MajorKerina
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 2, 2020
- Messages
- 356
- Points
- 103
Anywhere between one word and whatever doesn’t crash the page.
I think that chapters above 4000 words and especially up towards 8000 words have such diminishing returns for how many people get through that. when you’re getting into like 10,000 words to 20,000 words you’re basically throwing a mini novel at the reader every time and I can work. I’ve read about 220 books this year and some of them had some truly gargantuan chapters which should’ve been split up into more digestible pieces. The problem with chapters that just keep going is that readers can get exhausted and they don’t really have a spot where they can stop and pick up again with clear thoughts about what they were reading. I like to follow the method of most chapters having a problem they introduce which has carried over from earlier chapters then there’s an escalation to that problem and then finally some aspect or that problem is resolved but we’re introduced to a new problem which will dominate the next chapter. In that way, chapters are like these episodes that build off one another in a serial manner and develop the characters in particular ways. Chapters that contain a complete cohesive sequence like this I feel are especially strong because the reader goes through introduction, intrigue, some level of catharsis, and then is teased with the possibilities of what’s to come.
I think that chapters above 4000 words and especially up towards 8000 words have such diminishing returns for how many people get through that. when you’re getting into like 10,000 words to 20,000 words you’re basically throwing a mini novel at the reader every time and I can work. I’ve read about 220 books this year and some of them had some truly gargantuan chapters which should’ve been split up into more digestible pieces. The problem with chapters that just keep going is that readers can get exhausted and they don’t really have a spot where they can stop and pick up again with clear thoughts about what they were reading. I like to follow the method of most chapters having a problem they introduce which has carried over from earlier chapters then there’s an escalation to that problem and then finally some aspect or that problem is resolved but we’re introduced to a new problem which will dominate the next chapter. In that way, chapters are like these episodes that build off one another in a serial manner and develop the characters in particular ways. Chapters that contain a complete cohesive sequence like this I feel are especially strong because the reader goes through introduction, intrigue, some level of catharsis, and then is teased with the possibilities of what’s to come.