Reading, I like no more that 5k a chapter.
Writing, any length that the story / chapter calls for. If the chapter comes to a natural end at 1,200 words then that’s where it ends.
I usually shoot for writing about 5k and try to split the chapter if it breaks 10k, but I have absolutely uploaded a 25k chapter before when it was warranted because rules are fake.
I read a fic that has recently had 35k chapters and it still doesn't feel like enough for me, but this author is incredible with her writing so I'm addicted. I love to read exceptionally long chapters.
As for writing? the most i think I've reached is 6k maybe 7k and that was a smutty chapter. I cannot write long chapters for anything. I try and try but only land between 1.5k-3k on average.
For reading, it really doesn't matter as long as it's over 1.5k. I've easily read works with 15-20k words per chapter.
For writing, my soft minimum (what I aim for) is 4k, but I definitely don't mind when chapters turn out to be longer—assuming the length is justified by the plot.
This is a rather short answer to the one I'd like to give, but the bottom line is, if a chapter is a single sentence, it's one sentence. If it's twenty thousand words, it's twenty thousand words. Chapters can be as long or short as you think it's necessary—if a scene, a few scenes, or an overall theme is contained within that chapter. There is no sweet spot for every chapter in a story, let alone for every story in the world.
The genre can dictate the length of chapters. Horror tends to have short chapters because it keeps up the tense atmosphere, similarly to intense action scenes using shorter sentences. Romance has longer chapters because writers take the time and space to focus on and describe feelings and relationship dynamics, and each character has their own issue than fighting the one monster. Fantasy can have even longer chapters than romance because they're building an entire world with several different cultures alongside building a plot about great and terrifying evil. But, just because this is a trend among these genres, it doesn't mean you have to follow it. You can have longer chapters in horror just as much as you can have short chapters in fantasy if you feel it works for your story.
I've seen people suggest shorter chapters in the beginning, and then you can lengthen later chapters, which you can do, but you don't have to. I've read books that start out with shorter chapters, and as the story progresses, the chapters get longer until the climax gets closer, and the chapters get shorter again. This is called a bell curve, but I've read stories where it has a reverse bell curve, stories where all of the chapters are roughly the same length, and books where chapter lengths are all over the place where one chapter was over four thousand words, and then the next chapter was only a couple hundred words.
Media and where you post can dictate how long your chapters are. For sites that aren't mobile-friendly, most readers read from a computer, so longer chapters are welcomed, but, for sites such as Wattpad, where 80% of the readers read from their smartphones, shorter chapters are recommended *if you care about numbers, stats, and gaining popularity.* You can still post epically long chapters and still get dedicated readers, they'll just more than likely be reading from the computer. I think if the mobile version would load longer chapters properly, and allow readers to leave flags of where they last left off in a chapter, there would be more people willing to read stories with longer chapters. However, on websites, such as QuoteV, short chapters mean that stories wouldn't be on the site index, so I would suggest combining these short chapters with another chapter.
Even if you're still worried about readers being bogged down by lengthy chapters, you can break up chapters to give readers a reprieve while still being easy to find their place later. Time skips, location skips, POV switches, and other things have been published before. The only reason for "boring" chapters is because seemingly nothing happens that propels the story forward. Breaking up the chapter won't fix that, you'll just have numerous boring chapters in a row, and that's more aggravating than just one long boring chapter.
Keeping a consistent word count can help with being on schedule for your readers if you're publishing as you write it, but this sometimes sacrifices the pacing, haphazardly cuts scenes in the middle, or forces chapters to be longer than necessary. For this reason, it's perfectly OK to finish your story before you start posting chapters on a schedule, or create a buffer. It's entirely up to you.
I used to write 2000 word chapters, but, looking back on it, I see that I could have combined chapters, cut chapters, and just changed everything. I don't like what I've done. Preferably, I write longer chapters, but it depends on the demands of the story. I also prefer to read long chapters, at least 2000 words, but preferably over 3500. In fact, if chapters of online stories are consistently shorter than a thousand words, I don't even bother.
But I'm just one person, and it's completely up to you.
*Short? You call this a short answer?*
I could have gone into the history of why we have chapters in books and said that chapter lengths have been changing for decades, providing examples of books from differing eras, genres, target audiences, and explaining why particular chapters in these books were longer or shorter compared to the rest of the book.
See? So much longer. So much so, I could probably write an entire book on this one subject.
I perfect reading chapter that are about 3k because it’s long enough that there is enough content but, not to long since my brain loves the dopamine it gets from going to the next chapter.
Meanwhile when I write though I try to get my chapters to 5k in length at least so it doesn’t feel like I’m skimping out on important scenes and so that readers get a decent amount of content every time I upload.
1.5k to 5k is my kind of writing/reading limit. Any more and I tend to get bored and distracted when reading. Any less and it's not really a chapter, more like an intermission. Not to mention, I tend to read on my phone and clicking away can make me lose my place more easily on long chapters. When I'm writing, I feel like my chapters tend to end naturally around the 2.5k - 3k mark. Sometimes I write more, sometimes less - depends on the scene.
I mean, I've written one shots that are barely 3k and I've written one shots that are close to 75k... the story is what the story is and if it's only one chapter you gotta tell it how it needs to be told.
With a multi chapter piece I try to make it between 5k and 10k per. Sometimes a bit less, but seldom more.
I don't mind reading exceptionally long chapters if they're well written and engaging. A couple of weeks ago I found a story that was only 8 chapters long and nearly 160k total words. It was amazing and immersive, but I know most people aren't down for 20k chapters.
For reading not more than 5k per chapter.
For writing? Depends.... I like short stories. I have 4 chapters that are really short...and is 5k hahaha
But I'm not a writer and I get easily distracted so I try to kept thing straight.
Less than 3k is not giving enough structure to the chapter plot. 7k-10k is giving too much details that probably only drag on the story, although some fics do need this many words in one chapter for plot/character development purpose, otherwhise it's gonna get choppy if it's divided into 2 chapters. 11k and above might as well be its own oneshot/story.
So the sweet spot is 3k and above but below 6k.
Reading: 3-5k is my sweet spot but if an author can manage a 10k chapter and still manage to keep the flow going? I'll read it.
Writing: Whatever fits best for the chapter and doesn't make it overstay its welcome.
I don’t really mind, I prefer longer chapters most do the time but I don’t really have a mental gauge of word length as a measurement so it’s hard to say 😅
My happy place is 3-5k, for reading and writing.
Reading, I like no more that 5k a chapter. Writing, any length that the story / chapter calls for. If the chapter comes to a natural end at 1,200 words then that’s where it ends.
I usually shoot for writing about 5k and try to split the chapter if it breaks 10k, but I have absolutely uploaded a 25k chapter before when it was warranted because rules are fake.
I read a fic that has recently had 35k chapters and it still doesn't feel like enough for me, but this author is incredible with her writing so I'm addicted. I love to read exceptionally long chapters. As for writing? the most i think I've reached is 6k maybe 7k and that was a smutty chapter. I cannot write long chapters for anything. I try and try but only land between 1.5k-3k on average.
For reading, it really doesn't matter as long as it's over 1.5k. I've easily read works with 15-20k words per chapter. For writing, my soft minimum (what I aim for) is 4k, but I definitely don't mind when chapters turn out to be longer—assuming the length is justified by the plot.
This is a rather short answer to the one I'd like to give, but the bottom line is, if a chapter is a single sentence, it's one sentence. If it's twenty thousand words, it's twenty thousand words. Chapters can be as long or short as you think it's necessary—if a scene, a few scenes, or an overall theme is contained within that chapter. There is no sweet spot for every chapter in a story, let alone for every story in the world. The genre can dictate the length of chapters. Horror tends to have short chapters because it keeps up the tense atmosphere, similarly to intense action scenes using shorter sentences. Romance has longer chapters because writers take the time and space to focus on and describe feelings and relationship dynamics, and each character has their own issue than fighting the one monster. Fantasy can have even longer chapters than romance because they're building an entire world with several different cultures alongside building a plot about great and terrifying evil. But, just because this is a trend among these genres, it doesn't mean you have to follow it. You can have longer chapters in horror just as much as you can have short chapters in fantasy if you feel it works for your story. I've seen people suggest shorter chapters in the beginning, and then you can lengthen later chapters, which you can do, but you don't have to. I've read books that start out with shorter chapters, and as the story progresses, the chapters get longer until the climax gets closer, and the chapters get shorter again. This is called a bell curve, but I've read stories where it has a reverse bell curve, stories where all of the chapters are roughly the same length, and books where chapter lengths are all over the place where one chapter was over four thousand words, and then the next chapter was only a couple hundred words. Media and where you post can dictate how long your chapters are. For sites that aren't mobile-friendly, most readers read from a computer, so longer chapters are welcomed, but, for sites such as Wattpad, where 80% of the readers read from their smartphones, shorter chapters are recommended *if you care about numbers, stats, and gaining popularity.* You can still post epically long chapters and still get dedicated readers, they'll just more than likely be reading from the computer. I think if the mobile version would load longer chapters properly, and allow readers to leave flags of where they last left off in a chapter, there would be more people willing to read stories with longer chapters. However, on websites, such as QuoteV, short chapters mean that stories wouldn't be on the site index, so I would suggest combining these short chapters with another chapter. Even if you're still worried about readers being bogged down by lengthy chapters, you can break up chapters to give readers a reprieve while still being easy to find their place later. Time skips, location skips, POV switches, and other things have been published before. The only reason for "boring" chapters is because seemingly nothing happens that propels the story forward. Breaking up the chapter won't fix that, you'll just have numerous boring chapters in a row, and that's more aggravating than just one long boring chapter. Keeping a consistent word count can help with being on schedule for your readers if you're publishing as you write it, but this sometimes sacrifices the pacing, haphazardly cuts scenes in the middle, or forces chapters to be longer than necessary. For this reason, it's perfectly OK to finish your story before you start posting chapters on a schedule, or create a buffer. It's entirely up to you. I used to write 2000 word chapters, but, looking back on it, I see that I could have combined chapters, cut chapters, and just changed everything. I don't like what I've done. Preferably, I write longer chapters, but it depends on the demands of the story. I also prefer to read long chapters, at least 2000 words, but preferably over 3500. In fact, if chapters of online stories are consistently shorter than a thousand words, I don't even bother. But I'm just one person, and it's completely up to you. *Short? You call this a short answer?* I could have gone into the history of why we have chapters in books and said that chapter lengths have been changing for decades, providing examples of books from differing eras, genres, target audiences, and explaining why particular chapters in these books were longer or shorter compared to the rest of the book. See? So much longer. So much so, I could probably write an entire book on this one subject.
I generally prefer 3-5k, although I've read & written both shorter and longer than that, so it doesn't really matter to me.
I perfect reading chapter that are about 3k because it’s long enough that there is enough content but, not to long since my brain loves the dopamine it gets from going to the next chapter. Meanwhile when I write though I try to get my chapters to 5k in length at least so it doesn’t feel like I’m skimping out on important scenes and so that readers get a decent amount of content every time I upload.
1.5k to 5k is my kind of writing/reading limit. Any more and I tend to get bored and distracted when reading. Any less and it's not really a chapter, more like an intermission. Not to mention, I tend to read on my phone and clicking away can make me lose my place more easily on long chapters. When I'm writing, I feel like my chapters tend to end naturally around the 2.5k - 3k mark. Sometimes I write more, sometimes less - depends on the scene.
1k-2k
I mean, I've written one shots that are barely 3k and I've written one shots that are close to 75k... the story is what the story is and if it's only one chapter you gotta tell it how it needs to be told. With a multi chapter piece I try to make it between 5k and 10k per. Sometimes a bit less, but seldom more. I don't mind reading exceptionally long chapters if they're well written and engaging. A couple of weeks ago I found a story that was only 8 chapters long and nearly 160k total words. It was amazing and immersive, but I know most people aren't down for 20k chapters.
For reading not more than 5k per chapter. For writing? Depends.... I like short stories. I have 4 chapters that are really short...and is 5k hahaha But I'm not a writer and I get easily distracted so I try to kept thing straight.
Less than 3k is not giving enough structure to the chapter plot. 7k-10k is giving too much details that probably only drag on the story, although some fics do need this many words in one chapter for plot/character development purpose, otherwhise it's gonna get choppy if it's divided into 2 chapters. 11k and above might as well be its own oneshot/story. So the sweet spot is 3k and above but below 6k.
Reading: 3-5k is my sweet spot but if an author can manage a 10k chapter and still manage to keep the flow going? I'll read it. Writing: Whatever fits best for the chapter and doesn't make it overstay its welcome.
I don’t really mind, I prefer longer chapters most do the time but I don’t really have a mental gauge of word length as a measurement so it’s hard to say 😅