How long do you make each chapter?

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MichelleCYoung
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Joined: August 15th, 2014, 6:12 am
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Re: How long do you make each chapter?

Post by MichelleCYoung »

As you can see, there is no one firm rule about how long to make it, and even people who have a preference wind up making exceptions. You do what works for you, and for that particular project.

It frequently throws me when an author will add a note to the chapter apologizing for the length/shortness of that chapter. I don't know any readers who actually measure for consistent length. I suppose if they were waiting a long time for a chapter update, and got a brief scene, instead, then a note saying "The real chapter's coming soon, I promise. I just had to get that scene out there, to set it up," makes sense and will soothe the disappointment. Also a note saying, "This chapter is long, so I broke it into parts to speed the upload," which I hear all the time in my audible books. But just a random, "This chapter isn't the same number of slides I normally do, so sorry" note just throws me.

As a wise person once told me before I was going to sing at church - never begin a performance with an apology. Sad that it has to be said, but it's kind of alarming how many people (not professionals) actually do begin a performance with an apology. Not an apology for something they have done, like rape, murder and jay-walking, but apologizing for their performance, before they actually perform.

Likewise, if people are reading your stories, the chapter length doesn't really matter. They're reading it. Maybe they'll read it in short bursts or long bursts or binge-read or stop partway and come back, or just stop and walk away. None of that is a reflection on you. Even if they stop and walk away, it just means this particular thing wasn't to their taste. If you like your story well enough to post it, then it has value, and is good enough to post, and requires no apology.
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Scribal_Goddess
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Re: How long do you make each chapter?

Post by Scribal_Goddess »

Generally I do a lot of staging and do 7-15 "scenes" per chapter. Since scenes are usually 5-15 slides long, this usually left me with 90-150 slides when I did chapters using powerpoint and slideshare. When I do chapters based on how much I can post on Live Journal, I usually have slightly shorter chapters - I estimate probably 70-90 pictures and maybe 50-400 words per photo.

Overall, I think choosing how much to upload depends on 1) how often you want to update, 2) whether you feel like you're giving enough story or commentary for what you want to do. Personally I tend to big chunks, as it disguises how I go months without opening my game, but this brings me down to 2-3 updates a year... which is kind of sad.
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