Character limit is 15,000. And Tapas markets itself as short snack bites entertainment that you can read in line a the grocery store or on the go in 5 minutes. I personally dont have an issue, since my chapters are broken into parts and each part fits under the character limit without a problem.

Although I can see if you're novel was set up differently it could be a problem you'd have to find the breaks or create them in a chapter without losing steam.

When I first started writing, I wrote long chapters. Most of what I wrote, however, was completely redundant. So my chapters all became 1k words shorter after editing.

Right now, the chapters are around 1.2k words long and the most recent once I've written are a little longer.

Hello @Jen-Jen.

Well, at first, I knew my chapters wouldn't fit within the character limit, so what I did was to fragment them in four parts.

I guess for Tapas layout - and Tapas' goal as little text snacks - this way is better.
And doing that way, you bring a lot of good things for your novel:

• the chapters feel smaller, and people tend to be convinced to read something small than a text wall;
• you can update a lot more that way, bringing more views and likes to your work;
• you can breathe a lot more between chapters, so you don't have to commit doing 15.000 characters to every single update, but only, let's say, a quarter of that.

The size of your chapters is entirely up to you though.

I made a similar thread about a month ago and from a reader's perspective it seems like people prefer a 1000-1500 word count I've had a couple of my episodes dip into the late 900s but most are in that range.

I don't write each episodes as individual chapters but rather I wrote the book as a traditional novel and carved them up to post here

I was worried about the limit as well, but once I started breaking down my chapters into itty pieces (I just name them 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and so on) it wasn't so bad, since I had natural break points within the chapters. It also helps me update more regularly, which is an added plus.

Plus I came from doing comics where it's like...here's one page that is 4 lines of dialogue--see you next week! So I feel like I give way more in an novel update than a comic update.

I struggle with it because my novels aren't written to be bite sized. So trying to find places to break them into parts that fit within the character limit has been a struggle and is a big reason I haven't yet committed to moving to Tapas full time. One chapter suddenly becomes 2 or 3 parts with each part just randomly ending because I've been shooting to keep each part the same length. I'm sure the more I do it, the easier it'll become, just a matter of motivating myself to want to do it for my other books LOL And motivation has been a huge issue for me.

At first, I couldn't stand the limit, but that's because my writing style is already broken up. While I write longer chapters, most of them are segmented because its written in multiple POVs. So I've just adjusted the story to use the POV changes as a separate episode.

As time has gone on, I actually don't mind it, and vaguely considered breaking down the chapters in future editions of the novel. Who knows.

I typically don't have problems with the word length. I think it is a fun challenge to tell the story in bite size segments

I did at first but now I can extend my buffer by breaking down my chapters more

I basically always end up pushing the max character limit with my updates. My chapters are basically always over the limit so I have to cut them into smaller updates. I usually prefer 6k-8k characters per update but it depends where a good spot for the break is.
I've had people say that they like how my updates are on the longer side which I'm happy about. I don't personally like cutting the story into really short bits since I don't really like reading stories like that myself.

I tend to write in scenes vs chapters, so some of my uploads are as low as 450 words and some have multiple parts and are over 1k words each.

I’ve seen a lot of people complain about the character limit, but I think it can be advantageous. When I do have a really long scene that needs to be broken up, I try not to end each episode on a calm note to keep interests up (I don’t always do this! I’m not a complete monster! Lol). So, little cliffhangers here and there can be a really fun way to pique readers interests in what happens next I mean, I try to keep the story flow as intact as possible, but there’s always an ebb and flow to any scene.

Hi

I ran into the issue at chapter 30. From that part on I had to split all my chapters up.
Meaning: 2 parts per chapter and 4 parts published each week, instead of two.

For future reference, I'll be doing this always. So I'm sure I won't cross the character limit.

I agree with a lot of people, people like small bits, so they have more easy breaks and well for you it means more views.

Only if i slightly go over the limit. My chapter lengths usually go for 1k-2k words and the only time I have to split them is if something important happens in it. Like a fight scene.

I haven't had the character limit problem since my chapters are broken up naturally into 3-4 parts. Since each part belongs to a different character POV and focuses on a single scene, it tends to fall below 2k words.

For some of the short stories in Dark Bytes, I did have to break the original scene into two parts but luckily, it was easy to find that break point! I just had to do a bit more editing to make sure it flowed between parts.

(Shackles didn't have a problem either)

People like to read shorter episodes, especially on app. And I guess if the limit really bothers you, one way is to split the chapter up and then post those episodes at the same time. That way, people get the full scene anyway.

It kind of a troublesome at first because I can wrote a long chapter and doesn't really like to split my chapters in two, but as time goes, I kind of just let it be. Like everyone said, tapas promote itself as a bite size comic and novel platform, and having short chapters usually benefit you because you can show up on the FRESH section more often.

I still doesn't particularly like the limit but what can I do. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Mostly just split the chapters and be done with it.

The last chapter I wrote is kind of a trouble because I wrote it over the characters limit by 800 characters, so I need to edit it for a few days because I'm too stubborn about chapter splitting when it's less than 1000 characters, and then I somehow ended up with exactly 15000 characters on that chapter.

If you have PC, there's a trick someone told us on discord to bypass the limit. The link is down there I'd you're interested :

I honestly don't have that much of a problem with it. I normally keep my chapters way shorter than that to keep the pace and give my works a pretty decent reading speed. In fact I tend to really hate chapters that feel like they go on for to long.
I normally change chapters whenever the 'scene' changes which allows me to keep a decent pace and not have to describe a so many different setting in a single chapter. There are some exceptions but that's normally the way I do things.

The best would be to write short chapters because longer chapters tend to not keep the reader interested.
You could have a look at my novel THAT DAY I BECAME A STAR via the link below. PLease leave a comment to also help improve.

Usually, I don't have an issue since I keep between 1-2K words.

Though, when writing genres like Fantasy and Science-Fiction I will normally aim between 4-8K words chapters on other sites but on Tapas I will probably keep them at 2K with multiple parts like; Diana's Key Part 1 etc.

There is normally a solution to such things one only has to look for it and adapt. Like on Wattpad I can write long chapters without the page saying is too long meanwhile on Tapas I would have to shorten them and put them in parts.

I see. I found out on Tapas rather randomly from one of the creators on here. I just didnt have a cover ready when I first joined.

I think I've only been above 10,000 characters on a chapter once or twice. I think 1500 words is kind of a sweet spot for chapter length.

A good chapter length in a standard novel is usually between 3,000 - 5,000 words. Any less or more will usually be too much for readers. I keep this in mind when writing out my chapters. However, I will usually be the first to say that chapters can be as long or as short as it needs to be to tell your story. For example, prologues or epilogues are usually shorter than 3,000 words (in most cases).

What I like about Tapas is really the bite-size episodes that you really can read while waiting in line or taking a break at work. In this case, I break out my chapters in to more manageable bite size episodes and find that it flows better and also to echo what some of the other writers are saying, gives a good buffer as well.

My series is published more like a serial so my chapters are already shorter (but published each month when possible). I have friends taking a more traditional novel approach and they just split their chapters for Tapas. (Chapter One, Part One)

I think it depends on what "feel" you wanna give to your novel.

In my high fantasy novel, The Legendary Hero's Brother, the 15k character limitation is such a huge liability to me because I write this novel to be larger than life, making each chapter long and detailed and filled with so much fantasy life!!! So I would see myself cutting my chapters a lot! There's even an instance recently where I had to cut a chapter into three. That was a bummer... But I guess it gave me an accidental buffer chapters? HAHAHAHA SO YAY!? I guess???

As for my horror drama, Megachurch, each chapters are generally meant to be shorter, so I don't always have a problem with the 15k limitation.I think I would even say it elevated the quality of the story because it makes the pacing much, much faster, which is something I very much intended to do!

I loathe the character limit honestly. But as I write big ass chapters, I simply break them down because yolo. I am writing a big book, we ain't chapter snacking here.

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It's way too short for me. I have to break some of my chapters down at awkward places. 15000 characters amounts to about 2.5k words an episode and I write like on average per chapter around 35,000 characters depending on my plot and what I want to do/set up in that chapter.

And my novel for those who are interested in vampires that's action~y, a bit of romance (GL and a tiny BL in there), tons of cussing, soap operatic reveals, memorable characters and a plot that just keeps on upping itself:

It could be troublesome, as I have typed them beforehand, but I try to break them down in a way that still makes sense.

At first, I thought it was a bit weird. But I don't really have a problem. My chapters are usually 1.2-1.5 k, and max out at 2k. So, whichever way I go, I rarely cross the 15K limit. When I do, I usually split the chapter into two episodes and release it that way.

I'd like it if we didn't have the limit, but it's not a big issue for me.