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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/32579
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Forgive me for nitpicking, but I can understand anything in this.

18+ could mean 75 years old, and you don't write the same way for that age group as you would a 18-35 year old target audience.

That aside, there is no hard and fast rule. Sure, there are guidelines. One such guideline states that each scene should be roughly 3500 words. But adhering too strictly to that gives you problems.

Let's say you're in a pivotal scene, and you're now at 4500 words? Do you break off the scene? Start off in the next chapter? Why is "1 scene = 1 chapter" a rule?

Truth is, it isn't. And how long or how short each scene is depends on what you want to show.

And example from Arch Angel's Shadow (by Nalini Singh). One chapter was ten pages long (roughly 5000 words). Another was a single page (rought 500 words). Why? The shorter chapter was describing the antagonist, vaguely showing they were waiting, waiting for the right moment. That the victim was already growing weak, her skin thin as paper and almost see-through.

Those 500 words hit you. Hard. You get a sense of urgency, a sense that it might already be too late. That it probably is too late. Another victim is going to die, and you don't want that for her.

In those 500 words, Singh achieved what she wanted to. Why drag it out? End the chapter, end the scene, move on. And leave your reader with that ball of worries in the pit of their stomach. If that is your goal, never offer a word more than what you need to achieve it.

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