Marry Christmas!



From what I remember from my English classes, “When writing a paper report-” two to three sentences is usually enough for one paragraph. Which is perfect for journalistic type writing. Because, they favor short paragraphs with their narrow columns. Otherwise, even one short paragraph can look, or seem long. You may never know if your reader will even bother to read such. Having a limited amount of time in their day to take a peek. As you can probably tell by now; I like to use run-ons quite often. For they annoy my oldest sister to no end and it comes naturally to me.

It is different when you type for a book though. You can have three, to six, or more sentences for one paragraph. Also depending on how long the sentences are so that your readers wont be staring at it like their eyes have had enough. The words and letters start swirling around in their brains. Noting how the writer had become more focused on the information they wished to share in their story.

Ever had that happen?

It could be because you’ve been reading to much. Must rest those eyes sometimes!

Alas! We fiction writers use long and short paragraphs. Commonly varying it’s sentence lengths. Though, I have heard of a few instances where only one sentence was used in a paragraph. Apparently they are not uncommon. You shouldn’t over use them though. As that one sentence paragraph will catch the attention of your reader(s) more so, then the actual story. If you wish for a more dramatic ending of your story/book, I have heard that a, ‘one sentence paragraph’ can do the trick. It can abide/endure and lure your readers in.

Did you know that a long paragraph in a story can often mean that the narrator is obsessing?

Quote from a man name Coake (That I found online if you want to know): “Focusing inward, moving from outward observation to memory or close examination or even stream of consciousness.”

This one lady suggested that in fiction and nonfiction, the average length of paragraphs should range from 100-200 words. To keep the original paragraphs concept, “One paragraph represents one idea.” But, to also not be afraid of varying it. To keep your readers interested, your desired pace, and flow of what you’ve written.

There is no rule against the way you write your story/book!

Makes you wonder about books and stories? I have read many books and gone through more educational ones. Finding myself noticing that the average amount of pages in one chapter is 5, to 10, to 18. On a rare occasion, up to 25 pages. Even closer average of 5,6, or just 8. For a more formal, “Like a history book” it has an average of three pages for a chapter. So what is the proper amount of pages in one chapter? What do you readers suggest?

When I had been in fourth, or which ever grade, I remember my teacher telling us(the entire class) that one chapter is three paragraphs. That you can have more then three. But, it can not have less then three, or it becomes improper. Like a text or a personal note.

Which is one reason why I truly appreciate the guide rules for Dokuga’s, Oneshot Chapter stories. Even if I can not help myself and I accidentally go over the 500 words. In a way it can be quite challenging to type such short chapters, when you may have been typing the longer ones, your entire life. So three cheers to those who write Oneshot Chapter stories!

What I am wondering is what do the, "Readers" wish to read, length wise?

The issue I see answering these questions is that different genres appear to have different standards, and do read very differently. When writing fan fiction I tend to hang around 2000 words per chapter, however should I ever come back to it I began one aiming for 4000+ per chapter. I prefer work count to page count.

As for paragraphs, I see that once more as a rather personal preference. I tend to write shorter more compact paragraphs even with runons and often see 3-6 sentences unless it becomes speech heavy which shifts it into 1-2. I don't really mind standardized writing but its more of a guide instead of a hard and fast rule.

Sorry for grammar mistakes. On my phone.

I have written all kinds of stories ever since I was a child. Some for school assignments, many simply for my own entertainment. (I tend to have an overactive imagination!) One thing that I've learned that applies to me is the best way for my story to get on paper is to 'simply go with the flow'.

I don't count my sentences in each paragraph, or the number of paragraphs in a chapter. My goal is to try and convey my story in the best way possible from my perspective. Have noticed that I do tend to do short paragraphs mixed with an occasional long one. But I've never given it much thought before and am happy with how I write.

As far as what I read: I'm far more interested in the storyline than the paragraph/chapter length. Well-written One Shots are fun, and maybe might try my hand at them in the future. Long chapters are fine with me too, so as long as the author is able to hold my interest in their story.

English class was my least favorite, despite my creative writing. I still to this day could not tell you the difference between an adverb and a pronoun without looking it up. (google is my friend, lol!)

I don't actually think it's about paragraph lengths, the number of sentences or the number of pages. The clarity of writing, anything, depends on a series of simple things:

1 - The target audience
2 - The purpose
3 - The context
4 - The genre
5 - Time

Are you writing a novel for a couple hundred people that are of a specific age-group or are you writing for example a short essay in an exam for the marker only?

Novels require lots of pages, sentences, and paragraphs. You need to invest considerable amounts of time to introduce characters, settings, and to establish a plot. It might just take more than a hundred pages to do, especially if you want a reader or readers to invest their time and attention in your story, characters and so on.

A paper can be long or short dependent on what it's for i.e. a research report or an essay in an exam.

Time is always a factor.

Novels can take on average months or even years to write so you can count on lots of pages containing numerous paragraph and sentences.


For a report you might have a week or a couple months to prepare it and for a paper you might have a week, a few days, or even just a handful of minutes to write it down. So it's not going to have the complexity of a novel OR the length of one unless it's something like a thesis which is an accumulation of several years of work.

The number of paragraphs and sentences (and pages by extension) therefore really depends on what an author is writing, for whom, and for what purpose.

I for example can write concise, short, and focused drabbles of less than two hundred words or at most 500+ words very easily.

I can also write 10,000+ worded oneshots that comprise five to ten pages of writing.

My only adherence to paragraph and sentence structure and number is that I routinely in practice, try to keep all of my paragraphs only five sentences long for better readability.

However I also use single sentences of a few words to make statements too.

It's more than likely a mixture of author preference and the purpose/focus of their writing.

Book writing is very different from paper writing after-all and vice-versa.

~ Pyre