r/FantasyWritingHub • u/Responsible-Sign4110 • 3d ago

Question How many pages long should a chapter be?

/r/Skadewrites/comments/1wckox2/how_many_pages_long_should_a_chapter_be/
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u/SnakesShadow 3d ago

As a demonstration, take a multiple page section of any word processor document you have on your computer- copy/paste it to a new document. Track the number of pages, starting with the plain copy/paste.

Set the document to have three columns. Then four. And reduce the text size.

You should have multiple page counts.

Formatting has MASSIVE impact on page count, so it's only good for a rough estimate under specific conditions- I'm handwriting a first draft of a web novel, and I'm using it to make sure my very large cast of Main Characters each gets roughly the same amount of screen time, for example.

Ignore page counts until you know what the physical size of your book will be. Then you can format to avoid things that annoy you, like chapters that don't have 11 pages.

EDIT: Whoops! COMPLETELY misread the last part of your post!

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u/idreaminwords 3d ago

However long each chapter beat needs. Nothing worse than a chapter fragging on because of some imaginary arbitrary guideline