Chapter length

I have noticed that the majority of chapters of novels published on Young Writers Society are an average of approximately two to six a4 pages long. I always found this annoying, but as I was scrolling through the Green Room one day, looking at the length of the works before I decided whether or not to review them, I realised I had skipped the long chapters because I wasn't in the mood for them.

I was then presented with a problem: if I were to publish my and my co-author's novel here for reviewing before actually publishing it, should we split what would normally be a chapter of twenty a5 pages up into different parts, or just publish it as a whole? The benefit of the former is that more people are likely to read it, since it's short, but it will cost a lot of points. The latter saves these points, but not everyone (myself sometimes included) are willing to read and review such a large quantity of text at one time.

I would have made a poll about this topic, but it seems I can't, since I'm not a Moderator or Distinguished Member, so will everyone who reads this please briefly (or in detail, if you prefer) state which one of the two options you prefer: divide the long chapter in parts, or publish it as a whole?

(Please respond to this as quickly as possible, as I can't wait forever to publish. Oh, and I'll keep score.)

The only poll you need to be a mod for is the Official one - the one which appears on the side of the homepage. You can add a poll to your posts, you should see the option for it under the text box if you click to edit post.

I'd say you post it separately. Personally, I do review longer chapters, but you'll get more reviews if they're smaller and those reviews can probably be more in depth. It's not really that many points to post chapters - and after all, if you want reviews, it's fair to give a few as well, don't you think? A good green room review can get you 150 points; you could really quickly get more than enough points to post your chapter in parts if you just wrote a few of those.

So, reviewing other people's works and posting chapters in parts would be my advice.

I totally agree with Aria! Yeah, it's a little more work to do reviews for more points, but you can help out other members by trying to clear out the Green Room AND it will almost definitely guarantee you more reviews on your shorter chapters.

Definitely splitting them up into shorter pieces. On YWS, we generally know more about what you mean by the length of your work if you use wordcount instead of pages, because pages vary in size. The font size and type and the length of the words you use, as well as the formatting and whether you single space or double space paragraphs, also changes how many pages you use.

Generally speaking, if you try to keep the piece that you're posting under 2500 words, your chances of getting a review are higher. Even more so if they're 2000 words or smaller.

To check, you need a word count tool (you can google one or use the one installed on OpenOffice or Microsoft Word. I'm pretty sure that it's under the "tools" bar on both). Highlight what you want counted, and then find "word count" and go from there

Thank you to everyone who's replied so far; I appreciate your willingness to help an insignificant little one-star reviewer. I shall definitely try to review more often. My exams are due to begin soon, and ironically enough, that's when I have the most time on my hands.

xD That sounds familiar. Also, although a bit off topic, your reviews are pretty great and look helpful to me (from what I've stalked), so definitely not insignificant =)

Also, the more you review, the more likely people will review you back. It's a great way to drum up interest and get your name known. If you follow a novel, people tend to follow yours back!

To add on to what these lovely ladies have said, I agree shorter chapters on YWS are better. Not only do you get more helpful feedback on specific details to help polish out the rough edges like syntax errors, but you also get specific help with things such as continuity. If you've got a 5k word story posted up, not everyone is going to read for things like if someone picks up their cup twice, or sits down before they stood up.

Breaking it up into smaller chunks and putting Name, Ch. 1 [part 1/12] can help keep readers aware of how long this particular chapter is, but also show them that within a few days, they'll have more to read and that should keep them looking for you.

Once again, thank you to everyone who's commented for your advice; you've been a great help!

Just adding my two cents here.

It's easier (in my opinion) to read something with pages than something all strung out in "internet format". So I guess splitting the chapter into parts is kind of a compromise.

This is a really difficult one. Although you'd get more reviews for the first few chapters if you posted them in smaller chunks, you'd still have to fish around to get people to review your later chapters.

Here's an article on how to get more reviews and some of it can be applied to novels. There's another one in progress to make a more novel-specific one, I can give you a heads up when that's done, if you want.

Personally I'd recommend putting it in the Novel Workshop to be read as a whole. That way people will read it as it's supposed to be read, not in small chunks, and you can get overall feedback on the plot and characters and stuff.

Then, take smaller chunks and scenes that can stand on their own and post them on YWS. You'll get more specific feedback tailored to your style of writing (overuse of adverbs, not enough description, just as a random example) which you can then keep in mind and apply to your whole novel.

Thank you, Tenyo; your advice and suggestions are much appreciated!

Anytime =]

I tend to do smaller chapters because I've only been writing since Feburary, and I actually got alot of reviews.