[carton253]

Last night I picked up a novel and started reading it. It was late so I thought I would read the first chapter and go to bed. Well, the chapter ended on page 81. It took more than an hour to finish it. The second chapter is almost 90 pages long and does not have an end in sight that I can see.

As a reader, chapters are usually end points where I will put the book down and pick it up again at a later date, so chapters stretching to almost 100 pages are a little long to say the least. In fact, chapters that never seem to end frustrate me because I always want to make a clear break in my reading. If the author does not provide that for me... I get a little annoyed.

I also know that chapters, if ended with a "cliff hanger" will make me forget my resolve and read one more chapter. Not all chapters end in a cliffhanger of course.

So, let's talk chapters. Beginning them, ending them, what makes chapters good, what can destroy a chapter, and the numerous other points I did not list...

[RightWhale]

I have, for quite a while, taken to making a small mark where I leave off if it is somewhere inside a chapter. Do not do this with library books. Sometimes it is not possible to break at a paragraph if the paragraph runs on over a couple pages. Since chapter breaks and paragraph breaks (and sentences) are completely up to the author they might not correspond to a change of scene or thought unless you are reading a math book or Orhan Pamuk. Math books are notorious for not making paragraph breaks where they should and making them where they shouldn’t.

[processing please hold]

Starting and ending chapters was never really a problem for me. The progression of the story dictated when characters and events entered. Say, when another missing child's body was discovered. Tension and character information was built throughout the chapter until it either came to the body or the possible location of it. Searchers yelling, 'we found something.' The answer on who or what they found wouldn't come until the chapter after next. Would it be the corpse of a child or just a rotting animal carcass.

Your 'cliffhanger.'

[Scourge of God]

So, let's talk chapters. Beginning them, ending them, what makes chapters good, what can destroy a chapter, and the numerous other points I did not list...

In fiction chapters should be ‘not long’, and should give a definite break, but also should make the reader want to read on. Chapters should also contain a logical sequence of events that fit together. Like a sentence that is too long is annoying and loses meaning, so can a chapter be too long. All that is a tall order, but its just craftsmanship. My chapters are usually 4,000 – 6,000 words. I believe readers like a predictable pace.

An ultra-long chapter is ok sometimes; breaking the rules every now and then can work. An ultra-short chapter is fun, but too many of them makes a piece seem choppy. Michael Moorcock wrote a novel based on ultra-short chapters and I hated it.

BTW, how do you post to the entire ping list?

[JamesP81]

So, let's talk chapters. Beginning them, ending them, what makes chapters good, what can destroy a chapter, and the numerous other points I did not list...

The basic rule is that a chapter should detail some part of the story that advances the plot.

I agree with your point about 90 pages being too long. It's annoying and I need a stopping place at some point. However, I think having chapters too short is just as bad (David Gerrold is notorious for this).

I think the one thing that can kill a chapter more thoroughly than anything else is ending it in the wrong place. Being a little short or a little long is forgiveable; ending in the wrong spot is not.