Chapter Length

Among the many writing articles i've perused over the years, it seems the topic of chapter length is up in the air. The advice always seems to be, "What is comfortable with you."

One of my favorite authors, L.E. Modisett often takes this adage to the extreme, often having 1 page chapters if not 1 paragraph chapters. Although, this is true for one author, he seems to be the only one that does this. It almost seems like an unspoken bond between the novelist gods and those that scribe for them; that any less than a dozen pages is blasphemy. I digress, there's an aspect of writing that demands detail that, as an aftereffect, lengthens of the chapter.

On the other hand, I can't help but notice that often, some of these novels are TOO much. Is it excusable to just ramble on about idiosyncrasies if it lengthens your word count? Wouldn't it make the book better? The wall is red with blood, we get it. You don't have to explain the texture, smell and all 1000 bricks of it.

I once watched a history channel special that was commenting on the recent outsurge of internet stories that have proliferated over the last years. Sites like http://www.fanfiction.com/ and http://www.fictionpress.com/ have exposed amateur writing to the public and, sometimes, threatened the novelist themselves. One such novelist spoke on the program saying, "Anybody can scribble a few words and they think they are a real writer."

I admit, if you read what some of the writing is, it is not of top touch quality. Most of their descriptions are one liners and yet... i can't help think how increasingly popular it's becoming. If people prefer these dumbed down versions, who's to say it's not correct? Sure it might not have the ornate detail of a real book but people are reading it.... that has to count for something.