Fluff

How do you deal with fluff?

Like, you generally want to have your chapters roughly the same length, right? Though I'm usually pretty long winded, I still find myself coming up short.
I've currently got chapter 2 sitting at half the length of chapter 1 before, and it's really kinda done. I could try to cut down chapter 3 and stick it behind chapter 2 with a scene break, but that doesn't really work well with a sort of next-subject chapter.

Fluffing it up is an option. I can always find a tangent to go off on, but I'm pretty close to doing more fluffing than a porn star already.
So what do you do? Just leave it like that?

 

I generally make my chapters the same length. It's kind of easy to do that if you have a plan in place.

What you describe is something I avoid vigorously. As a general rule of thumb, every word counts and it must have some kind of importance. If it's fluff, I remove it.

As a reader, I don't really care if the chapter is less or more words than usual. I care about the contents. If it has uninspired filler, I'll likely notice that, and I'll loose some faith in the writer.

If I'm writing and one of the chapters is longer or shorter, I'll deal with it at another draft. I also find that if the chapter is significantly shorter than usual, something is wrong with it.

 

I think we've found the problem. ;o)

I don't do uninspired filler. I may use too many words to describe a thing, and a couple of extra to do a joke on the thing, but I don't write shit to make quota. I guess my definition of fluff is off. To me it's a bigger pillow to lay the picture on. The pillow could be thinner, but the picture's never lying on the dirty floor.

Honestly, I wouldn't know. I just write stuff and see what happens and often manage to luck my way to the right length.
I do think there are exceptions to the rule, though. Had a surprise death scene in my first story and that chapter came to a natural stop at the correct emotional note (I believe). It was far too short, but it felt right.

 

Generally, I believe chapters don't need to have a matching length. Why do you want them to be the same length?

There is no rule as far as I'm aware regarding chapter length.

I tend to have my chapters as long and as short as the theme/story for the chapter requires.

 

I think you are a discovery writer by the sound of it! I used to be the same way until I realized that having a plan in place makes everything ten times easier. I don't like the planning part all that much but the results are very much worth it.

I didn't suggest that you did, to be clear—I don't think I've ever read anything from you to do so. But I have definitely come across cases of uninspired filler. It's not something that pleases me.

 

Read somewhere once that it was a dead giveaway of somebody being an amateur. I was just starting out with serious (relatively speaking) writing and taking everything for gospel. The chapter thing kinda stuck, even though the whole publisher angle is out of the picture.

I'm starting to realize that now, too, with this new story I'm trying to do.
I much prefer to just see what the characters wind up doing and record that, but there's been more and more aimless wandering lately.

And I, in turn, didn't mean to suggest that you suggested that. Probably was preoccupied with something or other.
For future reference, it's safe to assume anything untoward coming from me is likely a botched attempt at trying to be amusing.

 

Okay. My recommendation would be to take a look at popular books and books in general. Most probably have chapter lengths that vary a bit.

I would take the advice you got with a grain of salt. Mine as well.

Some speak of an "average" when it comes to chapter length and that there are averages depending on the genre, but for me, that's not something I intend to actively follow.

 

An uneven chapter length *could* (but is not necessarily) a sign of uneven pacing, but stories do vary in pace. How much actually happens in the first chapter compared to chapter 2?

By the way, porn stars don't do the fluffing. A fluffer does that to them. And they don't even need that now that Viagra exists.

Or so I'm told.

 

Yeah, I do that. 500 up, 500 down, with 3000 words in the center of it. I don't mind if I come in a little over or under, but when I can do a chapter in 1500 I'm gonna start wondering if I need to put something more in.

Myeah... One thing I can proudly say, based on the few reactions I did get on my first two books, is that I can write a whole lot of nothing and still make you feel you had a good time.
In fact, I'm gonna get all arrogant and say I could potentially do a whole book like that.

So, chapter 1: girl gets fired | girl runs into friend who still works there | girl stops by biker who always has some good advice (sort of a Gandalf, but with a V-twin and flared shotgun exhausts).
Chapter 2: girl asks friend to move in to help cover the rent

The friend's a confident, almost cocky trailer park girl, so the chapter bloats a tiny bit with smart-assery, but apparently it doesn't take all that many words to offer somebody the spare room.

For reasons I will not admit having to do with the current story, I have been actively researching fluffers.
Nobody does the fluffing.
I haven't gotten around to finding out how the myth originated, but several professional sources say there are no fluffers on set. If any fluffing needs to be done, it will either happen on camera, or the male talent has a perfectly good pair of hands.
This does, however, only pertain to the average set. The more, uhm... "elaborate" movies might still require fluffers, though again, everybody comes with at least one hand, most probably have two, so... Seems like a post the production could cut back on.

And that's how you get a chapter up to length.

 

I definitely don't have any fluffers helping me write my book, but maybe i should try and find one.

 

I have my laptop on my lap when I write. It's just logistically inconvenient.

 

I hope I'm not too late to this conversation. I listen to audiobooks almost exclusively. 70-90 a year. It's super easy to find out how long upcoming chapters are in the app I use. You just pull up a list. Here's the thing: tons of professional, popular, modern novels have extremely uneven chapter. One's 15 min; the next is 60. Even the MG series my son and I listened to, How to Train Your Dragon, was all over the place with 5-30 min chapters, and you should see how bonkers Stephen King chapters are.

If you feel your chapters are finished, and you have a decent flow with the pacing, leave them be. You don't have to match them up at all. I know bloggers and the like have advised even chapter lengths, and it is a nice, safe thing for a debut author to do, but it's not remotely necessary.

 

You know what? I'm gonna go the flat-earther route and believe this is a fact because it suits me. ;o)

Oh, that's not an issue for me at least.
I have to stop myself from doing a scene break after every paragraph. It's like I have a book full of tweets.

 

Or, you know, because of verifiable empirical evidence. But which ever.

 

I love it when I read through a thread only to find that all the points I was going to make were already mentioned near the end of it. Yeah, it's totally fine for chapter lengths to vary quite a bit, especially if there are multiple POVs and you wanna get a little snippet in about what's going on in the other story before continuing with the current one.

Same. This is my only concern regarding chapter lengths. I read something semi-recently and it drove me nuts. I think it was Hyperion? Literally 100+ page chapters. What the hell? Super-long chapters really grind my gears.

 

Verifiable evidence? What is this, little league?
I'm not gonna verify anything when I can just make stuff up and call it the truth.

(We're still joking, right? If I said something offensive I have no idea.)

 

You're good, lol.