Story & chapter length

[SwordSong]

title should be self-explanatory.

When reading a web novel series, how long do you expect the chapter/story to be?

 

[LilRora]

Chapter length longer than a 1000 words. Past that, I prefer longer chapter, but I've learned not to expect. I want the story to complete, but I've also learned not to expect that. The length does not matter much, and I similarly prefer long stories (like 100000+ words minimum) but shorter stories are also fine. Web novel series are usually long with short chapters, but not always.

 

[Corty]

If they can't express themselves in just 100 words, I don't read. I have no time for being bogged down with plot, character development or spectacle. I need raw text, caveman style:

- Hero go in, kill monster. Save girl. Bang girl. Bang monster. Happy good.

See? It is perfect.

Anyway, a book must have an average of at least 1,500 words per chapter, or I can't take it seriously. As for the story, keep it under 1,000 chapters. Anything longer is trash.

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

title should be self-explanatory.

When reading a web novel series, how long do you expect the chapter/story to be?

Long enough to explain what is happening in the chapter and tickle my interest to click on the 'Next' button. It can be short or long.

 

[WhaleSprite]

Probably around 1500 minimum- 2500 max with words on average. For length, it actually doesn't matter to me as long as the story continues to be good and that it doesn't "overstay their welcome". It you know what I mean. Like the series could have ended a long time ago but author continued to write just to keep it going and the writing just goes down hill.

 

[lazil]

„Anfangs habe ich lange Kapitel geschrieben, etwa 1600 bis 2500 Wörter lang, aber dann habe ich angefangen, sie zu kürzen. Jetzt sind meine Kapitel im Durchschnitt etwa 1400 Wörter lang. Meinen Sie, ich sollte wieder längere Kapitel schreiben?“

 

[yeul_e]

It depends on many things. Sometimes, very short chapters (<500 words) work for me. But it needs some degree of finesse on the author part.

 

[naosu]

I'd found if you are describing very good descriptions of the scene, the people and what's around them, you can easily surpass 1,000 words before you even get anything done. :S

Well, just keep trying.

 

[Edenc2708]

The sweet spot would be around 1500 - 2500 words i think

 

[Cookiez_N_Potionz]

My beginning chapters start off short and then get longer.

 

[Prince_Azmiran_Myrian]

I expect the chapters to be as long as they need to be. Word count can affect pacing in either direction. Webnovels tend to prefer shorter over longer from what I've seen.

 

[beast_regards]

The serialized web novels are designed to be endless.

They don't have an ending. If the author has an ending in mind, it is often put vaguely in the distant future, one so far ahead it wouldn't distract the reader from something here and now, and convince them to subscribe for the early chapters.

Most amateur writers give up before the ending is reached.

And those which don't end up with anthologies of a few million words...

Individual chapters are often bite sized: I would say 2000 words on average, anything below 1k words would seem as too short.

 

[AmbreaTaddy]

I have a general rule of thumbs concerning the length of chapters.

Published novels often have chapters of approximately 5000 words, but the advantage of webnovels is that it is periodic, chapters will be uploaded regularly.

On that note, I expect webnovel chapters to be as long as you wait for them. A chapter everyday ? Then 1000 words is good, under that it's too short to really have a fleshed out scene.

Every two or three days ? 1500 words is great.

Once a week ? Then 2000 words.

Even rarer than that and it can climb up to 4000/5000 words like a general novel, but more than that and it's tedious to read on a screen, especially if you read on a phone.

As for the number of chapters, it doesn't matter as long as you write a compeling story that has a clear start and a clear end. Gatsby is a novel that has 48000 words, so if you write 1500 words chapters, it's 32 chapters. You don't need a lot as long as the story is good, but in the same way, if the plot is compeling enough you can chose to nerver end it.

 

[SternenklarenRitter]

I don't pay attention to chapter counts, but I rarely read anything less than 100k words. For chapter size, I am a distant outlier and prefer chapters to be around 8k~10k words.

 

[zephyrtrillian]

I've been told that 2500-3000 words is the sweet spot for many readers, but also that putting out chapters that are consistently around the same length is more important for readers than the exact length of a chapter. I find when writing that I end up somewhere between 2400-3300 a chapter, which still feels alright but is a bit of a larger range.