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. aintg

    aintg Fairy Queen of the Demonic Sect

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    To be honest I've always avoided novels with too many chapters, mainly because I don't have that much energy and free time to read until the end, especially if the translation is still ongoing. I'm not sure if I could commit to read the next chapter every time it's out.

    However, it may still depend on how interesting the story is. I'm currently reading an ongoing novel that's updated once a week, and I don't think about dropping it because I've been hooked.
     
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  2. Deleted member 25261

    Deleted member 25261 Guest

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    I like long ones, but it's hard to not drop before end. I think for most people the bad about long novels are the decrease in quality and fillers. However, I did see people don't wanting to read One Piece because are a few chapters/episodes.
     
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  3. Hoodychan

    Hoodychan Member

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    It really depends on how long the chapters are and how invested I am in the novel.
    So far the ones I’ve read were below 200 so I think it’s a good number.
    Also, if I find the author dragging the story in an unnecessary way I drop it (like suddenly introducing unnecessary side characters or adding filler events).
    The novel author should make a story interesting enough and complete enough that it does not need millions of chapters to just show that the two main characters end up together or show that the main character won.
    There better be a great story twist or else I won’t waste my time with the novel :blobsweat:
     
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  4. ToastedRossi

    ToastedRossi Well-Known Member

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    I naturally gravitate towards stories that take a long time to build up. These require long books for the development to feel natural so yeah, I read a lot of them. To be fair, "long" can still mean a lot of different things, and there is a thing such as too long. When I'm really engrossed in a book I will generally read around 1 - 1.5 million words a week so it's got to be something special to warrant anything over 5 million words or so.

    Also, standard disclaimer about how chapter count is a poor way of talking about length, yadda yadda.
     
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  5. Vermouth

    Vermouth Older but none the wiser.

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    I actually like (and prefer) 1000+ chapter novels because I enjoy the expansive worldbuilding, and the depth and intricacy that the plot is able to achieve. Character development is a plus too, I guess.

    For long, bloated webnovels, I admittedly do tend to skim the parts I don’t really like or care about.

    Even reading Western fantasy fiction, I prefer the long, epic fantasies spanning multiple books.
     
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  6. Aniv2008

    Aniv2008 Well-Known Member

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    The longest novel I've read is The Legendary Master's Wife (730-ish)... and I had to take like 3 breaks to finish it. Like the novel but really wayyyyy long. I start to lose my patience at about 250 and need to read something else to refresh my mind.
     
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  7. dysprove

    dysprove New Member

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    I typically stay away from any novels with 1000+ chapters since all the ones I've tried I didn't like.
     
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  8. Zeusomega

    Zeusomega M.D of Olympus Pvt Ltd. Seeking [Boltzmann brain]

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    I prefer 1000+, cause in the genre I read only those tend to be more invested and really thought through.

    But if it crosses 3000 then it's just word count tactics so I avoid those.
     
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  9. Owl Escapee

    Owl Escapee Well-Known Member

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    That's the same for me. I started reading it when there was maybe 300 chaps translated, so reading it as new chaps came out didn't feel as hard, but if I saw it with the full 730 chaps, I never would have started it lol.

    BL novels even cultivation novels are just a lot shorter, so it changes our perception of what a "long" novel is. If it's over 1000 chapters, I definitely wouldn't read it.
     
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  10. berrybarrel

    berrybarrel Active Member

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    Probably when it reaches the 500 chapters mark :D
     
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  11. Rumby

    Rumby Rumbly Tumbly

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    Honestly I only read 1200 chapters of one novel.. so I can't vote for 10,000+ LOL
    Like I don't think the long novel put off reading it's more like if I have to wait for the TL to translate them all or MTL it then yeah lot of chapters are daunting.
    Not urging TLs to rush, but I can be pretty impatient & rather binge than wait every month for a chapter update since I kind of feel like waiting for each chapter can ruin the pacing for me.......... But MTL is not always enjoyable for me & also can ruin the story.
     
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  12. mikola7946

    mikola7946 Well-Known Member

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    I usually don't read JP / KR novels because I don't like the kind and naive protagonists. Almost all novels without tags "Naive Protagonist", "Indecisive Protagonist", "Misunderstandings", "Playful Protagonist", "Child Protagonist" are Chinese novels with 1000+ chapters.
     
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  13. Darlence

    Darlence Active Member

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    I will read it as long as it has engaging plot really.
     
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  14. Sabruness

    Sabruness Cultured Yuri Connoisseur

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    It depends. generally, 1000 proper sized chapters is my soft limit (which roughly equates to 3k tiny chapters common to CN webnovels).
    even then, the novel has to have not severely declined in quality and readability regarding plot and etc for me to go that far.
    My safe limit (from experience) is about 500 full sized chapters with a little bit of leeway depending on the novel.
     
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  15. firefox1234

    firefox1234 Well-Known Member

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    Depends…if it’s only started getting translated and it has 2000+ I basically ignore it.
     
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  16. LadyAmaranthine

    LadyAmaranthine Active Member

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    I can read those as long as the plot keeps me going. But if they started to feel boring then I drop them right away.
     
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  17. SamStrike

    SamStrike Well-Known Member

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    If it's interesting I will read it regardeless, if it stops being interesting at some point I will stop reading it. The number of chapters doesn't really matter.
     
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  18. potato413

    potato413 Active Member

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  19. Raebit

    Raebit Well-Known Member

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    Depend on the story, I can either read until 2000+ chapter or stopped at chapter 2.
     
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  20. Agentt

    Agentt Loves cats and pats and my wife

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