How long should a chapter be?
I ask myself this question, since I haven't actually parsed my story into chapters in a while, and I'm not even that confident of the chapters I have done. It's been months since I've written the words "Chapter XX" that I actually started to believe that I had 40 pages worth of text that hadn't been broken up. Turns out that was a bit of an exaggeration in my mind...it's more like 12 pages. I suppose the length of time it's taken me to get that 12 pages written has extended into eons in my brain. Sheesh.
I'll definitely need to look back over that.
But, I found an article in my search that gives some beautiful advice. Look for your commercial breaks. In a TV show, typically when "something significant is revealed or an important question is raised" the show will go to commercial break. So look for those similar elements in your book. See it in your mind like a TV show, and when you feel like there should be a commercial for something other than a desire to run to the bathroom, end the chapter.
Ding ding. Sounds like a winning bit. Far better than simply, "long enough." I hated that advice in school.
"Excuse me professor, how long does my paper need to be?"
"Long enough to get your point across."
*cue grinding of teeth*
Another article I found said to write your chapter lengths to your audience (ie. younger audience = shorter attention span = shorter chapters). And essentially, it should be between 3k - 5k words long. Anything over or below that range is too long/short. Fair enough.
I recall my first book (The Leaves of Autumn) had rather short chapters. It was with a primarily YA audience in mind, so they might have been a tad too short. But, this is what I like to call "growth" as an author. 😉
That's also the reason for this blog. First, to gain an audience (who can then critique and help steer me in the right direction *hint hint*). And second, to LEARN.
So if this book is another YA, then that would show that my chapters need to be on the shorter side, and therefore on average 3k+, give or take a scene of importance. Ah, fiddle faddle. Better find a computer to check those on...my tablet can only do so much.
