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Q&A Sizing of a chapter and how many should I use?

A chapter can be long or short, it can be longer or shorter than other chapters in your novel, you might have a novel with no chapters at all. Think of it this way: a sentence isn't defined as 5-1...

posted 6y ago by Galastel‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-12T21:57:22Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36352
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T08:54:03Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36352
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T08:54:03Z (almost 5 years ago)
A chapter can be long or short, it can be longer or shorter than other chapters in your novel, you might have a novel with no chapters at all.

Think of it this way: a sentence isn't defined as 5-10 words. It is as long as it needs to be to express a small idea. Not letting it run over three lines is a sort of useful guideline, but sometimes you might ignore that guideline, and other times you have a sentence consisting of one word only.

Same with paragraphs - some are longer, some are shorter. You end a paragraph when you move to a new idea.

And it is the same with chapters: a chapter can be one page long, it can be one word long (though that extreme is rather rare). Or it can be 40 pages. When you move to a new place/time/character/idea/whatever, it might be a good idea to start a new chapter. It's an indicator to the reader that there's a "full stop" here. So you end a chapter where you want that "full stop".

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-05-23T10:53:35Z (over 6 years ago)
Original score: 8