A couple quick questions to all the readers/writers here.

[Shadow]

Hi. Not sure if I should have posted this ins the fanfiction area, but....

So...I wanted to ask, to everyone who reads manga/comics, how long do you think is a good length for the very first chapter in a new series? I'm curious because I've seen 60pg first chapters but I've also seen 20pg first chapters and 8pg first chapters. It seems like a matter of personal taste and also a matter of genre. But I'm curious though, as readers, do you guys have any preferences for opening chapters?

On a related note: short stories. How long do you guys consider a proper short story to be? (As in, how short is too short and how many pages/chapters makes it long enough to go from short story to novella.)

I know I could look up the "official" lengths online, but I'd rather hear you guys' personal opinions than what some guide book tells me. *hopes y'all don't mind* :nailbiting:

 

[Innsmouth]

As for manga, well it depends on your work-flow. As far as I noticed manga that releases once in month, has about 40 pages per chapter, while manga that releases every week about 12. So manga probably depends on how complex is drawing style and how time-consuming it's for you.
As for short stories, as far as I noticed after reading through Books of Blood by Barker, they can differ between 15 pages and 100 pages. Everything from more than a 100+ pages can be considered novel+ls, since now that I read through King's bibliography I probably can say that novel differs between 100+ and 500 pages. ( maybe less, but I think Salem's lot is 400 pages long and considered novel.)

 

[V]

The average is about 30 pages. Enough to draw you into a story or event and the characters.

Personally~ I'm not even paying attention to this number, the only number I'm worried about is sticking to myself is the average pagecount for a tankobon publication, as it's intended for that when I'm done. Which is around 160-200 p. As a reader, I don't think I even notice. As a writer I'm more aware of dividing it up to give a reader "breaks" or a place to put it down before moving on to the next part. Very short chapters can be annoying in a volume, though.

In one of my manga I just threw the pages-chapter concept out totally and have divisions by "days" in the story. some are a lot longer than others. In the other one, the chapter cuts are dictated by events. So I guess there's no average for me atm.

Short stories can be anything from a page to about 60 pages I reckon. Any more than that and you're getting on for novella. Or for a story that's going to dominate a collection of shorts by being long for a short.

 

[Rebel Dynasty]

Hmm...in all honesty, I don't think I've given this as much thought as I should have, considering. ^^;

As far as the first chapter (or volume) of a manga, I'd say it greatly depends on how in depth the overall story is. I think I'd be fine with anything from 60-90 pages for the first volume, you know, just to whet the appetite, and from there, I figure 65 pages per volume sounds reasonable, though I have come across longer ones, and still enjoyed them.

In lieu of short stories? I agree with what Ieyasu said; more than sixty pages is probably well on the way to a novella.

 

[Dante's Stalker]

I'm quite useless with numbers, but from what I've seen, it depends on the content of the manga. Most first comics lets you in on some action and insight just until the reader is hooked and wants to know 'what happened next'? I recon it is the equivalent of the first two/three chapters of a book.

Short stories are anything from 1k-30k. Page wise, no bloomin clue.
Hope that helps a little?

 

[Shadow]

Thank you, everyone. ^^ *really grateful for your input**cookies and hugs for everyone**making note of everything*

@Ieyasu So, as a writer, would you say it's best to just write as you would a regular story, then? End the chapters where it feels natural to do so?

@VampireWicked XD LOL Hi.

 

[V]

@Ieyasu So, as a writer, would you say it's best to just write as you would a regular story, then? End the chapters where it feels natural to do so?.

I'd say you should do it however you want because you're not under any publisher constraints right now, but also let it serve the kind of story you want to make and the intended release format. If your story is episodic, or with characters that get into many different situations constantly (superheroes would be an example) let it have regular divides. Otherwise you might not need any at all. The Tokyopop DMC manga ~though never finished~ had none, since I guess chapter breaks didn't serve the format or the story for that kind of release.

 

[AngelEyes]

About 5 pages, maybe less. The Dan Brown method.

 

[V]

About 5 pages, maybe less. The Dan Brown method.

Dan Brown's short chapters and pacing was super annoying.

 

[Demi-fiend]

Eh, just do teaser after teaser to keep your readers addicted. Works for me. XD

 

[Vergil'sBitch]

This is a link from @Dante's Stalker *was asked to post it*