Should I post the entire chapter or try to edit it down/split it?

As a reader what do you all think?

I write long chapters and I'll be honest not all of them are consistant sometimes they are shorter (but never really less then 15 pages) and some are quite long. It's really where I want to stop writing.

But if this worries you any, you can always cut them down and edit them.

I think its a bit of a shame to do that but its purely your choice as an author.

~Melissa

Thanks for your response.

First question you need to ask yourself. Do you need a Prologue? Most, if not all, beginning writers instantly think they need a Prologue for their story. Most cases, you don't need it. Just jump right into the story, into the action, into the plot without bogging it down with useless exposition that can be shown later through your characters, rather than the narrator. Adding a prologue, especially for starting writers, will do more harm than good. Unless you know how to execute it really, really well.

Note: Pure exposition/info-dumping is the worst way to do a prologue...seriously...

Next, never, ever split a chapter just because it's long, or add when it's short. Some of the best stories I've read...are only 3-5 pages long. In Anime, the best one I've watched - and this is comparing series, OVA's, everything - is about 30 minutes long, give or take several minutes. And both are complete stories. Length consistency? Who cares? I don't. I just want to read a good, interesting story.

Instead, you should ask yourself this: Does this chapter (or prologue) do what I want it to do without useless, irrelevant information, and is concise and straight to the point? If not, then you need to make changes, depending on your problem. Adding to the length and not to the development of your story, however, will do more harm than good. And if you're going to publish, you need to be around 100,000 words for a novel, unless you're established (Might want to check on that limit).

And I just went through your reviews...I think you really need to follow up on what checkbookstub says - he seems to know what he's doing as an editor. If those problems are clearly evident, then, it doesn't matter how long/short your story is - it'll just kill the reader's interest in your story, except for those who are very persistent. So, right now, length is the least of your worries. What checkbookstub says, is.

Anyways, good luck with your novel! I'd review...but I'm backlogged...yeah.

It's best to find a comfortable chapter size. Failing that, I think too short is almost always better than too long, unless you're a popular writer with a built-in fanbase. Popular writers, be it on this site or in the publishing industry, get the benefit of the doubt at lot more than an unknown writer. So for example, Stephen King can probably write anything he wants and his fans would at least give it a serious chance. Meanwhile, Joe Schmo--with the exact same novel--might not get someone to read past the second page. I haven't checked, so I don't know which category you fall under, popularity-wise.

And I've been studying the chapter length of published novels. James Patterson novels tend to have a chapter length of around 500 words. He's not the only writer that writes chapters so small, either, but they tend to be in either children's fiction or in thrillers. But thrillers are thrilling for a reason, and many children have short attention spans yet children's books often grab them, so maybe they're onto something. I wouldn't suggest something that short, especially on this site where the computer screen makes a decent sized chapter look small. From my personal experience, around 2,000 words works best on this site. Its always worked for me.

Here's a tip: re-read your chapter. If at any point, the chapter stops losing its intensity and/or excitement, end the chapter gracefully. Don't just hack it off, re-word it (as little as possilble, though) to give it a hooking ending. It doesn't matter if it's 1,000 words long or 10,000 words long, readers will go for it, as long as it continually holds their interest. If you have 22 pages worth of exciting content, then post the chapter as it is. If you only have 5 pages worth, shorten the chapter. Same with the prologue.

In my experience, readers like to be hooked first, explained to later. Never the opposite.

Hope that helps.

Also your presentation should be well also. Readers will usually pick a nicely formatted and well-written story over one that looks like what Melissa Norvell calls 'glorified role plays' with dialouge after dialouge he said she said stuff.

~Kurogane

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