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How many pages should a chapter be?



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Fri Mar 01, 2013 1:28 am
euristatum says...



In a fantasy novel how many pages should be in each chapter?

Thank in advance for your answers.
  





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Fri Mar 01, 2013 7:37 pm
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Kale says...



Short answer: as long or as short as needed.

There's no such thing as a page requirement for chapters. You don't even need chapters, though they acts as signals to your readers that "here is a good place to pause if you need to".

Just be sure that your chapter breaks make sense and don't cut things off-mid scene.
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Sat Mar 02, 2013 5:25 am
noninjaes says...



What Kyllorac said, but the average book page contains 250 words and the average chapter is 10 pages long. So, if you're unsure about length, 2500 words a chapter is a good guide.
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Mon Mar 04, 2013 2:30 am
naturesgirl says...



I've wondered about this in the past, and did a bit of research online, and observed approximate counts from books I've read. A typical chapter may be from 4,000-6,000 words, 2,500 words for a briefer chapter, or even 7,000 for a more extensive one. However, I've seen authors pull off chapters of less than 600 words, even one sentence long chapters.

What I recommend is try working without chapter breaks, only breaks in scene. Then, try and determine from what you have where it is best to give a break.
  








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