Do Consistent Chapter Lengths Matter? : 002

Do Chapter Lengths Matter?

Introduction to the Issue

One of the many amazing things about authors is everyone has their own way of doing things. Their own rules, whether they’re conscious of them or not. Their own voice, style, and quirks. We also all have our own little problems when it comes to writing. Things that bug us, or play on our mind. Sometimes, a lot more than they should.

Some authors hate widows on the page. Others might dislike a certain type of formatting. Worry about what should be on the page header. Should they use Em-dashes or not in the current climate. How to properly use brackets or ellipsis. Are they writing Just or that to much. (Yes I probably am)

Everyone’s process is different no matter what books or articles we’ve read on the art. No matter our inspirations. But what I want to know this week is amongst the myriad of differences and little things to worry about, do any writers (or readers) care about chapters being of similar length? When writing or reading, is there a comfort in consistency, or doesn’t it matter?

My Opinion

Here’s my position on the matter: I like having my chapters consistent lengths. Always have. In most of my books my chapters range from two to two-and-a-half-thousand words. Obviously if the chapter demands to be slightly shorter or longer it will be, but my goal is consistent length.

The reasons are connected to my outline and pacing of the story. I know if I have twelve to fifteen chapters outlined the book will be around thirty thousand words. Twenty five chapters equals fifty to sixty thousand words.

There’s a comfort for me in knowing this. It helps me structure and pace my books correctly. I can feel if my chapter is lacking detail, or has to much exposition, depending on whether it falls short or goes drastically over that length.

Maybe this comes from having always outlined. Maybe it’s because I started as a scriptwriter where pages and time are more directly linked. Or maybe it’s an odd little quirk in my brain. I’m not entirely sure why, but it’s how I write. So if the chapters aren’t matching the length I’ve outlined I’m wondering what’s wrong, and what can I do about it?

Possible Solutions

Two immediate options come to mind. I can edit the chapters until they are roughly the same length. Find if something is indulgence or meaningless and take it out. Add more detail or atmosphere to the scene if it’s falling short. Maybe even add an extra thought or action into the chapter taking up several more paragraphs if it’s relevant to the story. Something is different between my outline and the words on the page, and in the redraft I’ll find out what.

Or… if the difference is significant I can cut the chapter in half, or stack two on top of each other. That would mean I under or overestimated what was needed from that chapter. But that’s fine, now I know that and I can work on seeing what I can do about it. Maybe I could end the chapter at a different point, or start the next one earlier if it works. These solutions depend on what I’m writing, but they’re options.

The book I’m currently writing has much shorter chapters than usual as I wanted a different pace due to how the story unfolds. They’re around one thousand words in length. So when my opening chapter was two and a half thousand words (it’s like waking at the same time when you purposefully didn’t set your alarm) I wasn’t sure what to do.

Luckily, I had a point half-way through the chapter where I could naturally cut the chapter in half, and after chatting with a couple of people on Substack about it that’s what I did. It made sense in this situation as it didn’t affect the outline or pacing of my story as I wanted short sharp chapters anyway. But it got me thinking… does it really matter?

Does It Really Matter?

If my first chapter was two and a half thousand words and my second was nine hundred and my third was five thousand and forth three hundred etc etc would anyone but me give a shit? I like consistent chapter lengths when I’m reading a book but I’ve honestly never checked if they were or not. And if they weren’t, I wouldn’t care. There’s a lot of reasons to like or dislike a book, chapter length isn’t very high on that list.

So… does it matter? I guess the answer is probably that it doesn’t… but it does matter to me. It’s my way of writing. My structuring. My pacing. My way of knowing when I want to hit the big moments in my stories and when I want quieter periods to build towards the next thing. Story and structure is important to me, and chapter lengths have become a part of that within my writing for whatever reason (could well be related to how I structured my screenplays in the past)

This new book does have a couple of other chapters that are longer than the others and I know when I reach them in the second draft I’ll be looking to see if I can spilt them too. I’ll never allow it to be at the expense of anything, but I will also know it’s for my own peace of mind that I find a way to make them a similar length to the others.

It’s funny the habits we form. The quirks we develop. The thing that’s matter to us in our work that other people would think we’re crazy for worrying about. Why are we making things more difficult than they need to be, they’d probably think.

Ultimately no-one is checking up on my chapter lengths. Out of the hundreds of reviews I’ve received no-one has ever written how much they enjoyed the consistency of the word count. But they have noted the structure and pacing, and to me these things are linked. They’re guided by my chapter lengths. So to answer my own question of ‘Do consistent chapter lengths matter?’ They don’t… but they do to me within my own work.

This Past Weeks Writing

I’ve been feeling out of sorts this week so haven’t written as much as I would have liked. But, I have added a couple more chapters to Alice on the Air, and began to edit some earlier ones as they directly link to the story later and I needed to tighten a few details. I still think the book will be completely finished by the end of June but as I’m self publishing I’m in no rush.

I think it’s important to have self imposed deadlines as they lead to a degree of discipline and motivation, but ultimately self publishing means more control. It means you don’t have to hit strict deadlines because so many other things and departments are counting on you. With self-publishing if the book requires another few weeks, or a month, then so be it. It will be worth it in the end. That said, I really would love to have it done by the end of the month.

I’ve also sent four short stories off to the editor. Three of them are part of my subgenre work (Creature Feature Robot Noir) which began this last week as I started to explore Space Critters. The forth is a random short that I’ll put up on the website when it’s ready.

The random short is a little more nasty than the rest as it was written back when I first started writing extreme horror. It was fun to revisit it and give it a bit of a polish and an edit. I look forward to seeing what everyone thinks of it as I’ve always loved the concept of this story.

What Else Have I Been Up To?

This week I started reading Wool by Hugh Howey. It’s been a very intriguing story so far and I’ve really enjoyed the structure. It almost feels like several novelettes or novella’s put together and I wonder if it started that way. It has a sadness constantly lingering within the writing while also being a dystopian mystery. Look forward to finishing it over the next few days.

Alongside this I watched the first two seasons of House of The Dragon as I hadn’t watched them before. It’s so bizarre to me to see such time jumps in a TV show, and the recasting of main actors because of it. It’s something so simple within a book, but must be a huge undertaking on screen as you get used to how a character behaves. Best will in the world you can’t act exactly the same as who had the role before you.

Naturally it being a Game of Thrones show my favourite character died, although she did die in the most badass way possible. But still, after all this time I would have thought I’d have learnt not to get attached to any side characters because they will be killed off… Here’s hoping my new favourite makes it. :)

Also watched Masters of the Universe at the cinema and really enjoyed it. Felt like an updated Flash Gordon so definitely my kind of thing, especially as I had all the He-Man figures when I was little. Was fun watching the toys basically be smashed together with a ridiculous budget.

This Coming Weeks Writing

I’m on holiday from Friday so everything is going to be a little top heavy this week and revolve around Alice on the Air. I hope to look over the shorts when I receive them back and schedule them for release on the website, but my main task is finishing the first draft of Alice on the Air.

I think I mentioned before that the Alice on the Air screenplay I’m adapting into the novella was unfinished, as I began writing Abby instead. I’m closing in on reaching the last of the scripted pages now. Then, I’ll be relying on my script notes and outline (from five years ago) rather than anything directly on the page.

Part of me actually thinks this will be easier than adapting the words I’ve already written, but in truth I don’t know. My previous scripts I adapted were all finished ones.

Despite being on holiday next Monday I will put out a blog post as per usual. I want to get into the habit of posting these every week and I don’t want to break that when I’ve only just started. I’m sure the caravan site will have some kind of wi-fi somewhere, if not I’ll be hiking for a signal.

Before then please check out my Space Critter subgenre work I’ve put out, and the new instalment on Thursday.

Stephen.