Chapter Length and Structure on Wattpad: The Whys and Hows

Chapter length:

You've written the perfect chapter. The characters have grown, the plot has been moved forward, and the scene is complete. Only, all the reviewers are telling you to break your perfect 3500-word chapter into two! Why? There are a number of reasons for this and it's all about knowing your audience on wattpad.

Reading on the go: First, wattpad readers are reading on the go. It is estimated that it takes one minute to read 250 words. So, a 3500-word chapter would take fourteen minutes to read. That doesn't seem like much when you're able to lounge on your couch at home, but when you're out and about, you're rarely in one place for that long.

A better goal is six to eight minutes, which equates to 1500 to 2000 words. Aiming for that length is better for your audience; you can read this while standing in line to pay for groceries, waiting on the bus, or even taking a break at work.

Ease of use: Also, keep in mind that when people are on devices, such as their phones, they must scroll or page through the text. A wattpad "page", or how many words appear on the screen at once, is roughly 500 words, though this can vary from device to device. This means that your chapter is likely to be three to four pages long. That's three to four swipes or scrolls. Less is handy when you're working with one hand, right?

Consistency: Another reason is offering consistency. If you keep all of your chapters the same length, this adds to the flow of the book. It can be jarring to go from a 2000 word chapter to a 6000-word chapter. Finding a way to break up that longer chapter adds to the readability, which is one of the factors readers subconsciously use when deciding to continue reading your book.

Paragraph Construction

Avoid a wall of text: Now that you've reworked your chapter into the desired length, you should focus on chapter structure. As we've mentioned, a wall of text isn't desirable. It's hard to read on a device. So, chunking things up into smaller pieces adds to the readability, which is, again, paramount to having someone continue your book, assuming that all the other factors such as punctuation, characters, and plot are well done.

Limit the amount of break up: However, there is a limit to how much you should break up a paragraph.

Don't break up so much that each sentence is a paragraph.

This interrupts the flow of the reading.

You can feel that here with this paragraph.

It has been done this way.

The reading is not smooth.

Instead, it is disjointed and doesn't lend itself to readability.

Only do this to accent a change in action or dialogue between the people involved.

Break at the change of focus: Of course, there are always exceptions to rules and this is true here as well! Whenever there is a change in focus, you should insert a paragraph break. This can mean a change in action or, most importantly, a change in who is speaking dialogue. For example, let's look at the following paragraph. It is incorrectly written. (Let's not discuss that it is poorly written!)

"Hey!" Jim yelled, face crimson. "Did you jump over my lazy dog?" Sally looked at him, incredulous. "Of course I did. I am a quick, brown fox. It's what I do." Jim stepped into Sally's personal space and growled, "Well, I want you to stop." Sally scowled. "Don't jump over my dog again," Jim ordered. "Do you understand?" It was Sally's turn to be angry. "I understand that you think you can order me around." She shoved Jim back and crouched. "Come at me, bro." Jim tried to kick Sally with a quick flick of his leg. She was able to jump out of the way but still bite his ankle. He hollered in pain and ran away. "Well, that escalated quickly," the lazy dog said. He yawned and rolled over for another nap.

Now, if we study the prose, we notice that there is a lot of switching between the three characters. These are places where we should insert breaks. However, you wouldn't break things up if the action and dialogue are from the same person because the focus is still on that character.

Here is the paragraph again, properly broken up into all the separate paragraphs needed, even if it means one-sentence paragraphs:

"Hey!" Jim yelled, face crimson. "Did you jump over my lazy dog?"

Sally looked at him, incredulous. "Of course I did. I am a quick, brown fox. It's what I do."

Jim stepped into Sally's personal space and growled, "Well, I want you to stop."

Sally scowled.

"Don't jump over my dog again," Jim ordered. "Do you understand?"

It was Sally's turn to be angry. "I understand that you think you can order me around." She shoved Jim back and crouched. "Come at me, bro."

Jim tried to kick Sally with a quick flick of his leg.

She was able to jump out of the way, but still bite his ankle.

He hollered in pain and ran away.

"Well, that escalated quickly," the lazy dog said. He yawned and rolled over for another nap

Feeling the back and forth between the characters adds to the readability, unlike before when it detracted. Knowing when to use the breaks and when to not use them is paramount. In writing with dialogue, proper breaks will help your reader keep up with who is saying and/or doing what, which is important when wanting to lessen confusion. Confused readers close your book. In sections of pure prose, too many breaks will make the writing disjointed, lessening the readability. This will also cause readers to close your book.

So, there you have it: the structure of a good chapter on wattpad, along with the reasons behind why you should do what you do. Practice. A lot. Ask for critique. Rewrite when necessary. Then, do it all again.

Happy writing!

YvonneKindle - Team of Dreams