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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.
  








It had a perfectly round door like a porthole, painted green, with a shiny yellow brass knob in the exact middle. The door opened on to a tube-shaped hall like a tunnel: a very comfortable tunnel without smoke, with panelled walls, and floors tiled and carpeted, provided with polished chairs, and lots and lots of pegs for hats and coats—the hobbit was fond of visitors. The tunnel wound on and on, going fairly but not quite straight into the side of the hill —The Hill, as all the people for many miles round called it—and many little round doors opened out of it, first on one side and then on another.
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