› ›
Welcome to Writers Talkback. If you are a new user, your account will have to be approved manually to prevent spam. Please bear with us in the meantime

Chapters

Comments

  • Crazy HorseCrazy Horse
    How on earth do you decide on chapter divisions. Do you write them in as you go along or decide when the book is fnished?  At preesnt  I can't find any point where I feel a break should occur. What is a suitable number of chapters in a book of say 80,000 words?
  • FlickFlick
    Sometimes I write the whole book and then break it up into chapters. While still single spaced mine  are about 7-10 pages long. Book is 100,000 words. I'm currently at 75,000 words of probably another 100,000 book and have just started to put it into chapters as I'm editing. It's mostly 7 pages  - around 3,500 words? per chapter. I think you should try to end and start with some sort of hook. It should be obvious when you're reading through. - Maybe a change of POV or a scene or something dramatic. Something to push the reader to move to the next chapter.  Some writers like James Patterson have incredibly short chapters - just a couple of pages each. Fast reading!! But if chapters are too long, I get bored.
  • Crazy HorseCrazy Horse
    Thanks Flick & Dorothyd you have given me food for thought on how to use chapters. Pity word count only seems to work on the whole document it's a bit tedeous copying a passage just to count the words, any thoughts? Dorothyd I gather you are writing with the help of a spiritual companion, is this like spirit writing which I have heard of?
  • fayfay
    Regarding your query on word counting, Word will count anything that is highlighted. A quick way to highlight a passage is to click at the beginning of the extract and press F8 - then go to the end of the extract and press enter or click the left mouse button. Tools/wordcount will then tell you the number of words in that particular piece.
  • EvaineEvaine
    I've been going for a new chapter roughly every ten pages.

    However, Lindsay Davis once had a chapter that consisted of five words!
    The previous chapter ended with a character throwing a knife at the hero.
    The new chapter was:

    "I caught it, of course."

    The next chapter began with an explanation of how he came to be such a good knife juggler.

    You've got to be pretty sure of yourself to try something like that.
Sign In or Register to comment.