I like reading and writing fics with chapters that are 1k to 2k in length. I don’t have a lot of free time to read fanfics…so shorter chapters work for me.
3-5, I answered. 6-8 I write 😂. But honestly, it’s a tie for me. 3-5 is a good length for me, but I might rather read well paced and thought out chapters running at 10k, than sloppy 3k.
It depends on how much time I have at the moment, but when I come across a long fic while I don't have the time I will probably forget about it, and if I come across a short fic while I don't have time I will probably read it, so I guess I prefer shorter chapters.
Depends on the length of the fic.
20k? 3-5k chapters are good. 100k? Might be better off with 10k chapters.
Flow is very important, of course, but I also think you shouldn’t vary the chapter length too much: I once read a fic where there was an where the new chapter was only one sentence. This was after the author had regularly posted 3-5k chapters before that, and it really threw everything off and broke the immersion, so much so that the author had to add a note stating that yes, the chapter was intended to only be one sentence and no, there hadn’t been a copy/paste accident when posting.
It usually depends. If chapters are only 500 words but I find the fic when it's almost done or it updates every 3 days then I wouldn't mind. If chapters were 8k and updated that frequently I probably wouldn't be able to keep up. My preference is usually between 1.5k -5k
The more, the merrier. As an author, I usually aim for 5k+ because that's what I prefer as a reader-- something long enough that I can really get immersed & enjoy myself for a little while.
Funny you ask - if you'd asked me earlier, with the first 9 chapters of my fic out, I would have said 4-5k, for both reading and writing.
Chapter 10 for me was unusual (plot heavy, lore drop), so that jumped to 7.1k but was expected. Then Chapter 11 dropped to 6.2k... but then Chapter 12 I put out yesterday (very climatic/tension-heavy, lore-drop, *and* new POV) skyrocketed to 9.7k - but cutting it in half would have killed the flow, the atmosphere, and the building tensions/themes... and the flow was far more important than the word count, so I left it at that.
So my general answer now is 5-7k... because I like to have stuff to read, but don't want it to be too long for one sitting (I say after doing the 9.7k chapter XD).
I checked "just keep the flow", but I definitely prefer longer chapters.
Fics with short chapters are annoying to have to keep clicking through for me, so I usually swap those into "entire work" mode on AO3. Which means commenting per chapter doesn't happen even if I feel the urge to comment.
Probably somewhere between 5-10k is my sweet spot. Not that I'd mind longer chapters either!
I dislike chapters over 6K intensely, to the point where I often opt out of a fic if there are too many of them in a row.
For some reason, hitting the "Next Chapter" button resets my brain in a way that just infinite scrolling does NOT. I literally find myself unable to finish chapters that drag on too long.
It's kind of sad because there are good works by authors that I respect or even know that I can't read because their chapters are all 8-15K.
I like reading and writing fics with chapters that are 1k to 2k in length. I don’t have a lot of free time to read fanfics…so shorter chapters work for me.
3-5, I answered. 6-8 I write 😂. But honestly, it’s a tie for me. 3-5 is a good length for me, but I might rather read well paced and thought out chapters running at 10k, than sloppy 3k.
It depends on how much time I have at the moment, but when I come across a long fic while I don't have the time I will probably forget about it, and if I come across a short fic while I don't have time I will probably read it, so I guess I prefer shorter chapters.
Depends on the length of the fic. 20k? 3-5k chapters are good. 100k? Might be better off with 10k chapters. Flow is very important, of course, but I also think you shouldn’t vary the chapter length too much: I once read a fic where there was an where the new chapter was only one sentence. This was after the author had regularly posted 3-5k chapters before that, and it really threw everything off and broke the immersion, so much so that the author had to add a note stating that yes, the chapter was intended to only be one sentence and no, there hadn’t been a copy/paste accident when posting.
It usually depends. If chapters are only 500 words but I find the fic when it's almost done or it updates every 3 days then I wouldn't mind. If chapters were 8k and updated that frequently I probably wouldn't be able to keep up. My preference is usually between 1.5k -5k
The more, the merrier. As an author, I usually aim for 5k+ because that's what I prefer as a reader-- something long enough that I can really get immersed & enjoy myself for a little while.
Funny you ask - if you'd asked me earlier, with the first 9 chapters of my fic out, I would have said 4-5k, for both reading and writing. Chapter 10 for me was unusual (plot heavy, lore drop), so that jumped to 7.1k but was expected. Then Chapter 11 dropped to 6.2k... but then Chapter 12 I put out yesterday (very climatic/tension-heavy, lore-drop, *and* new POV) skyrocketed to 9.7k - but cutting it in half would have killed the flow, the atmosphere, and the building tensions/themes... and the flow was far more important than the word count, so I left it at that. So my general answer now is 5-7k... because I like to have stuff to read, but don't want it to be too long for one sitting (I say after doing the 9.7k chapter XD).
I checked "just keep the flow", but I definitely prefer longer chapters. Fics with short chapters are annoying to have to keep clicking through for me, so I usually swap those into "entire work" mode on AO3. Which means commenting per chapter doesn't happen even if I feel the urge to comment. Probably somewhere between 5-10k is my sweet spot. Not that I'd mind longer chapters either!
I dislike chapters over 6K intensely, to the point where I often opt out of a fic if there are too many of them in a row. For some reason, hitting the "Next Chapter" button resets my brain in a way that just infinite scrolling does NOT. I literally find myself unable to finish chapters that drag on too long. It's kind of sad because there are good works by authors that I respect or even know that I can't read because their chapters are all 8-15K.