This is a stupid question and one that's never bothered me before, but is there such a thing as a chapter that;s too short?

I'm currently writing a thriller and have noticed - fourteen chapters in - that the chapters are all short. Only about 2000 words. But that's the way it's happened and where the break seems natural.

It may be that when the book is finished and I come to edit it, things will change, but I don't think so.

Is there a certain length for chapters of different genres?

Like I said I haven't really thought about it before, I just write what feels natural, but wondered if it's something that would be picked up at all.

Kat

I think short chapters are very common in pacey fiction - whether that's thrillery, or the faster-moving kind of women's fiction (perhaps more at the comedy/chick-lit end).

There is a risk that it comes out a bit breathless: just one damn thing rushing in on the heels of another, without the rhythm of stress-and-slack, speed-up-and-slow-down etc. that any novel needs.

But I think the important thing about chapter-length is really about using chapter-breaks to full value: that the break is all about suspense - or having a breather - and each chapter has a coherent shape. And certainly, if that's how they're coming at the moment, then I'd go with it, and, as you say, see what you think later.

I know some writers who don't even break it into chapters till they've written the whole first draft: it's only when they know the whole thing that they can see where the breaks should be.

This is something I've often wondered too, I write YA and my chapters vary quite a bit.
I was told once that it doesn't matter, that there isn't a certain length, I don't know if that's correct. I think 2000 words seems fine if that's what the chapter needs.

No, there's nothing absolute about how long a chapter should be: chapters are about units of story, I'd suggest, and of course that's going to vary.

One chapter in the WIP is 18,000. I've cut it a bit now, but not because it was "too long", but for other reasons of structure. It does have breaks in it - I tend to have long chapters with smaller units of story inside them, if that makes sense. If the chapters are carriages on the train, then it still has different compartments inside it.

I blogged about the relationship of scenes to chapters here, which might help:

http://emmadarwin.typepad.com/thisitchofwriting/2011/09/making-a-scene.html

Emma

<Added>

PS - Katerina, your original question is SOOOOO not a stupid question, by the way!

Thanks Emma

Well with this novel, I know the whole book, plot, characters and ending. I've had it planned in my head for months, so it's just a matter of getting it down on paper - or rather computer screen.

Yes I actually prefer pacey short chapters and these all do end naturally, with a breather so to speak, so I think I'm probably doing okay.

And thanks for saying it's not a stupid question - I think what I actually meant is, it's not the sort of question I've ever thought about until now if that makes sense, and then I felt it was a bit daft because it's the sort of thing one ought to know.

I'm very much a 'natural' writer, by that I mean I don't take any heed of so called writing rules - although I do teach them to others - but there are times when I do suddenly think about those rules and worry that I'm doing it all wrong IYSWIM!

Okay, I'm off for my run. I've written 4067 words today and my neck aches like mad

Kat

I think what I actually meant is, it's not the sort of question I've ever thought about until now if that makes sense, and then I felt it was a bit daft because it's the sort of thing one ought to know.

Yes, I know that feeling - like the centipede who walked perfectly well till someone asked him if he started with his left foot or his right...

Enjoy the run!

Ha ha ha great analogy and thanks, I always feel better after my runs

Hi Katerina - I'm also writing a thriller and before I started, I got a load of other people's thrillers off my bookshelf and made a note of how many pages long the chapters were and how many scenes each contained.

I just looked for my notes on that and can't find them but the range was quite big although I'd say the chapters were shorter than other genres and scene breaks more frequent. I think your chapter length would fit right in.

One of my favourite thriller writers is John Sandford. He sometimes writes scenes that consist of only a short paragraph. Some don't require a change of time or place but start a sentence later in the same conversation as in the previous scene. For his style, it works.

Lee Child has said in interviews that he bears in mind how people are going to be reading his books and he assumes that they'll be doing it ten or twenty minutes at a time because that's people's lives these days. He reckons not many people have the luxury to sit down for hours with a book so he makes sure there are plenty of scene breaks for them to put the book down at a handy point.

If you feel comfortable where you're ending a chapter, I think you're doing the right thing. I'm ending mine on a hook, or on a punchline, or on a frisson - something to make people want to read the next bit because I've intrigued them or ended on something satisfying that will make them trust me to entertain them in the next bit. But I'm using my experience as a reader there (having none as a writer) - like you, I'm doing what feels natural and I think that's a good strategy.

Oh, one more thing - I've formatted my Word document so that when I'm drafting, there are as many words on the page as would be on a book page, so I don't have to calculate how many book pages I've got per chapter. I think it's helping me to keep my chapter length reasonably steady.

I agree with Toast, certain genres do tend towards shorter, pacier chapters, and crime/thrillers definitely fall into that category, I think.

Mine average around 3,000, which I think is fine - having said that, the one I'm on currently has stretched to nearly 3,800 and my original plan was to end it on a particular tense moment. However, I think it's going to take me about 1,000 words to do it justice, so I've decided to break at an earlier point.

I think go with your instincts (which is a fine thing for me to say, unpublished as I am!) but really, if it feels like a good point to break, then it probably is.

BTW -

I've written 4067 words today

- feeling very, very inadequate now! A thousand is a good day for me...

Thanks for an excellent reply Toast

Yes my chapters are ending on hooks or things to make the reader want to know more, but also natural ends - if that makes sense.

My women's fiction novel - now available on Amazon - also has shortish chapters, I think it's the way many of us write nowadays and yes it makes the books easy to pick up, read a bit and put down again.

Good luck with your thriller

Kat x

Thanks, Kat - yes, I know exactly what you mean by natural ends. I think that's the way to do it.

I think you're also right that chapters have probably got shorter in all genres over time.

And yes, 4k words! Wow!

I've never really looked at the lengths of sub-divisions within my chapters, but I suspect they don't often go on longer than 4,000 or so, without a break of some sort happening naturally - as everyone's saying.

I'll find myself thinking, "Got there!" or "Right, let's leave 'em hanging" or "That's quite enough of her for now", and put in a break, and start a new chunk of story-telling - in the other century, or the other voice, or whatever. Real proper chapter-breaks are a bigger business than that, though.

Poe, who invented the modern short story, defined it as the length that could be happily read at one sitting, with the story and ideas appropriate to that scale. 5-10,000 words, perhaps. I think our sittings have got shorter...

I'm writing YA psychological thrillers and my chapters all seem to hover between 1,000 and 1,500 words. A long climactic scene might climb to 2,000. It just feels right for the pace, but then I do tend to write overly lean.

The shortest chapter I've ever written was one sentence long. I have loads which are less than a page. It's never bothered anyone as far as I'm aware.