How long should a chapter be?

This blog post is in response to an associate. Whenever people find out I wrote a book (or multiple books), I often hear them say “I want to do that” or “I wish I could do that.”

I always like to help out when I can. I’m not the world’s leading guru in book writing, or the best author in the world, but I do know a few things. My years of experience certainly give my opinion and ideas some merit. One thing I have been asked on a number of occasions involves chapter writing tips.

Here is one common question:  How long should I make a chapter in my book? (or how long should a chapter be?)

The answer I would suggest: As long as it needs to be. If you formulate an outline, as I have mentioned in prior posts, you will know what the purpose of each and every chapter in your book is. A book has a flow to it. It isn’t just a static bunch of words. Books have a logical introduction, body, and conclusion, with peaks and valleys. I think of story writing as a curved line in a graph. It should look something like this:

 

Note how the colors and graph show a higher level of excitement peaking at appropriate times. This isn’t set in stone, and I am not saying the middle of a book should be slow or boring: far from it. I do believe that any novel needs high and low points, because they balance one another out.

It may help to think of chapters as condensed books. They also should have a flow like the chart displayed above. Some chapters, may be much more linear, however. It may be a very good idea to have them do nothing but build in intensity until they leave the reader on edge, waiting to see what the next chapter will bring. Hit some high points, and determine ahead of time what those high points are going to be, then ease your reader back down to Earth. If you start to think of each chapter as a mini-book, you may find it easier to generate content.

Another suggestion that I learned the hard way is related to formatting. What do I mean by that? Well, if you’re like me, you just hop onto Microsoft Word (I still use Word 2003 since I’m set in my ways. I’m not as bad as George R.R. Martin typing in DOS, but I’m almost as bad), and you simply start typing your book or story. Well that is fundamentally good of you, and it is good you are working hard on your story, in the publishing industry, there are a number of standardized formats for book sizes.  These are known as Trim Sizes. The most common are as follows:

5″ x 8″(popular for trade paperbacks)

5.06″ x 7.81″

5.25″ x 8″

5.5″ x 8.5″

6″ x 9″ (one of the most popular book sizes)

6.14″ x 9.21″

6.69″ x 9.61″

7″ x 10″

7.44″ x 9.69″

7.5″ x 9.25″

8″ x 10″

8.25″ x 6″

8.25″ x 8.25″

8.5″ x 11″ (letter sized, often the default in Word)

8.5″ x 8.5″

Why do I bring this up? Because it helps to determine approximately what size you want your book to be when printed. If you don’t think you have a lot of content, you’ll want to go smaller so it will fill it up and look more like a book. If you have a ton of content, make it larger so it doesn’t become incredibly thick.

This relates to chapter length for one HUGE reason: you will know exactly how many pages are in your chapters if you have it formatted to size first. Formatting your book is not hard to do. Here is how you do it: Pick a size above. Write it down where you will remember it. Now, go into Word (or whatever word processor you use). You want to adjust the page size to match the numbers you wrote down a moment ago. To do this in Word, go to File>Page Setup   – Click the ‘paper’ tab. In the drop-down menu at the top, choose “custom size.” Now, type the inches into the width and height boxes. Voila! You are formatted. You can then adjust your margins or page header and footer as you like.

I also recommend typing in size 12 font, double-spaced. By starting out this way, it will give you a very realistic idea for the length of your chapters. You can then tailor the size to fit your writing style as you go. I hope this has been helpful.

In closing this post, here are some do’s and dont’s of chapter writing (in my opinion):

DO make them long enough that they actually tell something. It doesn’t make sense to have a chapter per page. That will distract or disorient readers.

DON’T make them long just for the sake of doing it. If you are trying to force chapters to certain lengths you are going to frustrate yourself and your readers. Let the book flow naturally.

DO have a logical start and end to a chapter. Chapters should be cohesive and work together. Leave your reader wanting more.

DON’T try to force chapters to be a specific length. Say what you need to say. When you realize you can add no more to a specific section, know when to stop and move on.

DO be flexible. Maybe you can move chapters around as you need to. If something you’re doing isn’t working, try something new.

 

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