Shen

each chapter has episodes. some chapters have many episodes that make them long, and others have small amount of chapters and they are short. ma question is: how many episodes does an average chapter have?

Sam Winchester

Okay, not to be rude, but why do people ask these questions? There are no hard rules to writing. There are no specific amount of pages, episodes, or chapters in a book. It's your book, therefore you make all the decisions. Have as many or as few as you like. Editors/publishers don't care how many pages are in a chapter. They only care about the quality inside the quantity.

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Cyric

Damn, too slow.

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lilacstarflower

i would say leave worrying about chapters until you have finished the book. Then read through it and put chapters in when you feel you have reached a natural break in the story

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tucanbundy

My chapters vary between 10 and 100 pages and, in one case, 263 pages.I write them however long I want them to be.If you want long chapters, write long chapters, if you want short chapters, write short chapters.It's your book.

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HarryG

If you write for your own enjoyment and don't want to seek publication, then there are no rules.


If you want to have your book published, then you are going to be met with a barrage of rules. Publishers churn out millions of books that their readers want to buy, and the readers are looking for something in a certain format, roughly, very roughly, 100,000 words contained in roughly, very roughly, 30 chapters.


Publishers will entertain geniuses, and even publish books as loss leaders, by geniuses, but rarely.


But, like the Microsoft programmer, commercial writers need to write in a 'code' that fits in with what the publisher/public wants.


Each chapter is a mini 'book' with a mini beginning and logical mini 'end', always taking the big story forward.

lin

Duh.

Kind of like, if you play tennis without an opponent or net.





Here's the thing, Shen. You don't need to even HAVE chapters. If you have them, they might have numbers, they might have cute little titles titles like "In Which Our Lad Discovers The Clitoris and Comes Off Second Best", or they can all start with little quotes and citations.

They can be whatever length, and of whatever number that you best think gets the job done.

Other than that, there are very stringent rules.

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Alex Kostin

I think you should make small chapters, for each episode. Then think where you could cover more episodes with a chapter.

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HarryG

Let's advance the chapter question to the next stage:


You've finished your book and have looked in the Writers and Artist's Year book, the bible, to find an agent.


That agent will have strict submission rules, they all have. It will be something like – a CV no more than one page long, a synopsis no more than one page long, and the first three chapters of your book, in double spacing.


Now, if you have three chapters that are abnormally long, say a hundred pages each, you're fucked because the agents don't want 300 pages of sample material.


If you have no chapters at all, you're fucked because you can't send the required three chapters.


If your chapters are too short the agent won't be able to judge your writing ability because of lack of material.


Therefore, whether you like it or not, you need to know the rules, otherwise you're out there on the tennis court without a net.

Loulou

HarryG, you're not fucked if you don't have three prefect length chapters to send to an agent. They usually suggest three chapters or X amount of words/pages, knowing that all chapters vary. So they might say three chapters or forty pages. If your chapters are overly long, then they'll probably just read one and a half. If you've written a book without chapters (it's been done) you'll just send the first forty pages.

It's pretty simple. It has nothing to do with how long or short your chapters are. It's how good the writing is that is in them.

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lin

Harry, you haven't actually done this, have you?

You don't hack out 3 chapters or one chapter or whatever... you have a prepared file of the first 50 pages or so and send them that.

The idea that you would structure your book according to what different agent websites say is just to crazy to even think about.

Doing your chapters the way some poster here says you should is not very bright either.

You're in charge.

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HarryG

I agree with Lou and Lin and agree that I over-simplified my point about chapters. As Lou said, agents usually give you the choice for your sample material by saying something like – three chapters or the first 50 pages.


I think it sort of implies that they expect the first three chapters to come to around 50 pages, at least, that's my interpretation of it. The chapters won't be of equal length, but I'm talking about averages.


I would re-iterate that most books have orderly chapters, it makes it easier for the reader, you can stop for a cup of tea after a chapter, and it's difficult to stop reading halfway through a chapter, if it's an interesting book.

HarryG

You got me thinking, Lin.


My immediate reaction is that, of course, the author is in charge, I've never had a problem with that.


But, isn't the reality rather different? To start at the beginning, the agent is in charge of what he wants from you. Next, your publisher's editor may well suggest revisions that you will not agree with, and if you don't agree, perhaps over a major point, your project is dead in the water.


Personally, I've had to change endings several times, I've had to change names and locations for various reasons, usually legal ones, and I've had to bastardise my writing in quite a big way before the bosses, the accountant/publishers, have published my works.


Luckily, my basic writing fits in with what is wanted by the bosses – I write the required amount of words in standard chapters, within the required time. I trot along to book signings and allow myself to be interviewed by pimply reporters who've never even heard of Hamlet.


Am I in charge? My pen is wavering.

Zyphial

I recently read an article about this from Orson Scott Card. I've been an avid fan of his since Ender's Game.

According to Card (and many of the above posters) there is no rule on episode, chapter, or volume length. Some authors will eschew the entire formula, others use it only to signify a point of rest where the reader can safely put down the book. Some use it for the dramatic tension of having to turn that extra page to find out what's going on. And Card even sited the example of a one word chapter, though he specifically says this is a "once in a career" move. He also mentions his own preffered method - at least when writing one series - he starts with very short chapters, so the reader gets the feeling of progressing through the book, then slows down continually until the book ends in a few very long chapters, to stimulate the reader into feeling a sense of fullness in each chapter. Each "resting point" then has more meaning.

I agree with his assessment (and who cares if I don't, who am I anyway?) wholeheartedly, and when I can kick my obsessive habit of having exactly ten chapters with an exact, repeating page count, I use this short to long formula as best I can.

lin

Yep

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