaKnife, better to leave the chapters at their 'natural' lenght than risking butchering the flow.

 

[S10]

I think you should leave as is.
But try to not go over 5k. As a reader, 5k seems to be the point of 'why am I stuck reading this chapter for so long'.

Though I have seen amazing fics going at something stupid like 10k a chapter so /shrug
Also try to be consistant.

 

[Sairren]

I've read everything said thus far...and still stuck on the fence, unfortunately.
From what I can piece together, it's recommended to split a chapter at a certain point. 3.5k and below seems to be the recommended point to cut a chapter. And if it gets towards 4k and up, find a place to separate it. Preferably not at a cliffhanger, but to use it if necessary.
At the same time, I'm also seeing that it's not necessary to divide them at all.

I'll try and think about it some more, maybe even through a poll up on my chapter 1, asking the readers if they'd like me to cut chapters up to be easier to digest.

 

[CadmarLegend]

I've read everything said thus far...and still stuck on the fence, unfortunately.
From what I can piece together, it's recommended to split a chapter at a certain point. 3.5k and below seems to be the recommended point to cut a chapter. And if it gets towards 4k and up, find a place to separate it. Preferably not at a cliffhanger, but to use it if necessary.
At the same time, I'm also seeing that it's not necessary to divide them at all.

I'll try and think about it some more, maybe even through a poll up on my chapter 1, asking the readers if they'd like me to cut chapters up to be easier to digest.

I really don't know if a reader would want less chaps then they normally get, though....

 

[Sairren]

I really don't know if a reader would want less chaps then they normally get, though....

I'd still be uploading every completed chapter, just in pieces.

For example:
Let's say I've written chapter 15, but it's 6,000 words and I cut it into two pieces. I'd upload both halves regardless, instead of hoarding it for the following week, but it's only divided up to make it easier to read.

My chapters vary in length immensely; anywhere from over 1k to over 6k. If I cut things up, it'd be x.n, x.n+1, etc. But it's still all uploaded once per week. If that makes sense.

 

[CadmarLegend]

I'd still be uploading every completed chapter, just in pieces.

For example:
Let's say I've written chapter 15, but it's 6,000 words and I cut it into two pieces. I'd upload both halves regardless, instead of hoarding it for the following week, but it's only divided up to make it easier to read.

My chapters vary in length immensely; anywhere from over 1k to over 6k. If I cut things up, it'd be x.n, x.n+1, etc. But it's still all uploaded once per week. If that makes sense.

Then... do whatever you want!