Serendipity is useful. I’d just been pondering a chapter’s length yesterday. At thirty-six hundred words, I felt it lengthy. No, the reader within thought it lengthy, and was suggesting breaking it up into three chapters.
“Why three?” I asked the reader.
“That chapter has a lot going on in it. Breaking it up let your readers breath.”
“But three?”
“The way I see it, you have three natural breaks in the action.”
The reader, having read a lot, typically offers some good insights, so I considered what he said. As I did, a Reedsy article about chapter length was discovered in my inbox.
The article, “Chapter Length Matters. Here’s Why,” and its comments, gave me more substance for my thinking, so I thought I’d pass it on to other writers.
What of you, writers? Is there an ideal chapter length, or do you have specific guidelines, rules, or suggestions to share?
Michael Seidel, writer 
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