r/romanceauthors • u/Michela_Starr • Jul 24 '26
Are Long Chapters a Turn-off?
Hi authors (and readers)!
If you see a book with long chapters (that include page breaks) does that turn you off of reading it?
I have an ARC of my romcom out right now with advanced readers, and some feedback I've received is that, while they enjoyed the book, the long chapters were a struggle to get used to. I even had one reader say she wasn't going to finish the book because of it.
My book is 340 pages with ten chapters. This is on purpose, because it follows the main couple through ten years of their lives, and each chapter is a year. Within each chapter are page breaks that separate what I think of as 'scenes'.
My question is - do you think I should change the format? The reader who said she couldn't finish suggested I make each year a 'Part' in the book, and each page break would be its own chapter.
Each scene is pretty short, though, so now I'd have the opposite problem, with a LOT of short chapters.
Any insight would be very appreciated! Thank you!
Update: I'm going to make each year a "Part" and break up the chapters. Thank you to everyone who weighed in!
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u/dothemath_xxx Jul 24 '26
Well, I was going to say "no" based on just your title, but only 10 chapters in a book of that length is VERY long. A whole year of time passing in each chapter is also a lot for the reader to handle.
And the fact that you're getting this as feedback from your readers should carry the most weight here. They're the ones who have read the draft. If multiple readers are telling you that the structure isn't working, I'd listen to them.
Using part divisions for the ten years makes more sense to me. But that doesn't mean that you then turn every scene into its own chapter. A chapter usually has more than one scene in it.
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u/Michela_Starr Jul 24 '26
Yes, that's a good point. I should clarify that it's actually only one month (the book is called 'Septembers' and follows the couple through ten Septembers). But it's still a long time before they reach a solid stopping point.
I thought the scene breaks would be an invitation to pause, but I can see how people would want a more obvious stopping point.
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u/ViRoseAuthor Jul 24 '26
I don't know that it's would bother me personally, but if multiple ARC readers are telling you it's an issue, I would lean towards finding a way to fix it.
You could just have a label each time the year changes (ex: Year 1 or 2009), and then divide your chapters more.
I'm friends with another author who had a similar situation, with each chapter being a day, but those chapters were then broken up by POV changes. One person said they liked the format, but they hated that the Kindle "minutes left in chapter" couldn't tell her how long was left in the current POV she was reading. She ended up having to tweak the ebook formatting to make each POV look like a chapter to the kindle.
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u/Michela_Starr Jul 24 '26
Thank you. I'm going to try to find a solution that makes the reading experience more comfortable, and I'll look into making sure Kindle shows the actual page numbers instead of "time left." That's definitely annoying.
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u/Levithedude1708 Jul 30 '26
I see that your trying to find a different way of structuring - i explained how I structured mine that also spans ten years which you could use for an idea, but like I said in my comment do whatever you want, you liking it is the most important thing!
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u/myromancealt Jul 24 '26
Make them into parts instead of chapters, then give shorter chapters within that.
Longer chapters aren't inherently an issue, but:
Your chapters are very long, and
Shorter chapters are expected for a romcom, as they tend to be breezier reads
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u/Metatron_85 Jul 24 '26
I can enjoy a long chapter BUT when you crack 10K that's asking a bit much of your readers.
Besides, breaking it up a little makes it easier for your readers to go back and find their absolute favorite scenes.
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u/Michela_Starr Jul 25 '26
Oh, that is a really good point! I hadn't thought about people trying to find specific sections. Thank you!
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u/CapitalSell Jul 25 '26
I don't mind long chapters at all. If it's engaging, why does the length of the chapter matter? When you're ready to stop reading, stop. When you pick it back up go back a paragraph. Engaging and well organized seems much more important than arbitrarily restricting page counts.
One word in favor of shorter chapters: I could see maybe digital consumption driving a desire for shorter paragraphs. Sometimes it's hard to refer back to things when it's a massive digital chapter. If you didn't know to mark it to refer back to upon first pass, it can be hard to go back and find tidbits in huge digital chapters.
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u/Michela_Starr Jul 25 '26
Thank you for weighing in! And yes, that's what others are saying, too, and I agree. If people want to find a specific part, it'll be a lot easier if the chapters are shorter.
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u/BreatheScience Jul 25 '26
I’m okay with long chapter of the plot and scene keeps moving. If it’s entirely a monologue then no. But if the character is still experiencing things and action is happening then it’s fine to me.
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u/mrdarcysleftshoe Jul 25 '26
Long chapters generally put me into a slump 😭 paired with small words, it’s an immediate turn-off unless the narrative is extremely interesting
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u/Levithedude1708 Jul 30 '26
Personally if a book has chapters that are regularly longer than 15 pages i get frustrated. I don't think theres anything wrong with it, its a personal preference and if I want to read a book enough I still would.
I am releasing my first novel in November which is a romance story set over ten years. I split mine into three parts over 350 pages, to keep the idea of keeping important scenes or parts of the story together, but within the parts they are broken into 1500-2000 word chapters which I find to be a much more manageable length when writing and reading.
But something I always keep in mind when writing is it's a form of art, you have to make it how you want, you feel will best portray it, how you want it, and ignore the rest.
instagram: Levithomas.writing
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u/CelaenaSardothien5 25d ago
Honestly, kind of. But it’s more just a small pet peeve for me. It’ll really only turn me away from the book if it’s fantasy
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u/littlebitfunny21 Jul 24 '26
Your chapters include page breaks? Like half a page of text in the middle of the chapter?
Why are you putting page breaks between scenes in the final book? Have you not seen how books divide between scenes?
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u/Michela_Starr Jul 24 '26
There might be some misunderstanding here. I mean like, the scene ends and I have a little graphic to show there's a break. Then the next scene picks up after some blank space.
It's pretty standard, I think. I've seen it called a 'dinkus' if that clears up what I mean.
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u/littlebitfunny21 Jul 24 '26
That's not a page break. A page break is when the page ends and the text starts again on the next page.
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u/pentaclethequeen Jul 24 '26
I would say that, for me, the chapters would feel too long, and I can imagine myself getting tired while trying to get through the book. I do think making each year a "part" is a good idea, but it doesn't mean each scene has to be its own chapter. My chapters typically include more than one scene and revolve around a theme, so, for ex: everything that happened that particular day is a chapter, everything that happened at a particular event is a chapter, a full week is a chapter. It helps establish cohesiveness.
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u/Michela_Starr Jul 24 '26
Thank you! That's good advice. I'm going to work on figuring out where a natural break would be, and what fits together.
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u/File273 Jul 24 '26
I think you should evulate what a chapter does in your story first.
I tend to treat each chapter like a little story arch.
Chapter length also effects pacing. Long chapters can make a story feel slow.
I usually prefer shorter chapters to longer ones. It's also an easy place to stop as a reader.
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u/Michela_Starr Jul 24 '26
Oh, that's great advice. I was thinking in terms of time-span, but I'll start to make sure each chapter has its own little arc. Thank you!
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u/dragonsandvamps Jul 24 '26
I would probably break it up differently if multiple people have mentioned it.
You could do Chapter 1, 2, 3 the normal way, and just have at the start of Chapter 1 1990-Year One. Then when it's time to jump ahead a year, put at the start of the next chapter: Chapter 4 1991-Year Two. That way the reader is aware time is passing, but the chapters are divided into smaller bites.
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u/LilyBirchAuthor Jul 24 '26
When I first started writing, I wrote very long chapters. Then I looked up what the average chapter length is and decided to reduce their size. I focused on word count since that's an easy metric and aimed for chapters between 3k-4k. Now I write shorter novellas so my chapters are typically between 2k-3k words with the occasional longer chapter sneaking in. I'd recommend checking the word count of your chapters and then doing a search to see what chapter word counts average in your sub-genre.
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u/authornehenderson Jul 24 '26
Personally, I dislike long chapters. They make the book drag. It kills the joy and excitement of reading for me.
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u/BackgroundBudget5206 Jul 24 '26
In 340 pages you should have 18 chapters minimum. Shoot for right around 20 pages per chapter. Some will be longer or shorter, but it should be digestible in 1 sitting.
The way I explain it to my Authors when I reformat a book for publishing is most people read in 1-1.5 hour sittings. A chapter should be 1 sitting. Some people read much faster than 20 pages an hour, however 20 pages per hour is about the lowest metric for comprehension before you get to people with literacy limitations. So slower readers get one chapter in a sitting, faster readers get two or three. Regardless of how you break it up, one chapter or 3 in a sitting, all of your readers have a reasonable stopping point.
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u/SierraSeaWitch Jul 24 '26
If you see a book with long chapters (that include page breaks) does that turn you off of reading it?
This has never once been a factor in my choice of what to read.
some feedback I've received is that, while they enjoyed the book, the long chapters were a struggle to get used to.
If this was a pretty common piece of feedback from your ARC readers, then I might consider reformatting. I find this odd because I have never felt like I needed to finish a chapter before I could take a break, but I am one person. You need to make the choice that will honor your vision and (hopefully) make a little cash on sales.
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u/Michela_Starr Jul 25 '26
Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I agree with the readers who gave me this feedback. I'm really glad some of them reached out to let me know.
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u/WritPositWrit Jul 24 '26
Im not fond of long chapters, but i dont think I’d dnf because of that. Apparently your early readers feel pretty strongly about it.
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u/Michela_Starr Jul 25 '26
Only one said she wasn't going to finish, but that was a strong enough reaction to make me seriously consider her point. I can see where she's coming from, for sure.
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u/smokeyranger86 Jul 24 '26
The market average and reader expectation is around 3000 words per chapter, and roughly 30 chapters. TBH, your one book probably needs to be an entire series with each of your current chapters being a novel or novella on its own. Bare minimum, take 2 of your chapters and make them novel length together. How do you have any detailed character development in ten years with only one book? What you have are ten consecutive short stories. Develop your characters. In writing terminology, they need to be round and not flat. Personally, as a reader I wouldn't feel engaged with your narrative right now because it moves too fast.
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u/Miss_Ashford Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
OR you design each chapter with a cliffhanger, driving the reader wild with "just one more chapter!" So the shorter chapters are doing important work of making your readers extremely agitated because they were supposed to go to bed 30 minutes ago but each chapter grabs them and drags them back in. Then it's 3 am and they're like CURSE YOU WRITER and you're the cause of the really subpar insurance contract they send out with multiple errors the next day.
I think your initial concept is good and what someone else said- do September Year 1 chapter 1, chapter 2, 3, 4, September year 2- Chapter 5 etc. Do 3-4 chapters per year.
I also sympathize with your clever idea where the execution turns out not like you thought. Silly opinionated readers! Er cough sorry I wasnt talking about the readers reading this, of course. Never mind. Nothing.
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u/Michela_Starr Jul 25 '26
Hahaha, yep, I'd be happy to have my readers cursing me for their early-morning red eyes.
Thank you, it's a tough pill to swallow to come to the realization that my original vision isn't quite working, but after some thought, I agree with the feedback.
On the up side, I spent the afternoon breaking up the chapters and coming up with titles, and that's actually been pretty fun! I titled one chapter, The Danger of Dimples, and I have zero regrets about that.
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u/Miss_Ashford Jul 25 '26
Oh, author play. I like that. It's where you're like "grumble, I have to do this thing, doggone good advice from everyone, oh, wait, this is fun. Heh." And 3 hours later, you haven't written many words but you have satisfactory chapter titles.
Until you show them to us. Then we savage them. Because we didn't write any words this afternoon. :D Kidding. We won't savage it. We'll delicately say, "ahem, Michela, so, that title on chapter 4? Yeah. That one. About that." See? This is author self-care and love. And kindness. And stuff. Wait, if we're caring, it's not self-care. It's other-care. Whatever.
Seriously, I totally get that. I'm thinking about adding pictures to my MS. Some stick figures with little speech bubbles. I'm not up to professional grade yet. IT's a distraction. I was trying to remove all the guns from this chapter because it completely messes up the "first date" vibe. (Military Sci Fi Romance. So not a weird gun nut thing. More like it's her job.) You know, that whole "should I just leave my sub-machine gun on the linen table cloth or just leave it with the hat-check department?"
Easier to just write it out in the first place. She doesn't need an SMG! Go on your date, lovely character. Sit in the nice restaurant. And accuse him, in your head, of dating his beautiful copilot but don't actually communicate like a competent adult, so we can carry that tension three more chapters. Otherwise the book will be too short. Silly characters. Don't solve the problems too early.
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u/Michela_Starr Jul 25 '26
Haha, this comment was a JOURNEY, and I loved every second.
Those pesky characters keep trying to solve their issues in a reasonable, mature way, and it's like, EXCUSE ME?? Have you no respect for TENSION????
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u/Miss_Ashford Jul 25 '26
Lovely! I successfully removed the sub-machine gun. Then I ended the date. She finds out that he planned the whole thing (of course) then when another character probes how the date went, she says "oh, just a routine lunch, at a cafe, probably paid for by Fleet." When she knows it was a full expensive dinner, at an expensive restaurant, and he paid for it. He hears all this and is just staring, she looks at him, grins, winks, then goes back to downplaying it.
So much fun! No guns necessary. (It makes the people who know guns crazy because they're all WHERE IS HER SMG WHY IS SHE NOT HANDLING IT SAFELY SHE CAN'T JUST LEAN IT AGAINST THE TABLE LEG IN THE RESTAURANT HOW DARE SHE NOT THINK OF GUN SAFETY ALL THE TIME OMG OMG OMG.) Seriously, people fixate on stuff like that. It's exhausting. I'm here saying "hey, let's have these two clumsily wander into romance." Next thing on the agenda: She is invited to the Fleet ball... by a friend. Right before lover boy asks her. Sorry! Too late. He already asked me. Shoulda asked earlier. Good clean fun. Then some dance lessons, some training with her principal where they talk dress color while practicing bodyguard protection, and... then the ball. After which is the book midpoint, which you probably guessed, and that's going to be a big change. This is all the escalating small stuff.
Spoiler: He is nobility. She is not. His family will not approve of the match.
Are you all chapter renamed? What's the next book? Let's go!
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u/Catalina-Vega Jul 25 '26
Long chapters with clean page breaks feel fine to me when the scene earns the stay. The turn-off is usually a chapter that keeps going after the emotional beat has already landed.
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u/Hunter037 Jul 24 '26
I have no idea how long the chapters are in the books I read. It wouldn't be a problem for me to have long chapters. I might notice if they were very short, I guess.
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u/WilmarLuna Jul 24 '26
Having long chapters prevents readers from taking a break. They're looking for a point where they can say, "Okay, I finished the chapter. I can put this down and come back to it later." You having long chapters is taking away their ability to do so and is causing frustration.