How long should my chapters be?

My students often ask me, “How long should my chapters be? Where should I put my chapter breaks?” I have two different answers to these questions, depending on where in the writing process a student happens to be.

I have my students think about how long their chapters will be at two different points.

The first time is at the beginning of the process, to help them create structure. I tell them that chapters are the containers for their scenes and, with this in mind, they should have between eight and sixteen chapters in order to create a rich story.

Why are chapters the containers for your scenes? Basically, it's at the chapter level that you’ll be connecting scenes to create a story. Fewer than eight chapters means you’ll have very long chapters with tons of scenes to connect. If you include more than sixteen chapters, your chapters will have so few scenes that you won’t have enough scenes to tell a story. (I’ll talk about why scenes are the building blocks of plot in a different posting.)

Most of my students stick with between eight and sixteen chapters for the rest of their book. However, some of them feel that shorter chapters are more engaging to a reader. So, once they have completed the writing process, I tell them it’s fine to put in new chapter breaks more frequently if they like.

If it feels like a natural place to pause, that’s where you could place a chapter break. 

To prove to you that you really can have as many chapters as you'd like in your book, let me give you some examples of published memoirs.

• Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala has 9 chapters and 208 pages.
• Wild by Cheryl Strayed has 19 chapters in a 311-page book.
• The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer has 44 chapters and 414 pages. 
• Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert has 108 chapters and 352 pages.

Mary Puppins is thinking about a different kind of break today.

Some authors like shorter chapters, because they think it will be easier to read their memoir that way. Other authors like longer chapters, because they don’t want their story to be interrupted as frequently. 

When it comes to structuring your book, think in terms of eight to sixteen chapters. However, your final breaks could look very different from this. 


So, how long should your chapters be? The choice is up to you. 

Happy writing!