Hello guys, I am writing my second novel therefore I already have some basics in hand (dialogue dynamics, plot structure...) but I have a key question about my chapters: their length. After 40 pages, I have... 40 chapters ! Paragraph length has become instinctive with experience and somehow so have chapters, therefore I didn't look at it until it struck me. On the one hand, as it happened that way, maybe I should stick to it (why not ?). But on the other hand, I am afraid short chapters may prevent reader immersion... What do you think ? PS: if some of you are fluent in French, I can send you my draft (it will be easier for you to have an opinion on that...).
To have 40 pages and 40 chapters strikes me as unconventional. Not to say that you can't make it work, it's all down to style and I don't know your stuff anyway, but a page equals a very, very short chapter. I'd guess in the vicinity of 400 words, if not less. I'm concerned, not about reader immersion, but about pacing. I barely have time to get in the mood and start to settle down, and then you pluck me down in the next chapter, where the same thing happens again. And again. I think I'd be exhausted after less than ten chapters. I think you could make it work but be very careful with pacing. You'd need chapter endings/beginnings that transcribe smoothly into one another. Best of luck.
Not the norm but that does not mean it is bad/wrong. I would expect a chapter to average closer to 1000-1500 words, rather than 250_words=1 standard page. Now if you used times roman 10 pt single spaced with narrow margins then your chapters could be a bit on the long side. I wonder if the chapters are fully complete or whether they are more of a detailed outline that will grow as you add elaboration of who what where when why yada yada.
New chapters shouldn't start where the previous one finished. The action needs to skip ahead somewhat. A new chapter could start the following day or with the characters having arived at a new location. If you're doing this every page, the text may seem disjointed. If the action doesn't skip ahead at chapter breaks, maybe you have a 40-page chapter.
Assuming you're properly separating chapters, that strikes me as a story without sufficient complexity. In my new book, which is first in a trilogy, I don't have a single chapter less than 16 pages. Of course, there are a lot of stylistic choices and I've seen chapters be a single sentence long before, but typically, you need to give the reader enough to bite into without just giving up. There's really very little anyone else can say without knowing more about the story and how it's being told.
40 pages with 40 chapters , I would say you need to be less confidant in regards to your knowledge. However, I am only a beginner. One of the first things I have realized is, writing need to layered and interconnecting. Also , the writing needs to serve a purpose. Chapters serve a number of purposes , reaching a milestone , turning point or the end of a scene. Introduction of a new location or character . To give the reader an opportunity to stop reading or reflect on what has happened. The list goes on . What are your reasons for having a chapter every page?
In regards to ‘Why not?’ I would just caution against ignoring conventional wisdom. I have been caught out a few times (thinking I know better ) when in reality the conventional way made sense. That being said, I haven’t read your work (and I am not fluent in French unfortunately) so it is possible that it does work for your writing. However, as you mentioned I would be worried about reader immersion and would be looking to add more details/dialogue to immerse/connect the reader.
I gonna take a closer look at this. Thanks I have seven-eight characters (writen with the 3rd person pov) living there own life on their side. Therefore I have many short chapters at first, before they get mixed and become longer (as they are not focus on only one). It is (as mention above) but it allows me to set up the scenes/stories of each one before it gets intertwined... I am not sure I understood you on this. Do you suggest me to just go with the flow ? To forget what I read on writing ? Or am I cocky ? Finally, I am asking myself, should I combine chapters in order to get stronger ones ? Or is it possible to keep some short ones as aside stories (as the concerned characters are somehow secondary) ?
If you're looking for confirmation, Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut has 127 chapters in 191 pages in my paperback copy. That's Vonnegut, though. He got to do whatever he wanted.
My question is 'why?' Why have you chosen this unconventional chapter length? Was there an effect you were striving for? If you're not sure, my advice would be to try it out on some beta readers. Give them what you've written and ask them directly what they think, or wait for them to mention it in feedback. There is always that gap between what the writer intends and what the reader picks up. You won't know if your writing has had the effect you intended or not ...till you try it out on a few readers.
I can reassure you nothing negative was intended . This forum may , at times, have some sharp edged debates. It is being engaged in the debate that has benefits. It is an observation , once someone asserts, I have already written a novel , so I have some knowledge about writing . I was offering a caution. I would congratulate anyone for being able to complete a novel , but it doesn't prove any writing skill .
I think it'd be important to explore the "pragmatic" effect of chapter lengths. Meaning the use, the purpose, the hands-down goal to achieve with a "chapter" as a unit above paragraph and beneath act. To me, a chapter dictates how I pace reading a book. For books with long chapters, I tend to shoot for one or two chapters per sitting. For those with shorter chapters, I feel more comfortable just diving in and reading - then, when I feel like I had enough for one sitting, I stop at the next chapter end. Obviously, your method of rapid chapter division works perfectly with the latter reading style. So there's no issue there. Far lengthier chapters, however, would disallow that reading style & could also potentially interfere with the former when people simply don't have time to read through a whole chapter in one sitting. The more literary approach had been described above by @Cephus ; my comment assumes that chapter frames, story pacing and such are in place. My personal preference is "short" chapters by literary standards; each running between 3 and 8 pages. Note, however, that I also use acts.
That's a good point. Maybe I should just keep on doing cause it's my story so I can do and write whatever I want with it. It happened that way because some chapters are just acts I need for later (like a short discussion between characters, a scene showing some personal traits...). I did and one of them highlight that. So I rushed here to have your opinions. One of my favorite I never thought about it but you're definetly right ! I will reread it with that on mind (hoping to find the perfect balance).
Okay I understand now. And somehow I agree with you. But I mentionned it because I saw a big difference. During the first one, I was struggling with plot, suspense, character descriptions... which is not the case anymore. I cannot pretend being a good/great writer but I gained experience (2 years and a half) and therefore I am now concerned by more subbtle things like chapter length (which was not the case during the first one). Regarding the writing skills, it indeed proves nothing and therefore I should probably not be too confident on my writings (even though I feel better now).
It sounds to me as if you're labeling these short segments 'chapters' when, in fact, they are simply 'scenes?' There would be a break between scenes, but less of a jarring break than a new chapter. Here is a link to a blog that talks about the scene/chapter issue. https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/5-questions-scenes-vs-chapters/ There is one thing I feel needs to be kept in mind at all times. What is the effect of these breaks ON THE READER? Do your readers find too many abrupt breaks jarring? If so, see what you can do to lessen the impact of each change. You can use the hard/soft scene breaks as she illustrates. Or you can construct smoother transition sentences ...something that eases the reader out of the scene and into the next. Play around with options until your betas no longer comment on these changes ...unless they comment favourably! One way to consider the situation is to think about TV series. How many times does the scene change within an episode? These are equivalent to scene changes in a written story. Each episode is equivalent to a chapter. Think about how these episodes start and finish. What is each episode about? What captures your interest at the start of an episode? And what makes you tune in to the next one? (And no, it does not have to be a cliffhanger ...in fact, these can become annoying, especially if they are immediately 'resolved' at the start of the next episode. Instead it can be simple curiosity about what happens next—because the situation is so intriguing—or a wish to see how the characters are developing.)
If you (or some of you guys) can read french, I can send you my writing on pm (and it will be a pleasure to have your feedbacks).
In each of my chapters, there are roughly 5-7 breaks where things might skip forward to the next day or some other location or scene. By breaks, I mean three blank lines with a bullet in the middle. I only start a new chapter when I switch between characters or I'm introducing a whole new line of ideas.
