Fiction authors/editors/publishers: How do you purpose chapters?

October 27, 2018 7:29 PM

MeFite authors, editors and publishers who have written, edited and/or published novels or novellas: what are your ideal intentions for your readers, when it comes to chapters and chapter breaks? Should a chapter be read in a single sitting? Ought a reader to pause and reflect between chapters (and if so, for how long)? Or are chapter breaks just dramatic milestones? Or something else? Obviously there's no way to dictate how readers consume fiction; but if you could indicate your intentions to your readers, what would they be, with regard to chapters?
posted by paleyellowwithorange to Writing & Language (6 answers total)

Two answers.

First answer is: I'll indicate significant breaks in time as *** in the MS, and let an editor handle the larger structural units later. Things get moved around in the revision process, no matter how artfully I think I've got things arranged in my "first" submitted drafts.

Second answer is: In more potboilery stories, I'll build chapters as complete units of drama (using a sequence approach) and provide some sort of small denouement in each. At the conclusion of a segment I'll indicate a problem/consequence that will impel the direction of the next chapter. Cliffhanger-style writing often feels overrated and forced, but a kind of causal linkage builds a solid narrative flow. In this case I might not visually indicate the chapter demarcations for another reader.
posted by mr. remy at 8:08 PM on October 27, 2018

I am not a novelist, just a guy who published one novel a long time ago, but for me, a chapter is to the book as a paragraph is to a page. That is: the reader can certainly finish a chapter and immediately start the next with no pause, and I don't really care whether there's a pause or not. And you don't have to read a chapter in a single sitting. The breaks between chapters are just supposed to denote natural narrative breaks, in the same way breaks between paragraphs do.

I think I have a stronger sense that the opening of a chapter has to be a good place to start reading than that the closing of a chapter has to be a good place to stop reading. This also matches my intuition about paragraphs.
posted by escabeche at 9:38 PM on October 27, 2018 [3 favorites]

I think of chapters as a unit, larger than a paragraph but smaller than a book. "Unit" is a deliberately vague word because I don't have a formal rule for what a chapter must be. It just has to be a collection of ideas and events that feel like they go together.

And because I don't have a universal rule for chapters, I don't have a universal rule for chapter breaks. Like a period between sentences, or a carriage return between paragraphs, the chapter break is a tool with many possible uses.

Of course, while chapter breaks are pretty versatile in general, I might use them in a particular way within a particular book. In the two novels I've published so far, I very deliberately ended each chapter with something that would make the reader want to dive right in to the next chapter. That's because I was writing a fast-paced, page-turning adventure. If I was writing something slower and more philosophical, I might have ended each chapter with a quiet moment that would encourage the reader to pause and reflect.

If I understand your question, you're asking how can respect the author's intention at the end of a chapter. I'm just one author, but for me, the answer is: do whatever feels right to you in the moment. If I've done my job properly, you'll have the experience that I crafted the book to create. And if I haven't done my job, you don't owe me anything.
posted by yankeefog at 3:05 AM on October 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

I seem to be in the minority, but in my mystery novels, one chapter = one scene or sequel. About 80 chapters per book. This also means that my novels are longer than the average mystery, and I'm okay with that.
I find that having everything self contained in one chapter keeps me focused on beginning-middle-end, and damn if I don't feel accomplished when I'm writing one or more chapters a day.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 6:47 AM on October 28, 2018

I think a chapter break says "We're going to change scenes now." Some time elapses, or you switch viewpoint characters, or you go to a new place, or you start a new activity. Or possibly you're in the same place but something has changed-- you just learned that the falcon is fake, someone just pulled a gun, whatever.

Several people have mentioned this already, but: don't think you have to provide closure in a chapter. Quite the opposite! Have something happen that makes the reader want to turn the page. Oldest trick in the book and still fresh.
posted by zompist at 2:11 PM on October 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

Structure is funny in novels, because there's no single right way to do it, but it's important.

One note: I'm a fan of Terry Pratchett (he's great) but some of his books did not use chapter breaks, and I found the overall reading rhythm seemed kinda rushed and a bit annoying.
posted by ovvl at 4:23 PM on October 28, 2018