While embarking the journey of writing a Young Adult (YA) novel, one question regularly crops up: how many chapters should a YA novel have? The answer is not so straightforward, since it highly depends on the narrative, structure, genre, and author’s preference. Still, certain guidelines can provide a good starting point for your novel’s chapter planning process.
Determining the Number of Chapters
There is no definitive rule for the number of chapters a YA book should have. Generally, it falls between 20 to 40 chapters or even more, depending on the author’s storytelling style and plot requirements. The use of chapters in a novel helps in structuring the overall story, making it more digestible for the reader.
Chapters provide breaks in the tale, helping the reader process the consumed information and providing a convenient juncture for them to take a break. Still, an enticing element should always carry forward to the next chapter.
Guidelines for Chapter Length
- The average length observed for chapters in YA novels is about 2,500 words.
- The length of each chapter may vary throughout your novel depending upon the pacing and the amount of information in each segment.
- A chapter can be as short as one word or as long as several pages, depending upon the impact it brings to the story.
- An average YA novel ranges between 55,000 and 80,000 words so, estimating 3,000-5,000 words per chapter, 12-27 chapters for a YA novel would be a good starting point.
- Shorter chapters often fasten the pacing of the novel and help to build tension, while longer chapters tend to slow down the story allowing thorough communication.
Chapter Planning Approaches
- You can start by writing the entire first draft, and then go back to divide it into chapters where it makes the most sense.
- Another way is to plan and break your story into chapters before even starting with the first draft. This is especially helpful for writers who like to have a detailed outline.
- You can also use a more hybrid approach, not going for a detailed outline but gauging how many chapters you’d end up with based on your genre or category average.
Conclusions
In the end, what matters is that each chapter should engage the reader, keep their interest throughout and leave them curious about what’s coming next. Remember, keeping your reader’s expectations in mind is crucial while deciding on the number of chapters. What works best will largely depend upon your personal writing style and the requirements of your story. Even if you set a chapter goal, ensure that it serves the story rather than fitting into any formula. Therefore, the exact number of chapters in a YA novel remains a unique decision for each author.