Chapter length?

[Starkers]

Possibly a silly and irrelevant question, but something that’s bugging me and I wondered what others thought.

Is there an accepted industry standard for chapter length, or is it really, in the end, a bit of a piece of string type situation? I’m close to finishing the first draft of the first chapter of my new novel, and already it’s around 5000 words long. Extrapolating from the novel I’m currently reading that’ll make it over 14 pages in length, which, I dunno, seems a lot. As a reader I like short chapters, yet as a writer I seem to write long ones, which I find infuriating at times, but should I, or should I just write the way I write?

Truth is while I’m sure I can polish the chapter and lose some of it, I doubt I can take that much out, and I’m not sure I want to because what’s in there needs to be in there?

Possibly I’m just worrying too much about this, any comments would be appreciated though, even if they’re just to say “Shut up and stop witling!”

[Stephen Palmer]

You're worrying too much! Almost every novel I've had published has had chapter lengths between 5,000 and 10,000 words. It's the flow that matters.

[Starkers]

Thanks!!

[kahless]

I tend to worry about this as well, I write long chapters, at least 4,000+ words and do wonder if perhaps I should break them up or try to abridge them somehow.

I guess it stems from the short story writing that my longer work grew out of. Reading other authors there doesn't seem to be any "norm" for chapter length. I recently read a book and one of the chapters was one page with one paragraph (about a dozen lines).

In my mind I plan the chapters as mini short stories and the chapter ends when I get to the point I want to make for that chapter.

Saying that my current work in planning has no chapters, but there are four sections to the story and each section is broken up by paragraph breaks to denote the change of setting. I did worry if this would look OK and if it would work, but decided to take the bull by the horns and just do it.

[Starkers]

I've read books with no chapters before now, they annoy the hell out of me but they do exist

I'm the same by the way, I have a point I want the chapter to end on and don't like chopping that back.

I've seen chapters that were just a handful of words before now as well!

[Iain Gibson]

It's not about length - it's about knowing when to end a chapter. Chapter breaks effectively do the same job that paragraph breaks - they can be used to split up the text to make it easier to read, to add punctuation in the flow of the story, to heighten tension and mystery, or to make the transition between different times and/or spaces feel less jarring.

The length of chapters can also work like scene breaks in movies - shorter chapters suggest a punchier, pacier narrative, while longer chapters can imply a more languid feel to the piece. That's not necessarily the purpose of short/long chapters, but it's something worth considering when you're trying to decide where one stops and another begins.

[Starkers]

^Yeah that all makes sense and my chapters do vary in length, chapter 2 is likely going to be a lot shorter for example!

I'm sure I've read somewhere that some publishers/writers frown on inconsistant chapter lengths--not to say that everything should be 4000 words on the dot, but that they need to have some consistency. Not sure this is a great idea really!