New to Tapas! About Novels: How many words should I write in each chapter?

[fiddlyturtle]

Hello! I'm new here so everything seems kinda confusing. I'm kind of thinking about starting a novel here haha. But I'm not sure how long I should make the chapters so I need some opinion. Please, help me out.
As a reader, how many words do you prefer to read on each chapter of the novels you read? Do you like them short? Long? Or something in between? Please, let me know. ^^

[domisotto]

800 to 1.3K, but sitting in the lower part of this range is better.

[cherrystark]

I do a medium length of about 1K words. For me, that length gives you a good sense of the action. Too short isn't always satisfying. Too long and the chapter won't fit in the character limit. I don't like it when a chapter is in multiple parts and I have to wait to finish the chapter.

[fiddlyturtle]

Thanks! I guess sitting in the lower part makes it easier to read!

[fiddlyturtle]

That does make sense! Thanks for sharing your opinion! how oftwn do you post though?

[domisotto]

This is a comic site, so it dictates the tastes of the people who would check out the novels' section. Unless your writing is extremely smooth and easy to read--and that's hard to qualify category, because people come from different experience with reading--it's better to give shorter chapters.

[cherrystark]

My first piece, I used the schedule feature and released a chapter every day. Now, I do every two days since I am writing more.

[MeltingCORE]

Since I'm writing a web serial, I like my chapters to be shorter and easy to read for those on the go. I also personally find it easier to read works published in this format when I'm on the go instead of having to slog through long chapters that may me nothing of importance. I usually go for 600 to around 1K-ish. And that's what most other web writers go for I've noticed!

[therosesword]

I try to hit around 1k. Sometimes it's less, once in awhile it's longer. If it's too long I try to break it up at a natural break point. It's just an easier read for people, I think.

[desktop_dragon]

For premium novels we've noticed that chapters in the 700 - 1200 word range tend to do best, with 1500 words as a hard upper limit.

[crosswarrior7]

I am a bit worried now about the one chapter I haven't been able to get to be below the 1.6k I have it at >.>

[Zaboem]

Well @crosswarrior7, if you decide that chopping it in half and posting two chapters a the same time is what you should do, then that is what you'll do. It might not feel right, but it is a way to achieve your sizing goal.

[crosswarrior7]

I thought about that, but not sure where to break it up honestly >.<

[Zaboem]

Be mean. Break it right in the mid

[Zaboem]

dle, right at the half-way point.

[crosswarrior7]

You're hilarious xD But I more meant, like, a good spot in the scene to separate.

[kmlangleyauthor]

I had a problem with that recently. I had a 1.4k word chapter and my break points were either 300 words in or 200 left - not a helpful or satisfying fix at all. So I ended up posting it in it’s full glory (/sarcasm) and no one seemed to mind. My episode lengths reeeaaalllly vary, though, so it’s fairly on-brand for me to post a 600 word episode and then a 1.2k word episode after that. Just depends on the scene breaks and such

[crosswarrior7]

Thanks! that is definitely reassuring

[neardrive]

Now I notice that as a classic novel writer i will have some problems with the chapter lenght... >.<

[hannahlaine]

I would say, honestly it depends. You need to write just enough to keep people reading, though the word count in Tapas is much lower than in other online writing sites, so I end up splitting what would normally be one chapter into two parts on Tapas.

However, there is really no standard answer. I try to aim for about 3,000 words a chapter in general and then split them into two or three parts on here.

For example. Chapter 1 of my book on Wattpad is 4,000-ish words, but on here I have chapter 1 split into two parts with 2k words in one and 1k words in the other.

If you have not already written out your chapters and are writing on here only, I would aim for about 800 - 1,000 words a chapter??

IDK if this helps