Chapters and Parts

Do you like long chapters or short chapters?

Do you like novels that are divided in parts or not?

I generally go for medium length chapters. Basically, you should be able to read each chapter at one sitting.

And as for the parts... There were some books that I really liked having it divided into parts (like East), and others where I thought that it didn't add anything at all to the story. So it would depend on how the Author used the different parts.

I agree that chapters should be able to be read in one sitting, unless your like me and have to sneak read in Math class... Anyways I think dividing into parts is sometimes used for no apparent reason. I can understand if part one and part two take place a few years apart and the author wants to show that difference or the different parts have different narrators, but to often people use parts for no reason.

I like little tiny chapters. They make things go faster.

To be honest, I just end where it feels right. Sometimes I have really long chapters if there's a lot of action that needs to be covered; other times I have some short chapters just to cover several different scenes. I think dividing a book into parts can be really interesting, but so far I haven't tried using it yet.

Hehehe... well, what I'm trying to do is to split in parts depending on the location of the main characters. So... transitions are included between the locations, but mostly it's centralized in one specific area.

But, from what it seems like, it seems like a matter of what the author can get away with.

Sometimes I feel like dividing a book into parts has no purpose. Unless, of course, you're analyzing it in English class (Ethan Frome being a prime example...) But I don't really care how long or short a chapter is--except 25 or 30 pages might be pushing it.

Even though I am STILL totally against them, Snoinkus...

How do you decide when to split things into chapters/sections/whatever? Is there a certain, universally agreed-upon point to do it?

Argh...this is going to kill my unorganized reputation...

I don't really have a preference on chapter lengths because I never stop when the chapters stop anyway. When I'm reading a really good book I'll find a good stopping place and look back and realize I've passed two chapters without knowing. It doesn't matter as long as the book is good, to me.

But there has to be some sort of break in the book. If I look through it and it's just chunks and chunks of text with no little lines or asteriks or anything in between (basically some form of blank page), I get totally turned off of the book.

Sam wrote:Even though I am STILL totally against them, Snoinkus...

How do you decide when to split things into chapters/sections/whatever? Is there a certain, universally agreed-upon point to do it?

Argh...this is going to kill my unorganized reputation...

I hope it does kill it, lol!

Not a lot of credit is given to where a chapter ends and begins, actually, although it is an art. For instance, a couple of months I was writing something that takes place in two chapters, but it was split improperly and both chapters suffered horribly.

You split a chapter whenever there is either a movement in time or a cliffhanger (see more about the different kinds of cliffhangers here: forum/viewtopic.php?t=6761).

We split time up because we do that naturally anyway. Splitting it up in a chapter only increases the feeling, thus makes it seem natural.

For cliffhangers, we usually stop it in mid conflict and then, next chapter, we have the the conflict resolved. Think about it in an "unfortunately/fortunately" sort of scene.

Chapter 1

Blah, blah, blah, setting gets introduced, characters are introduced, blah blah.

Unfortunately, something bad happens.

Chapter 2

Fortunately, what happened which is bad is now resolved.

More stuff happens, setting, characters are developed, blah blah blah...

Unfortunately, something bad happens.

Chapter 3

etc.


This is such a common plot device that you probably haven't even thought of it! But, at the same time, these conflicts are wonderful ends of chapters and should be used to their full potential.

Also, by splitting up the conflicts between chapters, it allows for seemless transition of chapters. This is a very good thing. It means that you can float from chapter to chapter without even noticing that you've just read twenty of them!


For parts, this is a little different. While you want to glide effortlessly to chapter to chapter, parts are basically a landmark in the story which says, "Something completely different is going to happen which is going to make the plot even more tense." Of course... it has to be used right, or else you'll lose the reader completely. So...

Yep.

Have any more questions?