Another member recently noted that when she's planning a novel she spends time considering the "arc" of each chapter - so that not only does it have a beginning, a middle and an end, but it almost becomes almost a story in itself. I think that this must be a very good way to approach chapter planning - in the two novels I've developed in the past, I simply created chapter breaks when I needed to change scene, wanted to end on a particular line, had to switch point of view etc. But now I'm much more keen to really think about each chapter in and of itself.

Does anyone have any suggestions with regard to "planning" a chapter, how you think of these individual 'building blocks' within a novel and how you approach the writing?

Hi MF

I'm not sure how helpful it will be, but I'm exploring a longer piece of work for the first time.

I can't really categorise what is it, as I havent the faintest idea... but as I'm a short fiction writer, I find it easier to approach the component parts as separate beings, rather than part of a whole.

That unification process will come a couple of years down the line, I guess.

Of course there are thematic elements that tie the pieces together, as well as characters, place and so on.

But so far, I take the driving idea behind each piece, and write it as if I was writing a short story... coherent structurally, with a clear arc... rising action sections, climaxes and anticlimaxes and so forth, and a conclusion that can either tie up the ends or lead on....

I'll let you know if it works as a bigger piece when I'm rich and famous!

(sigh, slight nervous giggle, and goes off to put kettle on)

Vanessa

Morning Trilby,

I do this!

I discovered that I'm not a write by the seat of your pants person. I'm actually an incredibly meticulous planner. This goes completely against everything else in my life which is spontaneous and I don't remember planning anything at all really before this.

Anyway, what I do is this:

I zone out to collect my story - dreaming it up - and I have a notebook which I write down a kind of shorthand. Almost like taking notes on a movie including dialogue but mostly with their initials.

For example:

D- why do you want to go there
I -(furious) because I have no choice
She stomps off up the hill and he follows, blah, blah...

So I keep doing this until I have the entire story on this form. Then I take all the major incidents and write one word to summarise. I ended up with 39 in my current WIP.

I write them out in full one at a time. Each one as a story in itself. I almost think of them as short stories and each one has their own title.

What I usually do then though is split them into Scene - Sequel (God this is difficult to explain!!!).

The incident/scene is split from the sequel and the sequel becomes the start of the chapter followed by the next scene. If you see what I mean.

They reflect on the last big happening at the start of the chapter and then go into the next one which ends with a bang.

Does that make any sense to you?

I have no idea if this is the right thing to do but I've read so many books that seem to work well this way that I've just copied it!


<Added>

That should have been one sentence to summarise !

<Added>

Jimmy Bean, I'll try to make that clearer - You know in a short story you start with the action and then end with the quiet resolution - well I write it like this and then divide it afterwards. The chapter ends with the high action and the new one starts with the resolution.

Any better???????

I have a habit of writing quite 'episodically', so yes, I'd go along with the idea of the chapter arc. I generally like chapters that stand alone as an adventure in themselves too, but of course, one has to be careful one doesn't overwhelm the reader.

JB

This is really interesting - eve especially, good grief, what a lot of planning! I had no idea!

I know - what a flippin' hassle eh? But I can't do it any other way. I guess it's just lots of different drafts really.

Skeleton (bare idea) first then add muscles(the stepped out story) then add fat (the narrative) then all the veins/arteries/connectors (pull all the threads together) and then the skin on the top (final polish).

Of course there's a few amputations and augmentations along the way as well as psychiatric treatment (mostly for me).

But hopefully a well-rounded, full-bodied, attractive individual will result

My planning always looks a bit sketchy. I always open a new document on my computer for a longer piece where I keepall my research, copy and paste anything interesting I find online, write anything interesting that pops into my head while I'm writing (I also keep a notebook to hand at all times as well), paste any excess scenes that don't fit in the existing chapter but might fit later, and I have the 'plan' which consists of a list of chapter titles like 'Journey to find Silenus' which will then be elaborated upon in the form of a synopsis of the chapter. I am then free to let my imagination run wild when I come to write it. Some chapters have huge 'synopses' and I have a very detailed idea of where I am going with them, others, I have no idea until I get to them, apart from that title and a vague idea of what is supposed to happen in that chapter. It is so much fun, and the only way I can work. I find any other way too constricting, because I am far too anal, and if I wrote an in depth plan, I would feel like I had to stick to it, no matter whether it felt right for the characters or not.

But hopefully a well-rounded, full-bodied, attractive individual will result

said Eve 'Dr. Frankenstein' Hervey :-)

LOL

Misery made me a fiend....mwah, ha, ha, ha

Oh god, I wish I could be the sort of writer who plots. I REALLY DO! But I just start writing, wait for the characters to do something, and see where it ends up. I have no control and it’s all bollocks.

Anyway… I think chapters – where they can be justified – should be embedded in the story. Personally, I wouldn’t strain a gut to give them a life of their own, but I do make sure they end on a page-turning line.

To be brutally honest, for years now I've been wondering why we need chapters. I think they're unnecessary, and – for the WIP – I'm thinking of not having any chapters. Line breaks can, properly handled, have the same impact. Just what is the point of chapters?

Dee
*insert bewildered smiley*

Good point, Dee. There must be more inventive ways to break the flow. Or you could just not, like Kerouac.

I think sometimes the beautiful arc of every chapter needs to be watched out for because it can take you up and plonk you down again. Then the next starts, takes you up and plonks you down again. This can get a little dull after a while. I think you can use chapters like anything else to change the pace, to build excitement, to fragment, to change POV - all these things. But I think the pace thing is very very important and hard to get right and if the chapters are too self-contained (little mini short shories) it can be hard to sustain through the middle sections and to gain momentum.

I think an exciting chapter next to a quieter one can work well. A longer one and then a couple of shorter ones...Of course it all depends ultimately on what you are trying to do but I think it is a good tool and there are more ways to think about it than each having a complete arc of it's own.

I think gaining momentum is a very good point, snowbell.
There are a lot of moans about slow first chapters, but that may be because the writer is comparing them to the fast paced later ones. I dislike action packed starts, but do like anecdotal-type early chapters to set the scene and introduce the characters. So character arcs that bump along the ground before soaring away, are not necesarily bad.

Good points, all. Thanks!

I'm intrigued by books that don't use chapters in any conventional sense - am reading Austerlitz at the moment, and the main breaks are photographs used to illustrate or echo what's being referred to in the narrative. Talk about postmodern! As a reader, I must say I like the "security" of chapters, though as a writer I think that a story can and should be more interesting than merely a succession of self-contained events (that said, I have enormous respect for authors who can shape a chapter into a mini work of art in itself).

Hmm..

I wouldn't go down the road of thinking of chapers as "mini stories". I think chapters are they to give the reader a bit of a breather. Sometimes its good to end a chapter "in the air" so the reader wants to read the next chapter to see what happens. Otherwise it would be like reading a compilation of short stories.

I must admit working out my chapters after I'd written the entire novel, splitting the text mainly on word count (4,000 - 5,000 words per chapter). It seems to work quite well.