Fic Talk > General Discussion
Questions to ponder part 11
mare:
For my new story, I have noticed my word counts have dramatically decreased because for this story, it just seems like I don't really need to say as much as I normally do. It was something I struggled with at the beginning though because in the past I have been very anal about page and word counts.
So this is my question, which I'm pretty sure has probably been asked and discussed at some point, but not for a while.
When you write a chapter, how much emphasis do you put on page numbers and word counts? Do you feel like you need at least a certain amount of words to make a successful chapter? As a reader do you prefer longer or shorter chapters?
KeepThisSecret:
I don't feel as though I NEED a certain number of words, but I find that I have a hard time writing a chapter that is less than 1000 words. Most of my chapters range from about 1500 - 2200 words simply because of the amount of description that I like to include. That being said, if I go to post a chapter and I realize that the word count is only around 1000 - 1200 words I will always go back and re-read to see if there is anything else that should have been included.
Mare, I suppose that I'm kind of like you in the sense that I struggle with the idea of posting chapters that are a bit shorter. I always second guess myself about whether or not I haven't included enough description.
As a reader, I prefer longer chapters. I like details!
Sakabelle:
I try for my chapters to be 1500 words or more, but it varies with the story. The last story I wrote, each chapter was coming in around 2300, so that became my goal for each chapter and it was very easy to meet.
As a reader I tend to enjoy chapters that fall in that range as well. I don't mind longer ones if they serve a purpose. Though lately I've been reading a lot of one shots and not a lot of chaptered fic.
mare:
--- Quote from: KeepThisSecret on July 09, 2014, 07:22:14 AM ---I don't feel as though I NEED a certain number of words, but I find that I have a hard time writing a chapter that is less than 1000 words. Most of my chapters range from about 1500 - 2200 words simply because of the amount of description that I like to include. That being said, if I go to post a chapter and I realize that the word count is only around 1000 - 1200 words I will always go back and re-read to see if there is anything else that should have been included.
Mare, I suppose that I'm kind of like you in the sense that I struggle with the idea of posting chapters that are a bit shorter. I always second guess myself about whether or not I haven't included enough description.
As a reader, I prefer longer chapters. I like details!
--- End quote ---
I think that's my issue with writing shorter chapters as well, I'm afraid I might not be giving enough detail and like you I don't think I could ever post a chapter less than at least 1,000 words unless it was just an interlude type thing or a prologue/epilogue. Looking back on most of my other stuff, I used to range easily between 2,000 - 3,000 words a chapter so this is kind of a dramatic drop for me, minus some of my very old stuff which the chapters were a lot smaller.
I think reading Unwinding Truth by Steph and Lore is a perfect of example of how you can say exactly what you need to say in less than 2,000 words without that feeling of this is missing something.
As a reader, I prefer to read shorter chapters. I'm not really big on a whole lot of details unless they are completely relevant to the story. I'm not a big fan of "and her hair waved in the wind with each single strand flowing as if they were spaghetti in a pot of water...flowin g endlessly....n eedlessly....u ntil the timer goes off and they are drained and put in a bowl....a bowl of flowing hair......that's what her hair looked like to me....flowing. ...did I mention her hair was flowing...yes. ...flowing...l ike spaghetti in a bowl..." lol But I'm also not a huge fan of being told everything either. I like open endings.
mare:
--- Quote from: Sakabelle on July 09, 2014, 08:09:05 AM ---I try for my chapters to be 1500 words or more, but it varies with the story. The last story I wrote, each chapter was coming in around 2300, so that became my goal for each chapter and it was very easy to meet.
As a reader I tend to enjoy chapters that fall in that range as well. I don't mind longer ones if they serve a purpose. Though lately I've been reading a lot of one shots and not a lot of chaptered fic.
--- End quote ---
One shots I like longer. I used to try to have all my chapters equal the same length as well. LOL
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