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[Discussion] Your "average" word count.

Palamon

Silence is Purple
8,162
Posts
15
Years
  • I noticed my average word count per chapter is usually around the 7,000-7,500 mark.

    What do you consider your "average"? If you have one.

    I have categories for specific word count thresholds.

    1,000-3,000 is significantly below average for prose. But average for lore poems. Lore poems are never short. For prose, anywhere between 1,000-2,500 is extremely uncommon, unless it's a story that has nothing to do with my main oc, Siorc. In this case, I'd say they're short stories.

    3,500-6,000 is slightly below my average. A lot of the earlier chapters were in this category length. I do sometimes still do a piece between 5,000 and 6,000, but it's not as common anymore.

    I'd say 6,500-7,750 is my average word count. Whenever I check my word count for my chapters, it's always around the 7,000, sometimes longer.

    Starting from 8,000-12,000 I consider this slightly above average length. But, to be honest, sometimes some of my chapters are beyond 8,000, and I've written a few chapters that were just above 10,000. Longest normal chapter that isn't an interlude is around the 11k mark.

    I'd say 13,000-19,000 is starting to get significantly above average. But, I only have written one chapter that's around this length, and it's 16,000 or so. This category of word count, I consider to be an interlude. However, anything above 11,000 is extremely rare. And I so far, only have one chapter that's this length and it's a very lengthy interlude.

    20,000 and beyond, at this point is just novella territory. I have one story that's around 23,000 words because it's a map documentation chapter. Before anyone tells me, "you should separate that into multiple chapters" I bookend (end the chapter where it started) all my chapters, and it would kill the flow. But, anything beyond 20,000 is just straight up a novella at this point. These are reserved for the heavier chapters that are like the above, a map documentation saga.

    If I ever write something that's longer than 25,000 in a chapter, pray for my soul, please. I don't want to proofread all that.
     
    Last edited:

    Bay

    6,388
    Posts
    17
    Years
  • My chapters tend to range in the 3K-10K range, though I think 4K is usually my sweet spot I like to hit for an average. Apparently both Foul Play and my Fire Emblem 3 Houses multi-chapetered fic are averaged 5K if we go wordcount divided by chapter count. My latest WIP will have three parts and the first two parts are averaged 6K, which is above average from my usual wordcount.
     

    dewitlykefire

    Dew It Lyke Me
    32
    Posts
    1
    Years
  • My average length for a chapter is three thousand words, and the entire story ranges from ninety thousand to one hundred twenty thousand words.
     
    132
    Posts
    1
    Years
  • Short stories and individual chapters are usually around 3k~5k. I have two ongoing "series" that clock in at 80k and 60k so far with miles to go before I sleep.
     
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