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Word count
https://archive.holyworlds.org/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=157		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Malchus [ November 13th, 2009, 3:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Word count
Hi, I was wondering, how many words do you usally write in a chapter?
Author:  Liagiba [ November 13th, 2009, 3:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Word count
I write small chapters, so about 1900 words.
Author:  Malchus [ November 13th, 2009, 3:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Word count
Cool, and how many chapters usually?
Author:  Liagiba [ November 13th, 2009, 3:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Word count
Well, in my one story I have 40...but that's really way too many. 36 in my other finished novel--I will probably combine some chapters there.
Author:  Malchus [ November 13th, 2009, 3:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Word count
Wow thats a lot, I was thinking like 30 for mine
Author:  Whythawye [ November 14th, 2009, 6:05 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Word count
Length of words and number of chapters are two statistical attributes of stories that are utterly up to the style of the novel and the author. Some books have a great many of chapters, and are none the worse for it. Others have very few. It really depends utterly on your story and your ability to write well. :)
Author:  PrincessoftheKing [ November 14th, 2009, 7:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Word count
My chapters are always different lengths... I have some that are pretty long, and some of them are a little too short! :D But I don't think it really matters if your writing is good.
Author:  Arias Mimetes [ November 14th, 2009, 7:54 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Word count
I resized the pages on the story I'm working on right now, so they're smaller than normal (they are 5.5" by 8.5"), but so far I have a little over 21 pages in the first chapter (5995 words), a little over 10 pages in the second chapter (4356 words), a little over 11 pages in the third, little over 8 pages in the fourth, 2 pages in the fifth (but it's just about a single dream, so it's short), 7 pages in the sixth chapter, and 17 pages in the seventh chapter.

Mine varies a lot, as you can see. I think it's mostly personal preference. I end a chapter when it seems like a good place to.
Author:  beckyminor [ November 14th, 2009, 8:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Word count
I'd have to agree with the school of thought that says "end the chapter when the story seems to call for it." The pacing of your overall narrative is effected by the length of your chapters, so you do well to vary their length, just as you would vary sentence length.

I was just telling somebody else this, but a good rule of thumb is: end your chapter in such a way that will make the reader want to start the next one.

All that to say, I tend to write chapters that clock in around 5000 words, with the occasional chapter that runs long (up to 8000). I rarely go shorter than 2500, though I don't consider that to my credit. I need to learn how to add punch with shorter sentences, paragraphs and chapters.
Author:  Willow Wenial Mimetes [ November 14th, 2009, 8:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Word count
My chapters are usually four to seven big pages. I never thought to count the words.:)
Author:  Arias Mimetes [ November 15th, 2009, 2:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Word count
I use Microsoft Works Word Processor to type things, and I use the word count feature on there when I want to know how long a chapter is or how many words long the story is so far.
Author:  Lady Elanor [ February 29th, 2012, 2:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Word count
My chapters end up being all different lengths. My first chapter is currently 1,707 words long. My second is very much similar, my third is slightly shorter. They're all different, but range between 1.3k and 1.9k words.
Author:  AzlynRose [ March 4th, 2012, 9:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Word count
I need to make my chapters shorter. They are currently 9-12 printer-sized pages and about 5k each. :P I should probably cut them down to maybe 3k each or less.
Author:  Lady Elanor [ March 4th, 2012, 9:31 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Word count
AzlynRose wrote:
I need to make my chapters shorter. They are currently 9-12 printer-sized pages and about 5k each. :P I should probably cut them down to maybe 3k each or less.


There is nothing wrong with longer chapters, I don't think.
Author:  Emilyn [ March 8th, 2012, 3:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Word count
To me, I like medium sized chapters that aren't too short or very long.
I want to know the word count of whole books so that I know about how big my book would be compared to it. Does anyone know a good website that lists the word counts of books?
Author:  PrincessoftheKing [ March 8th, 2012, 9:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Word count
Emilyn wrote:
Does anyone know a good website that lists the word counts of books?


I don't know about any websites, but googling "Word count for ____________" works pretty well. :)
Author:  Aragorn [ March 8th, 2012, 10:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Word count
You can also estimate word count for books or chapters by figuring up the number of words on a page and then multiplying it by the number of pages. :)
Author:  Airianna Valenshia [ March 12th, 2012, 1:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Word count
I think word count per chapter should depend on the size of your book. I have 120,000 words in the first book in my trilogy, so naturally my chapters are longer. Around 6,500 words. However, if you are writing a 30,000 word story, those chapters would be much too long.
Author:  Aragorn [ March 12th, 2012, 7:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Word count
It depends partly on the type of story and the writer's style, since a 120,000 word thriller might still have chapters that average 2,000 words or less.
Author:  Airianna Valenshia [ March 12th, 2012, 7:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Word count
That is true, I suppose. Style would play into it as well.
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