How long or short roughly do chapters have to be . please?

Question: How long or short roughly do chapters have to be !. please!?
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Well, like other people have said, a chapter can be any length you want it to be!.

For me personally, i aim for around five thousand words a chapter!. But obviously som fall short or goon for longer than that!. I don't just stop halfway through a conversation or an event because i feel that the chapter is getting to long!.

I like to have things wrapped up before i move onto another chapter, unless there's a cliffhanger of course!.

So really it's up to you!. If what you're writing is going to be really long though, i'd make the chapters longer!. I think it'd be pretty rediculous to have a novel with 70 odd chapters all at around 2000 words or something!.

Chapers are just a bunch of scenes thrown together, and the scenes should be relative to one another!.

also, if you're gonna do a time shift, like if suddenly it's a year in the future, i'd definitley start a new chapter!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

It really doesn't matter because all of the Maximum Ride books by James Patterson had one or two page chapters while all of Tamora Pierce's books had thirty pages in each chapter!. I am estimatied to do somewhere between 16 to 22 pages for each of my chapters though, because then it isn't too long or too short either!. I hope this helps!.
~~MPWww@QuestionHome@Com

Unanswerable question!. The shortest chapter I've read was, "Ouch!." Can't tell you what the longest was, but it was certainly over 10,000 words!.

Develop your own style; but do be reasonably consistent within that style!. If you prefer short chapters, have a string of them!. If you like long ones, that's fine as well!. It would seem awkward, however, if you wrote a long chapter, then a short one, then a tiny one, then a huge one!.!.!.

This is not to say that you should be stupid and have ever chapter weighing in at exactly 1,500 words, say, but keep it so the rhythm of the book doesn't jerk!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

They can be whatever size you want them to be!.

I once read a book with a 2 sentence chapter!. And they were short sentences!. Chapters can be any size the writer wants them to be!.

So change chapters when you think the time is right or when you've just changed the subject dramactically, so needs more than just a new paragraph!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

What sort of story are you writing!? Action novels tend to either lend themselves to shorter chapters, or longer ones clearly broken up into sections, whereas romance novels tend to lend themselves to longer, more descriptive chapters!.

I would say a good rule of thumb is 1000 words at a bare minimum, 5000 words at a maximum, for publishable adult fiction (slightly shorter for kids/YA fiction)!. Note though that you can either make your chapters standard length within there or you can vary them according to pace and what sort of effect you want a chapter to have!.

(As the first example I can think of for varying rhythm, the Bible is a good rule of thumb for pulling out those sort of effects!. You have long, long chapters of "So-and-so begat such-and-such, son of this-and-that, who begat who-and-whom," when you just want a descriptive history--but then when you want immediacy, and a point hammered home, you have, "Jesus wept," as the entire chapter!. You can see how effects differ there--keep that sort of description vs!. immediacy comparison in mind if you're going to vary the rhythm and length of your chapters!.)Www@QuestionHome@Com

There are no hard-and-fast rules in regards to chapter length!. Generally you try to break up the story so that its not straining the readers!. I generally start a new chapter when there is a shift in the story!. For instance, switching viewpoints between characters, a change of scene, or a new time (the next morning)!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Chapter length, along with sentence and even word length, can be used to vary the pace in a novel!. There are no set rules!.

It's best to start a new chapter whenever you change viewpoint or start a new phase of the story!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

They don't **have** to be any certain length!. I've read a book in which one entire chapter was 4 words; I've also read books in which chapters were 100 or more pages!. It's completely up to the author!. =)Www@QuestionHome@Com

They could be as long as you want !. The Davinci code or what ever has fast chapters !. But books like The Giver have them longer !. Id reccomend about 4 pages !.Www@QuestionHome@Com

there are a lot of books that have 1 page in ONE chapter but most chapters are usually around 3-6 PagesWww@QuestionHome@Com

Whatever YOU decide!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

3-5 pages on the normal short paperWww@QuestionHome@Com