We may have covered this before - sorry if we have! I've written an outline of a new book and am about to start planning it out. Do you write in chapters or just get the story down and figure out chapter breaks later on? I had a detailed chapter by chapter plan for The Boxed Crystal but this time round I have a more general theme so may go at it a different way. I'd be really interested to find out how others work - whether a pre-thought out chapter plan hampers creativity or helps channel it?

Sue

The first chapter of the Worm Machine was really long and complicated. I thought the whole chapter encapsulated a single chunk of the story, but later cut it into three smaller chapters. It worked much better.

Not really an answer. But that's about the best I can do.

Colin

Sue,
I don't thimk there is a definitive answer to this for it depends on how your creative mind works when you consider your book.

I am sure there are some who 'see' natural breaks that can signal the end of something or the beginning of something within the story. These points can make good chapters.

I have a pretty clear idea of the way in which my present book is developing in plot and characters but not in chapters... however I have every confidence that these will fall into place as the book unfolds.

Len

I like that approach - the chapter breaks fall into place as the book unfolds. Probably makes for a more natural story too. Yours seems to have evolved itself as well Colin. I think I shall write and see what happens!
Sue

I tend to break chapters at the end of a scene, and by 'scene' I mean a contained piece of action that has a kind of mini beginning, middle and end, rather like a movie scene. Sometimes, you may want to switch to another scene within the first one, rather than break - if what's happening there increases the tension in the original scene. It's also good to try to end each scene/chapter with a mini cliff-hanger.

I've seen ms that don't seem to have any reason for chapter breaks, and some that appear to do it by simply having the same number of pages for each chapter. But really it would be better not to have them at all, rather than introduce them for no dramatic reason. I think that's the key: what dramatic purpose does the existence of this chapter serve? How does it help keep the reader reading?

Terry

So when you write, Terry, do you write to a plan or do you just start and carry on until you're finished? I agree that some books have chapters for chapters sake but I like a convenient place to stop reading for the night. As you know, I'm prone to wandering (literary not physical - although I have been known!), so I find it helpful to have the novel planned out before I start writing. I sometimes add or remove chapters after the first draft but it's a tool that I, for one, need. It's interesting to see how others work.
S

Sue,

Looking back, I've tended to use the method that suits the book. For instance, I did two children's non-fiction books a couple of years ago: the publisher wanted 24,000 words per book, so I broke that down into chapters, the number determined by the areas that needed to be covered, then worked out how many words there'd be per chapter, and so on. Obviously, with fiction it's different.

Normally, at first I'm more concerned with the emotional shape of the whole story - what will the climax feel like, and what major effect will it have on the hero/heroine? Then I start blocking out the main areas of the story, basically the set-up, middle and climax/resolution. Then I start writing and usually the chapter lengths find themselves - you pause the writing where you would want to pause if you were reading, only of course you make sure that there's a hook at the end of the chapter too. Chapters are good for containing an emotional event, separating it from the start of the next one - films actually do this, the good ones at any rate: if you look, you'll see that each scene will end with an emotion raised, but not fulfilled of course. Well, that's not quite true - you give the reader a small fulfillment but keep suggesting that the big climax will change everything.

The book I'm writing at the moment is different to anything I've done before. WIth this, I've spent a lot of time working out the background to one of the worlds it takes place on, and then working out why the heroine is interfering in it. Because there are alternating passages, between our world and this other one, it probably doesn't need chapters at all.

Hope that hasn't confused things too much.

Terry

Hi Sue, only just spotted your post.

I can't help but write in chapters... I usually make an extra effort to end chapters with a good line, a link to the start of the next, or maybe a cliffhanger etc....depending what's happening. I think of them like scenes.

I sometimes have a problem with making the chapters too short though...because I split where it feels right, rather than looking at the size of the chapter. Stuff to fix at the end I guess.

Derek.

Hi Derek.
Yeah. I have the same...Problem? I wouldn't call it a problem though. It's a syllistic issue. But whether you have hooks or semi hooks at the end of a chapter. It's all about rythym. If you have the right rythmn, the book works. If the book works, you're half way there.
Oh Terry. I was very interested in your comments and look forward to reading some of your works

<Added>

Hi Derek.
Yeah. I have the same...Problem?
I wouldn't call it a problem though. Rather. A stylistic issue.

But whether you have hooks or semi hooks at the end of chapters, in the end,it all boils down to rythmn. If you have the right rythmn, the book works. If the book works, you're half way there.
Oh Terry. I was very interested in your comments and look forward to reading some of your work.