I was working on a new chapter of my novel. It was going great. So far this chapter is a few pages of exactly what I want. But then it just stops. It's nowhere near the long chapter lengths I am going for. So, here's my plan unless anyone here can help me think of a better one. I'm putting every idea I had coming up for the novel in this chapter. It will quickly raise the steaks and move the plot along. It could be a good thing. I'm not really sure what I was waiting for. I had some loose ideas that I thought would help progress the story when I was more along, but I think I need them all now. There goes my attempt to plan anything. I have no idea what will happen after this chapter if I do pure everything I've got into this one. Have you ever been where I am? Do you ever give everything you have to the chapter you're writing just hoping you'll figure out what come next when you get there? I'm a pantser, but usually I write short stories. I'm being very careful not to let my novel turn into a collection of short stories or something similar to that. This is a novel and a different type of story. The only way I can think to continue is to use all my ideas now which kind of changes a lot and leaves me possibly clueless after. I've put a lot into this and worked hard on it. I really don't want to get stuck, and I'm worried my choices are be stuck now or be stuck after this chapter. What would you do?
I'd say it depends on what those ideas are. If they're set up ideas, beginning ideas that will need follow through then I suppose it could work. If you have 20 ideas you're cramming all into one chapter then it's going to (likely) be a mess and feel like looking at a room in the house of a hoarder - your reader won't have any idea where to look. You didn't say how long of a chapter you're going for so the context for my answer is sketchy as hell and it may be useless to you. Can you give more context (number of pages you have/are going for, number of ideas)?
I would suggest moving on form this chapter, leave it be and work on the next one. (I don't have any set sizes, my chapters are just what they are) but as you write the rest, something may come to you. And like @Trish was saying, don't put all your ideas in one chapter, one or two, but any more and it may be sensory overload and fatigue your readers. It's like taking a full year of algebra in one day.
I think in this case the problem is that you think there is a problem. If the chapter felt great and perfect. I'd trust that judgement and let it end naturally and try to think how the next chapter can continue what it started. A chapter being too short is something I don't really see as a problem. At least not innately. If you can explain why that is a problem. I'd be more inclined to listen. It's just. It happens. I have had it to both ways. Chapters I thought would be long that were short. And chapters that I thought would be short that were huge!!! Odds are, the chapter will need editing and my best edits come much later. After the good feelings of writing it have settled. If you feel stuck on what to write next. Tossing all your ideas out isn't a horrible choice but I'd start a new chapter. That way you have a more clear line of when you went from "perfect" to "tossing everything at the wall to see what sticks" Hope that helps.
Thanks for responding, guys. My chapters are 30 to 50 pages. There surely won't be too much crammed into this new chapter if I use everything. Actually, when I was looking at my notes I was like, what it all this stuff just happened now? I'm not even sure everything I have will be enough to fill this chapter. But it could and it seems to all fit together. If I do all this (which I started), I'm not going to want to go back and scrap it, but I am worried about what comes next. I'm going to give it some more thought before I write too much. Thanks again for your feedback.
30 to 50 pages, holy crap those are big chapters. . I think you'll be fine. Mine are usually 10 to 20 pages, maybe less in some cases. I typically feel uncomfortable if my chapters exceed 25 pages (though a few exceptions I Had a chapter that was 34 pages. (I split it) Also, I had a short story that was 50 pages though.
I was thinking the same thing. Mine average 10-12, but that's just how often there are natural breaks in my writing style. I don't purposely change chapters to fit into a page number.
I tend not to do that because of this: If you fire all your bullets early you'll have no ammunition later on. Usually, I try to get through the chapters using as little of the "good stuff" as possible. One trick I use is to try to build the scenes around something mundane or innocuous or unrelated in the background that can distract from (or help navigate through) the more immediate actions in the foreground. An example of this would be to have a couple arguing in the foreground while one of them is cooking in the background. The argument might get heated, and there might be some good plot or character things getting exposed, but the character doing the cooking might also be having a bitch of time building a souffle or keeping the yoke of an over-easy egg intact. It's not the focus of the scene or anything, but a little sideshow that can creep into the dialogue beats or interior monologue here and there to extend the focus of the chapter, if not much in the way of word count. I do my best work when I come at things from an offbeat or oblique perspective, so I'm usually trying not to add "ideas" to chapters anyway.
Personally, I try not to get too caught up in "chapters." Nothing paralyzes me more than a blank page. I like to write within a scaffold of text, which generally consists of all my ideas. For me it's easier to get down ideas first, details second. If you're starting to draw a blank, I would consider just going with the ideas you have now. For a novel, you have the luxury, if not obligation, to flesh out your ideas more, but that might be easier after the ideas are down. The last thing you want to do is be coming up with mundane details just to fill a word count quota.
My main question here is why you're going for long chapter lengths? It appears that you're prioritizing that over other, normally higher, priorities. Is there a specific reason why every single chapter has to be so long?
I have not mentioned prioritizing anything over anything. I like long chapters, and I like books with long chapters. This is the way I want to tell this story. I don't see why my chapter lengths are any problem at all. They sure aren't for me.
Well...your post indicates that a long chapter IS a problem, for at least one chapter. Your chapter is not naturally coming out as long as you want. Right? That sounds like a problem.
No, no. It's not trying to hit a certain length that is the problem. It's that there's not going to be enough happening and all I can think to do is use it all. I've got like four pages of notes, but having given it some thought I see how this is or could be the next chapter. I think some writers could turn those notes into 10 pages and others into 50 pages and others into whole books. I just like the feel of a long chapter, and I think it's a length I write to pretty naturally. The problem is that if I use everything, will I really know what to do next when I get there? Can I trust this to be part of the process? I had a very loose outline if you can even call it that. I gave each chapter a key word and then jotted down some notes of characters and situations. I never really outlined the plot or story regardless of how much I somewhat hoped I had.
As someone who writes with very little to go on, it is part of the process for me that I just naturally know what comes next. Of course, no one can say for sure that this will work out for you, but it's worth trying I think. I find that the deeper I go in, the more things occur to me. As to whether you can trust it to be part of the process? You won't know until you try.
