Discussion Do long novels put you off reading?

Discussion in 'Novel General' started by Isaac20, Jun 13, 2021.

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How many chapters in a book can you tolerate?

  1. 1 - 100

    2 vote(s)
    1.9%
  2. 100 - 200

    18 vote(s)
    16.8%
  3. 200 - 500

    21 vote(s)
    19.6%
  4. 500 - 1000

    18 vote(s)
    16.8%
  5. 1000+

    44 vote(s)
    41.1%
  6. 10,000+

    4 vote(s)
    3.7%
  1. Aki9012

    Aki9012 Well-Known Member

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    The thing with the 1000+ chapter novels that I've read is that each chapter is very small. So if the novel is engaging, I would definitely read it. I admit that these kinda novels oft times aren't the best plot wise, and they tend to have a lot of fluff, angst and drama. But as long as I find it a bit engaging, I don't really mind.
     
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  2. Arisana

    Arisana Well-Known Member

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    If the novel is a Quick Transmigration novel written by either Jue Jue or Feng Liu Shu Dai then I can read up to 1000+ chaps :aww:
    If not, for romance novels, just 100-200 chaps :blob_tilt:
    Sometimes I drop them after 20 chaps.
    If they are interesting, not braindead, or if the flow is good like Trash of the Count's Family, then I'll finish it.
     
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  3. albeldayuia

    albeldayuia Can't-Re Member

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    100 is my upper limit... Actually, anything exceeding 70 already put me off unless the premise really interest me.
    But chapter sizes can vary, so I usually check the wordcount, my limit is 150k in Chinese or 200k if I can push it. So if the chapters are short even though it has a lot of chapters I might still read it
     
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  4. Agentt

    Agentt Loves cats and pats and my wife

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    I am even afraid of 100 chapters
     
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  5. SylviaViolet

    SylviaViolet Toast to the ones that we lost on the way⚓️

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    By what sort of random chance did you even stumble upon NU?
     
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  6. aShinyVaporeon

    aShinyVaporeon Well-Known Member

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    Me being a chronic binge reader, I regularly look for books with around a hundred chapters to binge read or are completed, because the only state I hate more than being in limbo with nothing I'm in the mood to read is getting to the latest chapter of an ongoing novel and going back to limbo.

    So far, I've never read and enjoyed a 2000-chapter book, but I have liked quite a few with 500-1500 chapters or so, like MHoH, LoTM, and Yama Rising. Most novels that length get really repetitive though. I haven't ever liked a romance novel that long though, because romance novels that get that long are usually a tad dragged out.

    Chapter length differs from novel to novel though, so maybe these titles aren't actually that long, especially since CNs tend towards short chapters, and Webnovel even splits up longer chapters into shorter ones for those with long chapters. I can read one of those in less than a minute if I skim. For example, the translation of chapter 1 of Elqueeness has 9000 words, while chapter 1 of Lord of the Mysteries is only around 1500 words.
     
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  7. Isaac20

    Isaac20 Dark Lord | RS

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    He came here to chase after readers and writers and for free advertising.
     
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  8. Agentt

    Agentt Loves cats and pats and my wife

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    Grrrr.
    I came here for Overlord, and read all 15 volumes, but I am no longer the monster I used to be

    And be spoiled
     
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  9. Beren

    Beren Holy Saint

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    I started a Chinese novel that was 10 000+ chapters. I made it to 2800~ish before I became too exhausted by the repetitive story plots to continue. Generally, the length of a novel doesn't intimidate me but I'm more cautious about getting invested in the characters if it's longer than 1000 chapters.
     
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  10. Despapa69

    Despapa69 Revered 17 Syllable Sage

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    If it interests me, then there's no limit. I'm in quarantine. I have time.
     
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  11. Anra7777

    Anra7777 All powerful magic grammar hamster queen pirate.

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    It depends on my mood, but I’m definitely put off by 200+ chapters. Unless I’ve been reading it since there were fewer chapters.
     
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  12. Isaac20

    Isaac20 Dark Lord | RS

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    Whoa! 10,000?! If I started reading such a book it would be a nightmare for me.
     
  13. ReaderReader

    ReaderReader (◍•ᴗ•◍) [Important things must be said 2 times]

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    i dont mind long ones but it depends on the time i have 1000 + chapter if its good and intesting is as good as 13 chapter finished and doesnt have anything else to tell . Sometimes I tell myself that i will pick it up and that its just on hold but i usualy never do and forget about it
     
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  14. God slayer

    God slayer Retired God Slayer

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    If it's interesting I'd read it as long as it doesn't have 2000+ chapter... But novels that I'd call interesting is too much rare
     
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  15. Nimroth

    Nimroth Someone

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    I don't really have a problem with stories being really long in itself, however most super long stories do tend to put me off or bore me partway through, for reasons that can't just be attributed to the length.
     
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  16. ciana

    ciana lazy glutton |⚓|

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    i like long novels with 1000+ chapters. if it only has around less than 300 chapters, i would be put off instead XD, maybe because i like binge-reading
     
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  17. Dr_H_16

    Dr_H_16 Well-Known Member

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    It seems you mean CN long.
    CN is tolerable since most are very easy to consume and you mostly can skip and still be fine.
    For those who finished one CN, at least.

    What I thought as truly LONG story is something like:
    Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere.
    City series.
    Tanya.
    Spice and Wolf (maybe, people I know who read it told me it was long. It's fairly short for me, though).

    They are not just long, but also dense.
     
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  18. HentMas

    HentMas Well-Known Member

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    I think the issue isn't really the chapter count but the word count... we've all seen that some authors/translators break chapters at their own leisure when in reality they haven't reached the average... other times their chapter goes over the 3000 word mark and that's just too heavy for a chapter

    Generally speaking, 1500/2000 words per chapter should be the norm in lighthearted novels that don't tend to delve too deeply into the subject, 2500/3000 is more akin to reading a normal book, anything above is... competing with Epics at the level of The Iliad and The Odyssey, and both are TERRIBLY PACED AND DRAGGED ON.

    Since web novels can't be considered your regular kind of novel, where you buy a book and it tells a story that haves a competently constructed beginning/middle and end, the author tends to either fill their word count or fill their chapter count because that generates more clicks... but when they do the word count it's blatantly obvious and terrible, whereas when they do the chapter count they can be dismissed and glanced over (like those chapters explaining how a particular thing works... or the cooking chapters that suddenly appear)

    I can keep reading novels that use the Chapter way because it's easier to skim over them than the ones that begin to have innocuous chapters filled with overly verbose interactions that hold no real meaning or importance to the over arching plot.

    but that's just my preference, I don't tend to shy away from stories that have broken the 1000 chapter mark, but if I begin to notice things aren't going anywhere for an extended period of time, I drop them.
     
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  19. babybb

    babybb Well-Known Member

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    I like the idea of being so invested in a story that I get to 1000+ chapters, but the reality is that I don’t have that kind of patience or time.
     
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  20. ToastedRossi

    ToastedRossi Well-Known Member

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    Note that there are (famous) books out there with super long chapters. I'm talking in the range of 50 chapter books with word counts of 1.2M.
     
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