How many chapters is too many?

[CyberCubed]

This is something I've been wondering from both sides, (as a reader and a writer), how many chapters would you consider to be too many?

Sometimes when I want to read a new fic, I usually start with stories that have a small chapter count, and no more than 10 to 15 at the moment. Sometimes just looking at fics that have 30-50 chapters can be pretty daunting, especially if you don't know if you're going to stick with the story or not.

Likewise, as a writer, how far would you write a fic that you wanted to be ongoing? Not that you're running out of ideas or anything, but if you want to keep the audience coming back, how far can you go without them just losing interest? I've been thinking about what might happen when/if one of my stories ever reads a milestone of 50 chapters, and I'm curious if its worth continuing after that. Is it a turnoff to new readers for a story with that many chapters? Is it worth sticking around? Hmmm.

 

[vzilberman]

I say if the plot ad the storuy itself is good there can be an infinate nuymber of chapters. Only if I don;t get bored though.

 

[Neko Godot]

Depends. If you can keep the story fresh by bringing in new characters, getting rid of old characters that aren't needed anymore, and keep the plot interesting, I say you could go over 50 chapters.

 

[Dragonfree]

If the story is actually 50-chapter material, go for it. Naturally, you shouldn't stretch it out by inserting fillers everywhere, but there are many stories that really have the potential to become 50 chapters and then there's nothing stopping you. The first fic I read on these forums became a whopping 70 chapters (although the author had to move it to TPM during the great downtime).

That number of chapters may be a turn-off for new readers, but if you're good enough at keeping the old readers in, that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

 

[Breezy]

If your fic is 50 chapters long, then it's highly unlikely that you will pull in new readers. However if you have old readers that love your fic, they're more likely to come and still read whatever you throw at them.

But there are those few new readers that will come in at chapter 50 and those old readers that will stop reading at chapter 50 no matter what too. At least that's my case with HLBMA. Most of my old readers left and were replaced with new ones and I have more than 50 chapters too.

Eh. It depends on your reputation as a fanfic writer too.

 

[PDL]

at the rate I'm going, I feel that my fic's going to be one of those monster-sized fics with over 50 chapters... but then again, I've been told that my chapters are relatively short and it only advances the story a little bit at a time :\

 

[Literate]

If you ask me, fifteen chapters are too short for a story. About twenty-five or more would be alright. I think thirty six or something would be great for my story, Assassins. I think it really depends on the subject. If it's going to be very tragic, you have to build up some character development first. If you have it comedy, you can just have it pretty short.

It really depends.

~PEACE~

 

[~Sirnight~]

Well, if you ca nreally have a good story, and prolong the story in a way that will keep the readers reading, then go for it!

Though, yopu may not get many new readers except those really adicted to reading becasue they don't wanna read so much.

 

[Omega Pirate]

More chapters makes me think the fic must be popular and therefore good. But this, ofcourse, is not always the case. As to how many is too many, I suppose it dpends on the quality. If the fic starts out good and slowly starts to decline than stop. If the quality stays the same, keep going.

 

[Encyclopika]

I've actually had pleasure of writing Contest Tie, which will be around 49-51 chapters, and at 20 something or so episodes, each one being about 15 pages a piece, I still get new readers, though not as frequently now. The old readers keep coming back, although some don't really review anymore, but I know they come because I'm friends with a lot of them and they review via IM. =P The great thing is is that you don't necessarily have to have read the whole story in order to just read one episode because most of them could be read by themselves as a oneshot. All I'm concerned with now is keeping the readers I already have, and it shouldn't be too hard since it takes me forever to post a new episode, making it easy for them to review whenever the hell.
As a reader, I really can't get into anything more than a oneshot, due to my crammed schedual and short attention span. And I am usually very picky about what I read, so a oneshot is all I can really muster. ^^;;

 

[Bay]

Well, I guess it depends how long your story will be and how many chapters you want. In my fic "Heart of the Sea", it's going to be having eight chapters because I already plan out how I want the plot to be and also what I want to put in each chapter. Even though the story will be having eight chapters, the chapters are or will be quite long. (I said it liked that because there are still a few chapters I need to write).

Yeah, sometimes the new readers will be overwhelmed with a story with thrity chapters already that they decided to instead read a fic with not much chapters. Of course, a story with fifteen chapters does not mean that story is really long. Maybe each of those chapters ranged from three to five pages.

;134;~Good night, and good luck~

 

[Maze]

i guess the amount of chapters that is appropriate depends a lot on what you care about. If you only care about making the readers happy, then cater to your audience and gauge how much interest they have in the story. If you care about doing the story you've created justice, then the number of chapters depends on how long it takes to fully express whatever ideas you had intended to. Whether that be 10 chapters or 100, it doesn't matter as long as you are satisfied that the fic has completed its purpose.

 

[Cipher_Admin]

How Much Chapters is enough to me?

I think more than 30 chapters in it like "The Da Vinci Code" is far enough

 

[Iveechan]

Number of chapters doesn't bother me, but the QUALITY of chapters is important. The way I write (well, wrote) is that I treat each chapter like a television episode, and each one has a purpose so they stand out and are memorable.

I prefer reading stories with 20 + chapters on a website and not a forum so it's easier to come back to (I'm a dolt and can't figure out how bookmarking works).

 

[Astinus]

For me, I just let the story decide how many chapters I have for a fic. What ever the amount is for the story to be told well in. (I stress the "well".) I try to make each one of my chapters pretty long hand-written, so each can last on its own.

As for reading, I don't care. As long as the story remains well-written, I don't care how long it is. If I came in at the start. Trying to come in at the later chapters is very difficult and annoying for me.

I don't care how long it is. Just as long as it is well-written.

 

[CWisgood]

Let's say a fic reaches 50 Chapters. Would it be okay for the author to put summaries for the Chapters (maybe like Coronis' for the manga), so new readers can understand the plot?

 

[Judai-and-sho]

I think you guys are thinking too small here. I plan on making mine for quite a while and 50 chaters will probably be crossed early next year. I say, make chapters a bit shorter and therefore, you can make more. Im getting new viewers even at 30 chapters. Im thinking of 120 chapters. Sure they probably arnt gonna be as long as your but I find it necessary for the story to be played out. It may take me a few years but I think Ill manage. As long as you inspire yourself, you can keep going. Also, replenishing the cast with new character and eliminating old ones helps a lot.

 

[Hahahabvc87]

For one thing, many people look for fics which have quality, not quantity, though it does help if the fic has more than just a few chapters, but less than overwhelming montains of words. Chapters alone are rather inaccurate measures of words, since there are fics with loads of one "MS word" page long chapters, but are dwarfed by fics which pack multiple posts' worth of words in just a single chapter.

I like to think of story length in terms of reading time, but since I often read faster than most of my friends people tend to get bored earlier in the plot than I do... 10 hours worth of non-stop reading for a single fic is usually the upper limit of my comfort zone and I often reach the latest chapter of even the most lengthy fics by then (e.g. The Legendarian Chronicles chapter 1-16), but I can tell that alot of people can't stay focused that long!

For the author, it depends on how well he/she can keep it interesting... if it shows signs of plot fatigue, the story might as well be ended with a bang and left to continue through a sequel, or else it might just fade out of popularity and existance...

 

[icemew]

Wow, so many giant fics in the works...My own story is only going to be about sixteen or seventeen chapters.

Personally I think fifty+ is a bit much. For one thing it's hard to get into, and for another, sometimes when I read them I get the impression they're sort of being dragged out by the author, or would be better if they were broken up into different stories. But really, it's about what's right for the story more than anything else. Trying to turn a fifty chapter story into twenty is as bad as trying to turn a twenty chapter story into fifty. If the story needs to be more chapters, people will keep reading. If they don't, maybe sometimes it's a sign the story's too drawn out.

 

[Judai-and-sho]

I think most fics should be short but mine isnt exactly a fic as much as it is a story of its own. Its one long story. I need a lot of chapters for the entire story to properly unfold.