Question about chapters

[TheRedPrince]

Hi, so I was just wondering... How long should a chapter be? Should it contain it's own peaks and resolutions? Is there any generic unspoken rule about chapter structure? Do you just write the story then split it into chapters where appropriate? Sorry about the bombardment but I didn't want to be too broad with the question.. Any answer to any of these would be much appreciated.

 

[CupofJoe]

Others will give you more analytical responses, but the simple truth is.. A chapter is as long as it needs to be. Some will be a few words, others a few thousand. It all depends...
If you want to use chapters, each needs to have it's on little arc - a mini story [for lack of a better word] that leads you in to wanting to read the next chapter.
Some writers don't use them at all, some use a few, some authors love chapters and have dozens of them.
I use them as scene or event dividers... more for ease of writing than for any stylistic reason.
I've never tried post writing chaptering...

 

[PaulineMRoss]

The only rule is - there are no rules. A chapter can be as long or as short as it needs to be. [Exception: middle grade books do require shorter lengths, and have much more specific requirements generally] There are those who say that every chapter should be a mini-book, with its own character arcs and pinch points and resolutions. Good luck to anyone who writes that way. Some people plan chapters, and the whole book. Some don't. Some people say that short, snappy chapters make the story pacier, but I think the content controls the pace, personally.

That isn't very helpful, is it? Let me tell you how I write. I'm a pantser not a plotter, so I just follow the thread of the story as it unfolds itself. I feel about 3,000 words is a good length for a chapter, so around that point I'll start looking for a good break point - something with a hook, or a mystery, or a bit of a cliff-hanger. I'll keep writing until I find it. My chapters vary in length from 2,500 to 7,000+ words.

I don't worry too much about chapters. I focus more on scenes, and making sure each scene has a point - advancing the plot, revealing character, revealing backstory (and preferably all three) PLUS it has tension. Beyond that, I don't think about this stuff much. Probably should...

 

[Philip Overby]

I agree with Pauline that maybe the better approach is to break down things into scenes. I don't do that myself, but it's probably a lot more helpful to do that way. If you write each scene, letting it being as long as it needs to be, then you can put them into chapters later on.

As a reader, long chapters tend to not appeal to me as much nowadays. This may have something to do with reading in short bursts. I don't have days where I just sit and read for hours on end. I used to do that, but recently I prefer "snappier" books, if that makes sense. Not sure how many people would agree with me that they read that way. I'd say, for me anyway, chapters between 2,000-5,000 words are doable for me in one sitting. If I feel like it's chugging along pretty well, I'd tack an extra 1,000-2,000 words onto that (6,000-7,000).

As a writer, my chapters tend to be in the 3,000-5,000 range in general. Not sure why, but they just naturally turn out that way. However, as I'm sure you'll see in this thread, there are a lot of people that don't care how long a chapter is as long as it's engaging. I find chapters for me to personally be stopping points as a reader, so I'm much more likely to hang with a book with shorter chapters.

 

[Caged Maiden]

In my current WiP, my chapters tend to fall in the 3000-3500 word range. I have a few just shy, coming in at about 2800 and a few that exceed 4000. It's not important that they be uniform in any way. In my book, each chapter is a day, so I try to keep my most tense events at night, so one chapter brings us up to midnight and cuts at a cliff hanger moment, but then the next chapter finishes the event after midnight, in the next "day".

When I consider where to end a chapter, I always think about whether it's a good moment to end at. Not every chapter can end with someone about to be stabbed or running for their life, but it gets dull quickly if each chapter ends with someone blowing out a lamp and going to bed. For my chapters, sometimes I end with a question, like literally asked. Something like: "What do we do with him? We can't bury him here..." OR "Wait... did you just say Rosencrantz? I know a guy named Rosencrantz..." Other times I end before a question can be asked. Something like a person arriving at their destination and immediately observing that something is REALLY wrong. I make the reader turn the page to discover what the observation means.

Of course, sometimes a quiet ending can be good. I'm all for tension but sometimes having a character in distress cry them self to sleep is an appropriate chapter ending (because you wouldn't want to show it happening at length).

The thing is... when I write first drafts, some chapters can be 7k words. I just write until I feel a natural ending has been reached, and it's up to the editing process to determine how many of those 7k words are actually going to survive the machete storm headed their way. If I end up with a chapter that's upwards of 5k... I consider how best to trim is down further, or I just find another place to split the chapter. There are limitless possibilities. That being said, as a reader, I prefer shorter chapters (3k words over 5k) but am not particularly a fan of really short chapters (1500 words). I'd prefer a scene break rather than another chapter, but I wouldn't say it ruins my enjoyment or anything.

I think breaking chapters needs to accomplish a few things. First, the chapter ending on a sort of question or situation with immediacy almost always makes me read "just one more chapter". I bite--hook, line and sinker. While I apreciate a nice tidy chapter ending... it leads to me saying to myself, "Oh, this looks like a good place to stop. I'll remember exactly where I am because nothing's happening and the characters are camping, preparing for their assault on the keep tomorrow." It's a courtesy, probably. I should look and see how many natural breaks I've written in where I'm almost encouraging a reader to stop reading. Curious.

Okay, hope that helps and gives you a couple things to consider.

 

[Caged Maiden]

Okay, let me also take a stab at chapter structuring since you asked about that, too.

I believe a chapter ought to be compromised of scenes that fit together in some sort of related way. For instance, if you show your MC beginning his journey in chapter one, you might want to begin with his normal life...show the "instigating event"... and then end the chapter when he meets a mysterious traveler on the road. Chapter two might open with him asking for the stranger's name. Then, maybe the stranger runs by and the MC notices trouble on the stranger's heels. They together fight off the threat, which forms a sort of tentative bond between the two and the chapter ends when the MC and stranger learn each others' names and decide to go have a drink together. Chapter three then opens with the two drinking in a pub, getting to know each other in some sort of superficial way, but the stranger (who has information the MC is interested in) seems aloof and distracted...staring at a nobleman out of the corner of his eye. The MC mentions this to the stranger, but the stranger blows off the MC's observation. HOWEVER, when the nobleman and his friends all leave... the stranger does something weird and then leaves, too. The MC follows and the chapter cuts when he's spotted and almost gutted by the stranger's blade in the dark of night.

Of course the next chapter will be the stranger telling the MC to get lost, but before he can leave, the nobleman appears behind the stranger and suddenly, for the second time that day, the MC and stranger find themselves fighting alongside each other like old war buddies. The nobleman is defeated and the MC sees something in the stranger he didn't expect. Magic or something. The MC asks the stranger about it but the stranger doesn't answer right away...maybe keeping up his mysteriousness by giving an indirect answer. The chapter ends with the MC's internal thoughts on whether to trust the stranger or not. And more importantly, a reason why he either needs to, or is too curious not to.

So... there's a prety good intro to chapter pacing. Each chapter "ends" differently, but all four endings involve enough tension and mystery to keep a reader reading. Hope that gives you a little more to go on.

 

[TheRedPrince]

Awesome info ladies and gents! Thankyou kindly

 

[Helen]

Hi, so I was just wondering... How long should a chapter be? Should it contain it's own peaks and resolutions? Is there any generic unspoken rule about chapter structure? Do you just write the story then split it into chapters where appropriate? Sorry about the bombardment but I didn't want to be too broad with the question.. Any answer to any of these would be much appreciated.

You can get some good insights about chapter structure by studying how it's done in the first Harry Potter book - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

It helps to understand it if you look at the chapter breaks from a hero's journey perspective.

 

[wordwalker]

Lots of great advice here.

So true, scenes are the much more important unit; get to know whether you organically think in terms of longer more immersive scenes, or shorter ones that break the plot up and keep it moving faster. (And if that then means you write more scenes or fewer scenes in the story, or if it changes the story's total length.)

That makes chapters a way to bundle or split those scenes. Partly they let you make a statement that "this goes together" and help cluster the meaning of what's going on. Like people have said, they're best known as the "excuses to put the book down," so you can try to lure the reader into the next chapter with a cliffhanger.

Some people have said that shorter chapters are the trend. It's a way to reach low-attention-span readers, or keep them happy knowing "just one more" chapter isn't a major commitment and maybe seduce deep into the book. (I've also seen it used by everything from high-powered suspense that shows that a major scene could be split into four chapters or ten and you just can't predict it, and then there's the James Patterson Franchising Machine that does four-page chapters.) I actually go the other way, with 5-6,000 word chapters that are meant to overwhelm the reader and then let them come up for air.

One number to remember, though: studies have found that the average reader (wish I knew who that was) reads from 7500 to 15,000 words in a sitting. Think of your chapters as how many of those the reader should get through at a time, and whether your scene style will make them read more now or be comfortable but eager to put the book down but be sure to get back to it.

 

[Julian S Bartz]

One number to remember, though: studies have found that the average reader (wish I knew who that was) reads from 7500 to 15,000 words in a sitting.

Interesting. Never heard that before.

I tend to have anything between 4000-9000, generally about the 6000 mark. However I think it is key that if you are going above 4000 that you have regular breaks in the text. Unless a part I am writing is particularly exciting or enthralling, or genuinely has nowhere to be broken, I try to have a break every 1500-2000 words.

This comes from personal preference as a reader which lets you put the book down for a second to make that extra cup of tea etc.

 

[Trick]

My own habits are not particularly fair but here goes:

As a reader, I like middle ground chapter lengths. Anything from 2500 words to about 6000 feels fast enough to me without too much interruption in the form of chapter titles and interludes or POV changes. Extremely long chapters usually bug me, with rare exceptions. The same goes for overly short chapters. Since I often listen to audiobooks, hearing, "chapter 3" followed very quickly by, "chapter 4" makes me feel like I missed something. What was the important part of that chapter? why was it broken up? I guess I need to feel like the break is justified.

As a writer, I'm a major hypocrite (hopefully I'll be able to fix that in the editing process). I write a short succinct chapter and follow it with the chapter that never ends. It works for my writing process but it will need work later. I have already gone back and rearranged chapters and the location of chapter breaks but I know improvement is still required.

All I'm trying to say here is, set up your chapters how it feels right and then attack them in the editing process along with everything else.