Chapter Sizes?

Daniel Harper

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Sep 29, 2006
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Firstly I would like to say hello to every one as this is my first post since visiting the site. I have found it very inspiring and helpful.

So.. Chapter Sizes.

I have just finished the first draft of my first novel. An achievement on its own, of which I am very proud. But now has come the relentless task of editing, before dishing it out to some of my friends (whom have agreed to give it a glance over).

That is when something struck me. How do I break it down into chapters?

Is there any unwritten or written rule about chapter size? Word count or pages etc..

If not, can anyone please guide me on this problem that seems to have become a stumbling block for me.

Thank you in advance.
 
First, I want to welcome you to the Chronicles. Glad to see you posting already and asking questions. Hope to see you around.

Now, as for your question: Not that I've ever come across, no. If you look at a wide variety of books, you'll come across some, even by the same writer (and no few times within the same book), where the chapters are very brief, and others extremely long -- a variance of from anywhere to a page or two to chapters 60-80 pages in length.

Essentially, it should be divided according to the internal structure of the narrative; a chapter, like a paragraph, should have a certain structure and drive toward a culmination. Once that is reached, that is the logical place to end one chapter and begin a new one. If you are seeking to build tension, you may choose to end a chapter with a surprise revelation, and begin the next with the characters' response to that revelation. On the other hand, you can also deal with both within the same chapter, and then have another thematic or narrative thread be the focus of the next chapter. And so on, and so on... there are any number of ways to decide what should or shouldn't be in a chapter, or where it should end.

However, it is very unusual, I think, to first write and then to divide into chapters. Usually that is a part of the initial writing process, as one feels that a certain caesura in dramatic narrative has taken place; a pause for breath, as it were, or to shift from one aspect of the story to another. Writing it all as a continuous narrative without such breaks, and then imposing them afterward, is likely to be very awkward and artificial. Market demands may require you to do so, perhaps -- on that you'd have to ask agents, publishers, etc. -- but as far as the work itself, don't forget there have been more than a few novels which do not have chapters at all. Two in the fantasy field that come to mind right off are William Beckford's Vathek and H. P. Lovecraft's The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. So take a look at the novel as written, and see if this may be the best style for it, as well. If not, be careful on how you divide it up, as this can alter the flow of narrative, making it either a case of a book where one chapter flows into another and keeps the reader turning the pages, or it can act as a broken road, where the chapter breaks act like gaps between huge chunks of concrete, and stall a reader's momentum.

In brief, look at the novel itself, and find which sort of divisions (or lack of same) work best for the flow of the work itself. That would be the best way to choose where, or if, you wish to divide it into smaller chapter divisions.
 
This is good advice from JD.

The story itself should dictate where chapters start and end.

BTW Welcome.:)
 
Readers, by and large, do tend to prefer books that are divided up into chapters. So if you decide against that you should have a very good reason behind your decision.

If you find it difficult to divide your story up at this point, there are two possible reasons: 1) It really does work best just the way it is. Or 2) the story as written is poorly structured. If it's the second one, that would be a useful thing to know, because you can work on that problem and the question of how to divide it into chapters at the same time.
 
Wow!

Fantastic feed back.

Although the novel as it stands so far is one continuous story. There are ample places for it to break for a chapter end. There are plenty of scene switches that keeps the pace of the story going.

Why did I write it continous in the first place and not in chapters?
Well I guess that I just concentrated on the story itself and before I knew it the characters had whisked me away on an immense journey of happiness and tears until the novel finally finished. But already they have drove me onto another adventure in my second book, currently being written in draft format.

I was thinking of splitting my chapters in the region of 20ish pages, depending of the breaks as mentioned above. Also breaking it into chapters will help me see if the structure is working.

Thank you all for your valued feedback, no doubt there will be more questions in the future. Until then I will continue to enjoy my visits to the forums.
 
While writing my books I often change from character to character often all in different parts of the world. At these moments I create a new chapter. I have found that the vast majority of the chapters I write are in the region of 3,500 words although some such as this one are more in the region of 6,000. As has been said before it depends on how you narrate you tale. If you think your story looks and reads "correctly" without chapters then leave it that way.
 
If your story is a 'picaresque', that is; following one character solely and his/her escapades, then you will have to find the 'natural' pauses as mentioned.
However, if it's third person and switching place to place, time to time, person to person, then these are good places to make chapters.

PS. Even though he doesn't title them Pratchett does use chapters marked usually by asterisks if I recall correctly.
 
What I like to do is pick a final word length (and pray that I reach it). I write out the plan of the story. Divide the word count with the number of planned chapters and then you get chapter length. I then try as hard as possible to stick to that length.
 
What I do is divide my story up into chunks, each which are a single units of plot progressions, and those are my chapters. I further divide my chapters into indivudal scenes that progess each chapter for a different character or subplots, and those are the scenes that compose my chapter (or subchapters). I generally don't bother with length on my first draft, but I condense it in the second and ellaborate in the third. The point is too make it CONCOSE, but you shouldn't sacrifice important scenes for the sake of it; use your own artistic intuition on this.
 
If your story has natural divisions, like, say, 30 pages in a town, 30 in a forest, and 30 in a cave (example only), then obviously these would be your chapter divisions. Usually the natural divisions are more subtle, however, like a change in theme, or the advent of a new piece of information.

Chapter length can be anywhere from nothing (i.e. no chapters) to 1 page to several hundred, though a 200-page chapter would just annoy most readers (especially if your book was only 300 pages long, for example). It will all depend on your style, really. I've seen books with dozens of chapters. Others, like Pratchett's first Discworld book, only have 4 or 5, others again have none (like the rest of the Discworld series), and others yet have 40 or more chapters.

For me, I'm big on chapter names, and I usually name chapters and give a short summary of the plans there before I write it (they are always subject to change afterwards, of course). You may not need any, though, so get some people to read your work and see if they would prefer chapters. I know, for one, that I love chapters in books, because it gives me a natural stopping point (unless it's a Discworld book, which has so many natural transitions that it doesn't need chapter breaks), and chapters are also a good writing aid, in that it allows you to "start fresh" without actually starting fresh at all...

-D
 
Wow..

Thanks folks I have decided aprox 4,500 words per chapter. My book is easy to split down into chapters as there are plenty of places to do this. I have also gone for chapter names based on the content of the chapter.

I thank you all once again for your valued input on this subject matter. No doubt I will be back some more questions as I am in th emiddle of writing up book 2 whilst editing book 1!! So many books to write so little time! LOL

Cheers

Daniel Harper
 

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