Writing Blog Number 2

20250829 Chapters

Chapters

These are questions I have seen a few times here on WdC and on various online spaces:

How many chapters should there be in a book, and how long should each chapter be?

Okay, first and foremost, let’s look at what a chapter is. A chapter in a novel is supposed to indicate a change of scene where there is a jump in location and/or time. Not every location change should be a new chapter; most large time jumps should be. A chapter could also be a change of Point of View. That’s about as hard and fast as rules on what makes a chapter as are going to be.

There is no actual definitive idea of what makes a chapter.

Sorry.

So, how long should they be? However long they need to be is the answer. Beginner writers are often told that chapters should be about the same length, but this is not necessarily the case. Not at all. Stephen Klng has been known to have very long chapters, and then a quick page, two-page one. Why? Because it’s how the story goes.

A chapter should be as long as it is to work in your story.

How many should there be? Again, it is your story. It is up to you. Some books have dozens of short chapters; some have a few long chapters. My favourite Australian book, Pig by Kenneth Cook does not even have chapters!

I have seen a few online courses tell people a book should have 27 chapters of 3k words each. Wow – very prescriptive! This is because there are 3 acts, and each act has three points of demarcation, which have three mini-acts within them, and 3000 words gives a total of 81000 words, a good novel length.

Yes, for beginners, I would recommend keeping chapters at a consistent length until you get a hang of the novel writing thing, but when you do your next draft, then you can muck around with it. As you get more experienced, it does not really matter, and you will work out what works for you.

There’s not a real lot to say here. The answers are as individual as the writers themselves. Don’t be hung up on details like this, and just write your story to the best of your ability.