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| Me |
The answer?
Any, all, and variety.
There is no answer for this question and it seems to be one that is on every writers’ mind. Too long and will readers get tired. Too short and will it read choppy. Too uniform and will it appear robotic?
Too many and your story risks droning on losing it’s momentum and flow. Too many and if you go to create a print copy it’ll look _____ or _____ and the cost…don’t even ask.
The one thing every writer needs to remember is to let the story and characters tell what they need to tell.
The end of each chapter should build like a mini climax into the next chapter. It should pull your readers along.
Each chapter should contain it’s own sub-topic, for lack of a better explanation. Use markers to break up changes which maintain an overall similarity to the chapter’s main idea.
While I have heard of chapter formulas…so many pages/words per chapters…I don’t know how reliable they read. Do you fit the story to some general idea of how many words per chapter? Or, fit the chapters to the tale?
If a writer were to listen to each and every reader, well, nothing would ever get written. Some readers love short chapters; some find them choppy. Go with the long chapters and some readers will say they drag.
Me? Personally, I like a variety. Better yet…yup, you know it…let your story and characters dictate.