Wondering about word count
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I've recently started writing a very amateur novel, and I keep getting lost in how many words I can write in a day, how many words in a chapter etc
But it got me wondering: on average how many words does a light novel part have? I know that it probably varies, but it'd be interesting to know some figures from a few different releases, just to use as a vague reference for the size of the chapters I'm writing
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Back of the envelope: If light novels are typically between 40,000 and 60,000 words long and have 8-12 parts then each part will be around 5,000 words per part (i.e. 50,000 words divided into into 10 parts).
I looked at a number of epub and average chapter length has a large degree of variation within and between books:
- Finding Avalon: The Quest of a Chaosbringer, Volume 2. 29 chapters. Range: 1,615–3,434 words. Average: 2,277 words per chapter.
- By the Grace of the Gods, Volume 1. 20 main episodes. Range: 1,203–6,119 words. Average: 2,706 words per chapter.
- Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash, Volume 1. 22 chapters. Range: 1,142–8,751 words. Average: 3,209 words per chapter.
- The Isle of Paramounts: Reborn into a Slow Life Among the Strongest in the World, Volume 1. 10 chapters. Range: 3,290–7,922 words. Average: 5,463 words per chapter.
- She’s the Cutest... But We’re Just Friends!, Volume 2
7 episodes. Range: 4,483–8,696 words. Average: 5,993 words per chapter. - Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf!, Volume 1. 7 main episodes. Range: 2,892–10,961 words. Average: 7,417 words per chapter.
- Haibara’s Teenage New Game+, Volume 8
5 chapters. Range: 3,073–18,132 words. Average: 7,933 words per chapter. - Kokoro Connect, Volume 7: Yume Random. 8 chapters. Range: 4,642–19,697 words. Average: 8,532 words per chapter.
- Full Metal Panic!, Volume 6..5 chapters. Range: 9,681–12,729 words. Average: 11,060 words per chapter.
- Cooking with Wild Game, Volume 32. 4 chapters. Range: 12,920–29,154 words. Average: 19,687 words per chapter.
Across all 117 chapters, the overall average was approximately 5,000 words and the median was approximately 3,100 words. However, books with lots of short chapters have a disproportionate effect on those figures. When each book is weighted equally, the average is closer to 7,400 words.
