A quick chapter to answer some of the questions I see new writers always ask about. 

How long should my chapter be? 

How many words should I write? 

How many chapters should I have for a story? 

How do I get readers?

How do I write my ideas down?

I was on a long long hiatus since last year, I felt very guilty but it was needed. I was a bit depressed tbh, and my school was killing me. I wasn't inspired, I felt a bit lacking in skill when compared to everyone else in regard to writing as well. In short, I wanted to be a hermit, and became one for one year. So how does my hiatus help with answering those questions? 

Well, it is all thanks to a few chinese webnovels that I read these past few days, also me going back to writing. 

First thing first, one year ago, I was very adamant in regard to chapter counts and word counts. I didn't want a story to have more than 10-20 chapters. A chapter of mine could have up to 5k words. I sometimes forced myself to write 5k words a chapter before update. I thought story with up to 50 chapters was so ridiculous. And in a way, it is. HOWEVER! there is a reason, or a way about it that made 50 chapters story not sound as ridiculous. And this require one to be flexible and less idealistic. 

What I mean by flexibility is this, know when a story need 5k of words, or 100 chapters. Not all stories are the same, not all stories are told the same way. You are the writer, you should know your story the best, and how it should be told for its best effect upon your readers. Some authors will have rules when it comes to chapter length and story length, but that's their rules for themselves, not for you. You set your own rules, but still, be flexible! When you write, think of your story and how it should be told. 

Also, think of which platform your story is on. Fanfics are mostly hosted on websites, so they would be considered webnovels. This is a crucial point in answering the questions above. There are studies, and you can google this, I would linked you to some articles but I'm doing this quick update, so no time to back my claim up. Anyway, there are studies that showed that people can't concentrate for long when reading online. Most people read on mobile, so it is best that a chapter don't go over 2k words. ( you can test this out yourself, just go into any stories with short chapter vs long chapter and see which one you prefer. Chances are, majority of fanfic readers are similar to you.) 

Going back to you knowing your story best, and know when to shorten and when to lengthen your story. If you write 1-2k words a chapter, then of course you're going to have a story up to 50+ chapters long. Now if you are like me, who write 5k words a chapter (I am not going to do this anymore), then you'll end somewhere around chapter 20 something. 

Writing 5k words a chapter is exhausting and totally not recommended to anyone. It'd take a long time to update and will drain you out pretty quickly. It is best to take one idea at a time. Expand that idea for about 1-2k words a week, edit it, update it within the week. And since you are writing 1-2k words a chapter and is updating once a week, you will gradually get readers. That is if your story is a long one. 

An oddball, sometimes, a story doesn't have to follow the traditional format. You just need to know how to tell your story. For example: The Hours has 24 chapters, and each chapter is very very very short. Yet, it's probably my most successful story. 

How long should my chapter be? How many words should I write? 

Does not matter, write until you feel like it's good to stop, or when your brain is done with writing for the day. Come back to it, edit it and if you're satisfied, update. Do not beat yourself up if you don't get into a certain word counts. Your chapter could just be 100 words long, so long as it's thought provoking for your readers, or satisfied them in some way, you're golden. 

How many chapters should I have for a story? 

Do not worry about this, just write and update until your story come to an end. The big idea is that your story has an ending, the journey to that ending might be long, your readers will have to decide themselves if they want to stick it out for that ride or leave early. Don't panic if you lost readers due to how long it has gotten, chances are, you'll get new one. 

How do I get readers?

If you can convey your ideas in thought provoking way, you will get readers. In other words, there are many type of readers, people with interests in different genres and tropes of a story, if you can have them be engaged to your story, then you're golden. You just have to make it a quality work, remember, write something you, yourself want to read, then others will come. Do not write for what others want to read, write for what you want to read. Because when you start to write for what you want to read, you'll become more genuine with your ideas, and genuineness often bring like minded people toward each other and their ideas. 

How do I write my ideas down?

Break it down slowly. Whatever idea you have, a plotline that you have, write it down first. Then start to ask questions around that plot. How did it get to this point? You will find yourself figuring out the beginning of the meetings of the leads, the events that happened that got to the plot of your story. If you don't know what a plot in creative writing is: 

Plot: the main events of a play, novel, movie, or similar work, devised and presented by the writer as an interrelated sequence. (mac dictionary)

It should be the overall idea of your story, so every events that happened is a build up to that problem (plot), and every events after are events that coming closer to a resolution, the ending. 

For example of a plot: Jinyoung has a pet fish, but the pet fish one day disappeared. He believed the neighbor's cat got to his fish, but then the cat also disappeared. He then found a trail of catnips around his backyard. The catnips trail lead to the mountain, he stupidly followed and could not find the road home. He couldn't find his pet fish, but now lost in the mountain. How would he solve this mystery and get back home? 

Now ask questions: 
What is the pet fish's name? What did he do before the pet fish disappear? When did he found out that it disappeared? What made him think that the neighbor's cat got to his fish? What is his relation with this neighbor? What is the neighbor's personality? What does the cat looks like? What does the fish looks like? What personalities are these two pets? What is the mountain like? Are there odd tales about the mountain? If so, what are they? (this is when you have to make up your own tails, building your own world) etc etc. You just have to ask questions around your own plotline and answer everyone of them. This is so you can fill up plotholes, with each answer, you'd have more questions until you can make sense of everything yourself, and this is how you write down your one simple idea... LOL by the end, it's not so simple anymore is it? 
 

Anyway, for my Jinyoung's fans, my wuxia fanfic for him: The Green Jade's Song