Length of chapters

How long should a first chapter/ introduction to a novel sort of be? I know this changes with books and many don't even have chapters. But I'm sort of moving from short stories into novels and am out of sorts with numbers of words etc.

Well, as you said, it depends on the type of book, the genre, and the purpose of the chapter.

By which I mean, do you merely intend to introduce the protagonist with it? Set-up a whole new world? Throw us straight into the middle of the action? The purpose of the chapter will dictate the length.

Usually, so far as I'm aware - chapters are between two and four thousand words in length. Although, again, it can very and be much longer or a little less. If its young adult or children's fiction, it will usually be a lot less and you'll get away with it.

It has to be long enough.

I know, it's generic. But let me clarify: Just think of what you plan on happening in the chapter. Then just write all of it. If you told what happened effectively, it will be long enough. If the writing is good, you'll be fine.

Quick tip: End chapters as cliff-hangers. To steal Snoink's idea, there are two kinds of cliff hangers: Dramatic and subtle. Say that we are following John on an adventure through the rainforest.

Suddenly, a wild boar attacks and the chapter ends!

That's dramatic, because the reader flips to the next page to see what happens. Now, let's see subtle:

John is going through when he sees motion. Local people! They attack, but John manages to fight them off.

That's subtle, because it leaves the reader with this thought: "Will more local people attack?"

Try to use both.

My chapters are usually episodic, so one event happens and then at the conclusion of that, which is probably going to be a cliffhanger seeing as you want to suck your reader in, another chapter begins. And mind you, this changes from story to story, even in my own writing. XD

To demonstrate!

FREAK: word count for first chapter ~ 1500

During this, the MC is dressed by her abuse headmistress so that she can look presentable when she is handed off to the politician that she has just been sold to. At the end of this chapter, she is told to wait for her new master to come and, without saying goodbye to the other people living there, she is thrown from the house quite literally...

Brains: word count ~ ?

Haven't exactly written this yet (after finals!) but the MC plays with the group of boys that are his assigned playmates. At the end of this chapter, he will hear a voice that will tell him to do something that is completely illegal--to walk in a top-secret building. But he's not worried. After all, the voice tells him exactly how to get in...

The Unicorn Killers: word count for the first chapter ~ 6000

The MC wonders what is wrong with her friend. When she investigates, thinking that her friend is going to commit suicide, she finds that he is going off to a different world, to find his father. And unfortunately, because she's now involved, she has to go too...

Demons and Angels: word count for the first chapter ~ 800

The MC buys an angel from the devil, hoping that it'll add something to his otherwise meaningless life. However, he doesn't realize that, as soon as he comes into the angel's presence, all of his other self seems to flit away and he needs the angel. The chapter ends with him staggering after the demon, trying to get "his angel" away from the manipulative demon who only seems to want to use it to control him...

So yeah... I'm a huge fan of dramatic endings for first chapters. I really really want to be sucked into stories that I read, so it'll have a really dramatic start. Afterwards, I'll have more subtle chapter endings (you can't be exciting EVERY time) but still!

Anyway... I hope that helps!

Mine goes around the purpose of the chapter. I don't just dissect the story up and label them chapters, or rather, not intentionally. I tend to give my chapters a goal, and if it takes 200 or 20,000 words, makes no difference to me.

Those answers really make sense. I'm a bit worried my chapter will be boring because it's sort of setting up the story but not really starting the main plot. Should I end on the start of exciting developments?

I always do my chapters by how many pages it takes up on my words processer. I know that doesn't mean diddly squat, but it makes me feel good to have them all about the same number. In fact, I hate it when I go over, or under. I find it really frustrating, but if it needs to be done, I will go onto the next page.

The novel I'm working on now is four pages a chapter. I don't think those are very long chapters, but I tend to like shorter ones becuse it makes it easier to pick up and be able to put down quickly, like between something the reader might need to do.

Well, sometimes for me a chapter ends when you have finishes a complete thought. Sort of like, when you write and the thought comes to a close, and you cannot write anymore about that thought. When it seems like this thought can go for awhile, then I try to break it up by events. What events wouldn't make much sense with each other, what events sort of move to a different idea, and what events you don't need to elaborate on.

((Will add more later.))

It just depends.
For me, I like writing shorter chapters. It keeps me on track and it's just easier for me.
James Patterson's chapters are all extremely short. We're talking like a page or two. Sometimes they stop and really random places and I think this works really well because you just keep reading. Sometimes when I read a book with like 300+ pages and there's like 9 chapters I'm like whoa, where do you ever stop reading this to take a break and I find it's hard to focus.
That's just me.
It depends on you and your writing style and what kind of voice you want in your book.

I haven't had one of my books in print yet, but when I am reading a novel, I like the chapters to be long. At LEAST 15 pages, each!

I know I'm kind of hi-jacking this, however, it relates to chapters and timing as well. As readers, if there are 3 main characters in the novel and you need to follow all their events, what is the best way to keep them organized? Should it be in a systematic, orderly fasion with one chapter a piece, where it goes X first, then Y, then Z, back to X, etc. [However, it will require a little bit of varience, because X is truly the main character and Z doesn't have as much of a story to tell]. Or should the reader stay with one for a few chapters, go to another for a few chapters, and hop around more?

Splitting into three parts or more is not an option, as some of the characters overlap and that overlapping is crucial. For example, X meets Y through Y's point of view, and it has to be from Y's perspective. Also, with that, I wouldn't want to repeat the same thing from another's point of view. If it was told in X then Y's point of view, the story would just be too slowly paced.