Perfect chapterlength?

[Pouria]

This might come out as an odd question, but do you have a preference in chapterlength, and if so, what is it?

Personally, I really like when authors stick to shorter chapters, and the perfect length is around 10 pages. If it's a less exciting, or entertaining chapter you know that in about 8-9 pages you'll get another one. I feel it also helps keep the story concise, and keeps the author from going into too much detail to fill out pages.

Also, 10 pages is enough so you can read a chapter or two before going to bed, without having to stop midchapter (something I'm very OCD about, I cannot stop midchapter), and with overly long chapters, I just go to bed right away, knowing I won't be able to read a full chapter before drifting to sleep.

Another bonus of 10 pages (for me), is that it's just enough so you can go "well, I'll read just one more chapter" and spend the next few hours "reading just one more chapter".

I guess it's a very psychological thing also, reading a chapter feels like an accomplishment, and with shorter chapters, you get more satisfaction?

What's everyone elses feeling on this?

/P

[Leesa]

If I'm reading a particularly action-y novel, like maybe a detective story, or police procedural, I like short chapters. Less than 10 pages, like you suggest.

For all your reasons in favor of short chapters, those are mine too. :)

[Wilmar]

Really? I dislike short chapters. Sometimes I feel like I'm not getting enough information out of a chapter and prefer to have less chapters with more content. But then again, I can finish something mid chapter and stick a bookmark in it.

That's very interesting.

[Trike]

Pouria wrote: "Personally, I really like when authors stick to shorter chapters, and the perfect length is around 10 pages. If it's a less exciting, or entertaining chapter you know that in about 8-9 pages you'll get another one. I feel it also helps keep the story concise, and keeps the author from going into too much detail to fill out pages."

I agree with you on the length. I like chapters that are about short story length, somewhere in the 8-12 page range.

James Patterson has insanely, aggravatingly short chapters, sometimes less than half a page. I had to stop reading his books because they drove me crazy. He almost always has chapter counts well into triple digits. When you get to chapter 123 and the book is only 350 pages long, there's something amiss. Now we're in ADD land.

[Rob, Roberator]

It really depends on the book. For me it's less about length most of the time, or more about how the story is broken up.

But I do generally try to stop reading for the night after a chapter, so in that regard shorter is better, because it allows me to feel less guilty about "one more chapter".

Now I'll say the "Last Battle" chapter of A Memory of Light has taken it to an extreme being over 200 pages. But it was still a damn awesome chapter and I read it in one sitting.

[Michele]

I don't pay any attention to chapters - I just stop wherever and start back up later. I do try to stop at the end of a sentence though :)

[Kevin]

Harry Potter had long chapters. I don't think most people would complain that the chapters were too long.

[Richard]

Dickens wrote his chapters to be the amount of time an average reader had between stations on a 19th century commuter train.

Personally, I like books without chapters that have blank line breaks every other page or so. In that way I can break off whenever I like, no matter my reading conditions.

Too many chapter breaks have 'false tension' built into them, much like pot-boiler TV plots breaking for commercials.

[A.]

I had an instructor who said 2500 words is the average for chapter length in most modern fiction. I'm not a huge fan of using one size fits all rules when writing, but it seems like a comfortable size for most readers. The idea is to have a chapter long enough for something substantial to happen, but short enough to quicken the pace of the story.

[Dara]

I depends on the book. Sometimes I like shorter chapters, sometimes longer. As Richard said, I also like books with line breaks in the chapters so I can stop there if I want to, like in my LOTR copies (although I usually like to finish at the end of a chapter).

[Neil]

Richard wrote: "Personally, I like books without chapters that have blank line breaks every other page or so. In that way I can break off whenever I like, no matter my reading conditions."

I spent a lot of my time a while back reading and re-reading the Discworld books which are like this and got so used to this I don't pay that much attention to chapters anymore. I just stop reading when I want to / need to / fall asleep whether that is in the middle of a chapter or not.

Having the line breaks or 'stoppy bits' as I call them helps break chapters up but I am not adverse to stopping reading at the end of a random paragraph or bottom of a page. My reading wont be dictated by where 'the man' chooses to end a chapter. I'm a rebel. A free spirit. Fight the power! etc...

[Scott]

I notice that I read more books and I read them faster if there are short chapters (for all the reasons listed above) but for preference I would say it depends on the book and the content.
If I'm reading a Robert B. Parker book - he has insanely short chapters but it seems to work for the book and for the characters.
If I'm reading an epic fantasy then I like the chapters to be around 20-25 pages because that seems like the right amount where I can get lost in the story but also find a good stopping point for bed :)