WHAT IS A CHAPTER?
by zentao

Novelists — young novelists — get stuck on chapters. For one thing, they read advice columns, articles, books, and forum posts too much...much as you are reading this article, hoping to find "the magic answer." Well, there is no "magic answer." There is YOUR POTENTIAL CREATION, and YOUR CREATION'S NEEDS.

Why my article hopes to be different from all the others you've read is that, with mine, I hope to get you to STOP seeking advice on how-to and apply what is, I believe, the pertinent measure and meaning of chapter break; I hope to BREAK your habit of looking for answers that are not your own, "your own" meaning "designed and tailored to the book YOU are creating."

Many wannabe genre authors listen to the "formula rules." They especially attend those rules given by various "authorities" of their given genre, be it publisher guidelines, agent guidelines, or successful authors writing "how to do it" books. Guidelines are guidelines, however, and a good book can break guidelines if it is strong enough. How-to books written with "authority," however, are books written for PROFIT, profit gleaned from wannabe authors — profits measured in prestige and monetary compensation for the author and the publisher. Always remember that before taking any advice to heart. The advice may be sound, but, then again, it might not be sound for YOU and YOUR BOOK.

But let's digress, shall we? First, what is a chapter?

THE CHAPTER

Defined as a subdivision of a written work, chapter divisions often came about because the book was serialized, printed in episodes in early pulp magazines. Chapters traditionally separated content according to content subdivisions, much as scenes in the Acts of a play. Sometimes they separated content in general temporal groupings. Back to plays for a moment, though. In plays, scenes were and are, in fact, similar to chapters, the Acts parallelling the major division of a book, the traditional three act play correlating to a novel's BEGINNING, MIDDLE and END.

WHAT DETERMINES A CHAPTER BREAK

So what can determine a chapter break?

• Is it a specific number of words? It can be.
• Is it determined by plot? Usually.
• Is it determined by POV switches in multi-POV books? Again, it can be. (POV = Point of View, or from which character's mind and eyes we are experiencing)
• Is it arbitrary? It shouldn't be, but sometimes that is, in fact, the case.
• Is there a best way? Yes. That which works best for YOUR story.

In point of fact, plot, story question and hooking the reader determine chapter breaks. (More about this after a short break from that which sponsored this examination.)

EXPLORING THE RECOMMENDATIONS WHICH SPONSOR MISCONCEPTIONS

THE CHAPTER BY NUMBERS

A chapter should be _____ words long.

1. 1500 words
2. 2000 words
3. 2500 words
4. 3000 words
5. 5000 words

Seen any of those before...or something similar? Probably. Depends upon which genre and which authority is speaking. But what's right? Depends on your book, your story, your plot, your skill, and your audience.

Big R writers often argue at length that their chapters must be….

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© Copyright 2007 zentao

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