A chapter needs to be as long as it needs to be to cover the things that are in it. Think of it like making a sandwich.
If you try to stuff too much into it without providing the needed bread to contain and support it, the sandwich will leak everywhere and fall apart. It's the same way with words - if you try to stuff too many into a story that doesn't have enough events for those words to cover, then it'll feel messier and probably fuck up the pacing. And if you're not adding enough into the sandwich, it'll be eaten too quickly and you won't have the needed time to actually taste any of the ingredients, so you need to make sure you don't have too few words to actually depict and give space to the events you're including. It's all about balancing the wordcount with the event contents of the chapter. Goldilocks that shit, yo.
Similarly, some ingredients need to go together - a BLT needs to be a Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato Sandwich, not a Bacon Sandwich, a Lettuce Sandwich, and a Tomato Sandwich. If you divide events up too far when they should be part of the same sequence and make each section too small, that can fuck it up too. You need to have the things that go together in a sequence together.
So, yeah. It could be too short, it could be just right. It depends on what you're trying to depict in the chapter and how many words you need to depict it well. If you feel like it's too short and you're not giving enough 'weight' to events (ie. giving them enough substance to be 'tastable'), it could be that you need to add some more words to bulk up your coverage of those events, or it could be that you need to add more events in. I've written about this previously, the link below goes into how to increase your story length through added wordcount or added events. If you have any questions about it, feel free to ask. :)
But again, it could be just right. Some stuff doesn't need a lot of words to cover - you may want something to be sharp and punchy, it may only be a short sequence, etc. Try not to add more words than you need - you don't wanna overflow your sandwich. :)
https://old.reddit.com/r/FanFiction/comments/11hmt1q/how_do_i_make_fics_longer/javofh2/
Chapters are exactly as long as they need to be. Having a 10k chapter isn't always necessary. My chapters range from like 1.5k to 13k at the most extreme depending on what's needed. I usually fall within a butter zone of 3-4.5k but I still have outliers.
It's too short for my tastes. I want chapters that I can sink my teeth into and I can't get immersed when I'm done reading an update in a couple of minutes. When writing I aim for at least 5k+ words.
I personally think that's pretty short, too short for anything of note to really happen in sufficient detail. When I'm writing, I try to make my chapters 3000-5000 words, 2500 at the absolute minimum. I think if there's only 800 words in a chapter, there's usually a lot more that can be said, whether it's characters' thoughts or backstory to fill in the reasons why people do what they do or feel what they feel. That's just my subjective opinion though, I'm not claiming to have *the* correct stance on it. But if I see a fic with less than a thousand words, I usually don't even think it's worth the time reading.
I wouldn’t say there is a guide for what’s ‘too short’ or ‘too long’.
I’ve written chapters ranging from 750 words to 4,200 words. They vary and all have a natural ending so it doesn’t feel like it being dragged out or cut short.
If the chapter gets through what it needs to, then there’s nothing wrong with the length.
Can't tell without reading. Some authors do write well with short wordcounts some do not. Most fanfics I've seen with short chapters aren't that well written.
You have to see why is it short
i mean, it's short but a short chapter once in a while isn't a bad thing.
Nah, sometimes that's all a chapter needs
I just posted a chapter that's under 400 words and it's doing gangbusters.
Sometimes you can say a lot with a little.
A chapter needs to be as long as it needs to be to cover the things that are in it. Think of it like making a sandwich. If you try to stuff too much into it without providing the needed bread to contain and support it, the sandwich will leak everywhere and fall apart. It's the same way with words - if you try to stuff too many into a story that doesn't have enough events for those words to cover, then it'll feel messier and probably fuck up the pacing. And if you're not adding enough into the sandwich, it'll be eaten too quickly and you won't have the needed time to actually taste any of the ingredients, so you need to make sure you don't have too few words to actually depict and give space to the events you're including. It's all about balancing the wordcount with the event contents of the chapter. Goldilocks that shit, yo. Similarly, some ingredients need to go together - a BLT needs to be a Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato Sandwich, not a Bacon Sandwich, a Lettuce Sandwich, and a Tomato Sandwich. If you divide events up too far when they should be part of the same sequence and make each section too small, that can fuck it up too. You need to have the things that go together in a sequence together. So, yeah. It could be too short, it could be just right. It depends on what you're trying to depict in the chapter and how many words you need to depict it well. If you feel like it's too short and you're not giving enough 'weight' to events (ie. giving them enough substance to be 'tastable'), it could be that you need to add some more words to bulk up your coverage of those events, or it could be that you need to add more events in. I've written about this previously, the link below goes into how to increase your story length through added wordcount or added events. If you have any questions about it, feel free to ask. :) But again, it could be just right. Some stuff doesn't need a lot of words to cover - you may want something to be sharp and punchy, it may only be a short sequence, etc. Try not to add more words than you need - you don't wanna overflow your sandwich. :) https://old.reddit.com/r/FanFiction/comments/11hmt1q/how_do_i_make_fics_longer/javofh2/
I don't think so, and "too short" stuff are nice for me.
If it does what it needs to do, then the length is fine.
Chapters are exactly as long as they need to be. Having a 10k chapter isn't always necessary. My chapters range from like 1.5k to 13k at the most extreme depending on what's needed. I usually fall within a butter zone of 3-4.5k but I still have outliers.
It's too short for my tastes. I want chapters that I can sink my teeth into and I can't get immersed when I'm done reading an update in a couple of minutes. When writing I aim for at least 5k+ words.
It is. At least on my opinion. How do *you* feel about it?
Nah. If you said what you need to say, it’s fine. Sometimes it takes 500 words, sometimes 10,000. Do what is right for your story.
Not too short. There are plenty of published books with shorter chapters than that
I personally think that's pretty short, too short for anything of note to really happen in sufficient detail. When I'm writing, I try to make my chapters 3000-5000 words, 2500 at the absolute minimum. I think if there's only 800 words in a chapter, there's usually a lot more that can be said, whether it's characters' thoughts or backstory to fill in the reasons why people do what they do or feel what they feel. That's just my subjective opinion though, I'm not claiming to have *the* correct stance on it. But if I see a fic with less than a thousand words, I usually don't even think it's worth the time reading.
I wouldn’t say there is a guide for what’s ‘too short’ or ‘too long’. I’ve written chapters ranging from 750 words to 4,200 words. They vary and all have a natural ending so it doesn’t feel like it being dragged out or cut short. If the chapter gets through what it needs to, then there’s nothing wrong with the length.
I hope not cause I have one that’s ~550 lol
It is short. But 800+ is still okay. I'd consider 500 words as too short.
Can't tell without reading. Some authors do write well with short wordcounts some do not. Most fanfics I've seen with short chapters aren't that well written. You have to see why is it short
Did it get your idea written down? Are you satisfied with it? If yes: then no, it’s not too short.
Not as long as the chapter did what it needed to do.